Not that I am one to stereotype....BUT...I have never been passed on the highway by ANYONE on a cruiser, tourer, standard, moped, or unicycle doing a wheelie at over 80 mph, I have never witnessed any of the above doing a stoppie at an intersection, NOR a wheelie from that same intersection. I have never seen a tanktop-shorts-flipflop wearing rider on any of the above either, nor have I seen the Capri pant-highheal-belly shirt passenger on any of the above...trust me I have looked for just such a passenger....Sport bikes are marketed to young male drivers whit more balls than brains...IT IS the RIDER...I have been riding for more than 30 years on one form of bike or another...and in that time 80% of the foolish things I have seen (and done) were ALWAYS on a sportbike...is it the bike???? no and YES...no because that would be like blaming the paint can for the graffiti...BUT if you add a special nozzle to that can that is specially designed to better apply paint to trains and walls then it is partly to blame...Sportbikes are the ultimate in handling and power, born and bread on and for the race circuit...they are painted and adorned in a fashion that again markets to the young...often the least experienced rider, who has more power between his legs than they are mature enough to handle (again I generalize) sportbikes are race machines marketed to the young and invincible who fully believe at that stage in their lives that "it won't happen to me" but it does..yet Jonny 18 year old can go the the local shop and buy a hayabusa and propel them selves at over 198 mph...the insurance industry has more statistics on every form of movement life death and everything in between.
Latest Car Accident Research: Carnegie-Mellon University released a study on January 18, 2007, revealing a number of startling statistics about vehicle accidents...
Male drivers 16-23 are four times more likely to be involved in a fatal vehicle accident than the average driver, due to inexperience and lack of maturity.
• Male drivers are 77% more likely to die in a car accident than women.
Yet THESE are the very same people to whom Sportbikes are marketed and to whom they are most attractive...
Your comment..."So the bias must be toward the riders. The same argument could be applied that Speedmaster owners do not bathe, sell drugs and guns, and are missing most of their teeth." Is based upon your own opinion and an unreasonable desire to prove some point...not on any fact or actual studies...and almost not worth comment on except it is so obviously inflammatory and provocative that I had to comment.
Yet...
The "Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures," was a study conducted by the University of Southern California, with funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration...they concluded...
Motorcycle riders between the ages of 16 and 24 are significantly over-represented in accidents; motorcycle riders between the ages of 30 and 50 are significantly under represented. Although the majority of the accident-involved motorcycle riders are male (96%)
AND FINALLY...this little bit of data for you to wrap your head around....
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) riders of “supersports†motorcycles have driver death rates per 10,000 registered vehicles nearly four times higher than for drivers of other types of motorcycles. Supersports have more horsepower than conventional motorcycles and can reach speeds of up to 190 mph. They are built on racing platforms and are modified for street use. The bikes are popular with riders under the age of 30. The bikes are light weight and aerodynamically styled. In 2005, these bikes registered 22.5 driver deaths per 10,000 registered vehicles, compared with 10.7 deaths for other sport models (related to supersports but do not have the acceleration, stability and handling of supersports). Standards and cruisers and touring bikes, with upright handlebars, have rates of 5.7 and 6.5 per 10,000 vehicles. In 2005, supersports accounted for 9 percent of registrations, and standards and cruisers made up 51 percent of registrations. Among fatally injured drivers, the IIHS says that drivers of supersports were the youngest—with an average age of 27. Touring motorcycle drivers were the oldest, 51 years old. Fatally injured drivers of other sports models were 34, on average; standard and cruiser drivers were 44 years old. Speeding and driver error were bigger factors in supersport and sport fatal crashes. Speed was cited in 57 percent of supersport riders’ fatal crashes in 2005 and in 46 percent for sport model riders. Speed was a factor in 27 of fatal crashes of riders of cruisers and standards, and for 22 percent of riders of touring models...
So rant about how 'wrong we are in our assesment of the Sportbike's" somewhere else...
to quote Jack..."sell crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here"
