Do most serious accidents involve sport bikes???

[Venarius]

First of all I've owned both (SV-1000s and VTX-1800) and I can say that I was pushing the envelope a hell of a lot futher on the sportbike.

Second, if you look at the top 5 crashed motorcyles, you will see the majority of those are sportbikes.

The old "I see more sportbikes/cruisers on the road" argument doesn't hold water because its very biased. I know when I rode sportbikes, I "saw" (noticed) more sportbikes on the road than cruisers, and therefore held the belief that there were more sporty's out there. Now that I ride cruisers, I swear to god i "see" (notice) more cruisers on the road...a hell of a lot more cruisers than sporty's. Its all perspective.

Obviously, a crash can happen to anyone on anybike at anytime, and it can be completely not the motorcyclists fault. You can make arguments every way, a sport bike rider typically drives faster, so they are more inclined to get into accidents. But then we can say taht the sporty's brakes are a lot better, leading to decreased stopping distance and therefore more lives saved. You can debate all night long.

But, coming from riding both, and riding with groups of cruisers and sporty's...I'm gonna place my bets on sport bike riders crashing more often. Just my 2 cents.

[Mustang]

IMO This is a loaded question....

I agree with a lot of the previous posters that the obvious stupid stuff of wheelies, speeding and wreckless riding is usually done by the younger crowd on Sportbikes. However, they also tend to wear the protective leather and helmets.

The older generation returning to riding with the cruiser may not be out doing the obviously dangerous stuff, but they're riding more powerful bikes than they cut their teeth on all those years ago, not wearing helmets and not appreciating how much alcohol can impair judgement. Add slower reaction skills to the mix and when an older rider does have a mishap the results can be more tragic.

[shane-o]

in my state the 26-40 age group are responsibe for the most rider fatalities per year.......now whether that is becuase of an influx of return older riders, or new older riders, or older riders who have become to sure of themselves and relaxed, the stats dont get that explicit, nor do they explore cruiser Vs Sporty.

They do say however, that motorcyclist make-up 3% of registered vehicles in my state....but they represent 10% of the fatalities every year and 40% of those are over 26years of age....spooky

[sv-wolf]

Who knows where the truth lies? but for what its worth, the UK biking press frequently quotes stats on this issue. The figures I've seen in print generally indicate that high performance sportsbikes crash much more often than any other class of bike and in the majority of these cases no other vehicle is involved. Again it's the over forty age group that are most prone to crash. (But then, the average biker in the UK is aged 42 - or thereabouts.)

[oldnslo]

Are cruisers as popular as sport-bikes over there?

[CajunBass]

I don't know who is involved in more accidents, but I know as an automobile driver, and a new motorcycle rider, I have the impression that sportbikes are operated more recklessly. They are the ones I see weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds, pulling wheelies on the interstate, and riding in shorts and tank top. This may be because sportbikes are "flashy" and cruizers tend to be more or less dark colors and blend in and the riders are (generally) wearing darker clothing.

BTW. Jet Ski operators are viewed in the same light by others boaters.

[Kal]

The old "I see more sportbikes/cruisers on the road" argument doesn't hold water because its very biased. I know when I rode sportbikes, I "saw" (noticed) more sportbikes on the road than cruisers, and therefore held the belief that there were more sporty's out there. Now that I ride cruisers, I swear to god i "see" (notice) more cruisers on the road...a hell of a lot more cruisers than sporty's. Its all perspective.

I agree its a very loaded question. My perspective in the UK is that there are a lot more Sportsbikes on the road than other classes, and I dont ride a sportsbike.

Most of the annecdotal evidence I have had is that the older/returning crowd are tending to buy 1000cc displacement bikes afer being away for fifteen or more years. Persoanl success and children leaving home tend to be the main reasons people are buying back into bikes.

[Sev]

I've been keeping out of this one for a while because short of a full statistical analysis covering everything from where it happened, to what type of bike, to how old the rider is and everything in between it'd be impossible to say for sure exactly what type of bike is most likely to crash.

However I will say that I beleive sportsbikes are more likely to be involved in a spectacular high speed crash. While cruisers are more likely a poor judgement over estimated the turn or didn't see them coming type of crash. I think it's a function of the type of riding each bike is meant to do.

[gsJack]

Do most serious accidents involve sport bikes??? is the title of the thread so I'll stick by my opinions above regarding over 40 riders on cruisers being the the ones with the most serious accidents since fatalities are about as serious as it gets.

I sorted out the pertinent info from the NHTSA report I linked above and realize these figures are for US only:



Relatively small increases over ten years in the under 30 and in the 30-39 groups and a over three fold increase in the over 40 age group to put them in 1st place now.

A similiar increase in the 1000-1500cc engine group fatalities indicates cruisers to me but they don't specify bike type. An actual decrease over ten years in the under 500cc rider fatalities probably reflects how scarce we are getting.

[Relsek]

I see that nobody has mentioned the trend that I see a lot of which is that the cruiser "poser" usually won't wear a helmet. I ride a sportbike and ride with people that ride all types of bikes. I've only once ridden with another sportbike rider that wasn't wearing a helmet, while 90 percent of the cruisers I ride with will not wear a helmet, especially a full face one.

My son was involved in a crash cause by an old lady turning in front of him. He hit the windshield of the car with his head and busted the windshield. He flew over the car and landed on his head in the grass. I am quite sure that if he had not been wearing a helmet, he would have suffered a great deal of head injuries.

Kevin's opinion.

Here is a link to a thread with some photos of the wreck.

http://www.hayabusa.org/cgi-bin/busa/ik ... 6;st=0;r=1