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Removed the orange reflectors

Goblin

2019
CB650R ABS
Sep 2, 2019
Everyone has the right to express their opinion. My advice is, grow up and keep it civilized in this forum
 

Eaglemoto

2019
CBR650R ABS
Jul 13, 2019
Riding Since
2013
Everyone has the right to express their opinion. My advice is, grow up and keep it civilized in this forum

And everyone has the right to disagree with your opinion, I would kindly ask you to respect mine and not tell me to "grow up". Until now I have been civilised and haven't called you names (other than asking if you are a troll), sworn or cursed etc, which a lot of people in my experience do on forums when they see people making un-informed comments like yours.
While mentioning other forums, it seems to be a blight on another forum I visit where it is customary for people to accuse other members of an accident they have described happening to themselves being their fault, or avoidable if they had done x,y,z. No wonder people get fed up of posting.
My advice to you is if you can't handle a debate on a forum I would kindly suggest you jog on to another topic.
 

miweber929

2014
CBR650F
650 Alumnus
Staff
Feb 13, 2015
Woodbury, MN
Riding Since
1975
Please keep this civil, everyone has a right to disagree, agree and voice their opinion without things getting personal.
 

miweber929

2014
CBR650F
650 Alumnus
Staff
Feb 13, 2015
Woodbury, MN
Riding Since
1975
I do see both sides of the argument, there are some situations where an accident happens through no real fault of your own, you’ve done everything right, you’re riding correctly, in the right spot, doing the right thing and you get hit. It’s why they are called accidents.

On the flip side, we, whether in a car or on a motorcycle, need to be vigilant and monitor the situations from all sides, front, side and back, and be aware of what’s happening around us and act accordingly. I know where I live if I didn’t and simply drove my drive or rode my ride and monitored only what’s in front of me, made no evasive maneuvers or acted on others stupidity, I’d be in 5 accidents a week.

So somewhere in the middle is where we need to live. If we as motorcyclists, fully understanding how small and inconsequential we are compared to a car, looked at every situation, crash or near miss as what could I have done better, regardless of who was at fault, we’d be much better off.

That’s my opinion.

And for the record, I used to be a remove all reflectors, wear black clothing, tail tidy tucking the plate, small dim directional signal, no mirrors kind of guy at one time. Then coming home one dark night I almost hit a rider who was in all black on a black bike with a tucked plate, smoked taillight, tiny signals making a turn in front of me in the rain. No reflectors, nothing and I saw literally nothing until the last second.

I realized I needed to do more to be visible. Stupid as they are, reflectors, bright gear and bright turn signals do work.
 
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Eaglemoto

2019
CBR650R ABS
Jul 13, 2019
Riding Since
2013
On the flip side, we, whether in a car or on a motorcycle, need to be vigilant and monitor the situations from all sides, front, side and back, and be aware of what’s happening around us and act accordingly. I know where I live if I didn’t and simply drove my drive or rode my ride and monitored only what’s in front of me, made no evasive maneuvers or acted on others stupidity, I’d be in 5 accidents a week.

That is all well and good, but how do you simultaneously look to your right observing any traffic coming from your right, and look in your mirrors to ensure there isn't some berk steaming up behind you about to drive over the top of you? It isn't possible in all situations. Then lets say you notice the guy coming up behind you at speed, what happens if there is traffic coming from the right, or say you are positioned behind another vehicle, there is no escape route, unless you want to risk riding out into the main road and getting t-boned.
The annoying thing for me at the time, was that having observed the road was clear, I was just about to pull out when I was hit.
As I mentioned above, the onus in the UK is on the person behind not driving into a vehicle in front, which is good when it comes to insurance purposes, but doesn't stop people looking to their right as they approach a junction and not checking whether the vehicle waiting in front has gone or not.
 

miweber929

2014
CBR650F
650 Alumnus
Staff
Feb 13, 2015
Woodbury, MN
Riding Since
1975
That is all well and good, but how do you simultaneously look to your right observing any traffic coming from your right, and look in your mirrors to ensure there isn't some berk steaming up behind you about to drive over the top of you? It isn't possible in all situations. Then lets say you notice the guy coming up behind you at speed, what happens if there is traffic coming from the right, or say you are positioned behind another vehicle, there is no escape route, unless you want to risk riding out into the main road and getting t-boned.
The annoying thing for me at the time, was that having observed the road was clear, I was just about to pull out when I was hit.
As I mentioned above, the onus in the UK is on the person behind not driving into a vehicle in front, which is good when it comes to insurance purposes, but doesn't stop people looking to their right as they approach a junction and not checking whether the vehicle waiting in front has gone or not.
In your particular instance doing what you could do resulted in an accident, unfortunately it happens. What I do as I pull up to a stop or yield is look in my rear views, my left and right and rear view again; I do that until I’m done with my merge and am comfortable in my surroundings.

If that’s what you did, you did your part, and should be good with your actions leading up to the accident. If I’m not mistaken, the person hitting the rear of the vehicle is normally at fault here as well, but that doesn’t stop idiots from ramming into people.

It’s nothing personal, and I don’t get the feeling anyone else is saying that.
 

BT67

2019
CB650R
Apr 24, 2019
I live in relatively quiet area...
Only ride my bike for fun, so pick and choose when I venture out. Try to avoid rush hour etc. but you never know! Gotta be vigilant at all times. Think age and experience make a huge difference. Used to ride like an idiot in my teens - fearless I guess. Now 30 years on I find myself trying to 2nd guess other road users all the time. Also a lot more traffic on the roads these days generally!
 

Goblin

2019
CB650R ABS
Sep 2, 2019
I agree miweber929, being invisible on a bike is not a good idea, try to make yourself visible during day an night, for example, by wearing motorcycle clothing with reflection, also choose the right position on the road, make sure you stand out, and good lighting is important and last but not least, always stay alert and focused on all traffic. it does not help by saying but it is his fault, he is the one who hit me (the accident does not change). you have to prevent yourself from ending up in such a situation by applying a good road strategy! And yeah it’s still possible to have a accident
 
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BT67

2019
CB650R
Apr 24, 2019
BT67, did you already decided if you want the oem belly pan ?
May well get one fitted in due course...
My riding season will shortly be over - maybe another month or so. The bike will then be hibernating till probably April next year - unfortunately 👎. Might put one on then.
Cheers
Trev
 

Eaglemoto

2019
CBR650R ABS
Jul 13, 2019
Riding Since
2013
In your particular instance doing what you could do resulted in an accident, unfortunately it happens. What I do as I pull up to a stop or yield is look in my rear views, my left and right and rear view again; I do that until I’m done with my merge and am comfortable in my surroundings.

If that’s what you did, you did your part, and should be good with your actions leading up to the accident. If I’m not mistaken, the person hitting the rear of the vehicle is normally at fault here as well, but that doesn’t stop idiots from ramming into people.

Fair enough. In my case I had to wait until two vehicles in front of me had moved away, at which point there was nobody behind me. It was only when I was doing my observations to the right that the guy who hit me came up to the junction, obviously looking to the right as well and not noticing that I was still stationary.

The other annoying thing is that at some point later the local authority decided to install traffic lights, am not sure if this was because others were having similar accidents, but if they had been there at the time I wouldn't have been hit. It took a long time before I used that junction again, and I wouldn't be using it now without the traffic lights.
 

Enrico

2018
CB650F ABS
Mar 28, 2019
The annoying thing for me at the time, was that having observed the road was clear, I was just about to pull out when I was hit.
in my case I had already pulled out but the driver pulling out behind me must have accelerated faster than me .She admitted liability immediately in front of a witness. Her insurance company accepted liability and offered to sort it all out but I had already notified my insurance company. Everything repaired on bike at no cost to me and recorded as no fault on my part.
 

Eaglemoto

2019
CBR650R ABS
Jul 13, 2019
Riding Since
2013
in my case I had already pulled out but the driver pulling out behind me must have accelerated faster than me .She admitted liability immediately in front of a witness. Her insurance company accepted liability and offered to sort it all out but I had already notified my insurance company. Everything repaired on bike at no cost to me and recorded as no fault on my part.

Yeah I just went straight to his insurance, unfortunately he hit me hard enough to crack the rear subframe at the welds so the bike was written off. They gave me decent market value for the bike though which meant I replaced the bike with the later model.
 

Ghost

2019
CBR650R ABS
May 22, 2019
Bristol, UK
Have you considered replacing them with those black reflective strips to put on your forks or something? I was thinking of doing the same but they don’t bother me that much now but appreciate the idea :)
 

baugustine

2014
CBR650F
Staff
May 21, 2016
Ventura, CA
Have you considered replacing them with those black reflective strips to put on your forks or something? I was thinking of doing the same but they don’t bother me that much now but appreciate the idea :)

Just got a chance to read this thread in its entirety. Morbid curiousity [almost] prompted me to post a poll question about one’s position on the topic and then get the age group most associated with that side. There are many style things on this bike I altered to address preferences I had from Honda’s ideas (namely the tidy tail). As I get older I’m finding the need to be visible is becoming more important in modification decisions. I upgraded all the turn signal to LED, changed the rear brake light (flashes when brakes applied and has integrated signals) and installed the reflective rim tape. I tested the reflective rim tape in various low light situations and angles, and it is probably the most inexpensive mod I did that had the most impact. This pic is in my garage, door closed and just the overhead light on. You get a good feel for the reflectivity differences, even between the orange thingy and the rim tape.

miweber929 @miweber929 s story above scared the $hit out of me...

01B19187-8596-455B-BFBA-F76BF2FFEAAB.jpeg
 

Devilsfan

2018
CB650F
Jun 5, 2019
Tampa, Florida
baugustine...excellent post! Bottom line, the older I find myself getting, the more aware of the fact that I AM mortal! And it doesn't take much of an accident to lay me up for days!

The youngin's...they're NEVER going to get hurt, right?!?! (Yep, that was me at one time too!) As a motorcyclist I believe you have to MAKE YOURSELF SEEN!!! And not just with lights and reflectors but sometimes with hand gestures and horns! :cool:

I want to enjoy my retirement some day by being able to ride off in the sunset, not be so demolished that I can't move by the time I file the retirement paperwork!
 

Enrico

2018
CB650F ABS
Mar 28, 2019
I was surprised to see the side reflectors on my cb650f, other bikes I have had didn't have them. I will be keeping them on the bike .
 
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