Sport Bike Reputation

Contrary to how this post might come across, I like sport bikes. I prefer cruisers, but I think there are some really beautiful sport bikes out there and manufacturers are coming out with some awesome bikes lately. I know of a lot of sport bike riders that take motorcycle safety very serious. In fact two of the instructors at my BRC ride sport bikes. Even my boss rides sport bikes. However here in South Florida there has been an increasing dislike by the general public of all bikers primarily due to irresponsible riding by sport bike riders. Riders doing wheelies at 80 mph on major highways and generally riding erratically have increased the amount of accidents (and deaths) in the last few years.

The argument can be made that motorcycle accidents have always been around and there are more bike riders today than ever so it’s not just the fault of sport bike riders. But the fact is that more of these motorcycle accidents which are being reported are from sport bikes, and more of these accidents are caused by the riders than by cages.

The reason for this general dislike for bikers is that to the average person who doesn’t ride; “a motorcycle is a motorcycle” no matter weather it’s a Harley or a Ninja. When you tell someone here that you ride a bike, many will say “Oh you’re crazy. You guys are always riding too fast and showing off, just asking to get killed”. When someone like me who rides a cruiser tries to explain that I don’t ride a crouch rocket, they’ve already basically tuned out and don’t really hear (or care) about the difference in riding style.

The dislike of sport bikes is even shared by some other bike enthusiast as well. Cruisers and even some Standard bike riders have a certain loathing towards sport bike riders because of the bad reputation they are giving bikers in general. You’ll notice how cruisers will usually signal “hello” to each other, while totally ignoring the sports bike rider. And of course the increasing loss of life is creating a sense of uneasiness to the family and friends of all riders.

Several weeks ago a group of sport bike riders left a local bar after a few hours of drinking. They headed out on US 27 which is a very desolate road at 2am at speeds over 125 mph. No one had noticed that they had crashed until another group of riders spotted the bodies scattered across the road. Currently in South Florida there is an average of 1 death per week.

One of the problems might be the ease in which you can buy a sport bike. It’s a lot cheaper to buy a brand new 900cc sports bike than a 5 year old Harley. And cheaper price tags tend to attract younger riders. And too many younger riders don’t take the time to at least take the BRC (basic rider course). But before you start thinking that all these accidents are caused by 17 and 19 year olds, think again. A growing number of men between the ages of 25 and 33 are purchasing sport bikes these days, and just like their younger counter-parts, more are having accidents due to irresponsible riding.

There’s also a sort of rivalry between cruisers and sport bike riders. The young sport bike rider says that too many cruisers don’t wear any protective gear. And the cruisers say that the sport bike riders are too careless with their riding. They’re both right; however the numbers do speak for themselves. Here in South Florida sport bike accidents out number cruiser accident 4 to 1. There are more sport bikes than cruisers, however not enough to validate the 4 to 1 ratio.

Florida is currently looking at a law that would not only ticket bikers caught riding recklessly (i.e.: wheelies on highways, splitting lanes at high speeds) but also confiscate their bikes. Another idea that’s popped up in some biker circles has been to require bike shops to verify that buyer has an MSF endorsement or at least proof that they’ve taken the course before the buyer can take delivery of the bike. Now I’m not a fan of having a lot of laws that stifle our freedom, but if the mentality and irresponsibility that exist now doesn’t change, we may just find ourselves with a whole bunch of new laws that take away our riding pleasure.

As I said before I don’t have anything against sport bikes, and I would love to see more camaraderie between the two genres. After all we all have one thing in common. The love of riding. But safety has to be our number 1 priority.