Easy riders, flying machines

It may be the surest route to a nasty road crash, but the allure of the motorbike is proving irresistible to growing numbers of middle-aged men. JOHN McCRONE reports.

One throws a leg over a $30,700 black monstrosity with a squishy seat, studded leather saddle bags, chrome and yet more chrome -- the 2007 FLSTC Heritage Softail Classic.

It looks a little, erm, how shall we put it? Village people?

"Yeah, it is rather gay," comes blunt agreement.

So a good job there is a floorful of these Yank giants with their running boards and Lexan windshields to choose from then, some of them almost quite butch.

One poor chap, yet another chunky 40-something with close-cropped head, grubby jeans and leather jacket, pulls up on a Kawasaki Vulcan.

The Kawasaki throbs impressively at the kerbside. But he admits it is just a Japanese knock-off of a Harley -- a hog -- that cost $10,000 second-hand. The Harley boys let him tag along at weekends, winding the road out to Diamond Harbour or through the Rakaia Gorge. Mmm, rolling thunder! However, he comes in for plenty of stick and so is dreaming of the day he can afford to upgrade to the real thing.

A door or two down Manchester Street, at the various Triumph, Honda and Suzuki dealerships, the scene is being repeated as grey-haired riders in ton-up gear gather to discuss their favourite bikes and scoff at the lameness of any other brand.

Safety experts are calling it the born-again-biker syndrome: guys who may have had a step-through Honda as a kid and now want to get out on the open road, feeling the wind on their faces and the bugs in their teeth, astride whatever was their teenage fantasy machine.

Two upsetting incidents in the past few weeks -- the two 50-ish Italian sport-bike riders who broke arms and pelvises when they came off second best to a turning police car in the Buller Gorge, and the four who died in a collision with an Austrian couple's campervan on State Highway 79 near Fairlie -- are a reminder of the other side of the dream. The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) says it is carnage out there.

The ACC is so alarmed at a doubling in motorcycle claims over the past six years, the injury bill now exceeding $52 million annually, it is distributing a free "how not to crash your bike" DVD with copies of a local motorbike magazine.

"Motorcyclists make up only 2 per cent of vehicles on the road, but account for 18% of road claims," says ACC road-safety specialist Phil Wright.

It is not all the bike boys' -- and gals' -- fault. Police say a whopping 30% of serious crashes can be blamed on car drivers not seeing a motorcycle while pulling out of a side road or when changing lanes on a busy road. However, a lot of accidents are simply about people riding machines they cannot really handle, coming off on a corner, and landing up in hospital. Or the mortuary slab.

Allan Kirk, of volunteer motorcycle-safety organisation Megarider, says it used to be testosterone-fuelled teenagers killing themselves.

"Previous to cheap Japanese cars arriving, young guys used to get onto motorcycles. That was all they could get on to. And they used to have a very high crash rate," Kirk says.

"Now young guys -- the 15 to 24 year olds -- still do have a very high crash rate. But there aren't so many out on bikes these days, not since about the late 1980s or so. So that figure has gone down.

"But now we have the phenomenon of the born-again biker -- those who used to ride a bike, or wished they had, who have got married, had babies, all that jazz, and now are ready to get back on to bikes. They are being dramatically over-represented in the accident figures. And this is something that's happening all round the world at the moment."

Kirk says the reason is that the modern bike is simply too good. The tyres are grippier, the handling slicker, the brakes deceptively finger-light.

"The modern motorcycle has changed dramatically since they last rode. Whereas in the old days, the bikes didn't handle very well, so they could tell before they fell off that they were close to the limit, now the bike is better than they are.

"They get out of their limit and there is no warning. Just suddenly, bang!"

Kirk says the sport bikes, the sleek, race-bred Ducatis and Yamahas, are clearly designed for the expert rider only. But even the retro-looking Harleys and Triumphs are wolves in sheep's clothing.

They can be cranked over and given the gun. However, any newbie weekend warriors trying to keep up with the pack on the Sunday jaunt may fast find themselves out of their depth.

"They are so easy to throw into corners that the rider will often throw it into a corner. Then he suddenly panics. He does what we call target fixation," Kirk says. "He looks at that lamp-post at the side of the road that he wants to avoid, but unfortunately, because he's looking at it, he goes straight into it."

Kirk says many buy a bike -- particularly a Harley -- because they want instant membership of a fraternity. With a family and responsibilities, they only really intend to cruise and pose, not race every boy racer at the next set of lights.

However, riding in large groups, with the need to keep up, creates its own risks. Police figures show accidents become much more likely during pack rides. And then they take long tiring trips and stop for a beer or two.

Kirk says forget the legal limit: "A modern motorcycle is totally unforgiving. You can't afford a drop of alcohol at all. An average level of riding skill is not going to be good enough."

Mike Dew, president of the Canterbury branch of Ulysses, a club specifically for over-40 motorcycle enthusiasts, says it has been eight years since he had his own last big smash.

A Honda Goldwing rider ("The kind of bike you would buy if you didn't own a caravan. The thing's even got an ashtray," exclaims one aghast Triumph owner) Dew was cruising towards Tekapo one night and hit a black cow on the black road.

"They tell me I took the arse-end of the cow out. But all I can remember is driving down my drive in Christchurch and then waking up later in Timaru hospital."

Dew broke his collarbone and ribs and was off work for three months. However, it did not put him off. After the insurance paid out, he was back on the road with an even bigger 1500cc Goldwing.

Dew says Ulysses works with ACC and others to promote motorcycle safety among the born-again crowd. It runs handling courses and encourages members to develop their skills.

Motorcyclists need to learn techniques like riding to the vanishing point -- looking to the exit of corners so that they are always at a speed where they can brake if they find danger waiting.

At intersections, bikers need to focus on the front wheels of waiting cars as this will give them first warning a "cage driver" is about to pull out in front of them.

Dew says that when following cars on the highway, you must have your eyes not on the one you are following but on the cars further ahead that the driver will -- belatedly -- be reacting to.

Dew says it is easy to feel on a motorbike that you are the only one awake, the rest of the drivers are asleep.

Car drivers are forever changing channels on the radio, fiddling with their cellphones or generally day-dreaming. They will do a U-turn and tell the police officer they never saw you.

Dew says part of the problem is so many people these days go straight to cars and never spend time on a motorcycle.

"You really learn to be a defensive driver if you start out on a motorbike or a scooter. It makes you a better driver and also teaches you respect for motorcyclists when you're in a car."

This brings up the vexed question of visibility.

Kirk says research shows headlights during the day definitely help. So does wearing a light-coloured helmet. But bright clothing has mixed results. Many weekend warriors prefer their bad-ass bikie garb not just because it looks cooler and hides the splattered insect stains.

"Very few drivers pull out in front of bikies -- as opposed to bikers. They're wearing dark clothes and dark helmets, and generally are very black and threatening.

"Yet a lot of drivers will pull out in front of people who look like mobile day-glos, because subconsciously they look upon the rider as a wimp."

Kirk says the psychology of the road is a big problem. It makes the visibility issue more complex. So many times, riders report the driver looked straight at them, yet came out of the side road anyway.

"The car driver would be driving on his subconscious. He looks down the road and his subconscious says, he's smaller than me so he'll give way."

Dew says one of the Ulysses-club rules is that the lead rider on a group outing will wear a high-visibility fluorescent jacket. White helmets are encouraged.

However, there is the battle with fashion.

One member who was a Harley rider soon found black helmets were de rigeur. When you park up outside the cafe at Cheviot on Sunday morning, you don't want to be embarrassing your mates.

With the born-again biker phenomenon growing, there is every chance the cafes around Cheviot, Gebbies Pass and Hokitika will keep on getting busier with their ageing outlaws on mean machines. Sales show no sign of slackening.

A few steps down Manchester Street at the Triumph dealership, Street and Sport, they are having their best year ever. Boss Phil Garrett -- who happens to be the world sidecar land-speed record holder -- says New Zealand already buys more big Triumphs a head of population than anywhere else.

Garrett runs a hand over the luscious flanks of the latest Bonnevilles and Thruxtons.

They look like bikes straight out of the 1960s, but underneath they are all new technology. So no leaks or breakdowns. Just the styling cues guaranteed to get the juices of rich baby boomers running.

The Triumph aficionados in the shop confide that whereas Harley Davidsons are the choice of plumbers and plasterers -- those happy to foot the $30,000 bill to join the Rolling Thunder gang -- Triumphs appeal more to your stockbrokers and business entrepreneurs. The lone wolves who ride out in ones and twos.

The look is British functional rather than rolling armchair. But still, if size is your thing, then step across the showroom and check out the ludicrous bulges of the 2300cc Triumph Rocket III.

This is a bike certain to make every small boy's eyes pop out as you rumble down the main drag of Geraldine or Twizel. Riding it must be much like hugging the back of a two-wheeled Volkswagen Beetle propelled by a jet engine.

Garrett is forced to admit that such motorcycling excess is pretty hard to defend. Yet they sold three last week. Some people just have to own the biggest, most extreme lump of metal going. And Garrett assures that for those who can ride a bike, and are willing to get up at dawn before the traffic cops stir, the Rocket III is surprisingly easy to throw around the mountain bends.

You would just need a crane to pick it up after a spill.

The 865cc Thruxton, with its clip-on handlebars and set-back racing pegs, now looks almost a moped when we turn back to it. A sense of target fixation begins to take over. Now this is a bike you really could imagine yourself taking for a fast blat around the Port Hills. Cool or what?

The ACC accident-o-meter may be relentlessly tick-ticking. But with fine bikes like these, and middle-aged men looking for a bit of a thrill, the born-again biker craze is unlikely to die any time soon.

 

- © Fairfax NZ News