The road to hell..is paved with good intentions

It seems to me that we have a situation prevalent today that steers the younger generation towards safety , nothing wrong with that I hear you say . For instance, in nature, isn’t exposure to risk the very thing that teaches us to avoid it or deal with it?I m not sure about all the cotton wool surrounding our kids and what it’s really for.This is ever present everywhere, anytime there is a serious incident on the roads the first thing to be rolled out is.” there isn’t enough legislation”. Seemingly to protect us from ourselves and here in Australia we have a licence for everything ….even coffee making!

My point being ,that in my opinion, just because you possess a licence for something doesn’t necessarily mean you are any good at that thing...It just means you were good enough to pass a test on the subject at the time you took it. Further to this the whole quality of the testing depends on the desired results of the company or ministry who designed the test. After all it take years to learn to use a lathe properly dosent it? and its not a tonne plus of mobile missile.

So what’s the answer then? Well, again in my opinion, based on the thousands of miles I have covered in various countries around the globe. It would appear that training for real world situations and not training to pass a test would be the logical way to go. A process that is taught in a few countries driving schools and systems, Finland for example ,with a large amount of success.

I personally received my motorcycle training at the “here’s the keys don’t hit anything” driving school. But bear in mind that when I started riding there were no speed cameras, cops had to catch you to nick you, and even my 30hp 250 could outrun the most expertly driven patrol car with ease. Must’ve been very frustrating for the cops concerned .Ahh but they’d have got your rego by your plate wouldn’t they ? Erm no… a carefully positioned L plate took care of that. I had a healthy respect for the cops but I was young and determined not to lose my right to ride my bike. As for avoiding accidents, I was just as susceptible to the old “ambitions out ranking my abilities” theory as anyone else after all I was indestructible wasn’t I? Luckily though im still in one piece

These days the average middleweight sports bike has as much if not more power than GP bikes had in my day. But better brakes and galactically better handling than road bikes back then ...If you know how to use it...and that is the rub. Most people have no idea how to use the particular advantages of the bike they are riding or any idea of its limitations.

So doesn’t limiting riders to underpowered bikes kind of handicap them? Or not? I don’t know the answer to that but I suspect it’s the formerA degree of mechanical sympathy wouldn’t go amiss either and I seriously think proper track training and real world situational training far better than the hap hazard test prep we have these days.

Granted not everyone wants to ride like a GP star but everything you learn on a track helps you judge the road conditions and keep a cap on your right hand when necessary to preserve your life or at least keep all your appendages where nature intended them . Maybe then we wouldn’t need speed limits...remember these were set many years ago when the vast majority of vehicles were much less capable of handling them safely. Your average car today can half the stopping distances set 40yrs ago hence it’s not the machine...it’s the organic part that needs an update.

I guess many of us involved in the rebuilding of old bikes know this better than most and ride them accordingly. For instance I know from experience that my old 77 Z1000 on a good day would do 130mph but its chassis and brakes wouldn’t...Whereas my present Triumph Speed Triple s chassis is easily capable of handling its engines performance .Knowing and understanding this little piece of information has kept me alive all these years. I learnt it the hard way...there are much easier and less painful ways of aquiring this knowledge…