Motorcycle accident & a plea for young riders

flick5848

flick5848

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Chris Flick
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Here's the story.

I work for a motorcycle dealership and about 6 weeks ago we sold a bike ( Kawasaki zx6r) to a 18 year old new rider. Being 18 he had to be restricted to 33bhp for 2 years so we fitted a restrictor kit to the bike. The lad came in on saturday to let us know that he had removed the restrictor kit and the clutch was slipping so we told him to bring it back and we will take a look at it for him and advised to put the restrictor back on.

I took a call today from a friend of his to inform us that he was killed on Monday evening in a motorcycle accident. He was out riding on Monday with 2 friends who were restricted and decided to show off that his bike wasn't now restricted and collided with a car coming in the other direction. He was said to be doing approx 100mph and the car was going 60mph. He was killed instantly and another rider was thrown from his bike after riding through the debris in the road.

I feel really guilty for supplying the bike and my heart goes out to his family and friends but i cannot be held responsible for the actions of the rider.

IF YOU ARE A NEW RIDER THEN PLEASE BE CARFULL AND REMEMBER THE RESTRICTOR IS THERE FOR A REASON AND I PLEAD WITH YOU TO LEAVE IT ALONE

FULL STORY HERE :-

CLICKY
 
You shouldnt feel guilty. You told him to leave the resticor alone and he point blank ingored it. It was his choice to do it and ride like a knob so you shouldnt feel guilty.

At the end of the day you can only advise riders not force them.

My sympathies to his family and friends, to young an age to die at. Whole life ahead of him :(
 
It's a stupid law, before I took my test in 1978 I was restricted to 250cc, by allowing 18 year olds to ride 600cc bikes with only a spanner to de-restrict it the government and the rider are responsible, not you.

I was on the M62 at 7am one saturday morning a few weeks ago, not much traffic, doing 70ish in the inside lane when 2 bikes came past that fast I couldn't even tell what they were, I estimate they were doing 160mph+

Suicide:cuckoo:

I notice there's no mention of the bike being de-restricted or the speed he was doing in the article, it's easy to blame a road for the deaths without looking at why, is it another case of we're not putting a camera van up there because we can catch 50 motorists doing 34 in a 30, we'll only get one doing 80 in a 60 up there
 
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One horsepower or a 1000 horsepower, people will still kill themselves.

I've lost a few friends through bike crashes, sometimes there own fault, sometimes a sheep.

When it's you time to go then that's it (but being a **** can bring it a lot earlier than normal)
 
It's a stupid law, but it is flauted by equally stupid people. It's a tragedy, but I can't really find any sympathy for the dead rider. Another one for the Darwin Award.
 
mrgubby said:
One horsepower or a 1000 horsepower, people will still kill themselves.
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I'm not saying they won't but an 18 year old with little experience on a bike with 0-60 in under 3 seconds is a recipe for disaster, if he was on a 250 he wouldn't have been doing 100mph
 
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wack61 said:
I'm not saying they won't but an 18 year old with little experience on a bike with 0-60 in under 3 seconds is a recipe for disaster, if he was on a 250 he wouldn't have been doing 100mph
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He'd probably just be paralyzed then.....
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Your mum is sensible then. :thumbs:
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Yeah, I didnt see that way at the time but then I am teenager. Tbh I am glad she said no, I have trouble on a pushbike. Oh and I know how much upset would be cause if anything happened to me and I wouldnt want to do that to Emma and my Mum and Dad and family.
 
Bike are like planes ....

You get old pilots

and you get bold pilots


but you don't get old bold pilots


If I make it through to 28th December it will be 30 years on the road with full bike licence :thumbs:
 
I managed 44 years before a lorry sent my bike to the scrapyard in the sky and me for some NHS R&R.

However the bottom line here has sweet FA to do with restrictors and all to do with folk, so don't beat yourself up about it, flick.
 
flick5848, No way you should feel guilty. You did everything you could to encourage the guy to refit the limiter. It's a true tragedy and down to the impetuous of youth. My heart truly goes out to his family and to his friend I wish a speedy recovery, at least physically. I know emotionally it will take longer.

Matt, glad your mum said no. I know we moan about your jokes, but this place wouldn't be the same without you around!
 
I passed my test in the days when you could learn on a 250cc motorcycle, then the sky was the limit on size of bike.

I was on my way to work on my bike, (a 160 cc honda at the time)on a wet morning when a dog ran out in front of me, I parted company with the bike when it went into a skid, luckily it was the bike that ended up wrapped around a lamp post not me.
I only suffered cuts and bruises, and that was the end of motorcycling for me.

I still have a license that would allow me to legally ride the biggest bike in production having never ridden anything bigger than a 200cc 2 stroke , how crazy is that!!.
 
Galaxy66 said:
I passed my test in the days when you could learn on a 250cc motorcycle, then the sky was the limit on size of bike.

I was on my way to work on my bike, (a 160 cc honda at the time)on a wet morning when a dog ran out in front of me, I parted company with the bike when it went into a skid, luckily it was the bike that ended up wrapped around a lamp post not me.
I only suffered cuts and bruises, and that was the end of motorcycling for me.

I still have a license that would allow me to legally ride the biggest bike in production having never ridden anything bigger than a 200cc 2 stroke , how crazy is that!!.
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No crazier than a car driver's license allowing an 18 year old, who probably learnt on a 1.2 litre Vauxhall Corsa, to drive a Porsche 911 Turbo!
 
fabs said:
No crazier than a car driver's license allowing an 18 year old, who probably learnt on a 1.2 litre Vauxhall Corsa, to drive a Porsche 911 Turbo!
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The point I was making is that I passed my motorcycle test a very long time ago and still hold the license to ride a beast of a bike having never progressed further than a weak 200cc two stroke.
 
Holy jesus!!!

motorcycle-crash-into-car-759819.jpg
 
I hate hearing stories like that, but then again, who doesn't?

I sold my bike yesterday, for a few reasons, one of them being the safety aspect. I can be as sensible as I want on a bike, but it doesn't make other drivers more observant/less dangerous.

Since riding my bike, I realise how important it actually is to check blind spots etc... before changing lanes, pulling out, or exiting a roundabout.
 
like others here i passed my test on a bike when Methusala was a lad.my last bike i parted with a year or so ago was an AJS. Too heavy to hold up with arthritis coming on.what frightens me now though is the speed modern bikes can attain in a very short distance, so to govern a bike for an inexperienced rider makes sense the choice of altering this, the decision to attain such speed especially at a black spot was totally the riders choice. unfortunately a bad one that has effected all involved but at no point can blame be attatched to the dealer.i use the Rockferry by pass to and from work one death this year and another ended up in the hedge last night.not always bikers fault anything could happen to cause accident but maybe we should limit to 250cc and after a year of passing test take another test and limit to 500cc for a year then permit open choice of cc.this way as the riders skills evolve the larger bike could be permitted
 
Very sad story indeed, but as a mate of mine has always said - " the throttle works both ways ".
You should not feel guilty, you sold the bike in the correct spec, if he had changed it then that was down to him. :shake:

PS My sons 50cc scooter is derestricted, its safer.
 
Another oldie here - took my test on a 250, was at the dealers 10 mins later and off on a 750 - within 2 miles I had worn a hole in the exhaust by not realising how fast I was going in a corner (luckily I didn't fall off).
Right now I am in plaster having had my ankle fused - the result of a policeman driving into me on my bike 21 years ago - not my fault, but that hasn't helped me get through the 11 operations or the pain that I have had to live with.
Bikes are brilliant fun, but all vehicles are potential killers, and all drivers need to learn just how dangerous a badly driven vehicle can be, and the suffering that they can cause..
Flick - this was not your fault in any way, but it is something we all need to be reminded about - roads can be dangerous places, so be alert, and try to be safe..
 
Definitely not the dealers fault at all.

Ive ridden a 125 for a few years, and am in the process of passing my tests so I can upgrade. A 600 will be bought, but she will be restricted for Im not stupid enough to think i can make that jump so fast.
 
Whosoever shall aid, abet, counsel, or procure the commission of any indictable offence, whether the same be an offence at common law or by virtue of any Act passed or to be passed, shall be liable to be tried, indicted, and punished as a principal offender.

The dealer was definitely a weak link in this sorry chain of events. The rider should've been told in strong terms to stop riding and the Police informed (if only to cover your backs).

Another rider is in hospital and the emergency services may have been delayed in saving other lives. The whole episode will have cost many times more than the damaged bikes.

Thank you to the OP for the warning.
 
fabs said:
No crazier than a car driver's license allowing an 18 year old, who probably learnt on a 1.2 litre Vauxhall Corsa, to drive a Porsche 911 Turbo!
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I think it would be quite hard to get to drive a Porsche 911 Turbo when you are 18 years old. I would imagine that the insurence will either tell you where to go or they will make it like £18,000.

I am really glade i didn't stay in the bike scene for long, i liked them but would never get on one on my own.

My dad had, had them since he was in his teen's and even he don't like riding them down these roads
 
Techno-Geek said:
I think it would be quite hard to get to drive a Porsche 911 Turbo when you are 18 years old. I would imagine that the insurence will either tell you where to go or they will make it like £18,000.

I am really glade i didn't stay in the bike scene for long, i liked them but would never get on one on my own.

My dad had, had them since he was in his teen's and even he don't like riding them down these roads
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Well I was using an extreme example.;)
 
I have no sympathy with the rider, I'm only glad that the driver and passenger of the car seemed to have escaped with relatively minor injuries.

The driver of the Polo, a 27-year-old woman from Crawshawbooth, suffered a broken collar bone and her sister, who was the front seat passenger, suffered minor injuries. Both women were taken to Airedale General Hospital.
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If accidents never hurt anyone else, I'd say let people do what they want. The tourble is that all too often its innocent people who are killed. There's no telling what psychological damage the pair in the car will usffer but also consider the emotional damage to the rider's family.
 
Galaxy66 said:
So is that still a valid one ;)
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Well yes actually. ;) There are ways and means. there are Porshe owning dads out there who will insure thier car for any driver so that there son can drive it (and this can apply to may other high powered cars, including for example a Honda Civic Type R).
 
photon said:
The dealer was definitely a weak link in this sorry chain of events. The rider should've been told in strong terms to stop riding and the Police informed (if only to cover your backs).
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I disagree wholly. The dealer put the restriction in place before it left his shop. there ends his responsibility.

If I went and bought a car and run someone over speeding, it's not the dealers fault.
 
fabs said:
Well yes actually. ;) There are ways and means. there are Porshe owning dads out there who will insure thier car for any driver so that there son can drive it (and this can apply to may other high powered cars, including for example a Honda Civic Type R).
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We must apologise for going slightly off thread here Fabs, but have the insurance companies not wisened up to that "loophole" effectively stopping parents from doing that by excluding youngsters from any driver policies, and if the 18 year old was a named driver the insurance would be based on the driver with the greatest risk potential and therefore would be sky high in any case.................slinks away expecting a mod to to reply next advising that another thread should be started:exit:
 
A question for the OP.

How much of a restriction does the restrictor cause?

And my opinion on fault - absolutely NONE on you or the dealer you work for unless someone there told the chap how to remove it.

I just hope that the injured innocent parties get some sort of insurance payout since the chap will have invalidated his by removing the restrictor.
 
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