Harley tech dies after getting on a Hayabusa with out permission .
All Things Motorcycle - Death at a dealership yesterday
Cash and I just returned from taking her motorcycle to Stubbs Motorcycle here in Houston to have it serviced.
Stubbs is primarily a Harley-Davidson dealership and they have recently expanded their facilities to include a brand new, larger, second building (their HD showroom and sales facility) as well as a quite large Rider's Edge training course.
Yesterday, a HD service tech, without authorization, decided to take a customer's Hayabusa for a 'test ride' on the Rider's Edge course. He had plenty of experience with HD's, of course, but apparently had none with a superbike. He cracked the throttle full open and the bike took off like a rocket - of course!!! According to an H-D employee we talked to this morning, he rode his out of control bike right into the side of the new building, and DIED as a result of the crash. Today's newspaper reported that he died as a result of running into a 'wooden stage' on the lot instead of the building. I cannot account for the difference in those reports.
Anyway, we have recently made a big deal about a fundamentally important rider skill - squeezing BOTH levers if you are ever out of control. Had this young man done that he would have lived. A simple lesson to learn, a deadly one not to learn.
This is a death that will NOT be reported in the MSF or Rider's Edge death statistics. That, because the death did not occur during a Rider's Edge class. It did, however, occur on a Rider's Edge range and there have been several reports that the design of these ranges are compromised over the original MSF specifications. The typical complaint has been that they do not have ample runoff areas and that building, fences, etc. are too close to the range for safety. Cash and I saw this range for the first time today. That building is within 50 feet of the range.
Today there were a couple of wooden stages (apparently for bands) and one tent (refreshments) on or near the range. (The tent was definitely ON the range but the stages appeared to be just off the range.) The Rider's Edge class scheduled for today had been canceled but we do not know if it was canceled prior to the death or not. It's possible that it was canceled in order to make the range available for the 'event' that the stages and tent were for.
All Things Motorcycle - Death at a dealership yesterday
Cash and I just returned from taking her motorcycle to Stubbs Motorcycle here in Houston to have it serviced.
Stubbs is primarily a Harley-Davidson dealership and they have recently expanded their facilities to include a brand new, larger, second building (their HD showroom and sales facility) as well as a quite large Rider's Edge training course.
Yesterday, a HD service tech, without authorization, decided to take a customer's Hayabusa for a 'test ride' on the Rider's Edge course. He had plenty of experience with HD's, of course, but apparently had none with a superbike. He cracked the throttle full open and the bike took off like a rocket - of course!!! According to an H-D employee we talked to this morning, he rode his out of control bike right into the side of the new building, and DIED as a result of the crash. Today's newspaper reported that he died as a result of running into a 'wooden stage' on the lot instead of the building. I cannot account for the difference in those reports.
Anyway, we have recently made a big deal about a fundamentally important rider skill - squeezing BOTH levers if you are ever out of control. Had this young man done that he would have lived. A simple lesson to learn, a deadly one not to learn.
This is a death that will NOT be reported in the MSF or Rider's Edge death statistics. That, because the death did not occur during a Rider's Edge class. It did, however, occur on a Rider's Edge range and there have been several reports that the design of these ranges are compromised over the original MSF specifications. The typical complaint has been that they do not have ample runoff areas and that building, fences, etc. are too close to the range for safety. Cash and I saw this range for the first time today. That building is within 50 feet of the range.
Today there were a couple of wooden stages (apparently for bands) and one tent (refreshments) on or near the range. (The tent was definitely ON the range but the stages appeared to be just off the range.) The Rider's Edge class scheduled for today had been canceled but we do not know if it was canceled prior to the death or not. It's possible that it was canceled in order to make the range available for the 'event' that the stages and tent were for.
