Now here's some one-sided reporting.....

Crotch Rocket riders out of control, sergeant says

News 11's Tim Miller reported this story on May 7.

TOLEDO -- Warmer weather has brought out motorcycle riders here in Northwest Ohio. But there's another kind of rider you need to watch out for -- a dangerous one with a strange name, reports News 11's Tim Miller.

The motorcycles are called "Crotch Rockets." They are more aerodynamic --- hug the body more -- and can sometimes go faster than regular motorcycles. The Ohio State Highway patrol gets a lot of 9-11 calls each year because Crotch Rocket riders are out of control.

"Every year there is always something that happens," says State Highway Patrol Sergeant Scott Wickhouse. "Someone crashes, and we end up handling an injury crash."

Crotch Rocket riders often get a little too excited about the power -- zooming around and creating a hazard for themselves and other drivers.

"We do see a lot of people doing a lot of tricks on them, trying to ride wheelies down the Interstate in excess of 100 miles per hour," Wickhouse says. He remembers a recent incident on I-475 in Springfield Township when someone was driving erratically and crashed right into the back of another vehicle.

There are things you can do to steer clear:

* Always look out for the reckless riders. Remember-- motorcycles are harder to see than cars or trucks.

* Look for them when you're at a stop sign or pulling out from a traffic light.

"What they don't realize is that people may not see them, and they may change lanes or turn off or pull out in front of them and they just don't see them," Wickhouse says.

Source

Now, I'm not so naive as to believe bikes are all good, but please show a representative sample, not just a knee-jek to the memorably bad bike experiences.

Some balanced reporting, like these two videos about the bikes on the "Tail of the Dragon", goes a long way to show we're not all maniacs...

Vid1,

Vid2

Plus people often don't realize bikes are so much smaller than cars, we can adjust lines throughout corners, move and accelerate so much faster... I like to make the analogy about thinking what it'd be like if car lanes were 3 times as wide as your car - think how much more room for error and cornering you'd have...