september 26th

[T-dawg]

may not appeal to most but if you live for chaos its a hella good time


YouTube - ROC 2008

[desmo2]

"Law enforcement dreads it, and the public is scared."

Indeed. This is a no-brainer recipe for new legislation. Who here thinks that is a good thing?

[T-dawg]

no offense meant but is it really any different than exceeding the posted speed limit on a backroad?
i would say any time you can get 600 riders together on the same ride without any real incident ,I would consider it fairly successful .

careful of the stones you throw

[cworley]

whooooooooolies!!!!!!!!!

[FudogNinja]

i'll pass on that one. way too many idiots in one spot. I saw over a dozen near collisions just in that video alone.

[T-dawg]

Idiots?

I have gone on the ride for the last 4 years, never once has there been any incident involving injuries or any collisions. The guy in the vid (guru) who went down ,if you watch he makes an appearance less than 5 min later. As i said this ride isnt for everyone but it certainly isnt any less safe than a group of guys tearing up the backroads or ripping up the track at a trackday. Its a huge unfair double standard. how many people went down at your last trackday at hallet? Were their injuries serious? how many who have crashed at the track never returned to riding?

[desmo2]

The more appropriate question to ask is, how many unwilling participants were put at risk, or were appalled, by what occurred at the track?

Zero.

The person who takes part in the activity, no matter if it is track riding, stunting, or sky diving, has accepted the risk of that act. The problem is when that activity risks the safety of others, or when the act is conducted in the wrong venue that projects the appearance of risking others.

You are partially correct on one point...carving the back roads does piss off the general public, especially when that carving involves passing slower traffic in excess of triple digits. Wrong venue for the act. I enjoy riding back roads, but I am very respectful of the rest of the motoring public when I do it. I don't try to drag a knee at insane speeds past anyone's house, nor do I peel paint off of slower traffic as I pass by.

Let me make it very clear...I do not condone road racing on public highways. Having said that, how many people are actually shocked and appalled when it does happen? A dozen or so witnesses, be they motorists or home owners? Still unacceptable, to be sure, but what about your "Ride of the Century"? With 600+ motorcycles pulling countless shenanigans on urban, multi-lane highways, hundreds, if not thousands, of people are witnessing the event. I feel comfortable in guessing that more than 90% of those people not only do not approve of what they are seeing, but are scared or pissed off about what they see passing them on a public highway.

Apparently, public stunting isn't shocking enough, so some idiot (or idiots) decided to up the ante and get hundreds of people together, sometimes completely shutting down one direction of an entire, multi-lane, metro interstate, to conduct an impromptu stunting exhibition. Well, mission accomplished. The ROC events made the evening news, so even people who didn't get tangled up in the mayhem in person can get pissed off about it. Now, MILLIONS of people are asking, "Who is going to do something about this!?!"

The videos that are made are proudly flaunted on the internet. What harm in that? Well, initially, none. The vast majority of people watching them get off on them. BUT, many young riders see these videos and start their own brand of public stunting, and the problem compounds itself exponentially. In nearly every major city in the U.S., the police and lawmakers are being hounded to do something about the ever-increasing, high-speed stunting displays on public highways.

Law enforcement tries to intervene, but running from law enforcement is apparently just as fun as pulling a 100-mile per hour wheelie past grandma and grandpa. Law enforcement administrators beg the legislature for assistance, and drastically harsh laws are passed for anything from pulling wheelies, to speeding, to following too close. Now motorcyclists who aren't even involved in any type of stunting, which was the root cause of the new laws, are being snagged under "anti-stunting laws".

It has happened in numerous cities across the U.S. and Canada.

I have no problem with stunting in a controlled environment. These huge "ROC" events do nothing but create bad laws for motorcyclists, and birth cops who can't wait to catch a sport bike rider doing something wrong.

[Showme08]

Impressive to say the least....but I have to ask..why does no one wear any gear?

[Camber]

i agree with dave. stupidity comes into part when they are taking the extra risks associated with stunting with no gear other than their lid. next part is the dirtbikes and fourwheelers on a major highway. and last and probably the most important is the reckless endangerment. i dont care if they go to an abandoned airstrip, old warehouse parking lot, or a shutdown piece of highway (shutdown being the keyword) but doing that in close proximity of the general public is the aggravating part. one guy eats it there are 2 possible and greatly probable outcomes. one his buddies are all grouped together close to him especially in that large a group and next thing there are 20 mangled bodies there. or he eats it a car is following too close that car either hits him or wrecks to avoid him and you have a pile-up on the highway. all because of one persons stupid choices.

[ryoung57]

I agree +10000000000000 with Desmo. This kind of crap give us all a bad name, and is going to eventually result in one thing: the complete banning of sportbikes on public roads. They're going to end up just like dirtbikes, track only. Innovation will die out, and we'll all end up riding scooters and pos harley's.

I would love to see the whole thing intercepted, and every person checked for warrants, every bike checked for insurance, license, and against the stolen vehicle list. I'd bet somewhere between 30% and 50% of the people involved would be in trouble.

F*cking Douchebags. Don't they realize that the people that are "scared" are the same ones who vote in the people who make the laws?