What's your best reply?

[Viffergirl]

I'm looking for suggestions for the best come-back line to say to a cager. You know what I mean, when a friend/family/other say's "now YOU be careful on that thing (motorcycle)....I have a friend that __________(insert - died, got injured etc.)______ on a motorcycle". Reason? I'm tired of letting cagers have the last word on my fun. It's time to set them straight - but in a nice way.

For example: today at the gym a well-intentioned friend said "are you still riding that thing (VFR)?" I said "yes of course - I love it!". I was in the parking lot ready to leave on my VFR when she stepped out of her SUV smoking a cigarette and said "now YOU be careful on that thing....I have a friend that died on one of those...." and continued with her story. I put my helmet on and revved the engine. When she finished I said...."now YOU be careful ...." and not being able to think of a witty reply continued with "2/3 of people die in their beds!" Pretty lame reply...eh? LOL! So help me out here. What can you think of as a witty reply?

[RosscoB]

You will get used to it. The longer you have it the less people will bring it up to you.

I always like to point out that...I had a friend that died in a car wreck.

[hotwheels]

Good topic. I'm so used to it. It doesnt bother me. It goes in one ear and out the other. I tell my wife and family to tell me to have fun not be careful on that thing. I think it is a if you have to ask kind of thing. Most people just dont understand the passion we have for riding.

I guess you could say "you be careful and watch for bikes". Considering half of all bike fatalities are from left turning cage drivers. I am sure there are some peple on here more witty than I.

[RosscoB]

Originally Posted by hotwheels

I guess you could say "you be careful and watch for bikes". Considering half of all bike fatalities are from left turning cage drivers. I am sure there are some peple on here more witty than I.

Here Here!

[cornercarver]

After I had a pretty normal over the hood of a left turning car accident MANY years ago, a friend of my wife said "I can't believe that you still let him ride that thing!"

She replied "I can't believe that you married a man you can boss around."

I replied, "If you had a bad experience with sex, would you give it up?" Her friend said "That's not the same thing."

I said "Isn't it?"

Different circumstances but if they don't ride they won't get your response no matter how witty.

[hotwheels]

Originally Posted by cornercarver

After I had a pretty normal over the hood of a left turning car accident MANY years ago, a friend of my wife said "I can't believe that you still let him ride that thing!"

She replied "I can't believe that you married a man you can boss around."

I replied, "If you had a bad experience with sex, would you give it up?" Her friend said "That's not the same thing."

I said "Isn't it?"

Different circumstances but if they don't ride they won't get your response no matter how witty.

Very nice.

[WhiteKnight]

Originally Posted by hotwheels

I guess you could say "you be careful and watch for bikes". I am sure there are some peple on here more witty than I.

Dude, I was gonna say that. Anyway, like hotwheels, there are more people that are wittier (is that a word? it is now cause I used it in a sentence) and I am not always quick with the wit. Most of the time I just say "always" and go on about my ride.

[R.W.]

I always have to careful on my comebacks because sometimes they are a little much and I usually try to double think them before they flow out of my mouth. I always found a good defense is a good offense

Like in your instance the first thing that would come to my mind is I bet more people die from cigarettes than on a bike. Probable a little much? Yes, but with certain people I have no problem turning it around on them.

But in a nice way, that is truly tough. I think we all have been caught in situations where we have to listen to a story of someone getting hurt or killed on a bike.

[reg71]

Originally Posted by hotwheels

Very nice.

I saw your tagline that said I'm not fast maybe your slow and it made me think of a t-shirt I wanted to get...it said 'Damn your fast, you were haulin when I passed you.'

[reg71]

Originally Posted by R.W.

I always have to careful on my comebacks because sometimes they are a little much and I usually try to double think them before they flow out of my mouth. I always found a good defense is a good offense

Like in your instance the first thing that would come to my mind is I bet more people die from cigarettes than on a bike. Probable a little much? Yes, but with certain people I have no problem turning it around on them.

But in a nice way, that is truly tough. I think we all have been caught in situations where we have to listen to a story of someone getting hurt or killed on a bike.

I should point out that I work in a medical/neuro/trauma icu in california so I see a fair share of accident victims. Bikes, quads, cars. IF you go by %, yes we are more likely to be hurt, but in just the numbers, many many more people are hurt and/or killed in cars because there are so many more out there and they can do more besides watching the road in a cage. i.e. putting on makeup, cell phone talk, etc. In my ICU, we have at least 4 nurses and 1 doc that all ride. Our numbers are divided from cruisers to crotch rockets. But honestly, I see more people from an aneurym, or random brain tumor than I do from cycle accidents. I think life has risks, and we get th choose which of those risks are acceptable to us. I choose not to smoke so I decrease my chance of lung cancer, but I could still get it. But I think it's like everyone else was saying, someone who doesn't ride probably will never get that riding is more of who we are... than it is of what we do. But, if you are looking for witty comebacks, I can point you to some nice t-shirt slogans... I refuse to tiptoe through life to arrive safely at death, etc.

[jethro911]

I replied, "If you had a bad experience with sex, would you give it up?" Her friend said "That's not the same thing."

Love it!!!

I always say "well if you gotta go, you may as well have a shit eating grin on your face when you do!"

I want my stone to read;

He died doing what he loved best, tearing up the asphalt and loving every minute of it!

Live to ride, ride to live

Living is racing, everything else is just waiting!

Born on a mountain
Raised in a cave
Bikin and ........... oh I can't say that here, sorry! LOL!!!

I think I got carried away. I had better settle down and make a cup of tea.

You guys get the idea anyway.

[Viffergirl]

Originally Posted by reg71

I saw your tagline that said I'm not fast maybe your slow and it made me think of a t-shirt I wanted to get...it said 'Damn your fast, you were haulin when I passed you.'

LOL! Luv it!

All excellent suggestions. I guess if I try to be witty - I'll just feel bad after I've insulted some poor soul. So maybe I'll just try to let it slide. But I do find that it's the same people that tell me these things over and over again. More so than the occasional passerby. So when this happens again.... I just want a bigger pair of earplugs.....LOL!

[jchag1718]

Originally Posted by R.W.

I always have to careful on my comebacks because sometimes they are a little much and I usually try to double think them before they flow out of my mouth. I always found a good defense is a good offense

Like in your instance the first thing that would come to my mind is I bet more people die from cigarettes than on a bike. Probable a little much? Yes, but with certain people I have no problem turning it around on them.

But in a nice way, that is truly tough. I think we all have been caught in situations where we have to listen to a story of someone getting hurt or killed on a bike.

I wouldn't have a problem with that and I don't. I'm a non-smoker and mostly all of my friends smoke. No offense to the smokers out there, but I give it right back to them all the time. When they give me grief about riding and how dangerous it is, I'll just use their favorite line; "Well I'm gonna die from something anyway." It's a free country bro and we all get to choose our own vices.

[Bugxprt]

For the "you be careful" comments I've been doing my best "Aw, shucks" routine and telling them that well, life is full of risks, ain't it. You either hide under the bed or you pays your money and takes your choice.

When I got back into bikes after a 20-year hiatus my wife had a delightful response to several people who felt compelled to do the "mid-life crisis, eh?" routine. "Cheaper than a blond," she said. "And a lot less trouble."

And just the other day a riding buddy had the perfect response to the lady at the gas station who asked "Aren't you hot in all that?" (It's been in the high 90's here for the last couple of weeks.) He stood up a little straighter and sucked up some gut so it looked more like a chest and said "Thank you, Ma'am. I was afraid wouldn't nobody notice."

Y'all have fun,
C

[Viffergirl]

Originally Posted by Bugxprt

For the "you be careful" comments I've been doing my best "Aw, shucks" routine and telling them that well, life is full of risks, ain't it. You either hide under the bed or you pays your money and takes your choice.

When I got back into bikes after a 20-year hiatus my wife had a delightful response to several people who felt compelled to do the "mid-life crisis, eh?" routine. "Cheaper than a blond," she said. "And a lot less trouble."


Y'all have fun,
C

I've had the "mid-life-crisis" comment a few times....LOL! But being female I don't think I can say..."cheaper than a blond...and a lot less trouble!" LOL! But I do like the "Aw Shucks" routine....I might actually use that! Thanx!

OK - so I'm alittle bored today - I looked up some stats. Here they are:

Hazards of smoking

"If you are smoking for a length period of time - premature death is just about unavoidable. Smoking will kill you through cancer, heart and circulartory diseases, emphysema, and many other causes....More Americans will die this year from cigarette smoking than all the Americans killed in 24 years of battle deaths from two World Wars, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, combined all together! .... Passive smokers are at equal risk from the smoke exhaled by the smoker... It is known that second hand smoke contains 300% more nicotine than inhaled by the smoker."

Worldwide smoking statistics

" About a third of the male adult global population smokes. Smoking related- diseases kill one in 10 adults globally, or cause four million deaths. By 2030 if current trends continue, smoking will kill one in six people... Every eight seconds, someone dies from tobacco use. About 15 billion cigarettes are sold daily - or 10 million every minute. It counts to 166667 per second."

Teenage smoking statistics

"Every day, nearly 6,000 children below 18 years (non-adults) of age start smoking. Of these, nearly 2,000 will become regular smokers, which count to almost 800,000 new joiners every year. If current tobacco use patterns persisit, an estimated 6.4 million children will die prematurely from a smoking-related disease."

These statistics are from: www.smokelock.com

Maybe I can use some of those stats. If I remember them at the time! LOL!

Cheers everyone!

[WARNZIE67]

Here in Queensland Australia every rego sticker for one year had the slogan "LOOK LEFT, LOOK RIGHT, LOOK BIKE" In all my years of riding since I was 12 (I am now almost 45) most of my near misses have been on the road due to the fact that the othe road users are not careful and just don't see bike, lights on or not. Even when I was riding an LT1000 BMW for the New South Wales Highway Patrol, with an all white bike, red and blue strobe lights and blue and white fluro checker stripes they couldn't even see you half the time. I use to have a sticker on my car some years ago which showed a picture or you could say a logo of a bike rider outstretched on a bike with the caption, "THE SECOND BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD" I'm still trying to work out what the best feeling in the world is. Oh my wife just said it whens shes on the back of my bike. How silly am I. Viffergirl don't worry too much as it is the old saying of, "damned if you do, damned for something else if you don't" Keep the flag flying for all us VFR enthusiests throughout the world:)
WARNZIE67

[Viffergirl]

Warnzie67 - will do! I'll keep that flag flying high for all VFR enthusiasts throughout the world! Luv it! LOL!

Hey - where can you get those stickers, eh? "Look left, look right, look bike". I like it! (And thanx for the kind words. Always appreciated.)

Both myself and my BF luv to ride. Both my BF and I always bicker about who's got the better bike, his Shadow Sabre (cruiser) or my VFR. But the VFR wins hands down in my books. Always. Luv the freedom, the power of the bike and the ride.

cheers,

Jane