Archive for July, 2008

Is motorcycling dangerous?

Posted by David Hurst in Motorcycling, Motoring on July 10th, 2008

When I tell people I ride a motorcycle, some of them stare back in abject horror as if I’d just told them I had highly contagious plague. It’s like they believe riding a motorcycle is somewhat akin to ordering your own tombstone - for them it’s not a case of ‘if you die’, it’s ‘when you die’. Most of these people then realise that perhaps they might be offending you, so they qualify their nonsense statements with something like: “of course, it’s not you - it doesn’t matter how good a rider you are, it’s all the other idiots on the road that don’t see you”. As they nod sagely and dispense enlightened motorcycle riding advice, I find myself wondering why I’m even listening to a safety lecture from someone who has probably never straddled a motorcycle in their life.

I’ve been riding for about 2 months now, and have covered over 1,500 enjoyable (and safe) miles on my trusty SV650S. I think I have reached a reasonable level of competence and I have changed my mind a little on the safety of motorcycling. I don’t think it’s unsafe, and I don’t imediately assume that most motorcycle accidents happen because car drivers don’t see bikes. Now, before anyone shouts me down, I do realise that it is true that car drivers don’t always see bikes, but I put responsibility for my own safety in my own hands, not some anonymous car driver on the road with me. If I ride in a car driver’s blind spot, frankly, I deserve everything I get.

In fact, good defensive riding skills teach you to observe the road situation and make a solid judgement about what other drivers are likely to do. For instance, I don’t pull out on to a main road if it’s not completely clear and safe to do so. If I can’t see around a blind corner, I slow down and position myself for optimum visibility. If I see a car at a junction ahead joining my road, I slow down and make sure I get eye contact with the driver before speeding up again. I cover my horn button in such circumstances, and prepare for someone to do something stupid. When they do, I can easily remain safe. I follow the two second rule when behind traffic. I don’t overtake if there’s not enough space for a car to overtake. I wear reflective clothing and a visible helmet. In heavy traffic, I put on a high-vis vest. This has so far kept me in one piece

I believe the statistics back me up too. The majority of motorcycle accidents are had by males in the 19 - 24 age bracket, and around 85% of all bike accidents involve motorcyclists who have been riding for less than 2 years. If car drivers were the root of all accidents, the statistics would show a better spread. After all, if a car driver doesn’t see a bike, it doesn’t matter whether the rider has been qualified for 1 hour or 20 years. So what’s the difference? Why do only new riders get caught out by car drivers failing to spot them?

Simple: experience - experienced riders know how to ride defensively and safely, and as a result they recognise a situation where a car may potentially not see them, and then take appropriate defensive action.

The other key factor, unlike car accident statistics, is inappropriate speed. There are far too many complete idiots, giving the rest of us bikers a bad name. They ride too fast, too close to the traffic, filter / overtake when they shouldn’t, fly around blind corners with scant regard for what may be hidden beyond their vision and as such make themselves likely targets for accidents. Frankly, if you drove your car like that, you would be just as likely to have an accident. (Of course, you have a better chance of survival in a car accident.)

I know plenty of bikers. Most have never had an accident, and those that have acknowledge that they were riding in an unsafe manner.

So, is motorcycling dangerous? Well, that’s down to the personal choice of the rider. Ride safe folks. View every other road user as a potential cause of your death and adjust your riding accordingly. You’ll be just fine.

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He’s big, he’s red, his feet stick out of the bed - Peter Crouch

Posted by David Hurst in Rants on July 9th, 2008

Except he’s not red any more. I can’t believe Liverpool have let a player of Peter Crouch’s stature go for a piddling 9 million quid. The guy has proved his exceptional scoring talent for both Liverpool and England, and why Rafa doesn’t think he’s worth holding on to is beyond me. Who’s he going to replace him with? Robbie Keane? What a joke.

Liverpool’s loss is Portsmouth’s gain.

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Casio Pro Trek PRG50 Tough Solar watch review

Posted by David Hurst in Personal, Rants on July 4th, 2008

UPDATE: It turns out my watch was just faulty. I’m leaving the review as is because I still feel the concept of a battery-less watch that still has a battery is somewhat flawed. However, I’ve had a few people comment that their watches work perfectly, so I just got a bad one. I’d recommend using all the functions in the shop before you buy, and don’t buy one that’s not showing full on the power meter.

- - - - - Original post follows

For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted a multi-function sports watch with a thermometer on it. Not because I specifically need one, nor because they are particularly accurate, but because a friend of mine had one back in the late eighties. They cost far more than my paper round and pocket money would have ever stretched to, and I’ve never been a great saver. So, now that I finally have some spare cash, and in a fit of nostalgia, I went out yesterday and bought a Casio PRG50 solar powered watch.

These things are BIG and I will probably look like a complete cock sat at my desk wearing a watch so large it has it’s own gravitional field. Small moons in the distant reaches of the galaxy are being pulled out of their orbit by my enormous watch. It is so big because it has an altimeter, barometer (including thermometer) and a compass. Sweet. Everything I could ever need to navigate from the office back to home.

On a serious note, as a newly qualified motorcyclist, I am fed up with checking the weather forecast, which is woefully inaccurate. A personal barometer is much better - it’s accurate to my local area and it’s up to the minute. That’s the excuse I gave to my wife for spending £129 anyway.

So, how is it? I couldn’t tell you. This “amazing” solar technology is supposed to eliminate the need to change the battery and break the water resistant seal. (I’m not sure I care that much about that - I’m not a diver and I won’t ever be more than a metre or two under the surface. I think it will survive.) The idea of saving money on replacement batteries was nice. The way the shop assistant described it to me, all I need do is wear the watch in daylight and it would have plenty of power. What a pile of crap!

I put the watch in direct sunlight all yesterday afternoon and evening. I left it under a bright lamp all night and I moved it into direct sunlight this morning for several more hours. The watch still has no power to do anything other than tell the time. I couldn’t tell you how accurate the compass is, because the watch can’t summon up enough juice to run it. I’d love to describe tales of happy weather dodging thanks to the barometer, but I can’t, because the watch doesn’t have the power to run it. I’d like to be able to tell you my relative altitude here in Somerset, but alas, no power equals no altimeter. After my lengthy charging session, the compass almost worked, and then the battery drained.

What about the other features of this watch? Well, there’s an alarm. Oh, and a back light that comes on automatically when you look at the watch in low light. Well, the manual says it does anyway, I wouldn’t know because the watch can’t power the backlight. It doesn’t work when you push the light button, and it doesn’t work when I flick my wrist in the dark.

I spent fully one hour trying to find the stopwatch and countdown timer. I followed the instructions in the manual, but it wouldn’t work. A little bit of detective work on the interweb revealed that I had in fact been given the wrong manual, and this watch does not have a stopwatch at all. The watch supposedly had loads of money knocked off, but even if the retail value is only £129, you expect a frigging stopwatch and countdown timer on your sports activity watch. What a joke! The shop assistant was showing me this watch side-by-side with the PRG40 and she said the features were identical. I knew the PRG40 had a stopwatch, so I naturally assumed the PRG50 would too.

Casio, what’s gone wrong with you? You used to make great watches, but this thing is useless. Apart from the ridiculous lack of chronograph, I would need to be an outdoor worker in the Australian Outback to get any kind of use from the advanced features of this watch.

If you must buy one of these Casio Pro Trek watches, don’t buy a solar powered one. The not changing the battery thing is a lie anyway. All rechargeable batteries have a finite life of charge cycles (usually around 500 full charges from empty), so, assuming you could ever get any of the functions to work, you will be changing the battery at some point anyway. Probably within 3 years judging by what I’ve read on the forums. An ordinary battery should last 18 months - 3 years anyway, depending on how much you use the watch.

As for me, I’m going to get my money back.

UPDATE

Well I got my money back. The watch is faulty. Guess which part failed? The battery which “never needs replacing”, does in fact need to be replaced. The shop said they’d “never had a problem” with Casio watches before, so maybe they do work. Who knows? Who cares? Not me, because I’m not buying one.

I didn’t mention above that I had already purchased a PRG40 from another store which I had to take back - it had some debris stuck between the screen and the glass. They didn’t have a replacement, so I went elsewhere and was sold the PRG50 instead.

So, two watches from Casio, and both had problems. Am I super unlucky or have Casio let their quality control slip?

I’m going to check out the Suunto Core instead. It’s more money, but what the hey, at least it runs on a (user replaceable) battery.

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