Something strange is happening to the way we view public discourse in America. We were once a country of fierce and passionate argument on nearly every topic ranging from King George and his repressive taxation to the war in Vietnam. This was once a place where both sides presented their arguments and fought it out with the bulletin, the ballot box, or the bullet.
No longer. Today, the most common cry regarding any particular topic of controversy is that it be suppressed. We don’t need to talk about abortion — that’s settled. We don’t need to talk about a Basic Income grant — that’s ridiculous. We don’t need to talk about income inequality or bakers being forced to make cakes for causes they find repugnant or military adventurism or the idea that humans of different “races” or “genders” might actually be different from the neck up as well as the neck down. Bring up any hot-button topic in this country and your opponents won’t be trying to disprove your assertions; they’ll be demanding that you be shut up.
This attitude isn’t limited to the pundits or the professional politicians. It’s spread like Ebola (oh yeah — we aren’t supposed to discuss why Ebola patients are being flown to geographically diverse locations for no apparent reason — that’s “ignorant”) to even the nicest regular people out there. And so we find the exceptionally meek and gentle Wes Siler, my occasional colleague and fellow CTS-V Challenge competitor, taking time away from his hipster-guide-to-emulating-the-activities-of-real-men-using-as-many-Urban-Outfitters-items-as-possible “Indefinitely Wild” blog so he can call for the suppression of a debate.
Yesterday R&T published a version of an article I’d written about “Darksiders”. That’s the name adopted by a diverse group of touring motorcyclists who have decided to use car tires on their bikes. I think Darksiding is a fascinating phenomenon. It’s American in the traditional sense: these are people who are ignoring the status quo and the instructions on the box to come up with new and different ways to use things.
It’s also perfectly in line with the actual spirit of motorcycling. Men (yeah, mostly) have been using motorcycles for purposes beyond that for which they were originally designed since, um, pretty much forever. The Pre-Cambrian explosion of motorcycles into tourers, sportbikes, naked bikes, choppers, cruisers, ADV rides, dirt bikes, enduro bikes, dual-purpose bikes, trikes, Can-Am Spyders and whatnot all sprang from people “misusing” their Super Cubs or Harleys or Indians or CB750s.
I do not personally endorse “darksiding”. Nor do I personally condemn it. I’m not a touring rider; with the exception of a single two-up run around Columbus on a BMW 1200LT many years ago, I avoid the big bikes. I have no dog in the fight. However, I’m interested in what the phenomenon says about tire technology and real-world adaptation. Therefore, I wrote about it for both TTAC and R&T. It did not occur to me that I was doing anything irresponsible by covering the Darksiders and their activities, particularly since I linked to an industry-PR source condemning the activity as well.
That, however, did not satisfy Wes, who managed to get FIRST POST on the article:
This is a pretty irresponsible article guys. I hope people don’t read it and actually fall for this car tire bullshit… it’s the ignorance of the unique vehicle dynamics required by a two wheeler that created the myth that this is a safe thing to do
Well, if “Wild” Wes thinks it’s “irresponsible” to discuss “darksiding” in public I assume he just hides in the closet and pisses his pants every time CNN reports on ISIS or shows a beheading. This attitude — that is it “irresponsible” to have any discussion other than the PR-approved sales message — is what’s killing American journalism. This is a guy who has had no fewer than three life-threatening crashes pretending to be a racer on the streets because he’s never managed to put a number plate on his motorcycle and actually race it. Is it “irresponsible” of him to discuss his riding and his crashes in public? Of course it isn’t. Nobody is advocating child molestation here; we’re talking about different ways to operate a motorcycle.
As far as “the myth that this is a safe thing to do”, the problem with that is that Darksiders have logged millions of incident-free miles on car tires. Is what they are doing perfectly safe? Maybe not. Is there any evidence that carefully chosen car tires are not as safe as bike tires on touring bikes? Not yet. I’ll tell you this: Darksiding is absolutely safer and less “irresponsible” than the 169mph wheelie Wes promoted on his site a while back.
Why don’t we do this: I’ll ride a Gold Wing across the country on a car tire, and Wes can do a 169mph wheelie across the country, and we’ll see who survives.
I suspect that Mr. Siler’s real problem with Darksiding is that there’s no PR money in it. Car tire manufacturers won’t send you on junkets and bike tire manufacturers will. Therefore, the anti-darksiding tripe has become standard operating procedure for the bike-journo industry which incidentally makes autojournos look like paragons of rigid ethics.
But Wes isn’t the only guy who’s personally upset about it. A commenter by the name of “Bruce Steever” posted multiple times attacking the credentials of Darksiders. When another commenter stated that he had put more than 50,000 safe miles under his car tire, Steever whined
Any advanced training? Any cross-discipline riding?
and then persecutes the Darksider for having none of that stuff. But what the fuck does it matter? If I put 50,000 safe miles on a car tire and I’m not an advanced rider — if I’m the worst, most unsafe, uneducated rider in history — doesn’t that prove the theory? If an “advanced rider” could handle any situation but a “squid” can’t, and the squid is out there putting more safe miles on a car tire than most people will ride in a lifetime — doesn’t that lack of qualification and skills further make the case for the safety of Darksiding?
Looks like advanced training in motorcycling is far more common than advanced training in logic.
Of course, there are the usual swipes at me as a “car guy”. I am absolutely a car guy but I’ve owned six motorcycles and have been riding since 1992, in a variety of conditions including rain and snow. I’m not a licensed motorcycle racer but then neither is Wes Siler. (Digression: I’d love to be a licensed motorcycle racer. Problem is I weigh 240-plus pounds and have broken my wrists three times each on a bicycle already, plus my neck. I doubt my motorcycle-racing career would be glorious or particularly long-lasting.) This belief that there’s something special-snowflakey about riding a motorcycle is ridiculous. There are more motorcyclists around the world than there are drivers. Motorcycles are the default; cars are the exception. All you need to ride a motorcycle is awareness and vision and common sense.
And, of course luck.
So maybe all these Darksiders have just been lucky. If so, we don’t need to suppress them; we need to put them in the little Matrix cages and suck the luck out of them. After all, America hasn’t just suffered from a shortage of rational debate lately. Aren’t we short on luck, too?
It’s easier to disqualify and stick your head in the ground and get your Twatterati army to agree the people who disagree with you are totes bad people than have to defend some groupthink statement. Things accepted as a condition of being accepted as in-group are not possible to be logically defended, because they literally are shibboleths. What’s funny is this is the behavior that the “freethinkers” used to charge of unthinking religiosity, and now it’s most readily observed in the most oppressive of do-gooders who generally don’t like “fundies” and “hicks” and “those on the wrong side of history”: those who think they know what’s better for everyone and will make us do it by force if required.
Just wait until these guys find out that doctors can legally prescribe medicines for “off-label” purposes. No fan can accommodate that much fecal matter.
It might be “irresponsible” if whoever the guru of touring bikes is (assuming there is one widely recognized) was advocating this in the absence of evidence. It is almost impossible that just reporting on something that is happening is irresponsible.
In the few interactions I’ve had with Siler on lanesplitter (jalopnik sub blog) showed me that he very much has a “my way or no way at all” attitude.
If you want to see some pretty fervent dick measuring debate about using a car tire on a motorcycle, head on over to http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,68754.0.html
Nearly 3 years, 21 pages and going strong with no one on either side willing to budge. Lotsa worst case scenario speculation too!
For the record, I ride and Yamaha FJR and use motorcycle tires but have no problem if someone wants to darkside.
Some people have a totalitarian edge to them I’ve never quite understood.
I googled Siler and the first article that came up was an interview where he mentions how much he hates cruisers.
Yeah, he’s pretty much the sole reason I was a Lanesplitter reader for only one day. I know every hobby has its overbearing blowhards who want to dictate how others participate in it, but some people take it to the max. I’m buying a bike soon and it’ll probably be a Sportster 1200. Apparently Wes thinks that means I should also ride around in assless chaps* and don the appearance of a typical Blue Oyster Bar patron.
* yes I know chaps are by definition assless. Calling them this is pretty much the done thing at this point.
Harley’s aren’t my preferred bike but to each his own. They do look and sound great.
Therefore, the anti-darksiding tripe has become standard operating procedure for the bike-journo industry which incidentally makes autojournos look like paragons of rigid ethics.
And it looks like the video game journos make all motorjournos look like they should be working for the Sisters of Hope and Mercy Newsletter. Politics aside, Gamergate fascinates me because you have video game publishers like Gawker deciding it somehow makes sense to wage rhetorical war on people who play video games.
That’s what caught my eye about gamergate as well. I hadn’t played a game in years and had no idea there was a controversy and all I took away from my first encounter with their coverage was, “wow, that’s some nasty, cold contempt.”
That can’t be part of any sane business model.
This newest business with Gawker telling people to “bring back bullying” and apply it to “nerds” doesn’t sit well with me either.
Frankly there should be a plus size motorcycle race series with minimum weight restrictions. Skinny fuckers can wear a lead vest. If you disagree, I will tell you not to fat shame me.
To me it’s no different than the car guys who stretch small tires on large rims( not the “rubberband on a wagon wheel”) or the fad of canting the wheels so much they are nearly running on the sidewall. It’s your ass that is on the line, not mine, so have fun. Just don’t expect me to adopt your thought process, or even ride with you. I’m not a big fan of forking over $200 every 7-9 K miles for a new rear tire, but having experienced road rash, it’s not something I’m eagerly waiting to repeat. Therefore I always use a name brand tire that was designed for my bike, be it my heavyweight American tourer, European tourer, or adventure tourer.
I’m also not a fan of apehangers, rigid frames, or crotch rockets. But if thats what you like, have fun because at the end of the day thats what it’s supposed to be about.
If you want to read people really going at it then you should check out just about any “towing” section on an RVing site.
“Digression: I’d love to be a licensed motorcycle racer. Problem is I weigh 240-plus pounds and have broken my wrists three times each on a bicycle already, plus my neck.”
If you’d like to scratch that itch on the dirt some time, you are welcome to some hot laps on my 450 KTM at the local motocross track (Rio Bravo MX) the next time you’re in H-town. It pulls my fat ass (250 pounds) with multiple old injuries around the track just fine 🙂
Although I agree with much of what you’re saying I take issue with:
“All you need to ride a motorcycle is awareness and vision and common sense. And, of course luck.”
Okay, that describes the many guys and gals who buy their dream Harley late in life. You can get by mostly by the tenants you describe. HOWEVER, training will take you to a whole new level of each and highly increase your chances of surviving the hazards that await riding bikes on the street by introducing SKILL to the mix. I’ve lost count of the stories and one death I’ve witnessed of people, with no training, who bought a bike at 40+ years of age and subsequently wrecked because they lacked the understanding of motorcycle physics you learn in a combination classroom and training course.
The 1 percenters like Wes will tell you advanced training and track time are they way to go. They have a point but many folks just buy a bike as an occasional toy and don’t have the time or desire to complete any training.
The same arguments can be said for the high-performance cars that same, mature generation has the cash to afford.
Every bit of training helps you be safer, I agree.
I disagree, however, with the fetishization of motorcycling that’s part and parcel of the biking press.
It’s part of the reason more people don’t ride, IMO.
It is true that a motorcycle is literally just a motorized bicycle, and children ride bikes all the time. All two wheeled transport has the same magic.
However, the US rider has to contend with a congestion of dim-witted and inattentive drivers in particularly large vehicles, and this is a challenge not so encountered elsewhere.
” this is a challenge not so encountered elsewhere.”
I would have to disagree to a point. Having traveled Europe a few times there are a number of places where it is no different than the US. There are even some areas that I would say are worse, especially when you get into a major city. And if you want to see something that will make your boy parts rapidly shrink, just watch some Russian dash cam videos, videos from the Arab countries that show their version of drifting, or any videos from China, India or other places where 4 wheel vehicles are just now becoming more common.
That said, there are area’s where more attention is paid to two wheel vehicles, most notably the Alps region and Scandinavian countries. Perhaps driver education, perhaps temperament, perhaps they are also riders.
If I recall correctly, statistically you need more attentive car drivers to survive on a bike.
Cars making left hand turns is te most common cause of deaths for bikers, so acting like you are ‘invisible’ seems to be more important than tire choice and general riding skills.
So far my dad has survived 20 years of riding (knock on wood) as much as possible when hes not at work (he works two weeks on, four weeks off in the north sea) and in that time he has worn out about 5 or6 bikes, and probably hundreds of tires . And it has made him a much better driver whenever he ‘degrades’ himself by driving a ‘subpar’ (his words) vehicle with more than two wheels.
I don’t want to get into the whole bikers vs. cagers nonsense, but I will say one thing. I’ve done the basic rider course and have a CY endorsement on my drivers license. I’m at least somewhat competent at handling a motorcycle. But the biggest secondary benefit of having gone through a basic rider course is that when I’m driving my car, I know how important it is to be aware of motorcyclists on the road, how important it is to make sure I see them and make sure I communicate my intentions.
I just wish I wasn’t such a timid wimp and could get over the hump of taking a bike on the road.
The Basic Rider Course is actually pretty solid. I thought it would be stupid but it’s totally worth it.
When you get over the fear hump, good luck!
I like bikes but I’d only ride one outside the city
That guy sounds like a total wanker
The news that Mr. Siler can be difficult doesn’t surprise me. In one of the first videos of his I watched he was annoyed about something and being a bit of a jerk about it to his producers/crew. Hilariously enough a lot of this made final edit…which may have been a brilliant response by the above mentioned crew, or just evidence that he is self aware of his dicky tendencies.
On to the topic at hand. If you really want to make this point, and some truly lovely friends I’m sure, draw the obvious analogy to behavior on both sides of the silly “gamergate” argument being had everywhere techy right now. Make sure to then cross post to TTAC though, it would be a hilarious mixing of worlds to see the comment thread dealing with that new traffic.