About three years ago my pal-since-juniorschool, Noel, was killed when a kid driving a tractor performed a right turn right in front of him.
Being a long-standing motorcyclist (23 legal years and half a dozen Honda 90 on the playing fields years) he took evasive action which resulted in him sliding 60ft along the Tarmac and then headfirst into a gatepost.
Dead on impact.
Fucksocks.
He was considerably larger than life, utterly loopy and a top bloke.
He had done allsorts with his life, TEFL in Japan, divorced, found true love, made a crossbow using a leaf-spring off a car suspension at the age of 13 etc. The tales that were told at his wake were truley fantastic.
It was the first biker funeral I had been to and the engine-rev salute from the hundreds of bikers who lined the route from his house to the crem still gives me goosebumps.
ANYWAY what capped it off for us all was the choice of music for his curtain moment at the crem.
"Firestarter" by Prodigy.
I doubt I will ever hear so much laughter in a crematorium again.
Good on ya Noel, you lovely, crazy bastard.
I love you and miss you!
X

and to those of you crying "fake" I can assure you it ain't.
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Fri 29 Jan 2010, 12:59, 4 replies)

Now this fella sounds like an absolute
STAR !!! Clicks
( SpankyHanky, Fri 29 Jan 2010, 13:06, closed)

Rock and fucking Roll, baby.
Rock and Roll.
Top bloke, moved in three doors from us when we were 7 (his birthday ten days after mine but well premature, hence the name) and the whole estate changed.
Christ, when I think of the shit we used to get up to...

Ironically he had just changed his Ninja for a 1300 Bandit a few weeks earlier cos the riding position was agravating the gout in his wrists. If he'd still been on the Ninja he would almost certainly have still been here on account of manoeverability.
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Fri 29 Jan 2010, 13:19, closed)

This is a sad story, true.
But as an engineer specialising in vehicle safety design with experience in motorcycles, to propel him 60ft along tarmac with enough force to injure, let alone kill him, this man was travelling dangerously fast, so please learn a lesson from your friend and always be extra careful while using your bike/other cars. Its experiences like this which speak much louder than the terrible adverts the goverment likes to waste money on. Hopefully your friends death will not be in vain, and has prevented someone else from injury/death by just sparing a thought for road safety.
Also, fuck tractors, they shouldn't be allowed on public roads fullstop, and should be transported via truck.
RIP Noel.
( Anal_Volley_Net, Fri 29 Jan 2010, 13:45, closed)

I think the 60ft was a bit of an exageration on my part...
But the point about the change of bike is valid.
He only just clipped the back corner of the trailer. Had he been on the ninja then he would almost certainly have been able to a) scrub off a bit more mph and b) negotiate a sharper turn.
It wasn't the leather-clad slide that did for him after all, more the sudden deceleration!
Maybe if he'd been wearing fabric not leather he may have incurred a bit more friction along the way? I dunno!

Fundamentally I agree with you, SPEED KILLS!
and to all those folks who have argued the opposite on QOTW I have one thing to say to you...
You are wrong, get over it!
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Fri 29 Jan 2010, 13:58, closed)