I have been holding off on writing this article because I knew it would be controversial in the motorcycle community. In the motorcycle world there are generally three types or classifications of motorcycle riders. There are those who ride cruisers such as Harley Davidson motorcycles; there are those who ride sport motorcycles; and there are those who ride anything in between.
Sport bikes, (crotch rockets) are motorcycles they can literally attain speeds of 150 mph plus.
I have received reports from numerous sources that law enforcement is cracking down on sport motorcycle riders for various reasons. There are being stopped for no apparent reason, and ticketed for no apparent reason.
Unfortunately, there is a minority of sport motorcycle riders that are giving a bad name to the rest of the sport bike motorcycle riders. They are; riding on city streets and freeways at excess speeds; they are doing stunts such as wheelies, burnouts, and other crazy things on city streets and freeways; and they are racing through canyons, city streets, and on the freeways.
As a motorcycle lawyer, I advise each motorcycle rider to follow the law. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for riding 100 miles an hour down a city street. I have personally witnessed sport bike riders doing insane things on the streets, in the canyons, and on the open road.
What do you think law enforcement’s reaction is going to be to these kinds of stunts? Not only are the minority of sport bike riders who are riding like this on city streets, on the freeways, and in the canyons ruining it for all motorcyclists by doing the things that they are doing, they are ruining it for themselves. What do you think the cagers reaction to seeing stunts like this being performed on public streets is going to be? Of course they’re going to have a negative feeling about all motorcyclists after seeing such stunts. Furthermore, many will call the police.
We cannot expect the cagers to respect our right to ride on the open road, when they see some idiot riding a sport bike down a public street in excess of 100 mph.
I have read that so called stunt sport motorcyclist are trying to get their stunts put into the X. games. That sounds good to me. These types of stunts have no business being performed on public streets.
There is another side effect to the stunts that the stunt bike motorcyclists are doing on city streets; they are causing insurance rates to go up for all motorcyclists.
It is up to all of us in the motorcycle community to come down our brethren who are doing these types of stunts on public roads. Do not applaud them; chastise them, because they are ruining it for all of us. If sport bike motorcyclists want to perform stunts and test the speed of their motorcycles, they can always find private parking lots, or racetracks, instead of doing their deeds on public roads.
Make sure you get permission from the parking lot owner before you use their parking lot to do your stunts. Be advised, that even if you do get permission of the parking lot owner to do stunts, you still may be in violation of the law. I highly recommend consulting with an attorney if you are going to do things with your motorcycle that would be in violation of your states respective vehicle code.
I can tell you this; I am sick and tired of riding down Mulholland Highway on a Sunday ride, and seeing the California Highway Patrol stationed every quarter mile or so just to bust racing sport bike riders. Furthermore, I am sick and tired of seeing sport bike riders lying by the side of the road after crashing because they are racing on city streets.
The vast majority of sport bike riders that I know obey and follow the laws. They are being rousted by law enforcement because of the minority of sport bike riders that are doing the crazy things mentioned above.
If you want a race motorcycles, contact the American Motorcyclist Association, and I’m sure they can set you up.
By Norman Gregory Fernandez, ESQ. , Copyright 2006
Welcome, my name is 
I am amazed at your blind ignorance. This is my first visit to
your site and in ten minutes I see you lobby for loud pipes and
against sport bike riders. It’s not the small number of idiots on
sport bikes stunting and speeding on public roads that are endagering
our rights to ride, its the huge number of riders with obnoxious
loud pipes and little common sense. It irritates the hell out of me
to see idiot sport bikers doing the things you describe, but the
majority of the public that dislikes motorcycles are those who are
fed up with the noise. Get a clue.
Ride safe
Brian
I am a young (early twenties) male sport bike rider and I agree with Mr. Fernandez. Sure I’ve done some stupid things but I’ve learned my lesson. The guys that want to stunt and race should take it to parking lots and race tracks. The guys that race on the street have nothing on the guys that race on the track. If you think I’m wrong, take it to the track and prove me wrong. I’m sick of people saying when they see my bike, “oh, you ride one of those!” It also makes me mad that I cannot afford full coverage because of people that think a neighborhood street is their personal race track.
Cruiser riders to their fair share of stupid stuff too, and I’m not a fan of the loud pipes, but I notice sport bikes more because that is what I ride and the type of activity I see people associating me with.
Instead of embracing this type of activity, the sport bike community needs to shun it. For example, the stunters who put out videos of them stunting on public roads, donÂ’t buy from them. DonÂ’t hang out with the sonic racers either, youÂ’re just encouraging the same activity that gets you harassed by the police.
Just my 2cents.
If I’m crusing around all day on my superbike doing 55, and
feel like a burst of speed I’ll blast it.
Crusin for 30min without popin one up is just weak.
driving on one wheel is unsafe for general public
it impairs others to drive cars.
stuntin may be a crime, but the truth is
police interceptors go 130mph and rockets do 150+
you can’t fine what you cant catch.
If a cop watches you pull a wheelie than yeah fine him.
If a mototard (retard) pops the cluch at a red light warn him.
I know what I do is illegal, but isn’t not wearing your seatbelt
or using your signal everytime. traffic laws are a JOKE!
you know you can get busted for not signaling out of your
driveway, and anything aftermarket not installed from the factory
on your car exept standard maintenance! that means any
aftermarket radio (even not loud) all neon lights
stickers in your windows a wing on the trunk.
think about that for a second… ain’t dat me cop cars are
illegal mister?
well I guess what I’m really tring to say is
I’m faster than a speeding ticket
you can’t give me a ciation if you can’t catch me.
good luck sportbike riders
This writer opines that your feelings are biased against those of us that ride “crotch Rockets” since you are obviously a COUCH aka Cruiser rider.
** The rest of the comments have been edited out due to your derogatory reference to certain well established motorcycle clubs, and your bash comment which is not allowed on my Blog.
Norm
To all,
Rriding and driving are privileges not rights. You must be responsible when doing so. Laws are put into place to protect all of us not to hinder or single out one group. I do agree with this article, but most of the people that do these acts do so out of one thing, to look cool not to get from point A to B. I am a cruiser rider and my brother is a sports rider. He and I both have children and at no circumstances will either of us carry out actions like popping wheelies and speeding through the roads at a high rate of speed. If you do, you deserve to be whooped because you are endangering your self and others. One of my Soldiers died from doing things like that because he “SAW IT IN A MOVIE” AND THOUGHT IT WOULD BE COOL, leave the junk in the movies and enjoy a safe ride. Remember is the sorrow of your loss by your family worth a trill ride. But to the author the Police have always and will always profile there is just no way around that. Perception is key, when anyone sees a sports bike they think of speed. I have not met a sports ride that bought a bike for comfort.
Well Brian, blind ignorance is a matter of opinion. I will not resort to arguing my positions with you by first premising the argument in a personal insult. It is better to debate an issue with civility that way issues can be solved in the biker community.
I can see the you feel strongly about loud pipes and their affect on cager opinions of bikers therefrom.
My article about loud pipes saving lives has nothing to do with what cagers think. It has to do with my own personal experiences on the issue. Cagers are the ones crashing into us because they fail to see us, or hear us. The issue of public perception is a whole different matter.
If you read my article on Sport Bike riders you will notice that I am not lobbying against Sport Bike Riders. My article is about why law enforcement is rousting them. The article talks about how a few sports bike riders are ruining it for the majority. Many of my clients are sport bike riders. They are reporting to me that they are being pulled over for no reason at all. I also discuss what I have personally seen on the roads.
Now whether a grandma will get more pissed off seeing a sport bike rider doing 100 miles per hour down a city street, or a loud Cruiser going down the street, I do not know. Frankly, my articles are about safety. I invite you to write an article about public perception of bikers. I will publish it on the Blog. Simply shoot me an email to law@norman-law.com with your article and it will be published here on the Blog.
Norm
I am not biased against anyone who obides by the law Tod. Basically what it comes down to is not bias, but a certain group of bikers who are bringing down heat on the rest of us.
I cannot tell you how many sport bike riders I represent who have been taken out by cagers. To me all bikers are the same.
Read my article again.
Norm
In response to the guy bragging about not being able to be caught. Let me just say this; I get the calls from the relatives and mothers of guys like you who have been killed racing at 150mph. Is it worth it?
Norm
Thanks for your comments David.
There are a select few, as you can see by a couple of comments of here, who have no regard for law, public safety or their own safety.
They give all of us bikers a bad name because we are lumped in with them by the public and law enforcement.
The reason they are crying bias and perpetuating a so called cruiser v. sport bike rider rivalry, which is a myth, is to justify what they are doing. There is no sport bike rider v. cruiser rivalry.
On the runs that I go on everywhere, all bikers and motorcyclist show each other respect. I have heard other bikers coming down on an idiot who decides to wheelie down a two lane road at 80mph a few feet from where hundreds of bikes are parked and bikers are standing.
The vast majority of sport bike riders that I know follow the law. Both cruisers and sport bike riders get taken out equally by cagers. We have to stick together!
Norm
My father is a radiologist, and says that the most accidents he deals with are from sport bikes. Do you think the manufacturing of the bike or the person has to do with this?
Yes it does. Sport motorcycles are manufactured to be very fast. Some of these motorcycles will do over 140mph easily. There are cars that can do the same thing. The problem is not that these motorcycles or cars are fast, the problem is that some people riding them are going too fast.
Norm