Kids will be kids, idiots will be idiots. Give them your best advice and let them make a decision for themselves. Not much more you can do about that, other than staying away from them if you don't trust them.

 

Hey you were supposed to bring T back in one piece! He's selling me a HP4! Called out sick today tho.

I just feel the automatic "start small" sometimes sounds a bit like "suicycle". Like I was sayin standing 10' away from Yolie, surrounded by their boys is lightyears from sitting in her saddle when the rpms cross 10k. A lot of it is just noise. Most you can safely ignore.

Then there are the ones who DO actually buy one. Reality usually taps them on the shoulder a couple times before reaching for the baseball bat. Things like a little tire slip that jars their "I thought I was planted!" riding position. Things we ignore from experience. If they're sane, and I do give most people the benefit of the doubt of being mostly sane, they'll chill out a bit and be more receptive towards good advice. That's where we're supposed to come in. Too late to stop them from making a purchase we don't agree with. But early enough to help them settle in and down before they take everyone out.

Then there are the ones beyond help. Two good examples: the office squid I used to work with and a new squid I work with now. The office squid who has been down 5 times thru stupidity still wants to race Yolie on his gixxer 600. I offered to drive him up to a BMW dealership so he could test ride a s1k and see how badly outclassed his stock 600 is (not yours Ray cause I wanna be able to come back). The other idiot I didn't even know rode till he returned to work today. He's been out due to a head injury for 5 months and was complaining of vertigo. Went down, no lid and bounced his head off the pavement. Asked where was his helmet and he gabe the whole "helmets are for a ****y" argument. But he can't look up nor down 5 months after the accident without losing his balance or getting nauseous.

These 2 guys are gonna take themselves out if they keep riding. I can't stop them. Nothing I say or do will change them. I can beat the first guy in a race and he'll just try again thinking I got lucky or add more power to try to even the fight. The other guy knew I went down last April and didn't miss a second of work nor have any lasting physical side effects due to my gear. Yet he aimed the "****y" comment straight at me.

Guys like that simply aren't worth it. I said my piece. I've made my peace with whatever happens to them. Cold? Yes but what else can I do? One last story though: last summer I was gearing up to ride when a woman with her teenage son stopped me. She wanted to know where I got my jacket. Her son had been riding his dirtbike in the street and went down. He showed me some pretty good rash down his arm. I showed them my old jacket, the one I lowsided in, with the road scars in pretty much the same place and gave her the address to Revzilla. Neither knew where to get gear, especially not locally. The KID thanked me. Mom just blessed me

 

The second he finished that sentence I woulda responded with,
'...says the imbecile with vertigo who can't look up or down'

I would also be inclined to 'accidentally' drop something at his feet and say, 'hey, could you pick that up for m...oh wait. Nevermind. You can't see it.'

After beating him once, I would just say, 'Stop whining. you had your chance. You are worse than O'connor pestering Toretto for a rematch in Fast and the Furious'

If they are going to talk **** like that, they essentially waive their right to any sympathy whatsoever. Gloves off!