George

The university kids I teach have elevated my S2000 to near-mythic status, partly because I talk it up in class all the time. Once in awhile I'm caught in a stoplight dilemna when one of my students pulls up next to me--should I keep the moral and ethical high ground or punch it? Anyway, the kids love my car and, kids being kids, want to show it up at the oddest times. None odder than yesterday morning.

I was pulling my S out of a parking stall to run an errand and noticed one of my students on his motorcycle pulling into the parking lot. He saw me and, apparently intent on showing off, gunned the throttle and popped a wheelie. I guess he didn't notice the speed bump he hit just as the front tire launched into the air--because the jolt of hitting it caused him to twist the throttle just enough to over-rotate, sending the front wheel right over the top. As the back wheel zipped underneath and forward of his body, he whipped backwards and struck the ground on his butt with the bike in a compromising position directly on top of him. With a sickening grind the bike/idiot assembly (and a snapped footpeg and the cracked and separated side of the crankcase thingee) slid about 30 feet to a stop directly in front of my car. It was at once the funniest thing--and scariest thing--I'd seen since taking this teaching job.

He got up and, with the exception of his pride, was miraculously unharmed. He was wearing a helmet and "winter weight" military fatigues (now shredded) but no other protection.

It was the third motorcycle accident by one of my students since bike week last month.

I'm signed up for a mid-May MSF beginner's course and sure got a lesson in the importance of safe driving, helmets, and proper clothing! Now, if I can only convince my kids that my S is a piece of junk...

ace039

Take a look at my previous thread titled "Are you a squid?"