Posts Tagged ‘Motorcycle’

Techniques To Lower The Cost Of Your Motorcycle Insurance

Monday, May 10th, 2010

New motorcycle riders, or first time motorcycle owners are the most susceptible to receiving a quote for motorcycle insurance that costs as much or more than their motorcycle. Many new motorcycle riders have bought a motorcycle only to turn around and sell it once they get their insurance quote. Let’s look at a few ways to get that insurance premium lowered a little bit.

Understanding how the insurance company comes up with the quote for your motorcycle insurance will enable you to make changes to the areas that will lower the cost. Insurance premiums are based on a calculated risk factor. This is where essentially, no matter how good a rider you may be, you get penalized for the “foolishness” of all the other motorcycle riders.

Where you live, and where you will be mostly riding your motorcycle will affect your risk level. This is because the increased traffic in a city poses a more substantial risk to the motorcycle rider than the streets and highways in a town or the country. Where your motorcycle will be stored when it is not in use also may be a contributing factor with some insurance companies.

One of the major areas that will affect your insurance premium is the age, style and size of your motorcycle. Others are the riders age, experience and occupation. While you can’t do anything about your age, or experience level, other than the previously mentioned training course, you can control the factors of the age and size of your motorcycle. Many new riders benefit from buying an older motorcycle with a smaller engine for the first couple years, and then when you have a little more verifiable experience upgrading to the bike you want.

The actual amount of miles you will put on your motorcycle in a season will affect your insurance premium as well. If you’re going to be riding on a regular basis through out the season, you will no doubt accumulate more miles. Also, the more you are riding your motorcycle, the more the risk will increase.

One factor that you have to negotiate with is the amount of deductible required to make an insurance claim. Many people find it beneficial to increase their deductible and therefore lower their insurance premium. This is also beneficial in the fact that you only pay the deductible when you make a claim on your insurance. Typically,if a repair will cost you less than $300 to $500 you’re better to pay for it yourself than put it through your insurance anyway.

The style of your motorcycle will have an effect on cost of insurance as well. Also, modifications, especially performance enhancing ones, will affect the rate of insurance. This is because sports bikes are considered to be more susceptible to accidents than their cruiser style counterparts.

About the author: Ken Henry can help you find the solutions to your insurance questions. Get motorcycle insurance advice and quotes from 5 top companies, plus get an exciting tip sheet on auto and homeowners insurance

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Bikers The Last Free Americans

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Whenever a person or group of people try to live their lives free, those who are stuck in unhappy lives will be jealous. Some people have a hard time letting go, freeing themselves from the day to day trials and tribulations of everyday life even for a little while. Others seek an escape from the stress and anxiety often associated with modern day life.

I guess for me, that’s part of why I am a Biker. There is something about riding a bike that inspires a sense of freedom in me. The open road, the wind in my face, the smells, getting back to nature, the power of my bike. It’s all these things and more that make me feel free. It’s unfortunate that there are some people who, for whatever reason, can’t find something or someway to let go and experience the sense of freedom that we do. These people, for whatever reason, are the ones who point to us and call us rogues or rebels. They say that what we are doing is wrong and that our culture is a “disruptive influence.”

As Bikers, we live our lives a little differently. We work and have responsibilities, but we still know the feeling of freedom. Maybe its because we smile just a bit more and are a bit more relaxed that turns these people green with envy?

A person who works hard and has no free time sees a person on the road riding his or her motorcycle and thinks “I wish that was me!” The thought of being free doesn’t leave their mind. They long for it. They crave it badly! How many of you out their have had a friend tell you how they have always wanted to buy a Motorcycle and just go out riding? How many of them ever actually do?

Here is a typical story : A man is driving home from work when he see’s a group of motorcycle riders pull up next to him. He looks at this group of people riding together having a great time, He starts to think, “I wish that was me”. He then decides, “I’m going to buy a Motorcycle!” He starts thinking about riding. How great it will be to have his wife on the back of his bike and the wind in his face. We could ride up to the lake or maybe that little motel way up in the Mountains. Thinking of the great times he will have he starts to feel that small sense of freedom. He thinks “This must be what those Biker get to feel, Wow!”

He turns into the driveway, parks his truck and rushes into the house to tell his wife about his fantastic idea. “Hi honey, I’m going to buy a Motorcycle.” His wife looks at him and says “What? Did you get overwhelmed by the fumes at work again?” “You can’t ride a Motorcycle. The man answers back, “I’ll learn!”

“You must be crazy”, she says. “Those things are death traps! You will kill yourself and we can’t afford it!” “Honey this is something I really want” replies the man. “NO NO NO!!! I won’t have one of those things in my house! What kind of message would it send to the kids, our neighbors?”

They argue about it, but it the end, the man never gets his motorcycle. He never goes to the lake with his wife or takes that trip up to the little motel in the mountains. He never feels the real sense of freedom one can only get when taking a long trip on a motorcycle. He spends the rest of his life wishing he had never seen that group of Motorcycles. He is angry and bitter.

Now when he see’s Bikers he puts them down. He hates Bikers, not because of who or what they are, but because of what he can never be. He hates them because of what they represent. They represent a kind of freedom, sense of belonging, a oneness with nature and the world that he longs for, he craves, but can never have.

We live here in America, the home of the free, but many are not free. They have never experienced the sense of freedom that can only be experienced on two wheels and, for whatever reason, never will. They live boring, uneventful. “safe” lives and complain about those who don’t.

Don’t hate these envious people, pity them for they will never know the sense of freedom and brotherhood we get from riding with a group of our Bro’s. They’ll never know the wind in their face, the feeling of peace and oneness with nature we feel as we ride threw the country side or down a long lonely highway. They’ll never know the clarity of mind that comes from a long ride alone or the closeness and bond of a long ride or weekend away with someone special. Just thank your higher power that you’ve found a way to escape, a way to be free, even if for some it’s just on the weekends.

Ride Safe and Ride Free because when it all come down to it, this is all about the Ride!

Your Bro L.J. James AmericanBikerX.com

LJ James does a Radio Motorcycle Show each Wednesday LJ James likes to help show the truth about the Biker life and series like Sons of Anarchy Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

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San Diego Motorcycle Accident Lawyer’s Top Ten Things You Don’t Want to Hear While in the Waiting Room After a San Diego Motorcycle Accident

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

1. I’ve been here for three days.

 

2. Pssshaw. That’s nothing.

 

3. Watch out for the nurse Brock. They say she doesn’t like motorcycle riders.

 

4. This place is like roach motel.

 

5. I guess you get what you pay for here.

 

6. Stop scaring the young man. He looks bad enough as it is.

 

7. Wait until he tries the food in the cafeteria.

 

8. Too bad the closest decent hospital is fifty miles away.

 

9. I heard they’re getting an X-ray machine next year.

 

10. That’s progress for you.

 

Now here are ten actual tips of advice from a San Diego motorcycle accident lawyer to follow if you have been in an accident. You can also learn more about how to handle a personal injury in San Diego, or any city, by calling the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson at any of the numbers which can be found on our website at http://www. SebastianGibsonLaw. com  and learning how we can assist you.

 

Obviously, if you have had an accident, and you are reading all of this advice, it may have been a few hours since the accident. However, if you ever have another accident, or if it’s only been a few hours since you were hurt, here’s what you should do from the start.

 

First, take a look around and determine if you or anyone, are hurt. If so, taking steps like trying to prevent further injury or loss of blood are the most important thing you can do. Even if some other driver caused you to be injured, it’s just good manners to help the other driver if they are hurt. They may even be so thankful that they admit their fault to you. The worst thing you can do is get angry or start a fight.

 

Second, make sure everyone is safe from being injured further. If you are in the middle of traffic, and you are dizzy, sit down away from traffic. If your vehicle is a traffic hazard and you have accident warning devices like flares or triangles, put them out on the road to warn other drivers and get away from the car. Let the police an other emergency personnel investigate the scene with the vehicles in place and move them more safely at a later point.

 

Third, call the police. Accident reports are extremely helpful if the police will do such a report. Let the police know you are injured immediately. Answer the police questions honestly. But if you are dazed or confused, let them know you need medical treatment and answer only what you feel sure about. Remember, your statements can and will be used against you if you admit fault, and it will be too late and too fishy to later say you didn’t know what you were saying at the scene. Police know that your best recollection is immediately after an accident.

 

Fourth, get the other driver’s information including their names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, make and model of their vehicles, license plate numbers, and their insurance company name and policy number. If there are witnesses, get their names, addresses and telephone numbers as well. If the other driver makes any admissions of fault, write those down as well.

 

Fifth, if you have a camera on your cell phone or in the car and you aren’t too injured, take some photos of the vehicles and the scene. If you can’t do it right away, do it after you are released from the hospital.

Sixth, if you are hurt, obtain medical treatment. Don’t decline the ambulance or hospital examination to save your insurance company money or to be stoic. Take your valuables out of your car if you can and get checked out at the hospital. If you are not hurt, don’t get treatment you don’t need. However, remember, after an accident, you may feel a rush of adrenaline that causes you to only start feeling symptoms of pain a few hours later. If you have a health plan that requires you to obtain permission first, call them and find out where you are allowed to seek treatment.

 

Seventh, call a good San Diego motorcycle accident attorney as soon as you have had your initial treatment, so the lawyer can gather other important evidence and prevent the insurance company from taking advantage of you and obtaining such things as recorded statements that you feel fine, when many of your symptoms have yet to manifest themselves. A good San Diego motorcycle accident lawyer can save you from making a great deal of mistakes and can shoulder much of the hassle of knowing what to do about car repairs, car rentals, medical treatment, witness statements and the like. If you think you will save money by not having an attorney, think again. A good San Diego motorcycle accident lawyer can almost always obtain much higher settlements, obtain reductions of medical bills and insurance liens and prevent you from making costly mistakes. Also, most San Diego motorcycle accident attorneys advance costs of obtaining police reports, medical records and the like and are paid and reimbursed for these costs only out of any settlement.

 

Eight, you will need to report the accident to your insurance company, but since they will want to take a recorded statement from you, just like any other driver’s insurance company, it’s good advice to retain an attorney first. And if the other driver did not have insurance, remember that it is your own insurance company that will be your adversary. You will also need to report the accident to the Department of Motor Vehicles and your lawyer can give you the form for this.

 

Ninth, do not agree to settle your claim privately with the person at fault for the accident. This almost never works out to your advantage. Don’t agree not to call the police. Police reports that determine the fault for an accident are golden. Your agreement to not involve the police only affords an opportunity for the other driver to change his story and blame you when the police will no longer investigate the accident.

 

Tenth, don’t pay a traffic ticket without a fight if you weren’t at fault or agree to accept a small payment for your vehicle repairs without knowing that the amount will in fact cover the cost of all the repairs.

 

If you’ve had a motorcycle accident in San Diego, Carlsbad, Oceanside, La Jolla, Del Mar, Escondido, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Vista, San Marcos, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Pacific Beach, or anywhere in Southern California, we have the knowledge and resources to be your San Diego Motorcycle Accident Lawyer and your Carlsbad Motorcycle Accident Attorney. Be sure to hire a California law firm with auto, motorcycle, truck, bicycle, pedestrian, car, bus, train, boat and airplane accident experience, wrongful death experience and insurance law expertise who can ensure you are properly represented and get the compensation you deserve.

 

If you have a personal injury legal matter, a dog bite or if you’ve lost a loved one in a wrongful death accident, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson, or visit our website at http://www. SebastianGibsonLaw. com  and learn how we can assist you.

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