The Yamaha Road Star Warrior Forum

OldMan:

JFrack77:

Yah, there is a vid out there of a head on collision test using the smart car and some mercedes...   Lets just say the smart car LOST .. big time!

That video was posted here last week or the week before.  Take a close look.  The front end was destroyed but the passenger compartment came out almost untouched.  I don't care what happens to the rest of the vehicle as long as I can walk away from the wreck.

Yah, but it looked like the drivers legs would have been CRUSHED....

I found one of these "smart" cars crushed up under the wheel well of my F350.  Took me 15 minutes to scrape it out!

OldMan:

Damon:

If you want to smash your big truck into a small car, you just might be a sociopath.  Or insecure.  I dunno.  See a doctor before you hurt someone.

Trolling again?

Never.  Just having some fun.  It's a slow day at work.

 Yeah, one went zipping by me yesterday and I was already moving above the 70 mark.  Luv my truck, don't operate on auto, Often see the ramifications of stupid

dmac:

I found one of these "smart" cars crushed up under the wheel well of my F350.  Took me 15 minutes to scrape it out!

And yet, if someone said, "I found one of these 'motorcycles' crushed up under the wheel of my F350," neither you nor anyone else would find it funny.

It's amazing that a bunch of bikers on a motorcycle forum can joke about running their big trucks over small vehicles.

Every day riders like me just can't relate to the mindset of the cager/weekend rider, I guess.

When I was in Italy and France about 3 years ago here is what I saw.  These are not my photos, just perfect examples of what I witnessed.

You know, i saw another one on the way home from work on I95 (brave dude....)

And i got to wondering if it were legal to pull straight into a spot, perpendicular to the curb (like in pic 1 above)  Only reason i was wondering, they appear to be as long (nose to tail) as a suv/truck is wide...  

It's totally legal.

I have seen a few of them in my area. I pulled up to a guy in one on the highway on my Busa and I was biger.I just shook my head and laughed.He looked as if he couldnt beleive I was bigger than his car.I feel safer on my bikes.

I'm a Brit living in the US with my American wife who owned a smart in the UK for almost 4 years.

With sincere respect I have to say that aside from the "Taste" issue, as in they're not going to appeal to some people in the same way that they do to others, many of the comments made about the car are misguided in the extreme.

Someone mentioned the crash video. There've been a few of those and one thing emerges from all the research.

At the speed that the smart is travelling you'd die in ANY vehicle that stopped that quickly.

The smart, however, does better than almost all other vehicles of similar or often larger size in resisting deformation of it's passenger compartment which means that in a 30 or 40 mph crash you're less likely to be injured in a smart than say a VW Jetta or a Golf or another similar sized three door hatchback as we Europeans call 'em.

Ours cruised at 80 on the Motorways of the UK with little or no discernable disturbance from the wind flying off the front of big trucks or crosswinds in general. It easily contained my partner and me on half a dozen camping trips with all our gear for weekends at festies and got 50 plus mpg (UK gallons) even when I was thrashing the bollocks off it.

We were gutted that we couldn't afford the huge fees to enable us to bring it to the US with us and even more gutted that with us both hanging on to our jobs by the skin of our teeth we can't risk buying one here now that they're available. But we can wait a while and snap up a used one eventually, I expect.

I don't know what's under the rear floor nowadays but ours was powered by a 699cc 3 cylinder turbocharged mercedes engine. You could get a slighty smaller engine but we opted for the 699 so's to have AC.

Two minor drawbacks as far as I was concerned were the harsh ride - stiff suspension made for great handling though. Except sometimes it didn't. Push the little devil too hard into a tight turn and it wouldn't. Turn, I mean. Understeered like crazy. But only on an uneven or loose surface. A nice flat tarmac surface meant that this particular problem rarely if ever manifested itself. All the weight is at the back, see. If you were going uphill, and turning hard at the same time it'd push a little more than you'd be comfortable with.

Again, as has already been mentioned, they're designed primarily for pootling about in the city and not for doing the Paris-Dakar. I had to keep reminding myself of that each time I went out in it on my own. They're the best 4 wheeled fun you can have until you can get back on your bike.

And they really are safe. Honest.

Damon:

dmac:

I found one of these "smart" cars crushed up under the wheel well of my F350.  Took me 15 minutes to scrape it out!

 

And yet, if someone said, "I found one of these 'motorcycles' crushed up under the wheel of my F350," neither you nor anyone else would find it funny.

It's amazing that a bunch of bikers on a motorcycle forum can joke about running their big trucks over small vehicles.

Every day riders like me just can't relate to the mindset of the cager/weekend rider, I guess.

parkinglot:

Damon:

dmac:

I found one of these "smart" cars crushed up under the wheel well of my F350.  Took me 15 minutes to scrape it out!

 

And yet, if someone said, "I found one of these 'motorcycles' crushed up under the wheel of my F350," neither you nor anyone else would find it funny.

It's amazing that a bunch of bikers on a motorcycle forum can joke about running their big trucks over small vehicles.

Every day riders like me just can't relate to the mindset of the cager/weekend rider, I guess.

Hmmmmm...... I guess all day drivers like myself can't relate to the mindset of the every day riders. The entire reason for the highway system in this country was to promote commerce, not to ride your motorcycle, go to grannys for christmas, or out to the local joint for a beer and a burger. So next time you jump on an interstate, remember they are built and paid for by BIG TRUCKS!! Its an insult to call me a weekend rider. When you get anywhere near 150,000 miles a year, then you can brag about how much better you are than everyone else. Its all in fun, its hard for me to understand how you could be offended by the comments.

Im jealous that you are fortunate enough to ride your bikes year long.  I would say in MD, we get maybe 5 months of acceptable (by my standards) riding weather!

 I agree that Damon's comment was not directed at you or other commercial drivers. 

However, I disagree that the SOLE purpose of the interstate highway system was to promote commerce as you state. The Federal-Aid highway act of 1956 also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 was pushed by US automobile manufacturers and President Eisenhower who understood that mobility was key to winning any war, or repulsing any invasion. Initial federal planning started in 1921 when the Army was asked to provide a list of roads considered necessary for national defense. Fully 1/3 of traffic during peak holidays is private automobile traffic today.

I won't bore you with any more of the history lesson, but I do get tired of being nearly run over by 18 wheelers, and listening to their derisive comments about ANY other class of vehicle over my CB radio. I don't know you, and I don't know how you drive your rig, and I won't accuse you of anything, but I'll just say that the highways are not the SOLE purview of truckers.

In fact, I'd like to -politely- recommend that you find a "backup" career choice in the next 5-10 years because as you saw when fuel prices hit $5.00/gallon or more, long-haul trucking companies began dying on the vine, and more people began using rail to ship their freight. Rail is more efficient and more compact than current diesel tractor-trailers. CSX made a killing during the last energy price spike. They actually began advertising which is very unlike them. The MARC and DC Metro rail systems became standing room only for almost the entire day. Whenever the economy finally does stage some kind of recovery, I wouldn't expect energy prices to remain the same as they are now.

When energy prices go up and trucking companies begin to fail again, and private drivers again drive less, ride more mass transit, begin riding their bikes, etc, fuel tax revenue drops drastically, making less funds available for infrastructure repair. The highway system will continue to degrade until it is unusable or until a different funding structure is put in place.

Damon:

For example, I am safe on my motorcycle because it is quick, light, nimble, and responsive.  Therefore, as long as I ride skillfully, I am able to use the "active" safety features of my motorcycle to avoid hazards and keep myself safe.

Conversely, I don't feel safe in a truck or SUV.  They're sluggish, heavy, and clumsy.  Skillful driving doesn't count for much in an unresponsive vehicle, therefore, I must rely on the vehicle's "passive" safety features (large body, airbags, etc.) to protect me when I inevitably crash into something with my big clumsy vehicle.  Passive safety isn't my style.

You could replace truck or SUV with a Yamaha Road Star Warrior too.  Why ride the Warrior when a sport bike will do a much better job of allowing quick and nimble responses?