Motorcycling in Maine (Portland, Kennebunk, Haynesville: safe, vehicle, bikes)

[cvanripe10]

is riding a motorcycle a bad idea in maine?

what I mean is, will you hit a deer/moose on every ride?

[flycessna]

Oh geeze no! I love riding here and feel this is a very safe place to ride. Much less traffic and since there are a lot of bikes on the road I find people are very respectfull. What I really like is how so often I can just head out with out really any destination in mind because no matter where you start with in 10 minutes you'll be on some beautiful country road.

be safe!

[Zymer]

Originally Posted by cvanripe10

is riding a motorcycle a bad idea in maine?

what I mean is, will you hit a deer/moose on every ride?

No.
Over the last 9 months my wife and I have logged over 15,000 miles of driving from Portland to Ft. Kent, and everywhere east of there, a good bit of it on two wheels. We saw no moose at all until after May and my wife was complaining that they were a myth and didn't really exist (she had never seen one before).

Since than we've seen a number alongside the road, but never on it, although there was one kill on Rt. 2A around Haynesville. We've seen them as far South as the Kennebunk tolls.

Just keep your eyes open and be alert, especially just after dawn and just before sunset. It doesn't matter whether you are on two wheels or in a cage, if you hit one it could be a Very Bad Thing.

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by cvanripe10

is riding a motorcycle a bad idea in maine?

what I mean is, will you hit a deer/moose on every ride?

I guess I didn't answer the specific question.

I have dealt with many car/deer accidents....especially in the fall. But during the same time frame I have never seen one motorcycle/deer/moose ect. I guess there has to be some of them occuring but maybe because most deers are active during the late fall and there is less bikes on the road there are not many motorcycle/deer accidents.

Side: I know people used to have those little dog whistle type things that they would put on their vehicle's which I think was proven effective. maybe you can get them for your bike??

[Zymer]

Originally Posted by flycessna

I guess I didn't answer the specific question.

I have dealt with many car/deer accidents....especially in the fall. But during the same time frame I have never seen one motorcycle/deer/moose ect. I guess there has to be some of them occuring but maybe because most deers are active during the late fall and there is less bikes on the road there are not many motorcycle/deer accidents.

Side: I know people used to have those little dog whistle type things that they would put on their vehicle's which I think was proven effective. maybe you can get them for your bike??

Not getting into the controversy over whether or not they actually work, I think the instructions say that they must be located a certain distance apart on the bumper of the car- an effect that could only be duplicated by mounting them on a 4 foot piece of pipe attached to the forks. For some strange reason I think that might cause more of a problem than it might solve.

I think I'll stick to watching where I'm going and NOT riding faster than road conditions dictate- which includes the possibility of wildlife that can't read the signs stepping out in front of me.

[AlisonL]

One thing to remember, after dark a deer's eyes will reflect in your headlights. A moose's eyes will NOT. What you watch for with a moose in the dark is their white belly.

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by Zymer

Not getting into the controversy over whether or not they actually work, I think the instructions say that they must be located a certain distance apart on the bumper of the car- an effect that could only be duplicated by mounting them on a 4 foot piece of pipe attached to the forks. For some strange reason I think that might cause more of a problem than it might solve.

Thank you I wasn't sure why I hadn't heard of anything similiar for MC. I also did hear though that because of mass production they were losing their effeciveness. Unknown if there is any truth to that.