The SUV Is Dethroned 1234
Wired's Autopia blog documents what we all knew was coming: rising gas prices have killed off the SUV. Auto industry watchers had predicted that the gas guzzlers in the "light truck" category would lose the ascendancy by 2010; no one expected their reign to end in a month, in the spring of 2008. Toyota, GM, Ford, and now Nissan have announced they will scale back truck and SUV production and ramp up that of smaller passenger cars. Of course there will always be a market for this class of vehicle, but its days on the top of the sales charts are done. "'All of our previous assumptions on the full-size pickup truck segment are off the table,' Bob Carter, Toyota division sales chief said last week during a conference call with reporters. Translation — we have no idea how low they'll go."
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
rtfa (Score:2, Interesting)
perhaps we'll see more these (Score:2, Interesting)
Your car is too fat. Uncle Sam needs to trim it. (Score:3, Interesting)
Over the last ten years cars have gotten so big, normal people can't ride their bikes on the same roads. A $5/gallon diet seems to be curing the problem.
The SUV is the end result of American car maker plans from the late 1960s. In order to keep their growth they had to sell larger, ever more expensive cars. The gas crisis of the mid 70s and air polution studies only partly derailed those plans. Regulation helped a lot. 20 years of cheap gas followed by corrupt government and import restrictions gave us the SUV craze. Further corruption gave us really expensive gas, which is going to solve the problem.
Further regulation is needed to avoid the inevitable resurgence of these monsters. We all deserve better road safety and air quality.
Re:Stupid Ford (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:SUVs were always a missed opportunity. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Good riddance! (Score:4, Interesting)
At $10/gallon, you're SUV is going to be worth more as scap than a car. Do you enjoy burning $1000 bills? 'cause with your SUV purchase, you've burned about 10 of them.
Oh - and what do you think's going to happen to real estate prices on your (public transport isolated) street once gas prices hit just $5/gallon? Your house will never be worth what you paid for it - and you won't be able to afford to drive between their & your work place.
Makes the $10k you lost on your SUV look like chump change, but again - you can't say no one warned you.
Big Wet Sloppy Kisses.
Environmental impact. (Score:3, Interesting)
In a perfect world, the free market is a pretty good idea. In a world where most of the inhabitants are irresponsible, arrogant and self-centered assholes, it just doesn't work that well.
Bakken Valley -- more oil (Score:2, Interesting)
Besides, who are you to say who drives what? I really hate someone telling me what to do with my money on completely legal activities.
Re:Good riddance! (Score:1, Interesting)
hmmmm. as long as your are offering advice (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:A big "duh" to the auto industry (Score:5, Interesting)
I bought it for my commute. I bought it for the reliability. I bought it for low maitenance costs.
In 100,000 miles, my average gas cost is about $2.00/gallon. My old car got 22 MPG. My new car gets 46 MPG.
The fuel cost savings can be figured out by the cost per mile for the 100,000 miles driven.
At 22 MPG 100,000 miles used 4,545 gallons.
At 46 MPG 100,000 miles used 2,222 gallons.
It saved 2,323 gallons or $4646 in fuel cost.
My next 100,000 miles will be more dramatic.
The battery unlike a cell phone or laptop battery is rarely fully charged and never run flat. Battery life is not an issue. Repairs have been nil. High failure items for the most part are eliminated. The power steering is electric, not hydraulic. The mechanical portion of the transmission has a total of 7 moving parts. None of them shift, slide, or are hydraulic. Regenerative braking showed up as a benifit when I changed tires at 80,000 miles. I had 80% of the brakes remaining, unlike my wife's car which is on it's second set of brakes.
Oh, if I need a new battery, the 36 7.2 volt modules can be changed as needed instead of buying an entire new pack. If I need a pack, it's no longer 5 grand. It's much less.
At current gas prices, I plan on keeping the car till the wheels fall off.
Re:Good riddance! (Score:5, Interesting)
Since he drives an hour and a half to get to most job sites he spends a fortune on gas. I calculated it out and discovered that if he were to scrap the blasted thing he would save enough on gas to lease a smaller car, rent a truck for the two days a month he actually needs one and still save money.
That was several months ago so the numbers have only gotten more in favor of scrapping the pickup since then.
Re:Your car is too fat. Uncle Sam needs to trim it (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Uncle Sam is too fat. You need to trim it. (Score:2, Interesting)
Huh? Have a look at this map [wikimedia.org] linked from this page [wikipedia.org]. See the many countries with a "larger government" (= real social welfare, good public schools,
Re:Trikes (Score:2, Interesting)
I wouldn't mind driving one of those for my daily commute.
Personally, I admire the blue smart car [smartusa.com] that's often parked on a street I jog on. The litter bugger just looks solid and well-built (a member of the Mercedes-Benz Cars). I don't give a frick if morons will think I'm gay.
Re:A big "duh" to the auto industry (Score:5, Interesting)
Some of the way it feels as a car is why I like it. The traction control is very good. Even though it isn't 4WD, it goes quite well in bad weather. With the electric motors in the transmission, the traction control works like anti-lock brakes in reverse. If you are into doing power doughnuts, a Prius won't do it. I know, I tried just to test it on wet grass. Cranking the wheel over and flooring it on wet grass is pretty boring. On ice, it keeps traction and pulls ahead instead of just spinning wheels. I was impressed.
If I want fun, I'll fire up the quad.
Re:This is how economics is supposed to work! (Score:4, Interesting)
So...
* tax oil appropriately for the pollution it causes.
* tax the car for the pollution its creation causes
* pretax the car for the pollution its destruction/demanufacture will create
* tax the cars usage of the roads (both by space it takes and damage/stress it deals to the road)
(gawd, I should get a job at the government... the moneyz... Teh moneyz!!)
Re:A big "duh" to the auto industry (Score:3, Interesting)
Good luck getting one. There is a run on them now. I'm glad that they are very hard to steal. There is no 12 volt starter. The transmission is processor controlled. Unless you have the chip in the key, or fob if you have the option, nobody is going to break the ignition switch and drive it away.
About the only thefts of these are by chop shops.
Everybody hates a truck until... (Score:5, Interesting)
Friends and family that own gas-sipping little munchkin cars are constantly enlisting my services as a man who owns a functional truck. Whether they are moving, cleaning out a basement or hauling a load of firewood, they all know who to call... the man with the truck.
I also own a 1979 Ford Bronco with a 351m bored over 20 with a 850CFM Holley Truck Avenger carburetor, snorkel and smokestack sitting on DANA-60's, 36" SuperSwampers and air-auto-lockers, lifted etc., rigged for both plow and tow. It gets about six miles to the gallon. The floorboards are above the average knee, and if I am careful, I can drive it pretty much anywhere (got to watch out for little efficient cars). It is mainly a toy, A MONSTER TRUCK!1!11!!, but once again, it has special abilities that are needed:
We have had A LOT of HORRIBLE FLOODING here in Indiana, surpassing our record from 1913. DHS, National Guard, Marines, Coast Guard and every available resource have been chucked into the disaster maelstrom that is flooded Indiana. The nearest competition for my Bronco is a fire truck or a Caterpillar when it comes to submerged mobility. That big fat bastard gleefully contributed to global warming all the way down to Franklin, to Martinsville, and to rural points south as we teamed up to get people out of the water. Nobody can see your carbon footprint under five feet of water, septic runoff and synthetic flotsam. None of the people in the little bed of the bronco seemed to mind the CO2 streaming from my exhaust stack.
Everybody hates a truck owner, until:
(a) it snows a lot
(b) it floods
(c) they are moving
(d) they drive into a ditch
(e) they need a truck but only have a little munchkin car
My father also uses his powers and torques for good in his 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe. He was down there with me, in the muck, but his new-fangled electronics cannot withstand submergence. His next purchase will he the Tahoe Hybrid, which outperforms its predecessor in torque and horsepower. These new trucks cannot replace their predecessors, though, because they are too complex and fragile.
That said, any 4WD owner that does not use his extraordinary capability as part of the solution--is part of the problem. Soccer moms must die.
Some of the rudest drivers I have ever encountered were in munchkin hybrids. The rest of them were women driving SUVs.
Re:Good riddance! (Score:3, Interesting)
If the car was used to capacity, i.e. always carrying 4 people, then the Passenger Miles Per Gallon for a small car would be better than a motorbike but in the UK average car occupancy remains at about 1.2 people.
Re:Dude! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Good riddance! (Score:5, Interesting)
Once, a guy in a jeep decided to play chicken with me. I wasn't aware till the last minute.
This is just a general lack of respect for bicyclists. Respect goes both ways, you know. It's a much bigger problem over here in the US where everyone guzzles fossil fuels, instead of riding bikes more often.
Re:Good riddance! (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't know what his line of work is but would a trailer fit his needs?
Re:Good riddance! (Score:3, Interesting)
I think it is also true, though, that Americans aren't as selfish and stupid as we're depicted as being. Much is made of America's rugged individualism, but there is also a streak of communitarianism in the American character. The people who think SUVs are cool vs. the people who think that hybrids are cool. It is the pendulum swinging between these extremes that gives American society its dynamism. Americans on whole sit these two poles, moving towards one of them until it feels like they've gone to far, then going the other way.
2005 was a watershed year. Americans looked at Katrina, and said to themselves, "this isn't working." It isn't just the possible connection of climate change in the intensity of the storm, it was disgust at the inefficiency of the response that made people decide things had gone far enough. It was Katrina that killed the SUV. High prices and economic uncertainty finished it off.
Re:And may I be the first to say... (Score:3, Interesting)
And as much as people say people who drive fancy cars do so to 'compensate for their small penis', I think it's not. Afterall, if they wanted to do that, why are they driving an SUV? Why aren't the hell aren't they driving that new sports car/grand tourer? I think those generally work better in terms of "Wow, check out my new car!" than a family SUV. My Dad's Toyota Kluger is hardly a head turner, but for the price he got it for, $55,000AUD he could've bought a FPV GT, or a HSV Clubsport, or a Subaru WRX STi. All practical somewhat 'large' cars that sure as hell beat the big fat boring SUV in terms of 'penis compensation'. Not everyone who drives an SUV is driving a Hummer.
And yeah, admittedly an exponential tax on cars' petrol usage would potentially get rid of a largish band of people who buy those cars, forcing them onto lower priced wagons.
But in that case do we tax older cars too? Older cars spit out a hellova lot more crap than newer ones. A 1980s 2.0L engine probably uses more fuel than modern 3.5L engines. Do we tax them too?
~Jarik
Automotive hard times (Score:3, Interesting)
So I had to come up with a cunning plan for my next car. Nowadays it has to be light. Much lighter than SUVs. Say around 1'250 lbs.
And it must suit a geek well. And be fast when required by rising testosterone levels.
So I went for one of these. [caterham.co.uk] As a kit of course with 210 bhp and a mere 1'250 lbs.
Soon I will be much greener than most of you. Well much faster anyway.
Not shitting you guys I had the money to burn and the geek will to build.
How the free market doesn't work (for everyone) (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Good riddance! (Score:3, Interesting)
The rest of the month a smaller CUV would work perfectly.
Re:Everybody hates a truck until... (Score:1, Interesting)
(a) it snows a lot
(b) it floods
(c) they are moving
(d) they drive into a ditch
(e) they need a truck but only have a little munchkin car
If it floods, which it does rarely, I'm not going to be driving any vehicle in a flooded area. It is just as easy to permanently damage a truck in a flood area than a car. Often, truck owners imagine that their vehicle is "tougher" than a car. Sadly, they usually find out that they aren't as they drive into flood waters and get stuck, or even die. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T_Gxy8gDQU [youtube.com]
I move once every few years. If I move, I rent a box truck. A pickup truck is way to small for moving. Their capacity is perhaps 4x more than a typical car... but still way to small for moving a room full of furniture.
I don't drive into a ditch. And if I did, A truck likely won't get me out of it, because like a damaged car, damaged trucks generally don't move at all. Trucks are not substantially better at extracting themselves from a ditch - most truck owners don't have a winch, super-aggressive tires, or the ability to drive up a 60 degree incline. Oh, and the last time I drove into a ditch was, um, never.
I don't need anything but a small car. And when if I do need something big, I can rent a box truck or a flat bed - just like SUV owners need to do.
Re:...and the rest is technique (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgecarl391403.html [brainyquote.com]
----
I drive a 4-cyl. Subaru Legacy Outback station wagon and if I need to haul stuff, I have a 4X8 utility trailer. Living in Vermont, I need the All-Wheel-Drive for six or so months of the year. It takes about 2 minutes to hook up the trailer when I need it. I have no problem hauling a ton of coal across our hilly landscape.
Why not have a combination solution? The extra fees for license and insurance are negligible...
Re:Automotive hard times (Score:3, Interesting)
Your car resembles something like a cross between a roadster and a kit car, and a very nice one at that.
The downside is that you have to literally build it from the ground up, hence the name 'kit car'. Since they quite uncommon, you have to be either mechanically-inclined (a "Grease Geek") or rich enough to stock key parts when they break. However, if you don't mind getting dirt and grease under your nails, they are a *VERY* attractive vehicle, both in aesthetic value and operating costs.
I drive a 1993 F250 Extended Cab/longbed, and get about 20mpg, but it has:
1) A 7.3L International Harvester Navistar 185a diesel engine with NO TURBO
2) Automatic transmission
3) 4.10 gearing
4) Dana 80 rear axles
5) 4 wheel drive transfer case
6) and weighs about 8500lbs
The mileage is absolutely horrible (in the city) compared to anything else out there, but with the mechanical features listed, its decent. If I had the money, I could probably get another 10-15mpg by installing a turbo, 9 speed manual, over/underdrive, and 3 speed rear end. However, these improvenments are a dream, as being a student, I could not possibly pull that much money out of my ass. I would buy your car in a heartbeat if I didn't need a pickup (reminds me of old-school hot rods)! If I made those modifications, it would be just as efficient as a regular passenger car, but the previous owner built it for load/work/hauling capacity and not mileage.
I use it for the same thing, but everyday, I see people with even bigger, newer diesels that they use to go to the grocery store. The technology exists to make even very large vehicles, like mine, just as efficient as passenger cars. People where I live buy big trucks and SUVs to go to school, the store, or the office. I use mine for work (justifying the dents, scratches and size), and when I'm not working, I keep it parked. I see so many posers driving trucks THEY DON'T NEED, to do things their vehicles weren't designed for. What really tans my hide is when I hear these same people complain about the high cost of fuel.
You can tell a Small Penis Poser if they are driving a large 4x4 that is shiny, dent-free, and no dirt/mud stuck underneath it.
Contrary to what treehuggers will tell you, diesel engines are superior to gasoline engines in terms of mechanical efficency (especially considering I get 20mpg for an 8500 truck with the aforementioned mechniacal specs). However, they are noisier and don't allow people to drive as fast, but then again, who *needs* to go 120mph? A good 1.0L, 4 cylinder turbo diesel, like the ones found in Mercedes-Benzes and some Volvos would, with the correct gearing, be more than enough to serve as an exceptional powerplant for a sedan or coupe. The "smoke" from diesels can be corrected with a turbo, and since a smaller passenger car weighs less than a truck and isn't being used to haul thousands of pounds of load like bigger trucks, there would be virtually none on acceleration or under engine load.
I'm suprised that Toyota went with a 4 cylinder gas engine that needs to run at 5000RPM, when a smaller 2 or 3 cylinder turbo diesel would suffice, and with correct gearing, run a slower engine speed, since its being used an an electrical generator instead of mechanical drive.
Again, if I didn't need (yes, I said need) a truck, I'd buy your car in a heartbeat. What would be ideal is having a small kit car to get around, and a truck for work.
SUVs are *NOT* trucks: If you can't put 2,000 lbs of compost and lumber in the back of it, then it is a passenger car.
Re:Good riddance! (Score:3, Interesting)
Two weeks in, and I love commuting by bus. It does take some preplanning and the occasional drive into the office (when meetings are expected to run until 5 pm or later). I guess I am fortunate that CT seems to have made quite an investment in commuter vans, express busses and this thing called "NuRide" <http://www.nuride.com/nuride/main/main.jsp> , which is an online carpool meeting place, for rides into the city. There are definitely ways, beyond buying new vehicles, for people to save themselves some cash. Ridership on the busses has doubled in the last six months. Next we will need bike paths and commuting options for those people who work and live in the suburbs.
I'll keep mine around thank you. Re:Good riddance! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:A big "duh" to the auto industry (Score:2, Interesting)
The problem of course is that they are not getting what they deserve. Anyone with a brain could see this coming, but if you are in the executive's position, why would you give a shit? Like you said, for a few years you take huge profits that get almost completely distributed to the upper board members. When the shtf and the company is completely broke because they ignore R&D and their core product, and instead became a financial services company that also sells crappy trucks at huge profits, just fire the workers and default on promised pensions. Standard operating procedure for a US corp the last 30 years.
Two type of people (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Everybody hates a truck until... (Score:3, Interesting)
Those folk who do actually use an SUV for something close to what it's intended for occasionally might do well to have it as a second vehicle, if they have the space. Get something "sensible" for most days with an SUV for those weekends in the country. Once you've made the capital outlay running two vehicles needn't cost any more than running one and it's no worse for the environment: you can only use one of them at a time. Might even be better if you have the choice to use whichever vehicle is most efficient for the job at hand.
Re:Everybody hates a truck until... (Score:2, Interesting)
So your excuse for using your oversized vehicle is that you're everyone elses bitch?
When I need to move something large, truck rentals are like $20/hour at Home Depot. I don't need to waste the time/energy of my truck-owning friends when its cheap and easy to rent.
Some of the rudest drivers I have ever encountered were in munchkin hybrids.
The only "munchkin" hybrid is the Honda Insight. Are all Insight drivers really that rude? The Prius is a mid-sized car comparable to a Camry/Accord/Mazda6/etc, its not a small car. The Honda Civic Hybrid is a small car (not a "sub-compact"), but the Civic has ballooned in size compared to the Civics of the 80's and 90's. But I guess all normal-sized cars are "munchkins" when you drive an F150.
Re:Good riddance! (Score:4, Interesting)
Okay, I have to jummp in at some point, so it may as well be here. I grew up in Minnesota (St. Cloud, but I spent a lot of time in Duluth as well). My vehicle of choice? A monster pickup? Nope. A killer-cool SUV? Nope. Wait for it ... A Geo Metro for everyday use and a 4WD Subaru station wagon when there was extra cargo. These vehicles were able to handle Minnesota winters; I never needed a truck.
(Pretty funny to drive past Chevy Suburbans in the ditch during blizzards---I guess they had four-wheel drive to power them even further into the ditch. Stopped a couple of times to give the passengers a ride to the next town since cell phones weren't around yet.)
Re:Good riddance! (Score:3, Interesting)
The conspiracy theorist in me says the US tow ratings are artificially low to bolster truck and SUV sales unnecessarily.
Re:Good riddance! (Score:2, Interesting)
Consumption is far lower, I can get up to 60 mpg on my bike, combined with the fact that trips are substantially shorter and stress from traffic non existent, and the fact that initial purchasing cost, maintenance, and insurance are also far less.
I live in southern California so weather isn't much of an issue, but if you're wearing proper gear, than you'd be covered in waterproof material from your head to your toes and you just peel it of when you get in, snow is impossible though.
It is pretty damn safe, a lot safer than it is made out to be. The only accidents that will happen are driver error, or someone running a red light or other unpredictable random shit and even some of that can be avoided by riding on the shoulder. In the few cases where that happens than yes, you are in more danger, but I don't see people walking around in body armor for when that stray bullet hits them.
Unless your commuting to work with your 2 kids, a wife and a bag full of groceries, I don't see why this is a problem, most family people use their bike to get to their office 20+ miles away and have a family car for when it rains or to go shopping.
Re:Good riddance! (Score:2, Interesting)
But if you want a monkey to completely lose it's mind, surrond in in a few thousand pounds of steel and wait for the crazy to start. I have never met a regular cyclist that doesn't have dozens of these stories.
I also have several....my favorite:
riding down a 4 lane road that on evenings/weekends changes to a 2 lane road with the outside lanes for parking. I ride this road frequently so I know that if I start at a particular light right when it turns green I won't catch another light if I maintain a certain pace. I can beat cars down this road easily.
I have to ride all the way to the right, between the traffic to my left and the parked cars to the right. Someone pulls up right next to me and starts yelling idiotic shit at me, I turn to tell them to go away....look back in front of me to see a guy halfway out of his Boxster directly in my path....couldn't swerve left without hitting the car...nowhere to go to the right, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway, I was already too close. Slam on the brakes...thankfull the guy jumps back in the car...my handlebars glanced off his side/hip....I, as an object in motion, continued in motion into his door. I bent that damn thing almost all the way around as I crashed thru it, thankfully I walked away with only road rash and needing to buy a new helmet (WEAR A HELMET!!!!!).
The guy called the cops on me...the cops that came said "he has every right to ride his bike there, you should have paid attention before you opened your door." If I had been on the sidewalk and did the exact same thing to the passenger side door...I'd probably have had to pay for it.
Re:Keep the gas guzzler. (Score:3, Interesting)
I think you're assuming that people aren't leveraged to the hilt. Continuing to pay for a big mortgage for a McMansion, the payments on a 40k$ SUV or super-truck, the payments on the wife's Volvo crossover, payments on a big screen plasma, a 200$ per month cable bill (gotta have NASCAR), 200$ per month of cellphone bills (gotta have my Razr), and the 5$ per gallon gas?
Even if you sell the SUV, still gotta have something to drive.
Chuckle. Bankruptcy and suicide rate will be up this year.
Re:Good riddance! (Score:3, Interesting)
Although I agree that bikes are cheaper to buy than cars, and take less space to "operate" & park, they are far from an ideal solution IMHO.
As someone who rides a bike most days, let me tell you my opinion. Now, it's an opinion so take it with a requisite grain (cup?) of salt...
* consumption isn't all THAT low from what I hear from my 2-wheeled-colleagues
Well, I ride a big bike; a Kawasaki Concours 14. The thing's huge and has a 1.4L engine. It produces around 155hp at the higher end of the tach. I get around 45mpg in mixed riding just commuting back and forth to work. Worst gas mileage I've seen was around 32mpg (but I was also carving up some twisties in low gears).
:D
Is that bad? Not really. My cube-neighbor gives me crap because he says he can get that in his Prius... at least until I point out that he can't out-accelerate a Maserati in his Prius
I guess it's a perspective thing. I like getting 45mpg because I ENJOY the process of riding my bike instead of being trapped in a car. I love the freedom, I love the visceral pleasure I get from the bike and I enjoy the social aspects of being a biker. I've owned cars with great communities (my old Subaru SVX had a great community), but there's nothing that matches the community of bikers who don't care what you ride so long as you ride. The pretty damned decent gas-mileage is just a small benefit in my book that helped justify the initial cost of the bike... and the insane amounts of power (which are quite docile at low RPMS where I do much of my riding) are just the icing on the cake when I want it or need it.
* it might be nice in warm / dryish countries, I for one don't look forward to arriving all drenched at work
I've ridden in the rain, and never gotten more than my helmet wet. At least until I stopped and got off the bike to walk into the office. With a decently designed fairing the rain just goes around you.
:)
In a crunch, you can always get a rain suit. I keep one in my panniers all the time just in case the heavens open (I live in the Midwest... you never know around here!) If it starts to get really heavy then I can stop under a bridge and put on the rain suit.
Besides, biking is partly a different state of mind. When I ride, I'm never rushed. If the heavens open, there's nothing stopping me rolling into a coffee shop to wait it out (presuming it'll stop soon), or take a route that allows you to stop the minimum number of times so you keep the air flowing around you with the rain. Just a different way of thinking.
Besides, I actually like the sound of raindrops on my helmet
* I for one feel quite a bit more safe being surrounded by a steel cage & airbags-combination
Again, a difference in perspective. Engineering in a car is all about surviving an accident... engineering in a bike is all about avoiding it.
I've had some near-misses on my bike that would've been nasty wrecks in my car (my car's a BMW by the way in case you're wondering... quite a safe vehicle). I've had people lose traction or even have a wreck in front of me... leaning hard over can allow you to go around just about anything... and in a worst case scenario just head off into the grass by the road (done it and lived to tell the tale!) It just requires a lot more attention than driving... but then that's one reason it appeals to me in the first place. I thrive on the attention I have to give riding... I get a kick from focus.
In my life I've had an accident that totaled my car once, and one that totaled a bike once. When I totaled the bike, I stood up, called a friend and asked him to come help me pick up the bits of my bike. When I had a similar accident in a car many years ago, I spent 45 minutes upside down inside my car with a head injury until the fire department cut me out of it; it was also in the country so it took a bit before anyone noticed me. I considered myself lucky in both instan