History has helped prove old stories and stereotypes were either exaggerated or never happened at all, and today, the biker more reflects society rather than a motorcycle gang member.

But as quickly as the bad-boy biker stereotype was fading, a new generation of riders have appeared on the motorcycle scene, bringing a whole new level of public annoyance and anger. Just as the cruiser was synonymous with the bad-boy biker of days gone past, the sportbike represents the new symbol of terror on two-wheels.

As with any stereotype or broad brush, only a small number of riders are at the heart of this latest version of rebel biker, or bad-boy biker 2.0 as some are calling them.

Riding in packs, these usually young and aggressive riders weave in and out of traffic on public highways maneuvering dangerously close to other road users. Equally as threatening are the public displays of motorcycle stunting, also called stuntz by the younger and self-ordained hipper riders, where riders perform tricks with names like wheelie, seat-stander, flamingo and coasters.

And everything is done at high speeds.

In the past few years a horsepower battle in the cycle industry has produced bikes that have the power of a car but often weigh less than ever. Sophisticated suspension, braking systems and other electronics make them easy for inexperienced riders to handle, up to a point. But the bikes' potential speed and violent acceleration can quickly overwhelm all but the most skilled riders.

 

The pains of progress
Motorcycles have gradually become more powerful and nimble over time. But the more-rapid run-up in engine size and performance has occurred in only the past few years, as overall sales of motorcycles have boomed. New construction techniques and the widening availability of lightweight materials like carbon fiber and titanium "have made it easier to reduce weight and increase power cost-effectively," says Ted Miller, director of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, a research group. "The stoked sport bike," he says, is a fairly new development.

Bike makers across the industry are conspicuously boosting power. Italian manufacturer Ducati began selling the 1098, a superbike with 160 horsepower, which is a big jump from the 112 horsepower the company's racy 996 model put out 10 years ago. As a comparison, the motorcycle has about as much power as a Honda Accord EX sedan.

BMW AG's motorcycle unit had a reputation for building sedate bikes with less than 100 horsepower until it rolled out the 167-horsepower K1200S about three years ago. Even Harley-Davidson, long known for its slow cruising and touring models, recently released the Night Rod Special, a fast, low-slung bike with a 125-horsepower engine developed with sports-car maker Porsche AG.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the last time motorcycle fatalities were as high as they are today, the hottest bikes included machines like Kawasaki Motors Corp.'s Z1000. A fearsome bike at the time, its 90-or-so horsepower and total weight approaching 600 pounds seem benign compared with the nearly 200 horsepower generated by the company's new ZX-14 or rival bike maker Suzuki Motor Corp.'s GSX-R1000.

The Suzuki weighs barely 400 pounds with a full fuel tank, and can accelerate to 60 mph in about 2.5 seconds. It even comes with a switch so the rider can select low, medium or high power settings. Other bikes have adopted electronically controlled brakes, transmissions and traction control to keep the rear wheel from spinning out of control under acceleration.

Many supersport sportbikes are actually built for racing. In popular racing events like the American Motorcyclist Association superbike series, riders use bikes that are modified versions of those available to the public at dealerships. In order to compete in the races, cycle manufacturers have to build hundreds of the bikes for sale to consumers.

The process, called "homologation," is meant to guarantee that the bikes found on the track are roughly the same as those widely available to the public. The bikes sold this way are sometimes touted as "race replicas" or "homologation specials." Supersport motorcycles are built on racing platforms and modified for the highway before they are sold to enthusiasts. The bikes are especially popular with riders younger than 30.

The bikes are lightweight and with powerful engines and are all about speed. Supersports typically have more horsepower per pound than other bikes.

For instance, a 2006 model Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R produces 111 horsepower and weighs 404 pounds. In contrast, the 2006 model Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic Electra Glide, a touring motorcycle, produces 65 horsepower and weighs 788 pounds.

With these powerful motorcycles in the hands of young, fearless riders Stunting is an epidemic sweeping the nation.

"Aggressive motorcycle driving is an issue throughout the metro area," said Capt. Dek Kruger of the Kansas Highway Patrol. "We're seeing 'em popping wheelies on the interstates and performing stunts on the streets.

"It's getting worse. It's getting to the point where a lot of agencies are getting together and asking, 'How can we combat this?'"

And while it's not clear how many deaths and injuries can be attributed to stunting, it's obvious that the activity is dangerous.

According to police reports, a Kansas City motorcyclist was injured in October 2005 while speeding and "driving carelessly". He had been popping a wheelie — driving with the front tire in the air — after dark, so oncoming traffic couldn't see his headlight, which was pointing upward.

When a car pulled out in front of him, the motorcycle plowed into the vehicle.

"This is not rare," said Officer Dan Watts, community interaction officer for the Kansas City Police Department's North Patrol Division. "This is happening."

And not only in Kansas City.

In October, a Nebraska man died after he lost control while doing a wheelie, hit two curbs and was thrown.

In Texas, a motorcyclist and his passenger were killed in October when the driver lost control while doing a wheelie. The bike hit a curb, and both victims were sent airborne into an iron fence.

In September, a 3-year-old boy died in Florida after a motorcyclist, trying to do a wheelie, inadvertently landed on the child and dragged him about 15 yards.

Just recently, a Canadian rider who lost control while doing a wheelie and throwing his female passenger from the motorcycle, was sentenced to 20 months in jail.

The bottom line, law enforcement officials said, is that the stunting craze is contributing to the climbing national figures for motorcycle deaths.

So, why isn't law enforcement cracking down on stunting offenders? Riders have the performance and speed to outrun most police vehicles, and some have been known to remove or alter license plates to avoid identification.

 

Taking the tragic lead
These high-performance machines accounted for less than 10% of motorcycle registrations in 2005 but accounted for more than 25% of rider fatalities, according to data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and analyzed in a study released recently by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Sportbike riders suffer much higher death rates than riders of other kinds of bikes. And while superbikes still aren't as popular as the larger, more laid-back cruiser-style bikes they have been one of the fastest-growing segments of the industry. They represented 9% of the market in 2005, compared with 47% for cruisers. But superbike registrations jumped 83% between 2000 and 2005.

Supersport motorcycles have the highest death rates and worst overall insurance losses among all types of motorcycles, according to the Institute and Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI).

Motorcyclists who ride supersport bikes have driver death rates per 10,000 registered motorcycles nearly 4 times higher than rates for motorcyclists who ride all other types of bikes, according to the insurance industry group.

“Supersport motorcycles are indeed nimble and quick, but they also can be deadly,” says Anne McCartt, Institute senior vice president for research. “These bikes made up less than 10 percent of registered motorcycles in 2005 but accounted for over 25 percent of rider deaths. Their insurance losses were elevated, too.”

“Supersport motorcycles have such elevated crash death rates and insurance losses because many people ride them as if they were on a racetrack,” McCartt says. “Data show that speed is a big factor in their crashes. A combination of factors, including the motorcycle itself, may push up death rates,” she said.

“Motorcyclists presumably buy supersports and sport bikes because they want to go fast, and manufacturers are happy to oblige," According to McCartt. “Short of banning supersport and sport motorcycles from public roadways, capping the speed of these street-legal racing machines at the factory might be one way to reduce their risk.”

In Missouri, 93 motorcyclists died in 2006. In Kansas, there were 64 fatalities. Both were record highs.

So concerned are local law enforcement officials about the increase in motorcycle deaths that they held a summit in June, inviting county prosecutors, bikers and others to discuss enforcement and safety issues. While they addressed concerns about speeding and other related problems — a Kansas Highway Patrol arrest report from September showed a motorcycle was doing 102 mph in a 35 mph zone, for example — they spent a lot of time talking about stunting.

One question they discussed: Why is it so popular? Watts attributes part of the phenomenon to the increasing popularity of sport bikes, or motorcycles dubbed "crotch rockets" that are very powerful and have tremendous acceleration.

"Is that the only reason?" Watts asked. "No. I'm sure there are other social factors involved, too."

The reasons given by young riders for performing the stunts on public roads are; "So chicks will dig me", "Takin' it to the limit", "One person says he can do a wheelie, and somebody else says he can do one better. It just goes from there" and "To be on the edge."

Spreading the stunting word
For riders who want to learn how to ride a motorcycle safely, recognized and organized courses are offered. How are the offending riders learning all the latest stunts and tricks? Stunting for Dummies?

The Internet is awash with footage of motorcyclists stunting, some websites sell tutorial DVD’s teaching ‘the secrets of stunting street bikes from a pro stunter right in the comfort of your own home.’

Entire forum boards are devoted to giving tips and hints on not only how to perform stunts, but also how to prepare a motorcycle mechanically to perform better for stunting. All of the forums officially state stunting should be attempted in a private controlled area, however some of the posts written by riders within the forums tell a slightly different story.

A search for motorcycle stunts on the popular video-sharing website Youtube lists over five thousand results.

All this information is certainly helping stunts riders to improve their 'skills'. The bikers are popping wheelies at 90 mph or driving on their front tires. They're sitting on their handlebars. They're doing wheelies while passengers behind them hug the bike with their legs and bend backward parallel to the street, just inches off the ground. Sometimes, they're stunting in isolated parking lots and in areas where there is little or no traffic. Other times, they're doing it on busy streets and highways.

Greg Harrison, senior vice president of communications for the American Motorcyclist Association in Ohio, said his organization "does not condone whatsoever" stunting on public streets and highways.

"People who do those activities may call it stunting," Harrison said. "We call it reckless operation."

Harrison said that, while only a small minority of bikers engages in stunting activities, they do "colossal damage" to the rest of the motorcycling community.

"The people that observe them won't remember the number of motorcycles they quietly passed that day," he said. "But they'll certainly remember the ones who came wheelying past or standing on their seat."

In Florida, which had a nation-high 562 biker deaths in 2006, a state legislator is trying to stem the tide by proposing legislation that would force a motorcyclist to serve a mandatory jail term and forfeit his or her motorcycle license for 10 years for simply popping a wheelie.

No comparable laws are on the books in other states.

Instead, law enforcement officials generally look to citing perpetrators, if they can catch them for careless and imprudent driving or reckless driving.

"Stunting is pretty much the in thing now. It's getting so big," said Brian Smith, founder of the Kansas City-based group Midwest Stunters, which has about 30 members. Many of them get together regularly to ride and perform tricks.

He said stunters were "extremely skilled" and saw no problem with riding in large, open, vacant areas.

But even he said there were limits.

"I absolutely won't do it on the highway," Smith said. "That's too dangerous."

Even hosting recognized events to give stunters an outlet to show and test their skills may not necessarily be enough. In January, after riding eleven hours from Louisiana to participate in an annual StuntWars Competition at U.S.A. International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida, Christopher Fredrick, 23, was caught performing a stunt on the westbound side of Interstate 4.

He was on his way back from practice when, the FHP said, he was caught in the middle of a "seat stander," in which the rider stands upright on the seat of the bike while "popping a wheelie." Fredrick had done it many times before.

This time however, Fredrick was arrested and charged with reckless driving for standing on his motorcycle and failing to have a motorcycle endorsement on his license.

And because he was in jail, Fredrick missed Saturday's preliminaries and could not compete in Sunday's main event.

The fact that many stunters perform their stunts on public roads draws the ire of other motorcyclists. They intentionally draw a lot of attention to their apparently reckless behavior, and other motorcyclists, especially sportbike riders, feel that stunters give all riders a reputation for being irresponsible and dangerous to others.

The frustration felt by law enforcement is shared but a majority of the motorcycle community, who are as equally at a loss for a solution to the growing problem.

"These stupid tricks are accompanied by outrageously fast speeds, applied in all the wrong situations," says Tim Kreitz, moto-journalist & MSF riding instructor. "All, of course, to be done on the street and with motorcycles that have the power-to-weight ratio of Trident missiles. The results, as I'm sure many of you have seen for yourselves, are often disastrous. In the process, there is plenty injury, death, and a mountain of totaled motorcycles, the repercussions of which are felt by every responsible rider on the street to one degree or another."