By BikerGuy - 24/02/2016 06:31 - Canada - Alhambra

Today, the girl who likes me incredibly much asked me if she could come for a ride with me on my motorcycle. Normally this isn't a problem as I take lots of people out for rides for fun, but this time I had no choice but to tell her she couldn't because she's just too heavy for it. FML
I agree, your life sucks 21 853
You deserved it 2 194

Same thing different taste

Top comments

Swandive235 27

That's the worst dude. I hope you let her down softly.

Dang, that sucks OP. Hopefully she understands

Comments

steam_engenius 21

As a previously morbidly obese woman, I personally would have been more offended by being lied to. if she's so sensitive that she's offended by physics, then that is unfortunately on her. But just because she's large doesn't mean she's stupid. We can tell when someone is lying, and more often than not, people are discriminatory about weight, so that would have been worse.

Dude, modern bikes (yes also crotch rockets and enduros) usually allow for around 200kg payload - that is around 440lbs for the not so metrically inclined among you - so that two people with proper protective gear can ride safely. So read the tech specs of your bike again and do the math once more. Or do you just not like the girl?

I'll leave the weight distribution issues to those who actually ride, but also, 400lbs is pretty easy to hit. Assuming OP is not overweight he could still be about 180-210lbs (which is around the weight range for most healthy guys I know), that only leaves about 220lbs, and if this girl is on the much larger size, she could easily be about 250-290lbs. Add heavy protective gear, and that easily goes over the limit.

@55: It isn't just about weight support in general. It is also about weight distribution. For most bikes, the gravitational point needs to be around the center between the front and rear wheels, forming a triangle. Having someone who is much heavier than you are sitting behind you would really shift the gravitational point backwards, which could make it dangerous. The second point would be a lot of people don't know how to 'lean' on a bike in corners. For people who have no experience riding bikes, it usually feels sort of unnatural to lean with the corner and they try to lean the other way. If you are both about the same weight, you can compensate, but if your passenger is twice your weight for example you might not even make it through your corner :P.

Sometimes scientific fact trumps a person's feelings.

It sucks that weight is such a taboo topic. It plays into a lot of physical factors of life, yet trying to point out the facts, whether it's safety on a bike ride or a much larger friend asking to borrow clothing, makes the person pointing these out feel/seem rude.

I have no issue with someone making a very logical statement about weight. However, in a lot of ways, there are politer terms to use to tell someone that you cannot give them a ride, loan them clothes, or even date them. I think in this case, Op was right to tell her that the weight would be wrong. As long as he did it politely, I am sure the girl wouldn't be too crushed. It isn't like she is blind to how much she weighs. It might be worse because she likes him.

So what if she gets offended? That can be her wakeup call and maybe then she'll do something about being overweight, especially if it's coming from someone she really likes (OP). I think it's a better solution than if he just lied to her face. It's not like he made fun of her or anything, he was just being cautious.

Redgy22 26

I see really heavy/ morbidly obese people riding motorcycles all the time. Is it the type of bike you have? Or are you just not comfortable with the extra weight in board? Not judging, both are valid reasons. Just curious. It takes practice getting use to a second person to begin with.

I've got the same rule... If she's too big to ride... She's too big to ride...

It's great that so many people are becoming body positive, but the unfortunate fact is that some things have a weight limit. I hope she understood, OP. I would suggest making it up to her in some way but if you don't feel the same way about her that might just hurt her more in the long term :/ That's a rough and awkward situation to be in.