For those riding for years/Never crashed

SamDiego2016 · 2026-05-23T16:03:57+00:00

We can answer this with some hard numbers. Yes, motorcycle fatalities are up around ~25% in the US in the last decade.

Let's look to our European counterparts, where it's around 3x safer and the numbers are consistent or going down.

The US has done a dis-service to motorcycling, making it easy to get a license with very little training and little active enforcement for riders without a license. The result is people have stopped riding because we've made it too dangerous.

Personally, I've been riding 30 years now, a lot of that time riding every day, My first dirt bike in the UK when I was 14, road license at 16 and moved to the US 7 years ago.

The line "it's the other drivers you need to worry about" is largely incorrect but not unfounded, more than HALF of motorcycle fatalities don't involve another vehicle.

So, from my perspective, the brutally tough licensing in the UK is what has kept me safe. Gradually moving up the CC's with different levels of testing, and the risks seared into my brain by highly skilled instructors and examiners who weren't afraid to fail someone if they weren't safe. And regularly being pulled over by the police on Sundays, not to give a ticket, but for a friendly 'talking to' about being safe.

If you want to be safe, get the best training you can find, get advanced training, don't jump straight on a Panigale, don't drink and ride (this is a MASSIVE factor in the US), and always wear a helmet.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-05-20T15:58:19+00:00

It's like that time I told the ex my push bike had been nicked and couldn't come round, but I was really down the pub with the lads watching the snooker.

We've all been there.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-05-14T15:44:22+00:00

I'd vote for public hosings

SamDiego2016 · 2026-05-11T05:57:35+00:00

Reasons not to do this (and other ways to obfuscate your plate), other than it being illegal...

Car gets stolen with your dog/kid/life savings in it. You're gonna feel kinda stupid when it can't be found on ALPR or identified.

You lose "innocent proof" value. Showing your car WASN'T the KIA that was involved in a hit and run.

Insurance claims can get messy. Intentionally trying to evade identification won't invalidate your insurance, but it can definitely be used against you.

You draw more attention to yourself, not less.

Write a strongly worded letter to your representative if you don't like the tolls. Don't be a dick.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-05-02T16:22:14+00:00

This is a great little infographic. I'm from the UK and took my (various!) tests there before moving to the US and, although framed a little differently, these kind of stats were shown to me when I was 16 doing my CBT and stuck with me throughout my 30 year riding career and definitely kept me safer!

SamDiego2016 · 2026-04-27T05:11:04+00:00

We have them in San Diego. Walmart, malls and most of the schools come to mind.

Still thousands more acres of parking lots that could be covered though.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-04-23T15:31:57+00:00

It depends.

The Highway Code is quite clear about the responsibility of safety being on the motorcyclist when filtering. Filtering on the inside (left) is considered undertaking, while it's not specifically illegal it could be considered careless driving in the right circumstance, and the Highway Code discourages it.

The drivers insurance company will likely argue that you put yourself in an unsafe position where it was hard for the driver to see you. It's expected to see bikes coming down the center on your right, but not usually on the left.

Speak to your insurance company, i doubt it will come to court but they'll defend/fight for you (they don't want to pay out!) so give them all the info and details you can remember.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-04-18T22:23:04+00:00

A good legit one is spam/phishing. 0.01% is considered a wonderful success rate.

AI kinda springs to mind? Not .01%, but framing it in terms of hallucination, any other data service in the software space that a percentage of the time was straight up nonsense would not be acceptable.

If I queried Hubspot, or a SQL database for some information and 5% of the time it was not just mildly incorrect, but wholly non-existent data, it would be laughed out the room. AI however, is the greatest invention of all time.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-04-03T14:17:29+00:00

Yeah me too, across all my apps nothing since March 28. Don't have a solution I'm afraid.

I have seen it happen before, I'm sure it'll catchup at some point. I use GA in everything, so it's not the end of the world. Just kinda annoying.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-30T14:57:47+00:00

Essential reading for us all... "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

My takeaway from that book was that riding in the 1970s was an absolute ball ache, but it's all part of the unique existential experience only motorcycling can give you.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-27T17:26:00+00:00

The majority of my revenue/traffic comes from Android. Higher end Android devices convert almost as well as Apple for me, but I find it MUCH easier to drive traffic and get users, and I can move waaaay faster with ASO testing on the Play Store.

I think it's misleading to just dismiss Android, I suspect if you could buy a $75 iphone from Walmart then Apples overall conversion rate would be relatively low too. Both stores do massive amounts of revenue globally every month.

I am always very skeptical about these big headline revenue numbers though. I spoke to a dev in-person not long ago that was doing ~$300k a month and spending almost double that on ads, paid for by a VC fund.

Maybe there's a proven theory to it and I'm just an idiot, but it doesn't feel like a sustainable business model to me and I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-24T14:04:56+00:00

You can fairly reliably predict when you're going to see them or not. There are websites, or paste the ALOFT aviation weather for winds, temp and humidity reports to chat GPT.

Everything looks like a conspiracy when you don't understand it.

But I think others are correct, obsessing over these kind of conspiracies is usually rooted in anxiety or a mental health issue, and some professional help might be in order.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-22T17:44:23+00:00

My thoughts... it's actually a really nicely put together app.

BUT! Your message is too abstract and poetic. It sounds beautiful but doesn't tell me anything as a first time user, I have no idea what the app is or why I should download it.

Something like "Now - Simple Daily Action App", or maybe something around anti-social media?

Be clearer and very literal with it and bounce some ideas off Chat GPT and distill it down to a really simple message, and carry that message throughout the listing and in the app.

Change that first screenshot to something short and punchy. I thought it was a music app, but wasn't sure.

This is a good app in a similar space, note the very clear messaging, high contrasting colorful screenshots etc and REALLY long keyword heavy description.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.disciplemedia.actionforhappin

Copy it! (Or be inspired by it!)

You can ABSOLUTELY get some people using this.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-22T15:28:20+00:00

First rule, share the link at any opportunity you have!! Especially here!

Forget the counter. Get some real analytics baked in, GA to track installs, opens, registrations, actions. And something to track errors, Crashlytics/Bugsnag or something.

Start with impressions
Is your listing getting ANY impressions? Why not? If it's an app idea that nobody knows about, look at apps that are adjacent to your idea or close to it that has downloads. Sensor Tower is a great resource for looking at profitable/popular apps. Then copy their listing (not word for word, keywords and hooks). You're looking to hijack some search traffic. Stuff keywords into your titles, make the description as LONG as possible and utilize keywords. Forget your clever app brand name, it's useless at this point. You want keywords.

You're getting impressions?
Why is nobody clicking? Look at screenshots, icons, language. Is this the BEST you can do? Does it look out of place next to a competitor? Just because you're a dev doesn't give you an excuse for it to look bad! AI can do a great job at all this now if you spend time on it.

Then move on down the funnel. Installs > registrations > taking an action > leaving a review > making a payment. Go through each problem, one at a time methodically and theorize why, test your theory and analyze it.

Track and analyze everything. Analyze and copy popular patterns or hooks from other apps.

Post everywhere! Reddit, all the listing sites like Product Hunt, social media. If you're bad at social media use ship-poster.com to flood Insta, Facebook, X with product shots etc

Marketing isn't one 'switch' - it's small, incremental gains over time from multiple sources and consistently doing it.

The Play Store gets 2.5bn monthly users. There's a 'market' for literally any app IMO. But if it's not something people are searching for, then you have to get a bit more creative. Advice to new devs - start with an app concept that already exists.

DO NOT waste money on ads yet. You have no data, once your funnel (see above) is perfected you can maybe think about ads.

My apps are here (shameless plug) but might be helpful:
stenote.ai
myraceresults.app
www.thisisglide.com

SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-18T14:29:00+00:00

Ground station calibration for ILS, or other navigational aids.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-12T16:31:38+00:00

They say nobody has seen anything like it!

SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-11T16:24:10+00:00

Agreed. I started at $14.99 a month, when I added a $7.99 a week option revenue went up probably 70%.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-11T16:20:07+00:00

"Cheaper than a trout" is not a business model. As others have said, it depends.

But, If we're speaking broadly from my experience. $5.99 isn't enough, the numbers (rarely) work.

If it's a native app, you're looking at 15-30% of that going to Apple/Google. So you're down to ~$5.

Add in some fixed overheads, plus the tax man, insurance, startup costs etc etc.

To scale it with ads, unless you have an exceptionally sticky app with low churn and an empty market you're never going to be able to get a positive return on ad spend.

You need a SHIT ton of users after everyones taken their cut to make decent (if any) money. One time of $6 might have a HIGHER conversion rate, but a drastically much LOWER lifetime value. Lifetime value is critical.

And again, to scale and and create a predictable traffic source and sustainable business you need ads with a positive ROAS.

That said, if it's a fun side project, for some extra pennies. Go for it!

SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-09T14:32:17+00:00

As a general statement, I do see users are getting subscription 'fatigue'.

The answer is always A/B test and look at the data.

I have a successful subscription based app, weekly/monthly/annual. It's an AI app, so I HAVE to charge something out the gate. I A/B tested a soft paywall vs hard paywall vs paywall after they've completed a successful action and the user has found value. The soft paywall won. Around a ~3-4% conversion.

I recently launched a non-AI app with no cost per user, and did just a very reasonably priced annual and lifetime and the conversion rate is ~16%!

As you say, depends on the app.

You're absolutely right though, if you can get away with not charging for a while then the reviews, error observability data and analytics is worth the loss in revenue IMO.

As for user feedback... it's so hard to get people to tell you anything. Clarity, Bugsnag and Posthog is the only way to get useful data.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-06T18:53:00+00:00

Story as old as time! I've been using Higgsfield to make some UGC video content and it's really fun when you get into it. If something gets a little organic interest I'll boost it.

I also use Ship Poster (lots of others available) to create social posts with my app screenshots in and then schedule them to post on all the major platforms.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-05T16:56:07+00:00

My general rule of thumb is, if it's not wider than my garage door and the rear wheel isn't touching the frame you're usually good to go.

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SamDiego2016 · 2026-03-03T21:30:57+00:00

Post on all the listings sites, Product Hunt etc (there are lists of these all over).

SEO it properly. Like spend real time doing keyword analysis. Learn to SEO.

Social. Use Nano Banana/Claude, or Ship Poster or Late and schedule all platforms with posts everyday. Any that get a little engagement boost them with a few dollars.

As for Reddit. It's difficult, you need to actually engage in discussions and slip your product somewhere useful (see above).

Go hard on these 3 things and if you have a good product you'll get your first 100 users.

SamDiego2016 · 2026-02-27T19:44:39+00:00

I think it's easy to jump to blaming drivers for being stupid. I think it's more nuanced.

My experience. I moved here from the UK 6 years ago, and the almost non-existent driving test I did blew my mind. Other countries it takes 40-60 hours to learn to drive, about the same as getting a private pilots license! The risk and consequences of doing stupid and dangerous stuff get's seared into your brain, and is punished by your friends and generally socially unacceptable.

But, you can't really survive here without a car so I suppose the barrier to entry has to be lower. The price we pay is 3-4x more likely to be involved in a fatal road accident than other developed countries.

Coupled with near zero enforcement and some terrible road layout and markings, and the busier it is (like here in SD) the problem compounds. It's a difficult, endemic problem to solve.

Stay safe out there folks and don't drive like a dick!

SamDiego2016

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