In the days after Steelers quarterback "Big Ben" Roethlisberger got his clock cleaned on the windshield of a car, friends and family suggested none too subtly that it was perhaps tick-tick-time for me to retire my motorcycle.

So I did. And bought a better one.

It's not that I'm indifferent to the concerns of those who care about me. But it's telling that those who know me best didn't even try to float an argument. They're (mostly) secure in the knowledge that I'm a careful rider, and that my being hyper-aware on the road can at least minimize the x-factor of unaware drivers doing stupid things that can initiate an accident.

The fact is, most motorcyclists in Hawai'i — and across the nation — are careful, considerate and responsible on the road. Surrounded by a sea of coffee-sipping, radio-adjusting, DVD-scanning, phone-yakking, backseat-rummaging, turn signal-allergic SUV drivers, we have to be.

What is so irksome, then, is the continued stereotyping of all motorcycle riders as thrill-seeking young men with too much testosterone and no concept of their own mortality, a tired profile that is being repeated over and over again by shrill, swivel-chair-bound sports columnists.

As one for the Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel wrote last week: "Try telling 20-somethings to be careful. Watch them nod and roll their eyes. They're bullet-proof and figure those of us a few years past 20 just want to spoil the fun."

(Cute. But who really has the false sense of security: the 20-year-old guy on two wheels scanning the intersection for stop-sign runners, or the 40-year-old soccer mom flipping through her iPod as she weaves her Hummer through traffic?)

Or consider the parade of ESPN analysts who painted motorcycles as the hell-spawned death lure of dumb, reckless young men. "He had no business being on a motorcycle," one analyst said of Roethlisberger.

True enough. Big Ben didn't have a license. He was an illegal rider on a high-performance sports bike. Dumb? You betcha.

But Roethlisberger is not representative of an evolving community of motorcycle riders that includes an ever-growing number of women and a high percentage of novice riders over age 40.

According to statistics from 2000, 30 percent of all motorcycle deaths involved riders at least 40 years old.

For every pinhead popping a wheelie on the H-1 East, there are many others who simply enjoy the ride, the sense of engagement with their immediate surroundings, the absence of morning DJ babble and the $10 fill-ups.

Wanna argue? Let me put my visor down first.

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.