Ride as if you and your bike are invisible.
Stay Upright ..
A tip just came to mind.
Just got off the phone to my mate in Quakers Hill. Now this m8 has been riding all his life,( does NOT have a drivers license, has a Riders License only!!! ) I've known him for over 28 years and converted him to Harleys in 87. So basically he has a bit of an idea about riding.
Coming back from Qld this week, just out of Port Macquarie, a jacket he had ocky strapped to the sissy bar has come adrift. At 110kph it has flapped to the right of the bike, and wrapped around the rear brake locking the rear wheel up. He's managed to keep on the bike up to the point the rear tyre blew up at around 40kph and threw him off. He's pretty sore, one night in Hospital, elbow was x-rayed for a suspected break but did not show up, ribs are bruised to buggery. Bike's not too bad, right tank, indicators, handlebars, rear brake lever, rear wheel, and possibly gearbox internals stuffed.
The point is, he thought he'd strapped it safely, the wind conditions on the day plus the vibrations on a long trip caused things to loosen and all hell to break loose. I reckon he's lucky not to have done worse. And thank God he's survived the experience, good mates are hard to come by.
Check your gear at every stop. It could happen to you.
Most stuff has already been covered, but there are a few things that I believe have saved my arse more than a few times over the years.
1. My Father used to race bikes and rode as a daily rider for many years, and I always remember his one piece of advice to me when i started riding- "Always take it for granted that the other person hasn't seen you, and ride accordingly"
2. NEVER under any circumstances use highway pegs! If you do you are a fool! They are the most dangerous invention ever on a motorcycle. You can try and justify it as much as you want, but the basic laws of physics guarantee that in a split second reaction, there is just no way possible to get your foot to that brake in time, which means by instinct you will grab a fistful of front brake, and as everyone knows, if you are in a corner or on a loose surface, then you are going down, no 2 ways about it. Oh yeah, you may have ridden with them for years with no incident, but that just tells me you have never really been in a split second life and death situation while your feet have been on them, but it only takes once!!! If you need to stretch your legs out, keep your mid controls and get forward controls, and link your brakes up to both, you dont have to worry so much about your gears, your brake is the critical one. If comfort is important to you, I can tell you that lying in traction IS NOT VERY COMFORTABLE!!!!
3. Always wear a leather jacket , good heavy jeans and good boots no matter what the temperature. I ride with my jacket on even in 40+ deg days, because I can tell you, now matter how hot I get I can guarantee, I am still cooler than that asphalt down there!! One of my club brothers lost his balance at some traffic lights on a hot summers day, ( he wasnt even moving!!! he was stopped), and got his leg pinned under the bike, we all ran over to help, but by the time we got there it was too late. He only had a light T-shirt and vest on, if he was wearing a jacket he would have walked away uninjured, instead, he spent months in hospital having skin grafts for third degree burns from the hot tar, to his back, shoulder and arm. If you want to look cool, i can tell you being covered in disfiguring scars DOES NOT LOOK COOL!!!
4.Being a good rider starts with your attitude, if you go out and ride angry, or with your mind on other things there is a good chance you will come unstuck. If you can not have your mind 100% on the ride, you shouldnt be there.
Hope these help someone.
FXRFreak
Always ride with gloves cause if you ever come unstuck the first thing to go down & out are your hands.
ride like everyone is going to hit you...
Sorry FXRfreak but i have to disagree with you and the advanced rider instructors. If you are looking more than one car in front (which i have done for the last 30 something years) your peripheral vision (if you have any) should and will take care of anything directly in front of you. Keep the 3 sec gap by all means to give you a buffer but, if you are not watching the traffic ahead in the distance to see what is happening in general then you are in trouble. What happens when the car in front of you is texting someone and doesn't see the car in front of them slam on the brakes in an emergency ?? The car in front of you might not even hit their brakes ?? You might have a 3 sec gap but if you never get to see a brake light or your reflexes are not up to the task at hand, or you don't have your hand ready on the brake lever, or you panic, etc, etc, then you are fucked. I would go as far as saying that watching the traffic as far ahead as you can is probably the single most important thing i have ever learnt while riding or driving and I've avoided a lot of potential accidents because I saw them before they happened. I think it is completely possible to do both things at all times. I can't imagine driving through the city and not knowing where an escape route is in front of me. Eg - What happens if i have to find a gap through the traffic in front of me because the guy behind me has not braked when i have ? He is now going to slam into the back of me because i have had to pull up in an emergency ?? Don't forget whats behind you when you emergency brake, and if all I've been looking at is the tailights in front of me then how can i find an escape route ahead of me. You watch the tailights in front of you all the time if you want to mate, but I for one will never be convinced to do that no matter who tells me to.
try to use the biggest aftermarket mirrors you can get away with, I rode a mates Fatty with tiny billet mirrors and although they looked great they didn't work to well. Mirrors have saved me from a few bad decisions at the last minute. And I cant emphasize the head look enough before changing lanes. Bikes have fairly large blind spots too and you hardly ever hear a car coming up from behind like they can hear us. to be honest I still run with the factory mirrors (and both of em). Apart from treating each ride as a mission the mirror thing is my best tip for what its worth.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned in here is music.
Ipods,mp3's ect are nearly as distracting while riding as useing mobile phones in cars.
Have only tried listening to music once and this was not while riding, I was flying. Brand new $1400+ ANR headsets that you can patch the phone and mp3 player through and superb stereo.I do low level work and it's not much different to riding a bike.The music lasted for about 10minutes before I pulled the plug you just can't afford to be even a fraction behind while you are skimming between trees, no difference to riding on the road and playing with the cars
I have had a couple of monumental accidents. What I have learn't is if it doesn't feel right, don't go & stay at home.
