Twenty-Five Things I wish I knew when I started riding

[jwhite518]

Anything with wheels and an engine will go wrong-some day. Bit like my wife really.

Saw this patch on a biker dude's vest: "If it's got TITS or WHEELS it will give you problems."

[Sport-Touring]

[hharvey]

Saw this patch on a biker dude's vest: "If it's got TITS or WHEELS it will give you problems."

The Calgary re-statement of the above law is

  If it's got Tits or Tires, It's gonna give you Trouble

[Gnomad]

#1 thing that I didn't know.....





No, you can't just quit anytime!

[Cpl Punishment]

DO learn how to fall off. You may wish to practice this particular skill at times when you are bored or are riding a friend's bike. Better, still, get your friend to experiment at falling off and watch closely.

1 Ist rule is-try and make sure you slide, peferably on your back
2 Don't hit anything (like a wall) whilst sliding. it will hurt.
4 DO kick your bike away from you (see above)
10 Low speed spills can hurt more than high speed ones, cause you don't slide
22 Keep you head off the floor if you can
17 Never kneel on the road, if you can help it. I lost 1/3 of both knee caps that way.
17.3 Don't worry about damage to clothing or bike whjile you're sliding down the road.
F) Leather slides best. I'm told that Rukka's Armortec jacket is nearly as good but it costs £800 (over here, anyway)
> Wear suitable gear. Buy the best you can.
IX Don't ever wear shorts or trainers. Even when riding a bike. Unless you want to shave as few ponds of flesh off.
Z) There is no Z.

[RBEmerson]

Here's one to watch out for... hard braking on the ripples that can form on some macadam-topped roads.  As cars and trucks hit the brakes coming up to a stoplight, the road can develop a near-washboard appearance.  Leave the braking on the bike a little too late, get on the binders hard, and the hit the washboard... hope you have ABS!  

Instead, back off the throttle a bit if you see this surface coming up, and do the hard braking while the road's still flat.  Follow up by easing up on the brakes slightly (to avoid locking them up).  The problem shows up most often if the road is descending and where there's lots of truck traffic.  

[gforce]

Don't ride if you are distracted, preoccupied, upset or in any way unable to focus completely on the ride.  

Corollary:  don't ride to relax; ride when you already are relaxed.

[Cpl Punishment]

You may wish to become a liquor loving, hairy, ride in all weathers (I do, I do) biker-a 1%er-but this kind of lifestyle leads to one thing. Haemmorhoids.  

[919Maniac]

**A big oil spot on the roadway means there's a big dip or bump in the road there.

**roads acquire a LOT of new hazards after a storm passes through.  Lots of downed tree limbs, gravelo on the roadway, mud on the roadway, etc...

**on and off ramps may have diesel spilled on them.  Diesel is like ice.

**in the fall, wet leaves are death.

**don't try to keep up with the faster guy, you'll "lose" that race.

**don't lead someone at a speed you know is too fast for them - they will "lose" trying to keep up w/you.

**don't ride with other people  - they're always going too fast or too slow  

**have an escape route - ALWAYS!  

**never pull right up to the car in front of you at a light - see above rule.

**never drink & ride - it's just not worth it (and I LOVE to drink!)

**never stare at a hot chicks azz too long - you may hit the guy in front of you (don't ask).

[Cpl Punishment]

Before urinating, I have found that undoing one's fly makes the process simpler.

[county]

Chains need to be adjusted periodically.

[Cpl Punishment]

Chains need to be adjusted periodically.

Leave wimmins stuff out of this, County.

[BHW]

If something seems odd or wrong, don't ride. I've had this happen: About to commute on the bike, to work and my "spidey sense" tells me to take the truck. I drove the truck.

Daydreaming will get you killed.

Riding a bike is like being in an intense firefight...keep your eyes and ears open and stay alert...bullets will come from all directions.

Tar snakes are very slippery in warm weather.

Not familiar with this road, slow down! You do not know what's around the next bend.

[Wanderer]

The absolutely BEST riding advice I've ever heard/read is RBEmerson's sig line..
Never let your motorcycle take you where your brain wasn't at least five seconds before.
Riders live and die everyday by situational awareness/escape routes, or the lack thereof.

My wife/pillion is learning to ride and asked me through the chatterbox what was going on in my head when I ride... all she got back was "see that car backing out of the driveway? does he see me?  do i have an escape route if he doesn't?  what's that int he road ahead?  is my lane position good? am i in that cars blindspot? what's around me? speed up or backoff?  how long has that light been green? any cars potentially gonna run a red? (I'm paranoid and convinced that I'll meet my maker as a hood ornament from a red light runner)
I think she was a little taken aback by the amount of stuff I monitor on the roadway. I think it left an impression though.  hope so, I like her, wanna keep her around a l'il bit.

[BHW]

That's pretty good Wanderer. My mind is almost constantly calculating, observing, etc while I ride, and a lot of times while I drive. I'm not perfect though. But this is the very reason I would never let my wife ride a motorcycle....not that she has the slightest desire. But we can be tooling along in her car, and she'll be on a 55mph road, and entering a small town where the speed limit drops to 45, then 35 then 25 as you pass the main street area. She's been known to motor right on through these towns without slowing down. I'll ask her by the 35mph speed limit sign, "did you see that sign back there?". Her response is something along the lines of "what sign?". I then tell her she's now doing almost 60mph is a 35mph zone and she slams on brakes. She'll drive past her exit, miss "lane closed" signs, etc. She pays no attention at all while she's driving. I tell her she's gonna kill someone one day, maybe me on my bike. Honestly, I think radios, phones, etc all should be banned from cars. More people die from driving distactions than any other reason involving cars!

[RBEmerson]

Thanks, Wanderer!  Credit where credit's due: the quote is abstracted from David L. Hough's Proficient Motorcycling, which I highly recommend.   Beyond that, "it's all about SA" (situational awareness).  You and BHW very much nailed the interior monologue on the head.  And, finally, "be where they ain't".  If you're not where they are, they can't hit you.   More than once my wife has heard me mutter, "Step away from the crazy people.  Step away from the crazy people now."  

[Cpl Punishment]

Like the moustache, RB.  

[bomber]

Having started to ride in the pre-Internet era, and having read, on several boards, the answers to questions like "should I cover the front break while riding" and "should I trail break" turn into flame wars and religious rants, one might rationally add

"don't ask questions on the internet if you expect ONE RATIONAL answer."

[RBEmerson]

Up yours!!!  

 

[bomber]

zactly as expected!

;-}

[RBEmerson]

We aim to please...