Motorcycling has been one of the most fulfilling pursuits of my adult life. I got my motorcycle endorsement at 18, picking up maybe a couple thousand miles of experience on my dad’s old Honda 450. No professional instruction, just a cautious attitude ingrained in me by my dad. I bought my first bike (a big BMW touring bike) just out of grad school when I was 29; in the 13 years since, I’ve racked up 160,000 miles of road riding experience. I’ve ridden at high speed on a race track, I’ve covered 1000 miles in 24 hours, I’ve been to the tops of mountains, ridden through snowstorms, cruised the Vegas strip on a sunny 115-degree day, seen some amazing sights and met some extremely interesting people. I dropped my first bike (at zero speed) a couple of times, but I’ve never crashed, despite regularly riding at a sporting pace one some of the twistiest roads in the US. Although some of the risk is beyond the rider’s control, a great deal of it can be mitigated by smart choices before and during the ride. Here’s my advice.
Your son has made some smart decisions from the get-go, starting with a small, modestly-powered bike and getting professional instruction. After he gets his license and begins road riding on his own, he may enjoy and benefit by attending a track-based school (example: Reg Pridmore’s CLASS) to improve his riding skills and learn what a motorcycle can and cannot do. Many accidents happen because a motorcyclist doesn’t apply as much brake as he could have, or does not lean the bike as far as he could have; these are the kinds of things that experience at a track school can help prevent. Whether he does or does not receive additional pro instruction beyond the MSF course, it’s important to continue learning/practicing on one’s own. Before I bought my first bike I was an avid trials bicyclist and a Ph.D. mechanical engineer, so I already had a deep visceral and analytical understanding of two-wheeled vehicle dynamics. I took the MSF Advanced Rider Course a few months after I bought my first bike and found that I already knew most of what they were teaching, but I could see that a lot of other people in the class benefitted from it. In 2004 I took a road-based course from a friend who later became a professional track racing instructor for Keith Code. This was more advanced stuff intended for navigating bigger touring bikes through turns on public roads, talking about what to do with your body, braking/accelerating, choosing a line, and so on. It improved my riding ability immensely, and has instilled goals for me to strive for ever since; when I end up on twisty roads, the things I learned then all give me something to focus on, to try to get right. If your son isn’t fortunate enough to bump into an opportunity like that, then I would definitely recommend a track school like the aforementioned CLASS.
Knowing how to maneuver a motorcycle on a track is only half of the picture, though; a rider looking to optimize his safety must also know how to deal proactively with whatever he may encounter on public roads. Rather than flood you with specific tips, I’ll recommend a series of books that contains more info than can be conveyed in a single post here: any one of these books by David L. Hough contains a wealth of information, and the best starting point is probably Street Strategies: a Survival Guide for Motorcyclists. There’s a lot of helpful info there for dealing with a variety of potential road hazards.
Although the motorcyclist isn’t officially at fault in many accidents, there is rarely an accident in which a motorcyclist couldn’t have done something differently that might have avoided or mitigated it. Example, a car changes lanes without looking over his shoulder and runs into you. You weren’t officially at fault, but the accident could have been avoided entirely if you hadn’t lingered in his blind spot.
In the absence of any of those books, I’ll offer a few general tips:
Be predictive. Watch other drivers (in your mirrors too!), and do your damndest to predict what they’re going to do next. Where’s that driver looking? Is this one going to pull out, or change lanes in front of me? Does he see that approaching hazard, and is he going to react well, or is he oblivious and likely to do something stupid at the last second? If you find yourself being surprised a lot, you are doing something wrong, and you should do an honest assessment of what happened to figure out how to avoid being surprised in the future.
Be predictable. If other drivers aren’t expecting you to do X, or if they’re expecting you to do X and instead you do Y, they’re more likely to react in ways that aren’t beneficial to your situation. Passing a car with a very high speed differential can surprise them, and rocketship-acceleration when merging from an on-ramp can, too: if a car glances and sees you doing 25 MPH, and two seconds later (when they aren’t looking) you’re doing 70, that can cause a problem.
DON’T TAILGATE. I see so many riders (and drivers) following other vehicles far more closely than they should. It’s particularly dangerous for motorcycle riders, who can be taken down by road debris that wouldn’t even make car drivers blink. Tailgating makes it more difficult for you to see ahead (to predict), and more difficult for you to be seen (to be predictable).
Don’t linger in blind spots. If you find yourself riding next to a car’s rear wheel, avoid spending a lot of time there; accelerate through that spot, or slow down, whatever works best. Many drivers don’t look over their shoulder (or signal!) when they change lanes, and this location is where they can’t see you, AND where they’ll hit you if they decide to change lanes.
As surely as untrained riders are grossly overrepresented in the crash stats, so are the drinkers. On tours, I’ve been known to have a single beer with dinner, but this was only ever followed by (at most) a mile of straight, flat, slow riding back to the hotel afterwards. Any rider who spends time at a bar during a ride is asking for trouble.
Conspicuity (being seen) is a challenge for motorcyclists. Optional solutions:
Hi-viz gear
There’s a lot of options out there. You can get full riding suits in day-glo yellow, or light-weight yellow vests to put on over whatever other gear you’re wearing. I currently have two high-viz jackets from Olympia: an AST2 for all-weather touring, and anAirglide 3 mesh jacket for hot weather local riding.
I have also affixed large patches of hi-viz yellow material to the rear of my motorcycle’s sidecases.
Extra lighting
My first bike had extra fog lights mounted below the main headlight. They were an unusual bluish-white shade of light (although not HID), and they seemed to catch the eye of other drivers without blinding them (as a high-beam does). I have outfitted my current bike with a pair of yellow Motolights, low on the fork; the unusual color and unusual triangular light pattern gets attention. If your son has a penchant for tinkering with electrical/mechanical systems, he might enjoy making a mod like that to his bike.
headlight modulator
This is a device that continuously oscillates the high beam from full brightness to about 25% brightness, four times per second. These things are legal in all fifty states, and they certainly get the attention of other drivers on the road, but among the experienced riders I know, they are controversial. Many drivers seem confused by them. When I had one many years ago, I actually had several drivers ahead of me pull off the road, apparently thinking I was some kind of authority vehicle. My concern is that the constant flashing may also irritate other drivers, especially if you are stuck behind them in traffic or at a stop light. I don’t currently use one, and I don’t particularly recommend it.
Helmet:
Michigan recently repealed its all-rider-all-the-time helmet law, but I will continue to ride with a full-face helmet. Over the years it has protected me from a lot of potential injuries by insects, road debris, and even a couple of birds. If your son does select a full face helmet, I recommend riding with the visor mostly or completely down; a few of my friends have had stinging insects fired into the gap between their cheek and the helmet, getting stung several times before they could come to a stop and get their helmet off. I push this myself sometimes, trundling through town at 15-20 MPH with the visor up, and yes, I’ve gotten non-stinging insects caught inside my helmet like this. I suppose one day I’ll end up stung like they did, and maybe then I’ll more rigorously apply my own advice.
Jacket:
I wear a jacket at all times, one of the Olympia ones mentioned above. These jackets have good impact armor on the elbows, shoulders and spine, and abrasion-resistant materials at the same spots. A mesh jacket would be a good choice for summer riding in Texas. Jackets typically come with a zipper sewn across the bottom rear edge, so that they can be attached to whatever pants a rider wears; this prevents the jacket from creeping upward while riding or crashing.
Pants:
For pants, I wear a product called Draggin’ Jeans. Outwardly, these look like ordinary denim jeans, but on the inside, they have abrasion-resistant material sewn into the knees and seat. I bought mine in a long length and an oversized waist, which enabled me to add hard armor to the knees and hips. The result is a garment that’s relatively cool in hot weather (as compared to more traditional riding overpants), but still offers decent protection in a crash. Although I have seen crash-tested Draggin’ Jeans that look like they held up quite well, I have to confess that I have never crashed myself, so I can’t confirm personally that this setup will perform to anyone’s satisfaction.
Footwear:
Watch enough YouTube videos, and you’ll see squids tumble off of their crotchrockets, sending their sneakers flying off of their feet. Protective gear can’t do any good for a rider unless it stays in place in a crash. At the very least, I’d recommend hiking boots with good ankle support; for myself, I have a pair of zip-up Sidi motorcycle boots with hard armor at the ankles and shins.
Gloves:
As with footwear, gloves need to be able to stay in place during a crash, so you’ll want some that include a wrist cinch. If you imagine yourself lying on concrete and slapping it as hard as you can with the back of your hand, you may come to appreciate the importance of hard knuckle armor; a number of gloves include this feature. For hot weather, gloves are available that include vents along with the above features.
Earplugs:
This is a relatively uncommon accessory among motorcyclists overall, but it’s almost universal among me and my friends; the difference may be that we tend to tour, which often involves high-speed cruising for hours every day. Hearing loss is (usually) a very slow injury, and unlike a broken bone, it doesn’t heal. I know many people with hearing loss and/or tinnitus, all of whom regret not using hearing protection when they were younger. I wear Howard Leight Max 33 earplugs; these have an NRR of 33, which is just about as high as you can get. I have no problem hearing horns or sirens or vehicles next to me, but it blocks out wind noise that would otherwise be, quite literally, deafening. I strongly recommend developing a habit of wearing earplugs when riding and during other noisy activities (e.g. mowing the lawn, using power tools, etc.); I keep a box of those earplugs in my garage, and another in my basement.
If your son will do a lot of hot-weather and/or long-distance riding, I recommend a Camelbak. Hydration is important under these conditions, and with a Camelbak, it’s pretty easy to grab the drinking hose and take a sip at a stoplight or on a straight road when traffic isn’t around.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Best of luck to your son; if he takes riding safety and continuous self-improvement seriously, maybe riding will be as fulfilling for him as it has been for me.
