Need to know about riding motorcycles.

In My Humble Opinion
21

Many people don’t countersteer. If they do, they are unaware of it. For example, you can ride a bike with no hands on the bars at all and steer only by weight transfer.

There has been many good wrecks that go something like this. A guy on a bike approaches a corner and realizes he is going faster than he is comfortable with. Panic begins. The guy starts wrenching the bars in the direction of the turn and actually skids off the road turning (a little bit) completely the wrong direction.

For example, he tries left lean with left steering input and actually turns somewhat to the right.

I know a guy here in dallas (used to work with my significant other) who died doing pretty much that trick. He just got his new bike. Appearently he scared himself on an elevated highway ramp. Actually turned the bike into the guardrail. He went over the railing and into oncoming traffic below and was then run over as well.

The investigation revealed that his speed was probably well under what the bike could have negotiated the corner at. The tire tracks indicate he turned the wrong way. We’ll never know what was really going through his mind at the time, but… It is a good guess that he tried to turn the bars in the direction of the turn and that doomed him.

22

I’d guess they’re just unaware of it, because you can’t effectively maneuver a bike without countersteering. (Bicycles have less mass, both overall and in their gyroscopes.)

As for me, one of the things I like on a motorcycle is when I sweep into a long fast turn and feel the pressure in my palm as I push the inside handlebar.

KidCharlemagne: That’s what it’s about. The freedom of sweeping into a turn on a sunny day. Being in the picture instead of lookout out at it through the frame of a car window. The instant response and the feeling of accelleration as you twist the throttle. The sound of your engine. The smell of your surroundings. (Okay, that one isn’t so pleasant if you’re on the freeway behind a garbage truck.) The wind. The heat. The cold. Sometimes the rain.

Do people go for image? Absolutely. But I doubt many people would go to the trouble and expense of buying a motorcycle just for the image. I think we do it for the feeling. Riding is a visceral thing; and once you feel it, you crave it.

God. I need a faster bike.

23

Would you guys say motorcycles are more dangerous than bicycles, if ridden by the same person in a responsible (or at least cautious) manner? I ride bicycles in traffic all the time, and I’m beginning to think that a motorized one would be fun to have as well.

24

I can’t guess in the balance which has more or less total risk. I can point to certain specific dangers being reduced and increased.

Being able to sustain traffic speed and integrate with its flow will certainly reduce the risk of being mowed down from behind.

On the flip side, drivers of cars and trucks frequently “look right through” a person a bike or motorcycle and pull out right in front of them at intersections. The higher speed of motorcycle makes this a more dangerous situation. I would rather T-bone a car at 20MPH than at 50MPH.

I am sure there are many more examples each way. How it comes out in the balance, I couldn’t say. I would lean toward having a longer life expectancy on a motorcycle. I only say that because most of the higher risks on a motorcycle can be minimized with proper awareness of the rider. To some degree, if you ride a bicycle in traffic you are at the mercy of the people overtaking you not to mow you down. But, I could be convinced otherwise I am sure.

25

i started riding at about 7 years old on a little yamaha dirt bike, and quickly got up to an old suzuki 250 by about 13. grew up in the mountains with lots of trails all over. at 15 got a brand new yamaha 465 (baddest damn bike for 100 mile radius!) and rode that thing all the time! most fun i had as a teenager with my pants on :wink:

got into racing in college. loved it. got to ride fast as i could and pass old guys with bikes that cost 4x what mine was worth. i am a competitive person, so this was all great fun for me.

got a street bike, and that was real fun for a while too. rode it for years exclusivly. the car was rarely touched. as the motorcycle became more transportation than recreation, it became less fun, but still had better moments than car driving.

getting hit by the 17 yr old girl gabbing away on a cell phone and being rearended by a drunk was NOT fun! (but very profitable!)

i ride less now, primarily because my wife and i worked at the same place, so we would carpool, and now i have a son, and am always lugging grocerys around, and also the weather is often nasty where i live. when i do ride, it is still lots of fun! i got a bike for my wife, so we ride together (dual-sporting-- lots of open desert, mountains and trails around here) and that is also fun, even if the speeds are much slower.

i still race the occasional event and even thou i get beat by everyone, it is fun as well.

if i had $2500 to spend on a “beginner” bike, i would grab a suzuki DR350S. best damn bike i have owned! versital, utilitarian, easy to ride, absolutly bullit-proof reliability. works well off-road, works well on road. room for a 4 gallon tank, passanger and small saddlebags if you want. (we own 2 of these now) also, practice your skill off road. you will learn real quick about counter/rear-wheel steering! in all my years dirtbike racing, i don’t think i have ever turned left to go left! nothing beats an oposite-lock, feet up roost thru a sweeping fireroad corner! :smiley:

have fun, and good luck!

So thats why they call you “Skeeter Flatbush”!

26

Well scr4, that’s why I bought a 50 cc scooter last April during a bus strike. With zero training, and having read absolutely nothing about the proper way to maneuver in traffic, I was pretty good until I tried to take a turn too fast, and my bicycling reflexes kicked in. The bike revved fast and lurched to a stop, and it took me a while to figure out what I had done.

My bicycling reflexes had kicked in. Normally when stopping with gripshifts you downshift on the right hand and squeeze the brake. The problem on a scooter is that this opens up the throttle! Once I taught myself to separate braking from throttle action, I was fine.

My other bad habit was leaning into a turn instead of push steering. On a bicycle or very light motorcycle this is acceptable but sloppy technique that you can get away with. It took practice to concentrate on pushing with my hands first, before leaning.

I still flip back and forth between bicycle riding and motorcycle/scooter riding in heavy traffic. I think that in both cases you viscerally know that you are vulnerable*, and if you drive accordingly you’ll be fine.

[sub]* drivers of cars and SUVs forget this, even though 41 thousand of them die every year in the US.[/sub]

27

oooh oooh… gotta agree with gatopescado on this.

Riding (hard) in the dirt can teach a person so much, it is unbelievable. You can put yourself in more “tight” situations in a month of dirt riding than many people do in a lifetime of conservative street riding. You never know what skill you might learn there that could save your life someday.

28

I agree with gatopescado and scotth. The best way to learn to ride is in the dirt when you’re young. I started riding on a Taco 44 minibike (4 h.p. Briggs & Stratton engine) when I was six. By ten I was riding dad’s “ancient” 1964 Yamaha 80. For my 12th birthday I got a brand new 1973 Yamaha 100 Enduro. My next bike was a 1976 Yamaha 250 Enduro (in 1977). I’d ride all the time. Riding around the desert taught me a great deal and honed my reflexes. When I started riding in the street I found that my many hours and thousands of dirt-miles stood me in good stead.

29

I can’t imagine trying to turn without countersteering(except a <5mph). My bike(r1) is very “flickable”, but I still start all turns/curves with a countersteering nudge.

In fact, the two actions(lean and countersteer) are one action to me. As I approach a curve, I push the handlebar as I start to lean the bike over…if I need a little more angle, I may just push a little harder on the handlebar, if I need alot more, I push and lean…I don’t think I could separate the action.

Take the MSF course, and this won’t even be an issue.

30

I’m no expert, but I did have only a motorcycle for 10 months. I made it a very strict rule to stay in the left lane on the freeways as much as possible, and in the carpool lanes when I could. I didn’t ride in cars’ blind spots, and I and I didn’t let them tailgate me. I passed them while on the other side of the lane, so if they tried to suddenly dive in my lane, they’d have to come all the way across the lane to hit me.

I also only split the lanes (legal in CA) when the traffic was so slow that the cars couldn’t possibly be changing lanes. The absolute worst time is when traffic is going about 20 miles an hour, and there’s just enough space to try to squeeze in the next lane. People get sick of their own lane, and try to jump for the next one.

I rode everywhere, even in the rain (I had no other choice), and only laid it down once. Be careful of the rubber spacers in the railroad tracks. They’re very slippery when wet.

31

Oh, and stay out of the middle of the lane, ride in one wheel track or the other. That dark area in the center of the lane is oil, and if you ride there long enough that oil will build on on your tires…bad thing. Except when passing, stay in the lane closest to trafic. In other words, if in the far left lane, ride in the right wheel track. You’re more visible, and cars are less likely to try and pass you in your own lane.