Newbie Questions!

[Crydee]

Do you listen to music while riding your bike? (ear buds or something) is this dangerous?

When someone says dropped thier bike are they referring to careless forgot to put a foot down to lean on and fell over? or going 10 mph and falling or something? Dropping usually bends handle bars or what? (expensive to repair?)

How do you know if a bike is the right size for you? Or if it's to big?

[Mintbread]

I use earphones on longer rides over an hour or so on freeways. In traffic it can be quite dangerous as they need to be louder than the bike and wind to be heard.

Unless someone specifies how they "dropped" their bike it is hard to tell. But dropping it can be anything from a fall off its sidestand to a 100mph crash.
The damage is relative to the accident. I have had my bike fall off its stand once and incurred nothing more than a scratch on the fairing and have written a bike off highsiding at about 60kph.

You can tell if the bike is the right size when you sit on it. If it feels cramped it is usually too small for you and if you cant comfortably reach the ground with both feet the bike is generally too big.

[Crydee]

should both feet be able to be flat footed on the ground when you are stopped? or do people learn to one side to put one foot on the ground?

[Shiv]

I believe both should be flat footed just for different occassions.

For one if you're on a hill and don't think you can hold your bike's position with one foot (assuming you don't feather your clutch with just enough throttle to hold it in position) you'd want two feet down.

But a lot of times you should only have one foot on the ground anyways (right should be on brake, left on ground is how my MSF taught it) so I guess it's argueable.

But I'd gamble that both should be flat footed.

[ZooTech]

I always flat-foot with both feet. If I'm on a hill, I just hold the front brake and then roll on the throttle when it's time to go. It's not a good idea to come to a complete stop with just your front brake on most bikes, but when it's over 8' long it's not as susceptible to the same low-speed weeble-wobble as shorter bikes.

[Wizzard]

In Cali the law states that both feet must be flat footed when at a stop .
Regards, Wizzard

[Sev]

In Alberta one of the things the cops might pull you over for is putting both feet down. Their resoning is that given the training here (keep your right foot on the brake) you probably didn't take training, so you might not have a license. Doesn't mean you're going to get a ticket, just means they want to see if you have a license.

That being said, I'll usually stop with one foot down and one on the brake, but with a passenger I'll put both down, and if I'm a little awkward at the stop for some reason both go straight down and I'll reposition as required.

[Lion_Lady]

In Cali the law states that both feet must be flat footed when at a stop .
Regards, Wizzard

I asked a CA LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) about this, and he said that its 'both feet' not necessarily flat footed.

He went on to say that whether or not a rider is ticketed for not being able to flat foot is entirely up to the officer.

This 'detail' can be used to the LEO's advantage if a rider is, for whatever other reason(s), considered dangerous on the road and not specifically in violation of any other regulation.

AS far as "dropped the bike" - folks are usually referreing to a no-speed or very slow speed tipover, like in the garage and the side stand got bumped up or losing footing at a stoplight, etc. It seems though, that on sportbike forums, riders will say 'dropped it' referring to ANY go down at any speed. (To make it sound less ugly than it really is? - sportbikes go down big and ugly at high speeds around here.)

P

[Scoutmedic]

I think the best bet would be to check your state laws and regulations on motorcycling. Many states have started puting this online.

In Pennsylvania, it's illegal to wear 2 ear pieces. You can only wear one ear piece for communication devices.

I couldn't find any information for 'flat footing'.

[TeeMan]

I didn't know you had to put both feet down at stops in CA... In fact the MSF instructors told us NOT to do that, to keep the right foot on the brake. This was one of the things they evaluated on the 'quick stop' riding test...