Gummiente wrote:As added insurance when you approach any intersection with waiting cross traffic, you should be watching the front wheels of the cars - not the eyes of the occupants. You may think they're looking right AT you but sometimes they are actually looking THROUGH you because you haven't registered in their tiny brains yet. If you see their front wheels start to move as you approach, that is your first and only indication that they're going to pull out right in front of you.
This is also a GREAT way to tell if he's looking at you because he's turning your way, or because he can't conceive the notion of only having two wheels.
If you're looking at his wheels, you know which direction he's turning. I've had my share of people turning my way with wheels first, and only deciding to turn their head my way after applying the gas a bit. Apparently whatever was on the other side of the road warranted much more attention than their driving line.
Okay, I am far from an experienced rider, I am about as new as you can get, (just under200 miles of road riding expereience) but I have found the most valuable advice so far to be "Your going to go wherever you look". I never would have guessed it, but it's true. If you look at the curb, your gonna hit the curb. If your gawking into the corn field as you pass by it, good chance your gonna end up in it!
A bike is just different than a car. Keep your eyes moving all the time. Never fixate on an object, and keep your eyes looking WAY ahead of you, don't look at your front tire.
SilveradoGirl--
**Your ride doesn't matter.... the fact that you DO ride is what's important!**
SilveradoGirl wrote:Okay, I am far from an experienced rider, I am about as new as you can get, (just under200 miles of road riding expereience) but I have found the most valuable advice so far to be "Your going to go wherever you look". I never would have guessed it, but it's true. If you look at the curb, your gonna hit the curb. If your gawking into the corn field as you pass by it, good chance your gonna end up in it!
A bike is just different than a car. Keep your eyes moving all the time. Never fixate on an object, and keep your eyes looking WAY ahead of you, don't look at your front tire.
Well said - invaluable piece of information, often overlooked....
The "target Fixation" problem is one we have discussed before - and certainly somehting all riders need to be aware of!
Don't give up.
Not now, not soon, not after being continually knocked down.
Ride like your invisible to everyone else. Don't put yourself in a position where a car could suddenly move over on to you. I like to look for eye contact from other drivers. Always scan ahead where your going and especially side streets.
Maybe because I have tens of thousands of miles of bicycling experience (about 850 on my motorcycle by now), I find I have no tendency to follow my eyes when I don't want to. Which is a bad thing, really, because I should be paying attention to where I'm going. However, if I want to make a difficult maneuver (u-turn; short, sharp swerve; fast lane-to-lane turn, etc.) then it definitely helps to fix my eyes in the direction I want to be going at the end.
And, living in the land of the limo tint, I can't say as I can see the eyes of 90% of the drivers who threaten me. Though the one guy who threatened me the most stupidly was looking straight at me as he failed to stop at a right-turn-on-red and just crept halfway into my lane. So maybe I prefer not to see their eyes. Maybe I prefer to take off their entire skull when I smash into their car and get thrown into their car through the driver's side window. At least I have a helmet on and might survive the head-to-head impact.
I, too have a tendency to look around alot, and not go there. For the same reason....bicycling tens of thousands of miles in a racing position. You just don't put pressure on the bars unless you're turning. When you are...look where you want to go. It really does help.
Also, lean angles are one of the coolest things about motorcycle racing, from a spectator point of view. On the street, though, they should be minimized to maintain a safety margin, and maximize avalilable traction. How do you do this? SLOW DOWN. Speed affects lean angle much more than decreased turn radius. That is, you'll lean more if you double your speed on a given turn than you will if you take a turn twice as tight at the same speed.
If you just can't slow down, shift your body weight to change the amount of bike lean required for your total lean angle.
I'm not talking about knee-dragging here. I'm refering to a safety margin that allows you to turn either way while already in a corner. Dragging hard parts is a key indicator that you are pushing the edge of your safety margin.
The phrase "chicken stripes" can be misleading. A rider who shifts his/her weight will use a lean angle that requires less of the available tread pattern. I frequently (shamefully) ride 30-35 mph over the posted speed limit on the best curvey roads out here. On some of these curves that represents a doubling of the yellow caution speeds. The rear tire i just changed had less than 1/8 inch "chicken stripes." My new tire has a tread wrapping further around the tire, and currently has nearly 1/2 inch "chicken stripes," even though I have increased my speed by 3-5 mph on the same curves since I put the tire on. I slide around less, and have larger margin for error due to the new pattern. Lean angles? The same as before, or more. Why? I shift my body weight (215 lbs) to the inside on every tight turn. I did this before, too. You see, I want my tire to have tread when I have to change my line for an obstacle. How fast could I go? I don't know, and I don't care. I have a blast when I ride, and treat it more like a good dance than a race. I'm not being paid to explore the limits of traction, and stand to suffer greatly if I were to find them.
Yes, you must lean. And yes, you must get comfortable with that. But, on the street, the max lean angle isn't a realistic goal...getting around the turn, and the pothole/possum/car over the line/gravel/oil patch...is.
This is my personal perspective on riding attitude regarding "coolness" due to lean angles. I have been told I use "impressive lean angles" and I have not dragged anything on my bike. I shudder to think what speeds I would need to "accomplish" that. I feel dragging parts would tell me I was about to make a costly mistake...just a matter of time.
I've recently come back to biking from 15 year hiatus. Just a couple tips from the 4000 miles of bike commuting I've done in the last couple months.
First, every rider should have the experience of working on thier own bike, at least a little. I'm an automotive engineer, so I do almost all of my own work on my bike with the help of a couple friends (neat little club)and it's amazing what kind of crud you can find BEFORE it leaves you by the side of the road. Now I know that not everyone is capable of that, but most everyone can at least manage an oil change. Everything you do or even try once brings you closer to the machine that's keeping you shiny side up. Makes one more sensitive to the little changes in sound and feel.
Second, I believe in avoiding accidents as much as possible. I found a cool bomber jacket by Occunomix at the local safety store. Very durable and abrasion resistant, but not armored like many bike jackets. (You could actually wear Kevlar armor, also available at the safety store, under it). Still, it's lime yellow with 2 inch reflective safety tape all over it. You can see it for miles. Since I've started wearing it, I've literally seen many drivers stop short from pulling in front of me. I know it's the jacket that they see. And it's got a zip-out lining and zip-off sleaves so it can be worn as a vest. Great for little jaunts to the grocery store, which is where I've had my close calls (surprisingly, the freeway every morning doesn't seem to be as much of a problem as the mall parking lot).
Another good tip is not try any tricks until you become very comfortable with your bike. Also, don't try tricks on the road when you first learn them. Although it is very tempting to try to impress people with a wheelie, you might want to learn them in a vacant parking lot.
Newrider42 wrote:Another good tip is not try any tricks until you become very comfortable with your bike. Also, don't try tricks on the road when you first learn them. Although it is very tempting to try to impress people with a wheelie, you might want to learn them in a vacant parking lot.
In fact, best to keep tricks to proper areas whether you know them well or not, the highway is no place to be popping wheelies......
Don't give up.
Not now, not soon, not after being continually knocked down.
I hope I don't disappoint anyone here with my lack of bravado... but I plan on riding many many thousands of miles more than I already have... but if all goes well by the time I die I will never have popped a single wheelie OR stoppie. Not on a motorcycle anyway.
you might want to learn them in a vacant parking lot.
