Motorcycling safety tips

[Jethro]

This thread makes for a great read! Glad I thought of it.

[Katana]

- Keep 2 seconds between you and the idiot in front
- remember a car with ABS brakes better than a GS ( unfortunately)
- create a buffer zone between you and everything around you
- If you're tired STOP
- Don't just ride through a corner , understand it
- don't follow someone else into a corner they are riding their corner not yours
- when hard braking think of the tyre , you will release the brake straight away if you lock it. If you think of only the lever you will grab and lock , and probably not release
- where you look is where you go
- rear brake only for realy slow riding 10 kmph or less
- both brakes together in all other stops , mainly relying on the front brake
- keep groups of riders small , the larger the group the more chance of a spill, also cars cannot overtake you safely with a large group
- Most importantly don't believe a thing I say

Hope this helps

cheers Michael

[Sandy]

- when hard braking think of the tyre , you will release the brake straight away if you lock it. If you think of only the lever you will grab and lock , and probably not release

cheers Michael

.....and remember if you just grab the front brake lever in a panic the tire will usually lock up easily, just squeeze the brake lever and give the suspension time to load the front wheel for maximum traction.

[Sandy]

This thread makes for a great read! Glad I thought of it.

I'm glad you thought of it too. Looks like lots of members are glad you thought of it. Lots of good stuff here for inexperienced and experienced riders. Also a good reminder for us old farts who thought we knew it all and just forgot. LOL. Thanks Jethro.

[mrquadriga]

I'm not positive, but I don't think I've seen..."wear proper safety equipment." I'm partial to a helmet, leather jacket, leather gloves, over the ankle boots and some kind of over pant.

[Hoomgar]

[

Your a marked man on here Phil, but we still love ya

Catch me if you can :roll: :arrow: :arrow: :arrow:[/quote]

We'll get you right now! Before break in
naaa, that wouldn't be fair

[earlfor]

I have to disagree somewhat Michael. I was on the 1150, going down a two lane road with a woman in a new Dodge (I believe) tailgating me. There was a short break in oncoming traffic and the woman pulled out to pass me. As soon as she pulled into the lane beside me, it was obvious she would not be able to make the pass before colliding head on with the oncoming traffic,
She then swerved into my lane and floorboarded her brakes. It was a race in reverse. To avoid being sideswiped or run off the road, I had to outbrake her by enough margin that she still passed me. She was squalling tires and the 1150 still outbraked her ABS equipped car by three car lengths in going from 70 mph to 10 mph.

Earl



[quote="Katana"]-
- remember a car with ABS brakes better than a GS ( unfortunately)

[Katana]

[quote="earlfor"]I have to disagree somewhat Michael. I was on the 1150, going down a two lane road with a woman in a new Dodge (I believe) tailgating me. There was a short break in oncoming traffic and the woman pulled out to pass me. As soon as she pulled into the lane beside me, it was obvious she would not be able to make the pass before colliding head on with the oncoming traffic,
She then swerved into my lane and floorboarded her brakes. It was a race in reverse. To avoid being sideswiped or run off the road, I had to outbrake her by enough margin that she still passed me. She was squalling tires and the 1150 still outbraked her ABS equipped car by three car lengths in going from 70 mph to 10 mph.

Earl

-
- remember a car with ABS brakes better than a GS ( unfortunately)

No problems , I take it that "Squalling" tyres means "squeeling" or skidding?? In that case the car musn't have had ABS as if it did the tyres wouldn't have locked or slid. The other alternative would have been a chirping on off sound as the abs works. The fact that the car was sliding and you braked well and correctly would only back my case. If the tyres were squalling as she was swerving that would indicate that you were braking as she was swerving /braking as opposed to her just braking. This would leave you with a better margin for braking as you have two good foot prints on the deck while hers are trying to turn and brake.
All this aside I'm happy to disagree only because I don't like to have anyone leave a smaller gap ( between themselves and others) thinking they could do as well as you for instance. I think they call that a back handed compliment.

Thanks for the feedback I enjoy informed debate,

cheers Michael

[Nerobro]

ABS doesn't necessarily make a car stop faster. In low traction situations it can actually increse braking distance. :-/ (there's a reason I dont' buy cars with ABS.... And I have the skills to back it up.) The largest single factor in car braking is the tires the driver has on their car. Thankfully, almost every bike here gets sticky tires :-)

A good driver in a car, on the FIRST stop. (sucessive stops are another story entirely) Should be able to outbrake a bike. Then again, we don't ride short bikes. So it's not like we're in a new XXX1kRRR that has a short wheelbase. :-) And we ride bikes with probally a 60% rear weight bias once we put a rider on. That lets us brake harder....

Long story short. KNOW your bike. Practice those HARD stops. Practice stops with a passenger. Find out what and when your brakes will lock up. And do it where you won't get splatted.

I do practice what I preach. There is an industrial aera that has seen my bike do 0-60-0 many times. (my car too...)

Earlfor, Do you know what kind of car it was?

And I apologize for taking this in a different direction.

[Katana]

You shouldn't apologise for taking the thread elsewhere , twas my doing
I was just trying to find out the facts myself. I hope Earl doesn't take offense at my post I just like to know as much about an incident so as to understand it better. Happy to be wrong if I am.

Oh by the way here are a few more tips!

-Always ride within 80% of your skills , then you have 20% in reserve
-Always ride by observation NOT by memory.
- If its that hot that you want to ride without your jaket/gloves etc , just take the car/ air cinditioning

cheers Michael

[joe.d]

Bike Maintenance....CHeck Axle bolts...Use locktite where you should use locktite,use split pins
My friend took a GSF on a test ride when he came back I took a good look over the bike and front axle nut was on by a thread

[earlfor]

OH, I do practice max braking from every speed range I use. :-) For a little bit of amusement, try running the bike up to about 135 mph and then say, OK, now lets see how close I can get to locking them up. LOL
Its more important to be able to go from 70 to 0 quickly than it is to be able to go from 0 to 70 quickly. :-) With the long wheelbase on the GS's, if youre using both brakes, you wont stoppie and can increase braking until the tires start chirping and skipping. At that point, thats all youre going to get.

It bugged me for about 45 minutes trying to think of the car make. finally, it came to me. It was an Intreped.

Earl

Long story short. KNOW your bike. Practice those HARD stops. Practice stops with a passenger. Find out what and when your brakes will lock up. And do it where you won't get splatted.

I do practice what I preach. There is an industrial aera that has seen my bike do 0-60-0 many times. (my car too...)

Earlfor, Do you know what kind of car it was?

And I apologize for taking this in a different direction.

[earlfor]

I probably should add, that as soon as I was aware the car intended to pass, I checked time and distance to the oncoming traffic. I knew before the woman in the car knew that the pass was not possible. I had a split second lead on her reaction time. I cant say that I can outbrake all ABS cars, but I know I can outbrake a Dodge Intreped (Intrepid?) :-)


earl

All this aside I'm happy to disagree only because I don't like to have anyone leave a smaller gap ( between themselves and others) thinking they could do as well as you for instance. I think they call that a back handed compliment.

Thanks for the feedback I enjoy informed debate,

cheers Michael

[earlfor]

Not to worry Michael. I am almost never offended. LOL

"Always ride within 80% of your skills , then you have 20% in reserve "
Absolutely, you stole one of my rules. :-) :-) :-) Well, actually most of the time I doubt I am beyond about my 50% level and even that is illegal. :-)


"Always ride by observation NOT by memory."
There ya go again, another of my rules. :-) :-)

Earl

I hope Earl doesn't take offense at my post I just like to know as much about an incident so as to understand it better. Happy to be wrong if I am.

Oh by the way here are a few more tips!

-Always ride within 80% of your skills , then you have 20% in reserve
-Always ride by observation NOT by memory.
- If its that hot that you want to ride without your jaket/gloves etc , just take the car/ air cinditioning

cheers Michael

[Pete Logan]

On Ron's tire pressure tip, I use Ultraseal and Tire Pressure Monitors. When I got the GS, the tires were losing about 2lbs pressure a week, probably rim porosity. With the Ultraseal, they haven't budged at all in two years, and I don't have to think about punctures. The TPM's are replacement valve caps that have a visual - green for OK, orange at 2lbs down, red at 6lbs down. Each cap is manufactured for a specific pressure. Saves manual checking, and avoids having to take some pressure out to check what it is. $30 for each set of tires is cheap.

My own golden rule is a reformulation of Murphy's Law, which states "If a system is designed so that a human being can screw it up, sooner or later someone will."

My version is "If the possibility exists that someone can get you, sooner or later someone will. Your Job is to make sure that they can't get you, Even If They Try."

Or to phrase it another way, the question is not "Can I make it ?".

The Question is "Can He get me ?"

And the answer is "If you're even thinking that, the answer is Yes. So Don't Do It."

In other words, not being there is a more betterer idea than being able to cope with yes being there

Good thread.

Pete

PS: Of course, I completely agree with all the tips about how to cope as well. Just in case