Motorcycles

Ride Fast has a post up on motorcycles, which is inspiring this one. Back in the 70s we had a gas crises, with prices spiraling to 50 cents a gallon, and people deciding that their GTO took too much gas. These folks would motor on down to the local MC shop, and say something like “I need something that uses less gas than my GTO. How much is that red one there?” The “red one” frequently turned out to be way more powerful than any novice should be messing with, but the dealerships weren’t going to turn away the sale, so newbies were turned loose on the streets with dangerously overpowered bikes. Sometimes the techs would place side bets on how far the bike would get before being brought back with crash damage. The winner at the Harley shop was 3 blocks.

I’ve been riding motorcycles for (mumble, mumble) years now, and I’ve learned a couple of things. There are 2 time periods when you are most likely to have an accident on a motorcycle: Right after you take possession, and don’t know what you’re doing, and about 2 months later, when you think you do.

Remember the Pontiac commercial for the G8, I think it was, in which the car was driving through a city populated by large chrome balls, about 50 ft in diameter? Remember how the Pontiac rolled down the streets, neatly avoiding being flattened at every intersection by the mindlessly rolling hazards? OK that’s you on a motorcycle, and every single car on the road is a 2-ton ball bearing moving along of its own volition. No, it’s not going to stop for you, or get out of your way. It has no idea you’re even there, so drive accordingly. Defensive driving doesn’t come close to describing it, think barking moonbat paranoia.

Braking: 70% of your braking ability is in your front wheel, so make extensive use of it. NOTE: Situational awareness is important here, you don’t want to be grabbing the front brake on questionable surfaces, so try to avoid them if there’s a chance you’ll be needing to stop. Questionable surfaces include the obvious such as road sand left over from last winter, and slow-drying puddles which can have algae or dust in them. Less obvious are the painted markings in the form of center lines or cross walk markings, which are slippery when wet.

My experience with loud pipes is that they are only audible from behind. Coming at you they're not so loud. Plus, they cover up other noises you might want to hear as you drive.

Running your lights in the daytime is problematic. I recently say an accident in which a kid in a cage turned left in from of not one, but two large bikes with lights on, and bagged them both.

Back when the idea first became popular, the Air Force jumped on the bandwagon, and began requiring us to switch on our lights when we entered the base. This resulted in a big rash of rear end near misses, as the difference between a motorcycle tail light and a brake light was not that significant. The solution was to add a couple of marker lamps to the back fender and wire them to the brake lamp circuit so there would be a notable difference between a tail lamp and a brake. If your bike does not have more brake lights than tail lights, it sure wouldn’t hurt to get this corrected.

Lastly, when you’re riding down the road, position yourself where you’ll have the most room to move, should you need to. On a 2-lane road, this means near the center line. On a 4-lane road, this means near the lane divider, so you can change lanes with only a 3 or 4 foot move, and have the rest of your lane available should the car in the next lane move over into you.

Remember: There is no such thing as a fender-bender on a motorcycle.