Motorcycle notes
This is from a coworker, an avid motorcycle rider. He wrote it for a friend who just got a motorcycle permit and forwarded it to me when I mentioned I am considering trying it.
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Congratulations on getting your endorsement! Your mother told me about it.
Here are some notes about my experience and opinions on riding. Others (including friends of mine who
teach riding) may well disagree with some of these thoughts. I hope people add comments to this set of notes, especially when they disagree.
1. Just because you have that stamp on your license does NOT mean you have the experience or judgment to play in freeway rush-hour traffic. Take it slow. Let your brain build the automatic connections so you do not need to look down to flip on a turn signal or look to see what gear you are in or have to think to know how to apply the brakes. Building brain connections takes time and practice.
2. You are a fragile bag of blood playing in places full of high-speed metal. If on any morning you swing your leg over your bike and you feel that nothing can happen to you, then dismount and get into a cage to go where you need to go. Because on that day you are not fit to ride.
3. You will get hurt. OK -- that's not 100%. But it is damn close. You may not get badly hurt, but a crash of some magnitude almost certainly will happen. Understand that and figure out how to mitigate the risks and still have fun. If you can't have fun while understanding you will lose the dice rolls some days, this is not a sport or transportation option for you.
4. Look around you. Always. Keep your eyes moving. Do not focus on one jackass driver -- mentally note him, stay away from him, and keep looking for other risks. Look at the position of each car in its lane. Look for a propensity to tailgate. Look for signs of indecision. Look *into* the vehicle -- is the driver talking on a cell phone or swaying to the music? Are there kids fighting in the back seat? Oh -- remember to look around and enjoy the scenery while you are at it, or why are you on a bike? Remember to look far ahead. Depending on your bike (I am tall and have a tall adventure bike so this is easy for me), you can likely see over the 4 cars ahead of you. Use that. Twist your head around -- don't just rely on your mirrors. Make sure you can twist your head without twisting your handlebars or changing your weight. Make sure to train yourself to be able to look at a danger without steering into the danger. (Yeah, that sounds stupid, but, honestly, this kills bikers. People tend to aim at what they are looking at.)
5. Do not maintain a constant relationship with a car in the next lane. People stop being able to see things that aren't moving relative to them. Tweak your throttle back and forth just a little. Have you ever been looking at a garden and suddenly a bird moves and you automatically focus on the bird you had not seen before? Same idea.
6. Consider more lights. I have 2 PIAA lights on a bar below my headlight. People see triangles of light. More importantly, their brains can automatically judge closing rates as triangles grow.
6a. Consider a bright jacket in a very loud color to enhance your visibility. And/or shiny reflective tape on your helmet, jacket, and bike. (OK, I confess I "wear the black". But definitely a bright yellow or lime green jacket is more eye-catching).
7. I am not a fan of "loud pipes save lives". Some people are. Just noting.
8. OK -- this one is ugly. If you are in a curve and you have a gut feeling you will not make the curve because you went in too hot, push your lean *harder* into the curve (yeah, closer to that really hard pavement) and stay off of the brakes. Your body's instinct is to stand the bike upright (because we evolved fighting upright) and slam on the brakes. This will wrap you around a tree and quite likely kill you. I believe this is the #1 way bikers die in single-vehicle crashes. Don't do it. Stay off the brakes because your tires need all their traction for the curve and also compressing the fork will give you less lean potential. Lean into the curve because your bike will lean farther (without breaking traction) than you think. If you don't make it you at least will likely have a low-side crash, which is likelier to not kill you. But you will probably make it. Then change your pants. And don't go into curves that fast again.
9. Watch out for people turning left in front of you. "Officer, I swear I didn't see him". This is, I believe, the #1 way bikers die in two-vehicle accidents. Don't be one of them. Make eye contact with drivers. But do not assume that eye contact means they won't turn in front of you.
9a. You are invisible. Always remember that.
10. Wear your gear. I have a full-face helmet because I am rather fond of my jaw. Wear your motorcycle pants or overpants. Denim will last no more than 10 feet in a slide on the pavement. The rest is on your skin. You do the math. Since you live in the Seattle area, get gear that handles rain. If your hands are cold and your boots are full of water and you are soaked to the skin you are not having fun and you are not going to be attentive enough to road dangers.
11. Use your throttle. You have the acceleration of the gods. When you twist that throttle your speed will start changing very quickly -- none of that lag time that cagers deal with. Keep in mind that that is a tool to use (but not, much, abuse). I can see what is ahead of me better than what is behind me. I feel more control of my bike under accelleration than when braking. If there is a bad situation I will tend to think first of accelerating out of it than braking out of it. Yeah it is risky -- going faster, after all. But it lessens other risks. This is one of the calls you sometimes
have to make very quickly. Of course if you are in a situation where you have to take action that quickly then you probably already did something wrong. File that for next time and do better.
12. Accelerate into lane changes when possible.
13. Wave at all riders. :) (OK, Simon doesn't. He is right -- there is some risk to taking your handle off the grip. But there is a social aspect to motorcycling that I rather like and am willing to take a slight risk for.)
14. Read a book or two. I liked David Hough's Proficient Motorcycling.
15. Practice. Take another course or two. Ride. Have fun. Enjoy the hell out of it. Riding is a gas.
16. Do not exceed your sight line. This is really hard on a nice twisty road. You really want to open the throttle and scape a peg and have a great time somewhere significantly north of the posted speed limit. But try to visualize a stopped garbage truck just around that next bend. Similarly do not outride your headlight at night.
17. In rural or suburban/exurban areas -- why yes the deer are suicidal and want to take you with them.
18. Oh, yeah -- two-upping. Practice on low-speed roads first. Understand your performance envelop is much lessened. Change your suspension setting if you can. Make sure your passenger understands that her job is to just stay behind you, not to either outlean you or compensate for your lean.
19. Have a blast. Remember -- this is fun.