2Wheeltips

The older I get (and I'm pretty darn old right now), the more my tolerance level for inattentive (now called "distracted"), rude, incompetent or just plain stupid motorists is next to zero.

When I'm driving my car it bothers me a lot but I feel I'm at least on an equal playing field (car versus car). When I'm on my bike it makes me furious because I'm at such a disadvantage and so much more vulnerable.

I'd be very interested to hear how all of you feel about this problem. Can you easily shrug off a bozo who cuts you off and go merrily on your way? or are you more like me where I'm pulling out the AK47 ? I don't want to get off track with this article as it's not about anger management due to misbehaving motorists (that's just my personal problem!!) but about identifying those motorists who are either misbehaving now (pretty easy) or have the potential to misbehave, based on their "profile", and do you serious harm.

Here is how I profile drivers I don't want to be around and it's solely based on bad experiences I've had. Just like my article on "Junkers and Clunkers" so I take the same concept in a different direction. Here is my list of drivers I avoid as each category relates to an example of a driver who has nearly ruined my day at one time or another.

• Cars full of teenagers who are more concerned about what's going on inside the car than what's ahead of them.

• Soccer Moms with the team onboard and a lot of "activity" inside the minivan or SUV.

• Senior drivers going 10 MPH under the speed limit with those dark wrap around sun glasses and a death grip on the steering wheel.

• Young men or women drivers with several toodlers or babies in child seats in the back and no other adult in the vehicle.

• Business people in their typical company cars or rental cars multi-tasking as they attempt to drive. (I saw a guy driving down I-35 in his company car and he had his laptop very professionally mounted off the dash so he could keyboard while he drove which is what he was doing when I passed him. How would you like that "over achiever" following you down the highway?)

• Any driver who is speeding, tailgating, and or weaving in and out to get that one extra car length ahead.

• Truck drivers are a mixed bag for me. They can be the most well trained, diligent and courteous drivers on the road. They can also be the the most arrogant, rude and sleep deprived. I can give examples of both extremes, and I choose to make my determination based on how they perform at the time I encounter them. My rule of thumb is to stay away from tractor trailers as much as possible for 3 reasons:

  1. First, they obscure my view big time.

  2. Second, they block other motorists from seeing me. 

  3. And third, they create air turbulence (some call it "dirty air") that buffets you around and diminishes the quality of the ride. 

Anyway, I think you get my point by now. It's not that I have a grudge against older people or young people with families or Mom's who volunteer to haul the team around. I simply don't feel comfortable riding in their vicinity (or anybody else's for that matter who is giving something less than 100% of their attention to driving the car). It's perfectly legal, I guess, because thousands of motorists do it every damn day, but it's not OK with me and if I have a choice I get the heck away as fast as possible and find friendlier company.

I pay a lot of attention to who I'm riding with because, to me, it matters. It's something I can do proactively to protect myself before the "distracted" driver puts my life at risk. We've all had close calls while riding; it's near impossible not to, with the lack of attention to the task of driving paid by many drivers today. It's a huge problem on the roads and I expect it will continue to get worse.   This is my advice on how I deal with it; hope you find it useful.

This leads me to my third and final article in this series:  How to improve your vision skills and avoid missing something that is a serious threat. VTXRon did an excellent article discussing the problem of "target fixation". This is a serious error in focusing on the problem and not the solution. Please stay tuned for my next article as I will talk about how you keep your vision open and look at the 'big picture". The next time you're out riding, notice what those drivers that are "near and dear" to you are doing and act accordingly.

Ride safe, be safe, live long, and prosper!!

    What was the first thing you thought of when you heard the words “counter steering”?  I remember what ran through my mind; is that even possible?  What a counter intuitive thing to try and figure out.  You want me to go barreling down the highway and turn the bike by “counter steering?”  So I did a little research into this mysterious technique and honestly, I got more confused with every article, explanation, and video.  To my amazement I found that the ability to perform counter steering properly was pretty much written off as something that comes naturally.  The general consensus was if you can ride a bicycle down a hill, then you already know how to do it. 

I’m sorry, but that’s not going to fly, especially experiencing some close calls of my own and after speaking with a few newer riders, listening to their definition of counter steering and watching some of my friends lean their 800 pound cruisers through the turns.  Even at the Motorcycle Safety Foundation classes, they preach that you should look, lean and roll on the throttle as you take the turns, but what does that mean? 

As I gained my experiences riding, I found myself pushing the envelope a little more as time progressed by upping my speed in the turns and tried just leaning the bike more.  I simply did this because that’s what all of my instructors had been telling me.  But to just lean the bike didn’t improve my cornering ability; it just made the bike lean more in a wide arc that usually resulted in me having to slow down through the turn or worse, crossing the center line.  For me, this was completely unacceptable.  I needed to find out what I was doing wrong, I didn’t like making the same mistakes over and over, I wanted to improve my riding skills, and become a safer rider at the same time. 

The answer came to me like a bolt of lightning during a practice session in a parking lot while trying to do some slow speed turns.   I began forcing my bike to lean more by pushing hard on the grip down on the side I was trying to turn the bike.  In other words, it was like I was trying to push the bike to the ground to get it to lean over.  It takes a lot of time to master [this technique] and is part of the progression in Ride Like A Pro, but this was the answer I was looking for. It was the “lean” and the counter steer all in one.  As I turned my bike in sharp turns, I was actually performing the equivalent of a counter steer and my bike was making sharp turns so tight I was surprising myself.  The simplicity of making the bike do the work, without having to use the weight of my body to get the bike to roll and turn to the left and right was a huge find. 

The proof came when I took the bike out and began riding through some nice curved roads.  I slowed the bike to a comfortable entry speed and looked through the turn.  I rolled on the throttle and pushed the bike under me without leaning my whole body with the bike by pressing down on the grip in the direction of the turn.  I realized that I was extremely comfortable throughout the entire turn and looked for more situations to try out my new found technique.  The beauty of my new find was that the curves and turns were less threatening to me.  I was also surprised to discover that I seemed to have a lot more lean in reserve than before learning this, and the turns that would scare me before, were easy to navigate.

If you can, imagine yourself straddling a bicycle standing upright with your feet flat on the ground.  Now picture yourself lightly pulling up on the left grip while pressing down on the right grip causing the bike to lean. The only difference between that and counter steering is that your press is down and forward in the direction of the turn.  The harder you press, the tighter you will turn.  One thing to keep in mind is that while performing these techniques, keep your muscles nice and loose, as it enables you to perform them so much more smoothly because remember, “Smooth = Cool”.   A death grip on the handlebars will do nothing but impair your ability to react quickly and fatigue you a lot faster than normal.  You want to keep your eyes level with the horizon (tilt your head to do this), which is one reason why simply leaning your body doesn’t work so well because it’s nearly impossible to keep your eyes level with the roadway while leaned all the way over.  I found that trying to keep my spine perpendicular with the road surface or my shoulders parallel allows me to work the bike beneath me, again, allowing the bike to do the work. 

Once you have found what works for you with counter steering, you’ll find that you are less fatigued when riding the windy roads, and even lane changes become easier.  You can snap your bike to different lines and avoid obstacles that much more efficiently.  Learning to counter steer correctly makes riding much more enjoyable.  It will also improve your ability to ride safely.  I hope this answers the question of what counter steering really is. So get out there and work on your counter steering.

As a fellow rider, if I asked you what you would consider your first line of defense against hazards, how would you answer? In my mind, without a doubt, it’s our vision. Seeing things gives us the opportunity to react, slow down, swerve or even speed up. In other words, take the necessary “avoidance” measures appropriate. So, if we don’t see something that poses a potential risk we are especially vulnerable as we loose that ability to react.

Surprises while riding are really, really bad as I’m sure you are all well aware. I would like to devote the next several articles to this very important topic. I thought I’d write them in a particular order with the first article providing examples of the kind of stuff you need to pay attention to, next the type of drivers you need be avoiding and lastly what expert riders/authors recommend to improve your ability to see all this stuff and focus on what’s important and ignore the “small stuff”.

One of my favorite authors and story tellers, Tom Bodet, wrote a few books on his living in Homer, Alaska (As far as You can Go Without a Passport and The End of the Road) You might remember Tom as he did the "Motel 6" commercials ‘We’ll leave a light on for’ya.”.  Anyway, he tells a story where he classifies people into two categories; people that notice stuff and people that don’t. Pretty simple concept right? Well, I definitely fall into the classification of people who notice stuff and let me tell you about some of the stuff I notice when driving and riding the highways and byways here in the Heartland.

I notice stuff on the sides of the road. You might notice that stuff too but did you think it probably didn’t start out on the side of the road. It’s not likely that Sanford & Son is making stops along our expressways neatly depositing things they couldn’t sell at the junkyard. No, that stuff falls off cars, trucks, and trailers and lands in the road and, then, eventually makes its way to the berm or median. Here is a list of stuff I’ve seen in the last few months on the sides of the roads I travel:

• dresser drawers with contents
• luggage with contents
• coolers
• mattress and box spring
• bicycle (women’s blue 10 speed)
• fire hydrant (believe it!! can you imagine hitting a fire hydrant going 70mph?)
• endless number of truck tire casings (I hit a small piece of one of these several weeks ago and it knocked the riveted right rear mud guard off my Camry)
• fire wood
• lawn mower
• lawn chairs
• mufflers, and the list goes on and on

We were coming back from a July 4th trip to Cincinnati and there was one of those small inexpensive trailers with the metal screen bed and it had a piece of plywood for each of the 2 sides. We were two cars behind it when one of the plywood sides blew off and landed in the fast lane just to our left and slid for awhile before sliding off into the median. It didn’t slide flat on the ground; it was angled about 45 degrees, so if you hit it on a bike it would have flipped towards you totally obscuring your vision and probably causing you to crash.

The point I hope I’m making is that riding in the vicinity of vehicles carrying stuff is ill advised

• Over packed and unsafely packed dinky trailers
• RV’s with junk tied on the back with bungee cords (I’ll talk more about bungee cords later!!)
• Anything with a mattress on top stay away from, it’s a severe hazard.

A friend of my wife was killed this year in Cedar Rapids while riding a motorcycle and a mattress blew off the top of a car.  It hit him, causing him to crash, and he was run over by another car.

Here’s my bullet point list of vehicles not to be around:

• RVs with stuff insecurely tied on the top or back
• Open-top trailers flled with junk that is not properly tied down or covered.
• Construction vehicles of any type, including those on flat bed trailers where rocks and dirt clogs get jarred loose by bumps, and fall off, and especially
• dump trucks hauling gravel (the ones with the big sign "Don't Follow Me Into the Worksite"...yeah...I won't follow you at all, thanks very much!)
• Junker cars that are poorly maintained, where parts might fall off.
• 4-wheel drive trucks and Jeeps with off-roading tires that are really good at throwing rocks (I've lost 2 windshields on my car following these types of vehicles, and I try very hard not to follow them...if I have no choice, I leave a football field of distance between them and me)
• Anything that is carrying a heavy object held down by bungee cords.  Bungee cords are designed to hold light objects in place.  They are not designed to hold heavy items like tool boxes, kayaks, ladders, etc.  Heavy objects require nylon straps, preferably ratcheting straps, chains or other robust methods to secure the load.

I’m sure this jogs many of your memories on junk you’ve passed or stuff you’ve seen fall off vehicles. That’s my objective here, to jog your memories so you think about what you are following and or riding next to and. if it fits any of the above criteria, the “light bulb” should go on and you need to find another lane position, pass it quickly or fall way back. Ride safe, and remember Tom will keep that light on for’ya at your favorite Motel 6.

    Have you ever been watching television where they show the camera view from the police cruiser while the cop is talking to the person he has pulled behind when suddenly the cop either narrowly escapes being struck or is hit by a passing motorist?  Or have you ever walked down a hall and caught the eye of the person coming towards you and before you know it, you are both doing the hallway shuffle in an attempt to get around each other?

 Although you may not have given much thought to the dance you do every now and then, it may have crossed your mind to wonder “how the heck, with all those lights going, did that person not see the cop car on the side of the road?”  Believe it or not, the answer is quite simply that the person did see the cop car, as you saw that person in front of you in the hall.  You looked at some part of that person, usually their eyes, and focused on them as you approached.  The driver simply locked his (or her) focus on the cop car and drove directly at it.  Our mind works in strange ways, but subconsciously when we focus on something, we tend to move in the direction we are looking at whether we are walking, driving a car or riding a motorcycle. 

When it comes to riding as beginners, we tend to over-think what we are doing because it is a new experience.  We know the dangers and listen to all the horror stories.  We focus on the things that we know could hurt us because these are the things that we want to avoid; a patch of gravel, a curb, or a vehicle we are trying to avoid. 

In Proficient Motorcycling©, David Hough states that one of the most common reactions a motorcyclist will make when confronted with a vehicle making a turn in front of them is to simply steer the bike directly into the very car they are trying to avoid.  I have seen it myself while riding on my very first group ride and have seen it plenty of times since.  We are all victims of it at some point especially when we first begin riding.  What makes all the difference in the world is realizing what it takes to get out of those habits of focusing on what you want to avoid.

Next time you are driving your car and making turns, pay close attention to what you are physically doing.  What becomes apparent is that you start looking through the turns and you aren’t focused on the things in front of you.  If you see something that you need to avoid, you pick a path around what you want to miss.  The difference between driving a car and riding a motorcycle is that it has become second nature to most of us as we drive our cars.  An example of what happens when you become fixated is to watch a very green driver trying to park his (or her) car in a parking lot when they have absolutely no clue as to how to perform a simple task.  It may take them twenty tries to get the car parked because they are so focused on the car next to them that they keep parking too close or crooked.  

The best technique I can suggest for eliminating target fixation is to understand the benefits of it by performing u-turns in a parking lot at slow speed.  It’s just like the u-turn box that you practiced in the basic rider course, but this time we aren’t going to set a perimeter.  You are simply going to find an area large enough to give you plenty of room to do some slow speed turns.  Ride forward in first gear and when you are ready to make the turn look over your left shoulder and pick a target behind you off into the distance, the further away the better.  Using clutch and throttle control and if you need to, drag the rear brake a little, initiate the turn while maintaining focus on that point.  The trick is to do this u-turn without shifting your focus away from your target.  Eventually, you can begin using the area that you would normally drive down and try avoiding the painted lines in your u-turn.  What you will find by continuously practicing these maneuvers is that knowing how using target fixation in a positive way allows you to understand when it is happening in a negative way.  In addition, when there is an obstacle in your way, you rapidly shift your focus from that obstacle to the new path that you need to take; whether it’s to get around a pothole or avoid a collision, you learn that the bike really does go where you want it to.  The same technique is used while turning at high speeds.  Looking through the turns, looking as far ahead of you and where you want to exit the turn, and not concentrating on the curb, centerline or oncoming traffic, prevents you from focusing on that one point closest to you and riding directly for it.  You will realize just how eliminating target fixation on the things you want to miss is guaranteed to make you a better rider. 

Right hand on the throttle
Right foot on the brake
Drinking before riding is a big mistake

Cruisin down the freeway, felling really fine
Is it the booze or am I sychronized?

Think I'm riding savy, don't know if that's true
Only had two close calls, well that's mighty few

Not sure of my limits, am I over my head?
Hope to make it home tonight alive not dead

Right hand on the throttle
Right foot on the brake
Drinking before riding is a big mistake

Don't know my limits my perceptions are a blur
am I even riding safe, well I'm not sure

I think it's time to park it, time to call a cab
If  I keep on riding well, the outcomes bad

Booze and bikes are great when off the road and parked
Once you get to riding then sobers really smart
If your riding home tonight then sobers really smart!

“A Man's Got to Know His Limitations”

(Clint Eastwood/Dirty Harry, Magnum Force 1973)

 Lately I’ve been looking on line at some of the videos on motorcycle crashes. You can do a “google search” and find several web sites (www.motorcyclecrashes.net) that have some really disturbing stuff, which is what prompted me to select this topic to write about. I think the quote from the movie Magnum Force is very appropriate because it seems to be human nature, particularly with the “high testosterone manly macho types”, that they are far more skilled and invincible than how truth would have it. It’s not just an error in judgment I’m referring to, but a belief, due to ignorance, ego inflation or having no realistic reference point to measure from, that their skill level is much greater than it actually is. Alcohol definitely enhances this state-of-mind so it only adds fuel to the proverbial fire!! How else can you explain a rider with a passenger who is dressed in tank top, shorts and flip flops from doing a wheelie on a sport bike, losing control of the bike and putting her on the tarmac? This is an extreme example but let’s talk about some examples of lesser but equally problematic situations where riders get in way over their heads.

I have read several recent article where riders purchase bikes in locations that are far away, fly there to pick them up and ride them home. Some large dealerships even promote this idea with “fly and ride” specials. This can be an exciting adventure but the rider is not going to be familiar with this new/used bike and riding it for the first time in an area that is strange to them. They have not taken the time to ride the new bike in a more controlled and familiar environment to take the time to acclimated to it and or find out if everything works OK (other than a parking lot shakedown) and or get proficient with the controls. Net result is the ride turns into a nightmare with breakdowns and crashes due to either maintenance problems with the bike or controls working  differently (brakes/clutch/throttle) than what the rider was expecting. Here is a classic example of not understanding the limitations and condition of a new bike and not allowing yourself time to adjust to them.

Speed is another area that is repeatedly talked about and well documented. The single biggest reason for motorcycle crashes where no other vehicle is involved is excessive speed going into corners. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this as it is talked about over and over again. Being able to ride fast on a well known road you are very familiar with is one thing. To do it on a road you’ve never ridden before is extremely ill advised. I did a 300 mile ride this weekend on roads I had not ridden before. I ride the speed limit and well within my skill level but at some of the intersections and curves I encountered gravel from the berm that had been dragged on the road by tractor trailers and was all over the corners and intersections. I had to slow down to parking lot speeds to make some of these turns it was so bad.  So traveling high speed going into unknown conditions on unfamiliar roads regardless of what you think your skill level is can present unwelcome surprises.

About 2 years ago I had just upgraded the stock seat on my cruiser for me and my wife’s added comfort. We purchased some pricey gel pads to boot. We normally rode in the 150 mile range and with the new seat and pads could do so with no aches or pains. Well, I had the bright idea of doing a Saturday trip of just a tad over 300 miles to evaluate how far we could ride to determine if we could do longer weekend trips. That idea wouldn’t have turned out quite so bad if I’d left my wife at home and just let myself be the “guinea pig”. The ride out was fine and we stopped and had lunch about 160 miles out. The ride home was a disaster!! I started getting sore about an hour into the ride home and so did my wife. It just got worse and worse until the time we finally made it back. I was almost afraid to take my helmet off as I though she was going to punch me, and rightly so!! It was a stupid experiment where I did not understand the limitations of the bike regarding comfort based on ride time and or number of miles. Rather than having a great riding day it became a torture test and ended in a big fight. It turned out to be a memorable experience alright but for all the wrong reasons. Certainly this was not a life threatening situation but still makes my point that not knowing your limitations, and that of your bike, causes unnecessary stress and can severely diminish, if not out-right ruin the positive experience we expect from this sport.

The other point I want to touch on is how weather can seriously impact your abilities requiring you to adjust your level of limitations, usually downward. Severe hot or cold temperatures can significantly reduce your comfort level and mental alertness. Ride time, range and intervals between breaks need to be adjusted accordingly. Rain and wet roads reduce traction requiring reduced speed and increase ride time. Fog reduces visibility and causes you to strain to see ahead which accelerates mental fatigue. We have a lot of wind in Iowa even through the summer months. If you are going to ride here you have to be able to ride in 20mph – 30mph wind or your bike will get way more garage time than road time. When it gets much over 30mph I head home and park the bike. I did that twice this year because it’s so hard to judge the wind in the city limits with buildings all around. Once you get out into the open country what you thought might be a tolerable wind day many times is not. The physical demand of riding a bike in sustained winds over 20mph is far greater than in low or no wind situations. I tire much more quickly and will cut my ride time by half if not more.

Well, that wraps up this article. I hope it gave you some things to ponder and will keep you focused on what your true limitations are and how not to exceed them. Just remember “Clint’s” words of wisdom.

Here is something many riders don't know about. The age of your motorcycle tires is just as important as the depth of the tread.

Why? Because motorcycle tire rubber is soft....much softer than the rubber in your car tires. And it has to be....soft rubber grips the road very well and lets you ride those twisty roads with confidence. It is also why motorcycle tires wear much faster than car tires.

Because they are softer, they will dry out and crack as they get old. Once this happens it doesn't matter if it is a brand new tire or one with a few hundred miles, it is dangerous to use because old motorcycle tires are slippery. They have less grip and increased braking distance which could get you into a crash.




If you ride 2000 miles a year (the estimated average for bikers in the U.S.) or more, you will wear your tires out before they "age" out. If all you do is ride to the local bike night and back a few times a month, you will have hard cracked tires with plenty of tread.

How do you tell the age of the tire? That's simple. It is right on the sidewall....but it is encoded.

The first 2 numbers are the week of the year the tire was made and the last 2 numbers are the year.  So this tire was made the 13th week of 2004.....sometime around the 1st week of April 2004.

Knowing the tire age has a few uses:

Buying used bikes
When buying a used bike, you definitely want to check the tire age. If the tires are over 5 years old, use the tire age to negotiate a better price. You will need to replace those tires soon.

Dealers with leftover bikes
Due to the economy, many motorcycle dealers have brand new 2007 - 2009 bikes.......with old tires. Even brand new bikes have tires that are at least 1 year old on them. So a "new" 2007 bike could have tires made in 2005. Here is a chance for you to ask for a price break or have the dealer put newer tires on the bike as part of the deal.

Websites that sell discount tires
Why do you think some websites (I won't name any here) sell motorcycle tires for 65% - 75% off? Because they are old. Some of them have been sitting around in storage for 6 or 7 years. If you order from a discount tire website, let them know up front you will not accept any tires that are over 18 months old. If they ship them anyway, refuse the order.

I hope this helps.

    I was at a casual dinner meeting with some of my bike riding friends late last week, and as is inevitable with most motorcycle discussions, we found ourselves talking about accidents. Since I began riding a little over a year ago, I found that the forensics of motorcycle accidents have always intrigued me.  I use all the lessons learned from these individuals and store them in my own personal memory bank for future reference in the event that I may someday need to work my way out of a similar situation.  Now, I am not an expert by any means, I am simply another “new” rider who has the ability to comprehend most things presented to me rather quickly and the best way to apply those new tidbits of knowledge;  it’s how I continue to learn something new every day. 

    This discussion we had involved a gentleman who unfortunately has found himself without his motorcycle for a very large chunk of this near perfect riding season due to a mishap and the required repairs on his steed.  I was surprised that this guy had been riding for a number of years, but was almost completely uneducated with regard to motorcycling.  His “accident” or crash was completely self induced and fortunately involved nobody but himself.  I left the dinner meeting that night and started to replay his words through my head trying to figure out what he did wrong besides the obvious and why, during a right hand turn at speed his motorcycle came crashing to the ground.  I took out all the other opinions such as “he may have hit some gravel” or “probably loose sand on the road when you made the turn”.  This biker did say that during the turn he felt he had taken it a little too fast for his comfort and tried to slow down in the turn.  Now before all the experts start screaming “Well there you go! That’s your problem right there, he hit the brakes!!” Let’s figure out what really happened and what we can do to not repeat his mistake and make us better riders out on those roads.

   After talking with this biker to get some additional information I realized what had happened.  As with most people who ride without considerable practice or training, they take for granted that when you hit the brakes the bike stops and when you roll on the throttle it goes faster.  Unfortunately it isn’t that simple.  This person had not honed his skills in  more than a few areas, but we are going to concentrate on what I feel is the single most important skill that all riders need to have, the one that will, without a doubt, save your life one day, and why I feel it is the main reason why his bike is in the shop today.  I am talking about braking. 

    The reason why my friend crashed his bike was because as he entered the right hand turn he wasn’t using his head and eyes to look through the turn and took it too wide.  The speeds we are talking about were, according to him, about 20 mph.  As he leaned the bike and tried to make the turn he began to cross the center line and head for the opposite side of the road.  He fixated on where he didn’t want to go and panicked.  He grabbed for his brake and in his heart pounding, adrenaline pumping, excited state, he slammed the brakes causing the pads to clamp and lock onto the rotors and lost any available traction, causing his bike to come crashing to the ground.  I am not going to tell you that it’s okay to hit the brakes in a turn; there is a correct way for slowing down, and that is to do it before the bike is leaned over, but that is a discussion for another day.  What I would like to bring to your attention is how to become familiar with your bike's brakes and begin practicing emergency stopping. 

   Like I mentioned earlier, I personally feel that familiarity with your bike's braking system is probably more important than anything else once you begin riding seriously .  The statistics state that nearly one quarter of all motorcycle accidents (in the US) involving another vehicle are left hand turners cutting in front of a motorcycle.  While you have options available to you that may include swerving around the front or back of the car turning in front of you, you need to be aware of what is on the other side as well as predicting the actions of the other driver.  Is he going to speed up to try and make the turn before you get there, will he panic and slam on the brakes, is there another vehicle on the other side, do I need to cross into oncoming traffic to get around him?  These are just a few things that you need to process before making that decision.  What I recommend is attempting an emergency stop to reduce your speed and the amount of kinetic energy from the weight of your bike and your velocity.  Even if it comes down to a collision, I would rather do it by slowing to 5mph than sliding into the other car at 30.  You may be asking "what about dumping the bike?"  Trust me when I tell you that rubber on pavement will slow you a lot quicker than steel and plastic sliding along the asphalt.  What we are looking for is a controlled stop at maximum braking pressure without skidding or especially locking up the front brake.  "How could this have helped the guy from crashing his bike," you may ask?  The truth is that if he was familiar with how his bike reacts to braking and was comfortable with applying brake pressure at various levels, he may have been able to slow his bike enough and still keep it upright.

    So, let’s get back to your favorite parking lot, and this time you need to be wearing your best suit of armor.  Practicing this can be a little tricky at first because there you really need to understand what your bike is telling you as you begin practicing this life saving maneuver.  Please start slow and as you begin to read the feedback from the bike, you can start ramping up your speed a little.

    Firstly, you need to find a lot big enough that allows you to get up to speed and more importantly enough room to stop.  If you can’t find a lot big enough, take it to a commercial area that may be empty on the weekends and find a road that has no traffic and no debris that could impede your traction.  What you want to do is begin with getting up to around 20 mph and at that point begin applying pressure to your front brake gradually increasing pressure and at the same time applying some back brake pressure.  As your front forks compress gradually increase pressure on your front brake while adding some more to your back brake.  Remember that during this, your weight has transferred considerably to the front tire and you have quite a lot of traction in the front.  Generally, you can apply more brake than you think.  What you are looking for is getting to the point where you believe that any harder and the brakes will lock up.   In addition you must be squeezing the brake progressively, not slamming on the brakes, and not applying and releasing and reapplying.   

    If you manage to lock up your rear brake, do not release the pedal, just ride out the skid until you stop.  If you lock up the front, release the brake lever immediately, don’t even think about the maybes... just release the lever.  The reason you should ride out the back skid and not the front is because when the back brake locks up, the bike has a tendency to drift the rear to one side or the other.  If you release that brake while the bike’s front and rear tires are not in direct line with the direction you are going, the bike will snap to that track and throw you off like a bucking bronco known as a high side and this could result in a hospital visit.  If the front tire locks up, you have just used up all the necessary traction to hold your bike upright, you cannot counter steer, or even hope to balance the bike without any traction for your front tire.  You may as well be parked on a sheet of ice.  You will know if the front tire skids by getting an immediate mushy almost rubbery feel to the handlebar.  At the same time it will fell like the handlebar wants to snap to the left or right.  You only have a few fractions of a second to release the brake lever before your motorcycle is on the ground and you are lying beside it with full knowledge of what it feels like when the front brake locks up.

     The point to this exercise is to begin getting familiar with the brake limits of your motorcycle.  If you are in a panicked state and need to hit the brakes, chances are that you are going to go for the brake lever with everything you have to stop that bike.  Your muscles will be stiff and you will react by applying too much brake pressure too early.  If you know that under your present circumstance you need to stop the bike quickly but calmly and know exactly how to do it, you can do it while remaining upright and confident. 

    As part of my motorcycle workout routine, I incorporate this into a series of different maneuvers to ensure I remain proficient.  In addition, on my way home from riding every day, I will go down a street, look in my rearview to ensure there is no traffic behind me, and do at least one emergency stop.  I cannot understate the importance of good braking practices.  I live in New Jersey and there is nothing that scares me more than the thought of a huge white tail deer running in front of me; it has happened a few times.  There is no way to accurately predict the path of a deer so trying to steer around it is out of the question. 

     Being aware of my braking ability and ingraining into my mind that when I need to stop quickly it must be done methodically prevents me from locking up my brakes when all I need to do is slow down.  It would be a shame to lock up my front brake and drop my bike at a high speed, potentially causing injury to myself and most likely damaging my bike, because I didn’t practice this critical exercise.

With great summer riding comes the less enjoyable task of cleaning all the bug guts off your windshield and front of your bike. Here in Iowa it's particularly bad this year due to all the rain we've experienced. I can't stand to look at/through that mess on my windshield so I end up cleaning it off after every ride.

I found that by soaking an old bath towel in water than drapping it over the windshield and front of my bike/headlight makes the job so easy and saves a ton of time. Press on the wet towel so it's stuck to the entire windshield. You might need a second towel to do the front of your bike depending on how your bike is configured or do the windshield first then use the same towel to do the front.  Let the wet towel sit about 20 minutes then just take that damp towel and wipe off the windshield and front. It only takes about 30 seconds or less to get all the gunk off with no rubbing or scrubbing. It really works great and it eliminates using sprays and cleaners that can sometimes harm your windshield or cause scratches. I then just go over it lightly with a cleaner designed for my polycarbonate windshield and I'm done in less than 2 minutes.

If you want to have a chance of becoming a good biker, you need to start with the type of bike you are on. Remember: it’s your FIRST bike and you are a NOVICE. You don’t have the skills yet to handle high end motorcycles.....yet. Just like your first car, it wasn’t the biggest baddest machine in the dealership so why should your first bike be? Here are some common mistakes you need to avoid:

Don’t get the biggest or baddest thing out there. It’s a very common mistake. If you do, this is what usually happens:

• It’s too heavy for you and you drop it constantly, causing hundreds if not thousands of dollars in damage.

• The power of the bike intimidates and scares you. You finally decide it is not for you because there is no way you can tame all that power. This usually happens when you release the clutch too quickly and the bike either pops a wheelie or lunges violently forward. Most of the time, these bikes are back on the market in under 4 months.

• You get into an accident and get hurt. You break your foot, leg or collarbone. If it’s really bad, you may lose part of a leg, arm or hand. if you didn’t have on protective clothing, you need skin grafts and are permanently scarred. Everyone tells you that motorcycles are dangerous and you are going to kill yourself. You decide that it isn’t for you and give up. The bike gets sold (if it wasn’t totaled in the accident) usually for a big loss.

• You manage to hang on but you are not really having a good time. How can you when you are trying to manage something that is outside your abilities? You don’t look forward to riding and the bike sits in your garage most days. Down the road, the bike gets sold, again usually for a big loss.

Your first bike should be something you can ride, have fun on, and use to improve your skills without intimidating you. This will not be a 2000 cc custom chopper, 1000 cc sportbike or a 800lb cruiser. It will not. So get over it.

It will probably be a 250cc - 750cc cruiser, or a 250cc - 500cc sport bike or a 400cc - 600cc standard motorcycle. Many newbies get on big bikes and crash them in the dealership parking lot....they don’t even make it to the street.

You will keep your first bike between 6 - 18 months before you are ready to move on. You can always sell it to another new rider.

Make sure the bike fits!! Now that you know not to get the biggest thing in the dealer, you need to make sure the one you get fits you. Here are some basics:

• Make sure you can put your feet flat on the ground with a few inches of bend in your knees. If you are on a bike where you can barely put your feet on the ground, that is not good!! Why? Because not all real roads are level or smooth; that only happens in the BRC.
  
  You will come to a stop on roads where one side is higher than the other. If you can not put your feet down flat to stabilize the bike, it WILL tip over and you WILL drop it. Also, you WILL come to intersections where there will be oil, sand, rocks or other slippery stuff on the ground. WHEN  your foot slips you need to have enough leverage to keep your bike up. Also when parking and maneuvering your bike, how can you move it if you can't get your feet on the ground?

• Make sure you can comfortably reach and operate all of the controls within a comfortable riding position. No way you can improve your skills if you can’t get to the controls!! 

• Make sure all the controls are adjusted to fit you before you leave the dealership. That includes the right foot brake, the left foot shift lever, the right hand brake, the left hand clutch lever, and the handlebars. The dealer should do this for you. 

• Make sure the bike is not too heavy! Even if you go with a small engine, you still need to have the strength to manage the bike. You need to do this to park it, turn it around and maneuver it. If you can’t get if off the side stand, you are headed for trouble down the road. You should either find a bike you can handle OR hit the gym to increase your strength.

• You need to be comfortable on the bike. If the seating position is bad, or you feel cramped into a small space, maybe it’s not the bike for you. Likewise, if you feel stretched out or your body position doesn’t feel right, again....it may not be for the bike for you.

If you follow some of these basic tips when selecting a bike, you will avoid many pitfalls and set yourself up to becoming a better biker