2Wheeltips

    I remember my first ride very well.  It was a warm summer day, we were to meet not far from my house and the group consisted of some 40 motorcycles.   As I pulled into the parking lot I remember the feeling of excitement and nervousness knowing that I was about to embark on a new journey that would take me into adventures I had never entered before: the roads we were going to take and riding in a large group for the first time.

    Riding in a large group can be daunting for a new rider but it doesn’t have to be if you are with the right group of riders and you follow some simple rules.  It is a very satisfying feeling riding with friends and sharing your experiences together, meeting at a location after the ride to talk over a nice meal before heading home. 

    The most critical piece of information that I can forward to you is to begin by choosing your company very carefully.  Do not go on a group ride through the twisties if you find yourself going wide through turns and crossing the center line when the bike gets a little fast for you.  If you are going out with people you don’t know, you may want to remind them before the ride that you are new to group riding and that you may ride slower than they are used to.  Ask that you ride near the front of the group so that you help set the pace.  You don’t want to get lost as they ride off without you or have to double the speed limit to catch up after everybody else has been scraping the chrome off their exhaust pipes through the turns.

    Don’t be shy.  Keep in mind that at any point you feel uncomfortable, give someone in the group a signal to let them know you will be cutting out of the group and heading home.  Just let the group know what signal you will use before you begin.   Be aware that you should carefully choose the location for departing the group so you do not confuse those behind you and possibly endanger others around you.

    Listen carefully to your group leader before the ride.  I can’t tell you how many rides I have participated in that someone didn’t listen to the pre-ride instruction or simply ignored it and created unnecessary headaches for the entire group.  If you find yourself in a group that gives no instructions before the ride explaining hand signals, group formation, scheduled stops, and additional pertinent information, I would advise that you skip that ride and wait for another day.  It is also a good idea to swap cell phone numbers with your group leader before you begin so that if you do get separated before during the ride you can eventually get in contact with someone to let them know if you need help or if you are just going to head home.  Always show up with a full tank of gas.  Experience has taught me that it can be frustrating to the entire group when they are ready to begin the ride and someone yells out that they have to stop for gas as soon as everybody pulls out of the parking lot. 

    Keep in mind that some group rides travel the highway to get to the entry point for the back roads.  If you aren’t comfortable with the highways, check with the group leader to see if the highways will be used either on the ride out or the ride home.  EZ pass is a wonderful invention.  Some parts of the country use different versions of the electronic toll payment system.  If you currently do not own one, I strongly suggest you get one as they make group rides so much easier when traveling long distances.   If you don’t have one and aren’t planning on getting one, make sure you have your toll money in an easily accessible place while you are riding.  Again, it’s frustrating and sometimes dangerous when the group has to pull off the highway waiting for you to catch up because you have to take off your gloves, reach into your pocket and fish for a twenty dollar bill, then wait for change and try to stuff nineteen bills into your wallet.  Find out ahead of time how the group will handle cash tolls.  Sometimes they will ride ahead at a pace just below the speed limit and you will be responsible for catching up.  This can be problematic because you lose your position in the group and end up directly in front of the sweep (last) position.

    Group formations are generally positioned two ways: either staggered or single file when staggered formation is not possible.  Staggered formation is simply all bikes riding in one lane; one motorcycle riding over to the left side of the lane the next bike is riding about one second behind and to the right side of the lane.  The following two bikes are riding the same position only two seconds behind the bike directly in front of them.   If you visualize the group looking from the top down, you could draw a zig-zag line from helmet to helmet along the group where the distance between the moving bikes is never less than two seconds apart from one motorcycle to the next directly behind them and never less than one second closer to the bike over in the opposite side of the lane.  If you are in the left side, you don’t want to be any closer than one second to the person to your right.  If you are on the right side, you don’t want to be closer than one second to the person to your left.

     One very common accident that occurs in group riding is an accordion style crash where a rider up front stops short and everybody behind piles up behind them.  This is usually a result of poor spacing and target fixation.  The time it takes for you to get to the person in front of you in the event of an emergency stop cannot be less than what it would take to either evade what’s in front of you or stop safely.  The reason for the one second between you and the person next to you is to allow enough room for an evasive maneuver.  If you are riding directly next to someone, you can’t use the entire lane if necessary without hitting the person occupying the same space. 

    There are a million reasons why people crash; the one that always strikes me as being the one easiest to avoid is when a rider tries to keep up with the person in front of them and finds themselves outside their personal ability.  If you are out riding with the group and suddenly you find yourself in tight twisting roads, switchbacks, reduced radius turns where your pulse is rising, you start hitting the brakes because you keep heading for that center line, slow down! I mean slow down to the point where you feel comfortable entering the turns and exiting them.  The experienced riders understand that those roads aren’t for everybody and that there will be another day to ride those types roads.  One thing to keep in mind when out there is that you need to ride your own ride and not feel pressured by anybody or to ride beyond what is comfortable to you or your ability. 

    Another common mistake is that riders love to look at what they don’t want to hit.  It’s called target fixation and is a difficult habit to break.  While riding in a group, do not fixate on the person in front of you, do not stare at their back tire or tail light.  Keep your eyes on where you want to go, not where you don’t.  The same goes not just for group rides but for all of your daily riding.

    One debatable aspect of riding is when someone drops out of your group and leaves a space to be filled in.  There are some that feel that all of the motorcycles directly behind the open spot should slide up to fill in the position.  This may work when the group comes to a complete stop.  However, if this were to happen at speed, all of the motorcycles will have to pass directly abreast the bikes offset to them to fill in the space.  If any rider should need to change lane position to make an evasive maneuver, the result would be catastrophic.  In my opinion, it is much safer to shuffle left to right to avoid having to pass other riders in the same lane.  This should be discussed in the pre ride instruction to avoid confusion.

    Another important issue to remember when riding in groups is to remember the traffic laws.  It may sound silly, but if a light is red, it means stop!  Do not feel obligated to blow through a red light to keep up.  Do not ignore the stop signs to maintain the group's integrity.  We want the cars to share the road with us while we ride; we need to do the same for them.  Never assume that a car will stop simply because you are with a big group of bikes because most will not.  When following another rider, they may have enough room to make that turn before the Toyota comes barreling through from the left, but you may not.

     I find that the simplest way to look at group riding is to take all other riders out of the equation except for the two riders closest to you.  The rider offset to you in front is the person leading you, the rider offset behind is following you and is relying on you to lead them.  The rest is just traffic.  Obviously the riders other than those I just mentioned are important because they provide you with signals letting you know of hazards in the road and upcoming turns, stops, and setting the pace for the ride, but in order to reduce the workload it is easier to break your large group ride down into a small three person group within the large group. 

    An issue I have had over the past few group rides that I have participated in is that there has been a breakdown in communication at some point along the way.  A critical time in group rides is making turns where the entire group has the greatest possibility of becoming separated.  If you think of your group as the small three person set, when coming to a turn or fork in the road, check your mirror to ensure that the person behind you is still there.  If they are not, stop before making the turn so that when the rider behind you sees where they need to turn.  If this pattern is followed all the way to the front of the line, all the riders ahead will notice that the riders behind them are stopping and waiting for the person behind them.  Eventually everybody will catch up and the ride continues; think of it as a motorcycle bread trail.    

    It is advisable that an experienced rider with a good list of contacts, first aid kit and some first aid knowledge should ride sweep for the group.  Sometimes, bad things happen when riding with a group.   Something to keep in mind is to keep calm and focused on what is going on around you.  A good sense of situational awareness is a great asset.  As trained EMT’s, we were always taught that you need to keep yourself safe first.  The same holds true for accidents and breakdowns in group rides.  First and foremost is to ensure that you keep yourself out of dangers such as oncoming and passing traffic.  Do not panic, stop your bike safely and park it carefully, ride the bike to a smooth stop, and watch for hazards on the side of the road that could cause problems such as drop offs and soft shoulders.  Then deal with the problem calmly and think about what needs to be done.  Talk to those around you and come to a decision together that gets the best results.  Sometimes roadside repairs are possible; just make sure that the area is safe to work on the bike.  Never leave a rider alone to deal with a problem.  If it looks like the bike needs to be towed or it is going to be impossible to make a quick repair, it may be necessary to have the group continue on and have someone stay with the disabled bike and rider.

     In the event of a crash, do not be afraid to call an ambulance.  Sometimes the rider may be in shock and not realize the danger they are in.  Internal injuries can sometimes not show themselves until much later and in certain cases can be fatal if left untreated.  Do not cave into the pleading of the rider to refuse medical assistance when common sense tells you otherwise.  The bike can be replaced or repaired later, just take note of all the facts that may be needed hours or days later; write them down.  These may include contact info for the fallen riders’ family, what medical facility the rider is being taken to and where the motorcycle is being taken for storage. 

    Group riding can be an awesome experience, especially for the first time.  Remembering to ride your own ride helps when more experienced riders feel like showing off their motorcycle skills and keeps you from riding beyond your ability.  Breaking down the large group into a small group helps reduce your mental stress.  Finally, when choosing a group to ride with, stay away from the showboats; let them impress the kids.  You, on the other hand, should stick with more responsible, level-headed individuals.  Go out there and share some memories!

Ever wonder why your ears ring, you have a headache or you feel "fuzzy" or tired after a long ride? Ever notice at most motorcycle rallies you see many riders wearing not one but two hearing aids? Well....now you are about to find out.

Some of you are probably thinking it has something to do with loud engines or loud pipes. If you did, you are partially correct. A bigger part of it is wind noise. That ear ringing, fuzzy feeling, headache is from the loud noise. In fact, at highway speeds (50mph+) the sound of the wind rushing past your ears is louder than the engine. How loud is the wind noise? Close to that of a chainsaw! Seriously.

Now think about riding around month after month, year after year with a chainsaw blasting in your ears. What do you think will happen to your hearing? Nothing good. People who work in high noise environments know this already:

For motorcyclists the solution is very simple, buy foam earplugs. They are about $0.09 - $0.11 a piece so there is really no excuse not use them. You can find them in most drug stores or at the local Lowe's or Home Depot. Just make sure they have a NRR (noise reduction rating) of 25 or more. The NRR is printed on the packaging.

Here are more articles on this topic from Dr. Melissa Heche AuD who wrote a 2wheeltips column on motorcycling and hearing.
http://www.2wheeltips.com/magazine/tag/hearing loss

Something that comes up quite often is the topic of helmets.

In one camp, you have some who refuse to wear one or, if they do, they wear a novelty helmet to keep from getting stopped by the local police.  They feel wearing a helmet isn't needed and mandatory helmet laws equal the govt. getting in their business. Some even claim that motorcycle helmets are dangerous and will cause whiplash in an accident.

Then there are some who wear novelty helmets for lifestyle reasons. For them, a helmet is a fashion accessory and must look good with the bike and the clothes they are wearing. Nothing else matters.

But the real reason for wearing a helmet should have nothing to do with any of that stuff. You wear a helmet to protect:

1. your head and face from flying debris such as rocks, nails, sticks
2. your head if you crash or go down on your bike

Unfortunately, there are plenty of helmets out there that can't do any of these things. If the helmet you are wearing can not, then you should start looking for a "real helmet".....one that can.

You may be asking, "how do I find one that can give me protection?" Look for one that has passed a helmet testing standard. DOT is one, SNELL is another, ANSI and ECE 22.05 are others.We are not recommending one standard over the other, but the better made helmets will have a sticker on the back that indicates that it has satisfied some type of helmet standard. If it doesn't, then you should keep looking.

Some of the things the test standards check:

1. Will the chin strap break if it is yanked hard
2. Will the outer shell get brittle and crack in cold weather
3. How well it will resist puncture from flying debris
4. How much head protection it offers if it is smacked....hard
5. Will the face shield shatter into sharp cutting pieces if it is hit

A tested helmet is not "magic" and will not save you in very extreme situations. But they definitely can protect you from serious injury and even death in many common motorcycle accidents.

Here I am again, writing about something that I'm sure I've covered many, many times. There has to be a video, audio or pictures on this topic somewhere on 2wheeltips.com, but just not under this heading. So here goes......

Now that you have finished your motorcycle class and have a bike, it's now time to hit the road. Before you do, you need to understand how important it is to put on the right clothing.

Now, some of you are probably thinking, "I'm not going to dress up like a crossing guard. Part of riding a bike is looking good and there is no freaking way I can look good dressed up like Capt. Safety." I agree......some stuff that passes as motorcycle gear looks like it belongs at a construction site and not on a biker. But that doesn't mean you should ignore the need to protect yourself from the dangers you will encounter when on the road.  

Take a step back and think of the many everyday activities that are considered dangerous and how those who participate in them handle the danger:

• Construction site? Hard hats, safety lines, steel toe boots
• Baseball? Batters helmet to protect you from a 100mph fast ball to the head
• Football? Helmets & pads to prevent concussions and broken bones after a tackle
• Soccer? Shinguards to protect your legs from cleats
• NASCAR? Helmets & harness to keep you from snapping your neck in a crash
• Airline luggage handler? Earplugs to keep you from going deaf
• Road worker? Gloves to protect your hands from cuts and abrasions

• Motorcycling??? Hmmmmmmm.......
  

Motorcycling is just as hazardous as any of the above. If you fall off your bike at 55mph without the proper gear, guarenteed you will get hurt worse (perhaps death) than anything you could get from the above activities.  But guess what? Many people will go out riding dressed like this:

Instead of this:

Do you think the hot exhaust pipe can melt her flip-flops? Or how about a piece of metal hitting her at 55mph? Do you think it will split her arm open? What if they crash? Will that tight t-shirt and shorts protect her skin from road rash? We all know the answer to each of those questions.

I'm not deceiving myself here. I know that some people will never wear anything but jeans, t-shirts and novelty helmets. That image goes with a certain biker lifestyle and it will never change. However, you do need to understand, just like a football helmet or a safety line, how the right gear can prevent serious injury.

In the upcoming articles, I'll discuss why you need to wear:

• A helmet (a real one)
• Jacket & Pants
• Gloves
• Belt
• Boots

I'm sure I wrote a blog about this somewhere, but since I didn't see it in this category I figured I'd write another one. I guess it will not hurt.

Donʼt even think about riding without insurance or registration
If you get stopped, you could pay fines, get points on your regular license and  have increased car insurance. The police will not let you ride it away meaning you will need to get it towed. If you leave it on the side of the road, it's an invitation for someone to steal it. Either way, you will be walking.

Take a class and get a motorcycle license
If you don't, you are a danger to yourself and to others because you havenʼt learned the absolute basics of riding a motorcycle. If you think you will not get caught, think again. Police set up check points all the time on motorcycle routes because they know a good deal of bikers donʼt have licenses, endorsement, inspections, proper helmets or insurance. Again, if you want to walk home, have your bike towed or stolen, and pay big fines....ride without a license.

Get enough insurance
Another thing is to get the proper amount of insurance. Unfortunately you can get a bare bones policy that offers very minimal coverage. Not even enough to fix a broken arm, replace a car rear view mirror or even repair your bike. These policies are cheap, but are they worth it?

Don't get a stolen bike
In some areas you can get a “hot” bike for $500.00. It may be tempting..... but do you really feel comfortable riding around on a stolen bike?

Although you probably would never do any of the above in your car, too many motorcyclists ride around without a license and proper paper work. With all of the focus on cracking down on motorcyclists, doing any of the above is a sure way to get yourself into trouble.

    A golf instructor once told me that in order to achieve an efficient swing every time you must allow your muscles to remain loose.  Grip the club softly because tight muscles are slower than loose muscles and you’ll never achieve a decent club head speed with stiff muscles.  You become fatigued when having a real firm grip and it becomes impossible to achieve a smooth swing.  What does this have to do with riding a motorcycle?  Funny you should ask.  Recently a friend brought up a good observation when it comes to new riders, and it is also a very common problem with new golfers, and it is where the two are very similar.

    A motorcyclist needs to be aware of a million different variables; the situation that you find yourself in is dynamic and fluid.  Anything can happen at any time and riding requires a tremendous amount of concentration; sometimes your response can be the difference between a simple inconvenience and a trip to the emergency room or worse.   Most experienced riders are comfortable on their bikes and are relaxed.  The way their hand wraps around the grips is loose; allowing smooth responses and inputs into steering the bike also adjusting throttle and braking.  Where the experienced riders tend to make the mistakes is because of complacency and over confidence; they assume they have enough time and miles under their belt to simply know better or that they have the ability to outride the laws of physics. 

    A newer rider has more of a tendency to hold the handlebars with all his or her might, hoping that doing so will somehow enable them to react quickly when in fact, the opposite is true.   Also the fear of what could happen manifests itself in holding the grips with white knuckles and being overly cautious of what could be.  A good habit to get into is to learn to relax while still remaining aware and sharp.  A result of holding the grips too tight is that after a while, you will begin to feel fatigue in your shoulders and eventually your upper back.  If you are on a long ride, this becomes more dangerous because now your focus is shifted from the hazards around you to the pain in your back, shoulders and hands.  Coupled with hand fatigue which might cause you to let go of the grip, this could be a disaster in the making.

    Remember the tight muscles?  Those tight muscles make it impossible for you to react quickly and smoothly.  You may recall from your BRC class that it takes one half second to take your hand from the throttle to the brake lever and another half second to squeeze the brake.  If you find yourself having to make an emergency stop, those tight muscles will not only reduce your reaction time considerably, but also cause you to snap off the throttle and slam on those brakes, almost guaranteeing a massive loss of traction and inevitably, because you are now panicked, the bike will more than likely go down.  In addition, slower turns are no longer smooth and safe, but become choppy and abrupt usually resulting in a wider turn than what you had anticipated, possibly causing you to cross the center line or even leave the road surface altogether.  Faster turns will be more difficult and efficient counter steering becomes impossible because you can’t lean the bike smoothly possibly creating a situation where you take the turn way too wide.

    Worst of all, you just don’t look cool.  Your shoulders up around your ears and your arms straight out make you look like a scared mouse in a helmet. Definitely not cool.  Just remember to relax.  You know how to ride; just stay focused on what’s going on around you and loosen up those hands.  Stay focused, not afraid. You might even find that you can go the extra hundred miles and still come home smiling, ready to go out again tomorrow.  

    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.

    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. 

    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.

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