Motorcycle riding Saftety Thread

Merlin III

New member
I was hoping to start a thread where members can bring up safety tips or tell us about a close call and what they learned.

I will start it out with an incident that happened to me today. I usually wear all the gear all the time, but recently I started wearing only my helmet when only going down the road to the Post Office or the local grocery store.

So I am going along at 25MPH when I come to my one and only stop sign. I slowed down to a "crawl", looked left, then right, and then left again. I never came to a full stop and planted my feet. This was the classical left turn we constantly talk about cagers making. When I turned left the second time while proceeding at 5 mph a white pickup truck came quickly over the horizon from the left and would have hit me broadside if I hadn't managed to turn the bars sharply left at the last second. I also hit the front brake and came very near dropping the bike. Thank god for the CTXs low center of gravity. MY BMW would have gone down.

I usually always come to a full stop-feet planted, but this one time got lazy and it almost cost me big time. While I will never ride without a helmet, they do limit your ability to do quick head checks well. The helmet limits your peripheral vision and looking through a plastic face shield, even a good one, somewhat distorts your vision
 

Woodswoman

Member
Here's something I consider a safety matter, although I've had people vigorously dispute with me about it.

When I come to a stop in any situation involving other traffic, I *do not* put my bike into neutral. I wait with the clutch lever pulled in, eyes scanning all around, especially in my rear mirrors.

I have riding friends who insist on putting the bike into neutral at every stop, even if it's only for a couple of seconds. "It's better for the bike," they argue. Personally, I feel the minuscule amount of accumulated extra wear on the clutch is a small price to pay for being in gear and ready to punch it should I need to move fast -- for example, if somebody comes up fast behind me and doesn't seem like he's gonna stop before hitting me.
 

ofdave

Member
here's mine
I do a lot of two lane country road and lesser (2 lane) state highway riding.
A common potential dangerous situation I see deals with people pulling out of side roads and driveways.
If they are making a right turn onto a two lane road the common thing is for them to look left to make sure there is no oncoming traffic in the lane they are turning right into. They almost never look to the left. If you happen to be in the left lane passing a slow vehicle they do not look in that direction and pull out. Big problem for you. This has taken the life of more than one person in my area over the last few years. Cars, trucks, and bikes
So, if you pull out to pass on a two lane road, do not expect the person entering to even look for traffic in that lane.
Also, passing slow farm vehicles needs particular attention. They have no signals and often make a turn just when you are bout to pass.
I hang behind and look ahead for side roads or fields where they may turn. If I don't see any, then I get past them a soon as I can.

One other thing-turn off your signal. Get in the habit of pushing the cancel button after every turn, whether you used the signal or not.
I believe maybe half of the situations where cages turn in front of a bike is because the blinker was on. Turn it off=even when you didn't use it.
 

randy1149

New member
Merlin good idea to have a section for all categories of safety. Happy you got away with just your heart rate pounding I'll bet. I'm sure most of us have close calls if not actual accident of some kind. Your left turn experience with a cager is probably the number one cause of death for MC riders... "I didn't see him" is the common "reason".

My only encounter over 45 years was a tree feel across the road right in front of me. Applied the brakes but nowhere in time to stop. Hit the trunk and the bike when up and over and down I went... with 5 broken ribs. It's funny I heard the tree crack before I saw it coming down at about 60-70º across my vision... all too late.

Woodswoman, I'm with you. When I had a clutch I NEVER put the bike in neutral at a stop sign. I don't see any kind of clutch wear keeping it in gear. And I'm sure being able to accelerate out of a problem far exceeds any "wear" there might be.
 

Merlin III

New member
Here's something I consider a safety matter, although I've had people vigorously dispute with me about it.

When I come to a stop in any situation involving other traffic, I *do not* put my bike into neutral. I wait with the clutch lever pulled in, eyes scanning all around, especially in my rear mirrors.

I have riding friends who insist on putting the bike into neutral at every stop, even if it's only for a couple of seconds. "It's better for the bike," they argue. Personally, I feel the minuscule amount of accumulated extra wear on the clutch is a small price to pay for being in gear and ready to punch it should I need to move fast -- for example, if somebody comes up fast behind me and doesn't seem like he's gonna stop before hitting me.

I also use to leave the clutch engaged at traffic lights so that I could make quick moves if necessary. Most times, when possible, I position the bike so that I can get around the vehicle in front of me if I am lucky enough to see a situation evolving that will endanger me such as a quickly approaching vehicle from behind.
 

Woodswoman

Member
Most times, when possible, I position the bike so that I can get around the vehicle in front of me if I am lucky enough to see a situation evolving that will endanger me such as a quickly approaching vehicle from behind.

So do I! I have had too many 'uh oh' moments when I've suddenly seen my mirror filling with some guy's front grill, and I've looked around for an avenue of escape.

Now I try to remember (although I don't always) not to get too close to the car in front of me when I'm in traffic, so it would be easier for me to sneak around that car in case of an impending rear collision.

I swear, it's the worst when you're on your bike sitting in traffic, looking in your rear mirrors, and you see the guy/gal in the car right behind you fiddling with a smart phone. When you see that, you just *know* he/she isn't going to be attentive to a little thing like following distance.
 

randy1149

New member
Dash cams are becoming very popular now. You can buy them for less than $100 on Amazon. I've installed one on my car and in the search for one to install on the bike. The one in the car is an install it and forget it. Starts up and shut down automatically when you start and shut off the car. It loops around about 5 hours of scanning with 5 minute videos. After you install it check the videos for exposure and it's pointed in the right direction. After that you can forget it.

I'm in the search for a cam has mounting options favorable for a bike. There's lot of cams use big suction cups that works well for cars, but not MC's.

If any of you folks have one on your bike please share it with us, pictures would be great. If I find one in my search I'll post it here for your reviews.
 
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Steven

Member
Ditto on keeping bike in gear at red light. Been there, done that, and it saved my bacon on one occasion (many years ago).

Merlin ,Randy & ofdave – also good advice.

Lately I'd have to say the number one safety move a biker can make is to assume that someone is turning across your lane if you can't see.

Not long ago, I was on a side street turning onto a 4 lane road with a center left/right turning lane. Traffic had stopped for the red light a block away. It was a long line of cars so the drivers left a space where I could proceed and make my left turn. I proceeded but as soon as I got past the cars (SUV's) I was dead center for a pickup to t-bone me. The Pickup was using the center lane to make his way to the left turn lane at the light a block away. I didn't expect that, but he stopped in time. I was just plain lucky he did.

Conversely, about a month before that, traffic was stopped at a red light and they made a space for cars to turn left into a small side street which was close to the intersection. I had just turned into the right turn lane just before the light and noticed the opening so I proceeded slowly and just as I got to the front of the cars where they had left a space, a car turned right in front of me. I was going slow enough to stop and was glad I did.

The moral of the story is that if you can't see don't assume.

There are so many near misses and most of those involve cars behaving badly or doing something unexpected.

As for dash cams, I watched enough video's where a dash cam saved a person from getting the blame for an accident.
 

casper

New member
@ofDave. Absolutely on the turn signal thing. I put LED's on my mirrors of the burg to alert me they were still on. For some reason the ctx for me has almost stealth signals. I literally cannot see them on and forget to turn them off. I'm really working on that though. Self cancelling signals or at least loud clicking should be mandatory on bikes in my view.

@woodswoman, your tactic of in gear at stops is absolutely correct procedure. Dont let anyone tell you differently. They are wrong.
 

MJC

Super Moderator
Nice to see people talking about safety. I would have to say two things. 1) I always ride like everyone out there is going to try and kill me. And 2), I practice what I know and how my bike and me work together. Whenever I have not been on my bike for a few days the 1st thing I do is take her to the parking lot and practice stooping, turning, where me and the bike should be once stooped, while in a turn, etc. Then I go out and have fun riding. I have been riding and teaching others to ride for over 30 years and I just like to make sure my "bag of tricks" is full, and I am not rusty at using them.
 

randy1149

New member
Dash Cams

As a follow up on my last post on this thread I have purchased and installed a "Dash Cam" for the CTX700. The main reason I purchased this particular cam was because all the mounting hardware provided for bicycles and handlebars... as close to a MC that I could find. I purchased it from Amazon.

You'll need an SD card for video storage, I purchased a 32GB card should get me about 3 hours at 1080P resolution. The cam has 2 video options. 1 for a conventional on/off recording. 2. A "Car Mode" motion detection mode which turns the recording on/off as any motion is detected... cam or object in motion. The cam stops recording after about a minute if motion stops. In Car Mode the cam turns the video upside down, the cam "assumes" to be used in a car with a suction cup and the cam upside down. It is not a problem as most video players let you flip the video.

A sleep function allows you to keep the cam on with the display off and motion detection still functional. You can keep the cam on in sleep mode all the time and forget it. The cam will still record with the display off in sleep mode. It draw .019 amps in sleep mode when not recording. So you can keep it on all the time as long as you have a battery tender on the bike when you put the bike away for a few days.


UPDATE: This cam turned out to fail within 2 days of it's install. I won't go thru the particulars but I'm not going for a replacement. So I'm back to the hunt of a cam that not only installs easy, but it also works. I can't believe the failure rate on theses cams, 18, 20, 30% failed stop working. We all know where they make these but without a QC put on them they're still making $hit.
 

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Geophizz

New member
My rules of the road

My rules:
1. At every blind curve a car WILL be coming in the opposite direction
1a. That car will choose a random travel lane through the curve
Corollary to Rule 1: If you encounter only one vehicle on the entire length of a road, it will be at a blind curve

2. If there are three or more objects occupying a road surface, they will converge at a single location
2a Those objects will converge in the same place no matter how valiant your attempt to prevent it.

3. When turning into a narrow street, a car will be approaching from that street
3a. That vehicle is usually a large truck

4. Stop signs are optional for cars
 

Geophizz

New member
@ofDave. Absolutely on the turn signal thing. I put LED's on my mirrors of the burg to alert me they were still on. For some reason the ctx for me has almost stealth signals. I literally cannot see them on and forget to turn them off. I'm really working on that though. Self cancelling signals or at least loud clicking should be mandatory on bikes in my view.

@woodswoman, your tactic of in gear at stops is absolutely correct procedure. Dont let anyone tell you differently. They are wrong.

I've developer a muscle memory routine that helps a lot. When I make a turn, as soon as the turn is complete, I check my mirrors and press the turn signal cancel. It works pretty well for me.
 

Geophizz

New member
I got into it tonight with a car that followed rule 1A. This guy very nearly killed my wife who was riding 200 feet behind me. He swerved into her lane and missed her by about 2 feet. I heard her scream through her full face helmet from 200 feet away, over my bike noise and through the padding of my helmet. I looked back and saw him getting back into his lane. So I did a U-Turn and chased him down. All I was going to do was take a picture of him to give to the police, but while I was doing that he turned into his driveway, so I stopped to confront him. He got out of his car, claimed it was an accident and begged for forgiveness. So I figure that if it was a mistake as he claimed, he'll be more careful next time, and if it wasn't, he knows that he's being watched because I have his license plate number to give the police.

I know it was stupid, but sometimes road rage gets the better of me, particularly when someone tries to run over my wife. If it makes one more driver pay attention next time, it's been worth it. I also found out how fast my CTX can go.
 

Steven

Member
I've confronted people before, but never with the intent of starting anything. Once a young man became combative and I just told him to quiet down and relax, which he did. I think he thought I was a cop. I rarely get upset with how bad people drive because I've gotten used to it, but sometimes I believe it helps to point it out to people when they intentionally do something dangerous. Most people go over the speed limit, many run stop signs and tail gate and a few run red lights, this is every day. I don't think they even know they are doing anything wrong. They're always in a hurry, but the odd thing is that they don't realize (in most cases) that they're not getting to their destination any faster than someone who sticks to the rules.

I have to tell one story which I think is interesting. I was on my way home on I80, traffic was moving about 70 mph which I was too (the speed limit at that point was 55 mph due to the amount of traffic there) I was passing a semi going a little faster than he was ( there were also cars in front of me along side the semi) but the guy behind me got upset that I wasn't passing him fast enough so he got on my bumper and started swerving back and forth. Finally I got past the semi and the guy passed me, got in front of me, slammed on his brakes and and stopped in the left lane of the Interstate causing traffic to pile up behind us. He got out of his truck and began coming towards me yelling something. I cracked my door open and said to him, "Go home!". I repeated it a couple of times and he stopped, looked down at the road, turned, got back in his truck and left. I think at that point he realized how stupid he was acting.
 
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