Riding Tips

I've been riding since I was a kid. I cut my teeth on quads and dirt bikes. I'm not nearly as awesome as some, but I can hold my own OK. <grin>

Our whole family rides, my son since he was 3.

Riding wisdom

Riding terminology - a glossary

ATGATT
- All The Gear All The Time
cage
- any enclosed vehicle
cager
- cage driver
Counter-steering
- Push the left bar away from you to go left, push the right bar away from you to go right. No, seriously. THIS is what makes motorcycles (and bicycles when you get going fast enough) turn.
farkle
- Verb - the act of adding spiffy geegaws (GPS, XM Radio), protection (skidplates, barkbusters), and other accessories to your bike
knee dragging
- The art of leaning over so far, that your knee drags the ground. You need special pants with pucks, doing it in jeans leads to having your kneecap become visible very quickly (as some have actually found out)
Full Dress
- Touring motorcycles like the Honda Goldwing or the BMW K1200LT
DS, dual sport
- Dual Sport motorcyles look a lot like dirtbikes. They come in two key flavors
  - Mostly street oriented, and gravel roads
    - Suzuki VStrom 650 and 1000, BMW GS and GSA
  - Up to 90% dirt - trails, single track, 2-track
    - KTM 950 Adventure, Husqvarana TE610, Suzuki DS400
Highside
- When the bike starts to slide, then catches traction. A really, really, really good way to get hurt. Generally the worst type of single-vehicle, non-impact crash

LEO
- Law Enforcement Officer. Like my brother.
Lowside
- When the front wheel washes out and the bike goes down. Probably one of the best options if a solo-cornering crash is inevitable, depending on what you hit as you slide to a stop (I hear guardrails hurt quite a bit).

Motard
- Basically a dual-sport or dirtbike, but with street rubber, street-oriented suspension, and bigger brakes. Amazingly agile, easy to throw around a track. Some refer to them as "hooligan bikes" since it's so easy to do naughty things on them (like stoppies, wheelies, powerslides, etc.)
  - Husqvarna SM610, KTM SM-series, this Ducati

Powerslide
- Just like a car, powering through a corner enough to cause oversteer (back end comes out). See the Ducati Motard directly above in Motard
Sportbike, crotch rocket
- Bikes that look just like the ones they race on paved tracks. Like the CBR600/1000, Suzuki GSXR600/1000, etc.
- Yes, these are very fast bikes. Some are faster than others, but some handle better than others.
Sport Tourer
- Bikes like the Yamaha FJR1300, or my BMW K1200S. They look like a sportbike, but seating is more upright, have more amenities, and are generally not quite as quick (they may have similar top-ends, tho).
- Another variant is the BMW motorcycle you see your friendly local PD riding around - the RTP1150s or RTP1200s. The civvy equivalent is the RT1150/1200. These are a much faster, better handling motorcycle than what they had. Sports cars could outrun the old Kawasaki's and Harleys, but not these.
  - One of the local BMW dealers provides ex-RTPs as loaners, so I've had the opportunity to ride them. They're a pretty decent ride, just too much wind protection for me.
riding the dragon
- AKA "The Tail of the Dragon", Deal's Gap. Nirvana when it comes to paved roads for motorcycle riders and sports cars/sedans alike.
stoppie
- Stopping so that the rear wheel is in the air during the stop.
wheelie
- Riding with the front wheel in the air

Riding gestures

Here are some common hand signals (click link for bigger image)

Here are a couple more which seem to be in use by some motorcyclists in SoCal.

Note: these don't necessarily elevate the "brand" we motorcyclists are trying to set with cagers, but sometimes they can be important, especially when someone is waving you by and there's limited visibility and it looks like stuff is getting ready to fall off their vehicle and kill you when it hits you.

When passing with "poor visibility" (those yellow lines can really block the view)
- left arm out, parallel to the road (do not confuse with "making a left turn here) - Rider can see to the next corner from where they're at and it's clear, but pass at your own risk
- left arm straight up - Rider can see for miles and it's clear, come on by that slowpoke

Other critical signals

tapping helmet (with or without flat hand) / one finger on top of helmet / hand out flat, waving arm up & down towards the pavement (See "Don't pass me" above for what it might look like) / lights blinking / twirling left hand in air with index finger extended
- LEO / accident / danger around the corner/coming
wave on by - come on by, you're much faster than I am
middle finger extended
- If you're in a cage, you probably cut off the bike rider or otherwise endangered his/her life.
- If you're on a bike and getting this... Whoa. You f'd up big time.

Street Riding with a new rider

If you ride on the street, sooner or later some newbie rider will want to ride with you to learn from you.

For new riders, target-fixation is a very real concern. Another is that they want to learn from you, so they will emulate your speed, your lines, your lean. Many new riders probably don't know about counter-steering, and most certainly will forget when things get tense. As a new rider, things can get tense a lot.

My recommendation is to let a new rider lead, after very clearly setting the expectation around keeping their speed comfortable FOR THEM. For some, that may be enough, for others, you may need to be quite clear and firm, like telling them that if you think they're going to fast, you're going to turn around and go home.

Your job is to follow at a reasonable distance so they don't feel pushed.

One of the key things is to explain that they need to ride at their own, COMFORTABLE pace. As an experienced rider, it's easy to tell when you're getting in over your head. The first a new rider may realize it is as they cross the double yellow into the oncoming lane on a right hander or miss a corner on a left hander, generally because they're going far faster than their abilities.

Like the fellow on the right here. He's leaning the wrong way for the corner (that's NOT what makes you turn, but if you're doing it right, you won't look like this guy). His wrong lean direction is basically due to issues with his riding mechanics - his right arm appears to be locked instead of relaxed and bent, inhibiting his ability to countersteer correctly (turning the bars to the left to go right, aka push the right bar away from you (not down) to go right).

At this point, he's totally freaked out and is most likely trying to manhandle the bike through the corner. That bike certainly has a lot more cornering ability before its limits are reached.

Note that he's not done going into the other lane yet. Hope it's clear...

Or this fellow, below, who is incredibly lucky oncoming traffic consisted of a sole motorcyclist who also saw him coming.

His bike is at its cornering limits (plenty of parts dragging on the ground).

Have a feeling the other guy got centerpunched? So do I. Gotta get that leg up and out of the way. I have a feeling I'd be standing up with my left knee on the seat, ready to jump. But then I often went over my skill level in the dirt as a kid (aka crashed a lot), and knowing when to jump is a pretty good skill to have. It's no fun when your bike lands on you, or you ride it down a 30' steep shale embankment.

The upside of being an aggressive dirt rider is that you generally learned to make good choices, so you don't need to jump that often as you age/get smarter. <grin>

The oncoming cyclist would have done much better to cut inside of him (towards the double-yellow, even going into the other lane if it was clear or clearer).

I've had to go all the way across the road into the other lane to avoid some cages.

I had a very close call in late 2007 with a Playstation-prodigy who decided he could pass the pickup before I got there, then decided he couldn't, but rather than slow down, went into my breakdown lane, which was dirt and bumpy. At probably 90mph. Of course, not being an experienced driver, he then hit the brakes and started to really lose control. I dodged hard all the way to the leftmost white line, to the pavement edge, while downshifting and pinning the gas and had that yahoo slide past me by about 3-5', after which he managed to save it from the ditch.

Then I turned around. We had a very one-sided, extremely animated discussion where he apologized profusely and I explained how he had just nearly taken on the burden of providing for my family for the rest of his life.

Never forget - your brain is the most important piece of safety equipment you can use. Don't forget to turn it on out there...no matter what you're driving.

Ride at your own pace

As mentioned in the newbie section, riding at one's own pace is one of the keys to a long, enjoyable motorcycling career. The pictures above help provide guidance about when you're way over your head. Try not to be one of those.

Nick Ienatsch has a pretty good set of guidlines about riding at your own pace, which are also set up to foster the "brand" we all provide as motorcycle riders (thinks like not hanging off in the corners or tucking in on straights). I support these for general riding, though I recognize I sometimes operate a little differently in areas with very high concentrations of motorcyclists and corners.

Remember, though, we're pretty scary to much of the cager population (for some reason I still don't get). So do what you can to be friendly, ride friendly, wave, and be polite.

Check out the summarized Pace Principles

Gear

Helmets

To each his own, you'll never catch me in anything less than a full face (or flip-face) helmet. I have too many helmets with either chin bar damage or marks to consider anything else even remotely acceptable.

My Schuberth Concept (C1) has gone about 80,000 miles in 5 years with 2 face shields. It's about time for a new one. I love this helmet, it's held up fantastically.

Jackets

Snug-fitting. I prefer synthetics since I ride in all weather and care and feeding of synthetics is much lower.

Get a real motorcycle jacket as they have special padding strategically placed to protect you in case of a fall. No, that Wilson's leather jacket probably isn't going to help you out a lot...

All Weather

I wear a First Gear Kilimanjaro much of the time. It's a decent jacket, good venting, but no inside pockets, which is a real bummer when you need somewhere safe to stick your wallet. With my body type (not quite the V I used to be, but not an apple or pear), wind comes up the back when I'm not wearing my bib overalls - like when I commute. Not bad for a 30 minute ride in 30 degree weather, but still surprising.

My favorite was a Heine Gericke First Gear jacket. It's got a bazillion miles on it and is just awesome. I still wear it, but the shoulder seams lost their waterproofness, so I bought the Kili. It's much heavier/heavier duty than the Kili, and a better winter jacket.

Hot weather

I have a Fieldsheer mesh jacket. About 40% of the jacket is leather, especially in key areas, like the elbows and forearms. Many mesh jackets are made of nylon, and those can melt in a high speed accident. As we learned in welding class, molten nylon will melt right into your skin. Choose carefully.

Boots

Something over the ankle and leather. Preferrably insulated, waterproof.

Gloves

I wear Rev'It gloves, the Solaras, and love them. They're a full-length glove, not the shorties which will allow your wrists to get chewed up in a pavement crash (compare to dirtbike or Mechanix gloves). They have solid knuckly protection, but don't look like Ricky-Racer gloves. Understated, stylish, reasonably priced. Me likey.

Pants

I still wear my Heine Gericke First Gear bib overall. I like them better than pants since they come up much higher. In an accident, my lower back probably won't look like hamburger. And they keep me warm and dry.

For commuting to work, I generally wear jeans, though they are very poor as protection during an accident.

If I could afford a set, I'd get a one-piece 'stitch (made by Aerostich).

The Stable

Dad

2008 BMW K1200S

2006 Husqvarna TE610

Mom

2006 Yamaha Rhino, well mod'd

Alyssa

2004 Honda TRX90

Ashley

2004 Honda XR80

Andrew

2004 Honda CRF50

2004 Suzuki QuadSport 50

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