Riding SAFETY and General Practice

VINTAGE TWO STROKES

2 STROKE STREET BIKES

UPDATE 2007: I have come back to this site 3 years later to say: I keep hearing stories of people being killed on bikes on the street. Number 1 story is always "they pulled out in front of him." So logic says, if you are riding and someone is in a position to pull out, being it be a left turn or pulling out from a intersection, or alley or anywhere, you can't trust for a moment they will not pull out. You simply have to slow down so there is no way they can get you. I see bikes keep going all the time in blind faith that they wont pull out. Bikes blowing past people turning in oncoming traffic trusting cars. Death wish. If you don't ride like they are out to kill you, they will kill you. You have to plot like they are out to kill you even from the rear. Always be ready to use yards,sidewalks and shoulders to escape them. Plot countermeasures every second you ride. This is surviving on the streets in traffic.

UPDATE: Mini Vans are the Sworn enemy of all motorcycles! Have ya seen the pics/videos where crotch rockets wind up in the back seats of these things? Yep...The truth is, mini vans are piloted by women. Double Wammy... Have you ever looked for your car keys only to find they are right in front of you? Well these mini van drivers have a simular mental gliche but with motorcycles. Even if they see you right in front of them, you are still not there. Like the car keys, you and your bike are not part of their current mental process, because they are simply creatures of habit. Motorcycles are not part of these creature's daily ritual of waiting for objects to pass before they go. They will look you right in the eye, they will see you, they will wave at you holding up a sign that says "I SEE YOU!", but they will pull out anyway. Then they will lie to the cops and press saying "I just didn't see them". Expect this sort of hum drum ritual mentality from anyone on the road that isn't on a motorbike. Unless of course they ride a bike but happen to be the pilot of a 4 wheeler at the time. In that case they will be aware and eager to see your bike.

Rule #1: Never trust anything with more than 2 wheels on the road. Never trust that they won't pull out in front of you. Because they will. Slowing down to avoid these people may seem like an inconvenience at the time, but we are talking about protecting your investment here. You and your life. Plain and simply ride like none of them can see you. Like you are in a different world where they can't see you but you can see them only. Take pride and have satisfaction knowing you avoided these enemies and steered your way to rider freedom. The best street rider anticapates and avoids every bad situation. As you ride create 'what if ?" situations in your mind. What if they pulled out? What if they swerve in my lane. Entertain in your mind with every possible thing that could go wrong. Doing this for weeks will lead these "what if thoughts" to become second nature. When you overcome these drivers mistakes and stupidity it makes you look good. It makes them feel stupid as they should. If you flip them off it distracts them from the original sin they commited and promotes anger towards future motor bikers. We are all the same to them. Think about what you represent when you ride. You represent the love for the freedom and performance of motorcycles.

Rule #2: Ride within your ability. Be patient. Better to live another day to ride than to ride outside of your ability and crash and burn.

Rule #3: Have you ever slowed for a stop light to put your foot down and your shoe/boot string gets caught on your foot peg. You fall over or almost fall over. If it hasnt happened to you it will. Unless you are the velcro shoe type. I am not and I almost fell over. Lucky for me the string broke and I caught the light bike before it fell over. You won't be so lucky. Secure Those Strings!!!!!

Rule #4: Wear the gear! I know we all have been guilty of riding in shorts. Yes you should feel guilty. The more we don't wear the gear the more freedom we will lose in the future. From the law and maybe freedom from doctors and pain. If you refuse to go all out leather in the hot summer weather then at least wear long sleeves and a good glove with kevlar in the fingers. Never ride without a helmet! Duh... Only ride as fast as the gear you have on will allow. Nevermind, just wear all the gear all the time. If it gets too hot just don't ride.

Rule #5 keep the eye protection going. Keep your visor down at speed. A direct eye shot from a bug at speed does not sound good.

Rule #5.5 Always wear eye protection when working with fuels,fuel lines,sprays,cleaning carbs,springs etc. It would be a good practice to wear the safety goggles or glasses working with anything. Filling up tires etc etc etc...

Rule #6 A fire extinguisher is a must around any fuel. Especially 2 stroke premix!!!! Premix is whats used in a molitov cocktails. Get one for the garage and the house. Be a hero.

Rule #7: Take the time to do a once over before you ride. Check filter connections,check for leaks in fuel lines etc. Kick the tires for pressure and check for nails etc. Check chain tension.

Rule #8: Ride with a cell phone.

Rule #9: Never forget about all that oil that these dirty 4 wheelers are spitting all over the street. Much of it is at stoplights in the middle of the lane. Its a good practice to not ride in the center of the lane. Riding left of center towards the middle of the road is out of the oil but you are more likely to encounter chuck holes. Riding right of center puts you closer to a dirty four wheeler on the right. Remember road conditions that you normally travel.

Rule #10: Learn to use the front brake. There is nothing worse than a rider that has been riding for years but gives the advice "don't use the front brake in the corner" This is so far from the truth its pathetic. Newbie riders(and experienced) should practice hard braking in a clear big parking lot. Practice heavy braking while turning in both directions. Learn to corner with brakes on heavy and suddenly get off the brakes and stand the bike back up straight. You will need this skill to suddenly avoid obsticals while cornering. Try to think of situations that might go wrong and practice them before they happen. Use your imagination.

Update Sept. 7: I was traveling east bound on my street headed home today. I was traveling at a steady 35mph. I begin to noticed a DOG walking from the sidewalk to the street so I begin non panic braking. 1 second...NO!!! He is in the street start panic braking. 1 second...That could have been a tradgedy that only had taken 2 seconds ro play out. Panic takes time. Didn't have time to panic. Training took over and I went from 35 to 0 in that time period. I must admitt braking was sloppy and I did start to panic. You can't really plan for these things. But you can practice reflex braking scinereos. In the final second of braking I do remember a flash of "Don't smash the front brake and upset the bike, get on the rear and front hard with rear tire slide" And thats how I did it. Usually Stoppies are only possible in a controlled planned environment for non expert riders. It's not exactly a street braking technique. I find that leaning back a bit and extending arms a bit as well will give you better braking balance in full all out 2 wheel lock up braking. You want your body to be in goldwing touring bike position when extreme braking. Knees squeezing the side of the gas tank. Most rookie braking accidents occur when people slam on the front brake and dump. Practice proper position during panic braking. The key is to almost lock up both wheels with equal wait on each wheel and steady balance side to side. You never know what surface you are working with during an accident. So if you have the proper braking technique down to a motorskill reflex automatic leve, sol you can avoid the dog or car or truck or worse..a child. Wear the gear and practice braking. Could you stop if you were going 35 and suddenly a dog was in your lane just 30-40 feet away?

BTW: I think the 2003 GSXR Front Master cylinder and lever is one of the best performance mods (simple bolt on) you can do to a stock bike/brakes. One finger on the lever can send the rear wheel in the air if you desire.

Update: Dec 1 2003 COLD TIRES ARE NASTY SLICK! With a set of BT45 Batalax's(or any good street tire I assume), anything below 45-50 degrees F and they are slick. Even after an hour of riding trying to warm them up they will still not respond. DANGER!!! It's like rain riding. When the power band hits the rear wheel spins and skitters accross the ground. Braking is that of rain riding. The rear wheel will lock often and want to learch out sideways on heavy braking. For the first 15 minutes of riding in dry freezing weather they are the worse they can be. They grip better in the rain at warm temps than they do in the dry & cold. Beware. The bike is so light that the tires never have a chance to warm up..

Update; Sunday, Sept, 21,03: I have drawn many new conclusions since I started this page a couple weeks ago. Here is one example:

According to a press release, Myers crashed on a backwoods highway when a small animal ran out in front of him as he entered a turn. To avoid striking the animal, Myers swerved and lost control of his bike and struck the guardrail. Initially he believed he suffered only a broken arm, but during examination and treatment he died due to massive internal bleeding.

This is yet one example. These are highly skilled motorcycle riders/racers dying on the streets. Now, what is a street rider to think of this? Trying to make some sense of this I have drawn a few cheap conclusions.

Trying to avoid something and use heavy braking increases the chances of upset. To be honest if the brakes didnt stop me in my braking experience (above) that dog would have a broken back or worse. Dead. I am not going to lay down my bike to avoid the unlucky. It sounds selfish but "better them than you" I would rather hit an animal at 20 mph after some heavy braking techniques. Then trying to avoid them and crashing and burning at 45. You don't have time to panic. As mentioned above heavy braking becomes part of reaction because of training. Because whatever happens, you want to be going slow when it does happen. There are cases where there is steering in panic to avoid something, but it is usually a heavy moment of braking and then feather the brakes out for a quick sharp turning gesture to avoid impact.

Think of it this way. The only way you could practice avoiding things would be if you were riding and had 2 people up ahead rolling deer sized beach balls in your path. Honestly, do you want to tangle with such things and try to outsteer them? Hell NO!!! LOL You want to be aware of them coming so you can stay uprite and get on the brakes. You would rather hit one at slowing speed then try to avoid and bust. Because when it happens in real life. You won't know what will hit you. You will not have time to think or panic. So you better have some parking lot high speed braking practice if you want to survive. The training it takes to get a motorcycle liscence isn't enough to keep you alive for a week in the real world.

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