[speedgeek]

I am 62 and have ridden since I was 14. Roadraced for a couple of years (only quit because it is so expensive). Here are my thoughts on how to stay safe: 1) ride with one or two fingers on the front brake 2) you are invisible. that person on the side road who is looking right at you - yeah good chance they are looking right through you and will pull out in front of you. 3) ride with your high beam on at all times (see #2) 4) braking is 75-100% front brake. when the tire is skidding you are not braking, release the pressure slightly to get back to braking. 5) learn how to countersteer. it is the only way to maneuver quickly. 6) gear up. a minimum is a properly fitted helmet (most people wear a helmet that is too big), back protector (ask any racer if they work -they do), motorcycle specific leather jacket, roadracing gloves, motorcycle specific boots, denim pants. 7) do not ride under the influence of drugs or alcohol. 8) don't panic. your bike is far more capable than you think. If you panic and stand it up to brake chances are that will end badly. countersteer and flick it in, worst case you low side and the outcome is better than riding into a tree or ditch. 9) know that the most dangerous time for a new motorcyclist is after six months. they think they have it figured out and exceed their skill. 10) do track days (see #8). if possible get a ride on the back with an instructor - it is eye opening on what is possible.

HTH someone.

[pengaru]

> 3) ride with your high beam on at all times

This is incredibly anti-social, and I personally had a terrible life-threatening experience when a drunk asshole driving an AWD turbo v8 audi perceived my 04 R1's low beams as high beams (that model has two lights illuminated on low, four on high), and proceeded to ride my ass in the corners of a wet and twisty dark canyon road at enough elevation for my R1 to be significantly down on power and my tires bald having just ridden cross-country.

I had been following him for a while at a safe distance, and overtook him in a wide open straight. Little did I know he was becoming agitated the entire time I was behind him. In his own words "I know bikes, you've had your high beams on this entire time following me, blinding me!", shouted at me in a fury after I had pulled over to confront him over why he was all but running me off the road. He drove off in a rage after showing him the real high beams, but this is an example of what can happen when a driver believes you're blinding them with your high beams (which he accused me of having modified). I consider myself lucky this guy didn't either plow me off the road, or have a gun in hand when I confronted him. The whole experience was unbelievably nerve-wracking.

[YZF]

Not the OP but I'm guessing he meant in the day time. Yeah, having your high beam on at night is pretty anti-social...

[rudedogg]

That was my guess too.

Anecdotal, but I've noticed when I had someone not see me riding, the majority of the time I forgot to turn on my high beams. It's a huge win and I don't think it's bothersome to others before the sun sets.

Also, the OPs advice is great. If you want to get technical the "Twist of the Wrist" books and videos are really great. Here's a clip on counter-steering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWuTcJcqAng

[vladvasiliu]

> It's a huge win and I don't think it's bothersome to others before the sun sets.

I don't know how much of a win it is, but it can be a pain even during daytime.

Older bikes have useless headlights, so they may be able to get away with it, but newer, LED-based ones, can be blinding. Happened yesterday to me around noon on an overcast day.

I also mostly get around by bike, and I've always found it very anti-social when others are riding behind me with their high-beam on. I ride a larger motorcycle, so I can actually see things other than my elbows in the rear-view mirrors.

[pengaru]

Newer bikes like my 04 R1 had such effective projection beam headlights (which is already 17 years old, eek!) it was completely unnecessary to ever use the high beams unless you wanted to illuminate a forest canopy. Riding with the high beams on constantly on that bike would have been a dickhead move, no LEDs required.

[speedgeek]

I did mean daytime, I'm not quite that anti-social to ride at night with high beams :)

[simonebrunozzi]

I also guess that the OP meant in the day time. But that's also the only thing I disagree with, every other tip is spot on (me: biker for 30 years, since I was 14).

The problem with angry car drivers is that they have the power to kill you, and most don't even realize it. (my only motorcycle accident involves an a*hole driving a BMW car).

It will never happen, but I think the only viable solution is to force driving cameras (front and back) on all bikes - car drivers would know that every bike has these, and that if they do something stupid and run, even if they kill the biker, the camera would have recorded something.

As said, it will never happen, and there's tons of problems with implementing such a solution.

[fastball]

Eh, you get drivers like that without or without your high-beams on. I've had that happen to me and definitely didn't have my high beams on and there is absolutely no way the other driver thought they were. Some people are just assholes, esp. when you overtake them.

[pengaru]

No, this was absolutely over the headlights, we had a rather drawn out argument about it. But his being obviously drunk and a road rager certainly contributed to his uncharitable interpretation of the R1's bright ass dual factory low beams. This guy was livid and absolutely convinced my headlights were modified. He repeatedly asserted that bikes are required to have a single light on for low beams, claiming that's why sportbikes (at the time) often had asymmetric low beams.

Sure there are assholes everywhere, but riding with your high beams on constantly is obviously affecting the probability you'll enrage someone who will do more than just curse and squint. You're the vulnerable one on a bike, never forget that as a rider.

[fearface]

Great recommendation, except I don’t consider the one/two finger on the break generally recommendable: - not all bikes can be safely stopped two fingers - the remaining fingers might get in the way of the lever

Somehow it’s popular in the US, but not in Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland (it’s where I went racing and had instructions).

[pibechorro]

Moto safety course I took was firm beliver in NOT covering the break. It prevents panick grabs and if you get hit by a bird, or an unexpected pothole, etc you could easily jam it and end up loosing fron wheel traction st the worst time.

I only feather it in tight slow maneuvers. At speed, proper distance from other vehicles is the best defense.

I would add, dont be a speed demon, BUT, its also best to be the fastest overall in the road. Its safer to be constantly slowly passing vehicles than being overtaken from the rear and getting pinched between two cars. Ride past congestion snd find open pockets of road. Never wait between two cars in a red light, split up to the front regardless of law, its safest.

Most deaths happen when a car left turns infront of you at an intersection and tbones you. Slow down at all intersections and try to use other cars as screen cover for your bike. They DONT see you. Ride like you are invisible.

[speedgeek]

I had a driver run a stop sign while making a left turn, then when he saw me, he stopped and stared straight ahead leaving his car blocking the road. Threshold braking brought me to a stop roughly two feet from his car. If I had not been covering the brake I (and my wife who was a passenger) would have been injured, very probably badly injured.

[barrkel]

It depends on the bike's brakes - bite point and lever adjustment - and how fast a reaction time you need.

If the brake lever can reach the throttle grip, that's generally a roadworthiness failure - old brake fluid or other wear and tear in the hydraulics. Fingers getting in the way isn't short of it. I prefer a fairly sharp bite point some way out from the throttle grip and adjust the lever accordingly.

If you are planning to brake, and you should be in a racing scenario, then four fingers gives you more control. But if I'm filtering through traffic in London, I've got two fingers on the brake and two fingers and a thumb on the throttle. I also have fingers on the clutch lever. An added bonus of keeping a couple of fingers on the brake is to help maintain throttle position to stay within the speed limit over potholes and speed bumps.

[b1k3awayy]

I've seen people file or saw off the brake and clutch levers so that they're shorter. That way, you can always keep 2 fingers on the lever without pinching the other fingers when you pull it in.

[batch12]

For #2, I learned to watch wheels. While far from foolproof, It is easier to see the car that is creeping forward this way.

[leoedin]

Wheels are also great at telling you where a car is going. You can see subtle changes in the direction of the wheels much better than you can intuit the car's direction by looking at its body.

[Misteur-Z]

> 2) you are invisible

From personal experience riding in the chaos that is Paris traffic for almost 10 years. I really scared myself maybe 3-4 times with bicycles running red lights at full speed.

=> Regular drivers are paying quite good attention because they need their car to go to work the next day, the real danger comes from newcomers and people who don't drive often (tourists, old people, families on weekends, etc.)

=> Anything that does not require a license (especially all these new stupid fast electric things that go over 20kmh) will make crazy tight turns without checking anything. They will get away with everything and never get stopped by the police, they don't have insurance and will not get fined for anything.

So I would add:

- Don't overspeed in traffic jams

- Don't ever come close to a bus or truck, moving or stopped (massive blind spots + not going to feel a thing running over you)

- Don't mess with car drivers (they will try to run over you and your 200kg bike)

- There will ALWAYS be a **** crazy biker with a death wish riding faster than you, whatever your speed is

[KozmoNau7]

I've been advised against covering the brake at all times, since it reduces throttle control. However I do cover the brake whenever going through intersections, passing driveways and so on. I do this on my bicycle as well, you never know when someone is going to pull out from a driveway without seeing you.

Gear-wise, denim doesn't really do much of anything, aside from providing a marginally useful millimeter of additional abrasion. From having crashed my bicycle often (never had a moto crash, thankfully), I've had severe scrapes underneath denim that looked just mildly scuffed on top. With pressure applied, it can act like sandpaper on your skin. Gear up in proper gear, modern cordura/kevlar gear is comfortable and not that expensive, plus the hip/knee/elbow pads make a big difference in a crash.

I also got the "you're invisible" part drilled into me by every instructor I've had, and it's probably the most important lesson.

On top of that, always look ahead! On a bike you sit at roughly SUV head height, plus you can stand up on the pegs if you need to. Always look ahead, not just at the 2-3 cars in front of you, but as far ahead as you can, scanning for brake lights, traffic clumping together, anything that looks like it could be an issue. I do this when driving a car as well, if people start braking way up ahead, let off the gas and keep an eye on it. I see so many people just charge right into traffic jams and stomp on the brakes, probably because they didn't notice or maybe just didn't care.

Always be smooth on your inputs, but try to also be smooth in traffic.

[mngnt]

>denim doesn't really do much of anything

There is a company that makes denim pants with kevlar inserts and knee&hip pads. While not as good as proper leather outfit, they´re way better than regular jeans and I like the looks better.

https://www.motorcycle.com/products/trilobite-661-parado-jea...

[mngnt]

> HTH someone.

Beginner rider (bought a yamaha V-Star 650 3 days ago) here. It does.

>1) ride with one or two fingers on the front brake My driving school instructor chastised me for that. I kept doing it. As a cyclist, I ALWAYS keep my fingers on the brake, I know how fast I need to react and there is no time to waste reaching for that lever.

>3) ride with your high beam on at all times Good idea. Will do (During daytime)

>6) gear up I don´t understand why this has to be repeated so often. It´s a complete no-brainer, when I was budgeting my bike, I added 1000 €for gear: proper motorcycle gear, with pads, with kevlar, with leather, certified. It´s insane how many people ride in their street clothes (when doing my test drive, I wore shorts, a hoodie and a helmet. Luckily I didn´t fall, but as soon as I got off, i got burned badly on the exhaust. There are countless ways to hurt yourself on that machine.)

7)do not ride under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Again, why do people keep doing this? This is a shortcut to death. And it´s so often combined with the previous point.

Thanks for the tips, I´ve been binge watching motorcycle tips and safety recommendations for months now, most of these repeat so often I have them hammered into my brain.

[giantg2]

Most of this is exactly the advice I give for someone driving a car. I also gave up track days and AutoX due to cost (got married and have a family).

[mseidl]

"4 wheels moves your body, 2 wheels moves your soul"