Motorcycle Safety

[Shoot870p]

In some places there are individuals that present a class somewhat based on the motor officer (bike cop) training. Most of it slow speed based but it is good training overall. It helps to have an instructor putting eyes on you instead of watching a video and feeling sure that you are looking where you need to look and slowing when you need to slow. Just my thoughts. And to the point slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

 

[mcmd]

TCHAP .....Curves are fun but don't get too carried away. Watch those blind curves!!!!! It sucks to be doing your full"James Bond" leaned over hard pushing the limits of the bike and your skill when a nice patch of gravel or debris is in your lane. You need to reinforce basic motorcycle skills. You want to be smooth rather than fast. Work on making good solid turns without trying to push the limits. After a while you will find that you are able to go pretty fast around corners in a relaxed manner. You ride around white knuckeled all the time It's going to stop being fun pretty fast for one reason or another.
You-tube has its limits but try MC rider for solid information without macho bs.

In full agreement with oldskool. Practice smooth cornering and tightening up your skills. As you get better, smoother, faster cornering just happens naturally.

 

[cyb3rbyte]

I took my MSF course about a month before getting my Trail. Definitely made me feel safer in every day riding, especially with taking sharp turns at low speed to not drop over. I think it's something that is very hard to master. Following distance for traffic is very important as well. Really helped me to feel safer on bikes that were larger than what I've been used to.

One of my instructors had a Goldwing, so we spoke briefly between breaks in the course on that. I told him about my Passport I had at the time and he said "you already have a leg up on these people if you're driving that thing in the City AND you're rev matching for the semi-auto".

 

[TRF90]

One of my concerns has been the speed differential between my 45 mph and the 60 to 70 mph speeds on our country roads around here. I ended up wiring in a blinking LED to my rear running light. Seems to ward off most drivers who are approaching rapidly from the rear. Of course, I put on my turn signal and run the edge of the road to encourage them to pass as quickly as possible. Even rural roads are wide and straight here, so that works out pretty well.

 

[BaldRider]

I took my class in Idaho a long time ago. They don't have MSF but something called STAR which is similar. I have been wanting to do more advanced training like Champ or California Superbike.

I don't worry too much about being able to reach the speed limit of the road I am on. I do make sure to keep an eye on my mirrors and look for places to pull over to let people pass. It is easier to do on Booger than something wide (and nearly as slow) as my sidecar.

My bike speed likely has less to do with my safety as the cars I share a road with. Our roads are narrow, hilly and twisty with three kinds of drivers you encounter. The first is the overconfident one who thinks it is their own personal racetrack. The second is the 'normal' driver who is comfortable on the roads but doesn't drive like they are turtle-heading. The third is the flatlander who is completely intimidated by the sheer cliffs and blind curves. Those are probably the most dangerous because they can be unpredictable.