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Smooth out your downshifts with a throttle blip

Try to go through intersections with an escort
Never drive faster than you can see
Park to drive out, especially on a hill
Go in slow to come out fast
Practice all three of your obstacle options
Drive over obstacles more smoothly by doing what doesn’t come naturally
Be on guard near visiting drivers
Never get between a car and an exit ramp
Fine-tune your steering, with your throttle
Engine braking: cool sound. Poor practice
Be alert for animals at night
Avoid being a target when stopped at a red light
Proper parking placement protects paint
Pretend you’re invisible
Don’t buy more octane than you need
Both brakes: squeeze and ease
Use your odometer as a fuel gauge
Keep warm and rested: hypothermia kills
Don’t lose your sidestand in hot asphalt
Target fixation: you go where you look
Your shoes are not brake shoes
Push on the side where you want to go
Start and stop your engine with FINE-C
Do a spring skills refresh
Road paint is surprisingly slippery
Want a real test of skill? go slow
Keep your wrist flat to avoid throttle problems
Make those automatic traffic lights change
Have a foul-weather plan
Practise your mental technique when not riding
Optimise your lane position when stopping
Check your tire pressure, at least weekly
Improve your cornering with lane position
Your gear shift is for managing your engine speed
Have a breakdown plan
Use your brake to start on a hill
Don’t let gusty side winds surprise you
A side stand won’t hold a bike facing downhill
Spot-check your lane position
Let gravity help with your centre stand
Practice a weekly 10-minute safety check
Treat morning shadows like oil slicks
Check that oil – it’s critical
Use the car ahead to increase your line of sight
Manage your traction quota
 
http://cycle‐ergo.com/                   
 
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Smooth out your downshifts with a
throttle blip
What’s the problem?
Do you find downshifting while riding awkward? When you downshift while moving, you
are suddenly changing the speed your engine needs to be running to match your ground
speed. This causes a sudden load on the engine, and can cause the bike to lurch. Worse, the
braking effect can cause the front end to dive, giving you steering problems, or causing the
rear wheel to lock or chatter.

If you find you’re reluctant to downshift or that it’s an unpleasant experience, this tip is for
you.

Solution
The solution to the lurching problem is to adjust your throttle, matching the engine speed to
the new level it needs, while the clutch is in for your downshift. The easiest way to do this is
by timing a little burst of gas (called a “blip”) to coincide with your shifting manoeuvre.
Once you have the technique straight, it will be so easy to do and so automatic that you will
have trouble shifting any other way. Learn this technique in two steps.

First, let’s learn to blip while standing still. Sit

on the bike with the engine running, in neutral so you can play with the throttle safely.
Practice blipping the throttle — snap it open about a quarter-turn then immediately let go.
You get a “brmmmmm!” note from the engine that quickly rises then falls in pitch. Practice
doing this blip as quickly as possible, so the entire technique takes less than 1/2 second.
This is very important. We are not talking about accelerating. The blip should last a fraction
of a second, and if you were moving you would travel only {{hovertext|about 3 feet|a metre
or so}} at the higher engine speed. We don’t mean you hear “bwaaaaaaaAAAH” and
accelerate down the road.

Next, ride at a moderate constant speed in a safe place (not a busy street). Practice
downshifting from 3rd to 2nd, or from 4th to 3rd. (2nd to 1st is a bigger jump on most bikes
— practice that later, not now.) Downshift with the following sequence of events:

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 1. Clutch in and blip the throttle slightly
so the engine speeds up to the revs needed for the lower gear.
2. Downshift to the lower gear.
3. While the engine speed is still coasting back down from the blip, smoothly let the
clutch out.
You’re trying to blip the engine speed to slightly higher than the new speed it will need after
the downshift, then let the clutch out as the engine coasts down from that speed. When you
get this right, the downshift will be silky-smooth with no lurching at all because you did the
required engine speed change while the clutch was in. The mark of a good technique is that,
once learned, it’s hard to do it any other way. Practice your blipped downshifts for a week or
two and you’ll find you are unable to make yourself downshift the old lurchy way.

This technique is easy to learn and will improve your riding. You’ll love it.

Technology Update
That article was written around 2000. Now, over a decade later, some bikes — usually high-
performance sport bikes — are fitted with a slipper clutch. If you have one of these, you
don’t need to blip. Just let out the clutch smoothly and the bike will automatically handle re-
engaging the engine at a smooth pace to avoid a lurch. We aren’t yet seeing slipper clutches
on beginner-style bikes, so you probably won’t encounter this. If you are an experienced
rider, learning not to blip, after years of doing so, is hard.

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Try to go through intersections with an
escort
What’s the problem?
Most multiple-vehicle motorcycle accidents occur in or near an intersection. Most involve a
car that turned (usually left) in front of, or into, the motorcycle. The drivers of those cars
usually claim that they didn’t see the motorcycle.

Solution
If you have taken motorcycle training (and you should), you have heard that you should try to
increase your visibility through the use of bright clothing. However, it is still wise to assume
that other drivers can’t see you, and act accordingly.

One way to respond to your invisibility to is to use other, larger, vehicles as escorts. For
example, consider this situation:

If you, the motorcylist at #3, assume the driver of left-turning car #1 can’t see you, you will
realize they will probably make their turn after the oncoming car #2 passes, and they might
hit you. Realising you are invisible, you could change your position to be escorted through
the intersection by a larger, more visible, vehicle, like this:

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They still may not see you, but they’ll see car #2 and won’t enter the intersection.

However
This is a general principle, and may not always be the right thing to do. For example:

 Ensure you’re not in the escort vehicle’s blind spot. Note, above, that the bike has moved
well forward so the escort driver can see him. Otherwise a lane change by the escort
could result in a collision.
 Remember your escort doesn’t have to be the vehicle in front of you. Slowing slightly to
be escorted by the one behind you will work just as well. The key is to recognise the left-
turning car ahead as a hazard, and take positive action to control who is in the intersection
with you.
 Don’t create a hazard while trying to execute this manoeuvre. If you have to go
unreasonably fast or unreasonably slow to link up with an escort vehicle, you are creating
a risk greater than the situation you’re trying to resolve.
 

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Never drive faster than you can see
What’s the problem?
If you think about it, at any given speed there is obviously a minimum distance it would take
you to stop in reaction to seeing an obstacle in front of you.

For example, suppose you are going 30 Km/h and know, from experience or taking rider
training, that you can stop your bike in 7 metres from that speed. Also, let’s say it would take
you one second to notice an emergency situation in front of you and react by initiating a
braking manoeuvre. At 30 Km/h you will travel about 8 metres in that second. So, if you
suddenly saw something that made you stop as quickly as possible, you would travel 8 + 7
= 15 metres before coming to a stop.
Here is that example on a diagram:

Now, let’s assume that you can’t see 15 metres for some reason — dark, fog, a curve, the
crest of a hill, etc. Consider the following:

As you can see, there is no possible way to avoid a collision. By the time you see the car you
will be too close to stop before you hit it.

Solution
You must develop an intuitive feel for your reaction and stopping distance from any given
speed. (You do this by practice, and rider training is a great opportunity for such practice.)
You must then train yourself that any time your visibility changes (e.g. entering a curve, or
the arrival of darkness) you adjust your speed so you can always see farther ahead than your
stopping distance.

It’s important that you develop this feel for visibility and speed under all conditions in which
you ride. We all tend to do more riding in fine weather on good pavement, which means we
aren’t getting as much practice in rain, poor roads, etc. Remember this and allow for it as you
ride.

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 Finally, consider this. The situation where you
are most likely to drive faster than visibility warrants is in good conditions, good road, and
bright daylight, in hilly terrain. Most riders instinctively adjust their speed in poor conditions
or when riding a blind curve. But on perfectly straight road, it’s easy to forget there may be a
hazard over the crest of the next hill. A sharp gully is even worse, because you may be able to
see clear road in the distance, but not the hazard at the bottom of the gully.
 

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Park to drive out, especially on a hill
What’s the problem?

Many motorcyclists give little thought to the

position of their bikes when parking. They simply pull into an available spot, dismount, and
walk away.
Pulling in to a spot generally means that you must back out of it to depart. Backing out of a
parking spot is generally bad practice for several reasons:
 Pushing your bike backward is more difficult than riding it forward. You may lose your
balance or lose control of the bike’s balance and drop it.
 If you push the bike backward while standing beside it (generally the best technique) your
ability to see oncoming traffic and other threats is impaired as you back out into traffic.
 After backing out into traffic, you are forced to pause there while mounting, changing
gears, and making other preparations to move. During this period, you are an obstacle.
You are in danger of being struck, and are not in a position to take evasive action.
An additional, and more serious, problem can occur when you must park on a hill. If you pull
into a parking spot on a downhill grade, or pointing downward into the low land beside a
crested road surface, you will be forced to push the bike backward and uphill when you are
ready to depart. Large motorcycles weigh many hundreds of pounds, and it may be physically
impossible for you to push it backward up the hill.

Solution
Whenever possible, you should park your bike so that you can drive out of the parking spot
rather than having to back out.

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 In double-lane parking lots, you should pull
through an unoccupied double spot and park with the bike facing outward.

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Go in slow to come out fast
What’s the problem?
Most single-vehicle motorcycle accidents occur in curves. Many are the result of entering the
curve too fast. The excess speed can cause you to run off the road or into the oncoming lane.
If you try to correct by braking while turning, it is easy to lose control and crash.

Even if you maintain lane position and control, entering a curve too fast is not fun. You will
experience a moment of panic and have to correct either by adjusting your steering or
braking. Braking causes the bike to try to stand upright and straighten its path which may
lead to further lane problems. All of this throws you off your stride. You’ll probably find
yourself slowing down or stopping to recover your wits, and your ride will be less enjoyable
for a while.

Solution

Recovering control (by slowing or steering) in

a curve is an important skill that you should certainly practice. However, you’ll enjoy your
ride much more if you avoid the problem entirely. Enter the curve at an appropriate speed by
slowing, if necessary, before you begin the turn. By slowing before the curve you can enter
under complete control, then, once you are far enough through to see a clear path to the curve
exit, accelerate out.
Try this the next time you’re on a twisty country road. Slow down to a very comfortable
turning speed before you get to the turn, and accelerate out of the turn, back to your cruising
speed. Experiment with different corner entry speeds and braking points, and you’ll find
yourself enjoying cornering more. You’ll be riding more safely and, because you aren’t
wasting time correcting from errors, you will actually make better time on your overall trip.

Don’t Doddle
Don’t mis-interpret this tip. This is not about holding up traffic by slowing down to below
traffic speed when there is a line of cars behind you. Holding up a line of traffic will frustrate
the other drivers and eventually someone will make an unsafe pass. Driving too slowly does
not increase your safety. If you’re not comfortable riding at normal traffic speeds, you are
not ready to be out riding on the roads.

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This tip is about riding on a track, or on winding country roads when you are alone on the
highway, or at least when there is no one immediately behind you, and when you are in a
situation where you are free to choose your speed without the influence of other traffic.

If only single spots are available, you should

stop your bike outside the spot and then back into it so that you can drive out to depart.

When parking at the side of the street, you

should stop your bike a few feet from the curb and then back it in, parking with the rear
wheel touching the curb and the bike facing outward at an angle. You’ll be able to drive away
with a clear view of traffic. (As an added benefit, you are taking up less parking space.)
Finally, if you must park in a location where you will have to back out of the spot, think
about the slope of the land before you stop. Never stop where you will have to push your bike
backward up even a gentle hill. Either back into such a spot, so you can drive out, or select
another parking location.

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Practice all three of your obstacle options
What’s The Problem?
You will occasionally be faced with an obstacle unexpectedly appearing in your path. A car
that pulls in front of you; a 2×4 that falls of the back of a pickup truck; a cow on the road
around a blind corner; a speed bump or oil slick you didn’t notice sooner.

Without training and practice, most riders fall into the habitual use of one emergency
response technique — usually braking hard. But no one technique is always the best response
to an emergency situation, and collisions or crashes can result from using the wrong
technique, even if it is used well.

Solution
It’s easy to enumerate all of your options when faced with an unexpected obstacle. You have
only three.

1.
Stop before you hit it. With proper training and practice, you can stop your motorcycle very quickly.
Assuming you see the obstacle soon enough, you can come to a rapid stop in front of it. However, this
isn’t always the best option.

If there is a vehicle behind you, chances are it can’t stop as quickly as you did, and you will
be hit from behind. Even when your rear is clear, hard braking can cause control problems if
your wheels lock or if you are in a low-traction situation. And hard braking can cause extra
complications in curves, such as moving you out of your safe lane position as the bike’s path
straightens out.

2.

Swerve around it. Your motorcycle can change direction very quickly and accurately, if you
have the skill to control it properly. With practice, you can swerve around many obstacles
and avoid some of the risks associated with rapid braking. (Swerving requires a specific
turning technique, called countersteering, which we’ll discuss in a future tip.) However,
swerving also has its risks.
Once you begin a swerve you are committed. If you have second thoughts and try to correct
by going in the other direction or braking you will likely hit the obstacle or crash. Braking
and swerving do not mix. Furthermore, swerving obviously requires that there be a clear path
around the obstacle, and you can’t always count on that. Less obviously, you must train
yourself to look at the clear path, not at the obstacle. Staring at the obstacle (“target

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fixation”) will usually cause you to hit it. Finally, swerving can be hard on passengers or
cargo.

3.
Drive over it. If you can’t brake safely and have no room to swerve, you’re going to hit the obstacle.
With proper training and a suitable obstacle, you can sometimes drive right over it with no harm or
loss of control. This takes practice, as it must be done properly to avoid damaging your suspension or
wheels, or losing steering control. We’ll discuss a specific technique for smoothly driving over
obstacles next week.

Your Best Option?

The moral is that there is no consistent right response when faced with an obstacle. More
often than not, swerving around an obstacle is probably your best choice (to avoid the danger
from following vehicles that braking presents), but only if you have practised swerving
enough to do it automatically and with confidence.

You should practice all of these emergency options so you can execute them instinctively and
well.

You can get help by taking rider training, and you should practice constantly on your own
too. In off-hours, on a parking lot or an empty street, pick a manhole cover or a mark on the
road and swerve around it — both sides. Stop hard for a stop sign or light (empty streets
only). Drive over sharp speed bumps with proper obstacle technique.

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Another good swerving practice is to find a street with marks like the regular gap-filling tar
and wait until you are following a car with no one behind you. Swerve round the gaps
alternately, but now you have to wait for them to appear from under the car in front of you, so
it is more difficult to prepare in advance.

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Drive over obstacles more smoothly by
doing what doesn’t come naturally
What’s the problem?
Sometimes you have to drive over an unavoidable obstacle in your path. (A speed bump,
which is designed to be unavoidable, is a perfect example.) You probably find this a jarring,
unpleasant experience.
You feel an unpleasant thump as the bump is transmitted through your front wheel and into
your arms and knees, and you probably wonder if the thump has damaged your wheel. You
may feel a loss of steering control, especially if you didn’t hit the obstacle square-on.

Ordinarily, a bike’s front suspension is designed to smooth out bumps in the road. The
problem with an obstacle like a speed bump is that you saw it coming and your natural
reaction was probably to brake before you hit it.

Think about that. What happens when you apply the brakes? Your front forks compress, and
the front end of the bike dives. With the front forks compressed they have less slack left to
absorb a bump — under hard braking, with the forks fully compressed, they have effectively
become solid metal bars. The force of the bump is efficiently transmitted into the bike and
your body.

Solution
You need to learn to manage the condition of your front suspension. In this case, we’re going
to de-compress the front forks before hitting the obstacle, by “blipping” the throttle at the
right time.

Try this.

First, find a safe street or parking lot, and ride at a moderate constant speed. Have a friend
observe your front forks while you brake. He’ll tell you the front forks compress.

Now have your friend observe while you “blip” the throttle. Blipping means quickly snapping
the throttle open a quarter-turn or so, then back to where it was. Quickly — the blip should
last less than a half a second. You get a “brmmmm!” engine note that quickly rises in pitch
then returns to normal. Your friend will tell you that the front forks de-compressed for the
moment after the blip. That makes sense — it’s the opposite of braking. Extra caution: keep
the blip small and brief until you get a feel for how much fork decompression you get — too
much and you may lift your front wheel right off the ground, which makes your bike very
hard to control.

This is very important. We are not talking

about accelerating. The blip should last a fraction of a second, and you should travel only a
metre or two at the higher engine speed. We don’t mean you hear “bwaaaaaaaAAAH” and
accelerate down the road.
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Now find a stable obstacle in a safe place. A 10 cm. speed bump in a quiet parking lot is
ideal. Approach it at a moderate speed (20 Km/h or so). Brake to slow down if necessary, but
finish braking several metres before you reach the obstacle. Then, just before you hit the
bump, blip the throttle.
Again, blip quickly. You want to accelerate for just a fraction of a second, and time this so
your forks decompress just before you hit the bump.

The decompressed forks will absorb the blow much more effectively than the compressed
forks that resulted from braking, and you’ll feel much more comfortable and in control.

Later, try combining this with another

technique: slightly reduce the weight on your seat by pressing your feet down on your foot
pegs, again, just before you hit the bump. With the blip and weight reduction done properly,
you will barely feel the bump.
 

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Be on guard near visiting drivers
What’s the problem?
There are two problems to be aware of when riding near a visiting driver: one obvious and
somewhat unfair, the other more subtle.

Of course visiting drivers make occasional mistakes and surprise moves. So do locals. (A car
driving slowly with a navigator staring at a map should be a sign that a surprise move is
imminent.) But it would be an unfair generalisation to say “stay away from visitors — they’re
dangerous”.

A more realistic risk occurs when visiting drivers are combined with “local protocols” —
local driving habits or quirks that everyone around here takes for granted but aren’t strictly by
the book. When one of these local driving quirks happens near a visitor who doesn’t know
the local habit, a surprise swerve, brake, or even a collision, may result.

For example, different regions treat amber lights differently. In some areas drivers obediently
slow and stop (possibly because they are such good drivers; possibly because they know
about the red-light cameras), while in (many) others, amber causes drivers to accelerate, to
get through the intersection.

Can you think of other areas where local drivers do something that might surprise a visitor,
even one who is a good driver? Road markings, advisory speed limits, turning lanes, habits
on entrance & exit ramps, etc., are all sources of such behaviour.

As a real example, in Ottawa, the intersecting entrance and exit ramp lanes on the 417 at
Bronson are a place where local drivers know what to expect but visiting drivers are often
startled into dangerous behaviour by the converging traffic.

Solution

You already know, if you’ve taken rider training, that you should be
constantly scanning your surroundings for potential hazards and ensuring you are ready
should an avoidance manoeuvre be needed.
Practice picking up signs that a driver near you is from out of town. (License plates; camping
equipment on the roof; weather stains not matching the local conditions). Now scan your
environment not only for what might endanger you, but for what might surprise the out-of-
towner and cause them to become a hazard.

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Never get between a car and an exit ramp
What’s the problem?

How many times have you seen a car exit a multi-lane highway
from a lane other than the outside one? Typically, they will be in the middle lane either
because they didn’t know the exit was coming up, weren’t paying attention, or waited too
long to change lanes and got stuck. Or, frequently, they have misjudged their speed, or yours,
and think they’ll pass you before the turn off. Then they’ll suddenly veer across the outside
lane and onto the ramp.
How many times have you seen or heard evidence that car drivers have difficulty seeing
motorcycles?

Combine these two tendencies and you will realize that riding in the outside lane of a
freeway, and positioning yourself between a car and an exit ramp, is a very high-risk
situation. If the car makes a last-minute exit decision, it’s unlikely they’ll see you and you
will be hit.

In a situation such as this one, one of my instructor colleagues liked the phrase “your spider
sense should be tingling.”

Solution

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 The solution to this problem isn’t complex. You already know,
through your rider training, that you should be constantly scanning for potential hazards. This
includes scanning behind and judging the rate at which traffic is catching up. See if you can
estimate when they will get alongside. Be aware of the other drivers around you, and what
common mistakes they might make that would put you at risk.
Rather than planning an escape manoeuvre should something happen, immediately take
action to remove yourself from the risky situation. In the example above, you can just adjust
your speed, or change lanes, to pass by the exit ramp out of the other car’s target zone.

Try to make this a habit, so you automatically adjust your speed or lane choice to never put
yourself in this situation. (By the way, since you have so few movement choices in a crowded
highway in rush hour, this implies the outer lane is not a good place to spend much time.)

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Fine-tune your steering, with your
throttle
What’s the concept?
Sometimes you need to make small-scale steering adjustments at the same time as executing
a large-scale steering manoeuvre.

For example, you might be in a curve and, while steering around the curve, want to change
your lane position slightly to avoid a suspicious patch on the road ahead. Going around the
curve is the “large-scale steering manoeuvre” and moving in your lane is the “small-scale
manoeuvre.”

Of course you can use the handlebars to make the small steering adjustment. But you have
another option, and it can be very effective.

Throttle steering
Think about this:

Imagine you’re driving in a large, perfect circle, on a flat parking lot. You’re at a constant
speed and lean, and you’re not moving the handle bars. You could go around like this all day.

Now, what if you accelerate slightly, but change nothing else? Can you see that the circle
you’re tracing will get slightly larger? Tie a weight to an elastic and whirl it about your head.
Increase speed and the circle gets larger.

Conversely, if you decrease your speed, but change nothing else, the circle you are tracing
will get slightly smaller.

A curve is just part of a circle (or some other shape). So if you change speed while in a curve,
you will “change the size of the circle you are tracing.”

That’s why you have to correct your steering if you find yourself braking or accelerating in a
curve — to ensure you don’t change lane position by changing the size of the circle.

But in our example above, we wanted to change lane position. So, in addition to moving the
bars, we could change lane position by keeping the steering constant and changing speed.
That’s “throttle steering.”

If you accelerate while turning, you make the circle bigger, and the bike will smoothly drift
toward the outside of the curve. If you decelerate, the circle will shrink, and the bike will
smoothly drift toward the inside of the curve.

Try it
Find a quite, constant-radius curve with good pavement, no debris, and a clear view of
possible dangers. No cows nearby. A paved, quiet country road is great. A curve marked out
in an empty parking lot, with the owner’s permission, is even better.

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 Practice driving the centre of the lane around your curve at a
constant speed and with one smooth steering input, until you can trace the curve smoothly.

Now try it again, but roll on the throttle, slightly and

smoothly, halfway through the curve, without changing your handlebar position. You’ll find
the bike moves to the outside of the lane.

Try it again, but smoothly back off the throttle. The bike will
move toward the inside.
Although we are using an obstacle to illustrate this technique, real obstacles (especially large
ones encountered by surprise) may call for more direct control, such as a steering-induced
swerve. Throttle steering, on the other hand, is ideal for adjusting your lane position when
combined with changing speed, such as you might do when moving from the inside to the
outside of your lane while accelerating out of a curve.

With practice, you’ll find yourself doing combined lane position — speed adjustments with a
single control input, your throttle, rather than having to adjust the two independently.

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Engine braking: cool sound. Poor
practice
How does “engine braking” work?
Should you downshift to slow your bike? Let’s review how it works, why you would want to
do it, and why you might not.

Suppose you are riding at a constant speed, then close the throttle. The engine’s inertia will
fight the bike’s forward motion and will “drag” the bike to a slower speed. Now do it over
but adding a downshift. This forces the engine speed higher and the “drag” will increase.

Why would you do that?

Among riders who believe Engine Braking is an advanced technique (I disagree), you’ll hear
several reasons:

 It’s a habit from driving a standard-transmission car, where it can sometimes be a good
practice (e.g. on ice).
 It sounds impressive. You get a cool “brmmmmmm” from the engine, just like you hear
when you watch motorcycle racing on TV. You think racers must be doing it.
 It’s a challenging skill.
 It saves wear on brake pads.
 In conditions where you want to brake using mainly the rear wheel (rare since the front is
the more effective brake) engine braking makes rear-wheel locking less likely than using
the rear brake.
Why would you not do it?
Despite the attractions above, engine braking is not good practice, for several reasons.

 It trades brake pad wear for engine wear. Brake pads are made to wear and cheap to
replace. Engines aren’t.
 It applies braking force to the rear wheel (the one connected to the engine). As you will
learn from rider training, your front wheel is the important one for braking. Rear-wheel
braking will slow your bike, but not much.
 Your brake light won’t come on, and you really should let the car behind you know
you’re slowing.
 You’re not hearing racers do it. They’re doing something that sounds similar, described
below.

Recommendation
You should not downshift to make the bike slow down; you should downshift because the
bike is slowing down — so you are remaining in the appropriate gear for the speed you are
going. You will adjust the throttle position (using a little “blip”) to match the new engine
speed so your downshift is smooth and does not cause braking action on the rear wheel. (It’s
this throttle adjustment you’re hearing racers do.) There are two good ways to slow your
bike:
Braking. That’s what your brakes are for, and they’re very good at it. As you’ll learn from
rider training, use both brakes, using only light pressure on the rear and squeezing the front
with sufficient pressure to get the braking effect you want.
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Scrubbing. This is the fancy term for just backing off the throttle and letting the bike slow
down. If you back off the throttle and then let the bike “coast” to a slower speed, you’re
“scrubbing some speed”. It’s a more impressive term than “coasting” — impress your friends
with your expert vocabulary.
One more time: downshift to remain in the correct gear. Because you are slowing down,
not in order to slow down.

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Be alert for animals at night
Be alert for animals at night.
This week’s tip is pretty simple, but it’s important.

Riding at night on a motorcycle, you are higher risk of being injured by a collision with
wildlife than you are in a car.

First, your vehicle is less conspicuous. It’s

smaller, probably quieter (remembering than many animals will react more to the high
pitched sound of wind displacement than to the impressive rumble of your exhaust note.) And
the lights are fewer and dimmer than on a car.
Second, the consequences of an impact are much greater. Hitting a moose is a problem in any
vehicle; but hitting a turtle can cause a bike to crash while a car will barely notice.

Riding at night is an enjoyable experience, but you must keep several factors in mind.

 Ensure you are not riding faster than your reaction distance. If you can’t see as far ahead
as it would take you to stop, you’re going too fast.
 If you see an animal, slow down. They are often in pairs so make sure you are past the
area before resuming your cruising. Better safe than sorry at night.
 Slow for road-kill. How many times have you seen the mate of a porcupine or raccoon
dead near its mate? When you first see what may be a road kill, slow down, just in case.
 It’s easy to be lulled by the peace and quiet. You must concentrate to stay sharp.
 You should keep your headlight and your visor clean, and know where your horn is.
 If you’re drowsy, rest. Coffee is no alternative to rest, and fatigue will lead to accidents.
 

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Avoid being a target when stopped at a
red light
What’s the problem?
When you are stopped at a red light or stop sign, with no other vehicle behind you, you are
vulnerable to being struck from behind. Even cars are sometimes rear-ended by inattentive
drivers, but the problem is much worse on a motorcycle.

First, a motorcycle has low visibility in this situation. It is a small vehicle, is not moving, has
small lights, and it may be in front of a complicated moving background from the point of
view of an approaching driver.

Second, a rear-end collision with a motorcycle is often a much more serious incident than a
rear-end collision with a car.

Solution
There are five steps you can take to reduce the chance that you will be struck and injured in
such a situation.

Don’t be there
Stop signs don’t give you any choice. If you are going through a controlled intersection, you
will have to stop.

Traffic lights, on the other hand, give you an excellent alternative: arrive at the intersection
when the light is green. A motorcycle can accelerate so quickly that it is tempting to rush
away from every light, only to arrive at the next red one, stop, and become a target. Pace
yourself to arrive at the next intersection on a green light and you eliminate the rear-end risk
entirely.

(This tip applies when you are arriving at the controlled intersection with no one behind you.
You should certainly not slow down to the point where you are creating a hazard, or where
you are being tailgated. Besides, if someone is following close behind you, you are already
protected from behind as long as you are sure they see you.)

Remain alert
If you must sit, stopped, at a red light, you should remain aware of the risk from behind and
watch for problems. Form the habit of doing an immediate shoulder check every time you
stop. Since you can stop much more quickly than larger vehicles, it is a good habit to always
ensure the one behind you is going to stop before reaching you.

Furthermore, you should remain alert. Remember that car drivers have trouble seeing
motorcycles, especially when they aren’t moving. Keep an eye in your rear-view mirrors
while you are sitting there, and make sure the car coming up behind you is stopping.

Increase your visibility

While you are watching the car behind you approach, take action to increase your visibility
— why leave it to chance that they see you? Rest your toe on your rear brake pedal so your
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brake light stays on all the time you are stopped, and occasionally release and reapply it so
the light blinks. Move around a bit on your bike. Motion attracts attention.

It’s quite possible to do this without feeling foolish. For example, sitting at a light is a good
opportunity to stretch your neck and shoulders a bit or straighten up and rest your back. If
you do this when an approaching car is within range, the motion will greatly increase the
probability that they notice you. And you can do it with motions that look entirely natural —
you don’t need to feel silly by “turning and waving at them.”

Get a shield

If you will be stopped for some time, your

objective should be to arrange to have a car stopped behind you, shielding you from
approaching traffic. As this car approaches they are a threat, but as soon as they stop without
hitting you they have become your shield.

Be ready for evasive action

As long as you are stopped with nothing behind you, you are a target. As a last resort, you
should remain ready to take evasive action, so if the car you have been watching appears not
to be stopping, you can move forward or to the side. There are two important facets to
remaining ready.

First, leave enough room in front of you that you can manoeuvre. If you are practically
touching the car in front of you, you will not be able to pull forward or to the side. If you
leave a full bike length or more in front, you will have room to move in a variety of directions
if you decide it is necessary.

Second, remain ready. If that threat which is to become your shield is only just arriving, make
sure your bike is in first gear, with the clutch in. If you need to move quickly, you will be
able to do so. If you are sitting in neutral you will still be fumbling for the clutch and
gearshift when you are hit.

Should you keep your bike in neutral, or stay in gear, when stopped? There are pros and cons
to each.

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 Holding it in gear produces more wear on mechanical components, but leaves you more prepared
to take evasive action.
 If you are hit from behind while in neutral, at least you can’t pop the clutch in surprise and make
matters worse.
 It is easier to relax while you wait in neutral, and fatigue is also a significant safety factor.
1. So, if you stop without a shield, a suggested sequence would be:
2. Sit in neutral with sufficient space in front of you, brake light on, monitoring what is
happening ahead and behind.
3. When you see a threat approaching from behind, get back into gear and use brake light flashes
and body motion to ensure they see you.
4. Once the threat is stopped and has become a shield, get back into neutral and return to
monitoring.
5. Get back into gear and ready to move off when you see the cross lights changing colour.
6. Take your brake light off when you are ready to begin moving, but not before.
This sounds like a lot of work, but it very easily becomes automatic.

By the way, since cars can’t see motorcycles, don’t forget to allow for cross traffic, which
can’t see you, running their amber light and striking you if you are too soon off the mark on
your green. Timing is everything.

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Proper parking placement protects paint
What’s the problem?
When you’re parking in a standard, multi-lane parking lot, have you thought about where you
place your bike in the spot? A bike is smaller than a car, and you have some flexibility about
where you leave it.

Parking a car has probably given you a habit of pulling all the way into a parking spot, but
this is not a good practice for parking your bike. Pulling all the way into a parking spot will
leave you positioned something like this:

What’s wrong with this? Consider what a person driving their car down the lane sees as they
approach the spot you’re in:

If they’re in a hurry there is a good chance they will think the spot is empty and pull in.
Hopefully they will realise their error and stop before they hit your bike, but it’s a risk you
don’t need to take.

Park your bike at the outside of the spot, so you are aligned with the rears of the cars on the
lane:

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Now drivers will immediately see your spot is occupied.

This driver forgets that motorcycles are fully-licensed motor vehicles and are entitled to park.
However, he sees the spot is occupied and isn’t going to pull in.
By the way, notice another change we recommended. Park your bike pointing outward, not
inward, so you can drive out of the spot in good control and with good visibility. Pushing or
duck-walking your bike, backward, into the traffic lane is another invitation for a collision
you could easily avoid.
 

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Pretend you’re invisible
What’s the problem?
If you’ve taken rider training you’ve discussed the reasons it is not easy for car drivers to see
you.

Size. Your bike is smaller than other vehicles. Especially when you are driving directly
toward a car, you are a small target to see. Your small size will also cause drivers to estimate
your distance incorrectly — they will think you are further away than you really are.
Unmoving. When you are driving directly toward someone, you are not moving much from
their point of view. Motion attracts attention; stillness does not. This same lack of cross-
motion makes it difficult for an oncoming driver to judge your speed. If you happen to be
moving faster than an average vehicle (no one we know does this, but it is possible in theory)
the oncoming driver may misjudge how much time they have to move across your path.
Inconspicuous Colours. Unfortunately, many riders feel it is important to wear black
clothing: black jacket, black pants, black helmet. There are even matt black helmets, so not
even a stray reflection calls a driver’s attention to your presence.
Lights. Since a motorcycle has only one headlight (even on bikes with two, they appear as
one from any distance) and one tail light, the lights aren’t as easy to see; and the single light
doesn’t give oncoming drivers much information about how far away you are. (Whereas the
two headlights on a car convey a distance message through their apparent separation.) Worse,
an oncoming driver may interpret your headlight as the lights of a car that is very far away,
and completely misjudge the distance separating you.

A mental exercise
Here is a useful mental exercise. Don’t just remember that it’s hard for cars to see
you; Assume they cannot see you. Really. Assume you are actually invisible.

This can become a mental game that will help you be ready for
driver errors, choose safer lane positions, and avoid surprises.
“That car waiting to turn left cannot see me, so he’s going to turn right in front of me. I’ll
move around in my lane to increase my apparent motion from his point of view; maybe he’ll
notice me. And I’ll be ready to move over so he misses me.”

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“That car approaching from the side cannot see me, so he will think it is safe to run that
amber light. I’ll slow down a bit before entering the intersection.”

Note that, in our examples, we took action to adjust for a possible driver error, even though
the collision we avoided would not have been our fault. This is an important theme in your
riding. If you are in a collision, it won’t matter much if it was your fault. Take positive action
to improve your safety, regardless of who’s “right.”

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Don’t buy more octane than you need
What’s octane?
Octane is a gasoline rating that measures a specific combustion property of fuel. Strange as it
sounds, octane makes gasoline harder to ignite. The higher the octane number, the more
resistant the fuel is to pre-ignition, or knocking. Your engine needs a certain minimum octane
rating, as specified by your manufacturer. Once you are using fuel with a high enough octane
rating to resist knocking, using a fuel with an even higher rating accomplishes nothing more.
The problem is that because of popular use of the phrase “high octane” to mean “high power”
or “extra strength,” there is a misconception that higher octane gasoline is higher quality, and
that it will produce more power or better gas mileage. This is not the case. Octane doesn’t
measure a fuel’s ability to produce power, just its anti-knock properties.

What about those flashy signs at the gas stations saying “super performance” on the high-
octane pump? They’re not wrong, exactly, but it’s easy to confuse cause and effect. Engines
designed for higher performance have a greater tendency to preignition, and often require
higher octane fuel, so it’s absolutely true that if you have a high-powered engine you may
need high octane. But the reverse is not true. Putting high octane gas into a low-performance
engine does not make it more powerful.

Recommendation
You should use the octane grade your owner’s manual recommends. If you still get knocking
(possible, for example, under different environmental conditions), try progressively higher
octane ratings until the problem disappears. Once you have found a rating that works,
however, don’t go any higher — you would be paying more for no benefit.

Some riders also advocate trying lower octane ratings than the manufacturer recommends.
That’s a personal call, but my recommendation is to follow your manufacturer’s advice, to
ensure your service representative is happy, warranty conditions are met, and so on.

“High Octane” may mean stronger coffee or louder music, but it does not mean more power
in gas. Don’t pay for more than you need.

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Both brakes: squeeze and ease
What’s the problem?
Many riders have poor braking technique, and are stopping in much greater distances, with
less control, than necessary. Their bike’s real braking ability far exceeds what they are
actually getting.

Fear of using the front brake is the main reason for this poor stopping. There is a myth among
some untrained riders that touching the front brake will result in the rider “being thrown over
the handlebars.” This is nonsense, but has resulted in a large number of riders using only their
rear brake when stopping. This has resulted, in turn, in countless unnecessary collisions.

Stopping with only the rear brake is a habit you should break. It is poor practice for many
reasons:

 During braking, a phenomenon called “weight transfer” occurs. Your momentum causes
the effective downward pressure of your weight to move forward. The result is as though
the weight bearing down on the front wheel is increased, while the weight on the rear
wheel is decreased.
 Weight transfer means the rear wheel is not being pressed very hard against the ground.
So using the rear brake to slow this wheel isn’t a very effective stopping technique. (To
see why this is so, imagine using only the rear brake while training wheels lifted your rear
wheel completely off the ground. Obviously, braking a wheel that is not touching the
ground would not slow you at all.) The front wheel, on the other hand, is being pressed
harder against the ground, so it would be an ideal wheel to which to apply braking force.
Because rear-wheel braking is exactly the wrong technique, braking distances are much
longer than they need to be: up to ten times longer.
 Because the rear wheel isn’t being held firmly to the ground, using the brake on that
wheel tends to make it “lock,” or stop rotating entirely. This results in rear-wheel
skidding, which causes loss of control and tire wear.
 Worse, if the rear wheel is locked and then released while braking in a tight curve, a
spectacular form of crash known as a “high-side” can result, throwing the rider from the
bike.

The solution
The solution to the above problems is to always use both brakes, front and rear, when
stopping.

Remember that, because of weight transfer, the front wheel is the main one involved in
stopping the bike. (When using appropriate pressure on both brakes, about 90% of your
braking effectiveness comes from the front.)

You should brake by applying gentle pressure to both brakes, front and rear, then smoothly
squeezing more firmly on the front until you are getting the amount of braking force you
want. Don’t increase the rear pressure much, though, because, as discussed above, the rear
wheel has a tendency to lock.

We say “squeeze and ease.” Squeeze the front brake more firmly, but just ease on the rear
brake.

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Practice
You should use the two-brake technique every time you stop. If this is a new technique for
you, you should practice in a safe location like a parking lot before venturing onto the street,
since you will be surprised how much your braking distance changes.

Although weight transfer makes it much more difficult to lock the front wheel than the rear,
locking the front wheel is much more serious, and almost always will result in a crash. For
this reason, you should practice braking in gradual steps — don’t start by grabbing the front
brake with all your might.

Make several test runs in a parking lot, gradually increasing the amount of front brake
pressure you use. Practice in a straight line, not a curve. Watch for the following:

 If your rear wheel locks, practice again with less rear-brake pressure.
 Be alert for signs your front wheel is nearing the point where it will lock. The signs that
your are approaching this point are a squealing, chattering sound that you will hear, and
possibly feel as a rapid, sharp vibration through the handlebars. (This applies to bikes
without AntiLock Braking Systems. ABS will generate such a vibration
to prevent locking.)
 If you get the front-wheel-lock symptoms described above, you have found the limit of
your front brake pressure. Slightly reduce your front braking pressure; do not try to
increase it any more. A front wheel lock will almost certainly result in a crash.
 To increase your practice difficulty, work on decreasing your stopping distance, not on
increasing your speed. Both are equivalent, but practicing at moderate speeds is safer and
will allow you to concentrate on technique and on the feedback the bike is giving you.
When braking in a curve the same points apply, with one extra: it is especially important that
you make control changes smoothly. If you lock your rear wheel while turning, reduce the
rear pressure gently, not in one sudden jerk. Sudden changes to braking pressure while
turning can result in drastic balance changes, and loss of control.
Finally, as you practice two-brake technique and your braking distances improve, form the
habit of always shoulder checking behind you immediately after you stop. You are now
stopping in much shorter distances than other vehicles, and you need to make sure nothing
behind you has become a threat.

Why both?
If the front brake is so much better than the rear, why use the rear at all? Why not just the
front?

Racers on the track do use only the front brake, and reserve the back brake for deliberately
forcing the rear wheel to slide. For street riding, however, we find that using both brakes
results in slightly smoother stops and better control, plus about 10% better stopping distances.

Practice with supervision

Because there is a risk of locking your wheels while learning your braking limits, you should
practice this skill with supervision. At least have someone with you to provide feedback on
what your wheels are doing, and provide help if you fall. Better still, this practice should be
guided by a qualified instructor, another reason to take professional rider training.

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Use your odometer as a fuel gauge
Most cars now have a resetable “trip odometer”. This used to be considered a high-end accessory —
an option on most cars, and standard on expensive ones. Have you ever wondered why every
motorcycle, even the least expensive, has one, and why they have been standard on motorcycles for
many years? It’s not a luxury item, it’s a fuel gauge.

An accurate fuel gauge

Many motorcycles lack a standard fuel gauge and, even when

present, they are notoriously inaccurate. (They tend to be nonlinear, meaning the second
“half” of the marked capacity is much smaller than the first “half”.) However, bikes use fuel
at a very consistent rate and odometers are quite accurate, so your trip odometer will tell you
how much further you can ride on the fuel in your tank. This is especially handy when you
are about to ride through a region you know has few gas stations — how far can you ride
before you are out of gas?

Learning your range

To use your odometer this way, you have to get into the habit of completely filling the tank
every time you add gas (i.e., Fill it to the same level, near the top — no half-tanks). At the
same time, note the odometer reading and then reset it to zero. When around town, where
there is no real danger of running out of gas, let your bike run out of main-tank gas and
switch to reserve before gassing up. Note the odometer reading where you had to switch to
reserve. (If you have a low-fuel warning light instead of a reserve tank, modify these
instructions accordingly.) After a couple of times through this exercise, you will have a very
accurate picture of how many kilometers you can ride before you hit your reserve.

It is also very useful to know how far you can ride on the reserve tank. On most bikes, it’s
rather farther than you think. When you switch to reserve, reset your trip odometer and then
note the reading when you get to a gas station. You now know you can go at least that far on
reserve. Every time you over-stretch your range you will learn more about your reserve
capacity.

Actually letting your reserve tank run dry is a useful exercise, the
ultimate test of your real riding range. If you’re going to try this, however, remember to make
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arrangements to have extra fuel brought to you, or with a travelling companion, and do it in
safe circumstances, not in freeway rush hour. (We know experienced riders who have
forgotten the spare fuel part of this experiment.) Also, to avoid fuel line problems, start and
refill with fresh gas, not the jerry can that sat in your garage all winter.
If you do run out of fuel, and have to switch to reserve, when far from a town, you will
probably feel an urge to hurry, to find the next gas station quickly. You must fight this urge.
Riding faster uses more fuel, and it is fuel, not time, that you are low on. When you switch to
reserve, slow down.

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Keep warm and rested: hypothermia kills
What’s the problem?
When you’re wearing your riding gear (leather or synthetic jacket, boots, gloves, helmet,
pants) non-riders will often ask you “aren’t you hot?” Experienced riders know the answer to
this question: On a motorcycle, you aren’t hot for long, but it’s easy to be cold.

This shouldn’t be surprising. Imagine a warm summer day, where you

are standing in an unsheltered field with a 100 Km/Hour wind blowing. You’ve experienced
how chilling a wind can be, and this same effect happens when you’re sitting on a bike
moving through the air at high speed. The chill is even more severe at night, when solar
energy isn’t replenishing your body heat. And, of course, it is worse still if you are riding
when it actually is cold, such as in spring or fall, or at high altitudes.
Being cold is a concern on a motorcycle, and not just because it reduces your riding pleasure.
Hypothermia (loss of body heat) will slow your mental and physical response times, seriously
impairing your ability to avoid accidents, and cold leads to fatigue, increasing the chance that
you will make an error that causes one. Fatigue, of course, also leads to sleepiness. While you
may have experienced nearly “nodding off” when driving a car while over-tired, imagine how
much worse this is when on a vehicle that can tip over.

While short cruises around town might not expose you to these threats, if you are going to do
any longer-distance riding, heat loss and fatigue are among the most important problems you
must learn to deal with.

If you are riding any long distances, or at night, or in colder climates, you need to be alert for
symptoms related to hypothermia and know what to do about it.

Symptoms
If hypothermia and fatigue are starting to affect your riding ability, you will notice some or
all of the following symptoms, generally in roughly this order.

 You would think the most obvious symptom of this problem is “feeling cold.”
That’s a good warning, and a reminder to take preventative measures, but it’s not the real
problem. A few seconds of cold as you pass through a pocket of cold air is not hypothermia.
We’re concerned about a “system-wide” loss of internal heat for a prolonged period, which will
slow your physical and mental reactions. The symptom that should alarm you is if
you stop feeling cold when there is no reason to. If you were cold a while ago and now feel
“acclimatised,” ask yourself if that makes sense in the environment you’re riding through. Unless
your environment has changed, maybe you are still cold, but are losing the ability to notice it.
What else aren’t you noticing?

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 Any unusual degree of physical discomfort, or any significant change in your physical abilities, is
also a sign that you are getting fatigued. If you find yourself moving less: staring, moving your
head infrequently, getting a stiff neck; if you are developing aches or cramps; if your bathroom
cycle is changing; and, obviously, if you are feeling any numbness, it is time to take action.

 Finally, and most seriously, if you find your reaction time slowing, you have a
problem. If you are having trouble with physical coordination — causing, perhaps, sloppy gear
changes when you normally are smooth, or if you are having trouble keeping your mind alert —
not noticing potential hazards till they pass you by — you are in need of warmth and rest.
Unfortunately, the very loss of mental alertness we are describing makes it less likely you will
realise you have a problem, so it is important to act before you reach this stage.

Prevention and treatment

If you detect the symptoms mentioned above, you are in danger. It is much better to avoid
this situation through prevention than to deal with it after you are already impaired. Basic
prevention is simple.

 Dress for the cold, or at least take extra clothing with you, even on a warm day.
On a ride of any length, especially if you will be riding into the night, at high altitude, or through
desert, take extra layers of clothing with you, and force yourself to stop and put it on early.

 If you will be doing any amount of long-distance or overnight riding, an

electrically heated liner for your jacket is an excellent investment. Most larger motorcycles can
easily handle the electrical load, and many serious long-distance riders list an electric vest as one
of their most important accessories.
 Finally, head off hypothermia and fatigue by taking frequent breaks during your ride. This point is
so important that we’ll discuss it again below.
If you do find yourself experiencing symptoms such as those listed above, the most important
thing you can do is stop and rest. If you must ride for a while longer, however, (for example,
to reach a place you can safely stop) the following are additional short-term measures you
can try.

 If you haven’t made the time to put that sweater on, do it now.
 If you have any way to get a warm drink (carrying a thermos with you, or pausing at a passing
coffee shop) do so now. However, you must never use alcohol as a treatment for being cold. It is a
myth that liquor warms your body. It creates a chemical reaction that feels like warmth, but
actually has the reverse effect, accelerating heat loss. And, of course, you should not be riding a
motorcycle with alcohol in your system anyway.
 Crack your visor open if it has been closed. A blast of fresh air will give you a few more minutes
of clear head.
 Deliberately, but slowly, make physical changes. Vary your speed up and down slightly. Force
yourself to turn your head, not just your eyes, to look around. Vary your view — look far ahead,
nearby, and off to the sides.
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 Consciously pay more attention to scanning for hazards and planning your reaction than you
normally do.

Know When to Stop

The most important prevention, and the most important treatment, for hypothermia and
fatigue is to make frequent rest stops. Long-distance riding organisations (such as the Iron
Butt Association) list frequent short breaks as the most important technique a rider can
employ.

Rather than one long, infrequent, stop at which you gas your bike, eat, stretch, go to the
bathroom, and do other sundry chores, organise your trip so you spend the same amount of
time stopped but as frequent short stops. For example, make meals and gas stops separate if
you can. Trying to go for a longer period without stopping will not save you time and may
get you hurt.

Ideally, you should be stopping before you are cold or tired, and you should certainly stop at
the first sign of any of the symptoms above. When you stop, take measures to warm the
centre of your body. Don’t just rub your hands together. Walk around your bike to restore
circulation. If you can, get indoors, unzip your jacket, and let some warm air in around your
chest. Have a warm drink (but no alcohol.)

If some schedule pressure is forcing you to hurry, call ahead and tell them you may be late.
Remove the pressure to hurry, and take the breaks you require.

Next time some bystander asks you “aren’t you hot in that outfit,” smile, use the phrase
“experienced riders,” and tell them that story about standing in the 100 Km/Hwind.

Fleece liner and electric vest shown above are images from Aerostich Rider Warehouse.
 

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Don’t lose your sidestand in hot asphalt
What’s the problem?
On a hot day, asphalt gets soft. Your bike is heavy and, when parked, a lot of that weight is
pressing down on the small spot where your stand touches the ground.

It’s often an unpleasant surprise to new riders that your side stand can sink a long way into
the asphalt on a hot day — far enough to allow your bike to fall over. (And, with the side
stand buried in the pavement, it can be more difficult to pick up than usual.)

Of course, the same risk exists on ground the really is soft: grass, dirt, sand, etc.

Solution
When possible, park on more solid material such as concrete. If you must park on asphalt,
spend a moment to think about where the sun will be and how the conditions will change
during the time you are parked. If you can arrange that your bike shades the spot where your
stand touches the ground, you may avoid a tip-over.

New asphalt is particularly susceptible to acting like quicksand on a hot day. (And its owner
will be particularly annoyed if your side stand gouges a hole.) When selecting a parking spot,
learn to spot the telltale holes that show where previous bikes have sunk, and park where it
has happened less often.

Avoid blacker asphalt, and prefer lighter patches. Blacker asphalt contains more tar, so it is
softer to begin with, and the dark colour will absorb more sunlight, softening even more. If
you must park on a soft spot, use your centre stand. It will also sink, but both feet will sink
evenly, reducing the chance of a tip-over (but be sure both feet of the centre stand are on
similar quality asphalt — don’t have one on old pavement and one on a recent patch.)

Side stand support plate

You can purchase expensive after-market side stands with wide heads to prevent sinking, but
it’s not necessary.

Here is a tip. Visit the electrical department of your local hardware store and buy a “junction
box cover.” This is a 10 cm. diameter circle of sturdy galvanized steel. Placed under your
side stand, it will support even a heavy bike, won’t rust, stores easily under your seat, and
costs about a dollar. Buy several and give them to your riding friends. If you’re caught
without this accessory, look for any flat material (such as a crushed soft drink can) to spread
the load of your stand.

Additional tip: tie a 2-metre length of string through the hole in the cover, and tie a 10
cm. loop in the other end. When you park, loop the end of the string around your handlebar.
Page 40 of 109 
 
This will remind you not to drive off without your stand plate, and also makes it easier to
pick up the plate once you are mounted on the bike.
 

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Target fixation: you go where you look
What’s the problem?
What’s the common advice to participants in dozens of sports that involve hitting a ball with
something (a club, a bat, a racket, a mallet, a paddle, . . .)?

“Keep your eye on the ball!”

One of the products of your body’s eye-brain-muscle system is that if you want to hit
something, you need to look at it intently. On a motorcycle, it is also true that if you look at
something intently you will likely hit it.

When riding, we call this tendency “target fixation.” If an obstacle appears in or near your
path, staring at it will greatly increase you chances of hitting it. Your body’s feedback
mechanism will cause you to steer directly toward an obstacle you’re staring at. As you see it
approaching and your panic increases, you will stare more intently, and home in even more
accurately.

Target fixation affects your riding in other ways too. You’re experiencing this problem if you
experience any of the following symptoms.

You keep hitting minor obstacles (sand patches, oil slicks, paper bags) that you were trying to
avoid.

You have to constantly correct your steering when riding through a curve, because you are
looking a short distance ahead and driving to that point, instead of looking all the way
through the curve.

You have trouble maintaining your balance in crowded slow-speed situations like parking
lots, because you’re looking at all the obstacles.

Solution?
You must develop a habit that counteracts target fixation: look where you want to go, not
where you don’t want to go. And, like many skills, you must practice this in good conditions,
in everyday riding, so it will be automatic in a crisis.

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 Develop the habit of considering your eyes
part of your steering system. Your first step in any steering manoeuvre, then, must be
to consciously look where you want the bike to go. Don’t look, for long, at things that
you don’t want to drive over. In a curve, look far ahead, around the curve, not at the next few
metres.

Practice obstacle avoidance using your eyes

too. Pick an approaching spot on the road, and avoid it by looking at the clear path beside it,
then letting your steering reaction follow naturally.

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 Finally, when you do find yourself faced with
an emergency involving an obstacle, you will be better prepared for the most critical
technique in collision avoidance: look at the path of safety, not at the obstacle.
A handy reminder phrase for this situation is, “Look where you go, go where you look.”

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Your shoes are not brake shoes
What’s the problem?
You will often see riders dragging their feet on the ground while moving at slow speed.
Sometimes this is to aid their balance as they decelerate, while sometimes they are actually
pressing their feet to the ground to help stop the bike. Both are bad habits that you should
break, or ensure you don’t form.

Dragging your feet can hurt your balance more than it helps; It should not help your bike stop
(your brakes are quite capable of doing that all by themselves.); It puts you at serious risk of
injuring your feet, ankles, or legs (think what will happen if your boot snags on a protrusion
in the pavement); It wears out your boots for no good reason; And it is often the symptom of
additional control problems.

Reasons
People seem to develop the foot-dragging habit for a variety of reasons. It may be a habit
carried over from dirt-riding experience (where it is a legitimate technique in quite different
circumstances) but it has no place on the road. Or, it may come from a misunderstanding of
the best way to correct some problem or concern. We hear reasons like these:

Equipment or Clothing Problems: I’m dragging my feet because I once caught my pant leg
on the footrest when I went to put my foot down, and I don’t want it to happen again.
Balance Problems: My bike gets really wobbly at slow speeds. Besides, it will fall over
when I stop, so of course I need my feet down.
Big Cruiser: I drag my feet because if my bike ever starts to tip, I will not be strong enough
to stop it, and I can’t afford to repair the plastic.
Braking Problems: I’m stopping with my feet because my brakes don’t stop me well
enough. If I press any harder on the rear brake my wheel locks. And my friend told me that if
I touch the front brake I’ll be thrown over the handlebars.

The solution
Dragging your feet while you stop is poor practice and dangerous. All of the problems listed
as reasons above have better solutions.

Equipment or Clothing Problems: If there is a problem with your clothing or equipment,

fix it. Don’t wear pants with frayed bottoms that can catch on pegs, or wear boots designed to
cover the bottoms of your pants. Wear boots that don’t use laces, or tuck your laces in so they
don’t dangle. And if there are protrusions or edges near your pegs that are catching you, get
them fixed.
Balance Problems: Rather than accepting poor balance and dragging your feet to
compensate, practice your balance skills. The two critical factors are to keep your body parts
close to the bike and still, and to keep your gaze up, toward the horizon.
If your legs and knees are extended away from the bike, your centre of gravity will be
shifting around as your legs move, making balancing much harder. Keep your knees pressed
against the side of the gas tank.

Most important, keep your eyes up, looking in the general direction you want to be going.
Looking at the controls or at the ground is the single greatest contributor to poor balance.

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Practice balanced slow-riding frequently and you will gain the confidence you need to keep
your feet on the pegs.

Start to put your feet down no earlier than during the last bike length of travel before you
stop. If you are using proper balance technique there’s plenty of time and your foot or feet
should be planted firmly as you touch the ground.

Big Cruiser: Worrying about your large bike tipping is valid. But putting your feet down just
before you stop tends to evolve into putting them down long before you stop. (Legs out will
make your balance worse, increasing your feeling of unsteadiness and encouraging earlier
dragging.) Also, catching your foot or ankle may become the most likely cause of a tip.
Braking Problems: If dragging your feet is contributing to your braking ability, you have a
serious problem with your braking technique and are eventually going to collide with
something.
Practice braking by always using both brakes, with more pressure on the front than on the
rear. Begin with gentle pressure on both brakes, then increase smoothly. Increase rear brake
pressure only slightly, but continue to squeeze more and more firmly on the front until you
are getting the braking force you need. (There is an upper limit to how hard you can squeeze
the front, or your front wheel will lock, which will usually cause a crash. Practice braking in a
safe place, with supervision; consider taking one of our courses for help.) Keep your feet on
the pegs and put them down only when the bike stops, not before.

As you’ll learn in rider training, about 90% of your braking effectiveness comes from your
front brake, so if you are using only your rear brake, you are taking about 10 times longer to
stop than necessary. If you take formal rider training courses, you’ll have ample coaching and
practice to hone your braking technique.

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Push on the side where you want to go
What’s the problem?
Most untrained riders (including many experienced ones) don’t understand how motorcycles
steer. Probably they just don’t think about the mechanics of steering at all. The problem is
that your intuition on how motorcycles steer is wrong. Above crawling speed, motorcycles
steer differently than cars and tricycles.

In every day driving you may be unconsciously correcting for incorrect steering, but not
having as much fun as you could. Worse, in an emergency situation you won’t have access to
the bike’s full ability to avoid a collision unless you are steering the motorcycle properly.

The ultimate symptom of this misunderstanding of motorcycle steering is that untrained

riders often steer right into obstacles that surprise them, rather than away from them.

Misconceptions
If you’ve been riding a motorcycle for long, you’re about to read something you will find
hard to believe. This isn’t mysticism, it’s physics, and it’s true. Try it and you’ll be pleasantly
surprised.

What steers the motorcycle?

What makes your motorcycle turn?

Don’t be embarrassed if you said “the handlebars,” although that is not correct. The
handlebars don’t make the bike turn. Leaning makes the bike turn. The handlebars make the
bike lean.

Why is that distinction important? Because,

when moving at speed, the bike leans away from the direction in which the handlebars are
turned.
Let’s take that one step at a time.

You probably won’t have any problem with the first concept. A motorcycle must lean to turn,
and it will turn in the direction of the lean. So, this rider is turning to the right, the way the
bike is leaning.

Here’s the step that may surprise you. Get on a motorcycle, move at a moderate speed, and
gently turn your bars slightly to the left without adjusting your balance. The motorcycle will

Page 47 of 109 
 
lean to the right. That’s what the rider in this picture is doing — turning the bars slightly to
the left. This is basic physics, although we’ll skip the vector algebra that explains it.

So that means. . . ?
Yes, turn the handlebars left, and the bike leans right, and then goes right. So the bike leans in
the opposite direction to the turn of the handlebars. Unless you fight it with your body
weight, it will turn in the direction it’s leaning — opposite to the handlebars.

Because the bike goes in the opposite direction from where the front wheel is pointing, most
motorcycle literature refers to this phenomenon as “countersteering.” However, that’s not the
best term for a novice rider, because you have enough on your mind while riding without
thinking in opposites. (“Ok, there’s a bus in my way, I need to turn right. But they said
countersteer, so that’s left. So I turn the bars left. But the opposite of left is right. But do I
have to reverse that? No, wait, . . .”)

So if we want to turn right, instead of saying

“turn the bars to the left” we say “push on the right bar.” That’s the same thing, but it’s easier
to remember and doesn’t involve unravelling opposites in your head. To go left, push on the
left bar. To go right, push on the right bar. For beginners, I think the term “push steering” is a
better reminder of what to do. Remember, “push” means pushing forward — rotating the bars
— not pushing down toward the ground.

Nonsense. I’ve been steering bikes for years.

Perhaps you have. But you haven’t been experiencing how quickly and accurately they can
turn.

Here’s what’s been happening when you approach a corner, planning to turn right, and
believing you should turn the handlebars to the right.

 I slow ‘way down ’cause cornering isn’t easy. I really don’t like corners.
 I start to turn the bars to the right. At the first slight movement of the bars, the bike
responds by starting to lean left. I interpret this, incorrectly, as problems with my balance,
berating myself. After enough scares, I probably form the habit of skipping this
unpleasant step — leaving the handlebars entirely alone, going straight to the body weight
lean below.
 (I think to myself, “#$^%#$: this bike doesn’t turn well. I wish I had one of those
expensive model such-and-such bikes — I’ve heard they handle really well.”)
 I adjust my body to the right, first to regain my balance, and then further, forcing the bike
to lean right with my body weight.
 Eventually, I get around the corner, and speed ‘way back up to my straight-line speed.
That wasn’t fun, but I got through it.
Page 48 of 109 
 
Here’s what you could be experiencing:

 Approaching the right turn, I slow to a safe cornering speed (but this will be faster than
what I was comfortable with before).
 At the point where I want the bike to begin turning, I push the right bar forward, smoothly
and firmly, just a little.
 The bike immediately drops into a controlled right lean and turns right precisely and
quickly.
 As I complete my turn, I push the left bar forward and accelerate, straightening the bike
out. I love corners, and am beaming happily.

Want More evidence? Look at a good head-on

photo of a rider executing a tight turn at high speed — photos covering motorcycle racing are
ideal. Look at the orientation of the front wheel in the photo to the right — you’ll find it is
turned away from the direction the bike is leaning, and that it is turned only a very small
amount. Countersteering requires only small inputs at speed.
Rider training courses have a variety of tricks to use that can help convince riders who are
having trouble believing in countersteering, but the best thing you can do for your riding is
try it to see that it works.

Mental practice

Steering, one of the most basic and critical

motorcycle techniques, needs to be completely automatic — you can’t be taking time to
consciously think about technique while moving. To help make countersteering automatic, do
not think about the direction the front tire or handlebars are turned — that is backward
thinking and will slow your reaction time. Think only about the direction in which the bike is
leaning.
When you push the right bar forward, the bike leans right. It’s easy to feel, mentally, that you
pushed the right side of the bike “toward the ground”. Push forward on the bar, and that side
Page 49 of 109 
 
of bike goes toward the ground. So, although you are pushing forward on the bar, mentally
think you are pushing the side of the bike toward the ground.
So, when I want to turn right, I push the right side of the bike toward the ground. When I
want to turn left, I push the left side of the bike toward the ground.

Physical practice

It’s important to understand this isn’t another way to steer a motorcycle, it is

the only way to steer a motorcycle. Some courses and books suggest countersteering is a
technique you use in emergencies. That’s incorrect — it’s a technique you use every time you
steer. Every time you turn, at speeds above a parking lot crawl, you should turn by pushing
the appropriate side of the bike into a lean.
You must practice this until it becomes completely automatic, so you don’t think about it, and
so trying to turn the “tricycle way” feels unnatural. Not only will your everyday turns be
more enjoyable, but should you face a sudden obstacle, your swerve reaction will be to push
on the side of the bike toward safety. If you revert to “tricycle steering” when an obstacle
surprises you, you will steer right into it.

If you take a rider training course, you will likely spend a lot of time practising proper turning
technique. One exercise I used to like to use when teaching was a simple slalom — a series of
3-4 consecutive S-curves, well away from obstacles and threats. I would have students try to
move through the entire path in one smooth motion, smoothly pushing one side of the bike
then the other into the required lean. I would tell them to “consider it one path, that happens
to be curved”, rather than a series of 4-5 turns to be executed. I would ask them to force
themselves to negotiate the curves by push-steering, not by leaning. A bystander might not
have been able to tell which technique they were using, but the student would know. And I
could tell when they “got it” because they’d return with a big smile on their face. It wasn’t
uncommon to have someone return from this exercise and say something like “holy shit!”.

Any new riding technique is best learned with supervision and expert coaching, so I highly
recommend you practise this technique by taking a professional rider training course.

What about slow speeds?

At very slow speeds (creeping into a parking space, slipping the clutch in 1st gear) the
amount of lean induced by the handlebars is not significant, and motorcycles steer like
tricycles. You’ll feel this naturally and combine slow-speed steering with keeping your
balance without having to think about it.
Page 50 of 109 
 
The critical point is that at any speed sufficient to balance comfortably, lean steers the bike
and countersteering induces the lean.

Why not just lean?

Why not just lean the bike with your body weight, instead of all this push-steering stuff?

You can, but forcing a heavy bike with a low centre of gravity to lean by moving your body
weight takes time and effort, while push steering will initiate the lean more quickly and with
less effort. And on any bike, moving your body weight around is a coarse, imprecise
technique. If you try to use weight shifting to swerve around an obstacle you will probably hit
it. Push steering is almost instantaneous and, with practice, will give you very precise control.

This is actually a controversial point. There is one prestigious track-instruction school that
teaches “body steering”, meaning leaning by shifting body weight, while another prestigious
school disagrees with this point (and teaches handlebar-induced countersteering) so strongly
that they have actually built a special motorcycle with non-functional handlebars, on which
they challenge believers in “that other theory” to try to steer it by shifting body weight.

Physics?
If you’re interested in the mechanics of what’s going on here, there are many excellent
articles on motorcycle steering on the Internet and in engineering manuals. There are 3 forces
at work, in combination: gyroscopic precession, camber-induced roll, and inertia.
All track images on this page were courtesy of Red Bull Yamaha racing, used with
permission.

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Start and stop your engine with FINE-C
Time marches on
I’m told that many rider training courses, including the one I used to teach with, no longer
teach the mnemonic device, FINE-C, that is the point of this article. That’s too bad. I found it
useful, and certainly continue to use it myself after decades of riding. I offer it here despite
the fact that it’s apparently no longer in the modern curriculum.

What’s the problem?

There are several steps involved in starting your bike’s engine and moving off. Forgetting
any one of them will either make starting difficult or cause you a problem a short distance
down the road. Another set of steps is important when shutting your bike down to park.

 Many bikes have a manual fuel shut-off. Forgetting to turn it off when parking can cause fuel to
leak out. Forgetting to turn it on when starting normally won’t prevent you starting, as there will
be some fuel in the line; but you will run out of fuel and stall a few minutes down the road —
usually at an inconvenient or unsafe time. Worse, if you pull into a gas station on the Reserve
setting and forget to turn it back to Regular, then you will have no reserve gas the next time your
bike runs low and stalls.
 Your Ignition key needs to be turned on to the correct setting to start, and completely off when
shutting down. Forgetting to turn it completely off will often leave your headlights running,
quickly killing your battery.
 To start your engine, you should have the bike in Neutral and the clutch pulled in. Some bikes
have safety switches so they will only start in this state, while others rely on you to remember.
Having the bike in this state minimises load on the starter motor and guarantees you will have no
surprise forward lurches when you key the starter.
 The Engine Kill Switch, usually a red toggle switch near your right thumb position, must be On.
On some bikes the starter motor won’t run without this switch in the proper position, while others
will crank happily but won’t let the engine start.
 Your Choke or Fast Idle control, if you have one, must be set properly to start a cold engine.
 Your Side Stand must be up. Most bikes won’t start with it down; some will start but won’t go
into gear. Some older bikes will do both, and you’ll crash the first time you try to turn left.

The solution
The solution to remembering any complex series of steps is to use a mnemonic — some kind
of easy to remember device that helps you recall the complex steps. You can use FINE-
C (pronounced Fine See) for starting and its reverse, C-ENIF (pronounced See Nif), for
stopping. When starting your bike, you should say “FINE-C” to yourself, then go through the
letters one at a time and perform the corresponding steps below.
F is for Fuel: Ensure it’s in the regular “on” position — not off and not on reserve. Read your
owner’s manual carefully to learn about these positions; on some bikes they don’t apply
because of some kind of automatic shutoff. Even on a bike whose fuel you don’t shut off, you
use this step to ensure it’s not still in Reserve, and to remind your muscles where the shutoff
is so you can find it by feel, while moving, should you need to switch to Reserve.
I is for Ignition: Ensure your main ignition key switch is in the correct On position.
N is for Neutral: Ensure your transmission is in neutral. Use the dashboard indicator light, if
you have one, as first check, but then roll the bike slightly to be absolutely sure. This means
you’re testing the correctness of the indicator light once a day as well as ensuring you’re in
Neutral.

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E is for Engine: Ensure your Engine Kill Switch is in the correct On position. See below for
why it would be off.
C is for Choke: Read your owner’s manual for details of when you should use the choke on
your bike. Generally you use it any time, and only, when starting a cold engine. Skip this step
if the engine is still warm from a recent run; develop a feel for when you need the choke.
When shutting down your bike, run through the above letters in Reverse order, and perform
the following steps.

C is for Choke: Hopefully the choke is off well before you stop. Now is a good time to make
sure, at least so you will know if you forgot to turn it off and can try harder to remember next
time.
E is for Engine: Note that, since the engine is running at this point, turning off the kill switch
now actually stops the engine, and this acts as a test of the kill switch. Better to find out now
that it has shorted and no longer kills the engine than when you have a stuck throttle and
really need it.
N is for Neutral: Put the bike in neutral now so you’re ready to start.
I is for Ignition: Ensure it’s fully off. (Not in the “parking” position some bikes have, which
leaves some of your lights on and will allow your battery to die.)
F is for Fuel: Ensure it’s off (if your bike requires it — read your manual). Leave it alone if
your instructions say you should. In any case, check it’s not still on Reserve from your last
fill-up.

Modern modifications
Many modern bikes don’t require some of the steps mentioned above, but the memory device
is so useful that riders have invented additional meanings for some of the letters so they still
apply.

F: If your bike has an automatic fuel shut-off you don’t need to manually move it. You
should still use F to remind you to check that you haven’t left it on the Reserve setting from
the last fill-up. If it has only a “low fuel warning light” you may have no contorl to adjust at
all. In addition, why not say F is for Foot, to remind you to put the side stand up and down?
C: If your bike uses Fuel Injection you don’t have a Choke to adjust. You may, however,
have a “fast idle” control that serves a similar purpose when starting. Call it a Choke so this
handy reminder still applies.
C: C also stands for Clutch, and many riders use the C in FINE-C to remind themselves to
pull the clutch in before starting, in addition to, or instead of, setting the choke.
 

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Page 53 of 109 
 
Do a spring skills refresh
What’s the problem?
Your routine, everyday riding skills get the most practice because you use them all the time,
while the special skills you need to deal with emergencies are seldom used and will fade.
Even your everyday riding skills will fade through a long period of disuse.

Spring is a particularly high-risk time for riding. Your basic riding skills will be weakened,
and your emergency skills will be seriously faded. At the same time, the drivers around you
will have become unaccustomed to motorcycles. “Fair-weather drivers” will be coming out of
winter storage. There will be a marked increase in distractions, such as pedestrians, to take
drivers’ attention away from you. And, finally, the roads will be dirty with sand and other
refuse, reducing traction.

Solution
After any prolonged absence from riding, and especially when you are ready to resume riding
in the spring, you should take the time to refresh and practice your skills under controlled
circumstances. Your practice should include both basic riding skills and those you will need
in an emergency situation.

If possible, you should do this refresh practice with someone else, not alone. A second person
can provide feedback on what you and your bike are doing. More important, they will be able
to assist you if you have a problem and are injured or your bike is damaged.

Many riders use the “experienced rider course” that is offered by their local motorcycle
training institute as their spring refresh. This gives you a thorough refresh of your skills, both
basic and emergency, under safe and supervised conditions.

If you choose not to take such a course, or you have none available, you should still try to do
a spring refresh in a safe location before you begin riding on the street. Below is a suggested
outline of a spring skills refresh.

Mechanical check
Start by replacing anything that you removed or unfastened for winter storage, then check for
mouse nests, squirrel nut caches, rust, and other deterioration that may have occurred over the
winter. Then perform a 10-minute mechanical check of the bike.
 Carefully check the condition of your tires. Check the tread depth and check all surfaces for
cracks and other signs of deterioration. If you have wire spokes, check that their tension is
uniform by running a metal object around in a circle and ensuring that you get a consistent note.
Ensure your tire pressures are correct.
 Check the operation of your brakes, the brake fluid level, and the wear indicators on the brake
pads or drum.
 Check your front forks for signs of fluid leakage and check that the plastic seals are in good
condition.
 Check that your chain is in good condition, and that the tension is appropriate. Lubricate it with
fresh chain lube.
 Check all the basic controls: handlebars, levers, switches, and pedals to ensure they operate and
are not broken or loose.
 Check all fluid levels: engine oil, brake fluid, clutch fluid, and coolant.
 Check all your signalling systems: headlights, brake lights, turn signals, and horn.
 Lubricate where your owner’s manual suggests.
Page 54 of 109 
 
Practice preparation
Choose a location where you can ride in safety, on good pavement, with low or no traffic. An
unused parking lot is ideal. Make sure you have the owner’s permission to ride on their
private property. Also make sure your license and insurance paperwork are up-to-date and
valid. Bring a friend, a first-aid kit, and some small soft objects for marking exercise layouts.
(Rider training courses generally use small orange traffic cones, but any small, visible objects
that won’t hurt your tires should you run over them will do. Tennis balls, cut in half to make
two bright yellow hemispheres each, are a good substitute. You should have a half-dozen or
more.)

Basic warm up
1. Review your FINE-C starting procedure and C-ENIF shutdown procedure. If you have a
mechanical fuel petcock, practice reaching it, without looking, while seated in riding position. Be
sure to use your kill switch to stop your engine so you are sure it works. Practice starting and
stopping the engine a couple of times, until it is warm. Once your engine is warm, double-check
the level of your engine oil.
2. Ride a couple of laps around your parking lot in a large and gentle rectangle, at a slow to
moderate speed. Use first and second gear and gently use both brakes to stop. Make no sudden
speed or direction changes yet.

Slow-speed practice
Slipping your clutch to ride at a very slow speed with good balance and control is excellent
practice and an important traffic skill.
1. Ride in a straight line at the slowest speed you can, keeping a constant moderate throttle and
controlling your speed by slipping the clutch (i.e. riding with the clutch only partially engaged).
Don’t look down. Keep your eyes up, toward the horizon, to maintain your balance.

2. Ride several laps of a large (10m) circle, in both directions, using

this same slow-speed technique. Gradually make the circle smaller to increase the level of
difficulty.
3. Place a line of markers 6-8 metres apart and ride a slalom around them, at very slow speed.
To maintain your balance, don’t look down.

Traffic skills
1. Lay out a simple corner with your markers and practice turning left and right, with proper
signals. Practice first without stopping. Then pretend there is a stop sign at the corner and practice
turns from a stop. Pay particular attention to staying within your lane when turning right from a
stop.
2. If you can find a small hill, practice your technique for starting on a hill.

Page 55 of 109 
 
Cornering skills
1. Review and practice countersteering technique. (Push the handlebars forward on the side in
the direction you want to turn. Push left to go left, push right to go right.) First, practice
countersteering with a single precise lane change, both directions. Then lay out your markers in a
straight line, 10 m apart, and consciously use countersteering to weave around them.
2. Use your markers to lay out a large, constant-radius curve, about 20 m in radius. Mark both
sides of a lane several meters wide. Practice riding through this curve at a moderate constant
speed. Try both constant lane position and an outside-inside-outside path. Next, practice changing
your speed while turning, both accelerating and decelerating while staying within your lane.
Finally, practice coming to a complete stop while turning.

Emergency techniques
1. Use your markers to lay out a small “obstacle” about 1 metre wide, or just identify a
convenient manhole cover or mark on the pavement. Approach this obstacle in a straight line and
at constant speed, then use countersteering to swerve around it. Warning: don’t brake while
swerving.
2. Next, practice braking in a straight line. Brake to a complete stop from a moderate speed then
gradually reduce your braking distance a little at a time. Use both brakes with most of the
pressure on the front. If your rear wheel locks, use less rear brake pressure. If your front wheel
locks you will crash, so stop increasing the pressure if you feel you are nearing the limit of the
front brake. You are reaching this limit if you feel a chattering sensation through the handlebars,
if you hear your front tire chirping, or if you feel, or an observer sees, that you are “bottoming
out” your front shock absorbers.
3. Carefully repeat this braking exercise inside the curve you marked out earlier. It is especially
important to avoid locking your wheels while turning, so work gradually and smoothly until you
are stopping comfortably. If you do happen to lock your rear wheel, ignore it until you are
stopped, or release the pressure very gently. If you suddenly release a locked rear wheel while
turning, you will probably crash.
4. If you can find a speed bump or other small rise in the road surface, practice your technique
for riding over an obstacle by lifting your weight slightly on the pegs and using a slight throttle
blip to unload the front shock absorbers just before hitting the obstacle.

Finishing up
Finish with another mechanical check, repeating the points listed above, to see if anything has
worked loose or leaked.

Carefully tidy up the area where you have been practising, making sure you leave it in a
condition at least as good as when you arrived. Pick up some of the litter that is lying around,
even if it isn’t yours. If possible, thank someone for the use of the space.

On the street
As you resume your street riding for the season, remain alert. Remember: you have taken the
time to refresh your riding skills, but those car drivers all around you have not. Until they are
used to your presence again, assume they can’t see you at all.
 

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Page 56 of 109 
 
Road paint is surprisingly slippery
What’s the problem?

Did you ever wonder what makes the white lines on the
highway so visible at night? A reflective material, usually fine glass dust, is mixed in with the
paint so that it reflects your headlights brightly. Unfortunately it’s often true that what makes
a material reflective also makes it slippery.
Painted road lines, especially fresh ones, are very slippery when wet. This can cause skids
when braking or turning, and can affect your stopping distance. If you put your foot down on
one when stopping, the lack of traction can catch you by surprise and cause you to lose your
balance, dropping your bike.

The solution
The solution to this problem is not complicated; just be aware it exists and take appropriate
precautions. Don’t let an accident be the first time you realise how slippery those lines are.

As with any hazard, you should not be caught by surprise by slippery lines. Look ahead, be
aware of what is approaching you on the road, and plan appropriate action. Consider road
paint (wet with rain) to be a slippery hazard, just like an oil slick. Avoid it where you safely
can, run straight over it where you must, and avoid hard braking or leans when making
contact.

When coming to a stop on a wet day, pay attention to where you put your feet, and avoid
putting them down on painted lines.

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Want a real test of skill? go slow
Going fast is easy.
Just about anyone can get on a bike and drive in a straight line at medium to high speed. At
high speed the wheels act as gyroscopes and the bike will stay up almost by itself.

The real test of a rider’s skill is their ability to manage their balance, steering, and braking.
These are much more challenging skills at slower speeds, and slow-speed practice is the best
way to improve them.

Your slow-speed riding skills need improvement if you regularly experience any of the
following symptoms:

 You lack confidence when riding slowly, especially when approaching traffic lights or stop signs.
You drag your feet along the ground while stopping, and are nervous about losing your balance.
 When the light turns green, you accelerate very quickly away from the intersection, to end the
slow-speed riding situation as quickly as possible.
 Slow-speed turns, such as at residential intersections, are a problem for you. You wobble, or turn
wide — sometimes right out of your lane. Tight turns in a restricted area such as a parking lot are
a particular problem.
 When you are forced, by gridlocked traffic, to ride slowly for an extended period, your ride
consists of short bursts of motion separated by stops with your feet down.

Slow-speed practice
Professional rider training institutes use slow-speed practice as part of their courses. In
“Experienced Riders Courses”, for example, many experienced riders who handle their bike
well at highway speeds are surprised how poorly they manage it at a walking pace.

But slow speed riding is more than a training exercise. In real world riding, in parking lots
and in gridlocked traffic, if you can’t control your bike at very slow speeds, you’ll be riding
with your feet dragging the ground. (This is an unsafe practice you must learn to avoid.)
Take advantage of slow-speed riding opportunities you encounter, in safe circumstances like
quiet parking lots. (Improve your technique before entering heavy traffic, not in heavy
traffic.) Practice riding your bike with control at a walking pace without dragging your feet.
Work your speed down as your skill builds. You’ll discover some critical techniques:
 Look into the distance, not at the ground. This is a critical technique. If you stare at the ground,
wheel, or handlebars, you will find balance nearly impossible. If you look at the horizon it is
much easier. Of course, you can’t ignore what is on the ground in front of you, but you don’t need
to stare at it. Take a quick glance at the road in front of you, then look farther ahead, using your
peripheral vision to keep track of your immediate area.
 To ride at slow speeds, ride with your clutch only partially engaged. This is called “slipping the
clutch,” and it is an important technique for controlling your motorcycle. You should learn where,
in the travel of your clutch lever, the bike just begins to creep forward, and practice riding with
the clutch held in that position. (If you drive a standard-transmission car, you may have been
lectured not to “ride the clutch”. This doesn’t apply to motorcycles; occasional slow-speed riding
with the clutch partially engaged is perfectly natural and will not harm the clutch.)
 Once you master slipping the clutch, practice controlling your speed with slight variations of your
clutch position, while holding the throttle constant. At very slow speeds, you should keep your
throttle position constant, and slightly higher than you normally would, and use small clutch
adjustments to adjust your speed. This allows you to make much finer and smoother adjustments
to your speed and will reduce surging and jerking.
 Keep your wrists and elbows low and shoulders relaxed.

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 Keep your knees tucked in against the bike. Many people have a tendency to have one knee flap
in the breeze, and this will affect your balance.
 Keep your feet on the pegs. If you have to put your feet down, you are trying for too slow a speed.
Speed up a bit, then work slower as your balance improves.
Observe other riders next time you are out in traffic. How well they balance at slow speed is a
true sign of their riding skill.

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Page 59 of 109 
 
Keep your wrist flat to avoid throttle
problems
What’s the problem?
Slight variations in how you position your wrists and arms can have a significant impact on
your safety and comfort while riding. In particular, untrained riders have a tendency to “Cock
their wrists,” riding with their wrists slightly bent, and the “Point” of their wrists higher than
the lines of their forearms. This seemingly minor point can have serious side effects on your
riding. You have a problem with your wrist position if you experience any of the following
symptoms:

 When you are accelerating, the bike sometimes feels like it is trying to run away with
you, accelerating harder than you had in mind.
 If you have to brake hard, such as in an emergency situation, you sometimes find yourself
stopped, with the clutch in, and the engine racing at high speed.
 You have trouble keeping a constant, smooth throttle while steering around corners.
 Your wrists and arms ache after relatively short journeys.

What are the causes?

If your bike sometimes feels like it is trying to run away while you are accelerating, you have
your wrist bent, and higher than the line of your forearm. It’s best to visualise this problem
while sitting on your bike, with the engine off. Hold the throttle with your right hand, and
cock your wrist so that it’s quite high above the throttle. Now imagine what happens when
you are accelerating. As the acceleration pushes you backward in your seat, the backward
pressure will straighten your wrist slightly, which forces you to roll on a more throttle,
against your will. This additional acceleration pushes you back still further, forcing you to
roll on even more throttle. The situation “feeds on itself” and can be quite frightening,
especially for new riders.

Thumb Too High when BrakingThis same incorrect wrist position causes the problem of a
racing engine after a hard braking manoeuvre. Again, sit on your bike with the engine
stopped. Hold the throttle with your right hand, with your wrist very high. Now, watch what
happens if you quickly grab the front brake lever and squeeze.

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Accidentally Adding GasChances are, as you applied pressure with your fingers, your thumb
rolled down the inside of the throttle grip, rolling it on while you were braking. You will end
up stopped, with the brakes firmly applied, and with the “Crotch” of your thumb and
forefinger firmly pressed against the throttle tube, holding it open. This throttle locking is a
common problem experienced by students first learning emergency braking in our courses.

A similar analysis may explain why you have trouble maintaining smooth throttle settings
while steering around corners. As you move the handlebars, you are unconsciously changing
the angle of your cocked wrist, changing your throttle setting.

Finally, incorrect wrist position is often associated with another error: leaning forward and
supporting your upper body weight on your wrists. This will give you sore wrists and sore
arms very quickly.

By the way, the photos above have exaggerated the wrist bend to help you see the problem.
But even a very slight bend, like this, can cause the problems we have been discussing.

By the way, the photos above have exaggerated the wrist bend to help you see the problem.
But even a very slight bend, like this, can cause the problems we have been discussing.

Solutions
The solution to all these problems is the same, and simple. Keep your wrists straight, in line
with your forearm, not cocked. Also, keep your arm bent slightly at the elbow, so your
forearm is roughly parallel with the ground. Small motions as the bike moves under you, and
as you corner, should be absorbed into your relaxed elbows, not transmitted into your wrists.
Don’t lean on your wrists to support your body weight. Instead, use your thigh and hip
muscles to hold yourself up.

With your wrist flat, you cannot accidentally role on more throttle while accelerating. You
will have to reach a little farther with your fingers to apply the front brakes, but you will be
less likely to roll the throttle on with your thumb. If your hands are so small, or your bike so
Page 61 of 109 
 
large, that you can’t reach your brake lever from a proper wrist position, check if your brake
lever position is adjustable (many are). If it isn’t, talk to your service establishment. There are
many ways to modify your front brake lever position, and this problem needs to be fixed.

Photos on this page show a bare hand so you can see the wrist position. Never ride a
motorcycle without gloves.
 

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Make those automatic traffic lights
change
What’s the problem?
Many traffic lights at intersections use vehicle sensors to control when the lights change. For
example, if there is no car waiting to turn from the left-turn lane, a sensor-controlled light
will bypass the left-turn cycle, allowing more through-traffic to proceed.

The sensors, however, can have trouble sensing motorcycles. When this happens, you might
find yourself sitting at a red light through entire cycles, with the signal you need to proceed
never appearing.

Solution

Sensor-controlled signals are activated when an induction loop buried in the asphalt senses a
vehicle’s magnetic field. (The mass of iron in the vehicle disturbs a small current in the loop
of wire in the pavement, and this is detected by circuitry.) Small vehicles such as bicycles and
motorcycles may not contain enough iron to trigger the sensor. Even a large motorcycle that
should have enough iron is smaller than a car might be stopped away from the sensor wires,
and go unnoticed by the sensor.

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Note the sensors detect ferrous metal disturbing the current in a wire; they are
not weight sensors. (Some riders who think the intersection is triggered by vehicle weight
assume the rectangle in the pavement is a “weigh scale” and that you should position yourself
in the centre of it. This is the wrong move, as it moves you further from the sensor wires.)
The solution is to be sure you stop your bike over the sensor wires. You can tell where they
are by looking for a hairline slit in the pavement, near the stop line, outlining a rectangle
about the size of a car.

If stopping over the wire doesn’t work, look for three yellow dots, each about 8 cm. in
diameter, positioned somewhere along the loop — usually on the right. These mark an extra-
sensitive portion of the loop, and are designed to detect bicycles. If you position your
motorcycle over those dots the sensor will almost certainly detect you.
There are also unconfirmed reports from some riders that varying your throttle speed (revving
your engine) while over the wires will make the sensor notice you. This is theoretically
possible, since revving your engine will vary its magnetic field; but we’re unaware of any
studies confirming it.

There are also unconfirmed reports that putting your side stand down on the loop will trigger
it. Again, this seems plausible, but we don’t recommend it because of the risk of forgetting to
put it up again.

If you find that the lights at an intersection still won’t change, even when you are positioned
correctly, you will need to wait until another car joins you to trigger the sensor, or until you
can safely change lanes and proceed in a direction that is working. You should then report the
intersection to the city’s Traffic Management Section and they will investigate and make
adjustments to the induction loop in the pavement.

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Have a foul-weather plan
What’s the problem?
Everyone prefers riding in dry, pleasant weather. Sometimes, however, you will have to ride
in foul weather. Even if your normal practice is to avoid setting out when the weather will be
bad, sooner or later circumstances will force you to do some riding in foul weather.

The solution: advance preparation

You should do some advance planning of how you will handle foul weather. Your approach
may range from avoidance to extreme preparation. To help you consider your options, here
are a range of approaches to foul-weather preparation.

No preparation. You may decide to be a fair-weather rider, and that’s OK. You don’t set out
if it’s raining or if rain is forecast, and if you get caught in the rain you will quickly seek
shelter or get wet and live with it.
If this is your strategy, you should make a habit of getting current weather forecasts. You
might want to invest in a small weather radio. If you have Internet access at home or at work,
check the Environment Canada forecast before you ride.

This is not a test of your toughness. You should not ride long distances while wet and
unprotected. You will experience hypothermia, which can get you killed.
Basic preparation. You avoid foul weather when you can, but accept an occasional need to
ride in the rain. You should have a lightweight poncho or rain suit stored somewhere in your
bike or in your tank bag, and stop to put it on if you are caught in the rain and are very far
from shelter. You don’t need to invest in an expensive motorcycle rain suit for this kind of
infrequent use. A lightweight sporting-goods rain poncho for occasional use will cost only a
few dollars. (Because of wind and your riding position, you will still get somewhat wet
wearing a suit not designed for riding, but it won’t be too bad.)
The occasional rain-rider has a problem with riding technique: riding on wet pavement is a
more difficult skill than riding on dry pavement, but you are not riding in the rain often
enough to develop true proficiency. You should make a point of occasionally riding in the
rain so that you are comfortable with the amount of traction your tires provide on wet
pavement. Reduce your traction demands by braking more gently, and by trying to keep your
bike more upright when turning. If possible, practice basic riding skills on a rainy day in a
safe location such as a parking lot.

Extreme preparation You ride all the time, rain or shine. For serious, all-whether riding, a
proper rain suit designed for motorcycling, or a waterproof riding suit, is an important
investment. You will also want waterproof gloves or waterproof rain covers for your existing
gloves, and waterproof boots. (Your existing leather boots and gloves can be waterproofed
with a suitable leather treatment.)
To maintain your ability to see, you may want an anti-fog treatment for your helmet’s visor,
and you’ll want to learn to clear the water from your visor while riding (by using an
extended, slightly curved, gloved finger as a squeegee).

Remember that other drivers’ vision is also impaired in the rain. Your riding suit and helmet
should be brightly coloured or reflective. You should ride with the assumption that other
drivers cannot see you, especially at night.

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Know when to quit
Even if you take pride in your ability to ride in any weather, you should know when to quit. If
it is raining so hard that you can’t see, then other drivers can’t see you either, and you are
highly likely to collide with something or be struck. If it’s raining so hard that deep water is
standing on the road, it will be extremely difficult for you to retain enough traction to remain
upright, especially when turning.

If a rain storm begins while you are riding, you will likely want to find temporary shelter
where you can don your rain gear. Remember that other drivers’ ability to see you is
impaired, so get well clear of the road. Taking shelter under a highway overpass is a bad idea.

Finally, if you are caught in snow, hail, or ice, get off the road immediately and wait it out.
You cannot control a two-wheeled vehicle on a frictionless surface. When the threat passes,
ride carefully back to shelter. Remember that snow or ice will remain in shaded or sheltered
parts of the road long after the open road is clear.

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Practise your mental technique when not
riding
What’s the problem?
In our climate, we must spend a lot of time not riding. Aside from missing an activity we
love, there is a more serious problem: riding requires a great deal of mental and physical skill,
and these skills will fade through lack of use. When you do get a chance to resume riding
again in the spring, critical skills such as identifying hazards, picking the right path, and
controlling your bike, will be weak. This increases your risk, especially considering that other
drivers will also be out of practice in noticing and avoiding motorcycles.

Solution
There is not much you can do to keep your physical skills honed during the winter months,
other than staying generally healthy, and deliberately practising your skills in a controlled
environment when you are ready to begin riding again in the spring.

However, riding well also involves mental skills such as choosing an the best lane position,
picking the best path through curves, identifying potential threats, and planning emergency
responses. It is quite possible to practice these skills even when you are not on your bike.
When you are travelling by car, or even walking, deliberately practice the same mental skills
such you would use on your bike. Not only will this help keep these skills fresh for spring, it
will make you a better and safer driver or pedestrian.

For example, threat identification and response planning are important skills for any mode of
transportation, but we sometimes rely on them less inside the safer confines of a car. Driving
your car around town, remember your scanning technique and force yourself to do the same
scanning for potential hazards that you would do on your bike. Watch for hazardous
situations, dangerous intersections, uncertain road conditions, and erratic drivers, and ask
yourself “How would I react to this situation on my bike?”

When driving a car, you can also visualize the path you would take a through a curve on your
bike. (Don’t try to follow this same path in your car! It won’t fit. ) You can also use the same
strategy for selecting the best lane that you would use on your bike, and think about the
position in your lane you would choose for any given situation. (Again, don’t try to vary your
in-lane position in a car the same way you would do on your bike, just imagine it. )

Finally, driving a car is a good place to practice another critical riding technique: shoulder-
checking. On your bike, there is no such thing as “too much shoulder-checking”. You should
do it not only before changing lanes, but before any turning manoeuvre, before moving off
from a stop, and, most important, immediately after stopping. There is no reason you cannot
shoulder-check at all these times when driving your car, and it is an excellent reinforcement
of an important habit.

Practice your bike-riding mental technique while driving your car all winter. It will help you
pass the time away from your bike, it will help you be more alert when you resume riding in
the spring, and it will make you a better car driver too.

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Optimise your lane position when
stopping
What’s the problem?
A common theme in rider training is that your motorcycle is most manoeuvrable, and safest,
when it is moving. It’s a fact of riding life, however, that you and your bike will occasionally
be required to stop. A motorcycle is a relatively small vehicle and when you bring it to a stop
(e.g. at a stop sign) you have some choices about precisely where you stop it in the laneway.

Many riders give this little or no thought. They simply bring their bike to a stop wherever it
happens to be. Worse, they may be consciously making bad decisions about the best place to
stop their bike. In either case, they are missing opportunities to position their bike for
maximum safety while stopped, and for maximum safety and convenience when moving off.

This is especially true when stopping before a right turn at a stop sign or red light.

Solution
When bringing your bike to a stop you should consciously choose your stopping position
after considering road conditions, the environment around you, and what you will be doing
next. The best stopping position will vary with circumstances.

Probably the most important factor is what you will be doing next, after you move off from
the stop. Your options are:

Turning left or proceeding straight. You should stop your bike where it commands your
lane position to discourage traffic behind you from trying to squeeze past, especially if they
think you are turning.
Turning right. Again, you should stop your bike where it commands your lane position.
Furthermore, since right turns are sharper, and, therefore, inherently more difficult, you
should stop your bike in a position from which it will be as easy as possible to execute the
turn. (More on this below. )
Parking. If you stop your bike to park and leave it, you should consider its safety
and visibility while parked, and how easily you will be able to move off when you return.
These were the topics of the other tips-of-the-week.

Stopping before turning right

As a detailed example, let’s analyse a case with which many riders have difficulty: turning
right from a stop. Because we drive on the right, right turns are always of smaller radius
(“sharper”) than left turns at the same intersection. Many riders have trouble controlling their
bikes and maintaining their lane position while executing this basic manoeuvre.

Do you find right turns from a stop difficult? Aside from practising slow-speed balance, you
might benefit from improving your lane position when stopping.

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 We often see riders stop their bike close to the
right curb when planning to turn right. Under normal road conditions, this is the worst
possible choice for several reasons.

 Every bike has a minimum turn radius in

which you can maintain balance and control. Stopping by the right curb prevents you from
starting your turn until you have cleared the curb, and extends the turn radius close to, or even
beyond, the inside edge of the lane you will be entering. In other words, you are making it as
difficult as possible to stay in your lane while turning.
 Hugging the right curb reduces your visibility to following traffic by visually placing you close to
roadside objects.
 Stopping at the right curb sends a mixed message to the driver behind you. “Is that bike turning or
stopping there? His signal is on but that could mean he’s pulling over too.”
 Hugging the right curb, by failing to command lane position, invites following drivers to squeeze
into the space to your left.

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 The first improvement, then, is to stop away
from the right curb. Choose a position around the centre or left third of the lane. You want to
be as far left as possible without inviting following drivers to try to squeeze past you on the
right.
In addition to commanding your lane position, this allows more room for your turning radius
to remain safely in your lane by allowing you to start your turn sooner.

Finally, when conditions permit, another

improvement is possible: Stop away from the right curb, as above, and with your
bike already pointing somewhat to the right. This has several advantages.

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 By “pre-starting” your turn,
 it allows you to use a larger turn radius, making your turn easier while increasing the clearance
you have to stay within your lane.
 It increases the apparent width of your bike as seen by traffic approaching from behind, increasing
the chance that they will see you, making it more obvious what you plan to do next, and reducing
the chance they will try to squeeze past you .
 It also exposes more of your rear, and therefore your brake light, to traffic approaching from the
left. This will be the “following traffic” as soon as you make your turn, so increasing your
visibility to them is also a benefit.

Adjust for conditions

These are guidelines only. Many other factors may dictate a better stopping position. The
point is to consciously select a position rather than just letting it happen. Here are a few
examples of circumstances that may prompt you to select a difference stopping position:

Surface conditions. If you see a slippery spot, you will want to ensure that neither your tires
nor your supporting foot are on it when stopped.
Dips. If you see that the road surface is uneven, you will want to stop where you can still
reach the ground. If there is a slight dip in the road surface, make sure this doesn’t place the
ground out of reach of your supporting foot.
Visibility. Drivers approaching you from behind are seeing you against the background of
whatever is in front of you. Make sure you are not invisible against a background that is
cluttered or coloured similarly to the rear view of your bike.

Summary
This isn’t as complicated as this article has made it all sound. Just think, as you are coming to
a stop, about where you would like to be to make your next move as easy and safe as
possible. Don’t rely on chance.

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Check your tire pressure, at least weekly
Tire pressure is critical
Your tires are a critical part of your motorcycle’s suspension, and the most important
component of your traction. If you think about it, your bike is actually touching the earth only
at the “contact patches” — the two spots where your front and rear tires touch the ground —
at most a couple of dozen square centimetres.

Tire design assumes a fairly narrow range of inflation pressure for proper response. Tire
pressure changes with use, age, and temperature. (And, of course, leaks.) If your tire pressure
is so important, and can change so easily, it’s critical that you check it regularly. If you do no
other mechanical work on your bike, you should check your tire pressure (and your oil)
frequently.

Incorrect tire pressure reduces traction and

stability. This will affect your cornering ability and reduce your ability to brake to a stop in a
short distance. Incorrectly inflated tires will wear out more quickly and are much more likely
to develop a leak, or even a blow-out, endangering you while riding. Although you shouldn’t,
you can drive a car with improper tire pressures and not notice (How many times have you
seen someone, possibly yourself, who didn’t know they had a flat until someone told them?),
while on a motorcycle it will cause serious problems
Service managers tell us that a surprisingly large number of riders bring them bikes with tire
pressures far below the correct value, and obviously never check it. This is a safety hazard
and causes them to put much more money into replacement tires than is necessary.

Keeping it correct

Get a good quality tire pressure gauge. Make this the only tool you
buy if you’re not interested in mechanics. Take good care of your gauge — don’t have it
clanging around loose in your trunk.
Form the habit of checking your pressure at least weekly, and before any long ride. Check the
pressure when the tires are cold; e.g. first thing in the morning, not at the end of a ride. Check
it every morning during a multi-day motorcycle tour. The correct pressure will be specified in
your owner’s manual or by the tire manufacturer. Two important notes on the correct
pressure for your tires:

 Unlike cars, most bikes require different pressures in the front and rear tires — less in the
front. Don’t be fooled by reading the recommended pressure for one tire and then setting
them both to that value.
 Get the pressure specification from your owners’ manual, or from the tire manufacturer
for non-stock tires. The pressures stamped on your tires’ sidewalls may be the maximum

Page 72 of 109 
 
 safe pressure rather than the recommended pressure, depending on the brand. Don’t
assume it’s the recommended pressure.

There’s no point in checking the pressure unless

you are able to adjust it. A gas station air pump will work fine, but there is a risk that you
won’t bother with the stop for a minor correction. On the other hand, a simple bicycle pump
is quite sufficient to correct a small error in pressure, so you might consider having one on
hand. Highly portable bicycle pumps that will fit in your touring bag are not expensive.

Space is cramped around the valve on many motorcycle tires. Make sure you can
actually fit your gauge and your air pump hose over the valve before you need to use them.
For example, the air hoses with long brass filler nozzles, like the one to the left, that are
common in many large truck stops won’t fit in the available space in some motorcycle
wheels. Better to find this out before you are desperately seeking air.
If you make any major changes to the load on your bike (e.g. riding with gear and a passenger
when you normally do not) you may need to adjust your tire pressure, increasing it slightly.
Consult your owners’ manual. As a rule of thumb, if the owners’ manual does not give
directions, the hot pressure (after riding for 30 minutes) should only be 10% greater than the
cold pressure. More than that and you are probably under-inflated, less than that and you may
be over-inflated.

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Improve your cornering with lane
position
What’s the problem?

Many riders, including experienced ones, have problems with

corners. They may enter too fast (often trying to “keep up” with another rider) and have to
brake; they may run out of their lane, onto the shoulder or into the oncoming lane; or they
may have problems when encountering obstacles or road conditions that were hidden by the
curve.
These problems result in not enjoying corners — slowing more than is necessary,
straightening up the bike rather than allowing it to lean, or avoiding cornering altogether by
picking a route with fewer turns. Worse, riders may ignore their cornering difficulties and
take unnecessary risks while cornering, resulting in crashes. (The Hurt Report lists cornering
errors as the typical error resulting in two-thirds of the single-vehicle accidents studied.)

You have a problem with your cornering technique if you experience any of the following
symptoms:

 You often feel surprised by the “shape” of a curve. It turns out

to be sharper, or less sharp, than you expected, causing you to run out of your intended path.
 You often find yourself going too fast for the curve, and have to apply the brakes while turning.
This causes the bike to stand up and your path to straighten out, sometimes taking you out of your
lane.
 You often lose your intended path in curves. In the extreme case, you run out of your lane, either
onto the shoulder or into the oncoming lane.
 You are often surprised by the appearance of an obstacle in a curve. (Something on the road, or an
oncoming car drifting into your lane.) Oncoming cars sometimes startle and upset you, even if
they are staying in their own lane.
 You lack confidence in curves. You’re nervous leaning the bike, and you avoid curves when you
can. When you can’t avoid curves, you slow ‘way down, shift your weight around, and over-steer
to get through them.
You can manage these symptoms and fears by improving your cornering technique.
However, you can’t entirely eliminate them. Cornering is inherently challenging, much more
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so than riding in a straight line. That’s why, done properly, it’s so much fun. Let’s summarize
what makes cornering challenging:

Loss of traction: When turning, there are sideways forces acting on your tires. Sufficient
speed combined with sufficient lean can overcome the tires’ traction, causing them to slide.
Loss of path: Drifting out of your lane, either onto the shoulder or into the other lane, is a
real possibility, usually caused by incorrect braking, incorrect steering, or selection of an
inappropriate path through the curve.
Loss of visibility: Many corners obscure what’s on the road ahead. This can allow unseen
obstacles to catch you by surprise.

The solution
The good news is you can learn to improve your cornering by practising some
straightforward techniques. The many “race schools” or “high-performance riding schools”
(most of which are excellent, and are worth taking even for ordinary street riders) are
basically cornering schools. Here’s what they teach (omitting some advanced techniques
applicable only to the race track).

There are four critical techniques for proper cornering. (Some are the subject of other weekly
tips.)

Setting Entry Speed: It’s essential that you establish the correct speed before you enter the
corner. This usually means slowing, and it’s important that you use good braking
technique and that you do your braking before the corner, while the bike is still upright and
moving in a straight line.
Eye Position: Your bike will go where you are looking. As you enter the corner, you should
be looking ahead, through the corner and well down the road.
Countersteering: Motorcycles must lean to turn, and countersteering is the most efficient
and accurate way to initiate and control it.
Path Selection: the subject of the rest of this tip.

Path selection

Motorcycles, being much narrower than cars, can take many

possible paths through a curve. The path you select is important to controlling many aspects
of cornering technique.
The correct path varies with the situation, so we can’t prescribe a simple and guaranteed
approach. Instead, you need to develop certain habits and make decisions about what is
appropriate as you ride. Let’s look at various options for your path through a curve.

Constant lane positions

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If you’re like most riders, you probably place your bike in a certain lane position (e.g. the
middle, or the left third) and stay in that position as your bike traces around a curve. This may
not be the best option. If you’re in that position because it’s the best place to be under the
circumstances, fine. But if you’re in that position because that is where you always ride, no
matter what, then you are probably putting yourself at risk, on occasion, by not adjusting to
circumstances.

There is no single lane position that is always best for ensuring you have good visibility
through the curve and for avoiding obstacles. And, in a changing-radius curve, trying to hold
a fixed lane position means that you require constant correction of your steering inputs (i.e.
you will be constantly increasing or decreasing the pressure on the handlebars). This can be
tiring, and leads to errors.

Let’s analyse three possible constant lane positions in more detail.

Left Third of the Lane: If you always ride in the left third of
the lane, even in curves, you probably developed the habit from a safety manual advising that
as the best position. It is, on straight roads, and assuming the road conditions warrant it. But
curves are more complicated.
Staying at the left of your lane makes right turns as easy as possible. Since the radius of the
turn is increased, you have to lean less. However, left turns become as hard as possible, since
you have made the turn radius as small as possible. In effect, you have made the turn
“sharper”.

For similar reasons, being in the left part of the lane maximizes the distance you can see
around the corner when you are turning right, which is excellent. However, it minimizes the
distance you can see when turning left.

Finally, being in the left part of the lane puts you closest to
oncoming traffic. This is not a big problem on straight roads, but think how many times you
have seen a car or bike drift into the oncoming lane in a curve. Do you want to be occupying
that space?

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 Right Third of the Lane: Should you react to the problems
above by moving to the other side? Sometimes. The right part of the lane makes left turns
easy, and increases visibility when turning left. However, right turns become harder, and
visibility is reduced when turning right. You are farther from approaching traffic, but closer
to bicycles, debris, and animals that may be along the edge of the road.
Middle of Lane: The middle of the lane is a compromise. The problems listed above aren’t
as bad, but the advantages aren’t as good either.

Varying lane positions

Isn’t there some way to get the advantages of the above lane positions while avoiding the
disadvantages? Yes, there often is: change your lane position at strategic points in the curve.

If you look back at the analysis and diagrams above, you’ll see some common themes. The
advantage in turning radius and visibility turns out to be when you are on the “outside” of the
curve at entry — on the left for a right turn and on the right for a left turn. This observation
and others have lead motorcyclists to develop more advanced paths (“lines”) through curves.
The technique was initiated by racers, and modified for street riding.

Racing line
Closed-circuit racetracks offer ideal conditions for riding through curves: no oncoming
traffic, guaranteed road conditions, and a wide lane. Under these conditions, racers have
developed a curve path that optimizes visibility, traction, and ability to accelerate out of the
curve.

1. They reduce their speed before the curve, braking while the bike is still upright.
2. They then enter the curve at the extreme outside edge, to maximize visibility and turn radius.
3. Then they turn slightly more sharply than the curve demands, cutting across the lane to be at
the inside edge at the apex (mid point). This allows them to begin accelerating at the apex. The
acceleration will help to stand the bike up and push it outward, so they exit the curve at the
extreme outside edge.

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This is called an “Outside-Inside-Outside” path, or a “racing line.” Watch racing on
television and you will see every rider following it. We explain it here to introduce you to the
idea, but it is not quite the best option on the street.

Safe line
The racing line above takes advantage of the special conditions of a racetrack: no oncoming
traffic and guaranteed clean road conditions. Neither of these conditions is a safe bet on the
street. The biggest shortcoming is that it has you near the inside edge of the curve (where
there is debris or a shoulder) at the apex, exactly where obstacles often creep into your lane.

The safe line for street riding is improved by “delaying the apex” — imagining the apex of
the curve is somewhat farther into the curve than it really is. How much farther is something
you’ll feel through experience, but we mean 10-20%, not 50%.

The safe line means you will be somewhat deeper into the curve before you begin your turn.
This has several advantages:

 It extends your visibility through the curve even more.

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 The point where you begin turning (leaning) was visible when you entered the curve, so you will
have time to change your plans if the road conditions are poor at that point.
 The point at which you get closest to the oncoming lane is nearer the entrance (in a right turn) or
exit (in a left), moving you away from the midpoint, where oncoming traffic is most likely to drift
into your lane.
All of this, of course, assumes you have the bike under control, have slowed to an appropriate
speed before entering the curve, and are adjusting to any special conditions (like weather,
traffic, cows, and road conditions.)

Putting it all together

Again, assuming ideal conditions, and that you will adjust for whatever is really happening,
here is the suggested turning sequence for cornering in the real world:

1. Slow to a safe cornering speed before you enter the turn, braking while the bike is still
upright.
2. Enter the curve near the outside (but staying within your lane).
3. Look downstream. Find or imagine a spot slightly beyond the apex. Look there, then beyond.
4. Countersteer to initiate the lean and turn.
5. Follow a smooth path to a point near the inside of the lane, somewhat past the apex.
6. Using a combination of gentle acceleration and gentle steering input, allow the bike to drift
back to the outside of the lane as you ride out through the corner’s exit.
7. Remain constantly alert, adjusting for road conditions, traffic, weather, etc.
Experiment with this technique gently and slowly, somewhere where you know the road
conditions to be good and traffic to be light. Your objectives are to see farther through the
curve, and to be and feel more in control of your speed and turning at all times.

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Your gear shift is for managing your
engine speed
What’s the problem?
Beginning riders often ask, “How do I know what gear I’m in?” (Many motorcycles do not
have a visual indicator showing what gear is currently selected.)

The solution
There’s a clever answer.

“You don’t need to know what gear you’re in. You need to know you’re in the right gear.”
This is an important concept and we discuss it in detail below. It is, however, useful to know
when you are in first gear and when you are in your top gear.

First and last gear

It’s useful to know you are in first gear so you don’t try to downshift anymore, and so you are
sure you are ready to pull away from a stop. Since you will seldom be asking yourself
whether you are in first gear except when you are stopped or stopping, the way to be sure is
simply to downshift a few more times than are necessary. For example, if you are about to
stop, have the clutch pulled in, and are not sure what gear you are in, downshift one or two
times more than are probably necessary. Then you will be certain you’re in first gear. You
won’t hurt anything by gently downshifting even if you are already in first gear.

It’s also useful to know when you are in top gear (fourth, fifth, or sixth, depending on your
bike). This will prevent you trying to shift up when you are already in your maximum gear.
Trying to upshift when you are already at your maximum causes an unnecessary lurch as you
engage the clutch and adjust your throttle speed for a gear change that never comes, and
might bruise your toe. To help you know when you are in top gear, you should memorise the
RPM reading that shows on your tachometer when you are in top gear and travelling at your
favourite speed. For example, it might be “5000 RPM at 100 km/hour.” This won’t help you
know if you are in top gear at other speeds, but you will usually be asking yourself this while
travelling at your favourite cruising speed.

Other gears
Aside from the conditions described above, it really doesn’t matter what gear you are in, in
the sense of it being “#3” or “#4.” What matters is that you are in the correct gear for the
speed you are going. In other words, you have the engine operating in the power band.

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 The “power band” refers to the range of
engine speeds in which the engine produces power efficiently. The range varies from bike to
bike, generally being higher for smaller engines. On most modern bikes, only the lower end
of this range is important, as they produce power efficiently from that speed right up to the
red line. The power band can start quite low, like around 3000 RPM, on big-engined bikes, or
even lower on big cruisers. On small and mid-sized four-cylinder bikes, especially modern
sport bikes, the power band is often much higher. These bikes can produce usable power
from around 4000 RPM, but there is a major increase in power at higher revs — around 8000
or so.
You’ll learn where the power band is on your bike by feel. You will note that, if you role on
the throttle in a given gear and let the engine speed increase, there will be a point on the
tachometer at which the acceleration of the bike increases dramatically. That is the beginning
of your power band.

So, your concern with gear selection should be to keep the engine revs in an appropriate
range for the circumstances. If there is any chance you’ll need to accelerate quickly, or if you
need extra power (e.g. for climbing a hill) you should have the revs well into the power band.
If you are cruising at constant speed on a clear highway with no threats nearby, you might
like to have the revs at the bottom edge of the power band, or even slightly below it, to
reduce vibration, conserve fuel, and avoid annoying your neighbours with a screaming
engine.

Think of your gear selector as the control you use to manage your engine speed, not
your ground speed.
Occasionally, you will find yourself needing extra power when your engine speed is too low.
For example, this can happen if your speed has drifted downward and you wish to pull out to
pass a vehicle you have overtaken. Under these conditions, if you simply roll on the throttle,
the engine will respond very slowly. Instead, you should downshift to put the revs back in the
power band, then roll on the throttle. Much stronger acceleration will result.

(This technique really applies only to smaller-engined bikes with high power bands. Large-
displacement bikes can produce adequate power even from very low revs.)

So, don’t worry about what gear you’re in. Worry about whether you are in the right gear.

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Have a breakdown plan
What’s the problem?
Any vehicle can have a breakdown on the road: it can run out of fuel, have mechanical or
electrical failure, have a flat tire, or experience engine problems. Breakdowns on the road are
more serious on a bike than on a car.

A car with one flat tire can still be driven to safety. A motorcycle with one flat tire cannot.
Furthermore, most cars carry spare tires, while motorcycles do not.

Cars provide shelter and protection, and are a safe place to await help after a breakdown.
Motorcycles offer little protection, and leave their riders exposed to weather and traffic while
awaiting help.

So, while many car drivers give no advance thought to breakdowns, they are still able to
easily recover from problems on the road. With a motorcycle, however, you should think
through your specific riding circumstances and consider what you’ll do if you encounter
problems on the road.

Breakdown plans
On long-distance rides, planning what problems you might encounter and what remedies you
can take with you is part of the fun and challenge. For city commuting, you’ll want to stick to
basics. Your plan will depend on the kind of riding you do, and might include some
combination of the following options:

Do nothing. I just commute a few kilometres in this city, and I’m never more than a block or
two from help. I ride for fun and I’m not prepared to make an issue of this. If I have a
problem I’ll just walk.
Carry money. Touring riders have a saying, “Carry half as much clothing and twice as much
money as you think you’ll need.”
Carry a cellular phone. I’m not far from help and I’ll just call if I need assistance. (Note:
Who will you call, and how will they help you?)
Subscribe to a roadside assistance service. Services like CAA-Plus will supply roadside
assistance to motorcycles. You’ll need a cellular phone with you to call them.
Do roadside repairs. Most bikes come with a basic tool kit suitable for minor roadside
repairs. You need the mechanical knowledge and skills to use it, and the side of the highway
is not a good place to learn. If this is your chosen option, open your tool kit at home and
satisfy yourself that you have what you need and know how to use it. Many mechanically-
oriented riders will upgrade the tool kits in their bike or add specialty tools.
Carry a tire repair kit. Compact kits to plug and re-inflate tires are available to fit under your
seat or in your storage compartment. They will fix punctures and minor leaks, but not major
tire failures. (These are not permanent repairs — you use them to enable yourself to ride to
help.)
Carry a first-aid kit. In the city, this may be unnecessary, but on back roads you may need to
treat an injury before help arrives.
Carry survival gear. If you are touring in the back country, staying alive until help arrives
may be a real concern. Your emergency kit might include water, matches, a poncho, a
flashlight, a knife, and so on.

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Carry spare parts. On long-distance rides, you may wish to have spares with you for those
things likely to need them. Common items to carry include oil, chain lubricant, light bulbs,
wire, and cables (for clutch or throttle).

Adjust for circumstances

Any time you ride outside your normal routine, adjust your breakdown plan accordingly. For
example, if you choose the “No plan needed; I’m in the city” option, you may wish to
temporarily adopt a different approach before you make a cross country trip. Likewise, if
your bike is filled to capacity with tools, spare parts, and survival gear, you should probably
lighten your load before using it for your daily one-kilometre commute to your office.

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Use your brake to start on a hill
What’s the problem?
Many riders dread having to stop their bikes when facing uphill, especially at traffic lights.
They know that, when the light turns green, they will be under pressure to move off. Yet, as a
vehicle with a standard transmission, a bike is hard to control under these circumstances.
When you pull in the clutch to shift, or let the brake off to begin moving, the bike wants to
roll backward. This makes smoothly engaging the clutch difficult, and is a particular problem
if another driver is stopped inches from your rear.

Solution
Starting your bike while facing uphill is not difficult once you practice a special technique. In
fact, we’ll review two different techniques you can use in these circumstances. One, generally
preferred, is easier to use and safer, but may not work for certain combinations of bikes &
riders. The second will always work, but is harder to learn.

Solution 1: rear brake

The solution I recommend for most riders is to use your rear brake to hold the bike against
rolling while operating the clutch and throttle. Assuming you are sitting, stopped on a hill,
with the bike in neutral and the brake on, the sequence to get moving is as follows:

1. Pull in the clutch and shift into first gear.

2. Press the rear brake pedal with your right foot. This allows
you to release the front brake lever.
3. Slightly increase the throttle and let the clutch out slowly, until you feel the friction
point where the engine begins to engage. Pause at the friction point.
4. Add a little more gas than you would normally use for starting from a level stop. You
should feel the bike straining to move forward, but being held in position by the rear
brake.
5. Gently lift your foot off the rear brake, while rolling on some more gas and releasing
the clutch smoothly. As you release the rear brake, the bike will move off without rolling
backward.
This technique is easy to learn and is the recommended method. However, it may be hard to
use on cruisers with feet-forward controls, or if your bike is too big for you to the point where
you need both feet to maintain your balance when stopped. In these cases, you can try the
second technique, below.

Solution 2: front brake

The second technique, which will work for any bike, involves using the front brake and
throttle at the same time. This technique requires considerably more practice to execute
smoothly and safely. Because of the possibility of confusion, and of forming bad habits, I
don’t recommend this technique unless #1 won’t work for you. Here is the sequence:

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 1. Keep your feet on the ground.

2. Learn to operate the front brake and throttle at the same

time. Your first and second fingers can reach forward for the brake lever, while your third
and fourth fingers wrap around and hold the throttle grip. By carefully rotating your hand
at the wrist, you can change the throttle setting without releasing the brake.
3. With the front brake held on by two fingers, pull in the clutch and shift into first gear.
4. Let the clutch out to the friction point.
5. Without releasing the front brake, roll on some more gas so you feel the engine trying
to move the bike forward, but being held in place by the front brake.
6. Smoothly release the front brake, add some gas, and slowly release the clutch, all at
the same time. The bike will move off without rolling backward.
The danger with this technique is that you will fall into the habit of using the front brake with
the throttle still open while stopping, especially in hard emergency stop situations. Don’t let
this habit develop. This technique is also harder than the rear-brake technique on very steep
hills.

Recommendation
Try the foot-brake technique, and give it a good chance before you decide that it won’t work
for you. Try the hand technique later after your confidence and clutch smoothness have
developed, or sooner if the foot technique will not work for you.

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Don’t let gusty side winds surprise you
What’s the problem?
You will often find yourself riding on windy days, and the wind may come from any
direction: in front, behind, or from the side. Front and rear winds will have little noticeable
effect on your ride. However, side winds will cause your bike to lean (actually you will cause
your bike to lean, unconsciously, to counter the sideways force of the wind).
Even side winds are no problem as long as they are steady. Sudden changes in a side wind,
however, such as sudden gusts or sudden calms, can be a problem. When a side wind
suddenly increases or decreases, the lean angle of your bike suddenly becomes wrong. This
can cause balance problems, especially if you have unconsciously shifted your body weight
into the wind. Worse, it can cause an unintended turn, which may take you out of your lane,
into the oncoming lane, or off the road. The sudden change may startle you, causing you to
swerve or to brake suddenly, and this may cause a loss of traction, especially in the rain often
associated with gusty wind.

Solution

The solution to these problems is simple: don’t be caught by

surprise by sudden changes in the wind.
As you scan the road ahead for hazards, watch for direct and indirect signs of a rapidly-
changing side wind. Direct signs are the obvious ones: blowing leaves, dust, and bent trees
indicating a strong wind, or the lack of these signs indicating an area of calm.

More often, you can spot indirect signs if you are alert. Scanning the side of the road, watch
for geographic changes, such as groves of trees that may suddenly block the wind, or open
fields that may suddenly allow it through.

Watch for man-made changes in the landscape too.

Driving under a highway overpass or passing a large truck will put you in a sudden calm
followed by a sudden wind gust. In open land, a large curve in the road will change a front or
rear wind to a side wind and vice versa.

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Riding is an active activity. You already know that you should be constantly scanning your
surroundings for potential hazards. This is not restricted to scanning for other vehicles. Train
yourself to notice signs and geographic changes that will allow you to be prepared for
changes in the wind.

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A side stand won’t hold a bike facing
downhill
The context
I was inspired to write this tip after embarrassing myself near the end of a recent group ride.
Nine of my riding friends went for an autumn ride West of Ottawa, in the Calabogie-
Bancroft-Eganville area. We were nearing the end of the ride, which had been great but
somewhat tiring, on a cold day in late autumn.

The event
We stopped for a rest at a restaurant on a slight hill, and lined the bikes up, side by side,
facing slightly downhill. Mine was on the end of the row of nine. I carefully did the C-ENIF
shutdown procedure, as we teach.
As I walked away my bike rolled forward, downhill, off the side stand, and tipped over into
the line of bikes. About four instructors rushed in, laughing, to catch the bike and prevent a
chain reaction.

There was no damage other than knocking my mirror out of alignment, but there could have
been. The bike could have fallen further, damaging either itself or the next bike in line. It
could have caused a “falling dominoes” reaction and knocked several more over. And it
could have rolled further down the hill and out into traffic.

I saved face slightly by saying “I must write a tip of the week about this” to general laughter
and name-calling.

The error
The side stand on a bike is designed to withstand downward pressure and reverse motion, but
it is designed to flip up easily as a bike rolls forward. So, a side stand is stable and safe for a
bike sitting on level ground or facing up a slight hill, but it is not stable for a bike
facing downhill, able to roll forward. I should have recognised this situation and taken
preventative action.

The solution
Don’t repeat this mistake.

 Avoid parking your bike while facing downhill, (both because you can’t trust the side stand in this
situation and because you may have difficulty backing out of some situations).
 If you must park facing downhill, put the bike in gear after your shutdown procedure, so it can’t
roll forward. (This is what all the other riders did, and why my bike was the only one to attempt
escape.)
There is also an important secondary lesson here: cold and fatigue make you stupid. Many
errors happen at the end of a long ride that would never happen while you are fresh and alert.
Take extra care with your technique after you have been riding a long time.

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Spot-check your lane position
What’s the problem?
On a multi-lane highway, you have a choice of several lanes in which to travel. Furthermore,
since a motorcycle is a narrow vehicle, you have a choice of positions within your selected
lane (left part of lane, centre of lane, etc.). What lane should you be in, and where in that
lane?

There is no fixed correct answer. The best place to be depends on circumstances, and varies
with time; often rapidly.

Solution
You must not let your choice of lane be arbitrary (“This is the lane I ended up in when I made
that a left turn 20 minutes ago, and I guess I’m still here.”) Instead, you must consciously
choose the best place to be based on what is happening around you right now. Furthermore,
you should develop the habit of mentally questioning your lane choice every few minutes as
you ride. This mental “spot check” can easily become automatic, and will keep you actively
thinking about and participating in your safety, rather than relying on chance.

Here are some examples of quick mental “spot checks” you might have while riding in a
variety of circumstances.

On the freeway
Heavy traffic. “There are cars everywhere, with many changing lanes. I want to be in one of
the outside lanes so that threats only come from one side. I have a long way to go, so I’m
using the left lane to avoid the congestion that happens in the right lane near exit ramps. I’m
in the right third of the lane to discourage centre-lane traffic from drifting into my space.”
Light traffic. “Ordinarily, I use the left lane to keep traffic on one side. Right now, however,
traffic is pretty light. I’m going to use the right lane for better access to the exits. But I’ll stay
alert for cars entering or exiting on the ramps, and move out of their way if necessary. I’m in
the left third of my lane to discourage centre-lane traffic from drifting into my space.”

Passing exit ramp. “That car to my left might decide this is

their exit at the last moment — I see people swerve across the right lane all the time, so I
try never to be between a car and an exit ramp. I shouldn’t be in this lane, but my exit is next
and I don’t want to have to race across traffic. I’m going to accelerate to pass this ramp well
before my neighbour does.”

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Passing entrance ramp. “I think there’s an entrance ramp just past that overpass ahead.
From here, I can’t see if there’s traffic entering the freeway. I’ll switch to the centre lane in
case there is. And I’ll be prepared to move again — I often see cars swerve from the entrance
ramp right into the centre or left lane. As soon as I can see clearly, I’ll move out of this lane
because I prefer not to have traffic on both sides of me.”
Nearing my exit. “That’s my exit approaching, so I need to be in the right lane, and prepared
to slow. I must make sure I’m not beside anyone, especially in their blind spot, who may
decide to exit at the last minute. I’m going to use a centre lane position, but must remain
alert. Someone to my left may anticipate my exit and try to claim my lane position. But if I’m
too far to the left, that car behind me may not realize I’m exiting (even though I’m
signalling), and may try to squeeze by me on the right to get into the exit ramp sooner
himself.”

On city streets
Flowing traffic. “Traffic is moving pretty smoothly on this double-lane roadway. I’m using
the left lane to be more conspicuous and to avoid the traffic entering from side streets. I’m in
the right third of this lane to discourage cars from drifting into my space from the other lane,
and to slightly increase my distance from the oncoming lane, in case someone drifts across
the centre line.”

Clogged traffic. “Ordinarily, I prefer the left lane around

here. But right now, there are a lot of cars stopping to make left turns across traffic, and I’m
more concerned about being cut off than about the traffic entering from the right, so I’m
carefully occupying the right lane. I’m occupying the left third of this lane to protect it from
left-lane “drift-ins,” and to maximize my distance from side-street threats.”
At a red light. “I prefer to time myself to arrive at intersections when the light is green so I
don’t have to stop and become a target. And when I do have to stop, I try to be at the front of
the line with a car stopped safely behind me as a shield. This time, neither of those were
possible. I inspected the stopped traffic as I approached and changed lanes because I realized
I would be easier to see behind this white car than behind that dark-coloured cube-van in the
other lane. I’m watching my mirrors intently to ensure that car coming up behind me is going
to stop, and I’ve left a couple of bike lengths in front of me so I have room to move if I feel
threatened.”

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 Side activity. “That guy on the sidewalk ahead looks like he just left that pub, and
is looking for a cab. Is that a cab in the oncoming lane? I’m watching closely to see what is
going to happen here: will that cab U-turn in front of me, or is that pedestrian likely to run
into the street? I can’t think of a safe lane position until I have more information, so I’m
going to stay where I am but slow down and remain alert.”

Summary
Even the above examples should not be taken as a prescription for where you must always be
or what you must always do. The point is that you should not be driving “on auto-pilot.”
Instead, you should remain an active participant in the situation, continually adjusting to
minimize threats and maximize options for your safety.

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Let gravity help with your centre stand
What’s the problem?
A centre stand, standard equipment on many bikes and an available option on many more, is
a valuable accessory. It greatly simplifies maintenance chores such as chain lubrication and
tire inspection, it allows you to perform other checks such as fluid levels more easily, and it
can make your parked bike more stable on soft surfaces.

Despite the advantages, some riders rarely or never use their centre stand, especially on larger
bikes. The most common reason they give is “I’m not strong enough to lift this heavy bike
onto the stand.” They may even have experienced dropping their bike while trying to get it
onto or off of the centre stand.

Even riders who are able to get their bike onto the centre stand often do so with improper
technique — technique that can be dangerous, risking muscule injury or risking loss of
balance and a dropped bike. We have even heard of such riders being injured by being under
the bike when it fell.

The solution
With practice, most riders should be able to get most bikes onto their centre stand by using
proper technique. Wrong technique is trying to use your muscles to pull the bike up onto the
stand. Correct technique uses the stand as a lever against the ground, and you focus on
pushing down on this lever using your body weight, so that gravity — and possibly some
muscle — does the work.
The key to getting a bike safely off its centre stand without dropping it is to do so while
seated on the bike.

Getting your bike onto the centre stand

Before we go through the correct technique in detail, you need to locate two important
features on your bike.

Centre stand pedal. Your centre stand will have a bar attached
to its left leg, projecting out from underneath the bike, and ending in a flat knurled surface
somewhere near the left footpeg or gear shift lever. This is the pedal you will stand on to
push down on the centre stand.

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 Frame lift point. You need to find a handhold on the left side
of your bike near the underside of the seat, slightly to the rear of centre, that you can safely
grab with your hand and pull up firmly. The handhold must not be the seat or a part of the
plastic body work — it should be sturdy steel firmly attached to the bike’s frame, or be the
frame itself. Bikes designed for centre stands will have a recessed handle specifically for this
purpose, usually integrated into the underside of the seat, near the rear. On other bikes, you
will have to locate a suitable spot on the frame.
Here is the proper technique for getting your bike onto its centre stand. Perform the following
steps in this order. (This is actually much easier to do than to read about.)

1. Get Ready. Locate the two parts described above. Have your bike on its side stand with
the handlebars straight and the steering not locked. The engine should be off and the
transmission in neutral so the bike can roll. Make sure you have 50 cm. or more of clear
space in front of, and behind, your bike, since it will move when going on and off the stand.
2. Body Position. Stand beside the bike on the left side. Left hand on the left handlebar grip,
right hand in the frame lift point, and right foot on the centre stand pedal.

3. Touch Down. Gently press down on the centre stand pedal

until you feel the centre stand leg nearest you touch the ground. Note: the two legs of the
centre stand are separated by 20 cm. or so. Since the bike is presently leaning toward you, the
far leg of the centre stand will still be in the air when the near leg touches the ground.

4. Find the Flat Spot. Holding the left handlebar with your
left hand and the frame lift point with your right hand, gently push the bike away from you
until it is standing upright, perfectly vertical. At the same time, keep pushing gently down on
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the centre stand pedal with your right foot. Feel for the point when both feet of the centre
stand touch the ground. We call this the “flat spot.”
5. Stand on the Pedal. Push down hard, with your right foot, on the centre stand pedal, hard
enough to lift yourself right off the ground. Use your left hand on the handlebar to keep the
bike under control but do not try to pull it backward by the handlebar. On some bikes, the
downward force of your weight alone may be enough to roll the bike up on to the centre
stand.
6. Add Some Muscle. If necessary, pull upward on the frame lift point at the same time.
However, do not try to lift the bike with your arm muscles. You are pulling up on the frame
primarily to brace yourself and increase the downward pressure on the centre stand pedal. Let
gravity and your body weight do most of the work.

7. Let it Roll Back. When you have enough downward pressure

on the centre stand pedal, the bike will roll up and backward onto the centre stand. Use your
left hand to keep it balanced and under control but don’t try to pull it backward.
8. Finish Up. Once the bike is on the centre stand you can turn the front wheel and lock the
steering.

Getting Your Bike Off the Centre Stand

Getting your bike down from the centre stand is much easier. There is a risk, however, of
dropping the bike if you try to get it off the stand while standing beside it. Here is a procedure
that should work well for you:

1. Get Ready. Get your riding gear on and get on the bike. Unlock the steering and straighten
the front wheel. Make sure the side stand is up, and make sure the transmission is in neutral.
Leave the engine off for now. Hold both handlebars, and cover your front brake lever with
your fingers.
2. Rock Forward. Pressing the balls of both feet against the ground, rock the bike forward
until it rolls off the centre stand. (With a large, heavy bike you may have to do small back-
and-forth motions to build up enough inertia for it to roll forward off the stand.) Make sure
you keep the handlebars straight as the bike moves forward.
3. Brake and Balance. Keeping both feet on the ground to maintain balance, smoothly apply
the front brake to catch and halt the bike’s forward motion. You will need to practice this a
few times. You must let the bike move forward far enough to clear the stand, without letting
it roll away from you. As soon as you feel that the bike has passed the “tipping point” where
it is going to roll forward off the stand, where “it’s going forward and I can’t stop it now”,
begin applying the front brake. You should be able to bring the bike to a smooth and balanced
stop in 20 to 50 cm.

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4. Finish Up. You are now ready to move off. Check again that the side stand is up and go
through your normal FINE-C starting procedure.

Summary
The key to getting your bike on its centre stand is to use your body weight against the lever
formed by the stand, not to try lifting the bike or pulling it backward. With practice, most
riders will be able to get even a large bike onto its centre stand with safety and control.

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Practice a weekly 10-minute safety check
What’s the problem?
Like any vehicle, your motorcycle can develop mechanical problems over time. Most
mechanical problems start small but become more serious if left untreated. This situation is
somewhat more severe on a motorcycle than on a car for two reasons.

First, minor problems on a motorcycle may go unnoticed for a longer period than they would
on a car. Bikes tend to be serviced and inspected less frequently than cars, and some riders
find the mechanics of motorcycles somewhat intimidating.

Second, and more important, the consequences of mechanical failure are more severe on a
motorcycle. A car can be driven even when it is in poor condition. Although this is not good
for the car, it will usually not fall over, and it still encloses and protects the driver. On a
motorcycle, mechanical failure of almost any nature may cause a crash and injury.

Solution
You can’t do much about the consequences of mechanical failure, but you can develop habits
that will detect many problems while they are still minor.

There is no substitute for having your bike properly serviced according to the owner’s
manual. However, many minor mechanical problems can be detected early by a simple
inspection that you perform yourself. You don’t have to be a mechanic. We’re not talking
about complex analysis or special tools, just a simple inspection of the major components of
your bike for obvious signs of trouble. With practice, this inspection will take you about 10
minutes. You can perform it weekly, and it makes a good weekend activity, possibly
combined with washing your bike.

Think of it as a “circle check.” Start somewhere and walk a complete circle around your bike,
checking each component you pass for signs of trouble. Check for appropriate tightness,
signs of wear or breakage, and signs of fluid leakage. The emphasis is on detection, not
repair. If you detect signs of trouble, deal with it yourself or get professional help, depending
on your mechanical skill and available time, but don’t leave it to get worse.

For most of the checks, you’ll use two readily-available tools: your eyes and your hand. Look
at the part for signs of trouble, then wrap it with your hand to test for tightness and, by seeing
what gets on your hand, leakage. This won’t catch all problems, and doesn’t replace proper
testing with sophisticated equipment, but it will detect the early signs of many routine
problems. This is also a good time to do the routine lubrication your owner’s manual
recommends, and also to clean and polish.

Here is an example of a circle check. Yours need not be done in this order, may not include
all these parts, and may involve parts in different locations on the bike, but it will give you
the idea.

Get ready
To get ready for your weekly check, move your bike to a location where you can easily walk
and crouch all around it. Place it on the centre stand if you have one. If you don’t have a
centre stand, an accessory swing-arm stand is very useful. If you have neither of these, leave

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the bike on the side stand. The engine should be off and cool, since you’ll be touching parts
with your hands.
To make things go as quickly as possible, get your tire pressure gauge (one tool you should
definitely own), a clean rag, oil can, chain lubricant, and so on. Check your owner’s manual
for any reminders you need, such as lubrication points and intervals.

Now start somewhere on your bike and do a complete circle around it. For this example, we
will start at the front on the left side.

Front left
Check the condition of your front tire. Look for obvious signs of damage or punctures and
check the condition of the tread. Your owner’s manual will tell you how much tread depth
indicates a worn-out tire, and most tires also contain “wear bars” — embedded marks that
will appear when the tread covering them has worn down to a certain point.

Check your tire pressure and adjust if necessary.

If your wheel uses spokes, quickly check for uniform tension by running a hard object such
as a screwdriver across all the spokes in a circular motion. You should hear a series of
“pings” of a uniform pitch. A spoke that is too loose or too tight will stand out as an unusual
note — “ping, ping, ping, ping, bong, ping ping”. Don’t worry about the 3-4 you can’t reach
because of the wheel supports — chances are the wheel will be in a different position next
time, and you are doing this check weekly.

Check the condition of your front brake.

Check for any obvious problems on the front disc, such as cracks or gouges. Wrap the front
brake assembly in your fist. Try to move it, gently, to ensure that nothing falls off. Then look
at the palm of your hand to ensure there is no leaking brake fluid on it. Look at the thickness
of the brake pads inside the brake shoe. Your owner’s manual will specify the thickness that
indicates worn-out pads.

Check the condition of the front fork tube on

this side. Check the plastic cap that seals the entry to the outer tube for cracks and leaks.
There should be no sign of oil leaking through or dripping down the tube. Check the smooth

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inner tube for nicks, scratches, and gouges that may have been caused by flying gravel. The
rough edges on such nicks can cause leaks in the fork cap as the tube slides through.

Left side
Move toward the rear of the bike, and crouch by the left side. As you pass them, check the
headlight assembly and front left turn signal for tightness.

Wiggle and operate the clutch lever to ensure

it is properly fastened. If the clutch is fluid-operated, check the fluid level through the
inspection window. (The bike must be vertical for this check. If it is not on a centre stand,
you will have to momentarily push it upright before checking the fluid level.) Your owner’s
manual may suggest a drop of oil on the clutch lever pivot point.

Check the fuel shut-off valve on the left side.

Move it to all possible settings to ensure it moves freely, then return it to the appropriate
setting (“off” or “auto”). Now check your hand for any signs of fuel leaks.
Lower on the bike, check that your foot peg is firmly attached and moves freely. Your
manual may suggest oiling its pivot point. If a rubber sleeve covers the foot peg, make sure it
is not sliding off. Check the passenger foot peg the same way.

Check the side stand or centre stand fastenings for tightness. (Check whichever is not in use
now, then check the other later when it is not in use.) Oil the pivot points if your manual
suggests.

Left rear
If your bike has a chain or belt drive, check the fastening of the chain guard. Check the chain
or belt for appropriate tightness (this is simple — see your owner’s manual) and for any
obvious signs of damage or wear. Lubricate the chain at the interval specified by your
owner’s manual.

Shaft drives require little periodic maintenance, but check for leakage of transmission fluid
and other signs of damage.

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Check the rear tire and spokes as described above for the front.

Rear
As you pass around of the rear of the motorcycle, check the luggage hooks and luggage for
proper fastening. Check any passenger hand-holds for proper tightness. Check the fastening
of the rear turn signals and brake light housing. Check the fastening of the license plate.

Right rear
Check the condition of the rear brake. If it is a disc brake, follow the instructions described
above for the front. If it is a drum brake, check for cracks and tightness, and check the wear
indicator located somewhere on the drum housing (see your owner’s manual). Your manual
may specify oiling certain pivot points in the linkage between the rear brake and the brake
pedal.

Right side

Check the level of your engine oil. You may

need to wipe the inspection window clean with your rag. Remember that the bike must be
vertical for this check, so you will have to hold it upright if it is not on a centre stand. (The oil
inspection window might be on the other side on your bike, and some bikes may use a
dipstick instead of an inspection window. Adjust your routine accordingly.)

Check the driver and passenger foot pegs as

described above. Check the front brake lever as described above for the clutch lever, and the
brake fluid level.
Operate the throttle, making sure it moves freely, and that the spring returns it properly to its
rest position. Your owner’s manual will specify how much free play there should be in the
movement from the rest position.

Front right
Repeat everything specified above for the front left, checking signal mount, fork, brake,
spokes, and tire.

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Other checks
If your bike is liquid-cooled, there will be a coolant level inspection window somewhere.
Add this to your routine. Your exhaust pipe or pipes will be in various locations depending
on the bike model. Check them for secure mounting and any signs of rusting through at an
appropriate point in the circle check. Add any other appropriate checks unique to your bike to
your routine too.

Start your engine

With your engine running, check your horn, headlight (high and low beams), brake light
(operated by both front lever and rear pedal), and turn signals. Use your kill switch to stop
your engine, to test the function of the switch.

Summary
The above check is an example only. Your bike may require more or fewer steps, probably in
a different order. The point is that you can do a thorough check to detect many early signs of
mechanical problems with limited mechanical knowledge and no special tools. The entire
check takes only a few minutes and should be performed weekly at least.

Don’t forget, this checkup is not a substitute for proper professional service. Follow the
service schedule in your owner’s manual.

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Treat morning shadows like oil slicks
What’s the problem?

In early morning or late evening, you will sometimes find

yourself riding on a road where nearby trees are casting scattered shadows across the
pavement. This situation can cause rapid and extreme changes of lightning and contrast as
you move back and forth between sun and shadow. It can be difficult to adjust to the
changing lighting, and the dark shadows can hide hazards on the road surface. This is
especially problematic in the morning, because, in addition to hiding hazards, shadows on the
roadway can also cause hazards by delaying the evaporation of frost or dew.
Especially early or late in the riding season, you may be surprised to find frost or even ice on
the roadway well into the morning if deep shadow prevents the sun from heating the
pavement. We have even encountered snow on roads, weeks after it should have disappeared,
in areas where heavy overhang prevents the sun from ever striking the pavement.

Solution
If there might be a hazard in an area where your visibility is impaired, it is safest to behave as
though there is a hazard there. Especially in the morning, treat shadows on the roadway like
any low-friction hazard (e.g., an oil slick). Avoid the hazard if you safely can, and drive over
it properly if you cannot avoid it.
Like any hazard, it’s best to avoid it if it can be done safely. Perhaps you can change your
lane position, or your path through a curve, to keep your tires on sunlit pavement. Be on
guard against target fixation — look at the sunlit safe roadway, not at the shadow. However,
do not jeopardize your safety to avoid hitting a shadow. Stay in your lane and, especially,
stay away from the inside edge, as oncoming traffic may also encounter friction problems and
strike you.

If you must drive over a morning shadow, behave as though you know it is slippery. If your
speed is excessive, slow down before you reach the shadow so you will not be braking on the
unknown surface. If the shadow is in a curve, pick a very conservative path that minimizes
your lean angle and the traction demands on your tires. Avoid, if possible, any sudden control
changes while on the shadow, and make any necessary changes very smoothly.

Morning shadows are a double threat. They may cause frost or dew to linger on the roadway,
and they help conceal any hazard that is there. Use extra caution: a surprise in the morning
can ruin your whole day.

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Check that oil – it’s critical
What’s the problem?
The level and quality of engine oil in your bike is critical — more so than in your car.
Motorcycles place a much heavier demand on their oil than cars do, because motorcycle
engines often rev twice as fast as cars for a given speed, and because in most modern bikes
the engine oil also lubricates the gearbox; there is no separate “transmission fluid” as in a car.
Low oil can cause engine wear and expensive repairs; an engine seizure due to excessive
wear will cause a crash.

Solution

Use a good quality motorcycle-specific oil (the

difference in cost to an “el cheapo” brand is negligible over the life of a bike), and change it,
or have it changed, according to your owner’s manual. If you’re doing it yourself, don’t
forget to change the filter at the recommended intervals too.

Make sure you check the level regularly. To

do it properly, the bike must be level, so you will need to put it on the centre stand. If your
bike only has a side-stand get a friend to hold the bike upright.
For bikes with a dipstick, remove the dipstick and wipe it down before re-inserting it to get an
accurate reading. For bikes with a sight-glass, check that the oil level is between the two
marks. If the marks are hard to see, check that you can see some air at the upper level — if
you can’t then you’ve over-filled. If you don’t see any oil you’re probably down at least one-
half liter — not good.

Don’t forget that a motorcycle typically lubricates engine and gearbox with less than 3.5
liters of oil, so being down a full liter means you’ve lost almost one third of the lubricant.
While it is not recommended to mix oil viscosity, type, or even brand, if you are down
significantly use the best oil that is available. Any oil is better than no oil.

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One final oil-related tip: Don’t idle your bike for long periods of time while it rests on the
side-stand — because the bike is leaned over, the outboard cylinder may not receive all the
oiling it deserves.

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Use the car ahead to increase your line of
sight
What’s the problem?
Many motorcyclists develop a preference to be in front of traffic rather than behind it, so their
vision is unobstructed, and therefore develop a habit of passing (safely) most vehicles they
overtake. This habit does not always work in your favour — sometimes having a vehicle in
front of you actually improves your vision.

Solution
Vision

The driver ahead can see things you can’t seeThere are
few factors as important as your line of site when riding a motorcycle. You need to be able to
see far enough ahead to plan for and react to any threats. Also, when riding through curves,
you need to be able to see as far through the curve as possible in order to smoothly follow
your selected path. But hills and curves often restrict your vision, hiding important
information from you because it is around a corner, in a gully, or over the crest of a hill.
If you are following another vehicle with a good driver, at an appropriate distance, this can
have the effect of increasing your line of sight. You can watch the behaviour of the other
driver, who can see farther ahead than you can, and get information from their reactions.

For this technique to succeed, you must pick a good escort vehicle, follow it at an appropriate
distance, and know what signs to look for.

Picking a good escort

If you’re going to follow another driver to extend your sight distance, you need to follow
someone moving at an appropriate speed. Most likely, they are going slightly more slowly
than you (or you would not have overtaken them); but if they are going too slowly you will
only feel frustrated and have difficulty staying an appropriate distance behind them. You may
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also wish to use a vehicle going slightly faster than you, by speeding up slightly to keep them
in sight after they pass you. But, if they are going faster than you are comfortable riding
safely, trying to keep up would be dangerous and unwise.

Next, you need to pick a front escort vehicle that is being driven well. The idea is to take cues
from the behaviour of the driver in front of you, so you want a driver who appears alert and in
control, smoothly adjusting their speed and lane position to account for what is ahead of
them. If they are having trouble controlling their vehicle, driving erratically, or being
distracted by telephone, passengers, food, etc., they will not be a good escort.

Appropriate distance
Once you have found a good escort vehicle, you need to stay an appropriate distance behind
them. Since you will be using their behaviour to give you early information, the farther ahead
of you they are, the sooner you will get this information.

However, you can be “too far” behind. If you are constantly losing sight of them around
curves, or if the gap is so large that the information they are sending you is out of date by the
time you get there, close the gap somewhat. You can also be “too close” – you don’t want to
give the escort vehicle the impression you’re trying to pass them; you want them comfortable
as the lead vehicle so you don’t distract them. (Besides, if they’re seeing things almost the
same moment you do, you may as well be in front where they are not in your way.)

As a general rule, keep a gap between you that is several seconds larger than your normal
safe following distance.

Read your escort

Now that you are an appropriate distance behind a good escort, add observation of their
behaviour to your general scanning of the situation around you. (Don’t stop scanning — you
don’t want to miss other important information or make an error because your attention is
focused on your escort.)

Is your escort braking hard, or for a longer than usual

time, as they enter that curve ahead? Maybe the curve is unusually tight, or maybe there is a
hazard ahead that you can’t see yet.

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 Did your escort brake or swerve as they reached the crest
of that hill ahead? You should assume something significant is going on on the other side
where you can’t see it.

How deep is that gully ahead? Did the top of your escort’s
roof remain visible, or disappear? If it disappeared, for how long?

Warning: humans ahead

Remember, your escort vehicle is just a source of information, and it’s being driven by a
human. They may be sending you incorrect information, or they may miss something.

If you see your escort reacting to something, it’s a good idea to assume there is something
ahead that you’ll have to react to as well, and prepare. However, if your escort is not reacting,
that’s not a guarantee of safety. They may have missed something, or made a bad decision, or
judged a situation differently than you would. Or maybe they’re just pulling into their
driveway. Ultimately, the responsibility for riding safely is still yours.

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Manage your traction quota
What’s the problem?
Your bike depends on traction, to move forward, stop, turn, and stay upright. Traction only
comes from one place — the contact between your tires and the pavement — and there is
only a certain amount of it available. Loss of traction contributes to most falls and many
collisions.

Many factors consume some of your available traction, and your instincts are not always
correct for preserving it. (For example, coasting does not maximize your traction, so pulling
in the clutch and coasting across a slippery area does not minimize your chances of slipping.)

Solution
Understand the factors
There are a number of factors that consume some of your available traction, some that you
can’t control and some that you control directly.

The factors you can’t control are surface conditions. Slick surfaces such as oil, water, or ice
reduce traction. Loose surfaces such as sand and gravel can behave like slick surfaces,
depending on your tires and the size and depth of the loose material. Finally, the angle of the
surface affects traction. Gravity is pulling your bike straight down, and traction is maximized
when the road surface is at 90 degrees to this pull, meaning perfectly level. If you are on a
hill or a banked road surface, some of the force of gravity will be trying to pull you across the
surface, so you are using up some traction just staying put. The greater the incline, the more
traction you’re using up and the less is left for other purposes.

Of the factors you control, the following consume some of your available traction.

Braking requires traction, and many riders have experienced at least a loss of rear-wheel
traction when braking hard. The harder you brake, the more of your available traction you are
using up.
Accelerating also requires traction, and you have probably seen riders or drivers spinning
their wheels by accelerating hard. The more you try to accelerate, the more of your available
traction you are using up. (Note that accelerating means changing your speed. How fast you
are going doesn’t matter — it’s how rapidly you are trying to increase your speed that affects
traction.)

Turning requires traction. Whenever you are turning, the

principle of inertia means your bike would rather be going in a straight line. Holding you on
your curved path requires some of your available traction. The tighter the curve and greater
your lean angle, the more traction you consume. Now how fast you are going matters —
higher speeds consume more traction when you are turning.

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Slowing down requires traction. We’ve already covered braking, but even just letting off the
gas and letting your bike slow down uses up some of your traction. (The internal friction
from your engine and other moving parts is slowing your wheels, just not as quickly as your
brakes do.)
(Note: A physicist would tell you that we’re repeating ourselves, because all of the above are
just different kinds of acceleration. This is true, but we find that most people take the word
“acceleration” to mean increasing speed, and we wanted to remind you that the other factors
above also consume traction. If a physicist points this out to you, just smile and nod.)

Maximum traction
So, taking all the above factors into account, when do you have the most traction available?
When you’re not consuming it by doing any of the things listed above. Your available
traction is maximized when you are upright, on a flat surface, traveling in a straight line at a
constant speed.
The “constant speed” part is not intuitive — many people instinctively slow down in a
slippery situation. But, as we discussed above, the process of slowing down is just a kind of
acceleration, and costs traction. By all means slow down if you’re going too fast, but ideally
do it before you hit the low-traction situation, not after you’re already on a slick surface or in
a curve. Even after you’re in a low-traction situation, slowing down may be a better option
than continuing at higher speed. Just be aware that it takes some of your available traction to
do so.

That’s in a straight line. If you are turning, speed matters, and you have more traction at
slower speeds.
This is one of the reasons why excessive speed is so dangerous — if you find yourself in an
emergency situation, slowing down consumes some of your available traction. If you were
already going a safe speed, this traction would be available for other uses in dealing with the
emergency.

Manage your traction quota

As we’ve implied above, through the repeated use of the phrase “your available traction”, it’s
very useful to think of traction as a quota. You only have so much, and the total available
doesn’t change. Everything you are doing that uses traction takes some out of your quota, so
if you use some up for turning, there is less available for braking.

When your quota is exhausted, you slide (and probably crash). So, if over-accelerating or
over-braking causes your tires to lose traction, there is also no traction available to hold the
bike in the turn you’re trying to make. Conversely, if you’re using most of your traction to
hold a fast or tight turn, you may not have enough left to brake hard when that deer steps in
front of you.

By thinking of your available traction as a quota, you can learn to think about managing the
quota. Remember how the factors you can control affect your quota — turning hard and
braking hard at the same time, for example, generally don’t mix.

For the factors you don’t control (e.g. road surface) you may be able to have some influence
by looking ahead and picking a better path (e.g. around an oil slick). Essentially you’re
trading off things you control (turning) for things you don’t (that slippery patch).

For factors truly beyond your control, remember that your quota has been reduced and plan to
accelerate and brake more gently, turn less aggressively, and corner more slowly.

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Examples
Let’s use the idea of a limited quota of traction to think through some riding situations.

Sand or Oil on the Road. A small patch of something slippery on the road is an area of very
low traction, and beyond your control. If you can safely avoid the patch by changing your
path, you should do so. If you can’t avoid the patch, slow down before you enter it (don’t
make traction demands by braking on the patch), and position yourself to have the straightest
possible path across it (to minimize the traction demands caused by leaning). If possible, get
all these adjustments done before arriving at the slippery patch, then cross it at a constant
speed and in a straight line. You’re making the smallest possible demands on available
traction, so you should navigate the slippery patch safely.
Braking in a Curve. For normal, everyday braking, there should be plenty of traction
available to allow you to slow while turning. If hard braking is necessary, however, you may
exceed your traction quota when the traction for braking is combined with the traction for
turning. If possible, position your bike so there is a long, straight, safe path in front of you,
and allow it to straighten out as you brake. The less room you have for straightening your
path, the more gently you should brake. (Because you can’t predict emergencies, it’s a good
idea to always choose paths through curves that give you the option of straightening your
path for braking.)
Riding Through a Tight Curve. When riding through a tight curve (such as on a twisty back
road or a track) remember all the factors that take traction from your quota. Your bike will be
leaned over at the tightest part of the curve so, ideally, you would like to be making no other
demands on your traction quota at that time. Adjust your speed, slowing to your cornering
speed, before you enter the curve, while the bike is still upright, and go through the deepest
part of the curve at a constant speed if you can safely do so. The slower you go through the
curve, the less traction you are using up. As you leave the curve, accelerate gradually, adding
gas as the bike comes back upright.

Riding in the Rain. Wet streets are an unavoidable slick

surface covering a large distance. (Note that traction is not constant. Areas that would have
been slippery before the rain will be even slipperier now.) Since you can’t control the road
conditions, reduce your other traction demands. Slow down so you won’t have to brake as
hard later. Accelerate and decelerate more gently. Take corners more slowly, choose wider
paths through the curves, when possible, and shift your body weight slightly while turning, to
reduce lean angle.

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