It all simply boils down to 5 words:

RIDE LIKE YOU ARE INVISIBLE!

 

I almost forgot.....

Don't sneeze when wearing your full-face helmet.

 

Assume that everybody wants to run you over.

 

+1 on that...I took a course when I came to Canada from the UK eight years ago. Been riding for years in the UK...but boy...I learned so much about roadcraft in North America. Money well spent....

 

it was mentioned twice, but I will say it again because I think it's the best thing that has helped me while driving cars and motorcycles in busy traffic (which is my achiles heal); watch the wheels moving of the cars on the side streets. Stopped wheels typically mean the driver is dedicating themselves to stopping (when they take their foot off the brake the car normaly moves some). My worst time for concentration is in the city and this helps me decide who to pay attention to the most.

so some other tips that have helped me that haven't really been mentioned;

bright colors. I have a yellow helmet and I have ridden red and yellow bikes. People basically treat me as a car, I am almost never not noticed. My girlfriend has a silver bike, white helmet, and black jacket. NO ONE notices her (I see this happen most often when she leads).

"typical" speeds for the road. If you ride much faster than traffic (or slower) other drivers won't expect you to have moved into a new position that fast. Also avoid hard accelerations.

No one has mentioned this however it works into other statements: AVOID BLIND SPOTS LIKE THE PLAGUE! My Ford Ranger fits in a Saab's blind spot (I found this out today...). I bet my motorcycle does too

Sunglasses or some other sun-dimming equipment in order to block the sunlight while riding into the sun.

And finally, my least often used (unfortunately used on a motorcycle in a 60mph turn) recommendation: Enjoy the ice while you smoothly traverse across it.... but don't touch the brake or try to turn... or change RPM... you might get away with pulling in the clutch. Not much you can do but be smooth...

 

Yeah, I like the sacrifice of the camel or the cow. It's my motorcycle any way so why not! I can blast the motorcycle at a track day but I have to go to work tomorrow. I can skid and scrape and (mostly) I can be there for Monday.

Soon after I bought my Superhawk I realized I couldn't afford to ride it. Proper gear is essential even if you're real good or really good crashin'.

Watching the online sales, specials, trusted forum suppliers that have discount coupons for us. Go get 'em!

Chicks like guys that look like they got some lasting power.

 

My one tip: use all your senses all the time.

Expanded:

Sight - look all around you, everywhere, use your mirrors all the time, watch the road surface, check your bike all over, every time you're about to get on it.

Feel - feel the road through your tires, feel the air for moisture, feel around on your bike for things wrong (if not every time you ride, then certainly every one of the times when you - frequently - clean it).

Smell - the fallen leaves, the cowshit on the country road, the oil on any road, the cement or loose gravel of road repairs, the burnt brake pads and clutch you've just fried in your panic.

Hearing - the vehicles around you, the train on the track still out of sight but on the crossing around the corner, variations in the noises your own shitbox emanates.

Intuition - if it doesn't seem right, it probably ain't right. Regrettably, this is the most valuable one and the one you really only get by adverse experience. (It does, however, include the bullshit detector that enables you to reject the complicated but incorrect advice dished out to you by well-meaning but ignorant know-alls.)

 

+1

why is it always a Buick?

 

In the twisties use a late apex. This with proper lane possition will give you optimal view of whats coming up.

 

Loud Pipes Save Lives!!!!!!!! LOL

 

This is so true!

 

it isn't. watch out for those volvos!

 

Well you've now just dated yourself. MSF is full of acronyms but this one has been retired. Not that it's bad, but the new one is called SEE. Search, Evaluate, Execute. Same basic concept, just simplified.

 

I disagree. Loud pipes may just get you a ticket as more and more cities pass noise laws. 80db or less is the standard most places are using. Sorry for being preachy but part of my job is to dispell myths like "don't use the front brake or you'll flip over the bars". Loud pipes save lives is what I call an urban biker myth. Think about the physics of sound waves for a moment. They propagate radially from the mouth of the tail pipe, similar to ripples on a pond when you toss a rock in. So the only time those loud pipes actually get a drivers attention is when your in front of them, or directly along side. Much better is to make yourself visible to the drivers. Get outta the blind spots and ride where they can see you. That will save more lives than some obnoxious noise. Some pipe noise will eventually travel ahead of you, but what good is it for a car to hear you but not see you? They could completely misjudge your location and change lanes right into you. OK sermon over.

 

I don't have loud pipes. I don't have the hush puppies that came with my bike either. I have street baffle slip ons. I call them "audible pipes". Audible pipes save lives.

With all due respect, the idea that you can't hear "loud pipes" when the bike is behind you? Well I guess I've got way better ears than you do. Whether riding or driving, I hear moderately loud bikes behind me all the time. If I'm in heavy, slow moving traffic I often hear them coming up between the lanes before I see them.

Most other folks can too. Years ago I rode a V-4 Honda with a full race system. Even at freeway speed I could see people looking in the mirror to see what all the racket was about and then getting the hell out of the way.

Even if you dress like a Day-Glo Power Ranger, NOBODY is going to SEE you behind unless they LOOK, which too few people bother doing very often.

I'm not promoting obnoxiously loud pipes. I quit them 'cause they announced my location to every cop in the vicinity. That's probably the most effective argument against them. I appreciate the position that loud pipes annoy citizens and are bad for the sport. But to claim that you can't hear loud bikes, cars, trucks, gunshots or whatever because it's behind you doesn't have credibility with the high percentage of people who have functioning ears!

 

Yeah I can see where my post reads that way. Lemme see if I can lawyer out of this. I don't 100% claim you can't ever hear a bike when it's behind you. Just saying they hear you better when you're in front of or beside the driver than when you're behind. But my unfortunate choice of words may have obscured my point, which is that it's not much of a tool to help save your life. Same as your factory horn. Making yourself visible is preferred, not just with clothing but with positioning. Think of all the car audio systems blasting, etc. Maybe you disagree which is fine, but I consider it somewhat of a myth.

 

Even Sport Rider magazine seems to have jumped on the anti-loud pipes bandwagon. Then again, they're in Cali and probably have stricter noise regs than much of the rest of the country.

I'm not advocating for super-loud pipes, but just think of your own experience though. How many times have you been waiting for your buddies to meet up for a ride and heard that Super Hawk with Two Brothers or Yoshis roaring in from half a mile away? How about every time!

On all our backroad rides we know where pretty much all the cops live. We always tip-toe by so as not to wake them up.

 

You're alright, JD. I had to say something because I've read all over the place the last few years guys claiming you flat out can't hear a loud bike if the pipes are pointing one way and your head the other way.

Sure, a bike ahead of you will sound louder than one behind you and yeah, a driver with the windows up with 400 watts of music blasting won't hear anything. But that's akin to dismissing bright gear because it's only visible to drivers looking in your direction.

Personally, unless you're revving your loud bike under my bedroom window at 5 am, it doesn't offend me at all.

Mostly I'm just old enough to remember when Americans really WERE more live and let live tolerant of each other. Now in the Official Age Of TOLERANCE, half the people are looking for something, anything to be offended by and indignant about and the other half are trying to appease and *** kiss the victims of some trifling or wholly imagined injustice.

I just don't like any of it.

 

Actually unless you have flat out open pipes, California doesn't have an enforced, or legally enforceable motorcycle noise law.

That's not it at all. Sport Rider, Motorcyclist etc. make a living selling color pictures of themselves doing stand up wheelies, stoppies, riding down the road while standing on the seat, bragging about going pucks down at triple the speed limit on local mountain roads etc. But when they tell everybody "shhh, don't make noise, why, it's irresponsible!", the AMA, MSF etc. praise them for their wisdom, maturity, environmental and social consciousness!

 

I have two survival tips.... Always ride from car door to car door. when the cager next to you thinks of moving over he sees you.
no mirrors necessary. When traveling through highway on/off ramp areas be prepared for the last minute "I need to get off/ on here" driver, distracted lane changes and bad timing will most likely happen here. remember if you have time to hit your horn you have time to evade the situation. we have 3 things on our side
1 power to weight ratio
2 superior stopping ability
3 agility
I use #1 the most to keep me in the sweet spot of traffic ie. . the hole between the slowest ahead and the fastest behind.