Best Advice

[seedy]

Hi to All.

Mostly directed to larger displacement bikes riding quickly, but would like to hear from all.

My best advice - an old timer told me when I got my Kawasaki 500 Triple - when riding, look as far down the road as you can see, this is where trouble will come from and you will have more time to react.

This has saved my life more than once.

[thaicbr]

in this day and age the best advice if your doing spirited riding would be download Keith Codes book and video 'twist of the wrist 2'. I know if your. a pirate you can find it easily

[BigBikeBKK]

"Ride It Like You Stole It!"

[IanForbes]

I said almost the exact same thing in my last comment to villagefarang in my thread on my trip to Nan and beyond. Driving beyond one's field of vision is on of the greatest contributer to accidents whether you are riding a motorcycle or driving a car.

[Fishenough]

Personally for me it was on the track on my roommates 500 Suzuki almost 25 years ago; was told I grip the grips too tightly and to instead just float my hands on the them. Even under hard corning. This tip even improved my high speed dirt riding also.

Reduces the effects of vibration and fatigue, in not just your hands but all through your arms, shoulders, and back. Also find that a relaxed grip in a situation like a sliding whilst cornering quickly helps prevent a possible survival reaction that Keith Code talks about in his video.

[Travelmate]

elbow below wrist

[nikster]

Counter steering. I already had a ER-6n and in order to get the thing around turns you have to counter steer, but like many new riders I didn't know I was doing that.

Somebody told me a little trick: If you want to go around a left turn, push the left side of the handle bar forward just a bit. Until the bike drops into the curve and basically goes around all on its own. Same for the right.

There's many other things I've learned since then - shifting weight helps a lot, still working on keeping a very light hold on the handlebars, and staying on the gas in high speed turns which helps stability

But counter steering was by far the most significant. Tons of stuff about it all over the internet if you like to know more.

Looking ahead ... yeah well I already knew that from driving cars only go as fast as you can stop. An experienced rider I know crashed his BMW 1200GS into a toyota pickup truck that was parked in the middle of the road behind a small hill. He was complaining to no end - his bike was wrecked and he had sustained some injuries. He was lucky to be alive. But really, unfortunately, it was all his fault. Sure nobody should stop in the middle of the road with bad visibility. But as a rider, it's your responsibility to not go faster than you can stop. There might be a crashed vehicle there, a tree, a cow, a child - whatever.

Edited February 14, 2012 by nikster

[nikster]

Personally for me it was on the track on my roommates 500 Suzuki almost 25 years ago; was told I grip the grips too tightly and to instead just float my hands on the them. Even under hard corning. This tip even improved my high speed dirt riding also.

Reduces the effects of vibration and fatigue, in not just your hands but all through your arms, shoulders, and back. Also find that a relaxed grip in a situation like a sliding whilst cornering quickly helps prevent a possible survival reaction that Keith Code talks about in his video.

+1

To me, that comes right after counter steering. And you won't figure this out unless you're told.

[BigBikeBKK]

You Brake, You Lose!

[thaicbr]

You Brake, You Lose!

Except when there's a herd of cows on the road in front of you

[submaniac]

Best advice?!?!?....Ermm....that I should treat the throttle and brakes like a pair of tits...

after riding...should relax by sucking on them.

Edited February 14, 2012 by submaniac

[snowflake]

"Practice emergency braking, they way you ride son, you will get yourself killed unless you know how to stop quickly"

My riding instructor 17 years ago (rough translation)...

ohhhh EDIT TIME

and

If you are in a hurry or stressed, take the car, if you want to go fast or have fun, go on the bike (Same dude)...

Edited February 14, 2012 by snowflake

[BigBikeBKK]

You Brake, You Lose!

Except when there's a herd of cows on the road in front of you

Get out your steak knife!!!

[BigBikeBKK]

Best advice?!?!?....Ermm....that I should treat the throttle and brakes like a pair of tits...

after riding...should relax by sucking on them.

LMAO!

[billd766]

The last accident I had a couple of months ago was at a set of lights at a crossroads in Nakhon Sawan.

All the lights were red except our so I pulled away to go straight over and just out of the corner of my left eye I saw a pickup run the red light and turn right.

I was still in first and cranked the throttle wide open (not that much happens with a 200cc Honda Phantom) and turned right to get out of the way.

I got T-boned under my ass but the pickup missed my body and I got thrown off to the right scraping my left shin and bruising my right hand and wrist and head butting the road thinking to myself, sh1t this is going to hurt, and it did.

The bike bounced on the right side and back onto the left side and was still running on its side till I switched it off.

The 2 old ladies and their grandson drove off the junction and stopped and the police in the box who saw it happen popped out.

One went to her and another came to me and stopped the traffic while I got my bike off the junction.

The crash bars took most of the damage and my left side panniers was diagonally shaped and bash about.

The left handle bar was bent down so me and a cop sort of bent it back again so I could ride to the cop shop.

We came to a cash settlement and I rode somewhat painfully 125km home.

The repairs to the Phantom came to just about 5,000 baht and it still rides as well as it ever did but I need some more crash bars and side panniers.

I was probably doing about 20kph when I was hit and, yes as always I was wearing a crash helmet.

Never leave home without it.

[smedly]

always be in a condition to see everything well front of you (at least within stopping distance or more)

condition meaning - speed - vision ahead - road conditions - junctions - other road users

Know your stopping distance !!!!!!!

In Thailand what I have found to be the most dangerous is when passing a blinding vehicle in front where you cannot see in front or around it e.g. a high sided van or lorry, small motorbike riders will move from the left in front of such a vehicle and will not see you - more to the point you will not see them until they are cutting across in front of you, if I cannot see around I slow down to the same speed as the vehicle until I have passed it or passed the junction, in a matter of seconds I'm back to my cruise speed, I also very rarely use the far left of a multi laned road to overtake - highly dangerous in my opinion especially since I would find myself swinging from left to right constantly looking for a path through at high speed - this is also where the slow moving small bikes gather and they are extremely unpredictable- too much going on for this to be safe, I concentrate on the right two lanes which I observe intensely, I will however undertake a slow moving vehicle in the right most lane as long as I can see it is safe to do

The secret in safe driving is being able to read other drivers and see well ahead, I find moving faster than other road users here safer than moving slower as you only need to concentrate in front and not so much behind

lastly - ride within your means, leave the racing for the track

[SumetCycle]

Drive like you are invisible and assume nobody can see you. Expect the unexpected. Most importantantly, use your Spidey sense.

[SumetCycle]

Also learn how to lean your vehicle properly!

[norwaygeir]

Drive like you are invisible and assume nobody can see you. Expect the unexpected. Most importantantly, use your Spidey sense.

And also think everyone else is idiots/stuped. Don't expect them to stop just because you would have done it. I drive a lot in cambodia (only small bike), and there you never know what the other drivers will do, because no one have propper training, so allways look a head. I have only one crash, with my big bike, and that was when a moto-taxi driver drove on red light, and I hit him in front. He was up and gone before I could blink my eyes, maybe scared of the police?. When I go from phnom penh to my home (22 km), the most I've seen is 3 motobike accident, so be carefull.

Sorry for my poor english

[VocalNeal]

Given what we see on the roads in Thailand I would think the best advice would be

WEAR THE SMEGGING HELMET.

[bsacbob]

Given what we see on the roads in Thailand I would think the best advice would be

WEAR THE SMEGGING HELMET.

Best advice i got from an old biker as a kid was to brake in the straights in ride the corners

[nikster]

In Thailand what I have found to be the most dangerous is when passing a blinding vehicle in front where you cannot see in front or around it e.g. a high sided van or lorry, small motorbike riders will move from the left in front of such a vehicle and will not see you - ...

Absolutely true. You never know what's in front of these.

I t-boned a guy on a scooter suddenly emerging between stopped vehicles before me. He was crossing a 6 lane road and I guess couldn't be bothered with the intersection a few meters ahead. I was passing stopped traffic on the right and .. boom. I wasn't slow enough to come to a stop but slow enough nothing much happened - I guess he was fine as he took off, and I just barely kept the bike from falling over - I hit him with the front wheel so no damage. Now I know: Stopped cars = scooters coming out in-between them.

Another time I was passing a Vigo pick up on the right when a slow scooter suddenly emerged before me - he'd was apparently crossing over inches in front of the Vigo. Surprise!

And then there's the u-turn scooters - a pain in the city, hit one of these guys once with the ER-6, I was going at speed and this guy apparently didn't look in his mirrors, and just crossed over all the way from the left hand side to the right, at a pretty low forward speed, but rather abrupt side movement. Bang. My bike had minimal damage & didn't drop it, I could have just kept going but stopped of course as he'd fallen off his bike... Now I know to look out for these suicide u-turners.

[BigBikeBKK]

I t-boned a guy on a scooter suddenly emerging between stopped vehicles before me. He was crossing a 6 lane road and I guess couldn't be bothered with the intersection a few meters ahead. I was passing stopped traffic on the right and .. boom. I wasn't slow enough to come to a stop but slow enough nothing much happened - I guess he was fine as he took off, and I just barely kept the bike from falling over - I hit him with the front wheel so no damage. Now I know: Stopped cars = scooters coming out in-between them.

Another time I was passing a Vigo pick up on the right when a slow scooter suddenly emerged before me - he'd was apparently crossing over inches in front of the Vigo. Surprise!

And then there's the u-turn scooters - a pain in the city, hit one of these guys once with the ER-6, I was going at speed and this guy apparently didn't look in his mirrors, and just crossed over all the way from the left hand side to the right, at a pretty low forward speed, but rather abrupt side movement. Bang. My bike had minimal damage & didn't drop it, I could have just kept going but stopped of course as he'd fallen off his bike... Now I know to look out for these suicide u-turners.

This is a constant menace in Bangkok and led me to revise my opinion on the whole "Loud pipes save lives" debate.

Before moving to Thailand I thought the whole "Loud pipes save lives" slogan of the hogfats was a crock of <deleted>, seeing as how most motorists back home drive around in sound proof cars, blissfully ignorant of everything going on around them.

But here in Thailand most motorists and particularly scooter riders definitely DO listen to what's going on around them. If they hear a loud bike coming they will usually yield. If they don't hear you coming, they'll charge ahead and it's on you to try and avoid them.

[smedly]

I t-boned a guy on a scooter suddenly emerging between stopped vehicles before me. He was crossing a 6 lane road and I guess couldn't be bothered with the intersection a few meters ahead. I was passing stopped traffic on the right and .. boom. I wasn't slow enough to come to a stop but slow enough nothing much happened - I guess he was fine as he took off, and I just barely kept the bike from falling over - I hit him with the front wheel so no damage. Now I know: Stopped cars = scooters coming out in-between them.

Another time I was passing a Vigo pick up on the right when a slow scooter suddenly emerged before me - he'd was apparently crossing over inches in front of the Vigo. Surprise!

And then there's the u-turn scooters - a pain in the city, hit one of these guys once with the ER-6, I was going at speed and this guy apparently didn't look in his mirrors, and just crossed over all the way from the left hand side to the right, at a pretty low forward speed, but rather abrupt side movement. Bang. My bike had minimal damage & didn't drop it, I could have just kept going but stopped of course as he'd fallen off his bike... Now I know to look out for these suicide u-turners.

This is a constant menace in Bangkok and led me to revise my opinion on the whole "Loud pipes save lives" debate.

Before moving to Thailand I thought the whole "Loud pipes save lives" slogan of the hogfats was a crock of <deleted>, seeing as how most motorists back home drive around in sound proof cars, blissfully ignorant of everything going on around them.

But here in Thailand most motorists and particularly scooter riders definitely DO listen to what's going on around them. If they hear a loud bike coming they will usually yield. If they don't hear you coming, they'll charge ahead and it's on you to try and avoid them.

I loved your post and very true what you say, only thing is I have none stock pipes but the soundf is out the back, I honestly don''t rely on anything to do with sound, it follows you not in front

I'll say this - when you ride a bike that does 110kmph in 1st gear in less than 3 sec's it doesn't matter about how much sound you are making you just need to be aware about what is infront of you - especialy if you have big power ----

I went to phuket from pattaya with a guy riding an er6n, I never once went above 5000revs or over 1/3 throttle to stay up close to him, you guys riding er6n's need to relalise - althought a fantastic bike....respect, and i'd love to have a ride on one, when you thrrow your leg over a monster 1000cc+ superbike you are entering a whole different world, when youuuuu... are screaming in 6th gear a superbike is still in 3rd......yes 110kmph in 1st gear - 3rd gear over 200, ask anyone here who has a 1000cc + superbike

now as i said - i love the er6n and may own one soon but i may miss my power trip too much.......and this is a pissed post, I may modify when I wake up tomorrow......

14R

Edited February 14, 2012 by smedly

[Fishenough]

I loved your post and very true what you say, only thing is I have none stock pipes but the soundf is out the back, I honestly don''t rely on anything to do with sound, it follows you not in front

I'll say this - when you ride a bike that does 110kmph in 1st gear in less than 3 sec's it doesn't matter about how much sound you are making you just need to be aware about what is infront of you - especialy if you have big power ----

I went to phuket from pattaya with a guy riding an er6n, I never once went above 5000revs or over 1/3 throttle to stay up close to him, you guys riding er6n's need to relalise - althought a fantastic bike....respect, and i'd love to have a ride on one, when you thrrow your leg over a monster 1000cc+ superbike you are entering a whole different world, when youuuuu... are screaming in 6th gear a superbike is still in 3rd......yes 110kmph in 1st gear - 3rd gear over 200, ask anyone here who has a 1000cc + superbike

now as i said - i love the er6n and may own one soon but i may miss my power trip too much.......and this is a pissed post, I may modify when I wake up tomorrow......

14R

Safest advice so far.......

When I did my riding test at 17, my instructor lectured me on respective speed with regard to passing other users of the road - and this was based on the instructor amusing I would always continue to ride large displacement bikes.

Several of the accidents in this video happened in the same way Nikster discribed, the u turning vehicle or the scoot pulling out blind from a behind a vehicle.

[CMX]

Watch the video, take in Ian's latest thread, and resolve to wear full gear - or most of it for short trips.

Ignore Tony's advice unless I am as quick, competent, and purely lucky.

[BigBikeBKK]

I t-boned a guy on a scooter suddenly emerging between stopped vehicles before me. He was crossing a 6 lane road and I guess couldn't be bothered with the intersection a few meters ahead. I was passing stopped traffic on the right and .. boom. I wasn't slow enough to come to a stop but slow enough nothing much happened - I guess he was fine as he took off, and I just barely kept the bike from falling over - I hit him with the front wheel so no damage. Now I know: Stopped cars = scooters coming out in-between them.

Another time I was passing a Vigo pick up on the right when a slow scooter suddenly emerged before me - he'd was apparently crossing over inches in front of the Vigo. Surprise!

And then there's the u-turn scooters - a pain in the city, hit one of these guys once with the ER-6, I was going at speed and this guy apparently didn't look in his mirrors, and just crossed over all the way from the left hand side to the right, at a pretty low forward speed, but rather abrupt side movement. Bang. My bike had minimal damage & didn't drop it, I could have just kept going but stopped of course as he'd fallen off his bike... Now I know to look out for these suicide u-turners.

This is a constant menace in Bangkok and led me to revise my opinion on the whole "Loud pipes save lives" debate.

Before moving to Thailand I thought the whole "Loud pipes save lives" slogan of the hogfats was a crock of <deleted>, seeing as how most motorists back home drive around in sound proof cars, blissfully ignorant of everything going on around them.

But here in Thailand most motorists and particularly scooter riders definitely DO listen to what's going on around them. If they hear a loud bike coming they will usually yield. If they don't hear you coming, they'll charge ahead and it's on you to try and avoid them.

I loved your post and very true what you say, only thing is I have none stock pipes but the soundf is out the back, I honestly don''t rely on anything to do with sound, it follows you not in front

and this is a pissed post, I may modify when I wake up tomorrow......

Understand you're on the piss, but Nikster was speaking of the dangers of riding through traffic. Doesn't matter if you're on a superbike or a sonic, when filtering through stopped traffic you have to beware of scooters and pedestrians popping out from between stopped cars, and in such a situation it definitely behooves you to be heard.

FWIW you're not the only guy on this forum with a liter bike, but I'm really not sure if the old Honda Blackbird quite qualifies as a "superbike"...

[smedly]

I t-boned a guy on a scooter suddenly emerging between stopped vehicles before me. He was crossing a 6 lane road and I guess couldn't be bothered with the intersection a few meters ahead. I was passing stopped traffic on the right and .. boom. I wasn't slow enough to come to a stop but slow enough nothing much happened - I guess he was fine as he took off, and I just barely kept the bike from falling over - I hit him with the front wheel so no damage. Now I know: Stopped cars = scooters coming out in-between them.

Another time I was passing a Vigo pick up on the right when a slow scooter suddenly emerged before me - he'd was apparently crossing over inches in front of the Vigo. Surprise!

And then there's the u-turn scooters - a pain in the city, hit one of these guys once with the ER-6, I was going at speed and this guy apparently didn't look in his mirrors, and just crossed over all the way from the left hand side to the right, at a pretty low forward speed, but rather abrupt side movement. Bang. My bike had minimal damage & didn't drop it, I could have just kept going but stopped of course as he'd fallen off his bike... Now I know to look out for these suicide u-turners.

This is a constant menace in Bangkok and led me to revise my opinion on the whole "Loud pipes save lives" debate.

Before moving to Thailand I thought the whole "Loud pipes save lives" slogan of the hogfats was a crock of <deleted>, seeing as how most motorists back home drive around in sound proof cars, blissfully ignorant of everything going on around them.

But here in Thailand most motorists and particularly scooter riders definitely DO listen to what's going on around them. If they hear a loud bike coming they will usually yield. If they don't hear you coming, they'll charge ahead and it's on you to try and avoid them.

I loved your post and very true what you say, only thing is I have none stock pipes but the soundf is out the back, I honestly don''t rely on anything to do with sound, it follows you not in front

and this is a pissed post, I may modify when I wake up tomorrow......

Understand you're on the piss, but Nikster was speaking of the dangers of riding through traffic. Doesn't matter if you're on a superbike or a sonic, when filtering through stopped traffic you have to beware of scooters and pedestrians popping out from between stopped cars, and in such a situation it definitely behooves you to be heard.

FWIW you're not the only guy on this forum with a liter bike, but I'm really not sure if the old Honda Blackbird quite qualifies as a "superbike"...

mate any bike that does 110kmh in first gear in under 3secs and has a top speed of over 180mph and is still in the top 5 fastest production bikes in the world - is in my books a superbike but hardly adding to the discussion here, I guess you had to have your dig which you seem too need to do on many threads in this forum, I enjoy my BB and if I could buy a new one tomorrow I would, it's an all rounder - I can't think of any other bike that would serve me better but each to their own

this is a very useful thread and some great posts, only thing I would add is riding through city traffic it doesn't matter if you're on a honda wave or a 1000rr at sub 30kmph speeds the dangers are the same if not less on the smaller bike but on the open road riding at 120kmph+ it's a whole different ball game, I actually feel exposed and unsafe riding a small bike on a big road with faster moving traffic and regard it as highly dangerous - something to avoid

[tubber]

FWIW you're not the only guy on this forum with a liter bike, but I'm really not sure if the old Honda Blackbird quite qualifies as a "superbike"...

You might be right there Tony. Honda Blackbird was probably one of the first Hyper Bikes as they call them in the UK. Blackbirds were brilliant bikes, comfortable, reliable and quick enough for most. If I could buy a new one I would but Honda have lost the plot and I don't want a secondhand one with a dodgy book or maintained/assembled by Somchai. Probably be a classic in 30 odd years time.

[smedly]

when i bought the BB some 6 years ago the guy selling it had 3 bikes for sale, a TLS 1000 - BUSA (which had just come out) and the Blackbird, I had a very specific set of needs which ruled out the TLS and BUSA all where near enough the same price so it wasn't a consideration, the Blackbird ticked all my boxes, comfort - reliability - passenger comfort - touring resillience - low down torque - power (especially with 2 up) and many more, ((add a passenger to an er6n and you are struggling - which is my only reason I would be reluctant to buy one)), nothing else at the time would have been its equal and dare I say even now very few bikes tick all the boxes, you can call it old or whatever (last one made in 2007) but it is one hell of a bike and still has the crown for many reasons and has had the top crown of the world - I'll rest my case at that