'Ride Apart' lists some of the worst advice 'experienced' motorcyclist often give

[Garry]

Speaking as one who once rode into a cloud of insects at 80mph with my visor up, mmmmm... Need I say more?Sent from my GT-S7500 using Tapatalk 2

I once rode through a swarm of cicadas at night in Australia. Wasn't the impact so much, but the little bastards crawling down the inside of my gloves. I never knew until that very moment that they bite. I did this amazing impression of someone stripping of gear and stopping, all at the same time. It must have been quite amusing for road users to see some bike rider doing a spastic chicken dance on the side of the road. I never went down fortunately, but at the time if I had to make a choice of being eaten or dropping the bike, the bike loses

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[Briggsy]

More bad advice.

"You're not a real biker unless you can strip down your bike. Never done it before? Get out there and completely disassemble your braking system and then put it back together. It is straightforward."

[mic6ard]

Old rule for motorists: ATGATT (all the gear, all the time).

I flipped my Triumph over a couple years back in Spain. The bike just slid from under me in walking speed when breaking on a zebra. T-shirt, shorts, no gloves, but I had a helmet. Minimal damage to the bike (a couple of scratches, one broken signal), but I myself suffered from painful "asphalt rash" on both my knees, other thigh, hands and elbows and other shoulder. I would have avoided all of the pain if I just had my normal riding gear on.

Motorcycle + shorts + t-shirt, never again.

Like Dogpoo I can't see it! Were you on a really steep hill?

I get what koo's saying - I went to Alicante a number of years ago to visit a friend and the roads there were constantly covered in a layer of dust that transformed Macadam's finest into something resembing a sheet of glass for riding on. Saw a few holiday makers go down at very low speeds because of the tyres just losing grip on the dust and down they went - of course all wearing shorts and tee's with the obvious resulting gravel rash...

I agree with the comments earlier about the kevlar jeans though...I took a tumble a few years ago wearing a pair of those Draggin Jeans...they were ripped apart by the time the dust had settled, but they did stop me from getting ripped up. I did take out the pads though (more comfortable that way...) so had a few more bruises than I otherwise might have had... I ride with similar jeans here

That was exactly what happened to me - sheets of glass as the streets are. It was early morning, so some morning moisture added to the mix. As I said, I was approaching a zebra at an intersection, going a bit downhill, when I saw a van approaching at high speed. I was literally riding walking speed, but breaked heavily to avoid collision, and the bike just slid from under me. It stopped within 2 meters and so did I, but that drag was enough for my skin with shorts and t-shirt. With any more speed i would have hit the van and probably would not be here to report the incident...

I know what you mean. Any painted surface is slick compare to the normal road surface. I almost did the similar thing a couple of days ago while braking on the zebra crossing. almost rear ended the pick up in front. And for those who says that I was going too fast ( I know there will be), I was crawling in first gear while riding the clutch. My lesson is to avoid the painted lines if I can, they're deadly.

[Garry]

Old rule for motorists: ATGATT (all the gear, all the time).

I flipped my Triumph over a couple years back in Spain. The bike just slid from under me in walking speed when breaking on a zebra. T-shirt, shorts, no gloves, but I had a helmet. Minimal damage to the bike (a couple of scratches, one broken signal), but I myself suffered from painful "asphalt rash" on both my knees, other thigh, hands and elbows and other shoulder. I would have avoided all of the pain if I just had my normal riding gear on.

Motorcycle + shorts + t-shirt, never again.

Like Dogpoo I can't see it! Were you on a really steep hill?

I get what koo's saying - I went to Alicante a number of years ago to visit a friend and the roads there were constantly covered in a layer of dust that transformed Macadam's finest into something resembing a sheet of glass for riding on. Saw a few holiday makers go down at very low speeds because of the tyres just losing grip on the dust and down they went - of course all wearing shorts and tee's with the obvious resulting gravel rash...

I agree with the comments earlier about the kevlar jeans though...I took a tumble a few years ago wearing a pair of those Draggin Jeans...they were ripped apart by the time the dust had settled, but they did stop me from getting ripped up. I did take out the pads though (more comfortable that way...) so had a few more bruises than I otherwise might have had... I ride with similar jeans here

That was exactly what happened to me - sheets of glass as the streets are. It was early morning, so some morning moisture added to the mix. As I said, I was approaching a zebra at an intersection, going a bit downhill, when I saw a van approaching at high speed. I was literally riding walking speed, but breaked heavily to avoid collision, and the bike just slid from under me. It stopped within 2 meters and so did I, but that drag was enough for my skin with shorts and t-shirt. With any more speed i would have hit the van and probably would not be here to report the incident...

I know what you mean. Any painted surface is slick compare to the normal road surface. I almost did the similar thing a couple of days ago while braking on the zebra crossing. almost rear ended the pick up in front. And for those who says that I was going too fast ( I know there will be), I was crawling in first gear while riding the clutch. My lesson is to avoid the painted lines if I can, they're deadly.

It will improve your road craft though. It can happen on slick bitumen as well with no telltale sign like a road marking. I know it will probably never have it in Thailand, but black ice is not fun either.

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[papa al]

Speaking as one who once rode into a cloud of insects at 80mph with my visor up, mmmmm... Need I say more? Sent from my GT-S7500 using Tapatalk 2

Mmmmm. Protien.