Never put your motorcycle anywhere your brain wasn't ten seconds earlier
I used that very expression with a student this afternoon
Never put your motorcycle anywhere your brain wasn't ten seconds earlier
From this, make your own decisions ..... about how YOU want to ride
I can't work you out!!!!
Not sure common sense even exists, perhaps it is made up of knowledge and experience,
I learned to ride in the 80's. I remember my first 'big' bike was a VF500FII. There was a particular bend on my way to work, (all urban, living in the Isle of dogs) and every morning, (it was winter), the roads were wet, and I'd get nearer and nearer to the parked cars on my nearside. It was a nightmare! And the more I thought about it, the worse it got, tight arms, holding my breath ....
I came across a book in smiths or somewhere called 'my first superbike' or something like that. (very 80's!!). Third or fourth chapter?? Countersteering. Whe I read it, my eyes were on stalks, and when I tried it, I realised that I'd spent the last few weeks trying to steer right on my right hand bend, and thats why I kept missing the cars by a whisker. How did I feel when the penny dropped? Angry! Really angry!! 'I've only just passed my test, why the hell didn't they tell me at the bike school?' I remember chuntering!
OK so I worked it out or myself, but only by buying a book and reading.
Within a couple of years, I was on a bigger bike and I'd got in with a crowd that were all serious petrol heads. These were the days of RGV250's, RSV 250's, Duke 851's and we'd go to Assen, Donnington, GP500's ....
I learned loads. I used to sit at the back, and pick out individual riders and see what and how they did things. Two ears, one mouth and all that. I was a sponge. And that's where I learned stuff.
Then it was Iam, Rospa, teaching, current job, blah bla blah....
Now, from time to time, I see some really good riders. And many of them have had no training what so ever. But the best riders I see, you take out and sit behind, and think, 'nice, really nice rider - wonderful road sense - turns it on when it's safe, backs off when it isn't ... lovely positioning, always in the right place at the right time...' those guys, when you get chatting to them, have nearly all invested in some sort of further training.
*Sorry Tim, just seen your reply. I gotta admit, when I was teaching, (albeit it was only 125's), I never mentioned positioning until they came back on their new 600 and did a couple of days of further 'big bike' stuff - little knowledge, dangerous thing and all that ... *
So where did you learn to ride like that Schtum ?
I know of IAM Examiners (ie Police Class 1) who will say "Use ya flippin' brakes, that's what they're there for, I don't go with all this crap about not showing a brake light"
Best diversions going south for me include..............the old A7 outta Edinburgh to Langholm way.
"THEN FUKCING GET UP TO IT, AND STOP PONCING ABOUT ON THE ROAD TRYING NOT TO SHOW A FUKCING BRAKE LIGHT...... "
For God's sake man, that's almost a motorway! There's a far more interesting route from Auld Reekie to The Muckle Toon.
Don't get this do not show a brake light bollox myself.
For God's sake man, that's almost a motorway! There's a far more interesting route from Auld Reekie to The Muckle Toon.