Riding in the Rain – I personally will not ride motorcycles in the rain unless I absolutely have to! It is flat out dangerous and not recommended under any circumstances. Even slow speed turns in the rain can cause your rear tire to slide out from under you and cause an accident. At high speed the hydroplaning (water between your tire and road) is even worse. Furthermore if it has not rained in your area for a while, the rain will bring up the oil on the road that has built up during the dry season and cause the road to be even slipperier.
I have ridden through thunderstorms in the deserts of Arizona, downpours and hail in San Francisco, massive downpours in Durango Colorado, and bad weather all over the country. I always recommend that you get off the road as quickly as possible and wait for the Storm to pass. If this is not possible, slow down, and be very careful in turns or curves. Do not make any sudden movements if you are riding in the rain.
Do not let your friends or peers pressure you into riding in conditions which you know are not safe. It’s better to go home safe and unhurt than spend a month in intensive care at the hospital, or an eternity in the grave just to prove to your friends that you have to guts to ride in bad weather conditions!
Big Rig Trucks / Sand and Trash Haulers – As you probably already know, riding behind a Sand and Trash Big Rig is not fun, especially if you are not wearing a jacket or full face helmet. These types of trucks spew out sand, grit, and yes, trash. It can not only be a painful experience, but if the sand gets into your eyes it gets even worse, especially if you are riding at 65mph and cannot open your eyes. I recommend that you do not ride behind these types of trucks because it is not safe. I have seen metal shards fly off of trash haulers. One narrowly missed my head.
Take my hundreds of thousands of miles of riding experience to heart. I have experienced these conditions, and I am now passing it on to you. Get past these pest as quickly as possible.
Beware of anything on the road – As I stated above, we were riding on the freeway about 1.5 seconds behind a car in front of us when a mattress appeared on the road. On that day I do not believe that we left enough of a safe distance between the car and our pack to maneuver around any road debris that popped up under the car. We were lucky.
Always keep your eyes open for any hazards, and always keep a safe distance between you and a rider or car in front of you. I consider a safe distance to be at least 3 seconds or more. The more distance, the better.
DO NOT TAILGATE, especially on a motorcycle.
Other Vehicles “The Cager”
Ahh, the ubiquitous cager. (persons who are driving in cars or other motor vehicles) The cager is the most dangerous “thing” to a motorcycle rider. The vast majority of motorcycle accidents are caused by negligent cagers.
It’s usually the same story; “the cager did not see the motorcycle.”
I feel that most motorcycle accidents involving a car versus motorcycle, are caused by the person driving the car displaying a wanton and reckless disregard for the rights of the motorcycle rider to be on the road. In some cases cagers intentionally swerve towards motorcycle riders for whatever sick reason they have.
The cager is a dangerous animal. When you’re riding your motorcycle you must act as though the cager does not see you, or know that you’re there. Do everything that you can to avoid riding directly next to a cager because you never know if they are going to switch lanes right into you.
The cager is unpredictable and dangerous. Cars and Trucks are much more bigger than your motorcycle. No matter how big and tough you are, a 5 foot grandma is much tougher than you, when you are on a motorcycle and she is in a car.
Most accident cases involving cages occur in street intersections, and usually involve the cager making a left hand turn right in front of you. Always keep your headlights on, even during the day. You want to do everything possible to MAKE the cager see you. When you approach an intersection and you see that a cager is anxiously waiting to make a left turn in front of you, do not be afraid to sound your horn or flick on your high beams. I do this all of the time. Its better to error on the side of caution than end up in the emergency room or in the morgue.
When approaching an intersection anticipate that the cager will turn in front of you and visually plan in your head what you will do just in case they actually do. Motorcycle riders must use defensive and offensive riding to protect themselves against cagers. I cannot even count the number of times that a cager has made an unsafe turn in front of me.
Whatever you do, always approach every intersection with caution. You should not be riding so fast that you cannot survey the cross streets for persons who may run a stop sign or a red light. I always look at the cross streets when approaching an intersection for cagers who look like they are about to blow through the red light.
Many motorcyclist are injured when their rear ended at intersections by cagers. As a matter of fact many cars rear ended as well.
I always recommend that when you come to a stop at an intersection that you keep your motorcycle in gear just in case you need to start rolling again quickly if you notice in your rearview mirror that you might be rear-ended.
Always survey your rearview mirrors while stopped at an intersection, for a Cager that looks like he is not going to stop. Do not be afraid to move your motorcycle out of the way. While stopped, survey your surroundings and try to formulate in your mind an escape route just in case you have to take evasive maneuvers.
This may seem like a lot to take in, however after you have ridden your motorcycle for a time, it will become like second nature. Motorcycle riders must be vigilant to protect their own safety.
With respect to lane splitting, (riding in between cars who are in two different lanes which is legal in the state of California) do not go too fast. The bottom line is that although lane splitting is legal in the state of California, it is flat out dangerous, and requires vigorous concentration to be successful. I cannot tell you how many times my backseat rider freaked out while I was lane splitting, even to the point of screening for me to stop.
There is not much room to maneuver in between two cars while lane splitting. Furthermore, there is even less room to maneuver with all of the big SUVs on the road nowadays. Big rig trucks, buses, and campers further decrease the room you have to maneuver. You must anticipate that the cars will not see you when you are lane splitting. You must anticipate that any time a car can either swerve towards the lane that you are splitting, or even switch lanes into your path. You must not be going so fast as to not be able to stop in case any of the above occurs.
I do not recommend lane splitting for new riders, or for persons who have not mastered their motorcycles. I have ridden for many years, and often times while lane splitting come to within 1 inch of a car’s rearview mirror. I have even clipped a couple of rearview mirrors while lane splitting.
One wrong move in either direction can ruin your day. Another obstacle to worry about while lane splitting are the lane dividers themselves. In California there are different types of lane dividers in between lanes. The most common divider are round raised reflective bumps, that you will need to ride over while lane splitting. Try to stay off of these bumps as much as possible. The bumps will not only give you a very bumpy ride, but they can also cause you to move your front tire just enough to cause you to hit a car. Lane splitting takes a lot of practice to master, and even then it’s not completely save.
I lane split when the traffic is bad so I am not going to recommend that you don’t Lane split. My only recommendation is that if you are going to Lane split be very careful. Lane splitting requires 100% concentration on the part of a motorcycle rider.
Riding in a Pack
Oftentimes you may want a ride with your friends, clubs, or other motorcycle riders in a pack. Unless you know the person so you’re riding with, and their habits, you must be very careful. Even if you do know your friends riding habits, you must be careful.
I am not going to go into a dissertation on biker hand singles for riding in a pack in this article. There are many places on the Internet that will show you all of the recognized hand signals used by motorcyclists in a pack. When you ride in a pack make sure you use the hand signals at all times.
Unlike riding by yourself, pack riding can be extremely dangerous because you have motorcycle riders in front of you and to the rear of you, and often times safe distances are not observed. Pack riding involves placing your trust in all of the other motorcyclist in the pack. One wrong move by any rider in the pack can literally take out the whole pack.
Many of you have probably been on poker runs, or at biker events, where you ride with a whole bunch of motorcycle riders that you do not know. Although it’s fun to ride with a group of other riders, you must assume that the other riders are either amateurs, or weekend riders, unless you know them.
I have personally witnessed many bike on bike rear-ender accidents, and crashes at biker events. I have also witnessed riders swerve into other riders, and take them out. I have also witnessed riders take turns too wide or fast and crash their motorcycles, or be hit by incoming cars. When I am running with a group of strangers I always like to stay in the back and at a safe distance, just in case.
I was once riding with a gal who had her own motorcycle. We made a left-hand turn from one major street to another. Since I was in the left position, I was leading the ride. After making the left turn, I then put on my right hand blinker and gave a hand signal that I intended to pull into a bank parking lot on the right hand side. Instead of watching my movements, and accelerating slowly through the turn, the gal accelerated way to quickly and did not give herself time to react. When she saw my signal, she panicked, locked up her brakes, and crashed her motorcycle. This accident would not have happened had the gal kept a proper distance, and not accelerated like a mad woman out of the turn. Had the gal not crashed her motorcycle, she would’ve most certainly crashed into me.
There are three types of pack formations: (1) Side-by-side; (2) Staggered; (3) Free-for-all. I highly recommend that all pack rides be done in a staggered formation, because it is the safest formation for pack riding.
A staggered formation is where one person is on the left part of the lane, then the person behind him is riding about 1 or 2 seconds behind on the right part of the lane, then the person behind him is riding 1 or 2 seconds behind him on the left part of the lane and so on. There are many websites which give examples of these formations.
The staggered formation should only be done when it is safe. If your pack gets onto a small country road or in mountain twisties, the pack should switch to a single file formation. That is one person rides behind the other and so on.
My opinion is that the two safest places to be on a pack ride is either in the back or in the front! They both have disadvantages but the disadvantages are substantially outweighed by the dangers of actually being in the middle of the pack.
If you are in the front of the pack you will be able to see all road obstacles and debris in front of you, so you will be able to avoid them. However, if you have to brake hard, there is a very good chance that the riders behind you will rear end you. I have lead many pack rides. There is nothing worse than the sound of tires screeching behind you when you slow down or stop!
If you are in the back, you can keep a very safe distance from the rest of the pack. If there is an accident you should be able to stop in time before you hit your fellow riders. The bad part about being in the back is that you cannot see the road conditions in the front of you. If the pack is doing proper hand signals, they should be pointing to rocks and other debris on the road before you get to it, but nonetheless you will not see it until you are right up on it unless you are keeping a good safety buffer between you and the pack. Another disadvantage to being in the back is that if you are not keeping a safe distance, and a rider goes down in front of you, you may not have enough time to avoid the rider, and you may crash into him or them. One other disadvantage to being in the back is that you will be eating everyone else’s exhaust fumes, hearing their loud exhaust, and eating oil if someone has a leak. However, a good aspect about being in the back is that everyone else should clear the bugs and air debris before you get to them.
I prefer to ride in the back at a safe distance. I have seen too many rear ender bike on bike accidents. For me the back is best. You will have to choose what is best for you.
Pack rides can be awesome, and they can be deadly. Exercise caution at all times!
Train your Passenger
Yes, a passenger needs to learn how to be a passenger on a motorcycle. I have experienced many instances where passengers on the back of my bike have almost caused me to go down, dangerously distracted me on rides, and have damaged my bike.
Get On and Off the Bike and Foot Placement – The first thing that you need to teach a passenger is how to get on and off the bike, and where they should put their feet. I usually help my female passengers (my fiancé for the past 5 years) to get on and off the bike by lifting their leg over the bike, because I hate it when they kick your tank or chrome and mess up your detail work or scratch your paint.
Do not assume that a passenger knows how to get on and off the bike, or where to place their feet just because they appear to be biker gals or guys, or brag about how many times they have ridden on the back of bikes. I know from first hand experience that many times they have no clue and are just trying to impress you.
Do Not Remove Feet from Pegs – The second thing you need to stress to your passengers before you ride is that they should not remove their feet from the pegs or floorboards under any circumstances until you stop, put your kickstand down, and tell them to get off. My fiancé and I have been riding together for so long now that it is automatic.
