Common Bike Mistakes

Ugarte said:

2 beers is nothing, would not hesitate one bit after two beers. Three.....well...that is pushing it for me.

Smoking while riding? My neighbor used to do that, he would pull out of his driveway on his Harley with a cigar in his mouth. He doesn't ride any more after his crash.

Loose chain? Cam or drive? Been guilty of both. More worried about the loose cam chain.

Foot dragging? I still do that from time to time....just for the fun of it.

Bald tires? Changed out many a rear tire showing chords. Its stupid I know, but I am mostly scottish and can't help it.

I have never ridden in shorts on any bike for fear of exhaust burns, but riding the Rocket in shorts is totally insane. Why not just throw your legs over a hot barbeque and be done with it?

Ride in a t shirt from time to time in the summer. I like it and accept the extra risk. ATTGATT is the most sensible, but not riding at all is even more sensible. We forget that most of the world thinks that motorcyclists are idiots, regardless of what they wear, and prime candidates for the Darwin award.

I check the tire pressure when it gets difficult to walk the bike out of the garage ( which starts at about 7 lbs low), or before a long trip. This works well for me on most bikes, but the rear tire on my suzuki intruder 800 could go down to zero without me noticing it. It wasn't flat, and rode just fine. Weird.

I don't think I would ride at all if I felt the obligation to be perfect in every motorcycle safety issue. What a hassle!

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scot in exile said:

Using just the rear brake: Thanks to education, this particular blunder is becoming rarer, so riders who still do it stand out even more. I spotted a few on the streets of Daytona. They may not be obvious every time, unless you look at their right hands as they come to a stop. They stand out, though, when they have to stop moderately hard and lock up the rear wheel, while everyone around them is making nice, controlled stops. Unfortunately, they are most obvious when something surprises them and their conditioned response keeps them from squeezing that front brake lever—and about 70 percent of their bike’s potential stopping power. Hitting a car or, worse, rear-ending the bikes in front of you wreaks havoc with your coolness quotient. Learn to make the front brake a part of every normal stop. It is good practice and might protect your legend when the chips are down.

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Steel said:

Seems the mistake might be that a guy in a skirt thinks he's going to tell me how to dress when I ride.

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TRIIICK said:

Let those who haven't locked up the rear brake cast the first stone...

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Bedifferent said:

My non full face helmet also has a clear drop down shield which I love. I solved that early morning or setting sun in the eyes problem by putting some black electrical tape on the shield just above my line sight. It blocks all of the blinding light in my vision when needed with a ever so slight drop of my head. Two other fellows I ride with have taken to the idea and wonder why they didn't think of it.

I had a slightly tinted "smoked" shield on a helmet and got caught in an unexpected pounding rainstorm one night where I had to drop it down to get home. It was miserable. Between the rain and darkness I was riding blind. No tints for me ever again. A good post covering a lot of great points.

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