Let's face it! Most people on this board do speed and/or behave poorly on public streets. Whether it be drag race a car at a red light, punch it WAY past the speed limit on the freeway, or show off for some girls in the car next to you in traffic, the majority of us do it. These acts are inherently unsafe and they increase your chances of having an accident by an astronomical amount!! Everybody knows that a lot, if not most, of motorcycle accidents are because somebody was doing something stupid and many could have been avoided if common sense would have been used.

The cold hard fact is that you can throw all the statistics, laws, and name calling in the world at us and we are still going to do unsafe things on these bikes. Telling everybody to not speed on these bikes is WAY unrealistic so here is a realistic plan. Let's make a list, or code of conduct if you will, of things that will help you be safer while you are being unsafe.

Examples:

1) We have all had it happen. You are riding and another sportbike passes you and you decide to pace them no matter what there speed. Never get to close to a rider and/or bike that you do not know. You have no clue as to that riders skill level or the condition of the bike. Never put yourself in a position to get took out by another rider if they go down.

2) Don't race in town!! I really hope I don't have to explain this one!! WAY-WAY to dangerous!!! Save it for a place with minimal traffic.

3) Never speed through an intersection!

4) If you are opening her up on the freeway, slow down around cars. If you are doing 95+mph and they take one look in their mirror before they change lanes they can't tell how fast you are gaining on them. They only see how far away you are.

5) Know the roads you are being stupid on. Use common since!! Don't do 95mph around a corner you don't know. There may very well be a driveway or turnout. Somebody could pull right in front of you and by the time you guys see each other its to late.

6) Don't look at your speedometer to see how fast you are going when you are playing around. The only reason I have ever looked at my speedometer while playing around is to brag to my friends later. At a high rate of speed a lot can change in the second that it takes you to look down. I am sure many people have wrecked because they looked away for a split second. If you have to look at your speedometer to judge your speed into a corner, then you are to inexperienced to be playing around.

7) Always wear full gear!! If you are going to do stupid things, except the fact that one day you are going to go down. It will happen if you push you comfort zone. Minimize the the risk of injury and/or death. Don't get all messed up when you could have walked away.

8 ) Have a good life insurance plan. If you choose to do 100+mph on public streets you are increasing your odds of dying by an astronomical amount. They are pretty cheap and they will help your loved ones if, god forbid, the worst happens.


This is just a rough outline off the top of my head. I would like to know if anybody else has something to add or improve?

 

9) Never play alone!-Great call!!

10) Never Drink!!

11) Practice your stops! I still practice hard stops in empty parking lots. Stopping ASAP is a perishable skill that must be practiced!!

12) Always be planning. Leave yourself options in case somebody or something gets in your way. If you are playing in a place that doesn't leave you any options should a emergency situation come up, maybe you should not be playing there. This goes hand in hand with rule #5.

13) Make sure your bike is in good working order. Don't guess, know. Know your tires have good tread and inflated properly, know you brakes are in good working order, ect, ect.

 

14) When pulling up to a car with 2+ amount of girls in it, dont show off to much. Your bike is ment to carry one passanger!!!! Dont over do it.


Alaska, Great thread. I think everyone should read this beacuse yes, we will do stupid things and the reasons you give are almost a line to where stupid is not as bad as it could be. Perfect time to start this thread due to the warming of the weather, I will put these into effect everytime i ride.

thank you, alaska.

 

My wife & I were just talking about these types of things. We see sooo many idiot riders on a daily basis that give a bad name to those of us that are careful responsible riders.

I'll put a twist on things... When we are minding our own business & being totally careful as possible, we seem to get basically run over. However, if we move w/ traffic (speeding traffic), we tend to be ok. Example: 70 mph speed limit on interstate but traffic is moving at an 80 mph pace...we'll move w/ traffic at that pace as well. However, we don't go faster than the pace like many sportbikers do...ie, like going well over that 80 mph pace & splitting lanes thru traffic.

Where I live, splitting is legal but only up to 35 mph in a safe manner. Naturally, common-sense should be the rule.

It really seems like if we ride like we are minding our own safe business following every single safety rule, we tend to get run over...but if we move w/ traffic in a safe manner- even if a few mi over the limit, we're ok. Not that riding over the posted speed limit is necessarily unsafe but does apply to the conversation I guess.

 

Agreed. Everyone has done, will do, or is doing something like this. I'll admit to it. But there's a degree of responsibility. You have to know going 100+ that if you fall it can be game over, with no retry's. Riding with other people is tricky, if they fall in front of you, what do you do? You have to know things like this. But the best practice is trial by fire in my experience. Nervous is fine, scared no. I say go out, have fun, learn, and be safe.

 

this is good stuff, they should move this and make it a sticky for everyone to read!

 

AGREED!! Make this Sticky!!! It is important to look at these every once in awhile just as a sharp reminder!

 

Very good post guys thank you for putting this up so so true . Most of us do these things even a old fart at my age 52. Please ride safe guys

 

These are all very good advice and we all need to read and abide by them. Two that I would add is ride as if you are invisible to everyone else. If you see a car that could cause you a problem, begin to get ready to react like they aren't going to see you. Just yesterday I was out for my first ride on my new old bike and a car just about pulled out in front of me. Luckily I hit my high beam and we both hit the brakes and avoided an accident.
Second if you are out for a nice Autumn ride on a country road in the evening watch for deer. Hitting a deer even at a normal speed can cause you to have a bad day.
Following the flow of traffic is a good idea. There's a road I love to ride on with a 60 MPH speed limit. If you ride at 60 you will get run over. I always found myself at 80. I thought the speedo was off on my bike so I went to get the car and it said the same thing.
I read some posts on here about fear, fear will paralyze you when you need to make a fast decision. I think it's more about having respect for your skill level and a healthy knowledge of what can happen if you hit the ground or a car at 100+