The Art of Motorcycle Obstacle Avoidence

  by Jim Noss


We all assume a certain level of risk when we ride our motorcycles. Our main concern is usually the 4000 pound SUV crossing in-front of us at an intersection. The driver oblivious to our existence as they chat on their cell phone. That being said, another risk motorcyclists encounter is the Road Hazard. By road hazard I mean, obstacles such as, speed bumps, potholes, debris. Debris such as gravel, solid objects that have fallen off the construction truck in front of you. If that was not enough, consider road kill, now add in a freaked out deer or a kamakazi squirrel or rabbit. It makes you wonder why we ride at all. But that is another topic I will address relating to the start of it all, the book "Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance". But I digress.

Alright, having given you all the obstacle hazards you WILL encounter on your ride, how do you effectively prepare and react to such hazards. Let me take you back to school for a second and refresh you on the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's SEE method. What is see again? Search, Evaluate, Execute. If you use the searching and evaluating effectively this can help you avoid the obstacles mentioned above. Ok, class is over. Now for some real world tips.

* Practice your quick-reaction counter steering. How? Well you can go to a vacant parking lot and place some coke cans out and as you get close, practice your quick obstacle avoidence countersteer to swerve around the object without braking. The idea being that the bike is agile and can avoid an object. The alternative is to apply full-braking power and hope physics is on your side. I also will you man-hole covers for this practice. Of course in very light traffic. Keeps you fresh.

* Do not tail gate the cager in front of you. I just learned this last week. There was a 2 by 4 in the road, I was too up the guys butt in front of me for me to effectively see the board in time and hit it. All turned out ok for me, but if it were something larger or roadkill, it might have resulted in an accident. Not good. If you don't have to run over it don't. Once I hit a small piece of tin, like a flattened soda can, well all this did was kick up and scratch up my fender. Still not good. The zen of riding was kicked in so much, I forgot to look for obstacles.

* Now if you have time to react and you are unable to avoid the object, be sure to:

* slow as much as time and traffic will permit.

* approach the obstacle at a 90 degree angle. Most commonly when you encounter railroad tracks that are offset or uneven pavement.

* rise slightly off the seat and shift your weight rearward, ease off of the throttle. Why? you do not want power applied to the rear wheel when it encounters the object. Once you have the bike stable and free of the obstacle, resume seated, If it was a hard impact you should pull over and check for damage.

* For handling live critter avoidence. If you see the critter and have time to slow down, do so. Be mindful of traffic behind you. With dogs, it is best to slow, then if the dog is making a b-line for you, increase throttle and wave bye bye to bruno. For deer, this is the worse case, they are skittish giant rats with antlers -- most of them. It is best to slow as much as possible until you are past. There are several aftermarket deer warning devices you could install. I have one, it makes a high-tone like a dog whistle. Does it work? dunno, all I do know is that it is annoying. Thank God for the optional on/off switch. Funny thing is, I installed this on my cruiser instead of the ZZR1200.

* Here is a somewhat related obstacle avoidance tip, water on the painted road symbols spells disaster. I avoid these things at all cost. I also am mindful of intersections. When it rains this hits all of the dropped oil from the cars and makes for a real slick surface. So be mindful of where you put your foot down and place your tires. It is best to stay in the tire tracks to avoid the Valdez like spills. Most motorcyclists will drop there bikes in these situations. For me I went to put my foot down to park, and I encountered some cherry seeds from the nearby tree, well out went my foot, and down goes the 500 pound bike and my ego.

In conclusion, I hoped to have provided some useful tips on basic obstacle avoidence. I strongly believe it is not the number of years that you have ridden a motorcycle, it is your experience and skillful use of the machine that really matter.


About the Author
Contributing author to Cycle Solutions http://www.CycleSolutions.net http://www.KingpinCruisers.net

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