Keep your controls covered while riding on the street

[Motofool]

http://www.sportrider.com/features/1...e_maintenance/

"It may sound a bit cliché-ish to tout mental and physical preparedness before riding a motorcycle, but when it come to riding on the street, your survival may depend on it."

[akima]

Why do motorcross riders slip the clutch on the way out of a corner?

[Blystr842]

Better launch out of the corners.

[Motofool]

http://www.promocycle.com/documentat...freinage_a.pdf

[akima]

Originally Posted by Motofool

http://www.promocycle.com/documentat...freinage_a.pdf

Interesting.

[Motofool]

"Another technique that has saved me countless times on the street is mentally planning escape routes as I ride............The biggest benefit of mentally planning escape routes is that when an incursion into your path does happen, you’re not only prepared for it, but the chances of you target-fixating on the hazard (the main obstacle to avoiding a collision in most traffic accidents in my opinion) are greatly reduced because you’ve already visualized the situation."

http://forums.superb...p?showtopic=579

"If you think what I am saying is: you have to push through the fear barriers to get to clean riding, you are right; but the push comes after the understanding of where your attention should or should not be focused.

.........There are basic principals to riding. What you ride doesn't change them. Where you ride doesn't change them. How fast you ride doesn't change them. They are what they are: they are not based on my opinions about them, they are based on well defined and easily understood basic principals you will understand.

.........It has taken 30 years of devoted time and attention to separate the important from the unimportant and to figure out ways we can trick ourselves into giving up the resist-error-resist-terror way of doing things in favor of the focus-flow-focus-go mode............." - Keith Code

[akima]

Originally Posted by Motofool

"focus-flow-focus-go"

I like

[JohnnyBravo]

Great read an info

[Boom King]

Interesting concept about always riding with your controls covered. In our safety course years ago, we were told not to because as beginners we were prone to panic. Covering the brakes and having a beginner panic can be a dangerous situation. Possibly equally counter-productive; having a lack of control or experience and going over an unexpected obstacle with a jolt while covering the brake can also put you in a bad spot. Once a rider becomes more acquainted with that front brake, covering it while riding at high speeds could be prudent.

I don't cover my brakes because I don't have large hands and doing that for an entire ride is straining. As a compromise, I will cover my front brake when I approach a situation where I think I might need it and there is no escape route. Helps keeps me alert as if I'm going to cover the front lever, I'm also usually rolling off the throttle a bit. The rear brake on the 250 locks ups so easily that I only use it and cover it at slower speeds.

[Panda]

Originally Posted by Boom King

I don't cover my brakes because I don't have large hands and doing that for an entire ride is straining.

Adjustable levers might help you out.

[Boom King]

Originally Posted by Panda

Adjustable levers might help you out.

I hear you. One of the items on my to-mod list.

[antiant]

Originally Posted by Motofool

"Another technique that has saved me countless times on the street is mentally planning escape routes as I ride............The biggest benefit of mentally planning escape routes is that when an incursion into your path does happen, you’re not only prepared for it, but the chances of you target-fixating on the hazard (the main obstacle to avoiding a collision in most traffic accidents in my opinion) are greatly reduced because you’ve already visualized the situation."

Agreed and to add... this is basic defensive riding and or driving 101. I already do this when I'm driving in my car, as it is a habit for me and something that comes natural. Also, to take this tangent and stretch it into a "bigger picture" scenario, you could also apply this philosophy and or "hypersensitivity/hyper awareness" to not only riding or driving, but life in general, or any relationship that implies cause and effect. It's called being intuitively aware of your surroundings. When you are aware in such a way, you're able to pick-up the signs much quicker and are able to react quicker because of those subtle signs. This can apply to martial arts, driving, Debbie Downers at work (aka drama queens), or any encounter you do not want to be apart of. It's taking control in your own hands, by covering all your bases, finding the vulnerabilities and figuring out how to overcome them (self-sufficiency), so that the impact is not as detrimental, or has little effect on you. It's amazing what you can control when you have awareness of a given situation.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by antiant

........It's called being intuitively aware of your surroundings..........

Excellent post, antiant !!!
I also cover the brake pedal of my wife's car each time I cross a traffic light on green.

Covering the controls (no permanently but according to the traffic situations) save us almost one second of reaction time.
A mental state of quiet awareness (in-the-zone, as Lee Parks calls it in his book Total Control) may save us from a bad crash.

If one looks close, it becomes evident that the very source of many traffic accidents, involving single or multiple vehicles is the absolutely opposite attitude: distraction.

Excluding drugs and alcohol, the reasons to be distracted and partially isolated from the surroundings, visually and mentally may be: worries, anger, cell phone talking, fears, discomfort (pain, cold, hot), day-dreams, etc.

The results are always the same: tunnel vision, impaired recognition of danger and delayed mental processing and reaction.

We ride in an ocean of distracted drivers, who are not responsible for our safety (yes, only we are); hence, we cannot afford to ride distracted.

At least, most drivers around us are anxious and constantly thinking about their financial, work and family problems with no other reason or passion for driving than moving from A to B as quickly as possible.
At worst, some drivers are not even looking forward.

Unfortunately, that mental uneasiness also affect riders, especially inexperienced and young ones, who ride partially distracted at times.
That distraction is evident in many of the motorcycle's crash videos that we watch, where reaction time and response are very poor.

This study explains the complicated processes that happen inside the distracted brain (it is targeted for cell phones, but it is applicable to any other distraction, IMHO) and why so many drivers look directly at us and still their brains don't "see" us:

http://www.nsc.org/safety_road/Distr...te%20Paper.pdf

"Multitasking is a myth. Human brains do not perform two tasks at the same time. Instead, the brain handles tasks sequentially, switching between one task and another. Brains can juggle tasks very rapidly, which leads us to erroneously believe we are doing two tasks at the same time. In reality, the brain is switching attention between tasks – performing only one task at a time.

The brain not only juggles tasks, it also juggles focus and attention. When people attempt to perform two cognitively complex tasks, the brain shifts its focus. Important information falls out of view and is not processed by the brain. For example, drivers may not see a red light. Because this is a process people are not aware of, it’s virtually impossible for people to realize they are mentally taking on too much.

Brain researchers have identified “reaction-time switching costs,” which is a measurable time when the brain is switching its attention and focus from one task to another. Longer reaction time is an outcome of the brain switching focus. This impacts driving performance.

Brains may face a “bottleneck” in which different regions of the brain must pull from a shared and limited resource for seemingly unrelated tasks, constraining the mental resources available for the tasks.

During the vast majority of road trips, nothing bad happens, as it should be. But that also can lead people to feel a false sense of security or competency when driving. Drivers may believe they can safely multitask; however, a driver always must be prepared to respond to the unexpected.

Inattention Blindness – Vision is the most important sense we use for safe driving. It’s the source of the majority of information when driving. Cognitive distraction contributes to a withdrawal of attention from the visual scene, where all the information the driver sees is not processed. This may be due to the earlier discussion of how our brains compensate for receiving too much information by not sending some visual information to the working memory. When this happens, drivers are not aware of the filtered information and cannot act on it.

Distracted drivers experience inattention blindness. They are looking out the windshield, but do not process everything in the roadway environment necessary to effectively monitor their surroundings, seek and identify potential hazards, and to respond to unexpected situations. Their field of view narrows. The danger of inattention blindness is that when a driver fails to notice events in the driving environment, either at all or too late, it’s impossible to execute a safe response such as a steering maneuver or braking to avoid a crash."

[Motofool]

http://www.sportrider.com/riding_tip...he_rear_brake/

"On the street, the rear brake can be used more effectively simply because you’re using less braking force and consequently there is more weight on the rear tire to use for braking traction. Notice in Figure 2, for example, that there is rarely less than 100 kilograms of weight on the back tire, meaning the rear tire is still planted to the tarmac. Using the rear brake in this occasion will therefore have a greater influence on the bike’s handling characteristics.

The rear brake is one of the most misused controls on a motorcycle, which is why it’s important to better understand its benefits in different situations. Accustom yourself to your binder’s performance by using it first in a controlled environment, and then use it accordingly on your next outing. Proper application will undoubtedly make you a safer rider both on the street and at the track."

[Motofool]

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by akima

slip the clutch on the way out of a corner?

if the carbs choke and the bike misses, if the clutch is slipping, it is a non-issue, whereas if it is fully engaged the rear tire slides and then catches hard. if the clutch is slipping and you slide the rear, when it grabs its less violent also. plus if you already are using the clutch, modulating the clutch in or out just a bit more becomes an option.

[Motofool]

[liberpolly]

After accidentally bumping my foot on brake pedal on a road bump, I am not covering it anymore. There is no urgency in rear braking. I am covering my front brake lever, though.

What's the point of covering clutch lever on 4-stroke bikes?

[lgk]

imo covering the rear brake is based on the situation.
if the bump is deep enough for that to happen, you should swerve around it or stand on the pegs.