Great Tips

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  Posted by Jonesy1340 May 21, 2012 - Filed in Personal Journal - 696 views
  

  I just want to thank, whom ever thought up the idea for this site. I been riding bikes now for over 40 years. I have leanrt alot of stuff concerning bikes from alot of people. But i have learnt too that you are never too old to learn something new. I was looking today and saw a post on Cornering techniques, and went and watched the posted video. Okay it was something I was aware of.  But the dynamics of the video were actually easier to comprehend than when i first learnt about them back in 1979...I had been putting the dynamics into practice, all along, but never really understood the principles behind it.  Instructional videoes hadn't been invented back then.

  I remember this guy standing up infront of my riding course saying, ok this is how you corner a motorbike...he had an actual rim and a steel rod just like a loose axle rod passed through it...He spun the rim for effect then took hold of either end of the rod and showed the class how a motorcycle wheel looked, when it turned..and the forces applied by his hands and arms..to get it there...9 of us just sat there scratching our heads...then he invited us to copy what he had shown us with the rim and the rod....and basically that was that...by the time i got to get onto a motorcycle, my head was so crammed full of knowledge it was hard to remember which button started it.

  I think though that videos on cornering and stopping are very important stuff. Lane positioning is a real good thing to learn too.  How many of us get into blind spots of cage drivers..they can't see us at all. Most can't even see us when we are in plain sight. But blind spotting them makes it even worse. I know I do it all the time...on purpose. But thats just me. I would rather them be oblivious to my presense. For me it makes evasive action easier, as they aren't trying to assist you...cause cage drivers have so much on their plate, whilst driving...let alone adding a motorcycle into the eqation. The thing that us as riders forget, is that cage drivers not only have the traffic around them to contend with, they have to contend with remembering the words to the song they are listening too on the sterio, whilst keeping an ear out for the cell phone to ring, whilst staying in their lane and trying to pick off that piece of dust they just spotted on their pants, in that just unreachable spot, but they still have to try and nab it.  Then there's the stick gum thats fallen outa reach, and the aircon is up to high so they gotta reach for the airflow switch and tune it whilst trying to stay in their lane, and use the turn signal for the exit or street they want to turn into. Whilst looking at  road signs and posted speed limits, nice looking chicks/guys walking down the street, and cops hiding waiting to trap them...I'm not going to get onto Mom's either..as i have great respect for the moms.especailly those with schoolage kids, they deserve medals from congress, for just keeping the family saloon on the road. I tend to stay off the road around school start / finish times. Yep all in all cagers have a hard time of it out on the roads.

  I could go on and on, about young cagers , but we all know them, they look like Formula one drivers as their seats are cranked so far back they look like they are lying behind the wheel rather than sitting behind it. The only thing missing is the helmet.  Boom Boxes roaring out the latest crap music they are into...I often wonderwhy so much emphasis is placed on loud pipes on bikes..rather than boom boxes in cars. Especially the doof doof noise that comes outa them, around 3am on saturday mornings...as the go past my house.Or that air change noise, some have when they change gears.

  But getting back , to motorcycling...Yes sir this is the perfect place to cram out collective heads full of knowledge to assist us in traversing this great planet and enjoy out recreational; working activity.. so thanks again.