Safety, any experience that might prevent a spill or any road accidents.

Deer will stand alongside the road, watching you intently, calculating their crossing to precisely coincide with your arrival. Rapidly slowing before your approach confuses them, throws off their timing, and they'll usually bolt across early.

Squirrels will do the same thing, but it's more of a contest with them. Same slowdown procedure, just let him win.

Black Angus bulls will step out in the middle of the road early, and turn to face you. This is a stare-down contest. While slowing, stand up on your pegs (to appear larger), and stare back. They'll usually back down and slowly saunter to the side. If not, slowly rolling up to him, and exchanging loud grunts, should get him to move.

If it's an Armadillo, still do the slowdown thing, but don't try to swerve. They reposition themselves so you'll hit them anyway. They have the traction efficiency of a bowling ball, and if you're in the middle of a swerve, you'll just go down. Firmly grip the handlebar, knees gripping on the tank, you'll be getting some air time...

pray

2mny x XS1B's , thanks & right on !

Oh, yeah, another country tip.

Low water crossings out here present a different challenge. Summertime, they'll be coated with a green algae slime that has the friction coefficient of greased teflon.

Slow down and preplan your entry speed so that you can successfully coast to the other side, but not so fast that you're hydroplaining and showering 10 foot tall sprays. Also enter fully upright, no leaning or turning.

Pull in the clutch, no power or brake to the wheels, minimal, if any, steering corrections. Slosh thru, and continue this coasting until at least 20 feet out of the stream before releasing the clutch.

If you feel that you're going to go down in the middle of the stream, the natural reaction is to drop a foot to catch yourself. Won't work. Your foot will be swept back by the water, won't have any traction anyway, and you'll be doing the "split from hell". Best to have friends video the event, might win a prize.

I think this is similar to riding on ice, if only I could figure out what ice is...

Ice...yup. Drop on by next January 2M and we can introduce you to an icy road.

Speed. Too much thereof is the cause of most accidents. The single best thing you can do is take the MSF course. It has saved my life many times. Plus some insurance gives you a discount if you've passed the course. I could list a lot of things that you will learn there but instead will just strongly suggest you take the course. After that, the book Proficient Motorcycling is the classic and first safety book. It starts off with a guy getting his head cut off on a guard rail... Just to emphasize the need for the book.. There's a site called msgroup.org or something close that isn't very active anymore but there's a lot of stuff to read there, run by the "safety Nazi" as they call him.

One or two tips -- slow down 10 mph at an intersection if you can, it reduces your stopping distance immensely. Look both ways to avoid red light runners. I would emphasize stay away from large vehicles. They hide you completely. The classic example is you're following a truck through an intersection and the left turner waits for him to go by and runs right into you. Another thing, traffic travels in pockets -- don't get in a pocket, maintain as much space around you as possible. And oh yeah, slow down. Drive defensively and if you've had car wrecks rethink whether you want to ride or not.

Another thing worth mentioning, in your lane you actually have three lanes, left, right and center. Be where it makes you the most visible to the threats you perceive.

2M.................you're so right about deer. 6 years ago, I took the bike to go pay a bill. I'm still inside the city limits, and a deer has me lined up for the perfect T-bone. The road was 3 lanes wide, but there was no traffic at the time. I was going about 70 or 80 kms/hr, and I saw this blurr coming at me from out of the ditch. I reacted with full emergency braking of both front and rear brakes. The deer shot past in front of me, but my front wheel did strike his rear legs as he flew by. The deer was fine and I was fine as well. Still it could have been much worse.

^That reminds me of on a country road there was a big viscous dog and his two little terrier looking buddies coming at me from a yard to my right. Usually you can slow down and when the dogs get close to you speed up and it throws of their trajectory. But these were smart and just went in front of me and stood there. Don't know what I was thinking but just sped up and aimed straight at the big dog. Maybe thinking speed would keep me upright. He must have dodged at the last microsecond because I heard a whimper but never felt him hit the bike...

Great points all and just to contribute on the four-legged side...in my motorcycling career, I have hit a fox (I won), a cat (I won - but who cares...it was a cat), a bird (it won - but it did die in the process) and a large dog (it was a draw) - so watch out.

Just to be clear about the large vehicle thing - I do NOT advocate following a large vehicle through an intersection for exactly the reason wisely put forward by XJWMX above (the quick left-turning driver). What I intended to convey is:

• go through the intersection BESIDE the large vehicle.

That way - you do not have to depend on motorists noticing little old you on your little old motorcycle - instead they will be thinking about that huge truck or bus in front of them and how unpleasant it would be to hit it, or be run over by it.

Anyhow - as they used to say on the TV show Hill St. Blues: "be safe out there!"

Pete

Just stay away from large trucks, never linger near them. Been there got run over, BTGOG I survived. SOB turned left from the far right lane just as I was passing him. Another bike to my left hemmed me into a closing triangle.
Anytime a larger vehical is blocking your view look under it. A fair number of times I have averted what could have been nasty, seeing tires rolling by looking under a truck stooped at a cross street.
Don't ride in "close formation" MC groups, you are only as safe as the WORST rider and there's always one.

Of all the street/highway riding I've done over the years I've always felt most vulnerable when riding in a group of five or more bikes. Two or three in a group is a great way to travel. But the larger a group becomes the more it begins to become unwieldy. In more than fifty years of riding I've been down on the street twice. In both instances I or another in the group was distracted by what was going on around them in the group rather than staying focused on riding.

roy

Always ride with your lights on! Plan ahead. I was on the highway coming over the crest of a hill and on the other side was a giant tarp full of leaves in the middle of my lane. Luckily I was ready for it and had a place to go. Stopping was not an option.

I ride with a finger on the clutch and the brake at all times. When in traffic I keep my thumb over the horn button JIC.
I'll second what others have said, keep your head on a swivel. Be aware of your surroundings and run scenarios in your head of people doing stupid things and have a plan to get out of it.

Ok here's a What not to do for you..... Riding to town on my 1100cc honda Shadow.... a very heavy bike.... i had just came this way the day before, and i know the road like the back of my hand... been riding it for many decades...between yesterday and today I had finally finished my floorboards for the bike... so I installed them and headded to town the floor board I made on the right was hinged so it could swing up if needed , however the one on the left was not but it was allot skinnier than the other one so I didn't think it would ever touch the pavement .....
I was crusing along at about 50 to 55mph just enjoying the ride and the twisty road , I am already ahead of the bike by at least a block in my mind and all of a sudden the bike falls over on it's side and i"m sliding down the road at 50 MPH ( their 25 mph corners for cars)
i think on man , this is going to really hurt ! .... it did ! I hit the pavement on my left side and imediately started rolling lengthwise my hands slapping the pavement very very hard.... so I pulled my arms in accross my chest, pulled my legs together and waited for it to stop.... I wound up in the ditch faceing the direction i was coming from and my bike was no where to be seen ! Somewhere allong the line I lost the face-shield of my helmit. And I was in great pain from everywhere..... nothing hurt worse than my fingers so I figured using that as a guage i was ok because they wern't missing !
I got up very slowly.... looked around hunting for my bike..... i found it laying on its side next to a big pine tree I figured I better get that big monster on it's wheels while the adrinilin is flowing or I'll never get it upright..... I got it up after turning off the engine which was idling nicely... and put down the sidestand and found a rock to put under it after it tried to sink out of sight..... after checking my dammage I decided I was fine and I started checking the bike... it was banged up but nothing real bad ! ....I walked out onto the road to see what the heck happened, and I found one spot about 1" long of a gouge in the pavement...... that non folding floorboard did touch the ground !!!! that's what caused it !
a gal drives up in her car and is all panic ridden .OH my god ! are you OK ? I already called 911 for you just sit down and relax help will be here in a few minutes... I said I don't heed Help I just need a minute to get the pain level down ...... that was a lie actually as it took the rest of the day for the pain to back off a bit ..... I felt like I had been in a major blanket party with an NFL team !!!!! ..... anyway 2 days later I was riding it again but this time with the floorboard FOLDING !!!!
.....the moral of the story.... never put on foot pegs or floor boards on your bike that do not fold up in the propper direction !!!!!! (Up and back)
I mean litterally one second I was riding the next I was sliding,.... it happened in a nano second ! .... there was no time to react the bike litterally fell over !.....at 50mph with out leaving a long scrape,..... that I could have delt with..... it took a few days to fix the bike is all , but Months for me to stop hurting.... My brand new helmit was broken and my leather jacket had a few holes in it,.... and so did my gloves the finger tips were gone on both gloves ! ( index and middle finger !) . I didn't have my leather chaps on as it was a hot day.... my Copenhagen can holder had chewed through my pocket and fell out in the ditch.... and boy was it ever scratched up.... saved my ass though ! LOL
in all my years of biking that was the dumbest thing I think I ever did..... I look back at it and laugh now ...but it was not funny then !
I have drug sideplates foot pegs and sidestands before that will definately raise the hair on the back of your neck ! but it's the first time I ever had a motorcycle lay down and take a nap on me at 50mph !
hehehehe so don't do what I DID
user induced trama indeed !
LOL
Bob.........

Also... about bike saifty..... and collision avoidance !
I like to ride about 3 feet from the white line ....4 feet max.... NOT in the middle of the lane because that is the slickest part of the road even in summer.
at that placement your more visable than in the center or on the right side.....when an oncoming car comes I move to the center of the lane till their past then back out to 3 or 4 ft from the white line if trafic is heavy I usually just stay in my lane placement point ....
Yes paint on the roads is very slick... and the recessed reflectors in the freeways in California are a danger as well they can rip the handle bars out of your hands and send you flying ! dodge the recessed reflectors.... and the water drains they cut into the road are a death centance to some poor slob that has never seen them before .... they are supposed to be horozontal but here in my end of the state they can take any angle and One on the I5 freeway going to redding is really bad IN A CAR... what is it like on a bike ???
Railroad tracks are slick as snot even when dry as a bone,..... wet they are leathal !!!.... you know those bumps on the side of the freeway that are supposed to alert you if your drifting off the road if you happen to hit them at a good clip your likely to loose a filling or two !!!!!
learn to Dodge real good..... I had a Deer jump out infront of me and I almost hit her I past not 3 " in front of her she was slamming on the brakes
and I saw this blur to my left it looked really close so I ducked and hugged the gastank... a big 6 point buck jumped OVER me at about 60mph
I slowed down from 75..... but it was not near slow enough I looked back over my shoulder and the doe had fallen trying to back up so hard and was getting up the buck was still crow hopping and about 30 more deer were following him.... biggest hurd of biker killers I ever did see !
thats when i decided 75mph in deer country is just too fast ! .... LOL
if you ride long enough you will be hit by a car..... the odds are not in your favor. Carry good medical insurance because you will need it eventually !
.....
Bob.........

I'll never forget riding over a steel grate see-thru bridge. Looking down, seeing the river way down there, an eerie feeling.


Never been on one that's wet.
Sounds kinda slippery.

Anyone ever gone down on one?

Must be like a cheese grater...

The asphalt that they use to seal cracks in the road gets soft on a warm afternoon.
Grass clippings from a mowed ditch don't help traction either.

Agreed - those mesh bridges always give me the willies too. The damage from going for a slide on one those would have to be pretty bad indeed. On my ST1300 forum, one guy showed a GoPro video of his crash on one of those road repair tar strips (he called it a road snake) - the bike bobbled for a second or two and then went down like a sack of slack cement.

TwoManyXS1Bs said:

I'll never forget riding over a steel grate see-thru bridge. Looking down, seeing the river way down there, an eerie feeling.

Never been on one that's wet.
Sounds kinda slippery.

Anyone ever gone down on one?

Must be like a cheese grater...

Click to expand...

There is one of those in my old stomping ground near Lexington, Ky. The first time I came upon it I was like WTF will this be like... But been across it in all kinds of weather and it isn't slick. If it was just a sheet of steel though...

Scariest bridge that I remember was at Land Between the Lakes in western Ky which is normal pavement but narrow with low sides and there was a crosswind of the kind that wants to lift you up. Then a couple of miles later came another one just like it! Elevated roadways are wild the first time too. My first experience on one was in Austin about 5:00 am, lost on my first day to work...