Riding a motorbike is a blast. As one person put it, “It’s the closest thing to flying while still being in the ground.” Remember to do yourself these six huge favors:
Favor #1: Attend a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course. There is no better way to get calibrated to the practical realities and core skills of riding motorbikes in the wild (i.e., on streets.) You get clasroom instruction, you get riding instruction in a large parking lot on little 250cc machines. Pass the written and field tests, and you get aninsurance discount and the DMV road test is waived (at least in NY.)
Favor #2: Wear good gear. My hide got saved in a crash by full leathers, a full-feace helmet, and sturdy motorbike boots and gloves. You might look (and feel) cool riding in shorts, t-shirt and sneakers, but both you and your passenger need to acknowledge the wider risk envelope you accept when riding a motorbike, and prepare acordingly. Dress for the crash, even though you ride to not crash. There’s plenty of good, cheap and effective hot-weather gear out there: Please suit up so I dont have to read about you in the paper. And, no: Plain old jeans will likely not save you from road rash. If you’re not going to wear mesh crash pants over your jeans, at least wear a pair of Kevlar-reinforced jeans.
Favor #3: Don’t play Russian Roulette in traffic. Riding wheelies, weaving through traffic and splitting lanes at high speed on the Interstate are all just other forms of Russian Roulette. Why? Because not only do you increase the liklihood that something will go horribly wrong, but you leave all your safety margins behind in your rush to the edge. When Edna swerves into your lane to avoid the Chevelle differential that fell off the truck in front of her, and you happen to be up on your rear tire, or splitting between Edna’s car and Frank’s panel van, what are you going to do? If you want to go fast, do it where you won’t endanger others and you’re likely to walk away from a crash: go do a track day. If you want to stunt, do it where it won’t put you in a position to be killed: go to a parking lot, long private drive or abandoned strip of roadway.
Favor #4: Keep your motorbike in good repair. Check the tire consition and pressure every time you ride; you have only two tires, so tire condition is far more critical than on a car. If you do your own wrenching, buy the service manual for your bike. In any case, honor all service intervals for oil changes, filter changes, greasing and lubrication, valve setting, inspections, etc. Component failures can lead to more hair-raising moments on motorcycles than for automobiles. You’ll also get bummed out if your favorite ride develops problems – especially if they’re problems that maintenance could have prevented.
Favor #5: Absolutely, positively don’t drink and ride. In a study of the number of perception and control events that a person must do each minute of controlling different vehicles, the #1 spot went to piloting a helicopter. The #2 spot went to piloting a motorcycle. It’s not that riding a motorcycle is an impossibly complex task: it simply requires an active mind perceiving a lot of sensory feedback, making the appropriate control decisions and then executing those controls accurately. Guess what even a little bit of alcohol messes with: perception, decision and control. And the margin of error for operating a motorcycle is slimmer that that of operating a car. So be smart: when you’re riding your motorcycle, you have to be the designated driver.
Favor #6: Have a blast. I’n not here to douse the fires of your interest; I just want you to be smart in managing the risks so you can lead a long and adventurous life. Look, if you decided you want to skydive, you would consider the risks square-on, right? You would learn about the importance of packing a parachute carefully, and for skydivers to inspect each other’s handiwork. You would learn and practice all the rules established for safety. And you’d have a blast each time you jumped out of that plane, rode a column of air and popped that canopy open above you. Well, it’s the same with motorcycling: understand and accept the risks, always do your best to mitigate them, and enjoy the ride.
