bikegirl.co.uk - Riding tips

Riding Faster and Safer

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Also take a look at the Pointers for New Riders

Looking ahead
Bikers have to concentrate much harder on their surroundings than car drivers. There's no doubt about it, we are more vulnerable on 2 wheels. We need to look out for potholes, diesel, gravel, mud, white lines, black overbanding, road kill - all of which can cause lack of tyre traction. Add that to car drivers who "didn't see you, mate" then you might think superhuman efforts are needed. Not so. You have to keep alert at all times and there may be occasions of "system overload" but generally following a few rules will help to keep you out of trouble.
Never look at the road just in front of your wheel unless you are stopped or moving at a very slow speed. You should always be planning your next move by concentrating 20 to 100 yards in front of your, dependant on your speed. The only thing that's going to change on the road just in front of you is something fast like an animal dashing across your path and that'll catch your attention anyway.
Good eyesight is a very important part of this and if yours is slightly suspect then consider that glasses, contact lenses or laser correction are far better than risking your life.
When cornering don't look at the corner as you're going round it - always look past the corner to plan your next move. When approaching a corner you should be looking at the vanishing point (next topic).
NEVER LOOK AT AN OBSTACLE! As Keith Code points out in his "A Twist of the Wrist" guides, you will always follow where your eye takes you. If you look at a stone in the road you will ride over it. If you're on a track and the rider in front takes a dive you need to tear your eyes away otherwise you're likely to follow off track. It's a natural reaction to fixate on an obstacle, but the way of getting past it is to look away and concentrate on a exit point which forces you around the obstacle. Of course if a car pulls out in front of you you may not have much luck but it's still worth a go.

Changing gear
Smooth gear changing is a sign of being comfortable and confident with your riding. Having said that, after many years of experience it's still normal (for me) to be clunky a few times in a ride, so don't worry if you don't get it right!
The two things you can master are:
Blipping the throttle to smooth your gear down changes
Clutchless gear changes - great for track days
Find a clear long road to try these techniques out.

Try blipping the throttle first - close the throttle, pull the clutch in and open the throttle quickly by about an eight of a turn, then return it to idle and open the clutch again. You may get a slightly juddery response from the bike since you haven't changed gear, but don't worry about that. Try that a few times to get the feel for a quick right hand movement and coordinating it with pulling the clutch in.
Now try the above steps but change gear down just after the throttle blip. You should find that the transition between gears is much smoother than without the throttle change. This means that if you carry a pillion regularly, the clashing of helmets will become a less frequent occurrence. You need to get the hang of this for a good few hours or days until you're very comfortable with the change before you try it clutchless....

OK, so practice done and you're ready for the next step - clutchless changes. Be very careful at each stage of a clutchless change because you are risking damaging your gearbox. It's well worth the effort though, so if you find it's not working just go back a step until you're ready to move on again.
On gear up changes close the throttle and change up with the clutch as normal. Then move on to only pull the clutch in a little, gradually easing off until you're just touching the clutch. If you can get the hang of this you're ready to keep your hand off the clutch completely - even waving at your mates as you kick up a gear to show just how cool you really are (only to find they're concentrating so hard on their own riding that they didn't notice!). If you get it wrong then just go back a step and persevere.
DO NOT TRY GOING DOWN GEARS without the clutch until you feel you are an advanced rider and have absolutely mastered the art of clutchless up changes. You should not attempt a clutchless gear down change without blipping the throttle.
Clutchless down changes are a combination of blipping the throttle and the clutchless up change - so practice these two techniques until you are comfortable before combining them.

NOTE1: A warning in for riders of twin cylinder engine without slipper clutches - a clutchless downchange on a Firestorm without getting the revs just right = rear wheel lock. You must practice first and find out the limitations of your bike and yourself.
NOTE2: Braking and blipping the throttle at the same time isn't difficult - use your first 1 to 3 fingers for the front brake and the rest to turn the throttle. Also, if you have a large engine, you'll probably find that you use engine brake more than you use disk power so it won't be an issue.

Smooth throttle action
Throttle control is a hard one to master but will improve your riding and cornering ability. If you snatch at the throttle and the brakes you are putting the whole supsension of the bike under pressure and thus reducing your handling capabilities and safety margins. When cornering you need to plan ahead and adjust to the correct gear, speed and throttle before you reach the "turning in" point of the corner.

Counter steering
If you ride a bike round corners then you are already counter steering, but you just may not be aware of it. Next time you corner concentrate on the pressures you are applying with your hands. You'll find that to lean right into a roundabout or right hand corner you are pushing with your right hand. This turns the front wheel slightly to the left - not what you'd expect to get round a right bend. To turn this knowledge into smoother and more effective riding you need to think about pulling on the left bar to go right. Make sure your body is in the correct position just as you would normally turn, in fact initially don't make any changes other than to concentrate on pulling the left bar. Try circling a roundabout slowly and thinking about the pressures, making slight adjustments as you go around. You'll be amazed how a slight pull on the bar will drop the bike into a turn. This is how racers manage to wrestle a bike through a set of S-bends - if they just relied on weight they probably wouldn't make it round the corners at the speeds they do.
As with any new technique, practice makes perfect. Try getting to the point where you hardly have to think about it and you'll find your corners becoming smoother.
Counter steering is an invaluable technique to master for getting out of trouble if you've gone into a corner too fast or you find a corner tightening up unexpectedly. Instead of hitting the brakes (which will force the bike into the vertical and really muck up your corner), pull on the opposite bar and go with it.

Riding in adverse weather conditions
You can be a fair weather biker or an all-year-rounder, but if you are the former then just be aware that there's bound to be a time that you get caught out by the rain or you stay too late at friends and end up riding in the dark. Don't abandon your bike on these occasions - riding in poor weather conditions isn't too hard. You should avoid snow, ice and high winds wherever possible but rain and dark are perfectly feasible. You just need to concentrate that bit harder just as you would do if driving a car in adverse conditions. Slow your riding down and keep the lean angles down too to allow for poorer traction in the rain. Take extra care if you're running "sticky" tyres - they won't grip as well in the wet as normal road tyres.
In wet conditions you may want to favour the rear brake a little more than in dry conditions... although this is a relatively contentious issue.
Try the “smooth smooth smooth” mantra:

Don’t snatch at any of the controls

Brake earlier and smoothly – once the initial weight transfer due to brake application has happened, the front tyre will have good contact with the tarmac and you can brake quite hard, but you have to apply it smoothly to allow the tyre to disperse the water.

Same with throttle – apply smoothly. If the rear tyre does slide, don’t p**h yourself. Keep constant throttle (or maybe throttle off smoothly) – you’ll most likely be alright.
It may feel odd but hanging off is good in the wet (if you’re comfortable with it) – it keeps the bike more upright and therefore gives you more grip.

Lights on or not?
It's a much argued point. Should we keep our headlight on (dipped) all the time to improve visibility or will that confuse other road users since your headlight will tend to flicker.
I certainly recommend having your headlight on all the time. If you watch other bikers you'll see how much more visible you are. You can improve your visibility with high-vis clothing such as flourescent bibs (urgh!) and armbands, bright leathers and a colourful helmet. Make your own decision but take a look at a biker clothed in black on a black bike with no headlights on... and think about the risks.

If you need to know something and it isn't covered here, please complete the form and we'll add it to the list. You'll be helping other ladies by telling us!

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