I always ride like "THEY" are out to get me, I weave in my lane when approaching an intersection with a waiting car, I ride with the high beam on in the daytime, I am constantly scanning and anticipating the next moron attempt on my life, On highways I ride fast and cut through traffic as it reduces my exposure to said moron's, I'll split lanes in front of a cop if I think it's the safe move on my part.
ALSO, On busy City streets I aim for the openings but I ride with the flow, and as neer to the speed limit as possible, I get tired of listening to some of the local morons crying like little girls because some Snow Bird pulled out in front of them (Nearly killing them) when they were traveling at about 85mph in a 45 zone... It's works both ways folks, and I see and hear it a lot riders "boohooing" cause they keep getting cut off, keep having close calls and not having the ability to accept the responsibility of their their own high velocity causing the close call or the accident... If the speed limit is 35-45 and your traveling 85 when the lil ole' lady whips her Crown Vic in front of you it's important to realize you have to share at least 80% of the blame. The abilities of the modern sport bike are so far beyond the understanding and expectations of your average cager that it does become our responsibility to account for this. I know I can leave from a dead stop and hit 80 within a short city block, the cager up ahead cannot even put that into perspective, especially when you only have that single point of light coming at you, so out they come, realizing too late that you are flying and there is nothing they can do about it...so remember our safety is 99% up to us.
A few of Rev's Favorite survival techniques:
-Never stop centered behind the car in front, be off to the side and back far enough that you have an easy and ready escape route if someone isn't going to make the stop behind you, especially true in rush hour and on the Interstates. Keep your bike in gear, watching your mirrors until you are certain that the two or so cars behind are slowing as well.
-Even if your relying fully on engine braking while stopping use your brake just enough to activate your brake light, this is also true when you have someone following you in the twisties...
-Loud pipes don't do bobo for safety, don't believe otherwise, they sound good but all the uh "safety Noise" is behind you...
-Identify blindspots of the cagers and stay out of them.
-Keep your head in your ride, don't be thinking about other crap, be on the bike and be alert, besides your out riding as a choice it's supposed to be fun, so focus and don't let the days BS get into your head.
-Practice panic braking at least once a week, I mean grabbing a fistful of front brake and drive the front end through the asphalt like there is a hottie holding a fourty Z and $100 bill waiting.
-Practice emergency lane changes...This is a lot of fun actually, as fast as you can, get out of your lane over to the other lane and back again... I mean really get it over and back like your life depends on it...cause it just might. In a panic situation you will react out of habit, out of training and reflex, if you haven't practiced full effort emergency braking or hardcore quick side to side lane changes etc, you set yourself up to get stomped like a bug. The Hurt report showed an amazing number of motorcyclists that did absolutely nothing when confronted with an emergency...yup, they rode straight into the problem without any braking or attempts at stearing intput...basically they froze, SR's took over, and they had no plan...so practice avoiding air and them darned dangerous white dashed lines...
-Dont get sucked into doing anything your not comfortable doing by friends, especially in a pack on the Busa... your on THE big bike, folks expect big things sometimes.
-Keep your bike in top condition at all times, good brakes, tires, chain adjusted properly, everything adjusted to fit you. Let your tires and motor always come up to temp before playing rough...especially tires.
-Trust no one, assume nothing. Remember, when you make an assumption you make an ASS out of you and Umption!
-Oh did I remember have fun?
I could go on for hours...
and hours...
AND hours...
