Excerpt taken from CBS News, Oct 1, 2005 (Christian Science Monitor) This article was written by Clayton Collins. It's Day Three of motorcycle school. Forget tentative. I twist the throttle and attack the turns. Riding a 250-cc. Honda Nighthawk and wearing a training helmet as big as cartoon spaceman Kazoo's, I channel Tom Cruise in "Top Gun," racing his slick Kawasaki Ninja against an F-14 on takeoff, soundtrack blaring "[Highway to the] Danger Zone." On signal, I square up from my lean, stop, and coolly raise my visor. I wait for lead instructor John Vale to call me Maverick. "Bobblehead," he says. "But only one bobblehead that time." A smile creases his face. "Let's try for zero." "Bobbleheading" will put you in a danger zone. It breaks a cardinal rule of motorcycling: When cornering, turn your head to face your end point and lock it there. Resist the urge to glance back at the road just ahead of your front wheel or you could end up in oncoming traffic -- or against a guardrail. Instilling such good habits is the sole role of the Motorcycle Riding School at Cycles128 in Beverly, Mass. The school uses the curriculum of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF), a nonprofit in Irvine, Calif. Some 1,500 MSF-certified schools around the U.S. trained 300,000 riders last year alone. These are fast times for motorcycling. In 2003, there were 5.4 million registered cycles in the U.S. -- up 40 percent from a decade earlier, according to the Department of Transportation [DOT]. Expect interest to accelerate. An average bike achieves about 50 miles per gallon, scooters much more. And if training programs continue to rev up, look for the reversal of another statistic: While last year's overall vehicle fatality rate on U.S. highways was the lowest since record-keeping began 30 years ago, motorcycle fatalities rose 8 percent to more than 4,000, according to the DOT. Fatalities among the over-40 set have soared. http://tinyurl.com/bd8ge
I've been riding bikes off and on since the late 60's, largely self-taught (except for a driver's ed course for cars* when I first got my DL) and so probably have my share of bad riding habits. Anyone know of some good material on bike riding skills on-line? Google finds mostly info on courses and not the material itself, although I did find a few things like this: "I'm an experienced rider who attended the Basic Course because an Experienced Rider Course wasn't offered. I thought I'd be spending 2 days being told things I already knew. I was wrong, and owe my life to what Keith taught me. Before this class, I sat at intersections in neutral, relaxing while waiting for the light to change [you old heads know what I'm talking about] and never paid too much attention to my distance from the car in front of me. Keith said to be alert, in 1st gear, monitoring your rear end for threats, and with enough room to move out of harms way at an intersection. What he said made sense, and I took his advise. On July 13th 2005, at an intersection in Springfield, IL I saw a car barreling towards me and not slowing down enough for my comfort, so I moved to the right just as I heard the crunch of metal! The speeding car's driver and the driver of the car I was stopped behind were taken by ambulance to the hospital with serious injuries. The policeman who took my statement said I was one lucky rider... I didn't say anything to him, but I thought, no, I was one well trained rider. Thank you, Keith." -- http://www.ridingsafety.com/html/feedback.html Sean * The car I learned on was a 6-cyl column shift 1960 or thereabouts American Motors Rambler.
Go here http://tinyurl.com/8uwg8 http://www.msf-usa.org/index_new.cfm?spl=2&action=display&pagename=Library scroll down to Curriculum Materials Richard
