Real World Riding & Tips

If you take the MSF route you will have had chance to learn and practice all sorts of moves to survive on the street. However, it's best if you try to practice these from time to time just to make sure you are on top of your game. If you did not take the MSF course, I would once again highly recommend taking it.

When riding try to keep your high beams on during the day. This will increase visibility.

Watch vehicles that can pull out in front of you. More importantly, watch their tires. Tires spin twice as fast as a car will actually move. This is a really good indicator.

If you think someone might pull out in front of you OR you just want to make sure they see you, you can counter-steer back and forth in your lane. They'll register the horizontal motion of your high beam and think twice about pulling out in front of you. (Maybe they think I'm crazy at that point? :P)

When going through an intersection, try to keep a car next to you. That way if some joker runs the red he'll slam into the car and not you.

Look both ways when the light turn green to make sure no one is barreling down towards the intersection to collide with you.

Sometimes intersections won't sense your motorcycle. The best way to combat that is to pay attention to the road as you come up to the white solid line. Usually you will see grooves cut into the road. You want to ride along the middle groove and continue until you are at or past the white line. You also want to be sure to not be moving too slowly. Practice makes perfect and you should eventually get the light to trip. Sometimes I still have difficulty with some lights, so if I am first in line, I'll pull up a good bit more and wave to the cager behind me to pull up so he or she triggers the light for the both of us. That beats sitting through another light cycle.

Maintain good care of your tires. Check your pressure often and inflate when necessary. Remember, your tires are the only thing between you and the ground. Take good care of them and they'll take care of you.

If you have no idea what counter-steering is, you need to get your motorcycle up to about 25 mph or more and then try, "Push left, go left. Push right, go right" with your handlebars. Once you have this mastered you will be able to dodge road debris a heck of a lot faster than if you did not counter-steer.