This Happens Every Time I Ride (VIDEO)

[WingAdmin]

   Never miss a video: Subscribe to the GoldwingDocs YouTube channel today!

[Rambozo]

When I first started riding I was always cautioned that drivers wouldn't see me. However, after commuting for many years I have changed my opinion. Drivers not only see me, they are actively trying to hit me. This philosophy has kept me out of more collisions than I can count. Planning escape routes, watching car suspensions to predict movements, and using the throttle just as much as the brakes to avoid the enemy attacks. The one downside is that in cars or on bikes I no longer listen to music as it is too distracting.

[Roebie]

If you find the scenario in the video disturbing, you better don't come riding in a country like Belgium. The amount and degree of "attacks" are far, far worse here than in this video.

[WingAdmin]

When I first started riding I was always cautioned that drivers wouldn't see me. However, after commuting for many years I have changed my opinion. Drivers not only see me, they are actively trying to hit me. This philosophy has kept me out of more collisions than I can count. Planning escape routes, watching car suspensions to predict movements, and using the throttle just as much as the brakes to avoid the enemy attacks. The one downside is that in cars or on bikes I no longer listen to music as it is too distracting.

Sometimes it's really tough to judge whether the brakes or throttle will get you out of a situation.

As a 17 year old kid with a whole year of riding experience under his belt, I had an idiot in a pickup truck in front of me swerve to the right side of the road and slow down. I thought; "he's pulling over" so I started to swerve left to go around him.

With no warning, he suddenly turned left, to execute a U-turn, right in front of me. In the fraction of a second that I had, I figured that if I tried to brake, my momentum would take me right into the side of him. I opted for power, so I jerked the throttle wide open on my 750 Interceptor and aimed as far left as I could, hoping to squirt through before he completely blocked both lanes.

I guessed wrong. I impacted just in front of his left front wheel, at a pretty good speed. My right foot was crushed, I cracked some ribs as I hit the side of the truck before being flung over the hood. I somersaulted through the air, landed on my feet (still going at a fair speed) and went down hard, breaking my collarbone. I distinctly remember sliding along the ground on my back, feeling my helmet bouncing off the road, waiting to come to a stop.

My helmet hit the curb before I stopped sliding, an impact that likely would have killed me had I not been wearing it. Once I stopped sliding, I stood up - and fell back on my face, as my foot no longer worked.

I ripped the left front wheel of his truck clean off, and tore the bush bumper mostly off as well. It was a significant hit. My bike was totaled.

My foot still hurts some days.

17 year old know-it-all kid

[joecoolsuncle]

i aim right at em and wiggle my bars. they see me, they stop. imagine them freaking out when crazy motorcycle dude is trying to HIT THEM! i picture them bending their brake peddle to the floor, waiting on the impact. at intersections, i aim at them, but here, i widen my weave, they cannot compute so they just freeze.

[Solo So Long]

There are a number of factors, the main one being that cagers judge car distance by the width of what they see, so we're already making them think that we're farther away than we are.

Adding a bright headlight or two in the middle of that "signature" completely ruins their ability to judge the distance, and enough light during daytime can literally make us INVISIBLE (look up "Project Yehudi"). A glint of sunlight off of the hundred pounds of chrome can hide you like a Romulan warbird!

Headlight modulators grab attention -- they are "motion" that the brain is programmed to notice, identify and assess threat.

During the 25 years that Kawasaki copcycles were the big thing in the western US, people programmed themselves to spot that distinctive fairing (that only the KZP ever had). You could see someone half a mile ahead that had spotted that fairing in the rear-view mirror! With the KZP gone, the guys on Harleys have reported that having a word or symbol on the front of their girly-scooter fairing gets a similar amount of attention -- no matter what the word or symbol is. In the UK, the motorcops started putting their checkerboard stickers on the fairing and on the light pods, so other riders add paint or stickers to give a similar pattern (though in different colors), again with similar results.

There are two things that you want a cager to notice: First, that you exist inthe first place, and second, that you are riding like a sane person (thus expect the same from them). In other words, you're JUST MORE TRAFFIC.

[WingAdmin]

During the 25 years that Kawasaki copcycles were the big thing in the western US, people programmed themselves to spot that distinctive fairing (that only the KZP ever had). You could see someone half a mile ahead that had spotted that fairing in the rear-view mirror! With the KZP gone, the guys on Harleys have reported that having a word or symbol on the front of their girly-scooter fairing gets a similar amount of attention -- no matter what the word or symbol is. In the UK, the motorcops started putting their checkerboard stickers on the fairing and on the light pods, so other riders add paint or stickers to give a similar pattern (though in different colors), again with similar results.

Funny how that works. My brain used to subconsciously detect and alert to every Ford Crown Vic on the road. Now it's Dodge Chargers. I have no idea why.

[Rambozo]

I knew a guy that always rode with a coppelganger helmet and riding gear. He said it made a big difference in getting noticed.

[Solo So Long]

My brain used to subconsciously detect and alert to every Ford Crown Vic on the road. Now it's Dodge Chargers. I have no idea why.

Still have some of the Lead Sleds in service around here, so if you see a Crown Vic, don't be complacent. They are still desired, because they ride better than the Explorers and don't roll over as easily, while still having more mass than the Charger. The KZPs were in service for a decade or more after Kaw stopped making them in 2005, with some agencies protesting having to finally get rid of them to get bikes with ABS.

Funny thing, though, the Honda copcycle is not as easy to spot, it looks like a lot of other bikes.