Newbie Advice

[Squeak the Rat]

Totally agree with the horn, sometimes i get sick of having to avoid a doofus changing lane on the mway. I once used it to alert a mother that the baby in the pram she pushed into the road without looking could easily have been squashed.

My rather generic single piece of advice is to always ride in "what if" mode.

• What if this car doesn't see me (we all should be thinking that!)
• What if there is something around this corner blocking the road? (pot hole, stopped car, oil etc)
• What if I run out of petrol. Stupid reserve switch.

Always have an out. If you don't have one then be prepared to accept the consequences if Mr Fate or Mrs Bad Luck start screwing on your doortstep.

[Str8 Jacket]

Air horns! They stop most dickheads (minus bus drivers) in their tracks. I reckon all bikes should have them!

[The Stranger:Me]

Got to agree with TL Rider here, if you got time to hit the horn it wasn't a real emergency. In addition to that often enough a bike horn only confuses the hell out of the cager.

They are off in their own little world, not a worry or care in the world and all of a sudden their dreams are shattered by a strange noise from ... from... what??? where??? oh fuck, what did I just hit.
The reaction can be quite unpredictable, especially when they are executing a lane change and you are in/near a blind spot.

[far queue]

Got to agree with TL Rider here, if you got time to hit the horn it wasn't a real emergency. In addition to that often enough a bike horn only confuses the hell out of the cager.

They are off in their own little world, not a worry or care in the world and all of a sudden their dreams are shattered by a strange noise from ... from... what??? where??? oh fuck, what did I just hit.
The reaction can be quite unpredictable, especially when they are executing a lane change and you are in/near a blind spot.

Much like when a sheep pops up at the side of a road, you never know what the bloody thing is going to decide to do, and its actions are often quite irrational. If you honk at it, you'll just startle it into doing exactly what you don't want. Cage drivers have the same mentality ... and the same IQ.

[Finn]

Been meaning to post this for some time but the slagging I copped on another thread has prompted this now rather than later.

Ok so you have one piece of advice to give to a new rider. Just one, not several.

What would that be.

My advice would be to know where your HORN BUTTON is.

THE HORN BUTTON Not something we use a lot and as such, I'd hazad a guess that few here can find it 'instantly,' yet when we need to use it, if you have to think where it is, it could be too late.

Skyryder

Just when I thought you couldn't say anything more stupid, here you go again.

How exactly could that have helped Momentum in his bin? Please explain at what point the horn would have saved him from over shooting the corner.

Any more bright ideas?

[MSTRS:Me]

Air horns! They stop most dickheads (minus bus drivers) in their tracks. I reckon all bikes should have them!

Yep AIR HORNS!!! $35 from repco and easy to fit. What are you waiting for?? You know you want to 'Tootle melodiously'

[Oakie]

Did a defensive driving course about 25 years ago and one of the things I remember was not to put too much faith in the horn as an emergency device. If you do that you're asking the other person to take avoiding action rather than giving yourself another couple of seconds to do it yourself.

Best piece of advice I could give a noobie is "don't trust anyone else and don't assume they're all going to obey the road rules"

[DMNTD:Me]

... but I am of the opinion that knowing exactly where it is for 'instant' use is just as important as know exactly where the brakes are for instant use.

Evasive manourvres can be carried out with 'instant' use of the horn.

OK lets agreed to disagree on that one. Not interested in a slagging match cause my slag's better anyway

Another bit of advice/opinion for newbies is to learn to read the traffic/drivers/riders and also the road.
Although not a good idea to assume where/how someone will react it's handy to have an idea so you can be prepared. Obviously this comes with experience too.

[Squeak the Rat]

Just when I thought you couldn't say anything more stupid, here you go again.

How exactly could that have helped Momentum in his bin? Please explain at what point the horn would have saved him from over shooting the corner.

Any more bright ideas?

The guy is trying to offer some advice to new riders. Riders that maybe aren't experienced enough to be able to react in the same way as some one who has been riding for 6 years.

What you are saying to new riders is to never use your horn, because it won't save you if you run wide on a corner. And if a car looks like it might pull out in front of you, use your 2 weeks of riding experience to avoid it rather than alerting the driver to your presence.

I'd rather teach new riders multiple methods of keeping themselves alive, including using the horn, hazard identification, reading the road surface.....

[Finn]

The guy is trying to offer some advice to new riders.

Perhaps you should check out his other posts, then come back and appologise to me.

[The Stranger:Me]

The guy is trying to offer some advice to new riders. Riders that maybe aren't experienced enough to be able to react in the same way as some one who has been riding for 6 years.

I'd rather teach new riders multiple methods of keeping themselves alive, including using the horn, hazard identification, reading the road surface.....

If we look at the first post it says

"Ok so you have one piece of advice to give to a new rider. Just one, not several"

Now really, would that be the ONE piece of advice you would give a new rider?

Can just see it now. New rider bowls up for the basic handling skills test, toots the horn and passes. Cool.

[MSTRS:Me]

One of the best bits of advice I could give is to "Keep an open mind and be aware that if something could happen, it probably will, so be ready to react. Never lose concentration and eventually you will be able to compartmentalise and categorise the risk factors as they present. ie you will develop that biker 6th sense"

[Ixion]

Horn's no panacea. BUT -- using it doesn't slow down any other avoidance/emergency/defensive stuff. Cage ahead looks a bit dodgy? Maybe going to pull out? Assume he will. Cover the brake, throttle off, run through the bolt holes you can duck into, move to a safer position, BUT while you're doing all this, what's the problem with flicking out your thumb (its not needed elsewhere), and giving him a teeth rattling blast of melodious tootle. Dozy twit may not notice it or may ignore it. But sometimes it may be enough to jerk him into the real world.

And yes, sometimes a horn blast may startle Mabel (or Syd - it's hard to tell the difference) and make her do something incomprehensible. But they're as like as not to do that anyway. Surely no-one would say that dozy twits can safely be relied on to do the sensible thing if not tootled. They'll do stupid unpredictable shit anyway, tootled or untootled. And sometimes tootling may snap them out of wherever it is they go to.

Sure, don't *rely* on a horn. But don't discount it as another weapon in our armoury . Used , not instead of all the other things, but as well as. And make then BLOODY LOUD horns.

[Squeak the Rat]

If we look at the first post it says

"Ok so you have one piece of advice to give to a new rider. Just one, not several"

Now really, would that be the ONE piece of advice you would give a new rider?

Can just see it now. New rider bowls up for the basic handling skills test, toots the horn and passes. Cool.

Excellent argument, but read all the thread to answer your question.

Given your adherence to the original post, what's your ONE piece of advice you would give to a new rider?

[The Stranger:Me]

But they're as like as not to do that anyway. Surely no-one would say that dozy twits can safely be relied on to do the sensible thing if not tootled. They'll do stupid unpredictable shit anyway, tootled or untootled. And sometimes tootling may snap them out of wherever it is they go to.

Most cagers first (and only) reaction to the unknown is to hit the brakes.

Cage is pulling out of a side road across your path of travel. It hasn't seen you, but it is not a real emergency cause you have time to think and say to yourself hit the horn. So you blast the bastard. Bang cager hits the brakes SMACK you go into the cage, day ruined.

OR

Cage is pulling out of a side road across your path of travel. It hasn't seen you, but it is not a real emergency cause you have time to think and say to yourself hit the horn. You show restraint and not blast it, totally oblivious the cager nearly wipes you out, but luckily you just slip around the rear whilst pulling the finger, you arive at work and regale your mates with the stupidity of cagers.

To say that the horn wont affect them is fallacy.

Now sure, do use the horn, and yes get air horns. But use them for fun. When you are perfectly safe. The cage just changed lanes on you, but you anticipated this and have an out and or are capable of stopping then let it rip and enjoy.

But as a knee jerk reaction to any given situation or a first line of defence forget it.