The Importance of Being Distant...

[Fatt Max]

Jeez, what a ride into work I've just had.

Two examples today of watching your distance.

This website has great advice from people who generously donate their knowledge, wisdom and experience to people like me to help us through the day so before I go on I want to say thanks to all KB'rs out there for banging on about safety, savvy riding and generally looking out for yourself.

So....

Its a clear dry morning in Auckland, I'm following a car on a busy stretch of East Auckland road, I can see nothing in front of him and I am '2 second ruling' nicely behind him. Then, he smacks on his brakes without warning, I'm far enough away to use both brakes gently and stop about 2m behind him. He stopped to let a family of ducks cross the road which I didnt see but if I had ignored KB advice and been closer, I probably would have ended up in the passenger seat with him.

Then, literally 5 miniutes later I'm trundling down Lunn Ave behind a ute which is towing a trailer with a load of timber on the back. He also decides to brake a bit heavy, again I have enough time and space to stop but the prick had a plank sticking out the back of the trailer which was overhanging at least 1.5m with no flag on it. The plank would have been about 1m from my chest when I stopped, what the f**k would have happened if I had taken my eye off the ball and pulled up close. I wanted to have a rant at him over that but he buggered off a bit quick so I let it go.

So there, keep the distance guys n gals. Thanks to all you KB'rs for reminding us on that one, today is an example mee thinks

Have a great day

[TOTO]

covering both your brakes in the city also helps against unexpected stuff like that and people pulling in front of you from side streets.

good on ya man

[portokiwi]

Good on you mate for staying back. Its not worth the risk.

[jrandom]

Good shit!

Also, don't forget that if things do turn to custard and you're left without braking distance, you can swerve around vehicles in front of you. There's almost always room to shoot up the side. Keep your eye on where the gaps are.

And well saved this morning.

[sunhuntin]

hope that dick with the unmarked timber gets spotted by the cops. loads like that can be very hard to judge... you cant tell how far the excess wood is sticking out. ive seen that quite often and stayed well back. when ive stopped behind them at lights or whatever, ive seen that the beam is actually sticking out furthur than first judged.

good work to you, and also to the driver who stopped for the ducks.

[Mom]

You dont stop for ducks crossing the road unless you are driving through Warkworths main street at 5pm when the acorns are falling from the trees.

I once ran over a line of ducklings following their mommy across the road, friggen terrible thing to do, but traffic meant I had no option to avoid without causing an accident. They made a kind of popping sound under the tyres

Good skills today Fatt Max!

[CookMySock]

The really dangerous ones are hdden queues on the motorways. Its bloody easy to fly along at 80-100k and discover, horrifyingly, that the lane in front of you is at a complete standstill.

Ya really gotta keep ya eyes well forward here.

Steve

[ital916]

You dont stop for ducks crossing the road unless you are driving through Warkworths main street at 5pm when the acorns are falling from the trees.

I once ran over a line of ducklings following their mommy across the road, friggen terrible thing to do, but traffic meant I had no option to avoid without causing an accident. They made a kind of popping sound under the tyres

Good skills today Fatt Max!

I understand describing the soundbut why the smiling nodding face as well. Jeez i hope a line of babies never cross the road in front of you..., negating the facts behind why a line of babies would be crossing in front of you haha.

Nice save btw, 2 second rule ftw, oh as a fellow vl250 rider, have you managed to lock the rear yet, I have tried to in an empty car park and all I get is a strong steady slowing from the rear drum, as far as drum brakes on learner bikes go it's pretty good, I reckon there's a conspiracy going on with the new fangled disk brakes supposedly better than drums,

[Gremlin]

Remember when braking for the traffic ahead, that once you are under control, watch behind you for those that aren't watching out.

Stopped traffic on the motorway is a brilliant example. I've had to take evasive action several times to avoid being taken out by drivers not paying attention behind me.

[CookMySock]

Stopped traffic on the motorway is a brilliant example. I've had to take evasive action several times to avoid being taken out by drivers not paying attention behind me.

If you are forced to stop really quick behind a queue of traffic, what you can do is split three or four vehicles off the back of the queue. This gives you a few more meters slopping distance and puts quite a few tonnes of steel between you and the following vehicles who will also be in crises mode.

Of course you could just slow down and pay attention, but hey we all fuck up occasionally.


Steve

[Gremlin]

Of course you could just slow down and pay attention, but hey we all fuck up occasionally.

Yeh, sounds like good advice. So when I am braking comfortably for the issues ahead, almost stopped, hear a screech from behind... I fucked up? I then pull to one side of the lane, and a car screeches to a stop next to me? Fuck any cop that says stay in traffic is all I say.

One thing to watch out for when starting to split tho, in the dangerous cases, normally only one lane suddenly stops, if you have slowed already, other lanes will have a decent speed differential to you, so be careful when pulling out from a line of cars.

[CookMySock]

So when I am braking comfortably for the issues ahead, almost stopped, hear a screech from behind... I fucked up? I then pull to one side of the lane, and a car screeches to a stop next to me? Fuck any cop that says stay in traffic is all I say.

Naw I mean, collectively we all make mistakes occasionally - its not a perfect world. edit: I was always taught, once I had my own braking under control - start taking responsibility for the person following.

It's unusual for a long chain of things to go very wrong in the same incident. Ie, if I screw up my following distance and have to crash-brake, probably the bloke behind me doesn't have to. Or if I split down the side of the cars in this situation, it is unlikely that said risky lane-split will be the one-in-a-hundred split that knocks me off my bike.

So I mean, if you are in a dangerous situation, I would say that statistically, you are almost always better to take some risky evasive action (as you have suggested) than just do nothing.

one thing to watch out for when starting to split tho, in the dangerous cases, normally only one lane suddenly stops, if you have slowed already, other lanes will have a decent speed differential to you, so be careful when pulling out from a line of cars.

Agree completely. You could split immediately, and either keep your speed up and merge with the fast moving lane, or dump speed and merge with the stopped lane. Large amounts of experience, skill, and gonads are required for the former, or else you are likely to get squished under the latter. Even in a cage, sometimes you are safer to do two quick shoulder or mirror checks, and then an immediate change lane, but again - large amounts of experience, situational awareness, and thinking on your feet are required. Not newbie territory. Good fun though.


Steve

[Fatt Max]

Nice save btw, 2 second rule ftw, oh as a fellow vl250 rider, have you managed to lock the rear yet, I have tried to in an empty car park and all I get is a strong steady slowing from the rear drum, as far as drum brakes on learner bikes go it's pretty good, I reckon there's a conspiracy going on with the new fangled disk brakes supposedly better than drums,

Mangaged to lock the rear once going around a roundabout on my first day out. Smacked it into first and the fecking thing nearly exploded on me. Otherwise, touch wood, its been ok

[Fatt Max]

Hey all,

Thanks for the kind words and pointers, certainly learned a bit more since this morning.

Cheers

[stanleychung]

Hey all,

Thanks for the kind words and pointers, certainly learned a bit more since this morning.

Cheers

I second that. Thanks to everyone. I'm now really really nervous about taking my first ride