Your Motorcycle CANNOT Fall Down(At any speed greater than 10 MPH)By: James R. Davis I have recently received a number of E-mails from new riders asking me to help them figure out how to deal with the fear they feel while riding at highway speeds and having to lean their bikes during turns. Invariably they tell me that they can't take those turns as fast as other riders do because they are afraid to lean [...]
How To Ride Over That Thing In The Road And survive the encounter By: James R. Davis Sooner or later you will find something in the road just ahead of you and you are going to hit it. Maybe a small animal. Possibly something that falls off of the vehicle in front of you. Maybe you have missed a curve and a curb is dead ahead. One of the exercises taught by the MSF includes [...]
Maiden Voyage Getting it home from the dealership By: James R. Davis I'd like to address the issue of what a newbie has to confront when he buys his first motorcycle and has no more experience than successfully completing the beginner's MSF class (if that!). What should he do to get that scoot home? Well, first, he should ask his dealer to deliver it. If that fails? If he has a friend who already rides, [...]
Fear Can Kill You Turn it into RESPECT By: James R. Davis Fear can kill you - it leads to riders freezing at their controls in an emergency and taking no corrective action whatever. It leads to doubts that are self-fulfilling. "I can't make that turn!" Finally, it leads to dangerous reactions such as 'grabbing a handful of brake lever' instead of doing a CONTROLLED panic stop.But we, ALL OF US, were afraid to begin [...]
By: James R. Davis You are out on the road and a headache begins. At the next stop you take some over-the-counter medicine to get rid of it. No problem with that, you think, especially because you're not taking any other medication nor have you been doing any drinking. An hour later you fail to negotiate a turn and end up hurt ... or dead. You have an abscessed tooth and your dentist prescribed a [...]
Running Late Take The CarBy: James R. Davis It's a beautiful day. Weather is perfect, traffic is light, you are home and need to get someplace ... soon. You are late. The bike is agile and you're sure you can get there faster on the bike than you can by taking the car. Don't. The last thing in the world you should consider doing is taking the bike in this scenario. That would be a [...]