See and Be Seen

The two most critical things that are required for safe motorcycle operation are see and be seen. See means to position yourself in the most advantageous position that allows you to see ahead and to the side so that you can search for potential hazards. Seeing not only involves being able to scan to the front and sides, but also scanning for potential hazards from the rear, like that dump truck bearing down on you that does not see the light is red. Knowing he (or she) is coming is step one in stoplight / stopsign survival but the most important one. If you don’t know what is coming, knowing how to avoid it does not matter right? The other survival items are to not forget to downshift to first gear during the stop approach and to not sit at a stop with your motorcycle in neutral. Seeing that dump truck getting ready to run up your back does not do any good if you are not prepared to get out of the way.

Being seen is the most challenging part of motorcycling. How many times have you heard a car driver say, “I did not even see them!”? So, you wanted to turn left across oncoming traffic to go to the store. You were paying attention to traffic but you never saw the 275 pound biker riding his motorcycle with a headlight on high beam and two bright driving lights, one on each side of the headlight, shining brightly? You did not see him so you went ahead and made that turn right in front of him and he smashed into the side of your car? Give me a break. But, you must still strive to make yourself more noticeable in traffic. An accessory that can be used with the headlight to draw more attention to the motorcycle from the front is a modulating headlight. Modulators are not legal in all states or countries so check with your local law enforcement before installing. Modulators change the intensity of the headlight many times during a minute to make them cycle between bright and brighter. Picture the headlights on most police vehicles when they have someone stopped. The use of modulators came about because of the automobile industry. Many states allow the running of high beams during the day to bring more attention to the motorcycles. When the automobile industry started manufacturing cars and trucks with daytime running lights motorcyclists needed a new way to stick out in traffic. Modulators was the solution.

Not only are the bright lights on the front of the motorcycle a good way to do this, bright lights on the back of the motorcycle help as well. There are many accessories out today that help to bring attention to the back of the motorcycle. There are taillight bulbs that utilize LED’s to make them brighter than your normal brake light / taillight combo. You also have replacement bulbs that have a scrolling type pattern that constantly moves until you apply the brakes. These bulbs, along with many other variables of brake lights and license plate frame lights also blink a pattern at the first application of the brakes and then go solid as a normal. These are other attention getters and could help you stay alive. Check out the catalogs for available accessories as there at too many to mention in this blog post.

Another way to be seen is by your clothing. Bright colors and retroreflective materials are excellent ways to try to insure that other road users see you. I read an insurance industry survey a couple of years ago that polled automobile drivers and they were asked what color of motorcycle helmet was most noticeable as they drove on the road. Any ideas? I thought of red or yellow. The answer…white. So, when choosing riding gear, make sure that you choose bright colors and make sure that it has retroreflective materials built in. Retroflective materials will light you up at night. And for those of you that choose to not wear a helmet, maybe you could paint your bald head, like mine, with some reflective paint!

Finally, another excellent way to be seen is, again, to choose the proper lane and lane position. If you are riding on a two lane road and you are following an RV, is your best choice of lane position to be seen over closest to the line on the shoulder of the road? Can oncoming traffic see you? No, your best position is against the center line. This lets the oncoming traffic see your headlight and it also allows the RV driver to see you in his side mirror. Lane choice and lane position are constant changing matters and you will need to adjust them according to the current situation.

See and Be Seen. Live to ride tomorrow. Now that we have covered some early season safety tips we are going to move on in the upcoming posts. It’s time to ride and we are going to get into that and start talking some industry stuff along with some great rides.

Until next time!

Ride Safe

HarleyMac1 and The MC Nation

Spring Riding Checklist

Spring has sprung in many parts and motorcyclists are starting to wipe the dust off the motorcycle and hitting the road. Before you ever throw your leg over that seat and kick up the sidestand there are some things that you should give thought to and take action on. First off, any mechanic will tell you that you should change your oil and filter. The temperature changes that your motorcycle experienced over the winter allowed condensation and your oil may have lost some of the protection level that it provided before the winter as this introduced water. Another good thought is to change the spark plugs. Using a new, fresh set of plugs each season gives you optimum performance.

Perhaps the most important mechanical check you can do is to inspect your tires and check the air pressure. Why is this the most important? The other two items that I discussed are related to the mechanical operation of the motorcycle. Tires are related to operation of the motorcycle as well, but they are also the only things that are keeping your butt from sliding across the pavement. Check those tires for evidence of dry rot. Are there any nicks or slices in the sidewalls? Any nails or other items in the tread that may cause pressure loss? Pull out your motorcycle owner’s manual and get the manufacturer recommended tire pressures. If you are high or low, make the appropriate change. Remember, set the tire pressure for the type of riding you will be doing for that day. “That day?”, you ask. Yes, those tire pressures should be checked every day and adjusted for either one up or two up riding. Check your manual. I would guess that there are many of you that have never looked. You are putting yourself and your passenger’s life in jeopardy if you are not using correct tire pressures for the loading.

Another good idea is to check your lights and signals. You don’t want to be oblivious to a burnt out bulb and have that approaching car not receive some kind of signal that you want to turn left across their lane. They are bad enough when you do have a working signal, but let’s not tempt fate here.

Give that motorcycle a good inspection and then turn to your safety gear. Make sure that everything is in good shape from last year. Did you forget about that rip in your rain jacket that is going to open up like the Hoover Dam in the next rain storm? Could you use a new shield on that full face helmet? Do you need new riding boots? Make yourself as prepared as your motorcycle.

Here is hoping that you have a safe and memorable riding season. If you come across a good destination, have a funny riding story to tell, or get great service from a dealer make sure you let us know at Harleymac1@mac.com You just might hear your story on The Motorcycle Nation Podcast (MC Nation) which will be making it’s debut soon.

Ride Safe

HarleyMac1 and The MC Nation

The Nation Speaks

Welcome to the Motorcycle Nation weblog that compliments our MC Nation podcast. This blog will be updated several times during the week leading up to the taping of the podcast on the weekends. You will find all sorts of info in those posts. It may be about some news we will hear on the podcast later in the week or it could even be about a great ride that I took or a great shop that I visited. I will be attempting to set a firm day and time for recording the podcast as I am also going to video stream the recording live over the internet at ustream.tv Who knows, maybe we will have visuals of some of the bikes or gear that we review and those who only listen to the podcast will miss out.

The video stream should also provide you a little entertainment as you will hear it live with all the interruptions before they are edited out. I guarantee you with four kids in the house there will be times when you will hear at least one screaming about something. Also, the beauty of streaming is that you can all interact in chat while the show is being recorded and then I could hang around afterwards and participate as well.

I look forward to this new venture into geekdom. I hope that you all enjoy listening, reading , and watching and that you interact by chatting and sending me ideas on stories and how to improve the show.

Ride Safe