Bad Habits? I bet you have some too...

BDazzler

BDazzler

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I was thinking about my riding and some of the bad habits I slip into. I don't always realize I'm doing them, so I thought if we all shared, :dump: it might bring them to other's attention too and make us all better riders. If not, at least I'll be able to point a finger at you and laugh :rofl: and say, "You really do that?", but then I'd have to admit I probably do it to. :embarrased:

  • I know I have a hard time keeping 'the Beast' with in posted velocity limitation. (It's not my fault, really, it's the bike!)
  • I will sometimes get board with all the really straight roads and start my own slalom course (only with no traffic around)
  • Sometimes I loose focus of what's behind me (all I see in my mirrors are my elbows, and they don't worry me too much) :nothing:
  • I stop at red lights, but there are some I know won't change for my FZ1, so I treat it like a stop sign rather than waiting for a cage to pull up and change it for me. :teeter:

I'm sure I'll be forced to claim many more and much worse after a few posts, but for now, that's my story, and I'll change it as needed!
 
:ditto:I would have to plead guilty to all of the same charges you just admitted to. One additional one of which I'm guilty is when I first leave my road in a highly spirited manner which is frowned upon in Ontario (stunt driving charge, oops).:nono:
 
I tend to remove my right hand from the right grip too often leaving the front brake uncovered. It's a habit from off-road racing/emduros. I rested my throttle and brake hand when I could which was usually long but not steep downhills.
 
Truckerand4 said:
:ditto:I would have to plead guilty to all of the same charges you just admitted to. One additional one of which I'm guilty is when I first leave my road in a highly spirited manner which is frowned upon in Ontario (stunt driving charge, oops).:nono:
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Yeah, that 'highly spirited manner' thing... :angel: yep. One time I turned onto a side street in the town I currently live in and grew up in. I got on it all the way up to 30-35mph right past the small town cop. He was nice enough to inform me the side streets have a speed limit of 20mph :wtf: I know he wouldn't have even batted an eye if I'd been going 35 but didn't punch it. I have lived here most of my life and never knew :dontknow: or obeyed the 20mph :confused: It was never an issue. Problem is, his advise cost me $50 to the town (maybe they can buy a speed limit sign with that?) It didn't go to my insurance or anything, so not a huge deal, but really? :cuss:
 
I still have a bad habit of cutting throttle (just a little, but enough that it could bite me in the right situation) in turns. I'm a good rider and when I'm paying attention I never do it, but if I take my mind of my riding, I catch myself doing it every now and again. I just haven't developed the DON'T DO THIS EVER mental pathway.

Drives me nuts.
 
BDazzler said:
I was thinking about my riding and some of the bad habits I slip into. I don't always realize I'm doing them, so I thought if we all shared, :dump: it might bring them to other's attention too and make us all better riders. If not, at least I'll be able to point a finger at you and laugh :rofl: and say, "You really do that?", but then I'd have to admit I probably do it to. :embarrased:

  • I know I have a hard time keeping 'the Beast' with in posted velocity limitation. (It's not my fault, really, it's the bike!)
  • I will sometimes get board with all the really straight roads and start my own slalom course (only with no traffic around)
  • Sometimes I loose focus of what's behind me (all I see in my mirrors are my elbows, and they don't worry me too much) :nothing:
  • I stop at red lights, but there are some I know won't change for my FZ1, so I treat it like a stop sign rather than waiting for a cage to pull up and change it for me. :teeter:

I'm sure I'll be forced to claim many more and much worse after a few posts, but for now, that's my story, and I'll change it as needed!
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Guilty and then some....
 
The "Beast Within" bites me often. I'm stealthy about it knowing where all the cops hide so I know when and where around here.

The red lights? No a bad habit... I know the bikes won't trigger some of them and in NH, if you cannot trigger one and sit through a whole cycle of the light, it is perfectly legal for a rider to treat it as a stop sign and proceed with caution. Now if a cop is watching and you don't wait the whole cycle, he WILL ticket you.

Worst habit is in emergency stops, I cannot stop jamming the rear brake. In practice, I am fine but when the real emergency happens, I'm always on the rear brake too hard and too fast. It's a BAD reaction from the cage.

Rolling stops... I know I'm supposed to put a foot down at the light/stop sign but I almost always roll through.

I am obsessed with the turn signal button. I'm surprised it still works! I find myself constantly hitting the cancel to make sure the signals are off. All I need to do is look at the cluster to see there's no flashing light but I don't look down much ever and just keep hitting the button. I suppose this is better than Gramps going 17.8 miles with the left blinker on? :eek5:

Habits I am GOOD at are head checks (never relied on the mirrors at all) and scanning for dangers. I see EVERYTHING in my visible range and plan my escape routes by the second. I even spot small objects on the road that might cause a flat and avoid them. I see animal eyes in the woods to either side and watch to see if they are moving. If a car is waiting to enter the road and I'm in traffic, I move to that side of the road so I am visible to them sooner. This is where "safe distance" from the cage in front of you is absolutely KEY. The closer you are to that cage, the less visible you are to traffic waiting to turn or pull out into or across your lane.
 
My name is Travis and I sometimes blip the FZ1 throttle while stopped at a traffic light for no good reason. And yes, in case you're wondering I have a Harley too, but it's for sale. :retard:
 
Me, I sat and tried to come up with some bad habits but unfortunately I came up with nothing! I guess that means I'm the "perfect rider"! :Liar:



In all seriousness, I'd have to say that my only two faults that I can think of are "illegal bursts of speed" when I have a really long straight where I can see far enough ahead to spot "smokies" sitting in wait, and sometimes daydreaming, and all the sudden come up upon "smokies" sitting in wait! Hence my only speeding ticket in my driving history which most here have heard about. A simple 75 in a 40 on the mountain when I had no clue that I had just past the officer while he was coming the other way. I was wrapped up in the moment and never saw him! That pretty much ended my speeding career on the mountain at least. :angel:
 
Cobalt said:
Worst habit is in emergency stops, I cannot stop jamming the rear brake. In practice, I am fine but when the real emergency happens, I'm always on the rear brake too hard and too fast. It's a BAD reaction from the cage.
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I used to do this all the time - the front drum on my nighthawk is near useless, so the only way to get it to stop fast is to lean way back and jam on the pedal.

I broke myself of this habit when I almost wrecked my older CBR- i practiced near-stoppies for a long time to rewire my brain.
 
This is specially for you Troy. In my defense I Have been drinking.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtLqvEYLiRc]The Monks - Bad Habits (Title-track with Lyrics) - YouTube[/ame]

Me, I have no bad habits........:nothing:
 
I've got a bad habit that my wife just shake her head at.... It's bike related but not exactly a bad riding habit.

If on a Saturday afternoon after work I'm thirsty, I may be partial to trying to quench said thirst with a few JD & Cokes.
After I've tried to drown the thirst for a few hours, I like to jump on the laptop and cruise my favourite sites.... Ebay in particular but including many after-market part stores that happen to stock gear for my bike and or riding gear like revzilla, Riders Discount and 5 or 10 others...

10-14 day later I'll get home from work and find my wife shaking her head and informing me of the 'Surprise' that arrived addressed to me from the States or Asia.... My paypal privileges have been threatened on more than one occasion as has my JD privileges :D

So far I've bought an R1 front end, Levers, an R1 rim, Mivv end can, frame sliders, bar end mirrors, Astars leather jacket and boots, gloves x 4 pairs on 4 different occasions and the list could go on but I think my point has been mad :p

I got quiet a few bad riding habits but my main one would have to be lane splitting on the way home from work...I am a menace and will not be slowed down by packs of people wanting to sit next to each other. I have slowed it down to just a smidge over the speed limit though :eek:
 
m4ximusprim3 said:
I still have a bad habit of cutting throttle (just a little, but enough that it could bite me in the right situation) in turns. I'm a good rider and when I'm paying attention I never do it, but if I take my mind of my riding, I catch myself doing it every now and again. I just haven't developed the DON'T DO THIS EVER mental pathway.

Drives me nuts.
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I know right! Why do I do this too? :ditto:
 
what is cutting throttle?

m4ximusprim3 said:
I still have a bad habit of cutting throttle (just a little, but enough that it could bite me in the right situation) in turns. I'm a good rider and when I'm paying attention I never do it, but if I take my mind of my riding, I catch myself doing it every now and again. I just haven't developed the DON'T DO THIS EVER mental pathway.

Drives me nuts.
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Is this rolling off the gas on turns? Whats wrong with this?
 
Sactown2008 said:
Is this rolling off the gas on turns? Whats wrong with this?
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It's a very bad habit that should be killed asap. Proper throttle control is the very fundamental base of smooth, controlled riding. Chopping the throttle in a turn is one of the many wrong reactions riders make and can lead to disaster

I highly recommend you read some riding books like Twist of the Wrist by Keith Code or Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough. If you are like me, learning the tech of riding will open your eyes to a world of control and confidence that you didn't know existed. :)
 
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Bad, very bad . . .

The mostest BAD habit I have is falling off the back while doing wheelies . . . .. . ..ouch, ohh-oohh, that's gonna leave a mark . . . .. :doh2:
Dang*nabbitt, , , another ride home on the trailer . . . .. :poke:
 
I have a few bad habits my self.....

1) When I'm riding with my friends we usually drive normally, by normally I mean that we are not passing the corners like Rossi & Stoner, but we are driving to enjoy the ride and not get killed in the process, but when we got one time along with some other guys we drove like we were on the track, I realized just after I went home and took a look at my footpegs and tyres how hard we were going, it enought to say that we drove 60 km in 35min and by this I mean mountain roads full of twist and turns and not highway or something like this....however this was the only time I drove my Fz1 like this..

2) I like to do the slalom when the road is empty

3) Like to lean a lot so that I can hear the footpegs touching the road

4) open fully the throttle when around 6.000 rpm to hear the Velocity stacks howling....

Anyways I'm working on the last 3 habits to get the eliminated as soon as possible :shame::shame::shame:
 
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