Wear the right gear!  Never ride without adequate protection unless you want to lose all your skin if you ever do fall off.

By Leight Knight of Frankston

Okay, so my 12 months of puttering around on the 250 are up. As I scan the Trading Post for something that's a little less Jetsons and a little more Flash Gordon, I keep seeing the phrase "never ridden in the rain". This is a real concern.

If you live in Melbourne there is a good chance that sooner than later you will get caught in the rain. When that happens, how will you know how to respond? The same traffic situations arise whether it's wet or dry.

Cars will still cut you off, open their doors, pull out without looking and all the other things they do that tighten your grip on the seat. If you have only had dry road emergency experiences, you will soon find yourself lying beside your bike admiring the rainclouds above.

In the past 12 months, as a returnee on my Ps, I have added 15,000km to my little Suzuki. Obviously, not all of these have been perfect-day-for-a-ride events.

Before I got to commuting seriously (180km each week). I went out on wet weekends, found a new housing estate where the roads had been paved and discovered how both the bike and I reacted in the wet under brakes, in a turn, even accelerating.

I don't think I have been nominated for World's Best Rider, but I understand the signs the bike is giving me from a wet road and can compensate for it before something happens.

It all comes down to practice. The more time you spend on your bike, the less likely you are going to be lying beside it watching clouds.

By David Brain of Northcote

Most licence courses these days teach you the basics behind riding techniques you would use in the event of an emergency, such as braking and swerving or counter steering. Knowing the correct way of executing these manoeuvres is essential for all riders.

Not only is the theory behind these skills important, riders must also know when each manoeuvre should be used. This is just as important as being good at the individual skill, because a moment’s hesitation in an emergency situation can be fatal.

A tip I would give to all riders is to practise emergency braking and counter-steering regularly. You don’t have to go out of your way to practise these skills, but if you are riding home late at night with no cars on the road, why not simply pick a spot on the road to dodge around, or brake before. (Ed’s note: Preferably practise these skills under supervision at a training facility)

These skills need to be practised from different speeds as well, because they may be needed at any time whether it be a residential area or going down the Hume. So try a slow counter-steer then work your way up. Try one at 5-10 k/ph faster each time, until you are comfortable that you would be able to do this at high speed if need be. The same goes for emergency braking, but don’t brake so suddenly that you lock the front wheel up.

Of course, you would have to make sure there was enough room to do this, and that your sudden movement is safe for other road users (ie. there is no one around).

If you practise these skills enough, they will come naturally when you really need them. It could save your life, or at least your fairings!

By Ian Dodds of Ferntree Gully

Look where you want to go!

That's bloody difficult to do when you suddenly realise that you’re going into a bend too hard.

Maybe it’s not my fault, such as decreasing radius corners, or maybe it looked right for the car, so I thought it would be the right speed for the bike.

The adrenalin starts pumping when I get caught out like this and I must admit that playing follow the leader in a car for a living gives me some bad habits for riding.  Looking at the car in front, or looking at where my headlights shine up the road is one of the worst habits I get roped into sometimes.

Then I get on the bike and sometimes forget that my reasonable skills aren't up to the million or so kilometres of experience I have in the car.

I'm one of those idiots that spent half his budget on rider training and only a smallish amount on the bike itself. The result is quite clear though, I've gotten into some scary situations on the old motorcycle at times, yet I’ve managed to remember the "Look where you want to go" rule each time.

If any single piece of rider training has kept me upright, in all of the times that I've made that slight error of judgement, it has to be that one phrase.  It is indeed the truest single fact of driving any kind of vehicle.

Where you look is where you'll go

Given that I totally believe this to be true, I wonder how many single vehicle bike crashes could have been saved if the rider stayed calm and simply looked to where the road straightened out.  The pro's tell me that the bike will look after itself and if I don't make any nasty changes, like stand it up or hit the brakes, there is every chance that the bike will go where I look.  That, of course, is where I want it to go.

I can’t pretend to know the details of every single bike crash, and I really don't want to. I'll even bet that some of the crashes were just not recoverable situations.

But I'll also bet that some were.

Yes, I'm sure that the tyres may have been slipping for some, the road may have been dirty for some, but I'm also sure that some of the best things I've done on the road have been to simply look to where I want to go, and hope.

It isn't easy. Tearing your eyes away from the danger is very hard.  The adrenalin makes it even harder. Not knowing how close the danger is, and not seeing the thing that you were about to hit go past, is a scary thought.

It works though!

Riding motorcycles in urban environments is hazardous to all riders, but particularly for first time motorcycle riders. Beginner motorcycle riders will often watch and copy the behaviour of other more experienced riders; however this is not always a wise thing to do.

In my view, the KEY to safe riding for all motorcyclists is to set your own riding safety boundaries, and to stick to them. Riding safety boundaries are safe riding rules/limitations that we set for ourselves, that will enable us to stay alive when riding motorcycles. All motorcycle riders have different riding skill levels. Be aware of your riding abilities and comfort zones, and integrate them with your riding safety boundaries.

Example 1. When riding at higher speeds in heavy traffic on freeways, I prefer to keep to one lane rather than moving in and out of lanes. Sure, it is always tempting to follow other motorcycle riders who may be more aggressively riding through the traffic. However, by sticking to my riding safety boundary/rules, I feel safer and it helps me to minimize the risk of placing myself in potentially dangerous situations.

Example 2. When moving between lanes in stationary traffic, ride at a speed that you are comfortable with, and that will enable you stop your motorcycle should a vehicle pull out in front of you. There are times when you may be running late. Don’t be tempted to exceed the speed that you have determined that is within your riding safety boundary, even if other motorcycle riders may be doing so.

Example 3. When riding on freeways and other vehicles pass you, it is sometimes tempting to speed up or even pass the vehicles. OK, your bike is capable of going much faster than the other vehicles, but is speeding a safe thing to do? Remind yourself of your riding safety boundary, it will keep you alive.

By adopting your own motorcycle riding safety boundaries and sticking to them, you stand a much better chance of avoiding accidents and staying alive.

(Ed’s note: Lane splitting is only legal when traffic is stationary, as described in Example 2. Another thought on speed … The faster you go, the harder it is to stop and the harder you hit.)

Look way down the road rather than just immediately in front of your front, keep scanning around oncoming vehicles and always assume everybody in a vehicle is going to do the wrong thing.

By David Brittain of Werribee

This I believe is something that novice riders should be made aware of: painted lines on the roads. The main ones to be aware of are the arrow directions. These are quite wide and large. These should be taken with extreme caution, not only on the dry but paramount in the wet or very cold condition. These lines have the same affect as ice in wet conditions and should, if possible, be avoided.

As we are only a fraction the size of cars, we have the ability to place ourselves in certain parts of the lane. When coming to a corner that has a direction arrow, just place yourself slightly to the left or right. If this is impossible, reduce speed to a minimum and adjust you body weight so the lean angle is reduced, decreasing the likelihood of the rear wheel loosing traction. Like any corner, avoid braking. The white lines (arrows) are very large and visible so your line and speed into the corner should already have been adjusted to suit. Direction arrows on corners are rare (most are placed before the corner) but like all riding, scan ahead, think of the conditions you are in and adjust riding to suit.

By John Karmouche

By the time you’re lying on the side of the road, your bike trashed, it’s too late to change the way you ride, and there’s no-one else you can blame for your fall.

If you make a minor mistake driving a car, the vehicle may suffer a few dents and the only injury you may suffer is a bruised ego. The consequences of making the same mistake on a motorcycle are catastrophic. So why would you allow yourself to get into danger in the first place?

Having been through all the stages of motorcycle ownership, I now spend considerably more time thinking about how to stay out of trouble. All experienced riders do. We have learned that it’s what we do that determines every outcome. Even, if the law says that you have right of way and the other vehicle is at fault, the bottom line is that if you have a run in with a car, you’re going to come off second best. So why put yourself in danger in the first place?

A Good Rider knows that they can stay out of trouble on the road. They accept that it is their responsibility to understand the behavior of other road users. They know that they must equip themselves with an ability to predict the “worst case scenario” and plan to avoid danger at all times.

In my experience, when you stop being responsible for your own safety, you risk your body and your bike. It may be as simple as locking up your front wheel at slow speed (very embarrassing), failing to negotiate a corner properly or colliding with a car that was supposed to give way that results in your bike being damaged and you ending up in the emergency room. Had you just taken a little more responsibility – then that incident could and would have been avoided.

I have found myself in many of these situations. I have been fortunate to survive them. In hindsight I wish that I knew then what I know now.

Don’t over estimate your ability, sometimes there is no second chance.

Ride Smart is a CD-ROM created especially for Victorian motorcycle riders.    It’s been designed by experienced motorcycle trainers and instructional design experts to provide training on a range of very important motorcycling skills like hazard perception and decision making.

The CD-ROM consists of 102 exercises and is designed to be completed over several sessions. This training product has been developed to augment on-road riding experience.

So who is it designed for? It’s especially helpful for new riders but can also be of value to more experienced riders who want to brush up on skills. Ideally you will get the most benefit from Ride Smart if you have had some on-road riding or driving experience so you are at least familiar with the traffic environment.

While completing Ride Smart you will visit many different riding situations around town, on the freeway and in rural areas. You’ll need to make decisions, which will test your memory and your ability to predict what other road users might do next.  You’ll see what happens when you take risks, or don’t concentrate, and just like real life, you’ll also have to deal with other people’s mistakes.

Ride Smart is free to all Victorian motorcycle permit or licence holders.  Click here to order your copy.