I thought, well there goes another spring day off that I wont be able to ride the motorcycle... well even with the snow, the roads were clear...so I fired the bike up and went on a quick ride (by quick I mean both the speed and the length of the ride )
I am sitting in Starbucks now and will get back on the bike in a few minutes for another 'quick ride'
That's a touch brisk for me! I got it out for a good hour ride 2 weekends ago or so when it got up to 12. I too eagerly await the season. Last year I was doing the commute to work by the end of March. Not looking so good this year.
I hope you are careful with the sand and gravel on the roads and the colder tire temps.
Yeah I make sure the roads look good before I ride on them... I dont think they have laid salt or sand in weeks, as most of the snow has left fairly quickly
I was a guy walking down Amherst Street in Buffalo this morning wearing flip flops and shorts despite it being -2 with three inches of snow on the ground.
I hope you are careful with the sand and gravel on the roads and the colder tire temps.
Yeah I make sure the roads look good before I ride on them... I dont think they have laid salt or sand in weeks, as most of the snow has left fairly quickly
Last night in Ottawa they laid a bunch of salt on the main roads, plastered the side roads with it too.
when i had a bike, i didn't expect to ride it until at least mid-April (and even then, it was often chilly)...aside from the poor road conditions (salt/sand, damage from potholes, etc) and cold tires, another big problem with being out so early is car drivers aren't expecting to see you and that makes it even more dangerous...most of my bikes were fairly loud, so that helped a little, but people don't seem to think about bikes on the road until June (when they get more common).
I hope you are careful with the sand and gravel on the roads and the colder tire temps.
Yeah I make sure the roads look good before I ride on them... I dont think they have laid salt or sand in weeks, as most of the snow has left fairly quickly
Last night in Ottawa they laid a bunch of salt on the main roads, plastered the side roads with it too.
It's a disease around here. I heard this is the city that uses the most salt. I keep promising myself that if I ever run into the mayor, I'll make him a few chunks of that crap. Well, I won't, but it helps letting off steam just thinking about it.
it also works well, and its dirt cheap...but yes, it is a terrible product that ruins and pollutes everything.
early winter and late winter, our city now sprays a product made from beet juice (or something like that) as an alternative...it doesn't work in the middle of winter, but does work on those freezing rain type days.
salt is abundant in all areas of southern Ontario...we all use it, and lots of it.
What they use and how they use it is what differs. In Niagara they mix something other than regular rock salt (I want to say it is either Potassium Chloride or Magnesium Chloride) it into a brine solution and then spray that directly on the road rather than throwing raw salt. You know the "salters" have been out because there's dark lines lines running straight down the middle of a lane in the road. You use a lot less salt for the same effect, and the effect is far quicker.
We also use a lot of sand around here, too. You're more likely to find sand the road here during a cold snap than salt.
i don't think we have that brine solution (unless that beet juice stuff counts)...sand is used a bit, but usually more on side streets...salt gets dumped on the roads like crazy though.
i don't understand what was so funny there...and the guy filming was laughing his ass off...as well, the car wasn't even stuck...the guy was simply revving the engine while in neutral or park...dumb
i don't understand what was so funny there...and the guy filming was laughing his ass off...as well, the car wasn't even stuck...the guy was simply revving the engine while in neutral or park...dumb
...most of my bikes were fairly loud, so that helped a little, but people don't seem to think about bikes on the road until June (when they get more common).
You obviously rode before the insurance companies offered large discounts for a motorcycle safety courses or you just didn't pay attention as motorists don't even know that motorcycles even exist any time of the year.
no, i took the motorcycle safety course when i was actually only 15...my birthday is in August, and i had already bought a bike to ride when i was 16...got my beginners on my birthday, and my full license a week later...insurance on my first bike was about $80/year (which is why i got it instead of a car...i got a car the following year, but insurance went up to $150/month.
Then you obviously dozed off in class if you are under the allusion motorists have any concept whatsoever about bikes on the roads in June or anytime. To motorists bikes are simply not there..poof...all but invisible until they hit you and you go through their windshield and land in their lap..and even then they will think they hit a pedestrian. How did you ever survive on a bike with that thinking??
I understand what DJ is saying....while motorcycles are never the first thing a driver looks for, they definetaly dont look for them in cold weather, so that makes the risk that much higher
I understand what DJ is saying....while motorcycles are never the first thing a driver looks for, they definetaly dont look for them in cold weather, so that makes the risk that much higher
I would submit the NEVER look for them...I'll repeat that NEVER ever, ever unless you are at Daytona bike week or something.
I can't believe you go out on your bike thinking anything otherwise.
Then you obviously dozed off in class if you are under the allusion motorists have any concept whatsoever about bikes on the roads in June or anytime. To motorists bikes are simply not there..poof...all but invisible until they hit you and you go through their windshield and land in their lap..and even then they will think they hit a pedestrian. How did you ever survive on a bike with that thinking??
BSF answered correctly...and i likely have more experience on a bike than you do, having owned 6 different ones over the past 25 years...you need to try and make yourself "known" when on a bike, so that means not sitting in people's blind spot and driving slightly faster or slower than the speed of traffic (as not to get lost in the flow)...as well, loud pipes help too.
I understand what DJ is saying....while motorcycles are never the first thing a driver looks for, they definetaly dont look for them in cold weather, so that makes the risk that much higher
Naw, I don't buy that for a second. A good driver is going to keep an eye out for them regardless of season (and indeed down here they are used year-round) whereas an inept *coughGTAcough* driver is going to be just as oblivious to them in the summer as they would be in the winter. The season won't magically make them aware of their surroundings, because they would be just as aware in the winter as they would be the summer.
I would submit the NEVER look for them...I'll repeat that NEVER ever, ever unless you are at Daytona bike week or something.
I can't believe you go out on your bike thinking anything otherwise.
driving with your high beams on (during the day only, of course), can help you get noticed visually...as well, loud angry sounding motorcycles also attract attention.
I understand what DJ is saying....while motorcycles are never the first thing a driver looks for, they definetaly dont look for them in cold weather, so that makes the risk that much higher
Naw, I don't buy that for a second. A good driver is going to keep an eye out for them regardless of season (and indeed down here they are used year-round) whereas an inept *coughGTAcough* driver is going to be just as oblivious to them in the summer as they would be in the winter. The season won't magically make them aware of their surroundings, because they would be just as aware in the winter as they would be the summer.
when school is back in September, everyone (news media, police, etc) all make a point of reminding motorists that kids are back in class and to be watchful of them...they often do the same during the first nice week of weather every spring for the motorcycle riders...it is also why those fools who ride those e-bikes during the winter have a death wish.
driving with your high beams on (during the day only, of course), can help you get noticed visually...as well, loud angry sounding motorcycles also attract attention.
Sound is incredibility hard to pinpoint when you're moving in a vehicle. People generally can't tell where it's coming from until it's right on top of them. If you are operating on the assumption that waking up napping children and annoying the neighborhood will get you noticed by drivers, it's a wonder you aren't yet dead.
when school is back in September, everyone (news media, police, etc) all make a point of reminding motorists that kids are back in class and to be watchful of them...they often do the same during the first nice week of weather every spring for the motorcycle riders...it is also why those fools who ride those e-bikes during the winter have a death wish.
If you need to be reminded to watch out for the children in the fall while ignoring them in the summer when they are out of school and otherwise playing during the day, you are one of those inept drivers I mentioned above who will never notice them regardless of the season.
the sound may be hard to pinpoint, but it gets people's attention to find out where it is coming from...just like the sirens on emergency vehicles...you may not know where they are, but you slow down and pull over and look for them.