A full review of that Nautilus Stebel horn can be found here.
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Tag: Tips
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Riding Out of the Sun
The summer has most definitely long gone, now replaced with some glorious (and not so glorious) Autumn sun. This mild weather is a boon to us bikers, but be mindful of the low sun blinding other drivers and masking your presence. Like the fighter pilots of old who surprised their targets by flying out of the sun, riding West in mornings and East in the evenings could potentially see you surprising fellow road users.
Bear the sun in mind, the scope for SMIDSY’s is even greater. Anticipate drivers pulling out, even when looking directly at you. When filtering, drivers may only see glare in their mirrors, or your headlights may blend into the setting sun. Take it steady and don’t assume others have seen you (even less so than normal).
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Sixth Sense Skills – Tip 14 – Fail :(
What a shit morning. My biker sixth sense wasn’t with me today…
Whilst quietly filtering through some suburban traffic approaching the A13 I managed to drop the bike. Again. I was just about to start filtering past a queue of traffic when a car decides to do the same thing and pulls out on me. I panic braked, locked up the front wheel and down she went. All very low speed (as usual), didn’t even hit another car, they just carried on oblivious. Grrr. Totally smashed the fairing, crash bars did their job, but various other bits are scuffed.
New fairing is on order, but a bit skint now, so do us a favour and click on some of my banners and affiliate links. Much appreciated.
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Sixth Sense Skills – Tip 13
In the clip I’m going to highlight an all too common hazard on the streets of London.
Ah yes, yet another near SMIDSY. You can probably spot this one about to happen a mile off, however today I’m going to give you a break down, step by step, my thought process and what I did to mitigate a potentially unhappy bike-car interface. These are some techniques I’ve picked up over the last couple of years and find invaluable, but do let me know if you have further tips for this kind of situation.
I’ve also been experimenting with dubbing on a narration in an attempt to make my videos a little more engaging. Feedback in this respect would be much appreciated.
On the bike, we have to continually keep our wits about ourselves, be ready for whatever surprise pops up. This was a bit of a close call, a bit higher and it could have screwed up all visibility.
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Sixth Sense Skills – Tip 10 (SMIDSY)
Did you manage to guess what happened? A classic SMIDSY, that just leaves you wondering how on earth they didn’t see you, your headlights, hi-vis, or anything past their nose. Thankfully, they braked at the last second and I resisted the urge to panic brake and managed to swerve. Breaking those panic reactions is not easy, it takes time and is something that new riders often struggle with. It’s all too easy to grab a fistful of front brake, lock up and hit the deck. Of course, it helps a lot if you have ABS.
Another example of some fine driving by a young man in a small hatchback with his companions. Happily enjoying a quiet drive and making best possibly use of all lanes of the carriage way.
Maybe. See if you can spot where the reality deviates a little.
Filtering the UK is perfectly legal. On a motorbike. Filtering in a car is just plain dumb.
We’ve all had a few SMIDSY’s (Sorry Mate I Didn’t See You), but you don’t expect two in less than a minute. Only in Dagenham. Thankfully, with the dry roads and sensible speed I didn’t come a cropper in these two instances. Assume no one has seen you, regardless of lights, hi-vis etc