Ride to survive - how to stay upright

You’re doing 50mph and a lorry pulls out in front of you. What do you do? Our experts can help you learn from other riders’ mistakes 

Many dynamics are in play when you’re on your bike. Are you riding alone or in a group? If you’re in a group, are you riding within yourself or beyond your limits? Are you on a familiar road or in virgin territory? Heavy traffic or quiet? What’s your speed? Then there’s the weather…

There’s a lot to take on board when you’re in the saddle and many riders aren’t as skilful as they assume. Think about it: when was the last time you had any training? When was the last time you got it wrong?

For me it was last week. A quickish ride on my favourite B-road, a road I know well, not fully concentrating, tipping the bike into a tight left-hander, panicking, grabbing too much brake and carrying straight on. Luckily nothing was coming the other way. I’ve only been riding for 14 months, but it was a schoolboy error, and one that happens with alarming frequency.

Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership’s Andrew Trevithick says: “Ninety per cent of riders are leisure bikers who go out for some fun at the weekend when the weather is nice. And unfortunately it’s these people who don’t have the right levels of skill and are more likely to crash. 

“Every one of the motorbike collisions I have attended was avoidable – either the rider didn’t have the skills or the confidence to ride the way they were doing. Or if someone else made a mistake in front of them, a skilled rider could have avoided them. If we can get motorcyclists to enjoy riding but to enjoy riding sensibly, then we won’t get people crashing or speeding in the wrong place.”

THREE WAYS TO AVOID BEING A STATISTIC
LOOK, LEAN, ROLL

LOOK UP When confronted with an obstacle or something unexpected in your path, your vision automatically defaults to look at the threat.

WYSIWYG (what you see is where you go) or target fixation is powerful and if you’re not careful you’ll end up ploughing straight into the car or tractor or road sign that you’re looking at. But you can still avoid crashing.

Motorcyclist and retired police inspector Andy McManus says: “You’ve got to accept that you’re going to look at the danger. It’s a natural default. But you can give yourself a chance of avoiding a collision by looking above and beyond the hazard and mentally painting a smooth line where you want to go and concentrating on that instead. Verbally telling yourself what it is you’re going to do will help make it reality. It’s all about committing yourself to a line and sticking to it.”

LEAN Once you’ve decided you’re going to try to avoid the obstacle, the next step is to set up the bike and your body to give yourself a fighting chance of not becoming another statistic.

Moving your chin towards the mirror is the first step. Doing this means you’re looking where you want to go and making a start on getting the bike leant over. Then loosen your finger grip, which will automatically lower your elbows and make counter-steering easier, and put the balls of your feet on the pegs. Finally, open your hips and tilt them in the direction you want to go. Andy McManus says: “You need to be looking where you want to go, and by moving your feet and hips, you’re actually counter-steering without knowing it.”

ROLL This is all about making sure that once you’re in the corner you come out the other side. The danger is that you’ll be entering the corner too quickly, panic, then grab the brakes too hard, lose the front end and low-side.

McManus said: “You need to reduce speed, but grab the brakes too hard and you’ll lose the front or stand the bike up and carry straight on. The secret is to use all four fingers to brake, and if you’re not braking then keep them off the bar. If you do this you’ll brake more smoothly, and because using four fingers is a deliberate act, you’ll only brake when you need to, and not as a panic reaction.”

You can then tip the bike in and maintain a tight line. However, once at the apex you’ll need to maintain drive, so get on the gas, make the bike stand up and exit the corner. 

TRAINING

The more experience you have, the more capable you’ll be. So the answer is training. What are the options?

Andy McManus says: “You don’t know what you don’t know. It sounds daft, but it’s true. I thought I was a good rider but then I did the police course and it blew me away. They taught me the Roadcraft system, which is simple and effective and if applied correctly means you can’t have a collision that is your fault.

“A lot of people pass their bike test, get their licence, pick up the keys and off they go. It takes three years to train to be a brick layer and four years to be a scaffolder, that’s three or four years of doing the same thing over and over again, yet you can jump on and ride a high-powered bike capable of 150mph after just a few hours of training.”

You might think that Andy, given his police background, would advise all riders to join their local IAM. But he says: “Any form of training, whether it’s BikeSafe, Performance Plus, IAM or RoSPA, is good and to be encouraged, but the best thing is to book a training-based trackday.

“It should be mandatory after you’ve passed your test. Almost all accidents are down to inadequate braking or cornering, and a trackday is the ideal way to practice these skills safely. I’m talking about road-bike-only trackdays with an instructor like the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership training days at Cadwell that let you start off slowly and build up gradually.”

 

WHO CAN HELP

BIKESAFE BikeSafe (www.bikesafe.co.uk) is a nationwide police-led bike casualty reduction scheme. The course covers filtering, junctions, cornering, overtaking and group riding in the classroom before taking to the road for an observed ride.

TRACKDAYS A training-based trackday is best, but a regular trackday can be a great way to find out what your bike can do, away from oncoming traffic. Visit www.clubmsv.com. Anyone turning up to a trackday will need a driving licence, an ACU-approved helmet, boots, gloves and leathers. 

IAM The IAM (www.iam.org.uk) offers bikers the opportunity to improve their riding standards. The £139 Skills For Life package culminates in the Advanced Riding Test.

RoSPA A charity run by qualified volunteers dedicated to promoting safety.  There are more than 50 local groups offering free advanced rider training, normally working closely with police and instructors.

Words Simon Toyne  Illustrations Elly Walton