Team-BHP - The Safe Riding thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by mp417 (Post 4046972)

I am proud owner of Duke 200 (My2016 model). Coming from HH Splendor to KTM Duke is completely a new world for me.

KTM bikes are mean machines and has provided sports bike feel at a much affordable cost to many enthusiasts like me. It’s a world class product manufactured in India. Thank you Bajaj.

Do you think this perception is only about KTM bikes?

No love here for KTM bikers, the moment I hear the "sputter" of a KTM bike approaching, I brace myself for a risky stunt, to be undertaken by the fellow, from an almost impossible gap.

I don't know, what happens to guy when they start riding a KTM, maybe they were never exposed to such power earlier, that it gets to their heads.

They leave absolutely no margin for error, wonder where does this feeling of invincibility comes from.

Regards
Shailesh

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninjatalli (Post 4047006)

I don't think the problem is with the bike

Agree

Quote:

Originally Posted by smartcat (Post 4047010)

To me, it looks like pretty much all bikers with high capacity engines go faster than 99% of the traffic.
It's basically down to having much superior acceleration and brakes than rest of the traffic. !

It’s not only with going fast. One can go fast and still follow the traffic rules. If you have the power, off course you are going to use it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by smartcat (Post 4047010)

And yes, it does involve weaving through traffic. I guess this makes it look like rash driving for a casual observer.

Interesting point and that makes sense.

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Originally Posted by IshaanIan (Post 4047199)

Fourthly, these bikes are so well poised, so well balanced yet on-point and ready to rare their heads and charge forward, that they instill confidence in the rider and confidence is not always matched with skill ;)

Exactly my point. Some of the bikers don’t care about skills but will do crazy things. It’s really shocking to see bikers without basic riding gear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 4047237)

Could also be due to their unique presence.
To a bike noob like me, all black bikes look the same. But a KTM Duke stands out due to its orange wheels + chassis. Therefore, they get noticed more than the others.

It’s true that the Orange theme stands out from the crowd.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss (Post 4047242)

In narrow lanes, I agree with your comment. It is quite dangerous and irritating to see such behaviors, but on highways remember if everyone follow lane discipline, no high speed rider (with sense) will overtake on the wrong side or tail gate at higher speeds. Most irritating scene I experience everyday is a biker driving at less than 40kmph on the right most lane (or sometimes in the middle of road):Frustrati

Again it comes down to safe riding

Quote:

Originally Posted by arun_josie (Post 4047244)

When it comes to KTM or powerful bikes, I see them reckless especially when a girl is behind. I observe this mainly because there are many colleges in my locality.

Don’t agree completely. Most likely to happen irrespective of the vehicle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CGB (Post 4047245)

Good and valid topic to discuss.

I think the fact of pricing and offering rediculous amount of power creates such a image, and when it falls in wrong hands, creates a perfect receipe for disaster. And Yes, Public think KTM and Reckless driving have a relation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj (Post 4047247)

In my opinion any vehicle can be driven in a rash manner. Be it a moped, bike, car, bus, lorry and at least in Bangalore-even JCB's. :)

It is just that some vehicles are more suited to be driven rashly if the person driving/riding is not mature/knowledgeable enough to handle the parameters the vehicle provides. This could be pure power and torque, nimbleness, sheer size or anything else.

So any vehicle that satisfies at least 2 or more of these parameters has more chances to be driven rashly. A KTM falls into this category and combined with its unique looks (which makes it more noticeable) leads to a generalization.

KTM is one of the best bike available in India for sure.
Net net, it’s the person who is riding the bike who needs to think of others and self as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aspire (Post 4049198)

I don't know, what happens to guy when they start riding a KTM, maybe they were never exposed to such power earlier, that it gets to their heads.

Do ride a KTM once to get the experience if not done already.

Thanks all for your replies. Really appreciate :thumbs up

Quote:

Originally Posted by IshaanIan (Post 4047199)

Lastly, as an owner of the RC390 (a bike that receives the most of of such flak), in my experience, unlike the 200s, the 390 performs very poorly at low or cruising speeds. The gearshifts are clunky at low speeds, fueling is choppy under 6k revs (might have changed with the new ride by wire tech), engine braking is extremely high due to the heavy piston and high compression ratio. As soon as you wring the throttle open, everything comes into its own; the fueling is precise, you appreciate the engine braking, gearshifts are spot on, you go tak, tak, tak as the rev counter chases the red-line. The other aspect is the Metzeler sportec M5s they inspire dollops of confidence as well and with the sharper rake the bike has a very knife edged nature to it and is not as forgiving as other bikes can be. Not to mention the fact that the bikes heat up unless ridden at a relatively higher pace.

:D

I own a duke 390. Yes in low speeds it's not rideable and also speeds above 70gives better mileage for me. So sometimes I forget my decision to ride slowly and move to 70kmph. Also at 70 it looks sane to me from by bike. But insane for other bikers who will be around 40-50.

Also that weird look, Orange colour and share auto sound makes it an eyeball magnet 😂

I crashed on 1 Aug because front alloy cracked while riding and my friends where like "I thought to say you before, KTM means death" 😐

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vasuki (Post 4328310)

From your post, it is not the biker's fault, so how does we avoid such situation, which we constantly face in the highways?

The longer the vehicle the more the blind spot area.

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Originally Posted by hothatchaway (Post 4328804)

If I have read the OPs post correctly it seems that the rider was in the extreme right fast lane which the trailer chose to cut into without signaling. It is possible that he was trying to overtake the trailer which is often a reasonable move i.e. fall back/overtake a bigger vehicle instead of riding alongside. Honestly, in our conditions, riding on highways is a proposition fraught with risks. The only way to cut risk out is to stop riding altogether.

Trying to reply at a more appropriate thread.

Few of us can't stop riding, I would rather be killed on the road than be killed everyday thinking about bikes & riding.

We have to accept that such a heavy and long trailer will not change lanes on will. Though sometimes, the trailer does change because it wishes to be in fast lane to avoid constant honking from faster vehicles and wishes to chug along peacefully.

Appears, there might be something which made him change lanes as part of anticipation, animal, cyclist or a parked vehicle at some distance, could be anything. Of course, we as riders are vulnerable, so unless and until the coast is clear, one should refrain from going ahead. Watching the traffic ahead, anticipating, looking at the vehicle's front wheels for steering movement, watching passengers who have alighted from a bus, can be anything. On a recent ride, a friend was about to hit a dog who suddenly appeared from the road divider [amongst the bushes], there would have been no mistakes from the rider's end but if anything unfortunate would have happened, it would have been a heavy price to pay, considering he was a surgeon and it was his first proper ride, only solace was, he was properly kitted from head to toe and that the ABS on that day did make a difference.

While I can't go to a track to ride for leisure, I prefer hills to ride, less and disciplined traffic and you can have the most fun on a public road.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheel (Post 4328938)

We have to accept that such a heavy and long trailer will not change lanes on will.

I would also like to give benefit of doubt to the trailer. It generally helps if one lines up behind such trailers, gives an indication by using either horn or flashing lights, wait for acknowledgement and then quickly complete the pass.

I have also observed that trucks generally do not make sudden lane changes unless something surprising comes up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vasuki (Post 4329293)

may be it would have been better to overtake from the left side in case of such long vehicles as there would be considerable run away area to the left side than just nil to the right side.

Unless the trucks are in right-most lane ensuring that they expect all overtakes to happen from left, I would prefer right-side overtake over left. During the overtake, if the truck driver observes something to his right, he might also be tempted to move to left assuming adequate run-off to the left. Also, I guess the blind-spot on left would be larger than the one on right.

Dear Riders,

I suspect all on Team BHP wear helmets while riding. This is to share a different perspective with all with regard to helmets. As you know all military pilots wear helmets while flying be it a supersonic fighter or a 250 shp piston engine trainer or our trusty Alouette III chopper that tops out at ~ 200 kmph. The chance of that military pilot needing the safety of the helmet per kms flown is most probably less than the chance that a rider will need it on India's roads per kms driven. By needing a helmet I am including all fairly risky situations on the road and not just the ones leading to a casualty.

In 2016 we had 4.81 lakh accidents (not counting the innumerable near misses) in which 1.51 lakh and lots their lives and another 4.95 lakh were injured. The actual injured could be higher given that not every injured situation gets recorded. Interestingly 46% of those killed are in the age group of 18 to 35. I little over 1.8 million have suffered road related deaths since 2005.

Delhi had 1591 deaths in 2016 against just under 10 million registered vehicles. UK in 2016 had 1792 deaths with 37.5 million vehicles.

Ride safe.

Hi guys,

I am starting this thread after experiencing a fall from my Access last week. I realized that as bikers, we are the most neglected stakeholders in the automotive world, and the most unsafe as well.

While riding safety is well documented on the forum for performance bikes, weekend rides, etc, day-to-day riding safety is something I hope to bring focus to in this thread.

To give context, my fall was when I was riding at 30-35 kms per hour approaching a junction. I wanted to take a left. I was in the middle of a three lane road and braked normally on my Access, about 150-125 meters before the turn. (this is my daily road on my daily vehicle). There was some water on the road not completely wet, not completely dry. The road was cemented not Tar. The next thing I know was I was on the road with a torn pant and a badly bruised knee! I got no chance to control the vehicle, no chance to reduce damage, no chance to avoid the fall. There was no rash driving, no pedestrian, no vehicle touch, no warnings at all.

This was my first major fall in my 18 years of my riding history. Hence I thought, what I could have done to prevent this scenario? There are too many questions I have from this fall?

What gear can we use for safety which are quick to wear and remove? (Cant imagine a 5 mins procedure for a 10 mins grocery store trip)
What kind of tyres can we equip a scooter with to provide better grip? Do they even try to make better tyres for a scooter?
Are there any accessories which can be added to give additional safety? (my access had a steel body kit which has done its job well for the vehicle, not sure if it saved me to any extent?)
Is it better to avoid scooters completely and rely on a bike? (Most of my close incidents earlier were on a bike, bikes have typically given me fraction of a second more to react and hence control / prevent a fall?)
How to take actions against the tanker walas spilling water all over the city making life dangerous for all bikers?

Most people are asking me stop riding now but dont think I can do that. :)

Hope these were just minor bruises with no major injury.

I have been in your situation and can understand this can be unnerving - few years back, I was riding a rented bike in Goa and the bike slipped on some loose gravel. Had some major battle marks over knees, feet, palms and elbows.

Incidentally this was just 10 days before I was about to take delivery of my RE Elecra (had booked 3 months prior and was on wait list) :deadhorse
Although the bruises recovered, it shook my confidence in 2 wheelers. I seriously contemplated cancellation of my booking but eventually went ahead with it. That purchase was one of the the best decisions of my life.
Lesson learnt - I was overthinking because of a one off incident.

Undoubtedly 2 wheelers are unsafe if you compare it to cars but some basic precautions - correct tyre pressure, good helmet, knowing your machine, regular service of brakes along with other consumables is usually good enough for your market sorties.

Overthinking will make you jittery which is certainly not the best frame of mind when you are out on the road.

There was a similar thread started by Phamilyman - not sure if MODs will mege these threads but you might want to go through it.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...-activa-5.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by NaXal (Post 4743701)

1. Helmet (good one with proper fitting)
2. Hard shoe (at least full shoe, no sandles or such)
3. Thick hard old fashioned jeans
4. Full jacket, if not (due to heat) thick jeans full shift. Even if that too isn't possible, at least wear full shirt or full sleve upper wear.
5. Gloves (riding gloves are dead cheap)

Helmet - Check
Hard Shoe - Check
Hard Jeans - Had worn formal pants, good quality
Full Jacket - Had a thick formal shirt on
Gloves - Nopes, no injury on palms / wrist though.

Still incurred a lot of damage considering an innocuous 30 kmph fall from an scooter. I used to visit chandigarh in 2013-14, the traffic police there had mandated full pants and shoes on a bike, guess they are smarter than the famed Mumbai police!

I think the scooters are the culprit here. They just dont give anytime to react due to the small tyres. I think Knee caps should be used more than they are today.