On-coming car in your lane, what do you do?

[rmemedic]

This is true, however if youre really going to fast, the front wheel will either slip out from under you, or worst case scenario, you do an endo and fly into the car. Granted you panic and really slam the front brake... Id prefer my rear wheel to slip out from under me because i can at least control the direction of movement while braking, im still new to riding however i find using the front brake while maneuvirng feels slightly awkward and scary, because it only takes a little gravel, oil, etc. to get that front wheel over your head... i guess it all comes down to what you feel most comfortable in doing. Im sure we can ALLL agree on, staying calm, keeping your cool, and not panicking during emergency situations is the best method of approaching any maneuver.

You need practice. Time to get out there on a dirt bike and ride with some aggression. You'll learn how it feels when the front wheel comes out.
I'm not afraid to get in on the front brakes hard, because I know how to feel the front starting to slide and how to react to it. Only reason I know that is because of my off road experience. You'll also figure out how to ride it out with the back end coming around.
I guess it helps in this situation too, since all you have to do is find the best line through the ditch and clear the next front yard!

I'm so glad for my off road experience before I started on the street. Since I'm always avoiding rocks, trees and a couple dozen other crazy idiots out on the track, when I get to the street I feel "ready" in my skills to avoid what might come at me. Funny thing is, I feel safer on the track than I do on the street!

[MacDoc]

I've developed a bit of a habit to start heading to the right track just before cresting a hill. I don't do it every time but often enough. Just picked it up alone the way, mostly I worry about the car either drifting toward the centre of the road or a wide vehicle like a farm tractor. If its a car passing on a hill I don't think you have much of a chance but at least I'm somewhat heading to the far side already.

Good habit tho I had to think for a minute as I've been driving on the other side of the road in Australia for 3 months.
I always hug edge on crests and blind corners. Many roads in Aus are paved single tracks - lovely to ride but you have to be defensive when blind. This one ran in and out of the rain forest and had the added fun of 4wd with boat trailers cutting corners. Once I ended face to face with three tour buses - the bumpers overhung BOTH sides of the road....I pulled off.



Just about got run over on a very muddy forest road. A yahoo in a 4 WD drive who was berming around the corner on my side of the road....lucky I was hugging the inside corner - I actually had to stop the KLR and he slithered back up the camber and around me...nice bit of driving on his part but damn thing looked huge in my face and the KLR is tall. Bit of quasi-good natured yelling and waving of fists and it was over in a flash.
It's funny - it happens fast but time seems to slow.

Forest tracks can get very narrow but most of the time you can hear another vehicle or see them ...and it's worth it.



•••

You need practice. Time to get out there on a dirt bike and ride with some aggression. You'll learn how it feels when the front wheel comes out.

Yup - tho even without the dirt bike getting on dirt roads up by the escarpment on your road bike is good practice at modest speeds.
Lost my front end on some tar snakes on the Gillies ( 19 km 200 curves ) - startled me as I wasn't even pushing it ( you can't really push a KLR much on twisties anyways )

Not hard to lose the front for a moment on painted lines so yeah good practice to know how it feels and not panic.

[Armen444]

No - your front brake is your big anchor on pavement and use it - it will scrub through nearly anything with the amount of traction with the weight shifted forward.

Front brakes can be tricky in slow speed and on gravel/dirt but on pavement they are 100% your go to anchors.....use em hard and learn to use them hard. Get out on the parking lot and make them howl.

Wilco im the first to say that im no where near perfect, however im still learning, its safe to say im getting there, i have already put about 1000km on my bike in the last 2 weeks that ive had it

You need practice. Time to get out there on a dirt bike and ride with some aggression. You'll learn how it feels when the front wheel comes out.
I'm not afraid to get in on the front brakes hard, because I know how to feel the front starting to slide and how to react to it. Only reason I know that is because of my off road experience. You'll also figure out how to ride it out with the back end coming around.
I guess it helps in this situation too, since all you have to do is find the best line through the ditch and clear the next front yard!

I'm so glad for my off road experience before I started on the street. Since I'm always avoiding rocks, trees and a couple dozen other crazy idiots out on the track, when I get to the street I feel "ready" in my skills to avoid what might come at me. Funny thing is, I feel safer on the track than I do on the street!

Ive never been off roading, however when i used to have my scooter, i did end up going down on a right turn due to a leaking oil tanker passing and the slight rain made it near impossible to finish my turn :P halfway through the turn my front wheel locks up, i go down, i get back up, try to pick the bike up but the tires kept slipping :P so i ended up manhandling my 250 lb scooter, got on, tried to finish the turn.... now the rear wheel just spun in place like i was drifting.... got off the bike, and wheeled it down the road for a good 500m, sat back on and drove home with a WTF just happened face... real story :P

[Thatf4iguy]

Going over a blind crest, my preferred lane position is the left side of the right tire track. The center of the lane is OK if the pavement is clear. Reason is that I don't want to be all the way on the right edge in case there is a bicycle or pedestrian, I don't want to be on the left edge in case there is a car over the center line. "Blocking position" is not important at this moment.

If there is a car ALL the way in my lane coming over a blind crest then the game's up and there's not a whole lot that can be done.

On level ground the preference is to make sure that I'm visible, not in a blind spot to oncoming traffic behind another vehicle in front of me, this is to make sure oncoming traffic doesn't think there is a space and go for an overtaking move.

If there is no vehicle in front and no vehicle behind then I actually prefer to be in the right side of the lane, further from the oncoming traffic. No purpose to use "blocking position" if there is nothing to block.

You have to think on your feet about what to do to minimize risks, this will be better in the long term than rigidly following a rule that says "thou shalt ride in left tire track under all circumstances" ...

I like the idea of staying right as you crest hills. That will also make the decision for the motorist easy to swerve back where they came from, instead of the shoulder.

[fastar1]

Wilco im the first to say that im no where near perfect, however im still learning, its safe to say im getting there,

That's a good attitude to have, but maybe hold back on the riding tips until you have a better grasp of the dynamics of riding.

[MacDoc]

Quote Originally Posted by Brian P View Post
Going over a blind crest,

etc

making my head spin as just spent 3 months riding on the other side of the road in Aus .
Following the post is getting my poor brain in knots as I'm still visualizing Aussie side of the road riding and reading North American side of the rode riding......so you say left or some such and I think what the **** does he want to be there for . then my disconnect kicks in.....urk urk.

[Rob MacLennan]

BrianP has it right (as usual); plan ahead to maximize your room and, therefore, reaction time. Brake and avoid, but try to know where the other vehicle is going to go. This only works if you have more than 10 metres in which to do so, as I found out the hard way.

[kiley]

I had this happen to me once and it was back in the 80’s
I had a GS 750 Suzuki back then.
I had 2 week vacation and did a week in Algonquin Park on a canoe trip and a week fishing in Elk Lake.
(up near New Liskeard)
On the way home from Elk lake I was headed to Port Perry to visit family.
I must mention that my riding style back then was very loose.
Hot sunny day in the 80’s.
All I had on was runners, shorts, and a t-shirt and full face
Anyway back then most parts of hwy 11 were only 2 lanes.
Some assclown in a huge car decided that he needed to pass 5 cars to get ahead of them.
So basically he’s coming right at me.
The whole time I thought he was going to pull back into his lane.
He didn’t.
So I aimed the bike to the shoulder of the road.
It was all gravel.
I pulled in the clutch and let off the gas.
The ***** end started to wobble a little but gradually subsided and the bike came to a stop.
I pushed up the visor and lit a smoke.
An uneasy feeling came over me and I looked in the mirror and saw a cloud of smoke.
There was a car coming right at me on the shoulder with his breaks locked.
He stopped a good distance from me and got out of his car.
The driver came running up to me screaming “holy **** man are you ok?”
“I just seen that” “that was some crazy **** man”.

On each side of the road there’s these big rock cliffs that back then you could ride your bike up onto.
I kicked the bike into gear and drove on top of the next one to me.
I must of sat up there for a hour smoking and watching the traffic go by

Back then…..very foolish I was.

[C-Note]

1. Remember this thread (haha).
2. Pray.