Centre line of the road is not a good apex
Discussion
On a few occasions recently, I've experienced bikers using the centre line as an apex for their cornering. While they may be proud of their precise wheel placement, they forget that their head is 2-3 feet on the wrong side of the road. That is where the oncoming vehicles may well be.
One one occasion driving up the Holme Moss road from the Glossop side, a biker did exactly this coming down at speed. Luckily for him and me, I saw his line in advance and did an emergency stop so I was not in the space that his head was heading into. This undoubtedly saved his life and probably mine.
I could see him well before he entered the corner, so he should have been able to see me. I can only imagine he was only looking at his line and nothing else mattered.
His mate following saw the whole thing and stopped to apologise for him and to acknowledge that he had been saved. Promised to "advise" his friend about his riding.
One one occasion driving up the Holme Moss road from the Glossop side, a biker did exactly this coming down at speed. Luckily for him and me, I saw his line in advance and did an emergency stop so I was not in the space that his head was heading into. This undoubtedly saved his life and probably mine.
I could see him well before he entered the corner, so he should have been able to see me. I can only imagine he was only looking at his line and nothing else mattered.
His mate following saw the whole thing and stopped to apologise for him and to acknowledge that he had been saved. Promised to "advise" his friend about his riding.
Edited by 911hope on Tuesday 30th August 17:11
911hope said:
On a few occasions recently, I've experienced bikers using the centre line as an apex for their cornering. While they may be proud of their precise wheel placement, they forget that their head is 2-3 feet on the wrong side of the road. That is where the oncoming vehicles may well be.
One one occasion driving up the Holme Moss road from the Buxton side, a biker did exactly this coming down at speed. Luckily for him and me, I saw his line in advance and did an emergency stop so I was not in the space that his head was heading into. This undoubtedly saved his life and probably mine.
I could see him well before he entered the corner, so he should have been able to see me. I can only imagine he was only looking at his line and nothing else mattered.
His mate following saw the whole thing and stopped to apologise for him and to acknowledge that he had been saved. Promised to "advise" his friend about his riding.
Good for you One one occasion driving up the Holme Moss road from the Buxton side, a biker did exactly this coming down at speed. Luckily for him and me, I saw his line in advance and did an emergency stop so I was not in the space that his head was heading into. This undoubtedly saved his life and probably mine.
I could see him well before he entered the corner, so he should have been able to see me. I can only imagine he was only looking at his line and nothing else mattered.
His mate following saw the whole thing and stopped to apologise for him and to acknowledge that he had been saved. Promised to "advise" his friend about his riding.
Thanks for the lesson.
911hope said:
On a few occasions recently, I've experienced bikers using the centre line as an apex for their cornering. While they may be proud of their precise wheel placement, they forget that their head is 2-3 feet on the wrong side of the road. That is where the oncoming vehicles may well be.
One one occasion driving up the Holme Moss road from the Buxton side, a biker did exactly this coming down at speed. Luckily for him and me, I saw his line in advance and did an emergency stop so I was not in the space that his head was heading into. This undoubtedly saved his life and probably mine.
I could see him well before he entered the corner, so he should have been able to see me. I can only imagine he was only looking at his line and nothing else mattered.
His mate following saw the whole thing and stopped to apologise for him and to acknowledge that he had been saved. Promised to "advise" his friend about his riding.
The road out of our village was closed for several hours a couple of days back for this very type of accident. Given the length of the closure I assume it was fatal.One one occasion driving up the Holme Moss road from the Buxton side, a biker did exactly this coming down at speed. Luckily for him and me, I saw his line in advance and did an emergency stop so I was not in the space that his head was heading into. This undoubtedly saved his life and probably mine.
I could see him well before he entered the corner, so he should have been able to see me. I can only imagine he was only looking at his line and nothing else mattered.
His mate following saw the whole thing and stopped to apologise for him and to acknowledge that he had been saved. Promised to "advise" his friend about his riding.
While we all make mistakes and get things wrong at times I'd suggest this type of event is often the result of riders not understanding the difference between race/track cornering techniques and road cornering techniques.
Well done to the OP for avoiding being part of another statistic.
Well done to the OP for avoiding being part of another statistic.
Drawweight said:
Following an ex police rider on one of our bike club evening runs.
On every right hand corner the bike sat about 2 feet from the n/side edge and never deviated a bit no matter how fast/slow or if the corner tightened up.
You mate needs to go back to the very basics.
When I did my bike safe they ride the bike like cyclists so close to the kerb On every right hand corner the bike sat about 2 feet from the n/side edge and never deviated a bit no matter how fast/slow or if the corner tightened up.
You mate needs to go back to the very basics.
HybridTheory said:
When I did my bike safe they ride the bike like cyclists so close to the kerb
I'm a seasoned countryside biker and I usually favour riding in the hedge on narrow bendy B roads, as cars, lorries and agricultural traffic is almost invariably on my side of the road. Yes its no fun, but preferable to having a head on collision with any of the above. HybridTheory said:
When I did my bike safe they ride the bike like cyclists so close to the kerb
On right-handers maybe, for left-handers, they'd move out toward the centre line, even onto the wrong side of the road if safe to do so. i.e. they try to be as far out to the outside of a turn as safely possible, to maximise their view through the turn.
Disastrous said:
911hope said:
His mate following saw the whole thing and stopped to apologise for him and to acknowledge that he had been saved. Promised to "advise" his friend about his riding.
Didn’t happen.There are plenty of decent people out there.
I did my CBT the other weekend again. The other fella doing it with me was very up front about going into full bike lessons with a view to his Mods 1 & 2 so the instructor gave us a CBT with extra guidance to get us into good habits. On right hand bends, he advised moving slightly left of the centre of the lane so leaning over poses less threat to having your head hit something coming towards you. He also advised staying so close to the line puts your head and shoulders over the line, resulting in a Mod 2 fail. I've become very conscious of that since hearing it.
911hope said:
Disastrous said:
911hope said:
His mate following saw the whole thing and stopped to apologise for him and to acknowledge that he had been saved. Promised to "advise" his friend about his riding.
Didn’t happen.There are plenty of decent people out there.
Why make this up??
You sound like one of those LinkedIn posts: “…and everyone else in the supermarket erupted in a round of applause. So proud of my son”
No they didn’t.
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