You eat a lot of popcorn my friend.
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Pontificating about Safety features I would like to see in NEW BMW motorcycles
- Thread starter AjaxTheDog
- Start date
You eat a lot of popcorn my friend.
ponch1
Ponch
The answer is Miata.
greenwald
New member
jad01
New member
ncpbmw1953
Member
Most of these areas have already been addressed in one form or another by the aftermarket, but here's a few not mentioned above:
1. A real loud horn! This is farkle numero uno for me always, so i have 3 of the loudest snail horns, two of which are completely unobstructed, and they are loud. I use them judiciously, but it is ultra evident they do exactly what you'd hope they would do when used as I say, judiciously.
2. ABS Pro. This is already available in '17 RT models, and wish it could be retrofitted to my '16 which I would do if the price was in the ball park.
3. I installed the Volo Lights kit which uses a decelerometer, but truthfully it's not bright enough to be very useful in the opinion of a rider I asked to have a look at it behind me. So I do what others mention and that is to signal folks behind me where possible.
4. Conspicuity lighting has been validated as useful in real world conditions of alerting oncoming traffic, in particular when you use ASYMMETRY, for example adding a couple of Clearwaters and use the amber lens cover on just one of the two lights.
5. For RTW, these HD glass blind spot mirrors are absolutely fabulously effective, obviating the need for high tech solutions to blind spot monitoring. My car has this technology and it does train you to depend on it telling you there's a problem, and I don't want that on a motorcycle I want to depend on my vision, so these mirrors really cover issue well. One thing I would love to see BMW do w/ Navigator is to allow it to connect to a rear-view wide-angle video camera which would be come a page to select by the wonder wheel: your Nav display would now give you a full view of the rear and that would be really nice to have everywhere, when coming to a stop or riding on the highway because w/ our GPS Prep you'll see traffic on your six the best.
Most of all though, for me, it's about maintaining maximum safety 'bubble' wherever possible, and I do. I don't see other riders doing what I do very often, but I'm sure many must as they are just common sense tactics. Maximum clearance from other vehicles is the name of the game, using the entire road as needed. When I watched my brother hit a large deer at 55mph in Wyoming last year I realized quite possibly it could have been avoided or at least time to brake would have improved had we been riding near the white line on the far left side of the oncoming lane. You can see what I mean in this photo: very good visibility on the left side, zero risk of oncoming traffic, and the deer were hiding behind vegetation on right side and spooked directly into him with no time to brake:
He walked away from it but his brand new FJR was totaled--it is off the road left past my parked RT. I do ride in the oncoming lane whenever it appears to offer the best odds.
Coming to a stop in traffic approaching a round-about, or a stop sign/signal, I slow well ahead of the anticipated stop watching traffic behind me to get the affirmation traffic behind me has seen me. Then I either stop short of the next vehicle by ~10' or so, aimed to the side just in case, watching traffic behind me until I'm satisfied they're stopped, etc. If I'm first to the intersection I will still stop short a bit with so I can move ahead if traffic isn't stopping. Once, when slowing in prep to enter a round-about I could see the car which was at least 2 car lengths behind me was not slowing but was looking at the roundabout so he could sync his entrance: I had to slow down because of traffic in the circle so I hit the horn and the car behind me stopped fast which he may or may not have done w/o the blast.
When passing any vehicle: swing as wide as the road allows--maximum space between you and the vehicle you're passing, and pass as fast as possible within reason. I rarely if ever lane-split--it is not worth the very small clearance from swerving vehicles, a car door opening to toss out the coffee, etc etc. Where traffic has come to a crawl or stopped due to road work or other, despite it being illegal, I will ride on the left or right shoulder. This right off the bat eliminates 50% of the potential for being side-swiped by cars on both sides. You do have to watch for cops and get back in traffic as needed but firstly, they're not in the traffic jam itself, and #2, they are going to have a hard time getting to you to cite you in this scenario. Plus, you can always say you were positioning yourself for a turn or something like that where appropriate. I know the oft cited reason for lane splitting is that it is ultimately safer than staying in traffic due to being rear-ended. I don't think this is true when you follow the strategy I do for stopping in traffic.
Making yourself maximally visible by positioning on the road is critically important. And as mentioned, the really loud horn can be used to advantage as well, and here is a common place it gets used: during commute hours when people are in a huge hurry and late for work, you see then suddenly appear from a driveway, alley, or roadway, anxious to make their turn into traffic--you can tell because they dart into position with head turning frantically indicating they are trying to enter the roadway at the first opportunity. This is when they look towards you but don't see you, seeing the truck behind you etc. A well timed horn blast & headlight flash awakens them from their rushing agenda every time, while at the same time you are far side of your lane to give maximum time to swerve or change speeds should the horn/flash fail to awaken the driver.
1. A real loud horn! This is farkle numero uno for me always, so i have 3 of the loudest snail horns, two of which are completely unobstructed, and they are loud. I use them judiciously, but it is ultra evident they do exactly what you'd hope they would do when used as I say, judiciously.
2. ABS Pro. This is already available in '17 RT models, and wish it could be retrofitted to my '16 which I would do if the price was in the ball park.
3. I installed the Volo Lights kit which uses a decelerometer, but truthfully it's not bright enough to be very useful in the opinion of a rider I asked to have a look at it behind me. So I do what others mention and that is to signal folks behind me where possible.
4. Conspicuity lighting has been validated as useful in real world conditions of alerting oncoming traffic, in particular when you use ASYMMETRY, for example adding a couple of Clearwaters and use the amber lens cover on just one of the two lights.
5. For RTW, these HD glass blind spot mirrors are absolutely fabulously effective, obviating the need for high tech solutions to blind spot monitoring. My car has this technology and it does train you to depend on it telling you there's a problem, and I don't want that on a motorcycle I want to depend on my vision, so these mirrors really cover issue well. One thing I would love to see BMW do w/ Navigator is to allow it to connect to a rear-view wide-angle video camera which would be come a page to select by the wonder wheel: your Nav display would now give you a full view of the rear and that would be really nice to have everywhere, when coming to a stop or riding on the highway because w/ our GPS Prep you'll see traffic on your six the best.
Most of all though, for me, it's about maintaining maximum safety 'bubble' wherever possible, and I do. I don't see other riders doing what I do very often, but I'm sure many must as they are just common sense tactics. Maximum clearance from other vehicles is the name of the game, using the entire road as needed. When I watched my brother hit a large deer at 55mph in Wyoming last year I realized quite possibly it could have been avoided or at least time to brake would have improved had we been riding near the white line on the far left side of the oncoming lane. You can see what I mean in this photo: very good visibility on the left side, zero risk of oncoming traffic, and the deer were hiding behind vegetation on right side and spooked directly into him with no time to brake:
He walked away from it but his brand new FJR was totaled--it is off the road left past my parked RT. I do ride in the oncoming lane whenever it appears to offer the best odds.
Coming to a stop in traffic approaching a round-about, or a stop sign/signal, I slow well ahead of the anticipated stop watching traffic behind me to get the affirmation traffic behind me has seen me. Then I either stop short of the next vehicle by ~10' or so, aimed to the side just in case, watching traffic behind me until I'm satisfied they're stopped, etc. If I'm first to the intersection I will still stop short a bit with so I can move ahead if traffic isn't stopping. Once, when slowing in prep to enter a round-about I could see the car which was at least 2 car lengths behind me was not slowing but was looking at the roundabout so he could sync his entrance: I had to slow down because of traffic in the circle so I hit the horn and the car behind me stopped fast which he may or may not have done w/o the blast.
When passing any vehicle: swing as wide as the road allows--maximum space between you and the vehicle you're passing, and pass as fast as possible within reason. I rarely if ever lane-split--it is not worth the very small clearance from swerving vehicles, a car door opening to toss out the coffee, etc etc. Where traffic has come to a crawl or stopped due to road work or other, despite it being illegal, I will ride on the left or right shoulder. This right off the bat eliminates 50% of the potential for being side-swiped by cars on both sides. You do have to watch for cops and get back in traffic as needed but firstly, they're not in the traffic jam itself, and #2, they are going to have a hard time getting to you to cite you in this scenario. Plus, you can always say you were positioning yourself for a turn or something like that where appropriate. I know the oft cited reason for lane splitting is that it is ultimately safer than staying in traffic due to being rear-ended. I don't think this is true when you follow the strategy I do for stopping in traffic.
Making yourself maximally visible by positioning on the road is critically important. And as mentioned, the really loud horn can be used to advantage as well, and here is a common place it gets used: during commute hours when people are in a huge hurry and late for work, you see then suddenly appear from a driveway, alley, or roadway, anxious to make their turn into traffic--you can tell because they dart into position with head turning frantically indicating they are trying to enter the roadway at the first opportunity. This is when they look towards you but don't see you, seeing the truck behind you etc. A well timed horn blast & headlight flash awakens them from their rushing agenda every time, while at the same time you are far side of your lane to give maximum time to swerve or change speeds should the horn/flash fail to awaken the driver.
Last edited:
36654
New member
My wife saw one a few months ago and said, "What's that?" in a curious/interested manner.....Maybe, someday.
shortythorne
shortythorne
If being able to ride a motorcycle well and safely was easy, everyone could do it. I would rather just practice riding well and do without all the add ons. It would be pretty boring if you didn't have to "think" about what you were doing. Thanks for the "Short People" video as I always thought it was funny!
If being able to ride a motorcycle well and safely was easy, everyone could do it. I would rather just practice riding well and do without all the add ons. It would be pretty boring if you didn't have to "think" about what you were doing. Thanks for the "Short People" video as I always thought it was funny!
As a member of the vertically challenged protected class, I feel compelled to tell you, actually warn you, that if you laughed at that video you will be sued for harassment.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
36654
New member
anglojaxon
AATW!
What I'm waiting for
A self riding bike I can send to Alaska to take photos of the trip and automatically upload to Facebook. It's electric and charges up at a Starbucks.
I can send my self driving electric car to my in-laws to visit. Put a note in the seat saying "I was going to come but I forget to get in the car. Regards."
A self riding bike I can send to Alaska to take photos of the trip and automatically upload to Facebook. It's electric and charges up at a Starbucks.
I can send my self driving electric car to my in-laws to visit. Put a note in the seat saying "I was going to come but I forget to get in the car. Regards."
AKsuited
New member
Thanks for the "Short People" video as I always thought it was funny!
You're welcome. I thought it was funny, too.
I'm 6'4" tall with a 36" inseam. LL Bean doesn't sell pants that long, and I have trouble with legroom on a bike, which is why I went with an R1200 GS.
Around here, if you flash someone, you better be behind them, or they are going to think you are letting them go for it. Flash is to pass.
36654
New member
I already have that, kinda...........when my wife drives the Prius.
JWMcDonald
New member
pon·tif·i·cate
VERB
express one's opinions in a way considered annoyingly pompous and dogmatic
VERB
express one's opinions in a way considered annoyingly pompous and dogmatic
36654
New member
ncpbmw1953
Member
greenwald
New member
Somewhat nebulous information, given you don't identify your location in your forum header.
