My Biking Tips
 

#1 - Always try and lock your bike to an immovable object even when it's at home. If you haven't got a ground anchor, get one.

#2 - Never leave the lock lying on the floor (as it's easier to break with a hard surface behind it)

#3 - Brake cleaner is excellent at cleaning hard to remove grime off your bike. Finish off with Silicone spray for a clear protective shine, but don't get any on the seat, tyres or brakes.

#4 - Silicone is also excellent at protecting your radiator and forks from Winter salt rot.

#5 - When cornering on left handers, stay to the right of the bend for the best view (and vice versa), but never compromise on safety.

#6 - UK safety cameras will generally go off at 10% + 2mph minimum. A nice table below:

Speed limit Trigger speed
20mph 25mph (due to accuracy of speedometers)
30mph 35mph
40mph 46mph
50mph 57mph
60mph 68mph
70mph 79mph

#7 - The SV speedo is ~5-10% out and will over-read slightly further as tyres wear down. By my calculations (GPS)

Displayed speed Actual speed
20mph 14mph (!)
30mph 24mph
40mph 34mph
50mph 45mph
60mph 56mph
70mph 66mph

In conjunction with #6, you will generally be safe from a safety camera hit if you ride within the next speed limit band (for example, indicated 70 in a 60 will generally not trigger the camera, so you have no excuses!)

#8 - Placing the bike on a paddock stand, flicking it in first, spinning the back wheel up slightly and spraying the chain with lube on the sides and on the bottom run as it runs up the sprocket is an excellent way of ensuring excellent lubrication (careful with your hands)

#9 - If the bike finds false neutrals when changing up, check your gear changing foot is in the right position on the peg. Adjust the pegs if you have to angle your foot up to change up. Be positive with your shifts and don't tickle it.

#10 - Don't use washing up liquid to clean your bike, it'll corrode (salt content)

#11 - When running in tyres, increase lean angles in corners for a CONSTANT speed. Don't accelerate or brake sharply especially when leant over as the tyre compound release agent has a coefficient of friction similar to diesel.

#12 - A small amount of WD40 and Silicone spray on a rag applied to your helmet visor will disperse rain quickly.

#13 - Try not to ride in the rain with the helmet cracked open more than 1 inch. Rain will enter the inside of your visor and obliterate your field of vision when you pull it down again.

#14 - As everyone forgets to perform safety checks on a bike use the following acronmyn and put it in your garage or near your bike gear, particularly valuable for Winter riding.

B - Brakes
L - Lights
T - Tyre tread depth



Cheers

Re: My Biking Tips
 

:roll:

Re: My Biking Tips
 

And where do we put the said ground anchor if we park in the street?

So you're advocating speeding in 20mph areas ie outside schools etc? That 20mph limit is there for a reason. Do you have kids? would you be ok with one of them being knocked down outside school and seriously hurt cos the rider/driver was doing above the speed limit cos "the camera doesn't go off til you get over the 10% + 2mph" so it must be ok?

So again you're advocating speeding, so when people get a3 points and a fine for speeding can we pass these on to you to deal with?Indeed an excellent tip...
for removing any unwanted fingers

Also paddock stands aren't that stable so i certainly wouldn't be doing that!

Do you know what is in WD40 etc and what effects it may have on your helmet/visor? I don't so wont be doing that either

Again another top tip ... unless your visor is badly misting up and you cant see anything anyway

A better acronym is probabbly the POWER one

Petrol
Oil
Water
Electrics
Rubber

Aah K beat me to it albeit a simplified version :roll: :wink:

Re: My Biking Tips
 

Please do not try this at home folks.

Re: My Biking Tips
 

:winner:


Summary Over the past 5 years, 134 digits were replanted in 85 patients. In 9 patients — 10 digits (11%) — the causation of injury was a motorcycle chain. The significant incidence of this type of injury has prompted us to report the replantation results. Hopefully, this might be used to caution the public against cleaning the chain while it is in motion. All amputated parts were distal to the DIP joint. The digits were replanted with anastomosis of both the artery and the vein. Eight out of the 10 replanted digits survived to give a success rate of 80%. There was no statistical difference between this rate and that for all other replanted digits resulting from various causes in Zones I and II, i.e. 86%. The high success rate suggests that replantation of the chain-amputated digits should be recommended, and the apparently poor conditions of the crush injury are no contraindications for surgery.
Key words Finger amputation - Replantation - Chain injury

Jesu Christy , you guys have really gone to work eh.. :wink:

For sure some of His tips are very debate-able but I'm think with a bit of common sense(now I'm guessing here) they are not that bad.

About the chain if I've read that bit correctly he was referring to lubing and not cleaning so I'll say why not?

Over 20mph past schools? Of course you can do that without putting any kids in danger.


Cheers
Ben

People who know me will know that I am the LAST person to speed. I posted the guide for informative purposes only, considering so many people get caught then complain about it.

I posted the stats on speeding outside school a short time ago. The proportion of children involved in KSIs outside school due to breaking the speed limit is statistically insignificant.

Plus, cameras are the last thing I'd put up outside a school. I'd much rather people be concentrating on the road.

Regarding the other tips, they do work. If you've not got any common sense, and you're stupid enough to put your hand in the chain when the wheel is spinning (incidentally at about 20-30 rpm, not 3,000) then you deserve what you get.

WD40 is fine for helmets, just don't get any on the rubber seal, which is why I suggested a rag for application.


In summary if you haven't got anything better to do than be deliberately antagonistic towards my thread and incite trouble, then **** off. The tips were mainly for newer riders. If you know it all, then don't read them.

Re: My Biking Tips
 

Key point clearly marked.

tips for newbie riders huh? Thank **** you're not an instructor or something.

Now if I was being deliberately antagonistic I would have not only referred to the majority of competent riders perhaps not requiring the need to be taught how to suck eggs, but also I would have highlighted your irresponsibility of posting some tips that were of a debatable nature being aimed at new riders.

As for inciting trouble, nah, if I wanted to do that I would have also used a few choice words and phrases that would also have possibly meant that someone, somewhere, would have had to go and get a dictionary.

But I didn't, so I wasn't.




DOH! #-o


Personally, I don't know everything, though I'm fairly certain that in most cases 2+2=4, which is why I read them in the first place - but if you can take a bit of criticism then don't post such things in the first place.

Sorry but I dont think advocating spraying WD40 onto a helmet is a particular good idea. I know its primarily a water dispersant, but it does have a lubricant in it to. Surely this lubricant is going to smear the visor up.

taken from the WD40 website..

What surfaces or materials are OK to use WD-40 on?

WD-40 can be used on just about everything. It is safe for metal, rubber, wood and plastic. WD-40 can be applied to painted metal surfaces without harming the paint. Polycarbonate and clear polystyrene plastic are among the few surfaces on which to avoid using a petroleum-based product like WD-40.

I thought that some lids have a polycarbonate shell, I dont know what visors are made of though...

I only speak from personal experience of using it, it seems to work well. As I said, don't spray it on, use a little bit on a rag.

I can, but that wasn't criticism, it was deliberate sarcasm.

There seems to be a lot a dissing here about 1 or 2 of the suggestions / tips posted by mpaton. What about all the other tips that are good tips. Give the guy a break. You don't agree, fair enough, make your point. There are some good tips there. And I always lube my chain on the paddock stand with the bike kicked into 1st gear.....heaven forbid!

From me... yeah you're right. :D

But then, to be honest, I kinda thought that I should lower my reply to the same level as the original comment regarding speeding.

Sorry, I'm generally such an agreeable sort that this is a bit of new territory for me.

I've used wd40 on my visor before, works a treat (although my hyperoptiks now does a better more permenant job)

I think your tips were good mpaton. :) I knew them all anyway but I know a lot of people won't. :thumbsup:

Re: My Biking Tips
 

Even better is POWDER, with D being for Drive, i.e. check your chain.

How can anybody, let alone 9 people lose all 10 fingers while cleaning the chain - did one hand get cut off so they put the other hand in to catch the fingers or something :shock:

Bit confused how a Hyperoptik on the inside of a visor would be an alternative for putting WD40 on the outside of your visor for rain? :?

Yeah let's have a tips section in the forum - can we, can we? Puleeeeze? :twisted:

Re: My Biking Tips
 

Not to get into Mpaton slagging, but even though this makes sense it doesn't really work. The reason being, 99% of all bike chains sold in the UK can be cut in seconds with manual bolt croppers, which don't care if the chain's on the ground or not. Blunt force attacks are extremely uncommon, since they're louder and tend to need more attempts.

It's a good approach if you own one of the 2 chains that are cropper proof though (Almax, and the overhardened English Chain Co one- especially the latter, since it's very vulnerable to blunt force attacks...)


Personally I wouldn't use WD40 on my visor either, since the main solvent is very similiar to paraffin, which can attack plastics. But, then, the volumes and exposure we're talking about here is very, very small so the risk's probably tiny. Probably better than scrubbing away with a rough towel/cloth like so many folks do!

And I'm kind of with Mpaton on the chain lubing, that's exactly how I do it after a clean- but I use a scottoiler bottle with the tube attached, so I'm not getting close to the Spinning Chain of Death. It's easy to dismiss anyone who does get their hand in the chain as an idiot, but Nudist (off SV Rider) is definately not an idiot, and managed it. There's ways to do it without any potential for hte same risk, so they're undeniably better for that reason. But I'm lazy.

maybe not that bad but not that good either


And putting your hand near a moving chain for any reason is a good idea? :roll:


yeah during the school holidays!
Ok disregard the school bit but those lower limits are there for a reason.

=D> =D>

I highlighted the points that i thought were a bit dodgy yeah some of the tips are ok .

I did make my point and was promptly told to "p*ss off" for disagreeing with him

Re: My Biking Tips
 

OOh good point, had forgotten a bout the D bit!

I think what that they mean is that between 9 people they lost 10 fingers

You must have nipped for a **** when God handed out intelligence.

:lol: :lol: :lol: ooh call a doctor my sides have just split :roll: :toss:

Re: My Biking Tips
 

I agree tickling the bike can have abnormal responses, such as a tank slapper and tickle.

Re: My Biking Tips
 

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: My Biking Tips
 

Oh, You're right, I think?, 9 out of the 85 people, 10 out of the 134 fingers were m/bike chain related

Why even risk your fingers or the bike falling off the side stand when spinning the back wheel by hand takes away all the risk and works just as well?

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

What do you mean "Oh dear"?

FWIW I'm RoSPA Gold, IAM, and an active member of Cheshire road safety groups, one of which you may have seen today in Warrington. I also keep a good rapport with councillors and officials on the subject of road safety.

The people who say "oh dear" and "20mph for a reason" are usually the very same who ride at 100+ on "other" roads with illegal exhausts, plates and visors, then have the cheek to criticise others!

To describe any number of children's deaths as 'statistically insignificant' is really asking for it. The tabloids, guardian reading teacher types and pretty much any other anti-motorist group would have a field day.

And I most certainly do not fall into the group you describe - my number plate is entirely legal :wink:

Only to people who don't know what it means...

Statistically insignificant doesn't mean "It doesn't matter". It means that the statistics show no reliable trend. In other words, that the hype about speeding outside schools has no basis in truth.

But until there are no deaths due to speeding outside schools, it is daft to argue the point - it simply helps fuel the argument that all speeding is irresponsible and carried out by sociopathic killing machines with no regard for kittens or anything else.

Nah, I totally disagree. Arguing on bad information can only lead to problems, not to mention distracting attention from the real issues. Every time we spend a pound fighting the non-existing scourge of school-gate speeding, we spend a pound less on real policing.

It could also serve as the legendary "thin end of the wedge" that people are always talking about, but that never actually seems to be found ;)

That as it maybe, but there would still be an increased risk where children are involved would there not?

Speeding children? Yep. Definately dangerous.

#-o #-o