Dangerous riding?

Originally Posted by 21QUEST

what I want to know is how, with gloves on, you manage to bring phone out, go through menu to get to camera function, take a pick and put it back......baring in mind how silly small phones are these days.

I dunno really but I'm tempted to say "does seem the smartest thing to do"


Ben

Pfff what old technology you using?

Pull phone out, 1 button on top, tap that to start camera, tap again every shot you want to take. Press red "end call" button when finished to return to front screen. Nokia 6500 Slide.

Wearing Summer gloves also. Plenty of movement.

Originally Posted by Speedy Claire

No i`m not saying I never take my eyes off the road and I obv take my hands off the bars.

My point is that in order to take a picture whilst riding along i`m assuming that you firstly remove your gloves, then rummage in pocket to get your phone out, then have to obv use the phone as in press buttons in order to select the camera function, then hold camera up and actually look at the camera to check what you`re taking a pic of, more fiddling with camera and then put it back in your pocket.

This is, in my opinion, more than "just a quick glance" its a couple of minutes surely where you`re not observing the road cos you`re more preoccupied with your pictures but more importantly your hands aren`t free should something happen on the road in front of you ie. an animal running across the road or a car pulling out.

I also don`t think it`s at all relevant how long somebody has been riding and the amount of experience you have. I`m trying to say that you can`t anticipate what`s gonna happen on the road in front of you in the time you`re fiddling with your camera and taking pics! if an animal runs across the road in front of you and directly into your path whilst you`ve got your hand in the air holding your phone and looking to see what you`re taking a pic of whether you`ve got 12 years experience or 12 months you`re still gonna take a tumble if you can`t control the bike in time.

Seriously, we're talking 3-5 seconds to pull the camera out my pocket, raise it in the air and press a button. 2-3 seconds quick glance at the screen, then your back to watching your riding, you dont need to sit there watch the screen, you just keep pressing the button.

And if an animal ran out in front of you on a motorway and your in line to hit it, whether you've got 2 hand, or one, or none, chances are your going to go down anyway......

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by Daimo

Daimo dissing my phone lol

haha by the sounds of it, verrrrrryyy old technology ...... does make/receive call and texts though



Ben

Originally Posted by Speedy Claire

if an animal runs across the road in front of you and directly into your path whilst you`ve got your hand in the air holding your phone and looking to see what you`re taking a pic of whether you`ve got 12 years experience or 12 months you`re still gonna take a tumble if you can`t control the bike in time.

I remember after AR07, I had comments along the lines of "the longest one-handed ride around twisty roads I've seen" from a handful of different people. Quite literally, because the group was going so slow, I was resting my left arm on the tank, occasionally moving it to a different part of the tank.

Granted, my hands weren't busy doing something else (like in this case, taking photos), but the risk is much the same. I was happily one handed around bends, some of which tightened whilst going around them.

EDIT: This was in light rain too IIRC.

My point is, it's relatively easy to control an SV when riding moderately with one point of control missing. In this case, the missing control was merely the clutch - everything else can be controlled from elsewhere, and you don't NEED the clutch to change gear.

Mind, given all the above, I wouldn't recommend anyone do it, of any skill level. Personal choice & all, but I still sit in the "nothing wrong if done safely" camp.

Thats all you need really.

Although its quite a good camera. Those bike shots were much larger, but i've zoomed in and cropped to sit in the middle of the screen.

Thats why you only need a basic view, take loads of shots, SOME of them will come out, and can be editted as above to look quite good

The original pictures were not like that at all.

Thats a quick camera. If you feel confident hun then carry on, it`s only my choice not to do it.

Not being argumentative but i do still think that you`ve more chance of avoiding a potential accident if you have 2 hands free.

Originally Posted by Baph

I remember after AR07, I had comments along the lines of "the longest one-handed ride around twisty roads I've seen" from a handful of different people. Quite literally, because the group was going so slow, I was resting my left arm on the tank, occasionally moving it to a different part of the tank.

Granted, my hands weren't busy doing something else (like in this case, taking photos), but the risk is much the same. I was happily one handed around bends, some of which tightened whilst going around them.

My point is, it's relatively easy to control an SV when riding moderately with one point of control missing. In this case, the missing control was merely the clutch - everything else can be controlled from elsewhere, and you don't NEED the clutch to change gear.

Mind, given all the above, I wouldn't recommend anyone do it, of any skill level. Personal choice & all, but I still sit in the "nothing wrong if done safely" camp.

I`m not saying I don`t ever ride with only one hand because sometimes I do. However, when I`m riding with one hand my other hand is obv there and ready to put back on the bars immediately should I need to... it`s not holding onto a mobile phone or camera

[chris8886]

i'm loving those pics, they are cool. don't think i'd have the balls to do the same, although i do quite often ride the same as baph with my left arm leaning on the tank or resting on my knee.

Im not arguing Claire, just discussing it

Oh, btw, this isn't on a sportbike don't forget. Its on a more sit upright Bandit S (similar riding position to an SV650 (NOT S))..

I think im doing about 70 in those shots (limits 82 in france).

I regularly take off my left glove, stow it in the tank bag, get my remote garage door key fob out of my pocket and press it as I approach the garage so it is open by the time I get there. Like most things on a bike, it's a bit wobbly/scary the first half a dozen times, but it eventually becomes second nature and not much of a distraction at all. I also have the judgement/restraint that if there are other people about who might be affected by my actions that I won't do it. The problem with things like texting/taking photos/etc. is that they aren't just the physical actions of doing them (which eventually become as second nature as riding the bike), but that they require a degree of mental thought- framing/composition of the picture, contents of a text message, etc. That "creative thought" is always going to be a distraction, no matter how automatic the physical movements associated with it become. Even so, an experienced driver/rider who is mildly distracted by mentally composing a text message is still likely to be safer than a n00b who is concentrating 100% on the task in hand. When you see London couriers on the radio/smoking whilst riding, they still have much better machine control, positioning etc. than most riders.

So, I'd say it depends on what sort of rider you are, how much traffic was about and a whole host of other factors I could not be privvy to, so I'd reserve judgement.