Motorcycling: Dealing with near-death experiences, potholes and wheel size - Part 15

1. Near-death experiences make you a better rider

As the famous philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche stated:

"what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger."

The same applies to achieving mastery in any skill, in any field, including motorcycling. Only when you push yourself and your motorcycle to the edge is when you can truly know your limits. Every near-death experience I had during my younger days of riding taught me valuable insights, which made me a better rider with time. The only thing I did right was to never push myself so much that I end up killing myself. Of course, luck also plays a major role.

If you have a sober riding style from the beginning or you ride too cautiously then you are never going to know what your bike is capable of and how good a rider you are. Most bikers I know ride with an attitude that their level of riding is the most sensible one and rest of the riders are either too slow or too rash and stupid. None is self aware or tries to assess or challenge one's own riding. So, they end up neither improving nor becoming safe as a rider.

Many bikers, especially the daily commuters, ride as if they are a horse with blinders covering their eyes and they cannot see on either side or what is behind them. See the the image below.

These type of riders just ride straight at a constant speed like a goods train. They do not care about proactive riding, their safety or how their riding could be affecting the movement of other vehicles. These riders are literally at the mercy of other drivers from not knocking them down. Such riders put bare minimum effort in learning how to ride properly and safely. They also tend to have extremely slow reflexes and they react poorly to sudden changes in the environment. I would safely assume that such riders comprise majority of two-wheeler deaths on Indian roads every year.

Every time I had a close call, I stared at death and broken bones for a fraction of second before coming back to my senses. Each encounter taught me what could go wrong if I don't pay attention to a specific scenario and situation. Some examples include something or someone abruptly coming in front of me around a blind corner. Cows, dogs and animals suddenly appearing in front of me when I least expect them. All of sudden, a speeding car, bike or a truck come flying in my direction at an intersection. Safely avoiding large wheels of a truck or bus when I get into their blind zone and they suddenly turn. The list goes on. These experiences taught me when to pull the throttle hard and when to let go off and take it easy.

It is only when I rode across the four extreme corners of India through different terrains, scenarios and unfamiliar situations is when my understanding of motorcycle riding got deeper. Looking at all the possibilities, what could go wrong, made me a more careful rider. At the same time, it also made me confident to push harder but not too hard to end up in a hospital. Being hyper alert when going fast go hand-in-hand, otherwise it is just a matter of time before one makes a mistake.

The lesson to learn here: The more you push your bike and yourself to the edge the more you learn about your true riding capabilities (with the risk of a possible accident). And, if you pay enough attention then there is a lot of scope to keep improving, and become a better rider from such experiences. Every close-call teaches you something valuable. The magic formula is to push your bike only till the point that you don't break bones or get killed but come back home with a new learning.

2. Stand-up before entering potholes

The stability of a motorcycle depends on factors like centre of gravity (CG) or centre of mass, wheelbase, and so on. These things dictate how a motorcycle will behave with rider inputs.

A heavy bike with a low CG will be more stable in straight but difficult to turn sharply at fast speeds. It will need more leaning to make that turn. A tall motorcycle with shorter wheelbase and high CG will turn quickly and easily. In the same way, how a motorcycle will respond when it goes into a pothole depends on your motorcycle dynamics.

When you go into a deep and sharp pothole at a good speed, your motorcycle is bound to become unstable and chances of your bike crashing increases. But your bike dynamics could minimize the impact. For example, adventure and off-road motorcycles are usually designed to be very tall with higher seat height, larger wheels and more suspension travel. They have higher CG making them more stable over bad roads and potholes. Such bikes can effortlessly go over broken patches at good speeds. But, a heavy low-profile motorcycle with low CG and smaller tyres can get unstable quickly in the same situation.

Now, this is where standing up quickly before entering a pothole can help you and your bike in many ways. Of course, you can't stand up on certain type of motorcycles like those large Harley Davidson cruisers. And, of course, I don't ask you to stand up completely unless you ride an adventure bike with a tall and wide handlebar. You can simply lift your bum from the seat by putting pressure on the footpegs and handlebar. What this does is it helps you decouple from the bike and counterbalance your bike if it gets unstable.

When you sit on the bike then you and your bike become one entity. Every movement of your bike will affect you and vice versa. Every jerk that the bike absorbs from the road is transferred to your body too. If the bike becomes unstable after going over an undulation or a pothole on the road then it will throw you off balance too. If your bike's rear tyre hits a sharp edge at high speed then you will be airborne for a moment and could lose control.

When you stand up as your bike goes into a pothole, you are basically decoupling from it and your body operates independently from the motorcycle. Your body has natural suspension mechanisms to not only absorb shocks but also steer the bike back to stability with your legs and arms. When your bike tilts to one side, your body naturally leans to the opposite side to counterbalance the bike so you don't fall.

This is only possible when your body is lifted up from the seat. If you are simply sitting when the bike is unstable then you add to the problem. Imagine you are hugging a person tightly and you both are walking together. If the other person slips and loses balance then he/she will take you down too. Instead, if you were just holding his/her hands then you have a chance to use your stability to save that person from falling by pulling him/her towards you. Of course, you will always have those exceptional riders who have no motor skills and they won't even react.

There are other benefits of standing up or at least lifting your bums before riding into a pothole. When your bike's front tyre enters a deep pothole then your weight starts shifting, and then when your bike's rear tyre enters the pothole and bounces back, you hit your rear seat with your full upper-body weight which in turn puts a lot of force onto the rear shocker. This can result in the rear shocker bottoming out and worse, the shocker seal leaks. It happened in my case once. Also, in worst case scenario, a really bad jerk to the back or neck spine can cause slipped discs. In case, you are carrying expensive and fragile gadgets in your backpack, they could get damaged too.

If you enter a steep pothole at a high speed without trying to get up then there is a possibility that you exert a lot of pressure on the suspension and it bottoms out, which can also bend your bike's alloy wheels.

The lesson to learn here: If you spot a pothole ahead of you and you have no time to brake or slowdown, at least stand up from your bike's seat until you clear the bad patch of the road. This way, you will be able to better control your bike if it gets unstable and protect your back spine, neck, alloy wheels and gadgets in your backpack.

3. Wheel size matters

Most two-wheelers are designed for specific purposes and for riding in certain areas. Usually, you will find more scooters inside densely populated towns and cities where roads are narrow and the travel distance is short. In such places, scooters make perfect sense as they are mostly automatic, lightweight, small, have space to keep your grocery bags and you can comfortably place your legs.

As they are not designed to be ridden at high speeds or long distances, they have small tyres ranging from 10 to 12 inches (and 14 inches in some models). The small tyres bring the centre of gravity (or mass) of scooters extremely low resulting in super-light ride and handling. Moreover, these small tyres can glide over roads and remain steady even at dead-slow speeds without losing balance, whereas larger wheels tend to be unstable at very low speeds. For these reasons, in countries like India, Italy, Spain or even London city for that matter, you will see high usage of scooters as they make more sense.

Likewise, the adventure motorcycles we ride to far-off places usually have large wheels, especially in the front that can go up to 21 inches. The liter-class or 1000cc super bikes always have 17-inch wheels (both front and rear). The daily-commuter bikes sold in India usually have 18-inch wheels. You will find the smallest wheels on skateboards as they are just inches above the road and need the lowest centre of gravity possible for maximum stability even at good speeds.

Each of these tyre sizes behave differently at different speeds, lean angles, road surface and so on. Know the size of your bike's tyre and what it is designed for, so you can adjust your riding style accordingly and extract the most out of your bike or scooter. For example, although my (Kawasaki Versys) motorcycle was an adventure tourer but it had 17 inches sporty tyres. So, whenever I go over a bumpy patch or pothole at a high speed, the bike would unsettle and bounce a bit. But, on my KTM 390 adventure with 19-inch front tyre and lightweight chassis, it glides over uneven surfaces with rock-solid stability. Of course, there are other factors that also play a role.

The lesson to learn here: Every scooter and bike is made for a specific reason with different tyre sizes. The size of the tyre determines its behaviour on different surfaces and speeds. So, be cognizant of what your bike or scooter is designed for and ride within its prescribed limits. It will be foolish to use a long, tall and heavy adventure motorcycle with large wheels as a daily commuter, especially in heavy traffic and tight spaces where bicycles are faster. The same way, it will be foolish to ride your scooter at 3-digit speeds and then suddenly try to brake or lean to avoid a pothole.