RE: [ST] Crossing over

["Ken Haylock [Emerplym Ltd]" <kwh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> On Saturday, August 17, 2002 @ 7:04 AM, Christopher Morgan said...
>
>I'm not sure I know all the arguments being put forth on this issue as I
>haven't been keeping up on the list mail, but let me say this:  If you are
>trying to ride through twisties while keeping your sight distance longer
>than your stopping distance, you might want to try shortening your stopping
>distance rather than trying to lengthen your sight distance by changing
your
>position on the road.  Of course the way you shorten your stopping distance
>is to slow down (say what!).

Whatever safety margin you feel comfortable with, if you change your
position on the road to get a better view ahead, you will be able to go
faster for the same safety margin, or put another way, have a greater safety
margin for a given speed. Slow down if you like, you'll still be even safer
if you change position for the view and hence see more, earlier. The ability
to do so is one of the key advantages a motorcycle has over a car. Crossing
the centre line is an extreme example of this, and the IAM (Institute of
Advanced Motorcyclists) & RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of
Accidents) used to teach crossing the centre line as part of their syllabus,
until they had a rethink more recently. As has been said, police class 1
riders in the UK are /still/ taught to cross the centre line to gain an
additional view, where safe to do so. For the rest of us, the advanced
riding syllabus set out in Motorcycle Roadcraft remains enthusiastic about
shifting position within your own side of the road. Thus for a left hander
(think right-hander on the US) I'm right out on the centre line taking
advantage of the extra vision that gives me, whereas for right-handers
(think left-handers on the US), I'm riding just out of the gutter.

I agree with your later point that road lines have absolutely nothing to do
with racing lines, but unless I have misunderstood what you mean, I disagree
with your interpretation of the best line around a curve. At this point I
was going to try to tell you what lines I take exactly, with many arm-waving
explanations, but it occurs to me that it might be best to just show you, so
if you have a reasonably fast connection, please feel free to check out...
http://www.sportbikes.dhs.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayit&Picture_ID=3189
2
...which is me with a camera on the tank of the ST doing some miles round
the Isle of Man TT course. Sorry about the cheesy soundtrack. You'll notice
that the lines I'm taking are generally about maximising my view, although
in doing so I'm trying not to compromise my safety, which is the priority of
course.


Ken Haylock
http://www.cix.co.uk/~kwh



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