07-12-17, 02:13 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-12-17, 02:16 AM by tommyardin.)
Use everything in your arsenal to keep safe.
If you have a Sat Nav they can certainly give you an idea of the sharpness of a bend, but as someone else said the vanishing point will tell you when to start applying some power coming out of a bend, but remember bends sometimes have a double apex and can tighten up again and the vanishing point will not tell you about the broken down coach just out of sight as you start to apply the beans.
Common sense and self preservation will stand you in good stead, as will sensible use of a Sat Nav and using the V Point. Local knowledge is also useful for everyday riding, but statistics show most accidents happen with 3 or 4 miles of home.
Watching for telegraph poles along county roads can give you an idea of the direction of bends in the road ahead (they tend to follow the road, but not always)
Fresh clumps of dirt/mud and grass along a road could indicate a tractor could have recently passed that way or is around the corner cutting the hedges, a pile of manure in the road could mean horses or cattle in the road around the bend.
Keep your wits about you and don't be lulled into a false sense of security.
When riding with mates things can sometimes get out of hand, everyone one wants to be a Mr Martin, if you start to feel it is getting silly drop back, better be 5 minutes late than dead on time.
If you do go around a bend to quickly and are surprised by a obstacle in your way, start your braking/avoidance procedure and look away (Avert your gaze) from the obstacle and manoeuvre the bike around it or stop, Target Fixation through surprise or fear will steal you no claims bonus or you life quicker than pretty much anything else on a bike.
[size=1em]Stay safe, ride with dipped headlights on, wear bright colours, I know a floro waistcoat and a floro yellow skid lid does not look cool, but then neither does a foccing wheelchair.[/size][size=1em] :eek [/size]
Wow,I'm taking a caning over this  . Look out for a Garmin in the For Sale section :lol . I've obviously given the impression that I'm riding around staring at a satnav. In evaluating the usefullness of this gadget on a foreign trip,bearing in mind I've ridden for almost 55 years without one,so must have been doing something right. It efficiently got me across a few towns and a city where I've encountered diversions etc in the past. The ability to have the speed displayed in kph was handy for obvious reasons,as well as being able to locate petrol stations when out in the sticks,more for my pals benefit than mine. Lastly,as an aside, I felt that to have the knowledge that an up coming blind bend on an unfamiliar road is going to be 180° is no bad thing,in my view.
Whizz kid sitting pretty on his two wheeled stallion.
(06-12-17, 12:49 AM)robbo link Wrote: It was also useful in the twisties to be prepared for any bends that really tightened up, thus minimising any surprises.
I'm with you on this one.
Despite the (incorrect) implications by others that you're "staring at the Sat Nav all the time", it's no different from a mirror check, speedo check or lifesaver etc in that you don't do it at a critical point when you need your vision on the road ahead, but you do it as part of your visual scan.
I have my TomTom Rider set up for 2D rather than 3D map view since that gives you more view of what the road ahead might be doing *before* you get into the bend and find that it suddenly tightens on you.
Of course it's not a substitute for watching for Limit Point, visual clues such as telephone poles and so on as tommyardin points out, but it's another potentially useful piece of information which, used correctly, will be of benefit to you :thumbup
Hope you did not feel I was giving you stick, The SatNav is a tool in your armoury and can give you upfront warning of a tight bend.
There are so many hazards out there that want to bite your arse, we need to use all that armoury to our best advantage.
Ride within your ability, if your uncertain drop 10 mph. I know all this stuff and of course its fine saying it sat on the sofa with my iPad on my lap, but we all make f--k ups and get it wrong from time to time.
Like you I have been around the bike scene a long time, I passed my bike test in 1966,
I have ended up in A & E a couple of times, so know some of the pitfalls of riding a motorcycle, but being complacent or overly confident will bite your bum sooner or later.
I think that riders today are probably better trained than we ever were, my bike test was a joke and to be honest my car test was not much better.
I have been riding with Robbo 20 odd years now and if you can keep up your doing well, sat nav or no sat nav.
If he says its a handy trick its a handy trick.
The trouble with forums is people can just trot off stuff that may or may not be true, an example is ..someone on here was giving advice on static sag and handling issues etc then a couple of months later asked what oil to use !!!
Like the thread about blipping the throttle, WTF ?
Just cos you got a licence don't make you a rider.
Robbo is.
ps, I aint bumming him, hes too ugly
(07-12-17, 02:12 PM)Flooky link Wrote: Just cos you got a licence don't make you a rider.
Robbo is.
:rolleyes
Care to point out to me where I criticised Robbo's riding ability?
What I think is that every additional thing that causes you to take your eyes away from what's going on in front of you is a hazard. I would be happier to have an audible warning, maybe something along the lines of a spoken message that says something like "tightening radius bend approaching." That way, I can be lining up the corner entry, adjusting my speed and gear selection etc, and still be looking for any additional hazards there may be. But even with audible warnings, as I mentioned, I think you can have too many. Most of the audible warnings on my Sat Nav are just beeps, and I still have to take my eyes from the road to see what the warning is of.
Whether or not I can keep up with Robbo has no bearing on my point whatsoever 
My comments were not directed at any one in particular, I just read everyones posts and got the impression that a reasonably good idea was being mugged off.
I just read and consider all ideas.
I don't use sat nav on a bike myself cos not got round to buying one yet, I write down the main places on a bit of paper and have them in my tank bag, then look at the map every night on a trip, to plan the next day.
And if you can hear an audible warning you aint going fast enough !
(07-12-17, 03:54 PM)Flooky link Wrote: And if you can hear an audible warning you aint going fast enough !
I dunno. An F15E pilot flying "nap of the earth" might have something to say about that :lol
I don't really understand that sorry, if I am riding in a group, wind noise and pipes even with ear plugs I couldnt hear a sat nav. 80 or 90 mph sweepers its quite loud, but something that indicated that in 3 bends time we were getting a 30mph hairpin would be handy.
I will make do with a map til then, (or follow Robbo )
(07-12-17, 02:22 AM)robbo link Wrote: Wow,I'm taking a caning over this . Look out for a Garmin in the For Sale section :lol . I've obviously given the impression that I'm riding around staring at a satnav. In evaluating the usefullness of this gadget on a foreign trip,bearing in mind I've ridden for almost 55 years without one,so must have been doing something right. It efficiently got me across a few towns and a city where I've encountered diversions etc in the past. The ability to have the speed displayed in kph was handy for obvious reasons,as well as being able to locate petrol stations when out in the sticks,more for my pals benefit than mine. Lastly,as an aside, I felt that to have the knowledge that an up coming blind bend on an unfamiliar road is going to be 180° is no bad thing,in my view.
No one is caning you Robbo, but remember the Sat Nav only needs to be wrong once :'( No one is doubting the efficiency of the unit, but they can be wrong. I have used them on occasions but generally on holidays I don't bother just because I have had so much fun without it. :lol The GPS on the phone works fine for me if I ever need it.
I have ridden with people who use them all the time and have set routes for people on them. On more than one occasion fellows with Sat Navs have asked me for my trusty 5 mmm thick fit anywhere when traveling light map. Why? to figure out where they actually were :lol The funniest one was in the Dordogne Valley in the village of Domme. Stopped to look down over the wall to the river far below and this guy I just waved to parked and comes up to me and asks if he could have a look at the map I had in the tank bag. I gave to to him and then noticed the Sat Nav, I asked what was wrong with the Sat Nav, His reply "Oh nothing it brought me straight to Domme, I just want to know where the Foc it is" :rollin My wife his girlfrined and I could not be consoled :rollin
(07-12-17, 02:12 PM)Flooky link Wrote: Like the thread about blipping the throttle, WTF ?
That was my thread.
What do you mean by your comment. If this isn't the place to ask questions about our bikes or riding bikes, then where do we go to?
I was never taught it in my bike test 7 years ago or my car test 20 years a go. I mostly ride by myself (i have no friends :'( ) so where would i pick up this information??
Obviously you now everything, but when i thought sailing i always explained that the person who said they now everything about sailing is either a fool or dangerous, reckon the same applies to bikes. By the way which one are you?
Sorry for the thread highjack.
Red Heads - Slowly taking over the world!!!
(07-12-17, 06:45 PM)Flooky link Wrote: I don't really understand that sorry, if I am riding in a group, wind noise and pipes even with ear plugs I couldnt hear a sat nav.
My TomTom Rider has a Bluetooth connection to a headset which I can hear fine with earplugs in.
(07-12-17, 08:57 PM)unfazed link Wrote: No one is caning you Robbo, but remember the Sat Nav only needs to be wrong once
That's why you don't *rely* on it, just use it as a potential useful extra piece of information.
There again, it's cheaper and easier to download an updated map on the Sat Nav than buying a paper one which might be based on information a few years out of date...
Yep agree with Robbo and Grahamm. Look down at the Satnav before the bend arrives. Look away from the Satnav and up at the bend as you get to it,and all the way through it. Simple and safe. Best of both worlds. Invaluable at night on country roads where you can't see where the bend goes until you are on it (did I mention Boxeye headlights?)
(07-12-17, 09:39 PM)Skippernick link Wrote: [quote author=Flooky link=topic=23543.msg272122#msg272122 date=1512652365]
Like the thread about blipping the throttle, WTF ? Not the person asking the question, no one knows everything, the crazy answers.
I think maybe a forum is an easy arena to be misunderstood.
Its like texting, if you know a person you can imagine how they would say something, but with strangers its easy to be misunderstood.
Having said all that, I am both a fool and dangerous, but not a bad sailor.
That was my thread.
What do you mean by your comment. If this isn't the place to ask questions about our bikes or riding bikes, then where do we go to?
I was never taught it in my bike test 7 years ago or my car test 20 years a go. I mostly ride by myself (i have no friends :'( ) so where would i pick up this information??
Obviously you now everything, but when i thought sailing i always explained that the person who said they now everything about sailing is either a fool or dangerous, reckon the same applies to bikes. By the way which one are you?
Sorry for the thread highjack.
[/quote]
FFS girls do stop bickering :rolleyes
Blimey, who'd have thought a chuck away remark about GPS could cause such a controversy :lol . I've been firmly routed in the "notes and a map on the tank bag" camp, and still am, ever since I started riding any great distance. In fact there was no alternative back then. Taking the satnav on my last trip was an experiment more than anything else, and due to time constraints,hoped it would save time navigating any towns/cities, which it did. I know I'm not using it properly, as have no audio link to it, and as far as programming way points etc, forget it. Any computer based procedures, just drop me out.
Getting on to the bends thing. The purpose of taking it in the first place was to evaluate its usefulness,as there's no point in taking a gadget if it doesn't earn its keep so to speak. Other than the purposes it was designed for, I did find it useful to know that a 180 degree bend was coming up, so that awareness of the unexpected could be raised. The pace regulated accordingly,making progress,in my opinion, a lot smoother, more relaxed and therefore less tiring which is only a good thing when putting in a long day in the saddle.
Maybe as the Garmin was fairly new to me, it was a bit like a new toy, as I was very aware that it was there. Possibly a long time user might refer to it more subconsciously,like a mirror check,but still take on board the info they've seen without realizing it. A bit like the throttle blip saga, with riders unaware that they did it. Just a natural action that is performed without thought.
All being well, my next foreign foray will be Le Mans 24 hr in April, but I'll leave the satnav at home, as I know the way by heart :lol .
Whizz kid sitting pretty on his two wheeled stallion.
Well I aint comin,
Your bound to crash !
Some days when touring you need to have a day or two of just hammering out 300-500miles in a day to get to an area of interest. In that instance the GPS is great!
At other times I do like to just cruise about and explore, use the phone and just head in the direction of things that look interesting like villages, lakes, woods, hills, mountains or bits of coastline.
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