safety tips for new riders

I added a Rear View Mirror to my bike too, thinking that it would be better than turning my head around at 25 MPH. I had to go with a longer stem to allow me to See things behind me, and it does vibrate some.... but it Does Help.

I just had another short ride tonight after work, and I saw a car in the mirror with his lights on coming up from behind. To confirm what I saw I turned my head, but it was nice to have seen the car without having to turn my head around first.

I too have a rear view mirror but I still also turn my head, I find that turning and looking at somebody grabs there attention better. Not only that I get a better look at whats around me then looking in the mirror.

I'm new to motorbiking, but I have been on two wheels (pedal power) since I could walk almost and motorcycling around the city here for 5 years. We get bad snowbirds(old folks with wrap-around-sunglasses cause I'm blind and I drive only 4door caddies or mercedes) in the winter, plus the normal crazy floridian locals year-round. You have to ride defensively and always expect ANY possible outcome of what can happpen, scan the road like a terminator!!!!Also watch out for the road itself, just because it's empty doesn't mean its safe! My worst wreck was on a 250 Ninja on a back road with no cars out, I was in the apex of a turn at about 85-90mph and there were water sprinklers(3 of them) spraying the road not the grass...boom, wake up in a ditch, broken humerous and scapula. I've had people wreck me numerious times and even wreck/killed my best friend...Just plain watch out, I like the terminator anology, it works and it is fun sometimes...lol...

Definitely True.... Pay attention to the Road surface! I've only got 84 Miles on my MB, but already know that the little bumps can hurt in a hurry, and even a small chuckhole in the pavement can mean Disaster on a bicycle going 25+ MPH!
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Also, did anyone mention Lights yet? I'm still working on the system I Want for the bike, but in the meantime I added on some battery powered bike lights that will be better than nothing at all. Even in the Daytime, I'd rather have some lights on the bike so that others will hopefully see me.

Watch out for cars opening their doors to get out!

One thing I never thought to look out for is the guy that makes the left turn right in front of you with no turn signal on. This is a common thing that can and will happen when you are feeling as though things are going well. It's something that really scared me the other day the guy is coming in the opposite direction and the next thing I know is that he's now right in my path. Not only has he blocked me but he does it casually like he's in slow motion. My braking became a panic kind of stopping at best sliding sideways to a stop. I was going at about 24-28 mph and could barely make a smooth transition from cruising to the extreme braking without hitting the careless driver, I'm sure I looked to be at fault from the manner of skidding that occurred when the bike became sideways with the rear wheel locked. I thought, had I been going faster I would have hit him for sure.

I've found it's better to ride in the middle of the lane on streets with no bicycle lanes. When I ride to the edge, people think they can squeak by me at normal speed. This has led to several close calls for me.