Newbie

[gbortnick]

I am 65 and just bought a new Dax 4 cycle with friction drive. I was so impressed with the ease of assembly and quality of work. The simplicity makes it very efficient. I weigh 240 and the first time out I was running half throtle and saw I was doing 32. I would love to do some long range touring but alittle scared about road safety. A lot of people are either talking on their cell or smoking something they shouldn't. Does anybody have any safety hints or rules for the road?
Georgehttp

 

[2door]

Welcome to the forum, George. You've found the right place to share this amazing hobby.
As for safety? The best, very best suggestion that we can offer is to "Ride as if you're invisible". Never assume that drivers will see or react to you. Pretend that they're blind to bicycles and you'll stay out of harms way.
Good luck, ride safe.
Tom

 

[azbill]

good call Tom !!!
that is exactly how I ride

 

[F_Rod81]

Welcome to the forum. Ride safe, be cool, and let the fun begin.

 

[CTripps]

Hi George

The cagers will always claim they didn't see you, no matter what you're doing when trouble happens, but to counter that I have a lot of reflective material on the bike itself, I wear a high-vis safety vest, reflective wraps near my ankles to keep my pants out of the chains and have a flashing LED light on the back of the bike and the back of my helmet.
For those that still don't notice and cut me off, I love the AirZound air horn system. Up to 115 db, I keep the adjuster at about 3/4's on mine and no problems yet. I also wear steel-toe runners when I ride, and anyone that crowds me gets a good kick in the bodypanels.

 

[gbortnick]

I love your way of thinking. Where did you get your vest and reflective material?

 

[CTripps]

The vest was from one of the safety-supply places around town, they sell different styles of vests, outdoor work wear, protective gear etc. The refelctive tape was from the bike section of a Wal-mart type store. This is my bike, the back end doesn't show well but the reflective tape is wrapped around the back corners of the rear basket, a straight section across the middle of the back.. left over snippets and bits of the tape were put on the ends of my fenders, and a bit each side wrapped on my bar ends, etc. As a rear light on the basket, I'm using a reflective leg wrap that has a row of red LEDs on it, they either blink or light solid if you hit the button again. Most of the tape on the baskets I put on to a plastic that's made like corrugated cardboard, and used some small cable ties to hold them on at the ends and where they turn corners. The front lights I'm using aren't very good for seeing by, they're more to be seen so that others know you're there. I have to change that, as the lane behind my house is pitch-black dark, no streetlights reach it. (Found that out first time I came home after dark, turned into the lane and couldn't see anything.. not garbage cans, wet leaves, or anything... made for a fun downhill-and-around-the-curve to my garage).

I'll have to remember to take a few pics in the dark or failing light some night this week.

 

[DuctTapedGoat]

Best advice I can offer you is to tell you this.

Be an active rider. I don't mean get a workout! As in active listening, in which you focus on the person talking. Keep a watchful eye, don't make wild moves darting in and out of traffic, ride as fluidly with traffic as possible, try to know every vehicle on the road.

There's really a lot of tips I can offer, but some of the most important are these here.

>When approaching a cross street where you have no stop sign and the cross street does have a stop sign, be careful! Many drivers won't realize you're riding at 30+ MPH, which can cause a collision. This is why I have found that when approaching a cross street like I described, don't only watch their vehicle for movement, watch their rims/wheels. You'll notice the rims/wheels rolling before you notice the entire vehicle moving.

>At night, only ride familiar streets. Past dusk and before dawn are terrible times to find "new and exciting routes".

>Expect the unexpected! Be prepared for simple things to go wrong with your bike, and try to be as prepared as possible for any type of failure. I don't mean carry an airpump with you either. How I mean that is, for example, are you prepared were your chain to snap/engine to seize/hit a dog/blow a tire/etc etc?

>Just because you have a motor on your bike doesn't make it a motorcycle. There's still a bicycle to maintain under all that 2 cycle smoke. That will solve many a problem there. Ride it once, tune it twice!

>Investigate your local laws (city, county and state) as far as legal operation, be prepared to speak to your local L.E.O. while he's on patrol, and also - know the local bicycle laws by heart. You may find you have more rights than you realized.

>If you don't have a horn, get one. If you run into a situation where you NEED a horn and don't have one, I've found hitting the clutch and revving the engine can sometimes get someone's attention in a pinch.

>Stay off the left side of the street - even if only pedaling with your motor off down the sidewalk. Cars are NOT used to seeing anything coming from that direction in their blind spot.


That's all I can think of for now. Well, aside from - light yourself up like an xmas tree! Doesn't hurt when you're not getting hit.

 

[Saddletramp1200]

Welcome to another wonderful part of your life! We have the best minds in the world here, and one old Coot with a fancy car.

 

[CTripps]

I snapped a couple of shots of the back of my bike this evening. Here's one of them.

Anyone who claims they didn't see me has to be legally blind. The long yellow strip on the basket is actually a reflective leg-band with 4 red LEDs that either blink or just light up constantly. I prefer blinking mode for rear lights, as they can be noticed from farther away.