On Fri, 2007-02-23 at 22:35 -0800, Stewart Stremler wrote: > Clutches are comparitively cheap. And coasting is easy, just shift > into neutral!
$300 and a weekend to remove/install is not cheap to me. Ispend more time in neutral than many say I should (especially down the grade on 52 - I can coast at 70-90 down that grade. > In rush hour traffic, why are you measuring gaps? I'm not. I'm just referring to the DMV recommended minimum safe following distance. > 2 seconds was the "recommended" distance way back when I was learning to > drive (so was 10-and-2, even though I did 9-and-3 for preference then > and now). Somewhere over the years they changed it to 3. Yes, it was 2 when I learned as well. > The problem of playing dodge'em is that if you screw up and hit > something or someone, or lose control, it's now your fault. Legally > (IANAL), I believe that it's better to have the guy coming into your > lane to hit you than for you to dodge and hit someone else. Not on a bike it ain't. After riding a bike for so many years - and having a motorcycle license before I could drive a car - many of my riding habits transfer automatically to driving. Not the things like splitting lanes, but things like scanning the mirrors constantly, looking at peoples heads and faces to see and not just the cars, being ready for any idiot to try to hit me, etc. > The appropriate response is probably to hit the horn and slam on > the brakes, especially if you have nowhere to dodge to. Ideally, you'd > let 'em crunch your mirror before you take drastic action -- but that's > a hard sort of precision and confidence to master. If you have to think about it, it's too late. On a bike, you don't think, you just learn to react or you're dead (or worse). You certainly don't bother with the horn and slamming on the brakes, you avoid the problem and leave yourself somewhere to go if there is one. Switch to a car, and you're still reacting, and the only think you think about is that the car is bigger, slower, and not nearly as nimble. You have more "armor" in the car, but who want's to test it? > Well, it's sometimes nice to use the brakes to _indicate_ that you're > slowing down, without actually applying them, or applying them very > hard... Both my car and bike have very sensitive brake switches. I can tap the pedal/lever without actually applying the brake. > Of course, turning this around... if I end up passing/pulling in front > of someone, it behooves me to ensure that I *don't* consequently slow > down... this is why I really like driving with cruise control (sometimes > to the detriment of nominal 'buffer zones') -- it's not MY speed that > is varying all over the map, and if I pass you, it's not that I am > temporarily zooming along. Ah, to have cruise control on the bike. I had one on my first bike. They're available, but for a price. > Nice, wide, smooth lanes, gentle curves, and another 4,000 RPM left > on the tach... Yeah. Nice twisty road, no cars, another 6000 RPM left on the tach...Ooooh Yeeaah! :) > -- > Then again, I really like having excess horsepower at my disposal. > Stewart Stremler > It has saved my ass many times. PGA -- Paul G. Allen BSIT/SE Owner/Sr. Engineer Random Logic Consulting www.randomlogic.com -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
