Motorcycle Wisdom
NIGE Motorcycle Club Top 20
The older we get, the better we were.
20. The two most useless things to a rider are the braking distance behind
you, and nine-tenth of a second ago.
19. Remember… gravity and centrifugal force are not just good ideas. They
are laws and are not subject to appeal.
18. Keep looking around. There’s always something you’ve missed.
17. Good judgement comes from experience. Unfortunately, the experience usually
comes from bad judgement.
16. In the ongoing battle between objects made of metal, rubber, and
fibreglass… going 160 kms per hour, and the ground going zero kms per
hour, the ground has yet to lose. Same holds for cars, large trucks, and
animals taller than you. Draws don’t count.
15. If all you can see in your mirrors is sparks and all you can hear is
screaming from your passenger, things may not be as they should be.
14. You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The
trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.
13. There are two simple rules for riding smoothly and fast in rain and on
wet roads. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.
12. Always try to keep the number of times you put your sidestand down equal
to the number of times you put the sidestand up.
11. Never let a motorcycle take you somewhere your brain didn’t get to three
seconds earlier.
10. You know you’ve left the sidestand down when your first left turn is one
of those bad learning experiences. You know you’ve left the centerstand down
when your in 1st gear at 4000 rpm going nowhere.
9. Learn from the mistakes of others. You won’t live long enough to make all
of them yourself.
8. When in doubt slow down. No one has ever hit something too slow.
7. The rear wheel is just a big fan on back of the bike used to keep the rider
cool and his/her butt relaxed. If going into a corner too fast,
slamming on the rear brake causes the “fan” to abruptly stop. When this
happens you can actually see the rider start sweating and his/her butt
become tense.
6. The only time you have too much fuel is when you’re on fire.
5. It’s always better to be on the sidelines wishing you were on the track,
than on the track wishing you were on the sidelines.
4. Riding isn’t dangerous! Crashing is dangerous!
3. If you push the bars left, the bike goes left. If you push the bars right,
the bike goes right. That is, unless you continue pushing the bars
all the way, then the bike will go down.
2. Every ride is optional.
1. A “good” ride is one from which you can walk away. A “great” ride is one
after which you can use the bike again.
I’m in !!! I wish someone told me about the side stand wisdom BEFORE the wet Byron/ Kempsey run.!
Brick riders have trouble seeing the side stand at start up – too much smoke.
There are quite a few pearls of wisdom that would apply to you and the bricks Droopy 🙂
I know that Scrounger and I certainly understand the wisdom of no. 6