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Riding a motorcycle skillfully has been compared with the difficulty of piloting a helicopter; there are so many unique controls to master. For instance, braking typically requires the rider to use both a hand lever and a foot pedal, rather than simply stepping on a brake pedal as in a car. And to make matters more complicated, a motorcycle, with its relatively tiny tire contact patches, can transfer so much weight forward under hard braking that properly balancing the applied front and rear brake pressures can be very difficult under the best of circumstances, and can test the skills of the most experienced riders on slippery surfaces. Oh, and rolling on throttle and squeezing the front brake will often need to be combined smoothly when downshifting, another trick of manual dexterity and careful judgment to master.
The same goes for acceleration. As the average motorcycle has the power-to-weight ratio of a race car, but without the traction of four wide wheels, it’s also easy to overpower the rear wheel, causing a variety of unplanned events. With a manual clutch, taking off from a stop demands a balance of engine power and clutch slip to master smoothly. Additionally, starting off from a hill will require balancing the bike at a standstill with one foot while simultaneously engaging the rear brake—again a unique combination of skills—and both are a big part of why manual transmissions have nearly disappeared from automobiles.
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The answer is that Bob’s crashes were mostly a result of poor mental skills, not inadequate control skills. Training Bob to corner faster helped him to have more fun, but his basic problem was poor situational awareness. He just didn’t know how to look ahead, how to think about what’s not yet in view, or how to link speed to sight distance.
It’s essential that a motorcyclist learn the physical skills to control such things as balancing, turning, shifting, and braking. There are more than a few riders around who demonstrate their embarrassing lack of skill by dragging their boots on the pavement or paddle walking the bike around in a U-turn in a desperate attempt to keep the bike from falling. I’ve seen lots of riders banging down repeatedly on the shift lever because they don’t know how to shift smoothly and quietly. Lots of riders follow a “car” line through corners, wasting traction. But poor control skills don’t necessarily result in more frequent crashes, especially those that are a result of poor situational awareness. The important message is that you need to figure out how to control the situation as well as the bike.
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