Manual or Automatic transmission?

[repiV]

I am a biker. Got my rider's liscence before my driver's liscence.
Nobody I know or have ever seen keeps their foot on their brake. We were however taught to do this in our rider's course. I did it for a while.
Eventually I decided to keep both feet on the ground, for great stability.

Chances are if you get bumped, you are going to fall down no matter where your feet are.

Keep an eye on your rear view. Bikes are such that you can make a quick escape if traffic comes up fast.

Ooh, what do you ride?

I've only recently passed my test, so I do it the way I was taught. I feel vulnerable if I leave both feet on the ground, and less able to pull away quickly. Only time I do it (scrape both feet) is when doing a U-turn or filtering very very slowly because I'm afraid of dropping it. It's a very heavy bike, I'm a bit too short for it and I dropped it doing a U-turn once already. Broke the mirror and had to replace my Shoei. :angry:
Keeping a constant eye on the rear isn't necessarily practical as I need to shift my body to see anything out of my mirrors. Not ideal, I know...

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

I get so comfortable sometimes I lean back and don't even hold the bars.

I've been wondering, why do people always move their shifter from side to side when they're in neutral?

Dunno what you're talking about.

Ooh, what do you ride?

I had a Honda CM400, got it when I was 16. It got stolen when I left it in a friend's care.

I've been riding my mom's V Star. POS bike imo. I hate it. I plan to get a GSX-R 750 next year.

 

[sinkoman]

I get so comfortable sometimes I lean back and don't even hold the bars.

Luls. I usually just hold the clutch when I come to a stop. If I put it into neutral, I get lazy, do precisely what you just described, and often times end up missing the light

And I mean they'll be stopped at a light, with their hand on the shifter, and the shifter is in neutral (in the center position), and they'll slide the shifter side to side in the line for neutral.

http://www.panteraplace.com/Mikes Pantera/mikes pantera 7420 shifter inside.jpg

See how there's that horizontal line for the shifter to move in whilst it's in neutral? I always see people just rock the shifter left and right inside of that little line.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

Oh man I thought you meant on a bike I was like "uhhh, no?"
I dunno man I do that too when I drive sticks. I guess it's a subconscious thing, making sure it doesn't suddenly get stuck or something. *shrug*

 

[3ssence]

No I took what you said to mean that the current driving test recommended that one puts the parking brake on as soon as possible, which isn't really very safe if one thinks about it.

I don't see it as a "get your handbrake on as soon as possible" situation. I'll come to a red light or traffic, slow to a halt, if it seems i won't be moving away very soon i'll pull up the handbrake.

 

[Parrot of doom]

The point is that traffic behind you may not have noticed the red signal and may hit you from behind. With your foot on the footbrake and your brake lamps lit, the chances of this happening are reduced.

This is why its safer to wait until traffic behind you has come to a halt before applying the parking brake.

 

[gowiththefl0w]

may hit you from behind

thats actually my disclaimer when i meet women at bars. go figure.

 

[The Monkey]

So what happens if you get shunted from behind, with no brakes on the wheels?

That traffic thats criss-crossing in front of you - fancy getting T-boned by that?

With the brake lamps lit (by using the footbrake) drivers behind you at least have extra warning that you're stopped or slowing.

I'm not saying it's not a good think to hold the brakes, it's just something I haven't been taught to do.

If you keep constant attention in the rear-view mirror you can see if someone is closing in from behind, and press the brake then.