Road Riders Survival Guide A Motorcyclist Handbook
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About this ebook
Motorcyles have long been associated with romantic adventure, freedom, rebelion, and danger. To a certain extent that remains true today, and many still associate motorcycles with images of roving gangs of violent criminals harrasing the “honest, decent local citizens”. But that does great injustice to the tens of thousands of riders that travel the highways and byways and back roads. But sadly, too many of the everyday average riders out for a scenic tour end up another statistic of motorcycle accidents and deaths. Many of those victims lacked the necessary skills, training, and experience to survive the challenges of motorcycling on today’s highways. The Road Riders Survival Guide offers half a century of experience with an emphasis on safety and preparation. It provides a review, and perhaps a new perspective, for the experienced rider and valuable information and insight for newer rider. Everyone that rides a motorcycle on public highways should read this book.
James McKenzie
James A. McKenzie is a Michigan native, raised in Montrose, and currently residing in Haslett. The father of three children, he has enjoyed coaching their sports teams. An alumnus of Michigan State University, he trained as an engineer and is a skilled metal model maker by profession, able to create items that do not exist at present. If it can be imagined, he can make it. In addition to writing, his interests include sports and he has been a season ticketholder of Michigan State's women's basketball for years.
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- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Not Great. Could’ve been much shorter and still got the same limited info across. An arduous read.
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Road Riders Survival Guide A Motorcyclist Handbook - James McKenzie
Road Riders Survival Guide
A Motorcyclist Handbook
By James McKenzie
Copyright 2017 James McKenzie
Revised 2023
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.
Table of Contents
Forward
Chapter 1 Getting Started
Chapter 2 Preparation
Chapter 3 When The Rubber Meets The Road
Chapter 4 Ride Smart
Chapter 5 Group Riding
Chapter 6 Exploring The Options
Chapter 7 Survival
APPENDIX
About the Author
Photo Gallery
Road Riders Survival Guide
a Motorcyclist Handbook
Forward
My interest in motorcycles started when I was old enough to discover they were far more exciting than tricycles. My actual love affair with big classic motorcycles began back in 1959. I was twelve years old and one of the customers on my paper route had this beautiful 1948 Indian Chief. I used to borrow
some of my mother’s clothes pins and use them to attach playing cards to my bicycle. The spokes slapped the cards making a splatt splatt
sound and I pretend my beat up Schwinn was a powerful two-wheel cruiser ripping up the pavement. A couple years later, with the help of a friend and the unauthorized scavenging of parts from my parents lawn mower, I put together a minibike that had neither brakes nor throttle. You set the governor lever at max, yanked the pull cord and held on tight. In the years that followed I’ve ridden most everything from step-through scooters to MoPeds to trail and dirt bikes to motocross and enduros, scramblers and heavyweight highway cruisers. But my real passion is the freedom of the open road and over the past 60 plus years I have put a good many miles on two wheels. I have also learned a good many lessons, a few of them the hard way. I expect that other experienced riders will have a good many stories of their own to share, but I can assure you that everything on the following pages is based on personal experiences. The reality of motorcycling is there’s no hard and fast rules for each and every possible circumstance. The rider must make judgement calls, sometimes in a split second, based on knowledge, experience, and common sense. Sometimes it is safer to bend
traffic rules to avoid a dangerous situation. It is my sincere desire to share what I’ve learned so that you and your motorcycle might have many safe and enjoyable miles together.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Getting Started
Knowing the Dangers
Back in 2001 a west-bound Corvette, speeding at 130 MPH on I-84 freeway in Portland, Oregon, lost control and sailed over the divider wall into oncoming traffic. The ‘Vette driver died at the scene, but fortunately, no other drivers suffered serious injury. This incident illustrates not only the stupidity of the driver, but the element of unexpected risk in every situation. Certainly no one in the east-bound lanes expected a car to come crashing out of the sky! Riding a motorcycle presents certain risks, and sooner or later we all experience a near miss
encounter. It is important to remember that an almost accident
is NOT an accident, but a chance to evaluate our own actions, and review the potential risk of a given situation. If our own foolishness was not a factor, we are like those folks on the Portland freeway. In the course of life, s--- happens. Our job is to do the best we can to avoid stepping in it!
A number of years ago I had a motorcycle encounter with a whitetail deer. I survived, the deer didn’t. Riding home from work, about midnight down a rural road, I just rounded a corner, running about 35 MPH. Suddenly a deer crossed in front of me, right to