The post Motorcycle Safety Tips: Mounting & Dismounting with a Passenger appeared first on Susquehanna Valley Harley Davidson.
]]>Introduction: We have researched varying methods to accomplish this. The most popular seems to utilize left side mounting and dismounting with bike in vertical position.
Rider mounts first, with bike in vertical position, handlebars straight, bike in neutral, front brake applied and both feet firmly planted on the ground. Once set, have passenger put hands on your shoulders from the left side, place left foot on the floorboard or peg, lift themselves up, and slide their leg over the back seat and sit down with both feet on the boards.
Another method is to have bike resting on kickstand, this distributes weight onto kick stand and not onto rider’s legs.
Con: Rider will need to lift bike into vertical position with both people mounted. Similar mounting process as described before, rider first then passenger, once both mounted rider lifts bike into vertical position then raises kick stand.
Tip: To make this lift easier try turning handlebars to the far right before lifting bike.
Dismount is in reverse passenger first, then rider, remember to have bike resting on kick stand before anyone dismounting. This method gives you the best control of the bike, and avoids nasty accidents.
Tip: Try moving handlebars to the far left this may assist passenger in their dismount.
Tip: Before passenger mount or dismount rider should lean up toward tank to allow more space for passenger.
If passenger may have mobility concerns, with the kickstand down method try having passenger mount first onto front seat position then move to back position, then rider would mount from left side sliding leg thru and across seat.
Another method is to mount from the right side (seen described as cop style) pro: to this rider or passenger are not exposed to oncoming traffic during mount or dismount. Con: exhaust pipes usually on right side and right mount or dismount movement could upset bike while on kickstand.
With any of these methods, the passenger should always communicate with the rider before mounting or dismounting by verbal communication or a tap on the shoulder to ensure the rider is in their ready position.
I WANTED TO WISH ALL OF YOU A SAFE AND ADVENTUROUS 2019 RIDING SEASON.
THANKS,
SCOTT (SCOOTER) MAY
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]]>The post Motorcycle Hand Numbness – Guide For Prevention & Help appeared first on Susquehanna Valley Harley Davidson.
]]>There are a few different factors that can cause this. Cold weather and getting caught in rain, putting too much weight on your hands and wrists, and feeling the constant vibrations from the bike can make your muscles cramp up and feel sore. At least to some degree, you’ve probably experienced this. But don’t worry — there are some easy ways to make those aches go away or subside. That way, you can get back to enjoying the ride instead of worrying about your body.
If you experience carpal tunnel, wrist pain or hand numbness from riding your motorcycle, read our tips below.
Like we mentioned, putting too much weight and pressure on your hands and wrists can make these symptoms come up. Simply stopping that death grip on the handlebars and distributing the bike’s weight to other parts of your body will make your hands and wrists feel much better.
If you’re new to riding, you may be nervous and hold onto the handlebars a little too hard. This stresses out your muscles and can cut your ride short. When you loosen up your grip, you’re relieving that pressure and letting yourself feel more confident as a rider. And that goes for the rest of your body, too — be sure to stay alert, but don’t let your body get too tense.
You can use other parts of your body besides your hands and wrists to help keep your balance and support the weight of the motorcycle. Try to use your core and legs to take on more of your motorcycle’s weight and grip the gas tank with your knees and the foot pegs with your feet. Your hands and wrists will thank you for it.
You can stretch during breaks when you get back from a ride and even while you’re on the road. Repeated motion and maneuvers with your hands and wrists will put stress on them, but giving yourself a stretch break can really help.
When you get back from a ride, stretch out your hands and wrists to work out any kinks. If you only have a few moments during a break on a long trip, squeeze a stress ball or a tennis ball to limber up before heading back out.
When you let yourself go too long without stretching, you can experience soreness and pain in your wrists and hands and potentially even develop carpal tunnel.
To be extra careful, you can buy some special gear to help with the pain and numbness. Pick up some shock-absorbing gloves or a wrist brace to wear while you’re out riding. The gloves can absorb some of that harmful vibration to avoid numbness and the brace can help treat it if you’re already experiencing it.
Riding motorcycles can be tough on your body, but the feeling of cruising down the road is worth it. Stop by Susquehanna Valley H-D® today to pick up the gear you need and to talk to us about other riding tips to help prevent numbness, carpal tunnel and wrist pain while riding your motorcycle. Contact us to learn more!
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]]>The post Tips for Riding a Trike Motorcycle appeared first on Susquehanna Valley Harley Davidson.
]]>If you want to learn how to ride a Harley trike, read these tips before heading out on the road or signing up for an instructional class.
If you’ve ridden a two-wheeled motorcycle before, you know that turning involves your whole body. When you take sharper turns, you need to lean into the turn to help get the bike to go the way you want. But when you ride a trike, it steers more like a car than a motorcycle.
Instead of counter-steering, like on a two-wheeled motorcycle, you will use direct steering while riding a trike. Like with driving a car, you need to brake before going into the turn and then accelerate again halfway through. You don’t need to lean at all to help with the turn. The point of counter-steering is to keep your balance. Because the trike has its third wheel, you don’t need to worry about the bike falling over.
Another difference between riding 3-wheel motorcycles and 2-wheel motorcycles is that trikes are bigger and heavier. You need to take that extra weight into account — you may need to start braking sooner on the trike than you would on a two-wheeled motorcycle.
With two-wheeled bikes, most of the braking comes down to the front wheel. With trike motorcycles, you have three wheels to brake. For regular braking, you’ll use brakes on the back wheels. For quick or emergency turns, you’ll use all three wheels to slow down and stop.
Besides braking and turning, there are lots of other ways that trikes are different from motorcycles with two wheels. If you’ve been riding a two-wheeled bike for a long time, you’ll have to un-learn a lot of habits. There’s some important extra stuff to keep in mind while you’re learning how to ride a trike.
Three-wheeled motor trikes are typically wider and longer than two-wheeled motorcycles. This is important to keep in mind while you’re turning, parking and completing other maneuvers.
Like we mentioned before, the third wheel on a trike allows it to stay balanced on its own. Even when you come to a full stop, the bike will not fall over. Consequently, you should never put your feet down. Doing so can get your feet stuck underneath the bike or get you hurt in other ways.
Another difference is that trikes don’t have a kickstand. Like cars, they have a handbrake that you will switch on to keep the bike from rolling away when you aren’t riding it. Before getting off the trike, be sure to activate the brake.
Visit or call Susquehanna Valley H-D® to schedule a test ride on one of our trikes today!
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