human909 wrote:
Simply untrue for quick maneuverability. Comparing it to a motor cycle is not at all valid as they are significantly heavier. Bicycles a light and can be thrown around much easier than a motorcycle, counter steering doesn't play nearly as an important role. Sure for planned turns I would always stay seated such as for tight mountain turns. However if the situation may call for sudden movements then standing is better.
If you stand up - you increase the distance your mass has to go through to effect a lean - which then reduces the speed at which you gain lean (which affects the speed that you gain rate of turn). For the axis that you need to pivot on to lean, you increase the polar moment by standing up - which is one reason why trackstands are easier standing.
If you lean outside of the bike yourself, the bike pivots on the bottom of the tires, and leans the other way (and further than you go because its lighter - such is newtons third law - its not actually helpful). its not until you counter steer the bottoms of the front tire out from under the CoG that the bike will do much in the way of leaning in a useful direction. ie there is no advantage to standing up in terms of causing the bike to turn by trying to hang off it from a standing position, in fact it turns more slowly.
zero wrote:Dodging is only really a useful strategy for out-of-nowhere events like a 'roo jumping on the road or for another vehicle that has fully lost control. For a formal intersection (ie a marked conflict zone), anything other than covering the brakes and being prepared to stop is poor practice at best.
Again simply absurd. In some emergencies braking may not stop you in time whereas a swerve away may lead to no collision. Though I would agree that the vast majority of the time braking is the best option. I cover the brakes almost at all intersections so I didn't feel the need to comment on that obvious precaution.
This is the kind of circumstance that causes me to dodge, and to be honest, its only ever vehicles from behind that cause me to dodge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24dgLRAL ... re=youtu.b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The truck from behind qualifies as out of ****ing control.
For urban intersections I'd rather simply keep control of my entrance to the conflicting course zone, so that I don't need to dodge, and by and large that is a very successful strategy that has lead to years of not having accidents, particularly with people who are crossing my course (and thus who have the ability to hurt a lot). The very last time I dodged an intersection event (this was long time ago mind you), I got stuck on the kerb seam and my bar hit a signpost. In the 1 second between dodging and thinking this was maybe not the best idea I'd gone 8 metres, had no idea about surface and effectively lost control. I could honestly have chosen to brake 5 seconds before all that.
Also what I didn't mention is that if I'm in a collision (which thankfully I've never have), I'd much rather be standing. I've had several falls off my bike including one OTB where I've landed on my feet uninjured. That is much easier to do if you are already standing.
I'm clipped in, if I've got enough time to unclip, then I had enough time to brake.