Rides, ramblings and rants on a motorcycle.
- We are scientists, too!
7.27.2007,1:12 PM
Suspension 101 & Cagers' Perceptions of Bikes
In my quest for understanding all I can about suspension, and how to adjust it for riding conditions, I found this web page: The Motorbike Suspension Bible. VERY useful!!
Thought I'd share it with others.
An excerpt from another page of the website:
Threat perception and the average motorist.
The average motorist, when assessing a traffic scene, prioritizes things mentally based on threat perception. They don't know they're doing it, but it turns out that a tall, thin object, like a motorbike, is perceived as less of a threat than a short, fat object, like a car. There's some talk of the position of lights on a motorbike helping out this mental awareness. If you put bright lights further apart than normal - say on outriggers - a motorbike will be perceived as more of a threat, and thus register higher in the motorist's scene analysis.
This is all very well, but how does the average motorist's brain deal with the threat perception of a hot cup of Starbucks and a cellphone first thing in the morning. Apparently, clamping a phone to their ear and drinking coffee while driving is also not perceived as a threat, whilst most motorists consider a motorcyclist threatening to look at (leathers, helmet etc - oooooooohhh. Scary....) Yet the same motorcyclist actually on a bike registers so low that the average motorist will look straight through them.
I bolded the sentence in the first paragraph because I have observed the same exact behaviour since riding a bike, especially in parking lots. I had wondered if my interpretation of driver psychology was reasonable or just my own little bizarre deduction. Apparently I was not off the mark at all nor losing my mind.
This has led me to think about devising a space shield for bikes. However, I suspect that would infringe upon the Federation proprietary patent. I'd also like to try and steal plans for a Romulan Shield Inversion Beam so I could recharge my bike's shield (proprietary patent be damned), and a Borg Transwarp Gate to get out of Texas in a second and onto roads in New Mexico, Colorado and Arkansas.
Must have been the Anderson's barbque I ate for lunch.
Thought I'd share it with others.
An excerpt from another page of the website:
Threat perception and the average motorist.
The average motorist, when assessing a traffic scene, prioritizes things mentally based on threat perception. They don't know they're doing it, but it turns out that a tall, thin object, like a motorbike, is perceived as less of a threat than a short, fat object, like a car. There's some talk of the position of lights on a motorbike helping out this mental awareness. If you put bright lights further apart than normal - say on outriggers - a motorbike will be perceived as more of a threat, and thus register higher in the motorist's scene analysis.
This is all very well, but how does the average motorist's brain deal with the threat perception of a hot cup of Starbucks and a cellphone first thing in the morning. Apparently, clamping a phone to their ear and drinking coffee while driving is also not perceived as a threat, whilst most motorists consider a motorcyclist threatening to look at (leathers, helmet etc - oooooooohhh. Scary....) Yet the same motorcyclist actually on a bike registers so low that the average motorist will look straight through them.
I bolded the sentence in the first paragraph because I have observed the same exact behaviour since riding a bike, especially in parking lots. I had wondered if my interpretation of driver psychology was reasonable or just my own little bizarre deduction. Apparently I was not off the mark at all nor losing my mind.
This has led me to think about devising a space shield for bikes. However, I suspect that would infringe upon the Federation proprietary patent. I'd also like to try and steal plans for a Romulan Shield Inversion Beam so I could recharge my bike's shield (proprietary patent be damned), and a Borg Transwarp Gate to get out of Texas in a second and onto roads in New Mexico, Colorado and Arkansas.
Must have been the Anderson's barbque I ate for lunch.
