AmeRiders is back with our 4th installment of our Biker Safety tips we have gathered tips and advice on various aspects of motorcycle riding: about riding corners, braking, looking, safety, etc. This week’s tip is about Communication for riders while riding either while in a pack or alone.
Communication is key for motorcycle riders, regardless of whether you are riding in a pack or by yourself knowing what is going on is important. Most riders like to ride alone feeling the wind rushing by them, the rumble of their bike under them and not a care in the world.
However, there are other riders that prefer to ride with their significant other and want to be able to communicate with them, or in a pack and do the same thing, and this can be done in various ways. If riding with a partner then you either have your own hand signals or you use a headset communication device that helps you to hear each other.
Such as this XBI2H-PLUS Chatterbox, it is ideal for riders in small to medium size groups of up to 16 people. They feature CDMA technology for communication, which allows them to be much smaller in size. This technology allows full duplex (conference call type) conversations between a max of 16 riders (bike to bikes or rider to passenger) at up to 1/2 mile.
Over the years, communications have gotten more and more advanced and instead of having to have them attached to your bike you can take them with you regardless of which bike you are riding. Bluetooth has made it more convenient for bikers to communicate with their partner and even with other members in the pack that may be using Bluetooth as well.
However, if anyone in the pack is not using Bluetooth or you come across someone another biker riding it is important to communicate to them what is going on such as distress, slowing down, hazards in the roadway and other things.The visual to the right shows some key hand universal signals that are used when riding when not using Bluetooth. Using these signals will help other riders around you to know what you are doing and when, and can help prevent accidents.
Another very important signal to know is when you see a biker on the side of the road and his helmet is on the ground behind his/her bike. Please stop! This biker is in distress help out our brother and sister they would do the same for you. The picture to the left is an example of what we mean by helmet behind the bike.
For more communications items check out our communications section at AMERiders.com