CBR Safety Naggles

Its been almost an year, that I bought Bruna(read - CBR). And I thought I would share a few pointers about safety and handling of bike. Will be posting a few images soon.

1. If you are going to enter a wet patch on the road, make sure you slow down. The CBR tires are not built to grip the road. They just slip in water, just like your gf who slips when she sees John Abraham. Also, do not brake on a wet patch. Here also your rear tyre slips, this time maybe a lil' less. I guess Tushar Kapoor walked in.

See, the point here is, you need to be alert on the road all the time, the moment you see a wet patch coming up, try slowing down, to such a speed, wherein, you know that even if you slip, you can balance the bike to a great extent. Besides balancing, it also helps by preventing the water to splash all over your bike and bike fairings.

2. Even more dangerous is when you enter an area of sand/grit/gravel. You cannot brake(because brakes dont work on this surface, a problem for all bikes) and you cannot accelerate hard, because then the rear wheel just rotates a lot on the spot, and the person behind you might be showered with lots of dust and stones, thrown with love. Not to mention the aftermath of love you will receive from him/her. So kindly avoid accelerating, if you want to avoid the kind of love-making I talked about. The worst part here is, if at all you slip(god forbid), your best attempts to keep your foot rooted to ground may also fail, eventually your bike ends on the ground, on your FOOT. So slow down sufficiently.

3. So what do you do, when you suddenly spot a sandy dollop on the road suddenly? Well if its too late, just ride, release your throttle completely, and do multi-tasking of praying and balancing the bike, by keeping it all straight. There was a time, just a few days after I bought my bike, I was going for a group ride, and out of no where, a patch of sand came up in front, like your ex barging in on your honeymoon suite. So I decided not to brake, courtesy sand. And the best I did was, PRAY MY GUTS OUT TO ALL THE MILLION GODS I KNEW, because in a moment, flashed scenes of my bike on the ground, and me doing a bollywood "NAHIIIIIIIIII", lying beside Bruna. But somehow, after all that, maybe this one the HONDA loserngineers did not screw up, the bike balanced, provided I sat still and not do any jumping jacks on it like how Sudeep P does when he passes a women's college. I have to say this, the bike is well-balanced, obviously not as much as the Apdi Pod Ipdi Pod ad of TVS Wego, but yes, very satisfied with it.

4. Use your front brakes as much as possible, when you are in an straight position. However, if you are in a curved position, likely to enter a huge round curve, then slowly(read, very slowly) apply both brakes. If at all you have to brake hard in a curve, get your bike straight and jam your brakes. DO NOT BRAKE, in a slanting position, even if the slant is a small 85 degrees from ground. Even then, if you dont have the time to get the bike straight up, den brake, but do give my your insurance details, I promise, I will help you get that amount to your family. TRUST ME I WILL.

5. Try the practice of braking with pulses. This applies to your rear brakes all the time.

5a. Suppose, you have to brake, and you have more than sufficient distance to brake. Try braking intermittently. As in, this helps in getting a flashing like output on your rear brake light. But this is not of any benefit to you, more so for the person in your rear to get the light and he also steers safe. You also get a flasher in market, which will do the same for you.

5b. Suppose the braking distance is sufficient, then also, practice by braking your REAR BRAKE intermittently, this helps in reducing rear wheel slippage. Apply your front brakes to what level you feel comfortable, but your rear brakes, intermittently. This helps in getting a better control of the rear wheel too.

Thanks to XBHP.com for this image.

5c. If at all braking distance is not sufficient enough, make sure your bike is upright/straight/not slanting and jam the front brakes, jam the rear brakes. There will be a point when you feel your rear wheel jammed. Immediately release your rear brakes and jam them again, all this in milliseconds. The less the rear wheel slipping, the better your safety and control.

Try these at a safe place, and this is really helpful. Mark a spot on your mind. Based on your experience, you know the safe brake distance, so mark it on your mind and practice these steps, it will help you in real life scenarios. If you get a chance to go to a beach, where you are allowed to go with your bike, def go and practice braking, no where do you get such drifts possible like on beach sand. But make sure you do not go there with your bikinis, wear some dress please. Nothing more gay about a guy driving around with his undies.

6. ALWAYS, ALWAYS make sure your brake lights are working. When was the last time you checked if your electricals are in order? Pretty long time I guess right? If this bike was Katrina's ass, you would definitely have checked it every minute. Perverts I tell you....

7. And to all those guys who have no life and go around carrying their girlfriends and lovers on a superbike( :( me included), please make sure your lovely better half leaves no dupatta or piece of cloth hanging by the side. I broke up with one for having her dupatta hanging in the wind, which eventually brought the dupatta into the rear disk brakes. I am sure Anand has had this horrific experience, and the worst part, it was some strange lady, not even his girl friend. Now how does that happen. He said this girl was standing, her dupatta blew as he rode past. Ya right, I am sure you were giving her a lift. But to be noted on a serious (GALAXY NOTE) note, make sure the pillion has kept no lose ends of their cloth anywhere near the wheels. The worst case, your brakes are jammed, no matter what you do.

8. Teach your pillions on how to sit on a super bike, girl or not, I hate it when they really put the whole weight on you, as such on this bike you are lurched forward, on top of that, an additional weight of another HUMAN BEING. Even Ayesha Takia should not be allowed to do that.(Those who don't know Ayesha, google, you will understand why I took this example).

These are a few pointers, hope you guys can add more and also bring out some critics inside you. If there has been any typo error, blame it on my cat Sundari(pic included), she did not let me type this till I fed her Whiskas. But cute she is, so you might as well blame on me.

Cheers!!!