Folks -

Lots has been written about the wisdom of not being in nuetral at a stop, so you cvan make a quicker getaway if needed.  A story to bring home the point:

A few years ago my wife was in her car, stopped to make a left turn, yielding to on-coming traffic.  She was driving, our daughter was riding the the front pax seat, daughter's high school boyfriend was behind the driver in the rear seat.

While still stopped, my wife was checking her "six" as she does, and noticed a dump trunk barreling full speed up her tailpipe.

She slammed on the gas, got going about 15 mph before the impact - the dump trunk was going at least 55 mph.

Crash broke the car in half over the rear wheels, and the EMTs had to use the "jaws" to open the doors, and it blew out every window in the car.

The only injury was to the kid in the back - the EMT put a Bandaid over a superficial cut on his hand where a piece of flying glass made a tiny cut.

My wife's vigilance, and starting to move forward saved their bacon.  Remember, impact G forces increase at the square of the increase in impact velocity - anything you do to lessen the velocity of the impacting vehicle is a tremendous help.  Moving forward lessens the relative velocities, hence reduces impact forces.

You can't do much if you're sitting in neutral.

Jerry,             Your wife made a very smart move.
I can verify the theory ,during my very short boxing career (in the army) getting hit on the chin was not nearly so bad if you were already moving away from it.

on the older bikes, it was stressed that putting it in neutral would lengthen clutch life, not so much with todays oils. so keeping it in gear won't hurt the bike and may increase your chances of staying out of an accident. i keep mine in gear, pretty much at all stops, not too many lights where i live (lots of dumb drivers though)

I think some of the old adages about the wisdom of being in neutral comes from the days of older manual transmission cars.

I've always driven manual cars, and I remember 40+ years ago as a young driver being told by a race team mechanic that keeping the clutch depressed at stops was very wearing on the clutch throw out bearing, let alone your leg muscles on those old clutches that took a lot of force to depress.

That was probably true - but motorcycle clutches aren't built the same way as an older car's was.

I always stay in first, I've moved forward a couple of feet before when I thought the car behind me wasn't going to get stopped. I think it has saved me from getting bumped a couple of times. Plus who wants the extra hassle of switching to neutral and then back to first. If my arm is so tired that I can't hold the clutch in for a couple of minutes, it's time to get off for a stretch anyway.

I'm quilty of sitting in nuetral...lazy mostly...
gonna' try to break the habit, thanks.

When I have oncoming that looks like a potential "Left Turn" on me, I flip the High Low switch a few times. At a stop, when I see someone coming up behind, I squeeze the brake lever a few times, but not at regular intervals. I sit in neutral once I see its safe. I have no probs making it go in gear. In an emergency, I wouldnt worry about grinding stuff, Id get it in & be Goooone.

bill67 wrote on 07/21/08 at 10:58:53:


Bill,

Do you just like telling stories or did someone tell you this is what would happen?

It takes a lot more time for the engine to respond to a change in throttle than it does for a typical collision to occur. If anyone wants to see what will happen when you're stopped and let out the clutch with the engine at idle, pull up to a stop - your right hand is holding the brake lever remember - now "pop" the clutch and try to roll on the throttle. Try not to drop it when it goes bump and the engine dies. Let's all use Bill's savage to try this.  

If someone found themself lying on the ground after their MC was hit from behind, it was because the car knocked the MC out from under them, or they let go of the bars when stopped, not because they were knocked back, rolling on the throttle and the engine pulled the MC out from under them. You don't get knocked back in a collision unless you get hit from the front.

Bill,

Question #2 - have you ever tried to slide backwards off of a Savage? Especially one with the front brake applied and was hit from behind - causing the back end to come up? That bump up to the pillion is going to make it real tough.