Make sure your kickstand is down when you park the bike. I have not dropped mine when it's parked and I'm quite careful about lowering my bike onto the stand.
I make a habit of locking my bike, both forks and ignition. Why the hell not. Anything to make it harder from being stolen.
Think about where you are going to park. Not just away from cars that might knock your bike over, but go forwards into a parking space when it's uphill, and backwards when it's downhill because it's way easier to get out driving uphill. Be careful about loose gravel in parking lots or sand which could cause the bike to go over, and cause your feet to slip when parking on it.

 

Tactics? I usually kill em while they sleep...

 

This thread is great, often it's all just second nature while riding but it's good to read this and remind yourself of these things. Plus there are some great tips that I hadn't thought of before.
This thread should be a sticky.

 

Sorry, have to politely disagree with that one. Eyes up, head up during emergency braking. You go where you look is true and while your idea follows that logic, it also follows that you're looking at the ground. Your peripheal vision will pick the spot. If you don't keep your head/eyes up, your balance point will get thrown off as you come to that stop.

Your peripheal vision is better than you think. We use an exercise when we teach to have a person look at an object we drop on the ground. Then put their head up, as if they're riding, close their eyes and then walk to the point they feel the object lies. Once there, they are told to bend over and touch the object with eyes closed. Almost always they are within 6-8 inches of the object or right on it.

Your brain has the capability to store that distance in it, so you can concentrate on what's in front of you.

This is assuming that you didn't mean pick the spot and then get your head back up....if so....disregard the above!

My two cents!

(I do, however, love that you started this thread. Kudos.)

 

When sitting at a light, especially behind another vehicle, I always tap my brakes a few times when I see someone approaching from behind. This is where the run/stop/turn module comes in handy. There's also a module that allows your driving lights to stay on with your high beam; it's a worthwhile investment for increasing daytime visability. I also like to use hand signals when turning or changing lanes. As mentioned, that little extra movement may catch their eye.

I'll echo the comments of maintaining a safe following distance. I was two vehicles behind a pickup that lost a chunk of lumber, and didn't see it until the car in front of me had passed over it.

Oh, and don't flip off a guy who's clearly already having a bad day (but that's a whole 'nuther story...)

 

Good advice, but you've got it backwards. Don't want to confuse anyone. When swerving, avoiding, evading, etc. remember push right, go right. Push left, go left.

 

Absolutely, they teach this in rider saftey courses - called TLOCS. Can't remember exactly what it stands for but always go through a complete check before going; headlight, turn signals, brake light (hand-lever & pedal), horn and high beam.

 

Give it a try. Set out a couple of cones 60 feet apart. Approach at 30mph without covering the clutch or either brake. Use the first cone as your cue to brake and do so while your head and eyes are straight ahead and the second orange cone at the 60' mark in the bottom of your cone of vision. Measure the distance from the cone to the front tire.

Repeat the exercise but at the moment you brake look down at a spot short of the cone at the 60' mark (head up, eyes looking down with the central cone of vision focused on the spot). In just about every case you will find stopping distances to be shorter. A bonus is that with your central vision focused in front, you can clearly see any oil, gravel, debris, stutter bumps (that could engauge ABS) or anything else that might compromise maximum braking that could otherwise be steered (slightly) around. You can still see the cone but you are not focused on it, much like you would want to do if you were trying not to rear end a car. I think we agree that you don't want to look at the car (or whatever else you don't want to hit).

When I started this thread I knew a couple things. I knew there are some skilled riders here because you can sometimes tell by what people type. I also knew that we wouldn't all agree as to what constitutes skilled riding but that's ok because I don't know what I don't know. ANY discourse between like minded riders who strive to totally master the connection between man and machine is great in my opinion; whether we agree or not;-)

 

Anything you can think of to raise motorcycle awareness in those who don't ride (especially teens who drive) like telling them to watch out for bikes before they leave. My daughters' friend are sick of hearing it, but they hear it. Or acknowledging acts of courtesy towards you by drivers in traffic with a wave or a nod of thanks. This projects a positive image of bikers-in-general that most drivers do not expect and they will remember it.
Adversely, try not to let your temper take over when a driver does something really stupid. It only makes you ride unsafely. I am still learning this one - it's hard.

 

PLEASE READ THIS...

On the topic of emergency braking. Look BEHIND you before you jamb on your binders. I used to (not operative words "used to") ride with one idiot that would slam his brakes on at any random time while riding in a group. I damn near lambasted him a couple times and I've seen others swerve to miss him too. He would smoke dope then do dumb **** like forget to do up his helmet strap and slam on the brakes to fix it. Or he'd see a deer in the distance, slam on the brakes.

Please just be aware of what is behind you.

I realize that if a car pulls out or something similar happens you don't have the luxury of deciding when to stop, but it's still good to know if someone is going to plow you from behind. Use your mirrors.