I have a fully faired 2002 gs500, my first bike.  The previous owner had put a kit on it (will post pics later).  I am having a very hard time looking over my shoulder when doing lane changes. I position the mirrors so that I can see but as I learned in MSF, you need to still do a quick head check.  The issue I have might be a caused by the gear I wear or maybe my riding position...not sure. I have a Joe Rocket ballistic jacket and also wear a full face helmet. When I turn to look behind me..the helmet hits the shoulder pad of the jacket and won't get past it..dropping the shoulder does not seem to help either.  I would really appreciate any advice you guys could give, thanks in advance.

Sounds like the jacket may be too big, or it's riding up your back causing the shoulders or the jacket to rise up as well. Relax your arms, maybe, or after you sit on the bike pull down on the tail of the jacket. Arms may be too stiff, too, again causing the shoulders to rise up. Put the jacket on and shadow box to break it in a little.

Also, angle out your mirrors to help cover your blind spots. You only need to be able to see the left headlamp and the driver of the car behind in your left mirror, and just the right headlamp in your right.

For those "I just GOTTA see what's behind me!" moments (like a freeway on ramp) you might want to practice a quick one-handed move.  Find an empty, wide open space and practice the following ... at a fairly slow speed.

* Pretend you need to see behind you.
* Keeping your throttle hand steady, let go of the left grip and drop your clutch hand down and back.
* At the same time, twist your upper body slightly to the left and take a quick full-face glance to the rear.
* Reverse the motion to get your hand back on the left grip and your eyes facing forward again.

*** Notice whether you veered from a straight line, or sped up, or slowed down while doing this maneuver.  If you did, you're not ready to practice at a higher speed yet, or to do it on the street.  No need to be jerky about the motion, just smooth and clean.  It takes discipline and practice to keep that throttle hand where it belongs. ***

This is NOT something you want to do if you're "tailgating" another vehicle.  You only get 1/2 second of response time on the brakes as it is, and since the maneuver will take at least that long you need to have EXTRA space in front of you.

Once you're comfortable with it, you can use this technique on that on ramp in between gear changes, while accelerating.  But give it time - don't be in a hurry to show off or anything.  Wait until it feels natural and you NEED to use it.

good advice Kerry,
I find if you have the mirrors positioned correctly,
all you have to do is turn your hand to your shoulder and
point your eyes in that direction.
don't need the full twist body thing

Thanks for the great advice, Kerry I'm wearing glasses and have trouble seeing things to the extreme left or right because my glasses just aren't wide enough. But that probably won't be a problem now.

As usual for this forum the previous replies are good advice, the mirrors (and jacket) sould allow you too pretty much what is behind you, I can just see the side of my top-box in either mirror. The blind-spot is more alongside you just over the shoulder so there should be no need to crank your head off, you can gauge this, in traffic, by looking at the nearby lane in you mirror and spotting the "first" vehicle, then take a quick "lifesaver" and you may be very surprised to see a different vehicle in front of the one you saw in the mirror. Also if you shuffle around a bit to look in your mirrors it sends a body-language message to the person behind that you are possibly about to make a move of some kind but remembers they always say "I never saw him/her/you" This may be because they did not look properly so assume nothing and be as Hi-viz as you can and for that "gotta know" moment follow the previous advice, good luck.

Hi-viz... That's why I wear my InnerSport textile suit. When someone is behind me, silver stripes along my arms and shoulders reflect as if they were LEDs. And the back says "SUZUKI" in the same reflective stuff. And it says "Racing" in blue reflective below that. Bright silver SUZUKI across the chest. I may look like a squid, but by George, I'm a visible squid!

For those times when I just want to take a quick glance behind to make sure no one's tailgating:

I'd like to replace the mirror stalks with something that's an inch or so longer.  

What? That's not sporty looking? Well, you can tell that to the undertaker who scraped the Buick off your back.  


OS