I was going to comment this; I've seen a couple of other YTers saying they stay in gear if they are alone at the front of their lane and constantly monitoring for people not paying attention behind. Mostly I end up staying in 1st because I never seem to have much time at lights to do the shuffle anyway haha.

Agree with you 100% here. When coming to a stop I'd be changing down to first and then holding on the back brake. Plus motorcycle gearboxes sometimes don't like to change when stationary so getting into first whilst still moving is lots easier.

Yes I do the same, if there is nothing behind I keep it in gear and watch the mirrors so if someone bombs up behind I am ready to move off and evade. If I am in heavy stationary traffic then I put it in neutral because no one behind me is moving. [also, it depends on on the lights, a set I know in town take forever to change so I put it in neutral to save my clutch hand.]

7:08… avoiding the pot hole in the middle of a roundabout. That exactly the type of pothole that can get you killed. [on a bend in the centre of the carriageway perfect for your front wheel to go into and to throw you off in front of other traffic joining the roundabout].

Totally agree. I was taught to change into 1st as I slow down and to keep the back brake covered when stopped, even if there's vehicles behind for protection. I haven't ridden for many years, so things may have changed, but that's how I'd approach junctions still.

Back in my early motorbiking days I was talking to a police motorcyclist and his way of describing the right line was to say that it was like taking the racing line but aiming a bit beyond the apex, so you describing it as looking like a badly executed racing line definately resonates with me.

@@ianmason. I was taught by an ex-bike copper too. You can't beat someone who's done the hard hours sharing their knowledge. A lot of what he said was definitely for post-test riding.

@@PedroConejo1939 I was lucky that one of my biking mates, Annette aka Fish, was an IAM organiser (I don't think they called them observers back then) and so was her dad who was a Met traffic Sergeant. I never had any formal 'advanced' training, but with mates like that who were eager to talk bikes and couldn't help offering tips after observing a ride I never really felt the need.

Meh, we don't need to worry about impressing the people who do not understand these concepts. Pearls before swine. Judge them right back when they demonstrate amateur level road use : )

Same except, left, right, left right.

Even then, unless you're on a slope you won't roll back on for a long time (train barriers), popping it into neutral and just sitting with your foot on the brake is incredibly easy. You can also put the kick stand down, but I'd only advise that if you really are comfortable with your bike. You discover efficiencies that are applicable for your style of riding. E.g: clutchless shifts 😂

I think the issue with holding the front brake is that if you get rear ended you’re more likely to go over. The idea being that the rear wheel will skid and the bike will stay up right. Of course depending on how hard the hit is it might not make a lick of difference. At least that’s what I heard and kept up with ever since. I also have never bothered putting the bike in neutral at the lights not for any safety reason but because it’s never been enough of a bother to do it.

agreed, viability, predictability, road rules, prediction, reaction. They are all tools and layers of defense if you dont use them all you are just taking risks

That was, indeed, a nasty one.

What about having the bike in neutral at the lights and after you have verified it’s safe to shoot out, when the lights turn green lifting your left foot to put it in gear and be off without putting your right foot down?

On a road bicycle, not a motorbike, too flipping noisy! Spoils the peace and tranquility. Although Chesters can't be described as tranquil these days, also, not as good as it used to be - got too popular for it's own good.

Have a look at the Learning to Fly (1978) episode of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, if you want to have a good laugh later on (It's on here, free to watch)! 🛩️

@@ElToro2000UK Count Arthur Strong's flying lesson is, IMO, funnier.

the missenden flyer has a pilot's licence as well as his motorbike channel, him and Teapotone and few others tried to recreate top gear, he flew his plane while the others rode their bikes across the country to the finish point, it wasa fun video lol

I think it's unhelpful to think of it as always doing one or the other but we should be trying to understand the principles. The two in particular that you are talking about would be something along the lines of: 1) Lane position to improve visibility 2) Lane position to stay away from danger These would appear to be conflicting (especially for left hand bends where, as you say, you cannot do both at the same time) but I think that they should be thought of as different actions for different types of scenarios. For example, on a relatively open bend, you can move to the right (even "offsiding" to the oncoming side of the road) if it increases vision and hence, allows you to continue more safely. This is absolutely *not* putting yourself closer to danger and hoping that nothing is coming; it is a technique to help you actually observe the road ahead and whatever dangers might be there. However in contrast to that, if there is a much sharper corner where you cannot see clearly and lane position will not significantly improve your vision (for example, it will only give you 15m of visibility, rather than 10), I totally agree with you. An oncoming vehicle that is going to fast and not on their own side of the road would be a massive danger and you may not have sufficient time to move from position 3. So in such cases, I believe it can make most sense to stay in position 2 as you say. This is also to be combined with other considerations;I haven't even mentioned speed. Or as another example, let's say that you stay in position 1 around all left handers (I know you don't but for sake of argument to explore the principle :) ) so you are as far away from oncoming traffic as possible. What happens when you drive around a sharp bend immediately followed by a farm entrance? Your extreme "safe" position to the left hand side of the lane has actually put you in more danger by reducing your vision of nearside hazards (not oncoming traffic). I understand what you mean but I don't believe that the point of more advanced riding is to have more rules but rather in understanding the principles and applying them judiciously in various situations.

The mates I used to ride with when I started included a lot of vintage British bike enthusiasts. Like people do everybody liked to have a go on each other's bikes. We used to get a lot of amusement out of people who'd only ever ridden Japanese bikes get on a 1950s British bike and try to figure out how to get the gear they wanted. Also watching neophytes trying to get a big single or twin kickstarted was fun too, one mate had a Triton that would try and break your leg if you didn't get it _just_ right.

@@ianmason. I would dearly love to have a go on an older British bike, I'm sure it would be quite the experience! I did get my daughter a 1995 Honda CG(great wee bike) for riding about while on her CBT, and that was a kickstart and choke. She now has a MT07 and she thinks it's pure luxury! 😁

@@joemilne6544 My favourite from that era of my life was Mike's Royal Enfield GT; 250cc with a blazing 21hp. It was a _tiny_ bike, and Mike had put a rear set and clip-ons on it which it needed to stop the rider's weight dominating it. It wasn't fast by any stretch of the imagination, but with your nose so close to the ground felt like you were riding at lightspeed and it just seemed to know where you wanted it to go. I'm sure that purists would be horrified at the mods, but they made it into a great bike.

Wouldn’t that also describe literally every car driver? They all sit with their foot on the brake

I agree, this was going to be my one point about the video. I do wonder if there was a car to Ashley’s right that might have “discouraged “ him from doing so .

Car there 17:53 shows itself. The amount of adoption of position is dependent also on risk, and speed also has a massive bearing. Everything was controlled.

@@ashley_neal Yeah, don't get me wrong, I don't think it was anything other than controlled or safe. You had a week and a half to keep out of trouble if he hadn't seen you and started to emerge. I was just getting a automatic lizard brain nudge that was making me want to move out and you weren't. Just a "being seen" as early as possible thing.

It's a safety thing. The theory is that if you get hit from behind the bike moves and you don't (simple inertia) which would cause you to dump the clutch and possibly open the accelerator, causing the bike to run away from under you out of control

@@ianmason.I suppose that makes sense, I still personally prefer the idea that I’m in control of what might happen and give myself a chance to move out of the way of a phone-wielding driver not paying attention

@@RagingGamingHD1 Both approaches have their merits. The Hendon Shuffle is the definitive _Roadcraft_ way of doing it but that doesn't mean that it's the only way. I'm afraid that some people who base their teaching/system off of _Roadcraft_ can get a little doctrinaire that there's only _one true_ way to do it and that's clearly not true. Personally I like the Hendon Shuffle (the effect, not actually doing it) and the car equivalent of selecting neutral and handbrake wherever makes sense as you're giving up active control of the vehicle and can have a little stretch and shuffle while you have a damn good look around without being constrained by having to keep hands or feet on the controls.

I only ride a push bike, but same. I've replaced the front pads twice (bike is around 20 years old now), and I don't think I ever replaced the back ones.

For advanced riding, you scan from the near to far distance ahead, then the same behind and check the sides. While you are doing this, you identify hazards, prioritise them and form a plan to deal with them, the plan and priorities constantly changing as new hazards appear. You do not give a commentary training as an advanced rider but you do as an advanced driver. As an advanced driver, giving a commentary has no effect on you driving, but giving commentary will screw up your driving while learning if start too early.

@laceandwhiskey You can't verbalise everything that goes through your mind, but my one piece of advice would be you seem to be prioritising the hazards in what you type. Thinking more in line of when your space might be compromised targets risk more effectively. If you don't do this already, try it!

I really struggle to verbalise when driving/riding. I'm seeing, assessing, reacting, but not speaking until after the event, and by then the next thing is upon me.

Never heard of that happening to anyone else. I don't use the Mersey tunnel that often either, but is there a fast track process that recognises the registration?

@@ashley_neal yeah there is a T-flow lane. I knew i didn't set up anything like that so i just went through the automated lane (the ones with the coins) and the barrier lifted and said i payed £1.40? So I'm thinking maybe its linked to the previous own still.

@@DANINJAPIGEON Just checked and it says that people with T-flow accounts can use any lane, not just the dedicated one, so it sounds very like you _are_ surfing on the previous owner's account. You probably want to sort that out before you go through again. Once, unknowing doesn't even rise to the level of a mistake. Again, suspecting you might be taking it out of someone else's pocket could get problematic.

Maybe as Zombies , they think they can never be unalived 🤣

@@DaveHines1 Maybe 🤣

Report them as spam. I do 😊

I'm going to write a bot that comments about how quick the bots are 😂

Would be great to see it covered, at least for non-motorcyclists who *still* think it's illegal. However, there was at least one example of filtering on a bicycle and it was very poor and heavily criticised. Would need to improve (as do we all :) ) before shelling out advice on filtering!

That's before I put on my lid!