Are women bikers more likely to make mistakes than men? Most statistics mention that women are more cautious while riding bikes. Riding a motorcycle comes with its charm. Be it a man or a woman, the rider always has an adventurous streak to ride this vehicle. However, women riders are more prone to accidents if we go by the popular myths and jokes. However, there are a few technical questions that most of the women riders can’t answer. If you are a women motorcycle rider, read on to know about the 10 common mistakes made by women bikers and how to avoid them.
10 Common Mistakes Made by Women Bikers
1. Choosing The Wrong Bike:
The most common and basic mistake that women bikers commit is choosing the wrong model of the vehicle. This is because they are enticed by the motorbikes of their boyfriends. So, they, without giving a second thought, buy the same model.
But they realize the motorcycle model they have chosen is way too large for them. So, no matter what they do, they cannot manage the weight of their motorbike. Hence it leads to a lot of accidents causing extreme repercussions.
How To Avoid It?
Companies manufacture motorbikes of different sizes. Each motorcycle is suitable for the body structure of a particular person. Hence, you can’t afford to get influenced by the motorcycle that someone else rides. There are great chances that he can carry that motorcycle while you, with a petite figure, can’t do so. So, companies now manufacture different models of motorcycles for women.
The best way out in this scenario is to buy a motorcycle according to your body type. This way, you will avoid severe accidents, and your riding adventures will become a lot safer.
2. Not Maintaining the motorcycle Properly:
Men are more attached to their sports bikes compared to women. Therefore, they make sure to maintain the motorcycle well than women.
Women are not keen to upgrade it in any manner. At the same time, they do not go for regular checkups to be aware of any possible future discrepancies.
When the tire pressure or the motorbike’s oil is not maintained regularly, the motorcycle can break down anytime. Alongside this, such carelessness can cause long-term irreparable loss to the bike.
How To Avoid It?
Women who act too lazy to give their motorbikes regular maintenance checkups end up ruining their vehicle eventually. The battery health goes down, and the motorcycle can break down at any point in time.
To avoid this, it is necessary to ensure regular maintenance of the motorbike. Once a month, if not weekly, would be a good idea to go by. However, at the same time, the time interval between maintenance sessions also depends on the way you use the bike. If you ride it excessively, you may need to go for weekly or fortnightly maintenance of the bike.
3. Rapid Lane Splitting:
When a rider buys a new bike, a sudden surge in confidence is obvious. Naturally, as a woman biker, you would want to showcase your skills. Unfortunately, this is the root cause of several problems. Being overconfident, you may end up splitting the lanes way too often. At times, you may also do it for no particular reason.
The urge to showcase how good of a rider you are may lead to causing significant damage to your vehicle. Splitting the lane rapidly, without any actual requirement, may lead to two problems. It can cause a severe accident or badly affect the wheels of the bike.
How To Avoid It?
Avoiding this problem of the sudden urge arising in the biker woman is possible if the rider understands two things. First, lane splitting at a very rapid pace is illegal. Most of the countries charge the bikers who are caught doing such an activity. At the same time, the law issues quite a strong warning to anyone who does this.
The second thing that the women bikers need to consider is that sudden lane spilling may lead to losing their lives. A severe accident can cause a lifelong disability if that won’t happen, which would be a huge setback for anyone!
4. Limit Testing:
One of the most common activities that many riders perform is testing the limits of their bikes. They ride their motorbikes to the maximum limit to know about the maximum range they can move. This is undoubtedly a fatal mistake.
Checking out the limits of the motorcycle may lead to off-limits. Women riders decide to make the most usage of the speed; it may lead to the brake getting affected by it. Furthermore, while checking out the bike’s capabilities by making it thrive on the road, one may end up thrashing the vehicle on another ride on the road.
How To Avoid It:
Avoiding the act of limit testing depends entirely on the person riding the bike. All you need to do is to have some self-control. Once you, as a woman rider, start avoiding limit testing opportunities, you would end up being safe from accidents and mishaps. However, if you want to do so and can’t control yourself, go to the tracks especially reserved for racing purposes.
Here, you won’t have to worry about other vehicles coming from the opposite sides, causing any danger for you. Nonetheless, keeping a check on the speedometer is necessary. Even if you check out the extreme limits, try to avoid going to the last digit, or the bike’s brakes may fail.
5. Not Signaling While Turning:
One of the most common mistakes made by women bikers that causes the highest number of accidents is not signaling while turning. Putting on the signal while turning in any direction, left or right, is necessary. Not doing that can cause a severe accident. This happens when the vehicle coming from the opposite side or behind cannot understand which direction you will turn.
The other rider may perceive a wrong turn or turn in this regard and take improper action. This may lead to a serious accident, causing harm to both the riders. Hence, it is necessary to avoid not giving a signal before turning in any direction.
How To Avoid It:
A newbie or overexcited rider may think that the other rider on the road already knows about the direction in which he has to turn. However, it is an insinuation. The other rider never knows your intentions and may take a turn similar to yours. Hence, it leads to accidents and fatal results.
To avoid this situation, it is necessary to always keep in mind that giving a signal before turning is necessary.
If you always tend to forget it, ask your co-passenger, if you have any, to keep reminding you to give the signals before making turns. Alongside this, it is equally important that once you have made the turn, you actively turn the signal off.
If your ride doesn’t come with the feature of self-cancellation of the signal, you need to be efficient enough to cancel it yourself. This way, you will be able to avoid the maximum chances of mishaps and accidents.
6. Ignoring The Fuel Tank:
One of the key elements of riding a motorcycle is to keep a check on the fuel tank. However, one of the most common mistakes by women bikers is to forget to look at the fuel tanker. This leads to a lot of inconveniences later on.
For instance, if your tanker keeps signaling being short on the petrol while you do not give any importance to it, there are great chances that you will be left alone on the highway with an empty tank and no one to help you out. Hence, being a woman motorcycle rider, ensure to keep putting a casual glance on the fuel meter from time to time.
How To Avoid It?
If your motorcycle doesn’t have a fuel gauge, keeping track of the available and the required amount of fuel may get a little difficult for you. However, this issue can be resolved by choosing a motorcycle that comes with such a gauge. You can also install it later on as well.
The absence of such a gauge can cause significant problems. The presence of an indicator will also let you make long-term plans. It will allow you to decide how much fuel you would need in the coming days to reach a certain destination without any hassle.
7. Ignoring The Protective Wear:
Unfortunately, when they are in a hurry and need to get done with a task soonest as possible, they forget to wear their protective wear. Protective wear is a kind of costume that allows the rider to have a safe journey. Once adorned, this protective wear ensures no one can hurt the rider.
The protective wear also includes a helmet, which ensures to reduce the hurt even if the rider falls. In most cases, an accident leads to a severe head injury. Most of the time, recovering from such an injury gets impossible. Hence, a small piece of the protective layer is always a good idea to keep with yourself and stay safe.
How To Avoid It?
Being lazy, ignorant, or way too confident about your riding skills is what may compel you to ditch the protective wear. However, no matter your age and how long you have been riding the bike, it is quite possible not to wear a helmet while going out. This is undoubtedly a casual attitude that is bound to bear bad results.
The most useful protective gear available for the women riders includes the helmet, boots, gloves, and a jacket. Each one of them has a different function, but together, they are excellent protection.
8. Constant Stalling:
Does stalling affect the engine? Being over-protective towards your things is not always a good idea. This is because frequently using the clutch of the motorbikes affects the workability and efficiency of the bikes. Motorcycle owners do it quite often, thinking that it would refresh their bikes. However, by doing so, the riders are negatively affecting the performance of the battery.
This way, the power is cut, and the engine cannot be as efficient as before. Once the clutch stops working, it’s all downhill from there. It is quite tough to bring the motorcycle to its original position once the clutch stops performing.
How To Avoid It?
Avoiding the stalling at a consistent rate can be opted simply by adding to the friction zone of the laptop. This friction is what people miss once it is gone. In addition, the constant usage of the clutch leads to a hole in the friction, affecting its working negatively.
However, in the long run, stalling is not as harmful as other concerns are. The only downside you get from it is that you get stuck on the road midway.
9. Not Using Two Brakes:
Not using both the brakes together is one of the common mistakes made by women bikers. Motorbikes come with two breaks: one for the front tire and the other for the rear wheel. Both these breaks work in unison. However, at times, women bikers tend to rely upon one break more than the other. Most often than not, it is the rear one that women riders trust the most.
For whatever reason, they hit the back brakes so hard that the tires go to a halt, and the motorcycle stops immediately. This makes the women riders feel a lot safe and secure. Hence, they end up using this technique to stop the motorcycle always.
How To Avoid It?
Trusting both the brakes equally is the right way to go about it. For that matter, women bikers need to take turns in the brakes so that both of them work together. If one of these two stays unused, it ends up getting jammed.
10. Forgetting The Stand:
Do you also forget after putting the stand down? The hilarious mistake by women riders is, they forget to put the kickstand back. Though it is funny, it causes a lot of accidents as well as screeches on the roads.
If you are someone who has committed this mistake sometime in your life, do not get embarrassed. It is probably the least fatal mistake women bikers can make.
How To Avoid It:
Once you decide to ride it, make sure the stand goes up. Then, every time you need to go out, do let someone know, and you can come back at whatever time you want to.
Conclusion
If you are an avid motorcycle rider, these details must have helped you a lot. Some of the most common mistakes by women bikers are stated, and as a rider, you should try to avoid them. However, where some are unavoidable, others, including choosing the motorcycle according to your size, using both the brakes, and regular maintenance, can be done by yourself easily.
