Adjusting Mirrors and which Wheel track to ride on in diff. situations?

RE: Your Opinion on Riding at Night? Also, what bag?

@Worm, Awesome Ghille Suit man

@Alex, are you just starting to feel confident on the bike etc? If so, you can save yourself some time pain and money now by starting to get paranoid about everyone and everything around you again, the first time you start feeling really confident is usually when the first accident occurs... I know, I've been there and so have a lot of other people... I'm not picking, its just an observation

As for riding at night, changing lane position is a good idea, just moving around a bit, because people see one lightsource they expect that its a car a long way away or with only one headlight, if you move around in your lane a bit (not weaving or anything, just wandering) then people have a bit of a WTF moment because you're not where they expect etc, which keeps you a bit safer... Apart from that theres no real difference to day riding.

With the backpack thing, I've bought about half of Kriegas catalogue and I'd recommend them over any other backpack that I've used or seen, I've had my R35 out in an absolute downpour before and not a drop of water has gotten inside, the dry packs are actually submersible in water because they've got a roll top and the general construction and straps are pretty much indistructable.

One word of warning though is that if you're thinking about an R35 then make sure you're tall, I'm 185cm tall and the R35 -just- touches the back of my helmet when I'm on the 1098.

RE: Your Opinion on Riding at Night? Also, what bag?

cheers viper. That raises another question of mine.. How do I properly adjust my mirrors?

I adjusted them to what I think seems best. I cant really see behind me all that well, unless I ride on the left wheel track and look in my right mirror, or ride in right wheel track and look in left mirror. If I look at my mirrors while in the middle wheel track, my (massive) arms are in the way

I haven't even been on a 2-laned road yet so can't really tell if I can see what's beside me yet..

Also, can you guys tell me which wheel track I should be riding on when riding in:
1) left lane of 2 laned road (I'm guessing middle or left?)
2) right lane of laned road (I'm guessing middle.. don't want to go too close to oncoming traffic)
3) single laned road (middle?)

Lastly, say you're 100 metres away from an intersection and you're turning left and you want to go down to 2nd gear.. Do you:
a) shift down then slow down
b) apply brakes with clutch in (while shifting down to 2nd)
c) apply brakes and shift down one gear at a time

I usually go with c. That way it's smooth, and if I need power I'm already in 2nd.. Is this the correct method?

Thanks alot

well you just move the mirrors
the only way to find out if they're proper is by riding it
generally you should be able to see just a bit of your arm and cars behind you and in the next lane in your mirrors without having to adjust yourself (also remember the head checks when changing lanes)

i dont really plan where im gonna be in a lane, but its a good idea to stay in the rhs or centre if your in the left lane(to avoid someone opening a door in your face from a parked car) and the left hand side or centre if your in the right(to avoid the odd chance of crashing into some dumbass on the opposite side going a bit over the line at an intersection)
also apparently the centre of a lane is a bit more slippery during wet weather
personally i've been riding on probably the worst tyres ever(arrowSTAX) with barely any tread and i didnt feel any difference

but dont think about this stuff too much
its not important, the important thing is to keep your eyes on the road and mirrors and stay a safe distance behind the car in front of you
as long as you dont ride like a retard it wont matter what part of the lane your in

for a turn id generally slow down and downshift till im at the right speed for the turn
you should shift down while slowing down

but say if your in 5th gear and you wanna come to a complete stop, best way is to pull the clutch in, slowly start easing the throttle and start downshifting gears without letting the clutch go, using the rear brake to slow you down till your slow enough to use the front brake to bring to a complete stop
remember to slowly apply pressure to the rear brake and not just stomp on it