Hurtling down a hill with hands on brakes, wanting to indicate you're turning right

[CanucksTraveller]

+1 for looking over the shoulder. Make good eye contact early on, and the cars normally hold back. Reinforce it with a single hand signal, and after another look over the shoulder to confirm that the car is holding, reposition yourself well into primary. Do your braking and steering with two hands, and complete the manoeuvre.

If all else fails, simply stop, reassess, and do it in slow time. At worst, you lose 30 seconds of your day. Usually plan A works well however.

 

[Drago]

You indicate with mirrors? Thoroughly confused.

 

[Will Spin]

Try to get the braking bit mostly done before you need to take your right hand off the bars to signal so you are not left with having to brake heavily with the back brake.

 

[Drago]

Try to get the braking bit mostly done before you need to take your right hand off the bars to signal so you are not left with having to brake heavily with the back brake.

Braking before they signal. Just like the average car driver.

 

[Profpointy]

It is a genuinely tricky thing. I had a nasty right turn on my commute; Blackboy Hill in Bristol if anyone knows it. As it was downhill you had to make good progress to get across to the right hand side of road, momentarilly signal before having to brake pretty hard. Even going slow you needed to front brake to merely stop.

To be honest I think the UK arrangment of brakes is the wrong way round as a missed left signal is neither here nor there but signalling right whilst (otherwise unnacountably) being in the middle of the road is pretty important. Sadly, being an old dog, it's bit too late for me to learn a new trick now, as well as conflicting with my motorcycle.

 

[si_c]

To be honest I think the UK arrangment of brakes is the wrong way round as a missed left signla is neither here nor there but signalling right whilst (otherwise unnacountably) being in the middle of the road is pretty important. Sadly, being an old dog, it's bit too late for me to learn a new teick now, as well as conflicting with my motorcycle

But if you rode a bike on the continent where the brakes are swapped, you'd still have the same problem.

 

[Profpointy]

But if you rode a bike on the continent where the brakes are swapped, you'd still have the same problem.

What we need to do is have an international bike swap arrangment

 

[si_c]

What we need to do is have an international bike swap arrangment

Perhaps, but I still prefer to operate my front brake with my stronger hand. I avoid problems with signalling by swerving across the carriageway in a totally unpredictable manner whilst hoping those behind me can brake in time.

 

[Kestevan]

Most of my bikes have the brakes the Euro way round (front on left) - and the one that doesn't will get swapped over when I can be bothered.
Makes signalling right much easier; and as an added bonus it's also easier to shift down the cassette whilst breaking ready for an easier start.

 

[mustang1]

I shake my head to the right at the same frequency a normal car indicator would do. You should see me in action, it's really rather entertaining.

Kidding aside, I am actually not kidding. That's how I roll.

 

[Buck]

It's a problem I have around here. There is a sharp right down a hill on a road that bends sharply to the left. So I can easily be out of sight for a car behind me

My somewhat crappy solution is that I take primary whilst the car can still see me, indicate right just before going round the bend, whilst at the same time trying to scrub off enough speed with my back brake to safely turn right. It's 10%+ so it isn't easy. Usually I end up making a very fast indication, then quickly hand back on the front brake to get some speed off

I think most important is have a good look behind, most drivers realise then that you're going to do something other than just carrying straight on

This is what I tend to do and recall doing the same yesterday on a couple of descents - lots of over the shoulder looks as well - drivers hung well back and then a thank you to them as I turn.

 

[smutchin]

This is a situation I'm familiar with, from the days when I regularly had to make the descent of Elmstead Lane and turn right into Elmstead Woods station.

The simplest solution is to signal well in advance of the turn. Once you are happy that no one is trying to overtake you, move out to the centre of the road, then return your right hand to the bars to apply the brake in plenty of time to be able to stop if necessary.

Having signalled your intention to the vehicles behind you and moved into position, there's no need to keep signalling all the way to the turn.

I would never rely on drivers being able to interpret my intentions from 'body language' alone. That's asking for trouble.

 

[Inertia]

No point in me looking over my right shoulder, as i can't see out of my right eye. I just rely on sound and hope there's someone up there looking out for me.

The look is for the benefit or people behind you, people usually look around before performing a maneuver. A mirror,for the bike, might be a good investment for you

 

[User6179]

On a busy main road if I am turning right into a side road and there is traffic behind and coming the opposite direction meaning I would be in the middle of the road waiting to turn then I just pull to the side of the road and wait till the road is clear, if you cant indicate just do the same thing.

 

[smutchin]

The look is for the benefit or people behind you

I can't possibly agree with this. How would they benefit?

I look over my shoulder occasionally in normal riding anyway, whether I'm turning or not, just for general awareness.

Relying on audible cues to tell you what's going on behind you is also insane, especially if you're in a built-up environment where sound cues can be very unreliable, even misleading.