Riding and Operation

Glossary, reference, tips, recommendations, editorializing and primers on scooters and riding

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Lostmycage
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Riding and Operation

Post by Lostmycage »

<a href="viewtopic.php?p=218893#218893">Owners Manuals</a>

<a href="topic14096.html#179485">New rider jitters and advice to overcome them.</a>

<a href="topic10818.html#138936">Which Octane Fuel To Use? (The Great Debate)</a>

<a href="viewtopic.php?p=332387">Genuine-Recommended Octane for All Models</a>

<a href=viewtopic.php?p=138576#138938>"The Weeble Effect" and Riding in the Wind</a>

<a href="topic10818.html#139164">Steering and Countersteering</a>

<a href="topic10818.html#139168">Speedometer Accuracy</a>

<a href="viewtopic.php?p=301857#301857">What to Do if You Lock Your Keys in Your Scooter</a>

<a href=viewtopic.php?p=149885#149885>What's That Squeak Coming from the Front Tire?</a>

<a href=topic3281.html>Tips On Transporting Your Scooter</a>

<a href="viewtopic.php?p=151700#151700">Crash Reports</a>

<a href="viewtopic.php?p=155824#155824">Securing Your Scooter</a>

<a href="http://www.motorcyclebasics.com/contact ... Blindspots explained</a> External Link (Thanks Scooterdave!)

<a href="viewtopic.php?p=247000#247000">Triggering Traffic Lights and Signals</a>

<a href="viewtopic.php?t=3261#35010">Long Distance Riding </a> (Thanks Corsair!)

<a href="viewtopic.php?p=163202#163202">Scenic Route Resources</a>

<a href="topic12651.html#163412">Being Noticed in Traffic</a> (Thanks Nickie McNichols!) <a href="http://www.soundrider.com/current/nov08 ... .htm">Part 1 Shortcut (External Link)</a> <a href="http://www.soundrider.com/current/dec08 ... .htm">Part 2 Shortcut (External Link)</a> (Thanks David L. Hough)

Touring Tips (Coming Soon!)
Last edited by Lostmycage on Fri Jan 08, 2010 3:30 am, edited 15 times in total.
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Fuel and Octane

Post by Lostmycage »

Which Octane Fuel To Use? (The Great Debate)

<a href="viewtopic.php?t=1015#11071">POC Phil's recommendation </a> on Fuel as well as an explanation as to why the owners manuals sometimes recommends 92 grade fuel. The main point is that 87 works just fine and is the preferred octane for use in the Buddy engines.

There will always be people that argue for one grade or another, but 87 grade has a solid history of causing absolutely no problems ever on the 4-stroke Buddies.

With the 2-strokes, I've heard very experienced mechanics and 2-stroke riders tell me that 93 octane helps it run smoother, but I'm still in need of an explanation (I only half paid attention). Input gladly accepted.
Last edited by Lostmycage on Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
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"The Weeble Effect" and Windy Riding

Post by Lostmycage »

"The Weeble Effect" and Windy Riding

From the <a href="topic4954.html#562">Lexicon</a>:

"The Weeble Effect": noun 1. Term used to describe the ease of leaning a Buddy due to its low center or gravity and lightness on top. Also used to describe the effect of high winds on the Buddy. Origin is the advertising slogan for the popular egg-shaped 1970s Weeble toys: "Weebles wobble but the don't fall down."

Buddys do, in fact, fall down.

<a href="viewtopic.php?t=2380&highlight=counters ... 75">Here's some good advice from Ericalm </a> and by proxy, VitaminC:
The ones to watch out for are the sudden cross winds at intersections when you clear buildings that may have been blocking them. These can seem like a sudden blast from the side.
vitaminC's advice was right on: Stay loose and don't stiffen up as soon as wind hits. Give yourself as much room on the sides as you can. And, really, if you go out and are having a hard time fighting it, turn around and seek alternate transportation. You don't want to get caught miles out in conditions you can't handle or which are causing massive anxiety.
Here's an excellent and concise list by <a href="topic10951.html#140765">Sunshinen</a> summing up some great advice for riding in the wind
  • Relax, loosen up your arms, go with the flow
  • Expect gusts at intersections
  • Watch the leaves (both on the ground and on the bushes) to see other places where to expect gusts
  • Leave extra space in front of you
  • Don't ride right next to another vehicle (so if you get blown out of your lane...)
  • If the wind is coming from one direction, ride on that side of the lane.
  • Slow down (Ride in the right lane and turn on your hazards if necessary)
  • Add weight under the seat
  • Know your limits, watch wind advisories, and know when NOT to ride
There's some other good points (especially one by <a href="topic10951.html#140757">Polianarchy's</a> "I Don't") in that thread.

Just follow the basic advice of not riding above your comfort threshold and you should be fine.

Other advice similarly applicable: Use your Noodle; Look Before You Leap; and of course Don't Pee Into The Wind.
Last edited by Lostmycage on Fri May 15, 2009 6:23 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Steering and Countersteering

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Steering and Countersteering

OK, here's a little nuance that some folks might not be aware of.

There's the basics: turning the handlebars left turns left. Hopefully we all know that. Here's the true secret to maneuverability... it called countersteering.

If you've not done this before it's going to be tricky. Actually it doesn't make a lick of sense if you've not tried it before... actively. Chances are you've done this before, but haven't realized. Countersteering is what happens when you turn the handlebars slightly in the opposite direction that you want the bike to move in. Counter-intuitive, isn't it? This generally only works above 10-15 mph.

Got all that? OK, here's how it works. Say you're doing 35mph and you're in the right lane. You want to be in the left lane. You can turn the handlebars left and you'll ease into the left lane gradually, or you can countersteer and get there a lot faster. How do I countersteer you ask? Push the side of the handlebar in the direction that you want to go.

Wait, what?!

That's right. Say you want to countersteer left (like the example above). To do so, you push the left side of the handlebar forward. It's not like turning right - what you're doing is shifting the weight of the bike and forcing it into a lean state. When you push the left side of the handlebars forward, the wheel turns to the right, but it shifts the weight of the bike and it "flicks" towards the left. You don't hold this by any means (unless you're making a spirited left turn). Well that doesn't make any sense at all, does it?!

This method is so counter-intuitive that it's best practiced in an open parking lot.

Find a vacant lot, preferably one without a collection of gravel or other surface blemishes. Get a nice straight path lined up and get going to about 20mph or so. To flick left, push the left side of the handlebars forward slightly but firmly. You'll notice that the bike shifts it's weight towards the left and suddenly you're moving in that direction swiftly. Try it a couple of times until it starts making sense. You're not turning so much as you're shifting the momentum and the balance of the bike.

Lane changing only takes a flick in the direction to set the weight of the bike towards the direction you want to aim. You don't want to hold the countersteer- it's a starting mechanism. Your body will react naturally to turn the handlebars once the countersteering sets the momentum. Practice this extensively in a vacant lot until the motion makes sense. Be aware that it's completely counter-intuitive (hence the name of it) so you should be comfortable with the action before you try it in traffic.

That's counter-steering in a nut shell. It's an essential riding skill and probably one that you unintentionally do already... but it's best understood by practicing it to a point where you can move 10 feet laterally in about 20 feet of space at 45mph (please practice this in a lot before attempting at these speeds!).

Once it makes sense in an empty parking lot, it'll start becoming second nature. You'll gain a new appreciation for your Buddy. The Buddy, if countersteered correctly, can be the absolute most nimble vehicle on the roads.
Last edited by Lostmycage on Fri May 15, 2009 6:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Speedometer Accuracy

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Speedometer Accuracy

(Thanks Ericalm!)

It's widely acknowledged that speedometers for most scooters and motorcycles are inaccurate. The average for the Genuine line is about 10% optimistic (faster than actual speed), though there are many variables involved including type of tire, tire inflation, and riding style. It doesn't get any better from other manufacturers: SYM, Honda, Yamaha, hell, even Harley Davidson and BMW—they're all optimistic.

The accepted standard for "real" speed is by using a GPS, though there have been studies which claim this isn't 100% accurate either (see this paper).

When stating speeds, many riders will use "indicated speed" (what the speedometer reads) or "actual speed" (measured by GPS). This is also sometimes referred to as "Buddy Miles per Hour" or "Blur Miles per Hour," abbreviated as BMPH.

There's really no solution for this that anyone has found; most riders just accept it and ride "fast" or calculate approximate speeds in their head on the fly. In reality, most riders don't even bother to look at the speedometer. Just keep up with traffic so you don't get run over and all should be well. Scooterists are rarely ticketed for speeding in traffic. Unless you're flying by surrounding vehicles, riding recklessly, or obviously hauling ass on the open road, most police officers won't even bother paying attention to you on your scooter. Though we don't advise trying this, we've read stories of motorcycle or scooter riders beating tickets by claiming their speedometers are too inaccurate to be trusted and that they were just riding with traffic.

Speedometer accuracy is one of the most discussed and contentious topics on forums for all types of scooters and motorcycles (Google it). While we don't have all the information, we may be able to clear some of the hot air and make some sense of it all.

Regulation, Legality, Conspiracy!
As with many topics in the 2-wheeled world, there's a ton of misinformation and hearsay floating around about speedometer inaccuracy. The most frequently repeated tidbit is that the US DOT allows speedometers to be up to 15% optimistic, but that they cannot read too slow. There are also those who claim that motorcycle and scooter speedometer optimism is some sort of ploy by the DOT or manufacturers to get riders to ride slower than they think they're going.

After exhaustive searches of online sources, here's what we've been able to verify as well as some commonly stated info that's currently unverified. Anyone with additional information is welcome to provide it, but please include some type of citation or reference.

As far as a US federal standard for speedometer accuracy, I've found many mentions of it, but only one actual citation in federal regs that doesn't seem to apply to motorcycles, just commercial vehicles and trucks.

Many sites have references to a quote from a long out of print article ("Auto Tutor", American Automobile Association of California magazine, Oct. 17, 1997) that states: "As of 1997, Federal standards in the United States allowed a maximum 5% error on speedometer readings…" This is completely unverified. We're looking for the source material and will see if we can track this down. Searches of current federal codes and standards have not found any such regulation.

What we have found specific citations for, though, are EU and ECE regulations:
The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, as amended, allows the use of speedometers that meet the requirements of EC Community Directive 75/443(97/39) or ECE Regulations 39. Both the EC Directive and the ECE Regulation lay down accuracy requirements to be applied at the time of vehicle approval for speedometers. These requirements are that the indicated speed must not be more than 10 per cent of the true speed plus 4km/h (2.5 mph).

While this may partially explain why the inaccuracy is permitted, many vehicles are as much as 15% optimistic when compared to GPS. This deviation may be due to some of the variables mentioned above.

Causes of Speedometer Inaccuracy
There are technical, mechanical reasons for speedometer inaccuracy. Here's an explanation of how speedometers work here.

But, from the next page, the salient part (bold added for emphasis):
All speedometers must be calibrated to make sure the torque created by the magnetic field accurately reflects the speed of the car. This calibration must take into account several factors, including the ratios of the gears in the drive cable, the final drive ratio in the differential and the diameter of the tires. All of these factors affect the overall speed of the vehicle. Take tire size, for example. When an axle makes one complete turn, the tire it's connected to makes one complete revolution. But a tire with a larger diameter will travel farther than a wheel with a smaller diameter. That's because the distance a tire covers in one revolution is equal to its circumference. So a tire with a diameter of 20 inches will cover about 62.8 inches of ground in one revolution. A tire with a diameter of 30 inches will cover more ground -- about 94.2 inches.
While car tires are essentially flat, motorcycle tires are curved. When you lean the scooter, you're altering the circumference of the tire as calibrated.

I doubt this is the source of all speedometer error (again, there are a number of additional factors), but it helps explain why precise readings are unlikely.

Calibration, Solutions…?
There are places that do speedometer calibration as well as some devices which claim to fix errant speedos. We have no information on whether any of this is effective or whether it would work on a scooter.

Here's one obsessed man's DIY solution:
http://home.jtan.com/~joe/speedo.htm
(It's for a BMW motorcycle, but I think the same principle should apply. Also, this method of calibration doesn't account for lean and curvature so is still imprecise.)

Best DIY solution for those who are determined to have an accurate reading:
Get your hands on a GPS. Go for a ride and take numerous speedometer vs. GPS readings and different speeds. If you're really anal (instead of just kind of anal), try it at different times of day, in different settings, at different temperatures and on various road surfaces. Create a table with your findings. Average the discrepancies in readings at various speeds.

Create an overlay for your speedometer with average "actual" speeds for each 10 or 5mph marker. This can be anything from a custom die-cut vinyl decal to go inside your headset on top of the stock speedometer to a few pieces of masking tape scrawled on with a Sharpie.

Now go out and ride!

Etc.
This topic has been discussed many times on the site, particularly in General Discussions and the Blur forums. To locate some of those threads, go to the search page and use "speedometer AND accuracy" as your search terms.
Last edited by Lostmycage on Sat Jul 18, 2009 4:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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What's That Squeak Coming From the Front Tire?

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What's That Squeak Coming From the Front Tire?

Many owners report hearing a squeaking noise from the front tire, particularly when walking the scoot or backing up. This is usually caused by dirt or small debris in the brakes. Unless you notice a change in braking power or performance, you don't need to be concerned about it.

The squeak can be fixed by going into the brake and cleaning it or blowing it out, but there's a good chance it'll just come back.

*A Note on cleaning the front disk brake*
Use of any chemical cleaners can cause anything from stripping the thin layer of brake pad material that's lining the brake disc to putting a layer of the solvent (often cleaners are made to make water "slipperier"). Both of these can cause the brakes to partially fail or behave unexpectedly.

For more info, read the following: :arrow: <a href="http://www.zeckhausen.com/bedding_in_brakes.htm">Brake Pad Bed-in process</a>

If you must clean your brakes, use brake specific compounds for it. Be careful not to get any on your skin, and also pay very careful attention to the instructions - I've gotten this material on my Nylon gloves before and it caused the nylon to warp excessively... take a peak at your tires, some of the Maxxis are Nylon. Just an FYI.
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Crash Reports / Motorcycle Safety

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Crash Reports & Motorcycle Safety

*Special note: PDF's and separate documents made to open in a separate window/tab to make it easier to download a personal copy.

:arrow: <a href="topic635.html#6537">"Who's Crashed?" Thread</a>: Modernbuddy's own voluntary accident reports. Learn from others mistakes, let others learn from your mistakes. An excellent source for recognizing possible situations much closer related to riding a scoot. NOT Buddy specific!

:arrow: Hurt Report: Although this is from Jan 1981, David L. Hough (See Below), has described the Hurt Report as "the most comprehensive motorcycle safety study of the 20th century."

:arrow: US D.O.T. Fatal Single Vehicle Motorcycle Crashes: Published in October of 2001, this report focuses on single vehicle crashes and takes into account more modern models of bikes and newer safety factors.

:arrow: MSF Scooter riding tips You and Your Scooter: Excellent beginner's guide to scootering, scootering safety considerations, basic maintenance/inspections, and well... Take 5 minutes to read it, really!

:arrow: <a href="http://www.msf-usa.org">Motorcycle Safety Foundation's main website</a>: (External Site) Here's the place to go to find local testing facilities and course fees. Also a good source of tips and suggestions.

:arrow: MSF's Pre-ride inspection list: (External Site) Thorough AND Concise!

:arrow: <a href="http://www.amadirectlink.com/legisltn/l ... ">American Motorcyclists State-By-State Laws Page</a>: (External Site) Questions about your local laws? Go here!

Recommended Reading:

Proficient Motorcycling: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well; David L. Hough
More Proficient Motorcycling: Mastering the Ride; David L. Hough
Total Control: High Performance Street Riding Techniques; Lee Parks
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Securing Your Scooter

Post by Lostmycage »

chelsea Made a very well put together post on locking up a scooter that also addressed some other concerns. This was in direct response to the spike in recent scooter thefts in Richmond, VA - but the advice is applicable to most anywhere.

It's definitely worth a read through, she bring up good points on locking a scooter, things that thieves look for as well as some reasoning behind insuring a 50cc scooter.

:arrow: Click here to read it.

I think this will make an excellent start to a sub-topic on theft, recovery, locking and alarming and do's and don't. But for now, this is an excellent start!


:arrow: <a href="topic434.html#4275">Along the same line of thought is this posting on locks and alarms</a>. There's a lot of raw information there which I hope to organize and make easy on the eyes. Till then, you'll have to tough through it.
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Scenic Route Resources

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Here's a collection of sites that cater to touring on a motorcycle. Most give good enough references to road quality, speed an amenities and the like that with the help of a GPS or Google/Yahoo/Etc maps (using an avoid highway filter) you can plan out a nice scenic route.

http://www.motorcycleroads.com

http://www.sundaymorningrides.com

http://www.openroadjourney.com

http://www.madmaps.com/roadtrips/categories

http://www.moto-maps.com

http://www.bestbikingroads.com

http://veloroutes.org

More to come! If you've got a site you can recommend, post it to the original thread :arrow: <a href="topic10245.html">Scenic Route Resources</a>

For a list of routes picked by your fellow Scooterteers, see the :arrow: <a href="viewtopic.php?p=163212#163212">Favorite Rides Thread</a>
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Owners Manuals

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Triggering Traffic Lights and Signals

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Introduction
Many traffic signals in the United States are triggered by various types of sensors in the ground. There are varying designs and types of these sensors, but almost universally they have difficulty sensing anything smaller than a car. Scooterists, bicyclists and motorcyclists often find themselves waiting through several cycles of a light without getting a green.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help trigger the lights. And, in some states, it's even legal to run them in some circumstances.

How Triggers Work
Sensors that detect vehicles in order to maximize the efficiency of traffic lights are called "demand-actuated" triggers. These take a number of forms including lasers, video cameras and various rollover sensors in the street. The most common ones are inductive loop sensors. Without getting into too much of the science behind this, inductive loops are essentially metal coils (wrapped around a metal core) under the street with inductance meters that detect changes in the loops' electromagnetic fields. Positioning a mass of conductive (usually metal) material over the loops or passing a similar mass over the loops alters the inductance. This change is measured by the meter and used to trigger a change in the light.

This is essentially the same technology as most metal detectors, just widened. Note that what the inductive loops detect is metal, not electromagnetic fields. This is important for the discussion of magnets, below.

If you want to read up on the science behind these, see the Links section below.

Triggering the Sensors

1. Positioning
The easiest way to trigger sensors is to adjust the position of your scooter on the sensors. You'll have to check out the cutouts in the road and try to determine which type of sensor you're dealing with.

The most common are Dipole and Quadropole Loops. These will usually look like circles or rectangles. A Quadropole Loop will usually be bisected by another cut or look like a side-by-side pair of cuts.

Dipole Loops:
Image
Image

Quadropole Loop:
Image

Best positions:
Image
To maximize the likelihood that an inductive loop sensor will detect your bicycle, it is important to position your bike over the most sensitive portion of the loop. There are several common shapes of inductive loop sensors, each with a different "sweet spot" for bicycles as shown in Figure 1. The two most common shapes are the dipole loop (Figure 1(a)) and the quadrupole loop (Figure 1(b)). For either of these two loop patterns, position both wheels directly over the sawcut for the wire, choosing either side for the dipole loop and using the center sawcut for the quadrupole loop. (The center sawcut of the quadrupole has twice as many wires in it as the outer sawcuts and is a more sensitive location.) If the signal does not detect you, you may wish to try leaning the bike over toward the center of the dipole loop, or to either side for the quadrupole loop. Newer traffic signal installations usually feature quadrupole loops, which are better at detecting bicycles than the older dipole loops. The third type of sensor loop, the diagonal quadrupole (Figure 1(c)), is designed to provide better detection of small vehicles such as bicycles positioned anywhere over the sensor.
(Source)

2. Tap the Stand
In addition to positioning, you may have some success by placing your scooter in the recommended position then tapping your center stand on the asphalt. This basically moves a mass of metal closer to the inductive loop, which may be enough to trigger the meter.

3. Scoot Up
If you're unable to trigger a light and there's a car waiting behind you, sometimes the best thing to do is scoot up and let the car trigger the light. Watch out for pedestrians and (of course) don't ride out too far into the intersection.

4. (Legally) Run the Light
The following states have laws which permit 2-wheelers to run a light if they're not being detected and if passage is safe (no cross traffic):
North Carolina
Wisconsin
Idaho
Arkansas
Tennessee
Minnesota
Missouri
Virgina
Oklahoma
Illinois (as of Jan. 2012)

The circumstances in which you can run the light varies from state to state, so please consult each states vehicle codes. In some, you have to wait for a certain number of "full cycles"; others have time limits, etc.

5. California
Because CA has to do everything differently, the state has a law (California AB 1581, signed into law in 2008) requiring cities to make their triggers sensitive enough to detect all vehicles. Each city has their own means for reporting lights that won't trigger, and the city is required to send someone out to to make the adjustment. (This program is state funded by AB1581.)
AB 1581 (excerpt): Traffic-actuated signals: bicycles: motorcycles.
(1) Existing law provides for official traffic control devices.
This bill would include as an official traffic control device a traffic-actuated signal that displays one or more of its indications in response to the presence of traffic detected by mechanical, visual, electrical, or other means. Upon the first placement of a traffic-actuated signal or replacement of the loop detector of a traffic-actuated signal, the signal would have to be installed and maintained, to the extent feasible and in conformance with professional engineering practices, so as to detect lawful bicycle or motorcycle traffic on the roadway. Cities and counties would not be required to comply with those requirements until the Department of Transportation has established uniform standards, specifications, and guidelines for the detection of bicycles and motorcycles by traffic-actuated signals and related signal timing. The Commission on State Mandates would be required to consult with the Department of Transportation regarding mandate claims relating to these provisions. This bill would provide that its provisions would remain in effect until January 1, 2018, and would be repealed on that date.
6. Oldest Trick in the Book
Place your scooter on the center stand. Hop off. Run over to the pedestrian crosswalk button. Hit it. Run back to scooter.

Unsurprisingly, there's a lot of debate over whether crosswalk buttons work. We'll set that aside for our purposes.

The Magnet Debate
There are a number of magnets on the market which claim to assist in triggering lights. These are usually neodynium or "rare earth" magnets that can be purchased for as much as $40. The problem with the magnet debate is that these may work, but not because they're magnets.

If you'll recall, induction loops detect metal, not other electromagnetic fields. The traffic light magnets are big, often heavy masses of metal that you affix to the bottom of your scooter. If they work at triggering lights, it has nothing to do with the fact that they're magnetized. Any similarly conductive mass of metal would have the same result.

There are a number of patent applications for devices to trigger inductive loops (links below). None of these use magnets as primary trigger. (Some use magnets or electromagnetism as part of a larger apparatus.)

So do magnets help trip lights? Not really.
Will placing a large mass of metal under your scooter help? Maybe.

It may be best to try some of the other solutions before going out and buying something that may or may not work. (Caveat: All this may differ with electromagnetic sensors, but those are rare in the US and have largely been replaced by inductive loops.)

Finally…
Something to keep in mind when gauging the efficacy of these solutions is that just because a sensor is triggered it may not change the light immediately. Even cars and trucks have to wait at lights.

Also, further confusing things, in some intersections, in-road triggers may not be working at all. Cities are constantly changing and upgrading their traffic technology and in some places, triggers may have been replaced by timers, optical devices, etc. Find out if there's a city department to handle questions and concerns about lights and try to contact them, alerting them to problematic intersections.

Links

How to position a bike (or scooter):
http://www.humantransport.org/bicycledr ... /green.htm

Snopes.com discussion:
http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?p=330814

Patents:
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/56525 ... ption.html
http://www.plan-bravo.com/lefty.html

Further reading:
http://www.humantransport.org/bicycledr ... ection.htm
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question234.htm
http://draco.acs.uci.edu/rbfaq/FAQ/8i.2.html
http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/septoct98/loop.htm
Last edited by ericalm on Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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What to Do if You Lock Your Keys in Your Genuine Scooter

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For reasons that should be obvious, we don't post this information on the forum but we can help!

<a href="groupcp.php?g=60&sid=b67dc429ea4479de88 ... 07ae">Send a Moderator a PM</a> or email Eric at eric(at)modernbuddy.com. We'll try to get back to you ASAP but can't always respond immediately.
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Locked