re back breaker near hit inde wv rosie uh edu writes hear screeching tires i dart my eyes to my mirrors and realize it s the moroon flying up right behind me in my panic i pop my clutch and stall the bike luckily the guy stops a foot behind my rear wheel i understand why you theoretically stop so far behind a car but can you really in actuality avoid such an incident suggestions the experience you describe is why i don t like to sit with my bike in gear i figure there s a chance that i ll be startled in some way and stall my bike and i figure this is more likely than the chance that i ll be unable to escape some situation because of the extra time needed to put the bike in gear so i concentrate on avoiding situations rather than making split second evasive manuvers i split lanes so i m not at the end of the line unfortunately this is not legal in most of the country if i can t split perhaps there isn t room then i will stop near one side of the lane so i have an easy escape and leave my bike in gear until the next car has stopped i watch in my mirrors in the mean time to make sure it will whether i really would have time to move should a car fail to stop i haven t had to find out yet some cars have an annoying habbit of racing up behind you before braking heavilly so it can be hard to tell if they are planning to brake or not so in summary position yourself for an easy exit and then watch your mirrors until it s all clear paul thompson apple computer
