Polarized sunglasses and the infotainment screen: Two great technologies that don't play well together. Polarized lenses cut glare and can bump up contrast, effectively sharpening your view, but they can make it nearly impossible to see some modern nav screens or displays. They also hide reflection and glare making it hard to see hazards like water, oil and antifreeze.
@@FlavienS57 That's right! I have had heavy problems with such of these glasses- When I ride greece mountains road, with oil on surface by bumpy corners in additional change of sunshine and shadows.
Polarized lenses are annoying, I agree. Nevertheless (and feel free to remove the comment, if you find it misleading), I strongly RECOMMEND the use of polarized lenses when riding in the traffic (and only when in the traffic). Any city rider knows that most of her/his attention must be put on what the other vehicles are doing, or are about to do. That's often the only difference between a controlled braking and the unexpected parking in someone's car door. Polarized lenses allow to remove the glare from other vehicles glasses, helping so see through these and inside the vehicle, so to understand if the driver in front of us is paying attention to the road in front of him, had a look in the rearview mirror and is aware of us, or is texting on the phone and is prone to a sudden braking. Thanks for another great piece of high quality content!!
Another home run Bret! This topic is key for every advanced riding curriculum that I've looked at, but different coaches have different ways of delivering the material. To your point, some coaches say "eyes up", or use the term vanishing point. You say the "farthest point that gives you useful information". Brilliant. The other language isn't descriptive enough, and doesn't hint at the "why" behind the technique. I love the "home position" concept. Everyone gets that. You address the fact that when you work your peripheral vision , "central" (yet another great word choice) vision goes soft and blurry. You bet it does, and it is uncomfortable and disorienting. You need to be in a comfortable closed course environment and practice it until it is more natural. There are probably 10 more call outs, but i just want you to know that we all notice! A sincere thank you for publishing this stuff! The content is priceless and your delivery is ridiculously entertaining! Cheers!
This class alludes to one of the great aspects of riding. We often hear to live in the present, few things are more conducive to living in the present then riding a motorcycle. Every aspect of riding ecourages being completely present and leaving your worries behind.
Another piece of essential instruction. What you teach is nothing new (I got this 35 years ago during formal training) but you are re-enforcing what are good basics and the practice of developing muscle memory, the right muscle memory, breaking poor practice saves peoples skins, there is too much bull dust surrounding driver/rider training mostly coming from forums on the web, quality instructors teaching industry practice is refreshing, well done again
That eye-wear mentioned in this video is really good. It makes huge difference compared to normal glasses. Most of those companies do prescription inserts (don't confuse with insert clip). They are way more expensive than normal glasses, but well worth it. There are many brands available, you just need to find shop that can make prescription version on order and be ready to empty your wallet. For anyone wearing glasses its an investment worth making.
Not a n adventure rider but many of your videos contain useful information. Especially for me because I've been riding for 59 years and tend to get lazy about learning or using information
Excellent video as not enough people really do not understand “eyes up.” Over here in Australia this is actually part of the course you do to get your motorcycle licence. We call it “vanishing point” the point where the road vanished and no more information can be taken in. Was also taught that if I’m looking down at the road in front of the wheel that’s where I’ll end up lol
Love this video. I'm actually going to show this to my 15 year old daughter who's learning to drive a car. The same principles still apply. Thanks Bret!
This is the best explanation of how to use your eyes when riding that I've heard yet. Thanks for the tip on the glasses also. I'll have to check them out.
Simoply life-saving! Cheers for this great video for the basic theory. This should be in évery lesson to get a licence! Had an advanced instructor once, and he explained, during riding - through the comms, Whát he ment by “looking ahead” and scanning the “in-betweens”. A whole world opened up! 🤘🏼
Excellent video Bret! I've long wondered where my eyes should be focused, especially when cornering. I've always been told to "look through the corner." I didn’t know exactly what that meant, now I do, thank you.
Rocking those HippoHands Alcans🤘🏾 My Triumph ScramblerXE 1200 and I love them! Great video! It took me a “few” miles to learn the Go where you Look, but thousands of miles later...it makes for such great ride whether I’m commuting, sport riding, or trails...my bike feels connected and more agile when I’m confidently looking at where I need to go. Ride on!
Thanks Bret! Another great video. I love the concept of a "home position" - it's a great way of thinking about where your eyes should "park" when not actively searching. One thing I didn't hear you emphasize is the concept of consistently MOVING your eyes around too, returning to a home position at times, but moving them again to actively scan and seek information. In my experience, when I stare at that thing I'm afraid of, I go in that direction. Reminding myself to MOVE my eyes and look down the road farther or beyond that obstacle, my fear subsides. Thanks again - I always learn a LOT from these!!
Great lesson. My 1st intro to this topic was Jim Ford of The Rider's Workshop. He uses the phrase - vanishing point - along w/reading the landscape to slow things down, interpret nuance, and relax.
Excellent information, both for novice and experience riders. Take this information to heart and learn from your experiences. One of your best videos Bret. Cheers, TH
I've been riding over 10 years now... so you'd think I was experienced... but two days ago I was coming down a windy road in the rain at night and became transfixed on short near vision... literally before I knew it I was in the other lane... rear tyre sliding behind me.. managed to correct it and get back into lane. I will try looking a little further down the road especially in the twisties (I thought I was) but sure enough the reason for the lane encroachment was a few things you flagged... I was tired coming home from work... Thumbs up for video.
Great vid. Getting into the flow and riding purely on broad peripheral vision is extremely satisfying. Some great points about looking ahead - I still have keep telling myself to look ahead, trust the bike.
Ohhhh brother! O believe this is one of your best sessions, the place, the subject, your approach to control fear .... great stuff! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Years ago, long before I started adventure riding, I was reading Keith Code's Twist of the Wrist Vol. 1 and 2. I cannot remember which one had it, but there was a fantastic section about vision. The big take away was that you can train yourself to make better use of your peripheral vision with practice. Refocusing your central vision from one spot to another and back takes a LOT of time. You will cover a lot of ground in that time. So his recommendation is to keep your central vision in the home position as much as possible and learn to pay attention to the peripheral by merely shifting your mental focus. Pick a spot to look, keep your eyes on it, then start trying to pick out as much detail at the edges of your vision as you can without moving your eyes. I did this a lot and it made a BIG difference in my riding. It is now quite common for me to be riding with a group and when we stop I will start asking things like, "Did you see that awesome house on the side of the mountain? Did you see that bashed up truck down in the ravine? Did you see that beautiful waterfall back there?" and so on. Most of the time, I just get blank stares and, "I didn't see any of that!" This was a great video, as are all of them, but this one really hit home for me. Well done!
Thank you so much Bret !!! I learn so much from all your videos, i really appreciate the time and effort you put into them. I really enjoy riding my bike much more after your lessons ..... When i put your info in practice, everything its just as you mention it .... !!! Millon thanks :)
As always, good information and a great video. If looking for new video ideas, consider a follow-on to this about how to use your vision while riding at night. As a military pilot we were taught to use more peripheral vision; fixating on an object at night using “home vision” could cause it to disapear from your field of view due to how the eye’s rods and cones work at night.
Very good vid, Bret. The problem, at least in my case, is when you have to deal with a sharp turn ahead -200 m, lets say- which makes you impossible to look further, and you feel that you are approaching too fast with no other reference you may look at. Thank you!
its snowing now, and im watching your videos, and being sad about the thought i won't be able to be on my bike for 6 to 7 months…. but hey, you are the bright side of my day :) keep posting !
Would love to see the good example of looking through to the "home eye position" have a cornering line that wasn't on top of the yellow line. Good sight distance will help from turning in too soon. Thanks for all the great info!
Awesome vid and info. Thanks for sharing... oh and the plug for the glasses 😎 doh POLORIZED! now i know why i can't see the info on the petrol pumps when i fill up! CHEERS.. 👍🤣🏍
Love the video and knowledge....as usual. Thought, I hate the mid video commercial. Would be willing to pay a fair subscription fee to see the commercials go away.
Starting on narrow dirt trails causes less street crashes later, according to the old Hurt Study. It probably has a lot to do with vision, not panicking, and what to do if 1 of the tires starts to slide or something unexpected is in your path.
Totally agree about actually "doing it" in order to discover how to do it both Wrong ae well as Right! I'm in England where you Can't Wind Camp (it's illegal to do so) however there are places where you can camp wild (Private Land), but its generally Farm Land, I came a cropper trying to cross a Muddy Bridge, Lessen learned though!
I’m not saying I’ve done it that often but I’ve been chased off a few times! I live on the Kent coast so Calais is nearer than London for me, so Always need to travel a fair few miles in order to “Escape”, my main reason for my comment was to share a little knowledge about the UK as well as England!
@@bexxy629 Sounds Lovely, I have been there but long ago, must return some day though. Even though I am in the "Garden of England" it is exactly that, with either Houses, farmland, vineyards, orchards or businesses, all connected by some of the most used Motorways M2, M20, M25 & M26 all squeezed in a corner with both a North & South coast either side. It's constantly being filled or drained and then we've a few holes in the ground connecting us to Europe. You never get lonely in Kent, just sit on a beach long enough and a boat full of illegal people are sure to arrive LoL! Sorry about the "Rant" both of yours are a World apart from mine, it is still pretty cool in some ways though!
Hi Bret. Thanks for this, it's the first clear and usable explanation of 'look up' I've ever seen. 2 thumbs up! A question; when would you replace goggles with the Arclites? With love, Ken
A fraction off topic but for me this includes avoiding 'target fixation' where you will ride in a straight line at the object that has caught your attention, very dangerous, when you should be looking at where you are going as described. Just saying. Good vid.
Hey Bret, Great video on an very important aspect of riding. Not constantly focusing on things in front of your front tire and accepting that majority of the time we probably have more traction than we think helped me improve and therefore enjoy my rides more. Well presented! Constantly looking up the road 'without' quick momentary glances closer forward, just seems dangerous. You mention (5:13) that your Arclite glasses are not polarized. Historically, I have been a big fan of polarized.. probably from my years of skiing and sailing. Can you touch on this a bit more? I also thought that the wider frame would not be as comfortable... guess I'll have to test them with my Schuberth E1. Oh and a suggestion for a future video... How about knee position; when to be tucked in and when to let the bike float etc!!
Polarized sunglasses and the infotainment screen: Two great technologies that don't play well together. Polarized lenses cut glare and can bump up contrast, effectively sharpening your view, but they can make it nearly impossible to see some modern nav screens or displays. They also hide reflection and glare making it hard to see hazards like water, oil and antifreeze.
Hmmm... around 3:35 when you go left. I would start that turn more to the right of the lane... gives you better vision going into the turn and straightens the turn.
I get the point and I understood but I feel that this is a blanket statement of seeing as far as possible. What if you have two choices, actually 3, one right in front of you, second, portion of road little far away, and third, portion of road which is very far away. Then what? I think there should be a limit of how far is far Another important thing is that you cant fully ignore whats in front of you, you have to keep an eye on whats in front of you, i was about to fall off from road as it was curvy and i was looking far ahead and was not realizing that im going towards edge and away.
Good information brother, and I appreciate your instructional videos. Just an FYI, while I am certain that this was filmed under controlled conditions, you might want to work on, and make it a habit, to go in wider on left hand turns. When you come in tight on the inside of your lane, you are leaning in over the yellow lines. Both your body and your pannier. Not trying to sound like a smart a$$, just letting you know that a lot of people watch your videos and mimic your riding techniques, and this is a recipe for disaster when riding out on public roads with oncoming traffic.
@@BretTkacs Thank you. Perhaps an annotation in this video here that links to that point in the other video about the polarised sunglasses might be useful. Just a suggestion.
I'm always afraid of running through a patch of gravel where I live. It's very rural and there is always some garbage on the road surface. It's so dang distracting when I start to ride over it and my bike feels like it loses the solid connection to the road
Hi Bret, thanks you for making this amazing video I learne allot from it. Please could you advice How your rear brakes light flashing like that, is it some device you installed? Is it legal ?
