Signaling a turn safely
 

First off this is my first post and I am very new to the world of biking, so bear with me. =)

Just today I was riding to the store in my town. I signaled a right turn and I totally lost control and lost balance and skid myself across the pavement. Besides having my wind knocked out and a couple nasty brush burns on my arms, I am alright. Thankfully there were 3 guys on motorcycles behind me who stopped and made sure i was alright.

It was on a very busy street and I try to keep up with the flow of traffic as much as possible. How can I take my hand off under high speeds and not lose control? Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have a Schwinn Racer with 700 x 28c tires

First rule is, stay in control. If you can't take a hand off the bar and stay in control, then don't. You really need to get your skills up to that point though.

If you're still pedaling hard and taking a hand off, you probably want to not do that. For one thing, you probably don't want to be taking the corner at traffic speeds anyway, you're going to be slowing down, so you can stop pedaling. If you're NOT pedaling and you still can't maintain control with one hand, then yeah, you need to work on that. When coasting (regardless of speed) or pedaling normally, you should be able to ride indefinitely with one hand on the bar.

Also, you don't have to signal all the way through the turn. Signal BEFORE the turn, then put your hand back on the bar just before you start to turn.

By "high speed" I assume you mean 30 MPH or less. When bicycles get above 30 or so, I wouldn't take my hands off the bar anyway (I also wouldn't try to turn at those speeds).

Keeping up with traffic is nice but not if you can't do it safely. You're more likely to get seriously hurt by falling than by not keeping up with traffic. Remember, you are not required to keep up with traffic, and you're not required to get off the road if you can't. Skills first, speed later.

Glad to hear you are ok. Must have been scary. I still can recall every fall I have taken clearly in my mind as if it just happen yesterday.

Keeping balance with one hand come with practice. Kind of like taking both hands off the bar bwhile moving forward. One thing you can try is to stop pedaling when you take one hand off your grip. Let the momentum of the bike keep the balance. Also keep you arm closer and lower to your side until you get better. Try to relax the grip of the hand that is still holding the handle bar.

Sorry to hear about your spill, and welcome to the forums.

Were you signalling during your turn? I generally signal before my turn, then put my hand back on the bar before actually turning. I'm usually also braking a bit before hitting a sharp right turn, and since my front brake hand is also my signalling hand (left), it's just a quick signal to show my intentions, then hands on the bars braking and turning.

Also, there could be a dozen reasons why you spilled - loose grit on the road, an irregularity in the pavement, could have just been a fluke.

Signal before you start the turn, than hands back on the bars. Like groovestew said, "there could be a dozen reasons why you spilled - loose grit on the road, an irregularity in the pavement, could have just been a fluke."

I do better than half my riding at night, so I invested in Winkku turn signals. I feel much safer at night crossing four lanes of traffic with them. In daylight I use standard hand/arm signals, because, I am not sure of the visibility of the Winkku's in the daylight.

Hand signals on a bike are soo 20th century. :D

Everyone has given you good advice. The tires you have are narrow and my experience with narrow tires is that they can be more skittish so you might practice signaling turns a bit in a safe area, like an empty parking lot. Like xtrajack, I have turn signals installed on my bike. I built my own from large LED strobes. I did it because I was worried that many drivers today don't seem to understand hand signals, especially the signal for right turns and stop. I use mine during the day because each strobe has 22 LEDs and can be seen in daylight. Good luck, don't let this fall scare you off using your bike.

other things you can do include using your head to indicate your intentions. meaning if I'm behind you in a car and I see you looking to the right ofetn then I might think you are turning right. you can also use body posture, like getting up out of the saddle and coast while using some other body posturing to indicate you will be changing direction such as looking behind yourself to see any oncoming traffic, etc. sometimes I will exaggerate my body posture such as by leaning back while braking (hard to describe).

Your priorities when approaching an intersection should be:

1. Maintaining control of your bike, and reducing speed if required for your turn.
2. Looking back before moving laterally on the roadway; yielding if traffic is overtaking on that side.
3. Moving into the correct roadway position for your destination (right if turning right, left ( toward road center) if turning left, in between for straight).
4. Keeping your pedal up on the inside of your turn.
5. Signaling your intentions toward any other drivers if they may be affected by your turn.
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452. Looking at flowers.
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923. Going fast enough to make motorists happy.

Here's some advice on maintaining control from my experience:
I used to (well, to a degree I still do) have problems trying to keep the bike going straight while glancing back over my shoulder. I did get a helmet mounted rear view mirror; and although it helps, one must still turn one's head from time to time to really see what's back there.

It took me a while to figure out as long as your hand(s) and arm are pointing forward in about the same position you will continue to move forward in that same direction despite head and body movement. When you take a hand off the bars, all the remaining hand and arm need to do is remain in their position. It's so easy but there needs to be some conscious effort to do it. It's usually called practice and it's best to practice away from traffic at a comfortable speed where you have room and feel safe.

Another area of control on your bike is in your seat and thighs. Learning to ride for short periods without hands and controlling the bike in this manner will help you control the bike better with your hands on the bar. Leaning into a turn helps reduce the amount of steering you do with your hands and arms and helps balance. As others have said, coasting while making upper body adjustments and movements helps your balance and control.

Good luck and ride safely!

Check for potential obstacles ahead before you look back, a lot can happen in those split seconds.

Is it appropriate/legal to start getting into the left lane a block or block and a half before your left turn if you are on a major street (3-4 lanes in each direction), or do you have to wait until you are just about to turn left?

A bike is a vehicle just like any car, so do what you would do in a car. (Answer: yes, it is legal and appropriate.)

In our area they have solid lane lines at major intersections. I get in the left lane just before the lane marker line changes from dashed to solid, then I assume proper lane position.

In distance terms, about two or three hundred feet before (we don't have blocks around here.)

Note that, legally, you have to signal before the the turn. Signalling during the turn isn't very useful because people can see you turning.

(You may be legally required to maintain the signal through the turn but if it's a choice between signalling and not falling, choosing not to fall is the rational choice.)

"Just about to turn" is a bad technique for you and the other drivers because it doesn't really give other drivers enough time to react.

As others have said, first priority is to maintain control of your bike. I always signal with my left hand/arm, and keep my right hand on the brake lever when turning. My brakes are set up such that the right lever controls the front brake, which is my primary brake. To be honest, I don't understand why bikes are set up the other way around with the left lever controlling the front brake.

Bet your were doing the "car" right turn signal

http://www.google.com/url?source=img...tEpxOIR2sjB-4g

You don't have to use this signal...you should use some signal...and I'd posit that the signal is plain dangerous to use on a bike that is leaning over into a turn. Your balance is all off. Your hand is off the bar and you are trying to steer with the hand on the inside of the curve. That's not a good thing.

For bicycles, just point to the right for right turns and to the left for left turns. People behind you will get it, your balance is better and your hand is on the correct side of the bike for control. Plus you don't need to signal all the way through the turn.

No, in many states, it's either a flashing signal OR this, by law. That is, in many states, using the right hand to signal a right turn is not technically legal. I would, though, be very surprised if one would get a ticket for it.

Signal (using whatever method) before the turn (and focus on steering in the turn).

I misstated:o There is no physical reason to use the up-turned-left-arm-right-turn signal. There's no car parts that are going to get in the way of signalling your intentions. You should use a signal and the right-hand-out-right-turn signal is very clear. I too doubt that you'd get stopped for it in just about any location. The cops would probably just be shocked that anyone used a signal...car or bike;)