You are in danger of hitting an object and need to swerve to avoid it. What is the best way to initiate a swerve?
- Lean sharply in the opposite direction from which you need to swerve.
- Lean sharply in the direction in which you need to swerve.
- Apply a small amount of pressure to the handgrip on the side opposite to your intended swerve.
- Apply a small amount of pressure to the handgrip on the side of your intended swerve. ✓
Answer: D. Apply a small amount of pressure to the handgrip on the side of your intended swerve.
Apply a small amount of pressure to the handgrip on the side of your intended swerve.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's counter-steering section says that to begin a turn you push forward on the handlebar on the side you want to turn toward. That small push makes the motorcycle and rider lean in that direction. The emergency-steering section adds that a quick swerve depends on getting the bike to lean quickly the way you want to go. So the swerve is started with light pressure on the same-side handgrip, which produces the lean.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Lean sharply in the opposite direction from which you need to swerve. — Leaning sharply opposite the intended swerve would start the bike leaning away from where you need to go, not toward it.
- B. Lean sharply in the direction in which you need to swerve. — Leaning sharply in the direction you need to go is not how the handbook says to start the lean; the initiation is the small handlebar pressure that causes the lean.
- C. Apply a small amount of pressure to the handgrip on the side opposite to your intended swerve. — Pressure on the handgrip opposite the intended swerve would push the bike toward the other side, because pushing the handlebar on a side turns you that way.
Remember it
Remember it by direction: push the bar on the side you want to go, and the bike leans that way.