Wow. With so many ideas out there, I suppose this will get lost in the shuffle, but here goes:
I have spent my entire life in the motorcycle industry, much of that in dispelling pervasive myths, but there are some that refuse to die. Perhaps the Mythbusters could help. Personally, I see an entire episode that could be based on these few that so many people believe, and which could be easily dispelled (with some great video!):
1. Laying It Down -- Many people believe and teach that in an emergency situation, you should lay your bike down to stop faster and avoid a crash. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger has been heard to espouse this theory. How could the friction coefficient of steel and plastic exceed that of your rubber tires, and stop you faster?
2. Helmets Are Dangerous -- The myth continues that helmets block and impair your vision and hearing, thus endangering your safety. I don't believe it. You can see and hear better at speed with a helmet blocking the wind noise, and human peripheral vision does not exceed the limits of the helmet.
3. Anti-Lock Brakes Are Dangerous -- A lot of riders believe that they can stop faster and safer on their own than with modern anti-lock brakes. I disagree.
4. Overheating Helmets - Some say a helmet, worn in the sun, will cause your brain to overheat. My own tests show that your head stays cooler with a helmet on.
5. Never Use The Front Brake - This one goes back about a century, and is still taught. They say that using your front brake will pitch the rider over the handlebars. I say that 70% of your weight bias, and therefore your braking power, is to the front.
Hope you can look into some of this.
I have tons more information, if you are interested.
Fred Rau
Former Editor Motorcycle Consumer News
Former Editor Road Rider Magazine

Great idea for a show. My two cents... the front break thing may be from bicycles, which are more top heavy than a motercycle. I do wonder about anti lock brakes on slick conditions. I also wonder if laying down might cause more injuries, because isn't your leg under the bike when you lay down. I also wonder what percentage of cycle accidents are the long distance cruser hog like bikes and what percentage are the "crotch rockets." If crotch rockets have a vast majority of the accidents, then I may talk my wife into letting me get a cruser.

knowing how to use your front brake properly can cut your stopping distance by 50% or more. just grabbing a handful of front brake can dump you in the dirt (or whatever you're riding on)

anti-lock brakes are better for the AVERAGE rider. a HIGHLY SKILLED rider can get better performance out of standard brakes. the same holds true for cars.

i have a myth i heard about a man falling asleep on his harley. there are two differnet versions, one where he falls asleep and falls off only to wake up and have the bike no where in site, the other where he continues on the bike only to crash miles from the last mile marker he can remember. the myth being that a motorcycle is balanced well enough that it only needs the rider to get it up to speed to go down the road. obviously it would have to be an exceptionly striaght road, the particular story i heard took place in the desert by las vegas. i am curious to know how far my bike could go without me once it was ata speed that it balances itself.

#1 no rubber is the best for stopping, the only thing better about "laying your bike down" would be less chance of you flying over whatever you hit.

#2 the only thing iver ever heard bad about wearing a helmet was that the full head helmets have a chance of snapping your neck if u land on the chin hard enough. if u landed on your chin your jaw would shatter giving less of a shock to your spine. i dont know if that was proven or disproven.

#3 anti-lock brakes are proven but ive never been on a bike with them.

#4 i wear a 3/4 helmet and while i have gotten hot sitting still in the summer i have not felt my head heat up as much as the heat coming up past my crotch sitting still. a nice incentive to keep moving.

#5 i took a motorcycle course a fewwwww years back and i think they said the average front break was about 75% of your total stopping power.
i personally never started with my front break i always started with the rear break first. mostly because i also heard this myth and im not a mythbuster =)

as far as the bike staying up while the drivers "out" ive heard that the 2 wheels act like gyroscopes making the bike more stable while moving. but im not sure when that effect would kick in, moving in slow traffic can be hell on the arms.

#2: the full face helmet will also bottom out on your chest and shoulders. it's possible if you land on your head wrong, you will break your neck, but it has little connection to the style of helmet.

#5: I have actually done a full lock panic stop (at low speed) skidding the front tire. however, as a youth on a dirt bike, I trained to skid the front wheel. in normal riding, I use only the front brake, except when making a full stop.

with the bike staying upright without a rider, there are a large number of factors that combine to make the motorcycle dynamically stable. the biggest factor is actually the steering geometry. as the bike starts to lean, the forks tilt towards the lean, steering the bike into the lean.

quote:

Originally posted by Freditor:

1. Laying It Down -- Many people believe and teach that in an emergency situation, you should lay your bike down to stop faster and avoid a crash. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger has been heard to espouse this theory. How could the friction coefficient of steel and plastic exceed that of your rubber tires, and stop you faster?

Brakes and evasive manuvers are definatly the way to go. Which one or what combination of the two can only be determined by the circumstance.

quote:

2. Helmets Are Dangerous -- The myth continues that helmets block and impair your vision and hearing, thus endangering your safety. I don't believe it. You can see and hear better at speed with a helmet blocking the wind noise, and human peripheral vision does not exceed the limits of the helmet.

Helmets are not dangerous, splitting your melon open on the road is dangerous. Helmets impair the riders ability to hear? Is this from the "loud pipes save lives" people? Helmets do not impair a riders vision, riding without proper goggles or face shield impairs a riders vision. Also hair blowing into a riders eyes because it is not held in place impairs vision.

quote:

3. Anti-Lock Brakes Are Dangerous -- A lot of riders believe that they can stop faster and safer on their own than with modern anti-lock brakes. I disagree.

Anti-lock brakes are dangerous. A vehical of any kind, will take longer to stop while the brakes are pulsating, no matter how fast the pulsating occures. The very act of the brakes pulsating means that the brakes are not being used to their full potential. Brakes not able to perform at their maximum potential will take longer to stop, possibly making the difference between hitting or missing something. Putting anti-lock brakes on a vehical is a bit like slowing the steering ratio from the steering wheel to the tires to prevent morons from oversteering/overcorrecting. Learning to use brakes properly should be a active part of drivers training, as opposed to spending m/billions of $'s designing brakes that won't lock up but trade off stopping power.

quote:

4. Overheating Helmets - Some say a helmet, worn in the sun, will cause your brain to overheat. My own tests show that your head stays cooler with a helmet on.

Can helmets be hot? They can be. Can helmets be vented? They can be.

quote:

5. Never Use The Front Brake - This one goes back about a century, and is still taught. They say that using your front brake will pitch the rider over the handlebars. I say that 70% of your weight bias, and therefore your braking power, is to the front.

Ah, where is THIS still taught? I'm 47 years old and I have never before heard this. This, of course, being completely wrong. You are absolutely correct, the front brakes are the majority of the stopping power. I rode My bike an entire summer with no rear brakes. Never felt any real urgency to fix it. I used the front almost exclusivly when I did have the rear brake. In fact, an inexperienced rider is much more likely to lock up the rear tire and go down than lock up the front tire and go over. This is because of the weight transfer to the front of the bike during braking, causing the back of the bike to become light and losing traction.

Jeffbro: we can't teach 'em to wear helmets, what makes you think we're going to be able to teach 'em to brake effectively?

quote:

Originally posted by thelightworks:
Jeffbro: we can't teach 'em to wear helmets, what makes you think we're going to be able to teach 'em to brake effectively?

I know, but perhaps a few people can yet be inspired to endlessly strive for techichal perfection while driving motor vehicals.