On 05/25/2021 12:06 PM, Commander Kinsey wrote:
On Tue, 25 May 2021 03:03:47 +0100, rbowman wrote:

On 05/24/2021 12:28 PM, Commander Kinsey wrote:
My friend's first go on a motorbike, nobody had told him the throttle
was the opposite of what you'd expect. He accelerated into a building
instead of braking.

Ouch. There is the problem that unexpected acceleration tends to thrust
your torso backwards. Your arms, being attached, follow suit, as do your
hands. Your right hand with its death grip on the throttle rolls it open
further.

Positive feedback is a wonderful thing.

I was just thinking if it was the other way round, then when you were
trying to brake, you'd accelerate.

No, you twist toward you to accelerate. Braking had you'd tend to roll
the throttle closed. Or maybe not in Britain. You crowd used to put the
shifter on the right. Tear up to a light, stomp on the foot brake, and
you'd just downshift without the benefit of a clutch. iirc that foolish
ended in '75 when Britain wanted to sell bikes in the US without killing
potential customers.

I can't talk. My first bike had a foot clutch and a hand shifter on the
side of the tank. At least it was on the left side where it belonged.