

What BMW's turn signals tell about application design - nreece
https://www.rypple.com/blog/2009/08/14/turn-signals/

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karzeem
I've never understood why you throttle a motorcycle by twisting the handle.
It's not a particularly comfortable or natural motion, and it's relatively
easy for external factors (shifting in your seat, a bump, etc.) to affect the
amount of gas you're giving the bike.

Seems like it would be a lot better to map the throttle to a thumb trigger,
like on a jet ski.

Edit: also, I just remembered those various videos we've all seen at one time
or another where someone is riding a motorcycle at low speed, loses his/her
balance, and can only manage to hang onto the bike by the right grip. That's a
moment when you _really_ don't want the throttle mapped to the grip.

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dkokelley
_it's relatively easy for external factors (shifting in your seat, a bump,
etc.) to affect the amount of gas you're giving the bike.

Seems like it would be a lot better to map the throttle to a thumb trigger,
like on a jet ski._

Those two statements seem to conflict IMO. There is usually less play in a
thumb throttle, so external factors are more likely to have a larger influence
than they would on a twist grip.

A thumb throttle is also more likely to accidentally slip to 0% than a full
handlebar. With motorcycles, suddenly losing all power can be just as if not
more dangerous than too much power. If you're not prepared, the rear wheel can
lock up and cause you to lose control of the bike. It's very dangerous because
you lose all steering, and if the tire engages while they aren't lined up with
the direction of travel, the bike will flip, usually throwing you in front of
it.

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xelfer
Yesterday's discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=768137>

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movix
On powerful bikes, just a few millimetres of grip twist provides a huge amount
of accelleration/decelleration. It's not the big kind of twist that you do
with a boat outboard engine, but a small movement. I can't think of any time
in all my bike riding when I've inadvertently 'given it the nuts'.

There's something particularly Teutonic about that thing with the turn signal
switches. It's the same with how Mercedes always try and keep their car
switches and buttons in the same position, and with the same design. I suppose
the psychology is, we make the best machines, so why would you ever want to
buy anything else. If you only ever drove a Merc or a Beemer, why would it
bother you?

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jrockway
It's Mack truck, not Mac truck.

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BrentRitterbeck
Man, here I was thinking that Apple was branching out yet again.

