Too high a gear! A very common fault is that people tend to ride their motorcycles in too high a gear! We were told back in the seventies "Third gear, 3000rpm, 30mph!" We must be in a gear whereby when we open the throttle the 'bike picks up and goes and we can accelerate briskly out of trouble, or when we close it we have engine braking and retardation. We can 'fine tune' our speed without constantly being on the brakes! When I tell people that after a days training they will have been in a lower gear than they normally would have been, they'll be going faster, riding smoother, and at the end of the day they will have used less fuel... they don't believe me. They are surprised and delighted when it turns out to be true. One guy took on a very nice overtake, but to fit in between the cars, he snicked it down a gear to ease in without showing a brake light! I reminded him that the gear he used to slow down with should have been the gear he started the overtake in!