Q: I recently ran into a problem and want to know if I could have handled the situation better. I was traveling about 50 mph entering a town with a 30 mph speed limit, when I heard a ringing sound and saw that my shift lever was dragging the ground (my bike had just been serviced; someone must have left something loose). I stuck my left foot out to alert a fellow rider that I was having trouble, put on my blinker and used my rear brake to slow down, then pull onto the shoulder of the road. Is there anything else I could have done?

A: Overall, it sounds like you did the right thing by riding with caution, putting on your blinker, and searching for a safe place to pull over, once you realized you had a mechanical issue.

It also was astute of you to use your body to signal your buddy that you were in trouble, especially since it was possible that he or she could have ridden over parts falling from your bike.

You made the point that you used only your rear brake. In this case, it would have been fine to use both brakes, because an issue with shifting would not interfere with wheel and brake operation.

Unless the front tire goes flat, the front brake can help you slow or stop in most emergency situations.

And, although you didn’t mention it, you likely squeezed the clutch lever to disengage the transmission to complete your stop.

As you discovered, even professional mechanics can make an occasional mistake. So, use our T-CLOCS inspection checklist (www.msf-usa.org/downloads/T-CLOCS_Inspection_Checklist.pdf) to do a quick walk-around before each ride to assess your bike’s roadworthiness.