Does anyone else drive like this?

[bm50Chapin]

I keep hearing all these people talking about how they ride so safe....... Funny, I've never seen any aftermarket training wheels for the M.... Guess I should be asking some of you where you got them from...... LOL

[Danthedawgfan]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaRoller

I like this thread. I'm feeling more & more normal by the minute.

I'm not alone!!!

[BikinIT]

I commute to work in a major city and have to admit I push the limits, but everytime I do I regret it afterward. What usually starts it for me to be honest, is when a driver or series of drivers behave as though they can limit my actions in some way because they are in front of me or beside me, they cannot and I quickly prove it. Also when trying to get away from vehicles I consider a hazard, I pull manuevers - just need to realize when to go back to civilized riding......It can be a bit of a rush too...

[Quantumcat]

Orignally posted by Porcelina Goddess
If your state was given that law to be able to lane split you know darn well that your all "too angelic" of bike behaviors and morals would only be so tempted to go out there and try it -- and film it! So hush up with your superiority.

Personally, I have to disagree. Yes, I do go over the limit on occasion, but I never see myself ever lane-splitting. I wouldn't even do it for money or sex.

Does that make me a "girly-man"? I really don't care. I already can't seem to convince many people that I'm not gay, so being wreckless and stupid (imho) on a motorcycle isn't going change anything.

Lane-splitting vastly increases the odds that I'm going to involve innocents if something goes wrong. Imho, it's way too arrogant and selfish of me to do that to someone else's family.

[Mario]

Originally Posted by Quantumcat

I wouldn't even do it for money or sex..

ok

Originally Posted by Quantumcat

I already can't seem to convince many people that I'm not gay,

wonder why
you are leaving yourself waaaaay open here

[Quantumcat]

I'm brutally honest about things and I typically overshare. You can make any jokes you want. I'm pretty sure I've heard it before.

I'm assuming the "Wonder why" was a rhetorical question. I could easily give you a half-dozen absolutely stupid and narrow-minded reason I've heard.

Likewise, as the Fleetwood Mac song says, "Don't ask me what I think of you. I might not give the answers that you want me to."

Sorry to hijack. My point was that it would be awfully hard to even coerce me into lane-splitting.

['08-M50 Rider]

I lane split fast and i do it pushing the envelope. That is not good. Especially through all of your eyes.

But...

Everybody lane splits in Europe and their motorcycle deaths per 1000 are much much lower than ours. So lane splitting in itself is not a world ending phenominon if you can handle it. (info from Proficient Motorcycling)

Anywho. I'm not using this to defend my style of driving, because I'm already going drastically over the speed limit and I was never trying to convince anyone that what I do is legit. I will say though that lane splitting is not this scary dangerous reckless activity for those who are skilled at it and use it sensibly. For example say... everyone in Europe!

Please don't think I'm trying to encourage those of you who think it's dangerous to do it. But there is plenty of statistical evidence (check the books Proficient Motorcycling and More Proficient Motorcycling out because I can't site the researchers who did the actual grunt work off the top of my head) that shows that lane splitting in and of itself is not the cause of fatalities in other countries.

This is not a defense of me though. what I do is wildly more risky than simply driving between two cars at a sensible speed.

[intimid8er]

I guess I'm just lost on this whole issue...

When I first heard of it, and the articles I remember reading (I can't cite my source either), that lane splitting was just a method of easing congestion on California's highways. That said, the impressions I remember getting from the articles were that traffic was completely stalled and it'd be okay for a motorcyclist to navigate between the rows of cars at a prudent pace...with the understanding that this will irritate landlocked motorists to no end, so extra care was needed during this practice.

I never heard anything about it at speeds that were greater than traffic jam speeds. However, since this thread started, I researched it, and saw that the California law is so broad, you could drive a TerraMover through it. Whether the legislator's that drew it up envisioned what it is today, is up for debate. However, what they though it would be is irrelevant, to how it's strictly interpreted. As I mentioned, the allowance is so broad and open for interpretation, that anything goes with it.

At the end of the day, I can see a use for it in congested areas, as well as (I forgot the term used)when motorcyclist's lane split to the front of the line of traffic stopped at a red light. Legal or not though, I have a tough time condoning blasting in between two cars at 80-90-100 mph wearing the mantle of "It's legal so I can." Being that it is legal though.....I have no say...other than, maybe...just maybe...those that approved it, didn't intend it to be this way.

[GeorgiaRoller]

Originally Posted by intimid8er

those that approved it, didn't intend it to be this way.

Common sense dictates that would be correct. However common sense is a disease so few have anymore.

[intimid8er]

I mean seriously. I believe everything I read (Cycling Rags..the usual suspects), all mentioned stalled commuter traffic, and travelling around 10-15 mph above that. Seems reasonable to me. Splitting traffic at 50-60-70-80 mph is somewhere on my list below nailing my nut sack to a 2x4 with a rusty spike, yet strangely above getting a "High Colonic" for the fun of it.

[Mario]

Originally Posted by Quantumcat

You can make any jokes you want. I'm pretty sure I've heard it before.

I do not know you so I was not going off of any previous information about you all I saw was an open shot to take and I took it. Just some good old fashion teasing

[NCxM50]

At those speeds, not only is it illegal, it's retarded, the law doesn't have exceptions to the speed limit saying you can do 100 in a 55 as long as you're lane splitting. Within the confines of ALL the proper laws, I don't have a problem with splitting. It's the combination of excessive speed, while splitting between cars with very little room to spare, that I see as a problem. Not because you could get your self killed, I could care less if some idiot kills himself doing something thats stupid in the first place. But anytime you do something like this on a PUBLIC road, you endanger the lives of those around you who are obeying the laws.

At 100 mph, you're covering 146 feet/second. That means in traffic, with some spacing, you could pass anywhere from 5 to 9 cars in a single second. Given combined time to react and apply brakes of 1.5 seconds, if a car 10 cars in front of you changes lanes, you'll be plowing into said car before your fingers even squeeze the brake lever. If said car is a minivan with a handful of kids, you could be solely responsible for the death of multiple children all because of your desire to be cool combined with the lack of foresight to leave for work 10 minutes earlier.

If you've ever been in traffic in a cage and taken a peek in your side view mirror, you can easily see that it could be more than a little difficult to spot a motorcycle coming up between lanes at 100mph while he's still 100 ft behind you, giving you the illusion that a lane change is a perfectly safe and viable option. And loud pipes would not changes things at ALL unless you're pipes are pointed forward.

[imasupahewr0]

Originally Posted by intimid8er

below nailing my nut sack to a 2x4 with a rusty spike, yet strangely above getting a "High Colonic" for the fun of it.

I mean seriously, did you have to take it there. Painfaul in my head.

Has anyone answered this question with just a yes or no without their opinion? Laws and the way youre "supposed" to ride are all open to interpretation.

[Mario]

Hey intimid8er you gonna brad that hair of yours or what, never seen hair grow that fast must have use some cha cha chia

[intimid8er]

What?

Like this?

<--------

[Mario]

Good one looks allot better then that crappy fro you were sporting

Originally Posted by intimid8er

What?

Like this?

<--------

[intimid8er]

Originally Posted by Mario

Good one looks allot better then that crappy fro you were sporting

Like that?


<------

[Mario]

all you need now is a 70's porn mustache

['08-M50 Rider]

Originally Posted by NCxM50

At those speeds, not only is it illegal, it's retarded, the law doesn't have exceptions to the speed limit saying you can do 100 in a 55 as long as you're lane splitting. Within the confines of ALL the proper laws, I don't have a problem with splitting. It's the combination of excessive speed, while splitting between cars with very little room to spare, that I see as a problem. Not because you could get your self killed, I could care less if some idiot kills himself doing something thats stupid in the first place. But anytime you do something like this on a PUBLIC road, you endanger the lives of those around you who are obeying the laws.

At 100 mph, you're covering 146 feet/second. That means in traffic, with some spacing, you could pass anywhere from 5 to 9 cars in a single second. Given combined time to react and apply brakes of 1.5 seconds, if a car 10 cars in front of you changes lanes, you'll be plowing into said car before your fingers even squeeze the brake lever. If said car is a minivan with a handful of kids, you could be solely responsible for the death of multiple children all because of your desire to be cool combined with the lack of foresight to leave for work 10 minutes earlier.

If you've ever been in traffic in a cage and taken a peek in your side view mirror, you can easily see that it could be more than a little difficult to spot a motorcycle coming up between lanes at 100mph while he's still 100 ft behind you, giving you the illusion that a lane change is a perfectly safe and viable option. And loud pipes would not changes things at ALL unless you're pipes are pointed forward.

Nobody said it was legal at my speeds. In fact, I mentioned that it was completely illegal pages and pages ago. Both because you can't speed (duh!), and because in Cali, cops will pull you over for lane splitting under the other laws: Unsafe lane change, exhibition driving, or weaving. so if you can't manage to lane split even at slow speeds without remaining in a single lane than you are already not cool with the police. I'm not going to now defend it even though it's against the law, I'm just clearing it up because there's no reason to argue the legality of something that is plainly illegal. I speed, I weave through traffic, and I move back and forth over the white line which is technically hundreds of "unsafe lane changes." That's why on the video when the police car came by i dropped back to the speed limit and waited for him to exit the freeway.

About the 9 cars a second idea. I wish I had that kind of reaction speed, but that's crazier than I think even the "ghost rider" in those videos from Germany and the Netherlands. When I get the source vid back maybe I'll post it at normal speed. But what I do usually and in this vid is I come up behind cars going 90, then slow around their speed and get a sense of things, then jam on the gas to go between them in about 1-3 seconds speeding back up to 80 or 90 until I hit the next patch of cars. Remember this is California traffic, these cars you are seeing are all going 75 and 80 mph themselves, so me going 90 is not gonna fly by them that quickly. I can only lane split slowly on this bike because my handlebars are so wide i frequently have to lean left or right to get them not to smack someone's mirrors. So in stopped traffic, i can't just fly through 5 cars a second as you say, because I'd surely smack my handlebars on a mirror and fly off if i were even doing one car a second.

This is all just crazy talk to you guys I'm sure, but I have been enjoying all of the opinions on the matter so I though I would clear up those little details.

[camaleon]

stupid thread is stupid

/thread