Riding etiquette

[pml1967]

I went out for a ride on my own yesterday afternoon and caught up with a group of four guys on sportsbikes. We were on a twisty b road with a 50mph limit and stuck behind a couple of slow (30 - 40 mph) cars. I thought there were a couple of overtaking possibilities but these guys stayed behind the cars until the road really opened out into a long straight.

So here's the question, is there any sort of unwritten etiquette telling me not to go past the bikes and then the cars. I was out enjoying a nice Sunday afternoon blast and didn't want to end up being hounded by 4 guys on faster bikes just because I'd nipped past them earlier.

 

[jniedermeyer]

screw em. dont let other people tell you how to ride your bike. i would have passed em!

 

[Doorag]

Yeah, I probably would have passed them too but I understand your conundrum.

 

[mdr]

Were you out for a "blast" or just a "ride"? I like riding with a group sometimes, doesn't matter if it's fast or slow. Etiquette is a little different if you start with (or get picked up by) an organized group. There's a good article on the net called "The Pace" I think. Worth reading if you haven't seen it. (I'll try to find the link...)

Other times, I have been known to briskly pass motorcycles that are just out for a leisurely ride. I absolutely don't let others dictate my pace if I think they're going too fast for my skills & tolerance for risk.

Hotei

Good reading but not the one I wanted... group riding tips start in middle of article.
http://www.sportrider.com/ride/146_9306_motorcycle_pacing/index.html

Group riding etiquette guide - worth reading... rules are a bit strict for a pickup ride
http://www.utahmotorcycleriders.com/groupridingandetiquette.html

FOUND IT!
http://www.pashnittours.com/thepace.html

 

[pml1967]

The opportunities I spotted would've been perfectly legal overtakes. The only reason I thought they might've decided not go is that the gaps probably weren't big enough for all 4 to go at the same time and they really wanted to stay together (which is fair enough). Equally though they didn't look like they were planning to make my job any easier (e.g. pull over to the left a bit to let me through).

I wouldn't let anyone else dictate my pace either, I know my limits, which was why I didn't just ride past them (didn't want to p**s them off and then have 4 supersports crawling all round me a mile down the road and trying to race).

I got an interesting comment from a fellow biker at work this morning who knows the stretch of road, it's well known for aerial surveillance by the police and he reckons they were probably being over cautious in case there was a police helicopoter overhead.

 

[bluenova]

I've been in the same conundrum several times. When I get behind other bikers, I wait for a while to see how they are riding, if they miss a few good overtaking opportunities I overtake them and the car(s) they are following, giving lots of room and a foot wave as I go passed.

 

[Numpty]

I would have passed.If i am out on my own and feel its safe to pass i will do so.Dont let others dictate the way you ride cos thats when things go sour.

 

[mdr]

I wouldn't be bashful about passing them just because they're riding a GSXR or R1. I'd just make sure they knew I was there and pass them in the passing lane - assuming they're not showing other signs of being a :squid: Usually I just outlast em, cause the GSXRs and R1s are seldom on the road for more than a 1/2 hour at a time due to the small gas tanks and uncomfortable ergos.

 

[steveindenmark]

I would have passed.If i am out on my own and feel its safe to pass i will do so.Dont let others dictate the way you ride cos thats when things go sour.

I agree with this. If its safe to overtake without making anyone deviate from their route or brake then get on with it.

Steve

 

[Nooj]

Give them some extra room and be cautious, if they're on bikes they probably won't expect anything to be passing THEM. Sportsbikes have **** mirrors as well, so they may not have seen you approach, if they have loud cans and you don't (even if you do) they certainly won't have heard you arrive.

Stay with them for a bit to see how they ride, make sure they've seen you if you can, then pass them with a wave, not an extended finger

If they get the hump and have to 'prove' they're faster, just slow down, pull over to the left and wave them past.

If someone blasts past me on a ride quite often I'll take off and chase them for fun. I'll sit a way behind them though so as not to pressure them into racing and let them go if they want to speed thought villages or go roaring into corners way too fast to see what's round them.

 

[sideslider]

lol I get passed all the time while commuting, it seems that a lot of other bikes like to weave in and out of traffic.

when I come accross other bikes I like to stay with them because it increases you chances of being seen by cagers when there are multipe bikes.

 

[Wookie]

i suffer this every tuesday living in poole, we get the bike nights, and its frustrating riding on my way home and getting stuck behind a 10k sports bike with 5k of optional parts and a summer rider who blasts pass at 100 + on the motorway but as soon as you hit traffic cant filter of ****e, or take a roundabout, i give em room until i get impatience, (about 2 minuets after hitting traffic) lol :thumbup: but i always wave or give a friendly nod as the wobble at the lights

 

[Scott64a]

Sounds like you did the right thing.

I would have done the exact samt thing given the situation you described.
I was going to work the other morning, and noticed a bike in front of the car in front of me. We got to a curve, and he pulled over so he could fall in with me. Looking back, he might have been just looking for someone to ride along with, but I figured he was examining the awesomeness that is the FZ6. It was dark, so I didn't really check his bike out and can't tell you what he was on.

I let im ride along behind me for a little while, and then when we got to a passing zone, I dropped a gear and hauled major ass passing the slowpoke car. I turned right at where the road ended, and he turned left. I never saw him again, but I feel I demonstrated the FZ6 sufficiently since he got left WAY back there in a hurry.

On really curvy roads, I like to fall in line with groups and sort of tag along. I did it a couple times behind some hog-types, and even stopped to take a break with some of them once. They were goofing on my "little bike", and some began making the classic yet unfounded "Harleys are better" comments. I rode with them for a little while longer, and when they started to "get on it", (funny, because even the 1200s seemed slow to me,) I dropped a gear and SCREAMED past, eventually losing them completely. I would say I put a mile between us in very short order, because the stretch of road I chose to pass them on was well-known to me and great for a superbike burst.

-Suckers!

A couple of them had their WIVES riding 2up, and I had to laugh at these so-called "rebels. Hahaha... Go ahead and wear gay leahter chaps, go ahead and use a com-link to listen to your old lady yammer in your ear for the whole ride, and feel free to be a conformist to the Hog mediocrity, but don't ever call my bike "little" or insinuate that because my bike is made in Japan or lookslike a crotch rocket that it is somehow less of a bike than your POS chuffer.

If anything, it's way more bike than a Hog could dream of being, especially when it comes to eating up roads!

It is far more common to find riders willing to "adopt" you than not, and usually in a friendly way. I say if they don't ride at your pace, either let them go or find a way around them, but do so safely at all times.
Be respectful, even if they called your 600cc gem "little", lol.

If you do this right, they can sit there and smell your fumes while their wife tells them to "slow down, honey".

Hahaha

 

[fz6joker]

Sounds like you did the right thing.

I would have done the exact samt thing given the situation you described.
I was going to work the other morning, and noticed a bike in front of the car in front of me. We got to a curve, and he pulled over so he could fall in with me. Looking back, he might have been just looking for someone to ride along with, but I figured he was examining the awesomeness that is the FZ6. It was dark, so I didn't really check his bike out and can't tell you what he was on.

I let im ride along behind me for a little while, and then when we got to a passing zone, I dropped a gear and hauled major ass passing the slowpoke car. I turned right at where the road ended, and he turned left. I never saw him again, but I feel I demonstrated the FZ6 sufficiently since he got left WAY back there in a hurry.

On really curvy roads, I like to fall in line with groups and sort of tag along. I did it a couple times behind some hog-types, and even stopped to take a break with some of them once. They were goofing on my "little bike", and some began making the classic yet unfounded "Harleys are better" comments. I rode with them for a little while longer, and when they started to "get on it", (funny, because even the 1200s seemed slow to me,) I dropped a gear and SCREAMED past, eventually losing them completely. I would say I put a mile between us in very short order, because the stretch of road I chose to pass them on was well-known to me and great for a superbike burst.

-Suckers!

A couple of them had their WIVES riding 2up, and I had to laugh at these so-called "rebels. Hahaha... Go ahead and wear gay leahter chaps, go ahead and use a com-link to listen to your old lady yammer in your ear for the whole ride, and feel free to be a conformist to the Hog mediocrity, but don't ever call my bike "little" or insinuate that because my bike is made in Japan or lookslike a crotch rocket that it is somehow less of a bike than your POS chuffer.

If anything, it's way more bike than a Hog could dream of being, especially when it comes to eating up roads!

It is far more common to find riders willing to "adopt" you than not, and usually in a friendly way. I say if they don't ride at your pace, either let them go or find a way around them, but do so safely at all times.
Be respectful, even if they called your 600cc gem "little", lol.

If you do this right, they can sit there and smell your fumes while their wife tells them to "slow down, honey".

Hahaha

I had a biker sit at a gas station and brag about his bike to me once. It was a 1900 and he kept bragging about the 110 horsepower that it had (complete with an emblem on the engine to prove that it was equipped with all 110 hp) I couldn't help but laugh when I informed him that my "little" 600 had 100 hp and then as we left he got on it and I passed him with very little effort. I still laugh about it to myself

 

[Gilo-FZ6]

A harsh truth is they were maybe born again's..thres loads of them by me who do the abergavenny run..senoir riders on high end bikes who cant ride for toffy..they had a triumph 900 back in the 60's so the obvious bike to start riding again 35-40 years later is a fireblade,ducati etc..i used to work with a fella in his 50's who last owned a bike in his late 20's..and as sure as night follows day he goes out and buys a modded R1..i think he rode from the shop and two weeks later rode it back to trade it in..lol

 

[keira]

if they were really bugging me, speed-wise, I woulda gone by them. Maybe not all at once, but definitely eventually. That being said, I love falling in behind a group of sportbikes and following for a bit, but for some reason I don't get the same warm-fuzzies for cruisers. They tend to ride right down the middle of the lane around here, making it so that I can't stagger with them, or they weave.....

 

[MarinaFazer]

the weave....it's like how Harley's acknowledge you're behind them! lol, I came behind some and they KNEW I was alone and wanting to pass, but they weaved and were trying to split lanes on a huge hog...i'm like WTF? Cars were braking all over and I just had to hang back and watch the carnage and medley of bike and car brakelights...