Do you change your riding habbits when around other riders?

I have noticed that when I get around other riders that I town down how I ride. I am not as "aggressive" sota'speak.

I seem to do the same if i come up on cars. There has been times when I have pulled up behind people and the driver pulls over to the shoulder expecting me to zip past them with a squid like passion. I always just hang out behind them (assuming they are driving the speed limit, most people here speed, cops included)

I see people zipping through traffic often, I guess even though ill probably never meet these people i dont want them thinking im going to double their speed and race them around the corner like so many on sport bikes do.

what are your habits when you get around other drivers?

 

Sometimes I do sometimes I don't. I will admit that whenever a cager pulls over to let me by I gladly take it and I thank them on the way by, usually not screaming past, but sometimes I do tend to get a little agressive sometimes to keep up with other riders and have some fun, but not to race em or prove anything. In general I try to be somewhat responsible and not ride like a total squid, but it dosen't allways work that way :biggrin:

 

I think that it is any driver or rider who is defensive in nature will be reserved initially till they have a chance to observe the behavior of the other drivers or riders around them. When you are confident that your actions won't alarm or panic the people around you, the situation is safe for you to proceed. The variables are infinite. Sometimes too much caution can actually put you and others in harms way. Cautious, Confident, Calculating, Courteous, the four C's of survival and happiness on the road, in my humble opinion.

Something happened that I didn't expect a few years ago. I took a school and then started doing track days which really expanded my riding toolbox (so to speak). The net result of this increased ability was actually more caution on the street to a point where I didn't enjoy riding on the street at all. Everywhere I looked there was some moron, sometimes with an innocent on the back, dressed inappropriate, doing stupid shit! Every time we went out in a group, someone had a close call and I saw the impression it left on the observers and or affected Cage operators. I just didn't want to be a part of that scene anymore so the Ducati (I was on the Dark Side at the time) and I would join the group for coffee and that was all I did with them. I still saw some silliness in the parking lot at the coffee shop but at least it wasn't life threatening.

So a few years have gone by now and I yearn to ride with others again for the social experiences that are enhanced when shared. The VFR riders in Ontario are a mature group so I don't expect to experience the same (oh no) moments that I did when riding in the Chicago area but I will still be using my four C's all the time and especially when meeting new friends with unknown abilities and habits.

Sorry I rambled on so long!
Now here is a happy moment, getting my squid on as it were.

 

I usualy ride with other like minded riders when I group ride. Most of the time I'm leading, and set a generaly fast pace, but not so fast that we can't stay in our own lane when cornering. Weird thing is, when someone else is leading, I tend to back off a little. Our group policy is that the faster guys will wait at any intersection where we may turn at. About 3 years ago I was leading a group on the really curvey roads in N. Ark. the agreement was to ride your own pace, and I would wait if nessasary at the intersections. Worked well for the 1st 150 miles. Every favorite strech of road, I would twist it up and ride faster by quite a margin, and then wait for the others. We stopped to gas up just before my very favorite strech of twistys, and everybody was having a good time. We took off and I went into my really fast mode. I was on my ZRX1200, almost the perfect tool for Arkansas. I was hitting 90+ on the straights, and railing the corners. I didn't realize that one of the group was trying to keep up. I got to the point where I pulled off to wait for the others, and they didn't show up. So I turned around, went back and was horrified to find the guy who was trying to keep up crashed. He was beat up, and his bike was totaled. He had locked up the rear entering a corner and went straight into the woods. I refuse to get caught up in it, but can see how easy it can happen. RIDE YOUR OWN PACE. When by myself, I'm a pretty aggresive rider in traffic. I'm sure I've starteled many a driver. I can't seem to stop riding this way, and I've been at it for 45 years, so I'm unlikley to stop doing it now. I may just have a hooligan spirit!

 

I find that I have to tone it down on home turf (the Sea to Sky hyw) because I know it so well, but otherwise on unfamiliar roads I go slower when alone and have to speed up when with a group...but only to a point. Last year riding through the Kootneys with a friend on DUC, I was leading, fully loaded with gear and at the first rest stop I mentioned that I was riding about 10% faster than I wanted to and hoped that I wasn't slowing him down. He said " good you said so, I'd like to bring it down a notch too!" After that we had a great ride, he lead and the pace was perfect. Communication is key.

 

Hey mikromo, this is NOT a judgmental question: do you get many tickets for speeding and if not, how do you avoid them? I 've only been riding a viffer for a few months and I recently got a ticket in town for doing 45 in a 30 zone. He said he clocked me @ 49. It was on a curvy stretch that goes down a big hill here in Spokane. He made the comment that he rode and if "you're leaned over that far, you're going too fast". I'm sure the Sherrif's deputy probably was a Harley dog rider, but I was polite and accepted my $154 fine. I just got my GPS wired up, so I'll use that as a speedo, but damn this thing begs to go...

 

Oh puh leez. What's all this pussy stuff? Pin it, lean it, and hope for the best

:joker: :rofl:

 

I remember my honeymoon, my wife and i got a couple atv's. when we went i led, not thinking i took off. I guess she tried to keep up, she flipped it on the very first bank.

Thank goodness she wanted some fox gloves because they were cute, handle bar cut the glove, but not her hand.

 

What the hell is up with the chicken queens anyway?

 

I mostly ride alone. That way, no one I know sees the stupid-ass shit I sometimes do. Also, in a group most of the riders are better than I am, so I can get too competitive and end up riding their ride instead of mine, a formula for disaster.

 

See hot chick.
Show off some stunt.
Get a ticket !

 

I actually like to and try to ride with others that are better than I, helps me GENTLY push my boundries and get better little by little. You just have to keep in mind to ride your own ride so you don't get in too much trouble out there. Getting competitive and uber testosterone must be curbed for this to work out well though, not that it dosen't happen to me too

 

i ride fast normally..but faster then other are around.

 

The last 3 times I've been stopped, I didn't get a ticket. 2 of the times the LEO was hopping mad and started in on me the moment they got out of the car. I am a ATGATT guy and I wear earplugs, so both times I've calmly said "please let me get my helmet off", at which point both stopped yelling. Then I proceed to slowly take off my gloves, then the helmet, and finaly the earplugs (giving them cool off time). Both times the officers were suprised at my gray hair, and one of them said to me "how old are you?". Both times (when they were so angry) my age (59) seemed to defuse the situation. All 3 times I was in excess of 90mph. I have a son in law who is an LEO, and he said they were probably so suprised that I pulled over, that they didn't cite me (I guess most squids these days run away). That's not to say I've never been ticketed. Here in Missouri, you can lawyer up, and plead down to a non points violation. I also have a traffic lawyer in the family, so usualy for $150.00 he fixes it for me (family rate). I DO try to keep a look out when riding, and ride to fit the enviroment and traffic situation. But, I do get in a hurry sometimes. I rode my ZRX back to K.C. from the INDY MOTOGP in '08, at or faster than 90mph on I 70. Saw maybe 6 HP, but all already had someone pulled over. I do like to make good time! The "arrest me red" 'Cepter" may be my undoing:wink:

 

Just a P.S. The last ticket I got was for 50 in a 35................on my 1970 Moto Guzzi!!! That bike is the most "feels fast at the lowest speeds" bike I've ever owned. I swear cruising along at 60 makes you feel like the king of the world!

 

i had a dream recently that i ran from a cop. who was it here that ran from a cop on an induro, went upa steap dirt hill then turned at the top and waved at the cop?

 

I have a notorious bit of twisty road near my place that over the years Ive personally seen a number of accidents of both cars and bikes. (Youtube "Black Spur motorcycle" if you want to see what Im talking about.) I commute through there on weekdays which are usually fine but if I can avoid it on the weekends I do because its the type of road that attracts groups of would be boy racers and the requisite antics they imagine themselves capable of. Its a really popular road on the weekends for all sorts of traffic, cars, cars towing boats, caravans , trailers etc, and when a group of riders gets mixed into it the inevitable overtaking ensues and then its not long before someone overcooks a corner and unpleasantness results. The answer is yes my riding changes, I give everybody plenty of room and try to be honest enough with myself to know that comptettiveness and motorcycles (as far as it concerns me) should be limited to a closed track. I probably sounds a bit captain sensible or like some humourless old grump but give me that road and my vfr any day all alone and Im a happy man.

 

Regarding speed limits:
1) Residential areas, school zones, construction zones, heavy traffic, dangerous environmental conditions, and wherever else common sense dictates... I never exceed the speed limit.
2) Highways, interstates, back roads, and just about everywhere else other than the above... I always speed if I choose to. No reason not to.

IMHO, citations should only be given for riding in an unsafe manner, and that doesn't necessarily include speeding. Tickets for speeding are all too often solely about revenue generation, and have absolutely nothing to do with safety.

 

the police here in michigan are required to average one ticket per minute.

 

I was once coming home from work on the Sea to Sky hyw doing about 120K with bikes on my tail so I pulled over to let them buy; they were at about 140K, A cop on a bike going the other way does a u-turn and one of the bikes ahead of me pulls over way early. I figure I'm kinda innocent so I keep going at just over the speed limit; if he wants me he can come and get me, which he does with the other rider in tow, yells at me "follow me!" as we go to get the other guy. A ways up the road I catch up to them and he's got two twenty somethings pulled over. I stop ahead of the group but put several yards of seperation between us. Removal of my helmet (which IMO is only courtesy) reveals a 40year old man loosing his hair but not his youth. I explaind to the cop that we are not a group, that I was letting them pass, admitted that I was doing 120 in a 90, that I was coming home from work. He said "fine, stand here and look whipped until they leave then you can go" Very kind of him but what I was terrified of was if he remembered that he let me off a ticket the week before in my truck! I think that if you are nice to them and realize that you are guilty of speeding (the mounties anyway). They usually let you go. If you are older, ALWAYS remove your helmet. I also try to distract them with pleasant conversation if I'm out of town (ask for directions you don't need) or if it's a persuit car take an interest in it, ask about the engine etc, that really helps diffuse the situation...but always be polite and non confrontational. Just my $.02.