MOTOBRICK.COM
MOTOBRICK.COM => The MBdotCOM Community Center => Topic started by: DRxBMW on March 13, 2012, 12:00:37 PM
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Henceforth, all car drivers will be known as "Civilians." However, when we drive cars, we will be known as motorcyclists.
Be in tune with your machine; the way it smells, the sounds it makes, the shadow it casts when you ride. :bmwsmile :bmwsmile :bmwsmile
Lane splitting, like baseball, is a game of inches. In baseball, judging small distances accurately wins games. In motorcycling, it gets you home early and in one piece.
If you can ride on freeways fairly comfortably but haven't lane-split yet, practice judging the distance between two stationary objects wider than your motorcycle, then find the midpoint of that distance. That mid-point is where you'll want to be in any lane-split or passing move.
While lane-splitting, you are measuring distances, acting and reacting to your observations. The situation is fluid and changes take place in tenths of seconds or less. When traffic stops, the situation goes static. You become the only dynamic player.
Moving through stopped or slowly moving traffic is actually a combination of lane- splitting and lane-changing. The gap is where you find it; how you use it and avoid contact is the challenge.
GETTING STARTED
Make sure your bike is in tune, has good brakes and good rubber.
Without cars around you, practice riding on lane buttons. Take a firm grip on your handlebars. Riding on the buttons will shake your bike, but it won't tip you over. Get used to the feeling; you'll be riding on the buttons occasionally while you're between cars.
To pass one car in slowly-moving traffic on the freeway, place yourself behind a car that has plenty of space in front of it. (Cars should be running parallel to your chosen car.) Line up to the right or left side (whichever affords the most space) of your chosen car. Make sure you're in a low enough gear to provide adequate roll-on power. Check your mirrors, then look up your route. If it's clear, give it the gas. Pass the car and pull into the forward space. You have just lane-split. When you're comfortable with the one-car pass, up the ante to two cars, then three and so on.
SEEING
Lane-splitting is essentially a hand-eye coordination activity. The operative term here is "eye." If you don't see what's happening around you, you'll never make the right move.
Keep your eyes moving: check the situation way up ahead. Read the intention of the vehicles near you; check your mirrors. Don't stare. At 30 mph, you are traveling at 44 feet per second. At that speed, you travel 4.4 feet in a tenth of a second.
TECHNIQUES
Cover the front brake lever with two fingers. If you have to stop, you'll be able to save a bit of reaction time, which translates into distance. Stopping even one inch away from an obstruction is good.
Relax your arms by bending them slightly at the elbows. Remember to breathe. If you become tired, stop lane-splitting for awhile.
Check your mirrors before starting any lane-splitting move. A fellow lane-splitter, closing quickly from behind as you enter the gap, could spoil your whole day. l also periodically check my mirrors while lane-splitting. If I see another lane-splitter coming up behind me, I can decide whether to pull over or speed up.
Control direction and speed with smooth micro-inputs, knees to tank, hands countersteering, hand to throttle. You don't have room for big maneuvers.
When the gap narrows and your move isn't going to work, slow down, drop back into a lane, or stop between lanes if you have to.
Make sure your mirrors and bar-ends will clear van, truck and car mirrors. It's not a major deal when they connect, usually just a loud clacking noise, but it is embarrassing. Other drivers may not like you just for lane-splitting, but tapping their mirrors out of adjustment makes it worse.
Be patient at merges. Other drivers often change lanes here, trying to gain some advantage. That's their illusion. Wait until they settle down. You are the only one who can really take advantage of the traffic situation.
Be wary of solo drivers who use car pool lanes to get ahead of the traffic jam in the non- car pool lanes. At the last minute, they will try to enter the jam; if you are about to make a pass at that point, the results will not be amusing.
When other vehicles, whether signaling or not, start a lane-change maneuver, don't accelerate in an attempt to get past them. Give them the right of way.
Be aware of empty spaces to the side of the car that you intend to lane-split past. Try to go by before the driver is aware of you. Failing that, if the car tries to move over while you're on the side of his car, match the car's move if you have the space. Your other option is again to be patient for a bit. The relationships will change, the car's place will be taken by another vehicle, and you can lane-split the two safely.
Passing another motorcycle which appears to be staying in a lane presents an interesting problem: It's as hard to tell if the rider knows you're there as it is to judge a car driver's awareness of your presence. The motorcyclist has your flickability, however. If you fell certain that the rider is holding steady in a lane, zap past. If you're uneasy about the motorcyclist's intentions, lane-change away and go about your business.
Most drivers place their vehicle near the left side of their lane. They are sighting on the lane divider nearest to them. In most instances, your position should be on the right side of the lane. This will give you the most maneuvering room.
In order to pass between sets of lane buttons without riding over them, sight on the last button of the front set and quickly make your move. Usually, you'll pass smoothly through, or at worst ride over the last button. Whatever you do, don't get hung up on not riding over the buttons. Not hitting or being hit by other vehicles is what's happening.
SPEED
The great race car driver Juan Fangio once said, "I drive just fast enough to win." You probably shouldn't ride between vehicles at more than 10 to 15 mph faster than they are traveling. If they're stopped, they are traveling 0 mph.
COPS
Even though lane-splitting is legal in some states, whether you'll get pulled over by the police is dependent on whether or not they feel what you are doing is safe. The catch, of course, is that each patrolman has a different criteria for what constitutes "safe." Ride in a manner which you feel is safe for you. If you get ticketed, plead not guilty and take it to a jury. The ticket is a judgment call. Obviously, you are in the right or you wouldn't have been lane-splitting. Was it safe? Hell, yes! The fact that you're standing in court with all your limbs intact is proof of that. At any rate, keep an eye out for the cops just in case.
OBSERVATIONS
Being aware of the lethal danger you're in and simultaneously ignoring it is a requirement of lane-splitting. This ability is composed of experience, guts and self confidence.
Lane-splitting is as much fun and as challenging as a mile of technical enduro landscape or miles of canyon carving.
The flow of freeway traffic is like a river. Learn to read every ripple and snag in the pattern.
The whole freeway is your playing field. The gap between vehicles is where the game is played.
On a motorcycle, you are in another space- time continuum from other vehicles. No wonder they don't see you.
When you are all going the same speed - cars, trucks and motorcycles - holding position, you are motionless, relative to one another. When you accelerate slightly, the pattern changes, but only at a difference of several miles per hour. (All vehicles are moving at 65 mph., you accelerate to 67 mph. The situation changes at 2 mph.) Moves take place in relative slow motion.
The experienced eye can judge the mid- point of variably changing distances. Rear bumper to front fender of surrounding vehicles. It is a solvable three-body problem.
You will see other motorcyclists lane- splitting. It is a temptation to see who can go the fastest. Deal with the temptation as you see fit.
Henceforth, all car drivers will be known as "Civilians." However, when we drive cars, we will be known as motorcyclists.
Be in tune with your machine; the way it smells, the sounds it makes, the shadow it casts when you ride.
GRADUATION DAY
You have just lane-split all the way home in the rain, in the dark, at rush-hour on Friday night. You've had a great ride.
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The whole freeway is your playing field. The gap between vehicles is where the game is played.
I disagree with this one. The safest place to lanesplit is between lanes 1 and 2 where drivers expect it. Lanesplitting between other lanes will also most likely increase your chances of getting a ticket as LEOs may deem it unsafe.
Also, lanesplitting between two cars right next to each other, unless they're fairly far apart, is asking for trouble because if one of them moves over you have no out. The best way to lanesplit at speed is to shoot the diagonal gaps between cars. (See attached diagram.)
Other things to be on the lookout for:
Cars with dents in them are usually an indication of a poor/inattentive driver so be more careful splitting near them.
Be on the lookout for out of state plates as drivers of those vehicles may not be used to lanesplitting. A lot of my splitting is done in the Palm Springs area where there's lots of snowbirds so when splitting I check out the license plate of every car I split past and ride accordingly.
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lane splitting is best done when cars are side by side because a car is less likely to attempt a lane change when its beside another car...
sent from johnnys droid via tapatalk v3.7beta
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The whole freeway is your playing field. The gap between vehicles is where the game is played.
Other things to be on the lookout for:
Cars with dents in them are usually an indication of a poor/inattentive driver so be more careful splitting near them.
Be on the lookout for out of state plates as drivers of those vehicles may not be used to lanesplitting. A lot of my splitting is done in the Palm Springs area where there's lots of snowbirds so when splitting I check out the license plate of every car I split past and ride accordingly.
I have never lane split and don't think I'll ruin that record anytime soon. However, your comment about dented cars brings up a point I take into consideration anyway. Old, crappy, dented, dirty cars are less likely to be _insured_--and less likely to be piloted by a responsible driver as you indicated. There are quite a few folks out there with revoked licenses who cannot get insurance even if they wanted to. They tend to drive your less expensive vehicles. And, they tend to have substance abuse problems. It doesn't hurt to watch out for them regardless of which lane you're in or between.
Tom
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I always swore I'd never lanesplit in California - until the day I got stuck on I-10 in Santa Monica at 5pm on a Friday afternoon. After about five bikes went zipping by I decided to try it. Been doing it ever since.
A lot of people are of the opinion that it's actually safer than not doing it because it greatly reduces the chances of being rear-ended in stop-n-go traffic or at a stop light.
It's also quite handy when there's an accident up ahead and there's lanes closed. Let's you scoot right through the tie-up. :2thumbup:
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I always swore I'd never lanesplit in California - until the day I got stuck on I-10 in Santa Monica at 5pm on a Friday afternoon. After about five bikes went zipping by I decided to try it. Been doing it ever since.
A lot of people are of the opinion that it's actually safer than not doing it because it greatly reduces the chances of being rear-ended in stop-n-go traffic or at a stop light.
It's also quite handy when there's an accident up ahead and there's lanes closed. Let's you scoot right through the tie-up. :2thumbup:
For me, it's mostly because I don't ride in CA much. When I do, ride in CA, I'm either with a group (from OR) that is not lane splitting or I'm by myself and don't feel comfortable doing it as I don't, "know the rules". It is not because I think it is dangerous or something. That being said, I've never been south of Laguna Seca (sp?) so I've missed the SoCal traffic anyway.
Tom
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There's only one real rule - stay alive. I just figured it out for myself using common sense and self-preservation as my guides.
Make that two rules - and don't get a ticket.
If you have some time there's a thread on "Lanesplitting 101" over at ADV with lots of observations about lanesplitting: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268518&page=1 (http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268518&page=1)
Once you get the hang of it it's really quite fun and I can't believe that it's legal in the nanny state of California of all places. I think of it as a video game - but you only get ONE quarter so you have to lanesplit wisely.
Warning: Once you get used to doing it it'll drive you nuts when you go home. When I go back to WA I have to sit at the back of the pack at stoplights.
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I always swore I'd never lanesplit in California - until the day I got stuck on I-10 in Santa Monica at 5pm on a Friday afternoon. After about five bikes went zipping by I decided to try it. Been doing it ever since.
A lot of people are of the opinion that it's actually safer than not doing it because it greatly reduces the chances of being rear-ended in stop-n-go traffic or at a stop light.
It's also quite handy when there's an accident up ahead and there's lanes closed. Let's you scoot right through the tie-up. :2thumbup:
Living in a rural area, I too, never had much desire or opportunity to split.
A trip to Japan enlightened me BIG Time. Everyone filtered in Tokyo even chicken shit riders. Narrow, FAST, sport bikes RULE in city traffic.
Frightening at first but I agree your actually safer from the asshole behind. What's really weird, it's FUN, challenging, and a genuine mark of a skilled rider, rather than slugging along "stop & go",once you actually do it a few times.
One additional warning, some motorists tend to get pissed because you can split and will do anything to impede your progress. To the point of blocking,opening a car door, start a fight, whatever, be prepared. Stress does strange things to slo mo cages. A driver actually threw a bowing ball at me in Philadelphia as I was splitting on I 95. Comical, what a jerk. ____________
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There's only one real rule - stay alive. I just figured it out for myself using common sense and self-preservation as my guides.
Make that two rules - and don't get a ticket.
If you have some time there's a thread on "Lanesplitting 101" over at ADV with lots of observations about lanesplitting: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268518&page=1 (http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268518&page=1)
Once you get the hang of it it's really quite fun and I can't believe that it's legal in the nanny state of California of all places. I think of it as a video game - but you only get ONE quarter so you have to lanesplit wisely.
Warning: Once you get used to doing it it'll drive you nuts when you go home. When I go back to WA I have to sit at the back of the pack at stoplights.
Thanks for the link.
I'm sure that if I rode more in CA or they allowed it in OR, I'd prolly lane split but I don't so I don't.
Tom
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Make that two rules - and don't get a ticket.
Warning: Once you get used to doing it it'll drive you nuts when you go home. When I go back to WA I have to sit at the back of the pack at stoplights.
Anything LEGAL in NJ, as long as you don't get caught. :neener:
In states where splitting is "illegal", higher percentage you will have a cage driver do something STUPID. DAMHIFK
I still split if traffic becomes a real bitch, legal or illegal.
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One additional warning, some motorists tend to get pissed because you can split and will do anything to impede your progress. To the point of blocking,opening a car door, start a fight, whatever, be prepared.
Yeah, there's a few in CA every now and then that will see you coming from behind and close the gap on purpose. Most of them try to be "subtle" about it but it's obvious what they're up to. It's like anything else in riding though: keep your game on, have an out, deal with it and then let it go.
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I can't believe that it's legal in the nanny state of California of all places.
It's not "illegal" either here in Kommyfornya.....it's just one of those few things in the grey area of the CVC - just like driving, it's a privilege not a right - don't abuse it. :yes
Warning: Once you get used to doing it it'll drive you nuts when you go home. When I go back to WA I have to sit at the back of the pack at stoplights.
One of the reasons I don't miss WA......
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Old, crappy, dented, dirty cars are less likely to be _insured_--and less likely to be piloted by a responsible driver as you indicated. There are quite a few folks out there with revoked licenses who cannot get insurance even if they wanted to. They tend to drive your less expensive vehicles. And, they tend to have substance abuse problems. It doesn't hurt to watch out for them regardless of which lane you're in or between.
there i go, getting typecasted again. it was bad enough everybody knew i rode bikes. now i'm a sleazeball (no argument there) uninsured cager. :dunno2:
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Old, crappy, dented, dirty cars are less likely to be _insured_--and less likely to be piloted by a responsible driver as you indicated. There are quite a few folks out there with revoked licenses who cannot get insurance even if they wanted to. They tend to drive your less expensive vehicles. And, they tend to have substance abuse problems. It doesn't hurt to watch out for them regardless of which lane you're in or between.
there i go, getting typecasted again. it was bad enough everybody knew i rode bikes. now i'm a sleazeball (no argument there) uninsured cager. :dunno2:
Present company excluded, of course.
And, yes, I too drive a crappy ('92 Jeep Cherokee), dirty, but relatively undented and insured cage. Mainly cuz I put all my profits into my motobricks.
Tom