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What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

  1. #26
    Back on 2 wheels yay StrayNut's Avatar
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Quote Originally Posted by doctorbossman View Post
    When I lived in CA (for 12 years) I would split lanes very frequently. For the most part it's legal and most cagers accept the fact that it doesn't slow them down at all.

    In the 16 years since that I've lived in Boston, I've only split lanes 2 or 3 times.
    Only 3 years commuting in CA for me, but same principle. I never had anyone intentionally try to door me or hit me. Here, in addition to more aggressive drivers and the possibility of a ticket, it's that the lanes are narrower and twistier and you have pedestrians and bicyclists throwing themselves into traffic with suicidal abandon. In most of LA the roads are straight and lanes are about a car and a half wide, turn lanes are well marked, intersections are predictable and at right angles, etc. Much easier to split.

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    Quote Originally Posted by pontifex
    so has anyone had a driver try to run them off the road for lane splitting like in the article (he was in Cali)?
    Yes a couple mirrors could give you the details.

    For the most part here its just downright inattentive drivers that pay no attention to anything. I have to say i expected riding out here to be a bit different than back east what i didnt expect was just how bad of drivers people here really are. It doesnt help that 85 on the freeways out here feels like crawling speeds. The roads were designed to drive faster than that. Couple that with traffic and the stupid distances people drive to commute and you get a recipe for stupid.

    Lane splitting actually feels safer by a huge margin. Thats until that "close call" actually slams into you and pushes you off the road. Then it all becomes pointless.

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  3. #28
    Senior Member Dannyf's Avatar
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    A dry clutch and exhaust under my ass has led to me doing it a few times so far. Not so much lane splitting more like lane cutting.

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  4. #29
    Goodbye wife, hello bike! Father Ribs's Avatar
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Quote Originally Posted by G21forme View Post
    If traffic is at a stand still what is the big deal?
    Thirty years ago when I had anger management and vigilantism issues, I looked at folks who lane split and rode shoulders as "cheaters", and would do things like attempt to force them off the road. Rationally, it may be a logical thing to lane split, but emotionally, everyone else is waiting politely in line, you're the jerk who cuts to the front because you think you're so special. Don't think that way now, but can you blame folks for thinking like that?

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  5. #30
    Lifer R1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Father Ribs
    Quote Originally Posted by G21forme
    If traffic is at a stand still what is the big deal?
    Thirty years ago when I had anger management and vigilantism issues, I looked at folks who lane split and rode shoulders as "cheaters", and would do things like attempt to force them off the road. Rationally, it may be a logical thing to lane split, but emotionally, everyone else is waiting politely in line, you're the jerk who cuts to the front because you think you're so special. Don't think that way now, but can you blame folks for thinking like that?
    Wow, not so fucking patient if part of your fucking brain tells you that possibly killing someone is ok.

    Karma is a bitch. Ride safe buddy.

    And yes we can blame people for thinking that way. Its fucking wrong. Want to enforce the law be a cop.


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    Last edited by R1; 05-16-12 at 01:31 AM.

  6. #31
    Riding slow bikes slower. Wanderer's Avatar
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Going from the US to the UK - being able to lane split, filter at lights, etc etc; its like night and day.
    And 99% of cars will give you an extra touch of room if they can if they see you coming.
    I rode from London to Devon on the last bank holiday, gigantic traffic jams, and cruised through every single one. Saved literally hours, and zero stress.

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  7. #32
    Lifer
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Quote Originally Posted by Father Ribs View Post
    Don't think that way now, but can you blame folks for thinking like that?
    Can I blame them for being bitter, annoyed, frustrated? No. I can sympathize.
    Can I blame them for taking action against the 'offenders'? Fuck yes I can!

    Who elected you 'enforcer'?!?

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  8. #33
    Lifer BostonSVkid's Avatar
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    did it when I first started riding and scared the shit out of myself. I have seen cars turn into bikers doing and thats enough for me to see and know that people are fucking crazy.

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  9. #34
    Your Father csmutty's Avatar
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Yeah I'd never lane split.

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  10. #35
    Lifer
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Re: Splitting/Filtering. I think I've said it before, I believe Kali drivers are more trustworthy in this respect. Maybe its because its legal out there, maybe there are more motorcycles. Maybe they are just more laid back. I dunno. But I do not trust Boston area drivers enough to split between them. Best case they just aren't used to it and will freak, worst case there are 'enforcers' out there who see it as their personal responsibility to keep motorcyclists in their place.. or some such.

    I do enjoy seeing a squidly type split or semi split (lane hopping) in slow moving traffic. My opinion is hey, more power to him. Brave mother hucker!

    Re: Road rage'n against them cagers. I am (slowly) maturing. I've always known that when a 2-ton cage and a 450 lbs motorcycle cross paths the motorcycle is going to loose huge. That should be obvious. Didn't stop me from doing some ultra stoopid stuff once or twice. Taunting drivers. Throwing things at them. Brake checking. You name it. All are really, really bad news.

    Now I (try to) treat ragin' cagers like I would a bear; play dead and hope they just move on. This means head for the shoulder. Change lanes away from them. Once they are clear merge back out into the flow and get on with life.

    Life's too fookin' short for that crap.

    A couple times I've noticed that when a car starts raging in my vicinity and I head for the shoulder or slow lane, people notice. People in cars suddenly are about 10x more likely to let me in and I've seen a few crowd the center line and what not almost in an effort to protect me from the ass hat. That's A-class cool in my book.

    And I do believe that the high-viz over vest brings an order of authority to the scene. Maybe they think I'm some sort of official or LEO. Maybe they think I've just been around the block and know wtf I'm doing. Whatever it is, I am convinced the gear cuts down on the number of attempted homicides in my general direction.

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  11. #36
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    California roads are much different than our roads over here. Pretty much every road out there (at least in my neck of the woods in SoCal when I lived there) were double laned and had turning lanes for every turn, and there is so much highway out there that stretches on for miles and miles in one direction.

    Here, there are so many single lane roads and so few turning lanes that splitting lanes would be downright dangerous. The roads here are also far more twisty and narrow. You'd have to be nuts to lane split on anything but the biggest interstates.

    And BTW R1, you broke the thread.

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  12. #37
    Rider. Just a rider... DucDave's Avatar
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Never.

    Well...maybe sometimes.

    But I always tell myself it's not really lanesplitting....


    Like...how bout at a light your behind the first car and they're a full car length from the intersection 'line'. I see this all the time? They must think the hood of their car is 20 feet longer than it is. I always roll ahead of them up to the line. And I tell myself I'd doing everyone a favor 'cus the car wasn't close enough to the magnetic 'detector' to tell the light to change. Then, if there's nothing coming after 30 seconds of so, I sometimes go through the light and tell myself that my bike doesn't have enough metal to trigger the detector for the light.

    My mind is awesome...
    ...wish the occaisional cop would recognize it as such!

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  13. #38
    Lifer eboos's Avatar
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    In stop and go traffic, I felt like lane splitting was the safer option.

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  14. #39
    Senior Member pontifex's Avatar
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Quote Originally Posted by DucDave View Post
    My mind is awesome...
    ...wish the occaisional cop would recognize it as such!
    Haha...classic

    off topic: holy shit, just went to look for an emoticon and there is a dirty sanchez...awesome!

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  15. #40
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Quote Originally Posted by DucDave View Post
    But I always tell myself it's not really lanesplitting.


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  16. #41
    Lifer
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Aww fuck he really did break the thread.

    I haven't lane split, and I probably won't with one exception. Total parking lot, 100% stand-still with little to no movement. My biggest fear is someone getting ragey because you're moving and they aren't, and trying to get back in. I feel like most would try to prevent it because they feel it's unfair.

    I was once in a long line of backed up traffic at a light on a single-lane road. This tanktop-n-gmyshorts guy with ipod headphones on comes down the shoulder on the right, passing everyone. Pinches in with me, as the light goes green. We roll forward till the light goes red, he stops, looks back at me almost as if wondering why I wasn't doing the same. I shook my head no, he said "its sooo hot" and continued on. I get lane splitting, but riding the shoulder on a single lane road with many right turns just seemed as illegal/wrong/dangerous as you could make it.

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  17. #42
    Member KnuckleBallz's Avatar
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Quote Originally Posted by mell0 View Post
    Quick question, I know splitting isn't legal in MA, but is cutting in front of traffic at a stop light legal? Or is that the same as lane splitting?
    This is also illegal, but most cops really don't care in my experience. Quick story:

    I do this at most red lights in Boston. Last summer I pulled up to the light and sure enough the driver of the corolla right next to me was a fully uniformed police officer.
    "You makin your own lane, buddy?"
    "No sir, just trying to get to the front up here. It's much safer"
    "Is that so?"
    "Yes sir- in the back of the line I've got a really good chance of being rear-ended by a driver who's not paying attention. That won't happen up here."
    "Well, alright then"

    Light turns green and I'm on my way. Most of them accept that you have the ability to do this without interfering with traffic. It's when you're a hazard to the ppl around you that it becomes a problem. And a hefty fine.

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  18. #43
    Banned G21forme's Avatar
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    I usually only do the red light thing when there is a big truck up front our close to it, I figure being next to a giant truck offers some protection.

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  19. #44
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Quote Originally Posted by StrayNut View Post
    Only 3 years commuting in CA for me, but same principle. I never had anyone intentionally try to door me or hit me. Here, in addition to more aggressive drivers and the possibility of a ticket, it's that the lanes are narrower and twistier and you have pedestrians and bicyclists throwing themselves into traffic with suicidal abandon. In most of LA the roads are straight and lanes are about a car and a half wide, turn lanes are well marked, intersections are predictable and at right angles, etc. Much easier to split.

    Exactly ^ +1. The road conditions and width of lanes are much better suited for this in California. I lived in Cali my whole life until 2 years ago when I moved to Boston. I was amazed with how crappy the roads are put together, poor signage, and that the drivers are complete fucktards.

    For what it's worth, most California car drivers DO NOT know splitting is legal there. But it is such a common practice, that they just know to expect it. So lesson learned is that if enough of us start doing it here in New England, people will just used to the idea of seeing it happen.

    One time, coming down 93 into the tunnel, I was gently splitting as traffic was at a stand still. I see a State Patrol a few cars up, so I slip back into traffic behind a car. As it turns out, my lane was moving faster than his and I was quickly right next to him. He rolls down his window and says, "I saw your splitting back there. Why'd you stop? Time to go home!" And he waves me by... pretty awesome

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  20. #45
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    I ride from Quincy to the South End pretty much every day and have often been very, very tempted to split all the way up, especially when the HOV lane brings the primary section down to 3 lanes.

    I can't quite bring myself to do it. The closest I've gotten is "lane hopping" where cars are staggered but not directly next to one another. Legally, I think this gives me an out as I can claim I was just changing lanes, rather than sharing the lane. Safety-wise, I'd much rather have an open space to one side so I can dodge a non-signaling/vicious driver as well.

    The funny thing is, every time I see two motorcycle cops together, they're always riding side-by-side, two to a lane. Technically the same as lane-splitting right? If the cops can do it, why can't we?

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  21. #46
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Quote Originally Posted by SVenpointsixtwo View Post
    I ride from Quincy to the South End pretty much every day and have often been very, very tempted to split all the way up, especially when the HOV lane brings the primary section down to 3 lanes.

    I can't quite bring myself to do it. The closest I've gotten is "lane hopping" where cars are staggered but not directly next to one another. Legally, I think this gives me an out as I can claim I was just changing lanes, rather than sharing the lane. Safety-wise, I'd much rather have an open space to one side so I can dodge a non-signaling/vicious driver as well.
    In this situation, you're probably right. If you're actually lanesplitting, though, the dangerous spaces are the ones that are open on one side. Car drivers have a much better idea of where other cars are, and rarely try to change lanes into a space with another car in it. When I'm slicing along, the spaces I am most wary of are the open ones, because it's way too common for the car on one sdie of me to decide to change into the
    space on the other side of me, without noting that such a path goes through me.

    Quote Originally Posted by SVenpointsixtwo View Post
    The funny thing is, every time I see two motorcycle cops together, they're always riding side-by-side, two to a lane. Technically the same as lane-splitting right? If the cops can do it, why can't we?
    I assume this is a rhetorical question ...

    PhilB

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  22. #47

    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    I do it on regular bases on rt 9. some people get angry some people are just laughing and some others are jealous lol

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  23. #48
    Lifer
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Weird. This thread is all kinds of broken. This multi-quote took some work. I promise it won't be worth it.

    I don't buy the "kali roads are so much better" line. I've not spent a lot of time there, but to my view, super-slab is super-slab. I encountered some pretty knarly black top outside of the Sac headed for San Fran way back when. Although maybe we were talking strictly LA surface roads or something. But the Interstates are designed to a rule. Lane width, spacing, shoulders, sight lines, etc, etc are all governed by industry and federal guidelines, to some extent. Now I realize many (most?) Mass towns seem to think its cool to throw those guidelines out for surface roads. And we also have some examples of old, sub-spec 'slab in the Boston area. But for the most part most of the suburban 'slab is no different in my view.

    Quote Originally Posted by DucDave View Post
    My mind is awesome...
    ...wish the occaisional cop would recognize it as such!
    I feel like you got some decent recognition for this trait outside of Alstead recently. I remember being there.
    Quote Originally Posted by SVenpointsixtwo View Post
    The funny thing is, every time I see two motorcycle cops together, they're always riding side-by-side, two to a lane. Technically the same as lane-splitting right? If the cops can do it, why can't we?
    I think this is considered lane sharing and legal. I think. I think riding in a staggered formation (like I've done with many of you) is considered the same thing.

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  24. #49
    Banned G21forme's Avatar
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    Nope, no two vehicles can't occupy the same lane in the state if NH, staggered formation is not sharing/splitting.

    Eta by same lane I mean next to each other

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    Last edited by G21forme; 05-16-12 at 02:44 PM.

  25. #50
    Riding slow bikes slower. Wanderer's Avatar
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    Re: What Goes Through A Biker’s Head When You Try And Kill Him

    Quote Originally Posted by SRTie4k View Post
    California roads are much different than our roads over here. Pretty much every road out there (at least in my neck of the woods in SoCal when I lived there) were double laned and had turning lanes for every turn, and there is so much highway out there that stretches on for miles and miles in one direction.

    Here, there are so many single lane roads and so few turning lanes that splitting lanes would be downright dangerous. The roads here are also far more twisty and narrow. You'd have to be nuts to lane split on anything but the biggest interstates.

    And BTW R1, you broke the thread.
    I really wouldn't say its the roads - it comes down entirely to the expectations of the other traffic.
    Roads over here are a sight narrower/twistier than they were in new england, and splitting here is totally commonplace - makes going through towns so much easier, same when you hit any kind of lights/roadworks holding things up.

    BUT, I would never have done it in Mass/NH. Far far too many with the 'If I've got to wait, you've got to wait!' attitude. Hell, I've had folks give chase even after totally sane legal passes in passing zones! Way too many see red.

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