Into the valley of death I rode the 600

[Coolz]

Granted,I'm not the brightest pixel on the screen,but yesterday being such a nice day I thought a ride to Auckland on my xj600 might be enjoyable. I was still in that state of mind when I stopped in Orewa to dome on my flouro placebo as a last line of defence against those crack crazed cagers kb had warned me about.
And I was not to be dissapointed. Twenty minutes later I was cresting the harbourbridge when a loud squeal of rubber and the sight of smoke pouring off the tyres of the car in front alerted my spydery senses.
Braking hard I glanced in my mirror only to see a cordura clad elbow and aformentioned crack crazed cager in a crusty corolla bearing down on me! A concrete barrier to the right of me. Mr Mainfreigt to the left of me playing the last post on his exhaust brake.
My options were fast running out!
Then,as suddenly as it stopped traffic started to move again. I was close enough to the front car to smell burnt rubber and in my mirror I could see that the elderly gent in the cream coloured corolla had finally managed to scrub off a bit of speed.
Traffic was soon flowing smoothly again with no sign of what incedent had caused the moment in time when I cheated death atop Aucklands car strangled spanner.

[oneofsix]

A quite day then? :lol:

[Akzle]

six beat me to it.

aucklanders are a f*ing hazard.

[BigAl]

Good to see that you made it out alive.

[Tigadee]

...caused the moment in time when I cheated death atop Aucklands car strangled spanner.

Such writing! More gripping than a Tom Clancy novel!

That must have been quite a moment - like a Matrix-type thing where time slows down for you as you say/think "Oooooohhhhhh sshhhhhiiiittttt!"

Glad you're OK. :yes:

[ducatilover]

Well, that ended better than I expected :D

[skippa1]

mmmmm......thought I might get the bike out and do the commute this morning........holy cow man....I cant get used to this Auckland traffic and the stop start unpredictable drivers. The other thing thats hard to get used to is the fact that you can ride for 45min and still be in the heart of urban Auckland. I miss living in the country:baby:

[tbs]

You learn to anticipate that sort of thing when you live here.

[pzkpfw]

A quite day then? :lol:

You mean:

Quite a day then?
or
A quiet day then?

[Swoop]

You're lucky that you managed to get through Orewa without incident. THAT is a fuggin' dangerous area.

[oneofsix]

You mean:

Quite a day then?
or
A quiet day then?

:Oops: :laugh: meant; A quiet day then but from OP's perspective it was Quite a day so in a way the wrong word worked :innocent: :rolleyes:


No prizes for guessing why between the lanes sometimes seems the safest place to be.

[Coolz]

You learn to anticipate that sort of thing when you live here.

I take my hat off to those who comute in Auckland on a daily basis.

[G4L4XY]

Just prop up the front wheel and ride over the car in front muahaha

[baffa]

six beat me to it.

aucklanders are a f*ing hazard.

Correction: New Zealanders are a f*ing hazard.
We are amongst the worst drivers in the world.

[chasio]

I take my hat off to those who comute in Auckland on a daily basis.

What kind of hat?

When I first arrived in Auckland a local told me to observe the two second rule: if an Aucklander thinks they can save two seconds in a car, they will do ANYTHING to do it.

Ride with that in mind and the place makes a lot more sense.

And unless it's as windy as all hell (or there's no traffic around), use the clip-ons as the lane widths provide a lot more room for manoeuvre. Works for me, anyway.

[Gremlin]

Clearly you need to ride in Auckland more.

Nothing to see here, move along...

[Laava]

Car strangled spanner.
Good one! Stay the fuck away from auckland, the new bypass will be finished soon!
Have to go, i have to go and put the wife on edge up the maungamukas!

[FJRider]

... like a Matrix-type thing where time slows down for you as you say/think "Oooooohhhhhh sshhhhhiiiittttt!"

Glad you're OK. :yes:

It's Auckland ... time speeds up. Everywhere else the 2 second gap is longer ... :argh:

But I guess some people just can't count past one ... :nya:

[Tigadee]

:tugger: Pah! You're all noobs compared to the Rossis and Stoners in Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur! :killingme


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=L2wKNFPz85c

There lane splitting is not an art, it's a way of life! :laugh: AND you lane split between bikes as well as cars! :crazy:

[Akzle]

Correction: New Zealanders are a f*ing hazard.
We are amongst the worst drivers in the world.
speak for yourself. i'm fucking awesome.

Car strangled spanner.
Good one! Stay the fuck away from auckland, the new bypass will be finished soon!
Have to go, i have to go and put the wife on edge up the maungamukas!
that's a long way from home... a dirty weekend away ehh..


There lane splitting is not an art, it's a way of life! :laugh: AND you lane split between bikes as well as cars! :crazy:
* and camels, tuktuks and house-bus-truck things.

[FJRider]

:tugger: Pah! You're all noobs compared to the Rossis and Stoners in Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur! :killingme



There lane splitting is not an art, it's a way of life! :laugh: AND you lane split between bikes as well as cars! :crazy:

http://news.drive.com.au/drive/motor-news/monks-in-the-trunk-20120511-1ygg3.html

[Coolz]

You learn to anticipate that sort of thing when you live here.

I did get an urge a few seconds before it happened ,to gas it and split the lane to get clear of the block of traffic I was in but I was mindful of the revenue gathering cameras. When it happened I was blocked in by the truck and trailer, not intetionally. I had braking distance it was the slow reaction of the driver behind that made it a very near thing.

[Coolz]

What kind of hat? I'll ask the big head.:rolleyes:

And unless it's as windy as all hell (or there's no traffic around), use the clip-ons as the lane widths provide a lot more room for manoeuvre. Works for me, anyway.

Excellent advice though the western route is now my prefered option.

[@ndy]

:tugger: Pah! You're all noobs compared to the Rossis and Stoners in Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur! :killingme


There lane splitting is not an art, it's a way of life! :laugh: AND you lane split between bikes as well as cars! :crazy:


Hahaha... lane splitting in Auckland is the only way of getting from point A to point B without spending one hour doing the stop/start/stop dance :crazy:

[FuriousD]

Traffic was soon flowing smoothly again with no sign of what incedent had caused the moment in time when I cheated death atop Aucklands car strangled spanner.

I always wonder why that happens. does someone just for the craic slow right down and then speed up again???

[Coolz]

I always wonder why that happens. does someone just for the craic slow right down and then speed up again???

I think it's some sort of chain effect. A vehicle does an inappropiate lane change further up and braking times get shortened, due to inattention, slow reflex and panic braking as it moves down the chain. By the time it is your turn to react the original incident is well past and traffic further ahead is flowing smoothly again.

[Drew]

I think it's some sort of chain effect. A vehicle does an inappropiate lane change further up and braking times get shortened, due to inattention, slow reflex and panic braking as it moves down the chain. By the time it is your turn to react the original incident is well past and traffic further ahead is flowing smoothly again.That's exactly what happens. Every bosy slows down a little bit more than the person in front.

There was a documentary I watched decase ago, about traffic on the M4 in England. A flat tyre caused a three hour traffic jam, an hour after the car had a new wheel on and drove off. No accident occured.

[Coolz]

That's exactly what happens. Every bosy slows down a little bit more than the person in front.

There was a documentary I watched decase ago, about traffic on the M4 in England. A flat tyre caused a three hour traffic jam, an hour after the car had a new wheel on and drove off. No accident occured.

It gives you something to think about don't it. You change lanes into a gap probably a bit to small. Throw the finger to the bastard behind you who is leaning on his horn and continue on your merry way completly unaware that you have started a chain of events which culminates three minutes later when some old biddy drives into the back of a concrete truck!

[jrandom]

Never sit in traffic if it's moving below the speed limit. Always filter. It really is much safer.

[Akzle]

That's exactly what happens. Every bosy slows down a little bit more than the person in front.

There was a documentary I watched decase ago, about traffic on the M4 in England. A flat tyre caused a three hour traffic jam, an hour after the car had a new wheel on and drove off. No accident occured.
they did some study in japan about this. had a miles-long ring road, let X amount of traffic loose on it.
for NO REASON WHATSOEVER, it started slowing down, backing up etc. obviously once it started it kept going.
human psychology: fucking daft :brick::weird:

Never sit in traffic if it's moving below the speed limit. Always filter. It really is much safer.
yeha. as long as you're as twitchy as a raped cat. the number of people i've seen (in auckland - while i was either in traffic or following them lane splitting) nearly get taken out from 90 degrees either side of them, with or without an indicator, certainly without a look, is about 4. not to mention, i got a fucked ankle a few christmases back (in auckland) from some guy 2 lanes away, moving sideways in a hurry. in bumper to bumper traffic. :facepalm:

as for the remainder of the general tom-fuckery i've seen (mainly in auckland) - well. it's just not worth mentioning.

it should go without saying. i dislike auckland, aucklanders, and especially aucklanders in cars.

[jrandom]

yeha. as long as you're as twitchy as a raped cat... i got a fucked ankle a few christmases back (in auckland) from some guy 2 lanes away

Had my share of lane-splitting bins on the Auckland motorways. Learned my lessons.

Aucklanders in cars are nothing to fear. Once you've fathomed how they behave, you can easily anticipate their actions.

There's no sport quite like getting from A to B in a big city as fast as possible on two wheels. I recommend it to all. Life's too short to spend any of it bored.

[swbarnett]

Granted,I'm not the brightest pixel on the screen,but yesterday being such a nice day I thought a ride to Auckland on my xj600 might be enjoyable. I was still in that state of mind when I stopped in Orewa to dome on my flouro placebo as a last line of defence against those crack crazed cagers kb had warned me about.
And I was not to be dissapointed. Twenty minutes later I was cresting the harbourbridge when a loud squeal of rubber and the sight of smoke pouring off the tyres of the car in front alerted my spydery senses.
Braking hard I glanced in my mirror only to see a cordura clad elbow and aformentioned crack crazed cager in a crusty corolla bearing down on me! A concrete barrier to the right of me. Mr Mainfreigt to the left of me playing the last post on his exhaust brake.
My options were fast running out!
Then,as suddenly as it stopped traffic started to move again. I was close enough to the front car to smell burnt rubber and in my mirror I could see that the elderly gent in the cream coloured corolla had finally managed to scrub off a bit of speed.
Traffic was soon flowing smoothly again with no sign of what incedent had caused the moment in time when I cheated death atop Aucklands car strangled spanner.
This, in a nutshell, is why it is almost mandatory to lane-split on Auckland's motorways.

[FuriousD]

Had my share of lane-splitting bins on the Auckland motorways. Learned my lessons.

Aucklanders in cars are nothing to fear. Once you've fathomed how they behave, you can easily anticipate their actions.

There's no sport quite like getting from A to B in a big city as fast as possible on two wheels. I recommend it to all. Life's too short to spend any of it bored.

"act like every single one of the loony fu**s are trying to kill ya and you might survive"

Thats what the instructor taught me on my first day riding in Dublin and my god has it been useful, and even way more in auckland
(can't really judge the rest of NZ as my driving on a bike has been limited to auckland and a bit outside)