Lane-Splitting 1.01

[PrincessBandit]

PB, You really need to try the back door. It's a walk of around 3 metres to her door. You can also sit on the bike while she checks the fit. Poynton Terrace.

Ah hah! Thanks for that - I had no idea. Will check it out next time I have to visit her. Ta!

[st00ji]

i adore lane splitting, worth the price of bike + gear just for the time and sanity savings it provides. i dont think i've ever had a cager deliberately try and stop me from doing it, though plenty of half asleep muppets of all descriptions drift all over the show in their lane, which might make them look like they are trying to close you out. in my experience its unusual for cars to be so close together that i cant get through, though i've seen a few pretty silly things - like the lady this afternoon who flicked on her indicator (at least she did that) to get into the middle lane from the outside lane. she got her left wheel over the catseyes and stopped dead, waiting for someone to let her in! traffic was coasting at 40 or 50k at this point.

experience definitely helps, and some of what i've learned was a little counter intuitive. for example the safest place to be is often between two cars - they may not see you but they are usually aware of each other, and so less likely to try a sudden lane switch. when you have a car on one side and a gap on the other its ripe for a sudden waking up of the driver who promptly decides the gap in the lane beside him means that lane is moving faster! cue sudden lane change. so i tend to zip past those spots once im committed to passing, and then coast along only 5 or 10ks faster than the cars when they are side by side - minimize your exposure to danger!

anyone splitting through moving traffic at much higher speeds is just rolling the dice, i've had more than a few occasions where a car has done something abrupt just in front of me. every time i've had enough time to slow down / take evasive action, but if i had been going faster things could easily have turned out different. when the conditions change, so should your speed!

[Grasshopperus]

i adore lane splitting, worth the price of bike + gear just for the time and sanity savings it provides

Amen brother!

Today I did my first motorway lane-splitting and it was soooooo satisfying. Aucklands southern motorway was completely screwed from Nelson Street all the way to Papakura, that's about 30Kms of tail-gating ranging from 50km/h to 0km/h.

I lane-split it all, hardout. It was an incredibly satisfying experience. For someone who's always hated Friday traffic, being able to FINALLY pass all those other idiots was a type of Eurphoria I can't really describe.

My thought process for lane splitting speed is something like
if ((surrounding_traffic_speed <= 40km/h) && (minimum_space_ahead > (bike_witdh * 2))
....my_speed = surrounding_traffic_speed + 20km/h
else
....my_speed = surrounding_traffic_speed
fi

[Swoop]

Another potential issue comes from our asian residents, tho tend to favour the right hand lane on the motorway.
As an experiment last week (in the cage) I was being followed by a chap who REALLY wanted to be in the most right-hand part of our lane. He was most happy to be there...
So I moved over to be in the exact part of the lane as him, almost riding the white line. Low and behold, he pops back into the centre of the lane.
So, I move back as well.

POP! He is instantly back over to the right.
Fucking odd. You can see it when the m'way is empty as well... right hand lane is full of cars...

[SPP]

Amen brother! ...

Amen alright. I can't stand driving in rush hour anymore. Too frustrating. Next time, if you see a red CBR in traffic, wave out. I'll be the one laughing my arse off.

...My thought process for lane splitting speed is something like
if ((surrounding_traffic_speed <= 40km/h) && (minimum_space_ahead > (bike_witdh * 2))
....my_speed = surrounding_traffic_speed + 20km/h
else
....my_speed = surrounding_traffic_speed
fi

The tricky part is not to 'fine tune' to: <=80km/h, +40km/h, Bike_width* 1.25

[CookMySock]

there is also the "loud pipes scare the shit out of the driver and they do something erratic" effect. Which can be disconcerting.

You just cant think that way. Way too many people are killed from some chain reaction emotional state, where its not hard to "just cope" and the whole thing is disarmed.

I can no longer drive a car in rush hour. Too frustrating.

Basically you have to just give up. If you are in the car, forget it and just sit back.. there is never going to be anything you can do about it, so let it go. It's an important life skill.

Steve

[SPP]

Basically you have to just give up. If you are in the car, forget it and just sit back.. there is never going to be anything you can do about it, so let it go. It's an important life skill.

Steve

yes, I think you're right there.