Waving - the neverending saga (multiple threads merged into one)

[R1madness]

[QUOTE
Oddly enough I don't remember a signal for cops back then, I suppose cos there weren't many.[/QUOTE]

If the cop was in the area but not immediate danger it was left hand above the head, index finger up and small circular movement of the hand to represent a rotating light.

Still in use today by some of us old buggers.

If the cop is close use the flash headlight repeatedly and left hand out sideways, palm down, making up and down movements with whole arm.

[Canterbury]

[QUOTE
Oddly enough I don't remember a signal for cops back then, I suppose cos there weren't many.

If the cop was in the area but not immediate danger it was left hand above the head, index finger up and small circular movement of the hand to represent a rotating light.

Still in use today by some of us old buggers.

If the cop is close use the flash headlight repeatedly and left hand out sideways, palm down, making up and down movements with whole arm.[/QUOTE]

dammit : didn't want to consider meself an old bugga, but i use those signals as a warning behind
oh well, such is life....

[jcupit69]

Waving is always the most obvious way, but sometimes im 2 busy holding on, so i try and throw a nod. I always try and make some sought of a gesture, just as a sign of respect, but i do miss people sometimes, not being rude, just too busy looking at what im doing.
Iv found harleys and big cruisers tend to be the worst for waving back, n generally the sports and super sports riders the best. If poeple are doing something i understand when they dont gesture back, but i get a lil pissed off when people in the other direction just stare at you, its just polite, if someone waves, if you can, wave back, but hey each to their own.
I found riders in the UK always made a real effort to wave, n its nice to see it here too.

[Ixion]

Maybe you remember that cops back then had to follow you to get an estimate of your speed off their own speedo, so cops ahead weren't an issue. Those cops who did have radar had that big dish that sat on to top of their boot, and couldn't chase even if they wanted to.

Yeah, the refrigerator on the roof of the Mk I Zephyr slowed them down (and they were slow to start with!).

But some of the country ones were quite ingenious in finding ways to catch bikes. And, it was their word against theirs.

The circular hand thing to mimic a rotating flasher came much later, cops back then didn't have the rotating beacons.

[idb]

If the cop is close use the flash headlight repeatedly and left hand out sideways, palm down, making up and down movements with whole arm.

To do that I'll have to then put my right hand on my left bar cos that's where my headlight flasher is, I'll try it next time I'm out.

[pyrocam]

If the cop was in the area but not immediate danger it was left hand above the head, index finger up and small circular movement of the hand to represent a rotating light.

Still in use today by some of us old buggers.

I do this and I would hardly call myself an old bugger, not sure how visible a lone rotating finger is at 200kph* though.




*because we are coming from opposite directions at 100kph.

[heyjoe]

I can't believe this is still going . . .

[idb]

So...are we all agreed then...?

[pyrocam]

haha someone did this to me this morning coming the other way on the motorway, in the rain,
\m/ ( or )


maybe he just hit the dragonforce on his mp3 player

[Daffyd]

I feel very bad. Since I've been back on the bike this week I haven't waved to a a single rider. Its not that I don't want to wave, its simply that I can't lift my left hand off the handlebars.

So my apologies to all those riders I passed today. I wasn't being deliberately rude.

Good to see you're back in the saddle again. I take it the op was successful?

[stevewederell]

Well perhaps not waving, but I'll nod to pretty much anything bar cages and scooters being ridden by a spotty little hermit in singlet, shorts and jandels!

I remember when I first took the wee GN out and noticed all these other folks riding around on much ... MUCH cooler bikes actually nodding to me. I cottoned on pretty quick and either nodded back or even initiated the nod if the bike didn't look too intimidating. I AM much more reserved if I see someone riding a Harley or a 3-piece suit, but if they nod or wave, I"ll happily send one back.

After coming back from my first real ride, I was telling my lovely partner (as best I could through a huge grin) how much fun it was and how nice other BK'rs are. She had been riding for years and already knew this (and the stigma and snobbery that goes with it)...pity she sold her bike though.

To you all happy and safe riding
`wave`

[gijoe1313]

I think we need a special wave at night so we can identify ourselves! Howsabout flashing the hi-beams and then leaving them on as we approach? Or howsabout we get some glowstrips and put them on our middle index finger after we turn our headlights off as we approach?

[johnnyflash]

the common signal for the cops/now radartraps etc was a fist on top of helmet, (supposed to represent the cherry on top) but its always worked for us, in the good old days if a cop caught you with his radar (which was the size of a base drum) you deserved to be caught because you must have been sleeping, could always see em miles off, mk3 zepher leaning over from weight of bloody big white drum on back towbar :-) and even then likely the guy was asleep in his patrol car.

[Motu]

Yeah but those old guys must of been pretty thick because they still got caught speeding....some even lost their license.Anyway,I doubt any of them would be still riding these days,they must be pretty old by now.

[Cynos]

I'm a nodder. Especially when I see the same bikes on my commute, but I gotta say - guys wearing one-piece leathers that match their bikes = rude SOBs. The correct response to "nice bike mate" is not "I know."