Who's a lucky boy then? 29-1-2009

[Paul in NZ]

Know anyone with one of those black GS1200S retro endurance racer things that commutes down SH1 in the gorge regularly?

One owner had the luckiest escape ever in the bottom of the gorge this morning - lane splitting… I was riding shotgun with daughter #3 (damn it’s great when they provide the transport) on the morning commute and we had just finished discussing the relative speeds / bravery / stupidity of the various lane splitters of the morning when MR big black GS trundled through…

Tricky spot because you are on a curving part of the ramp so they can't see far back and drivers are really concentrating on the car in front.

Anyway – just as Mr GS rocks past our car we both notice the silver mirage (2 in front and to the right of us in the ‘fast’ lane) start to move over (indicator was on but not for long and hard to see from the bike). Both of us went (insert noise of air being sucked over teeth with enough force to erode enamel here)… Em slowed and moved left sure there was gunna be something nasty happen…

Ms Mirage saw the bike as it was at her door (now straddling both lanes) and jinked to the straight ahead while Mr GS let gravity drag the bike along the door, past the mirror and along the fender before spearing off towards the ARMCO and maybe a birdman flight into thin air off the motorway (we were still holding our breath)

Mr GS jinked (controlled wobble) right into the space in front of the car, paused (still moving) and looked back in disbelief at the driver and then, since he was aimed between the lanes again, kept on splitting… You could almost see the speech balloon forming – ‘silly cow’ - ‘fuck it – I’m not paying for that’ and was off…

Originally we thought contact must have been minimal but we saw the wee mirage further up the road – holy crap! Those big black mufflers on GS1200S’s make excellent door graunchers… Doors rooted, (2 creases front to back) front panel rooted… I was feeling sorry for her until later when the silly bint moved BACK into the lane she had just changed from and then over to the fast lane.. Lost all sympathy for her after that…

Flippin heck it was as close to the accident ward as you would EVER want to get – actual full on panel denting contact and he still didn’t kiss the ground – impressive!

Dude – buy a lotto ticket, your luck is running strong!

[MIXONE]

Don't bother with the lotto.He's used up all his luck for a while.
Do you think his leg hit the car as well?

[McJim]

Crikey - I spent a year lane splitting up the southern motorway in Auckland and never had a close one.

I almost forgot how to split - did so this morning past stationary traffic. Oh boy did the fella at the front want to race me from the lights! Hahahaha.

[Paul in NZ]

Don't bother with the lotto.He's used up all his luck for a while.
Do you think his leg hit the car as well?

Must have! Looked like bar n muffler gouges

[Brooke]

Being a n00b I'm too scared to lane split. How I see it is a. I don't take up much room and b. If I wasn't on my bike I'd be in the cage and in the queue anyway

[McJim]

Being a n00b I'm too scared to lane split. How I see it is a. I don't take up much room and b. If I wasn't on my bike I'd be in the cage and in the queue anyway

I bought my bike specifically to lane split - I got so used to seeing bikes filter past when I was stuck in my car that I decided to get one to commute. It's legal in the UK so I was really surprised to hear the laws regarding it over here.

[jrandom]

Motorcycles that don't know how to filter properly hold me up in town on the pushbike on a regular basis.

[ducatilover]

splitting is great fun but it can get messy, that guy is lucky though! ive never had a close call but i only split on super slow traffic days in palmy and theres not too many of them [i always go up the middle on a red light though]

[kasper]

If you wish to have fun lane splitting try it with panniers that are 50 mm over the stipulated width limit.

Looks around for her trucks oversize plates.

Only clipped one truck so far, and that just shoved me over slightly.
And yes splitting is the best part about congested traffic.

--kasper

[Elysium]

Lane splitting sometimes become neccesary. For example I got stuck in some traffic out of Wellington and the speed was just fast enough to keep moving but too slow for first gear coasting so I was forced to apply the clutch continuesly to prevent me stalling and hitting car in front.

Unfortunately this can really cause a lot of pain in the left hand if you do this too long so I decided "fuck this shit" and rode in between the lanes, best desision I made.

[Badcat]

see - that huge muffler has a use after all!

i loved my gs1200ss - great bike.

k

[celticbhoy]

Now I have to head from town out to J'ville twice a week in afternoon rush I have started splitting and man it gets you places.Still do not like to do it on corners unless good visibilty and no more than 2nd gear or maybe first gear makin plenty of Jap noise so they might just hear me as I come along side. Can be handy too I notice following another bike who "paves" the way so to speak and creates the knowledge in the cages that a bit of extra room might be nice for the pricks going past! ha ha

[Fatjim]

The one negative about the Tuono is that the mirrors are so wide they keep banging on cars. It's doing my head in. The seem to be holding up well though.
With the SV, the widest part seemed to be the pipes, and it had nasty rivets that used to get clogged up with fender paint. No problem though, used to buff right out with a cloth.
The VTR, was great, the widest part being my knees.

[Anarkist]

Hahaha.. Yeah, ain't splitting great! I save a good 20 mins on the way home from town. I have however managed to clip the mirrors of a car once or twice as they've moved over unnecessarily and closed the gap between me and the other car.

Always wanted to kick someones mirror off

[vifferman]

I can't remember the exact details now, but remember having fun lane-splitting on the VTR and squeeeeezing through a closing gap between vehicles. I was very glad for the over-engineered mufflers and decent kneepads in my trousers.
No damage done (to me at least) ...