Staggered formation is wrong

[VTRMAD]

I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH STAGGERED BUT YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT IF YOU BEHIND THEN YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE YOU KEEP OUT OF THE PERSON IN FRONTS WAY

[scumdog]

I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH STAGGERED BUT YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT IF YOU BEHIND THEN YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE YOU KEEP OUT OF THE PERSON IN FRONTS WAY

[Finn]

I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH STAGGERED BUT YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT IF YOU BEHIND THEN YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE YOU KEEP OUT OF THE PERSON IN FRONTS WAY

WHAT? .

[nodrog:Me]

WHAT? .

you know, just incase they are reversing!

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

WHAT? .

U-Turns... Stopping for no reason... U-Turns

[Finn]

U-Turns... Stopping for no reason... U-Turns

WHAT ?

[vifferman]

WHAT? .

you know, just incase they are reversing!

U-Turns... Stopping for no reason... U-Turns

WHAT ?

Huh? :spudwhat:

[Swoop]

Stopping for no reason...

Better get Hitcher to explain that one...

[bomma]

read the first two pages, same message seemed to be tossed around with one intelligent and insightful remark....staggered formation is great for straight riding and riding on relatively friendly roads....if i was going from aucks to the tron with a few mates, id ride staggered formation and as long as there was nobody directly beside me, allowing me to move freely to the side for any reason, id be satisfied....if i was on the coro loop and some muppet told us to stay in staggered formation, id slap him/her and turn around before i get taken out by a fellow rider.....go the STAGGERED formation!!

[Biggles2000]

I don’t like staggered formation unless I have confidence in the riding skills and probably more importantly the patience and courtesy of the people riding around me. It does however look real smart when a big group of riders are riding in a parade or such like, probably the Hog in me coming out. I have seen a few close calls over the years, mostly performance bikes trying to pass and finding out there is very little space for them to pull back into with. Also riders who don’t understand that its OK to pass if a gap opens up by moving forward and backwards in the group but not to change their position on the road from the LHS to RHS.

[munterk6]

I ALWAYS ride staggered,
a) Dont want rocks hitting me (off the guy in front's rear wheel)
b) When the guy in front JAMS on his brakes when his radar detector goes off
I dont wanna run up his rear end!

anyway, being on a GSXR means ya dont have to follow anyone any more!!

[Fudmucker]

I believe wholeheartedly in the stagger - providing that the spacing between each rider irrespective of lane is at least 2 seconds. This gives 4+ seconds between riders in any half and gives you the whole lane to swerve left or right without braking to avoid a pothole, brick, etc in your path without endangering the safety zone of the person riding just where they should be - in full sight of your side mirror.

In March this year I did a 6700km road trip with four mates. We travelled in two pairs, staggered formation. During the whole ride as group leader, not once did I have to turn my head to find my wingman. I if I rode left half, he was 2-3 seconds behind on the right in the mirror. If I rode right, he was 2-3 seconds behind on my left.

What a pleasure to know where the other guy is...and not have to start looking left and right and not looking where you are riding!
Riding single file conceals the rider behind you - riding staggered does not.
Our bike club has group riding rule number one:
"Do not ride into the bike in front of you!"
Rule number two:
"You are responsible for the rider behind you!"
It works...

[dpex]

Why not just save yourself the agro and stay three seconds behind, in staggered? About the biggest threat here would be to the last rider who just happened to be staggered left in a slowish column and with some arsehole busting his hump to overtake in a car.

I have to admit, on those occasions when I have come up behind a slow group on SH (that one) from Helensville to Wellsford, while driving a car to my happy hunting grounds at Tauhoe, I have found it annoying that I can't get past.

I have much a same issue with peddle-bikers who seem to think they enjoy some form of charmed life because they're saving the planet by limiting their output of CO2. So they keep out in the middle of the road with their churning bums apparently making a statement about their right to exist despite the competition from the less concerned gene pool.