There has been an outbreak of "knobs" on the road recently... Luckily winter is well on the way and 90% of thes tossers will park their bike for "the season" and leave the roads a much safer place to ride.Originally Posted by Insanity_rules
Wearing Hi-Viz Black.
There has been an outbreak of "knobs" on the road recently... Luckily winter is well on the way and 90% of thes tossers will park their bike for "the season" and leave the roads a much safer place to ride.
TOP QUOTE: “The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”
Hardcore Biker
1) If you are on a smaller bike like I am - size up the lead car. Is it a boy racer who will want to challenge you or a granny who is way past racing.
2) Check the timing of the light sequence. Don't push forward if the light is going to change while you are trying to get to the front, and don't go to the front if you are going to be there too long - don't want to give the cagers too much time to get annoyed you snuk in in front of them.
3) Master that pull off with as little engine rpm and smoke as possible - a real challenge on a 2-smoker.
Seriously - be careful out there.Had an SUV get annoyed at me and pulled off with some speed - quickly popped the clutch to get ahead, but he didn't leave much room. Lucky I had my eye on him in the mirror.
parting of the sensory
Just because it's your personal choice to not do it, doesn't make others who do it morons. Those "who do it at all costs", perhaps/probably. But plenty of other bikers split to the front for perfectly valid reasons. Furthermore (plus!) it's also more legal AND safer than lane-splitting through moving traffic.
While I don't always filter to the front at the lights, I frequently do it, not because I HAVE to be first at all costs. I do it for the following reasons.
Sitting behind all the traffic starting off from a standstill/idle then accelerating, I get to suck in all their traffic fumes. The cumulative effect over weeks of commuting doesn't bear thinking about. My road-spooge covered gear attests to how much crap there is in the air.
It takes each car driver a few seconds to react to the light turning green, wait a while for the vehicle in front to move off, then move off themselves. If you're say, 10 cars back, then this represents maybe 30 or 40 seconds at each traffic light. On my commute, I have 5 traffic lights, three roundabouts, multiple pedestrian crossings and a few intersections where the cumulative time could be as much as 10 minutes or more. Fuck that - I'd rather be riding than sitting waiting. That's why my commute by bike takes 12 minutes, and by car it takes more than twice that.
I don't like riding behind traffic. While if don't absolutely have to be at the front, I like to have clear road in front of me if possible, so I can see potential hazards coming up. For that reason, I try to pass trucks, buses, vans and SUVs if I can do so safely, rather than be stuck (blindly) behind them.
Most importantly, I'm riding a bike! If I wanted to sit in traffic, I'd take the car or the bus! Why ride a manoeuverable, quick-accelerating vehicle, if I can't take advantage of that?!? If someone gets pissed off about me filtering to the front at lights when it's safe to do so, that's THEIR problem. If I don't scratch their car, or bump their mirror, it doesn't affect them at all! (Except maybe their tender ego!) If I don't filter to the front, or I do, it makes NO difference at all to how fast they get to their destination! Not one millisecond of extra time is added to their trip! I have almost invariably left the line before they've even reacted to the traffic light, so there's no hindrance to their movement.
At intersections, sitting behind cars, vans and trucks, I am frustrated how SLOW they are, to react, and to move. If I'm at the front, I don't need to wait for a large gap. Even though the VFR's not the fastest bike on the road, I can easily accelerate safely and without "unnecessary acceleration" up to the speed of the oncoming traffic, before they've even noticed and reacted to me pulling out. Zero to 60mph in 2.9 seconds equals 0-50km/h in five-fifteenths of a gnat's blink, and very few metres at all.
I don't get it, Patch. You're hding behind name-calling to justify why you don't filter to the front at lights, but you haven't actually given any real reasons why you don't, or why those who do are in the wrong.
Yes, if the biker is so set on getting to the front that he/she is a nuisance, bumps other vehicles, or endangers themselves or others, fair enough. For that reason, I don't always filter, just like I rarely lanesplit. I ask myself, "Do I need to?" and "Is there a clear path through?" and "Is there somewhere to park at the front?" I don't do it to race other people, or to be first, just to avoid sitting stationary in traffic, idling, while my bike and I both overheat.
I'm ALWAYS conscious that I'm on a bike. I don't ride my bike and drive my wife's car the same way, to the extent that in the car I take a completely different route, and try to relax and switch off while still maintaining some semblance of alertfulness.
Other bikes that race off from the lights? If I pull up beside another bike, or another bike pulls up beside me, I give them room. When the light goes green, I take off as normal, and NEVER make a race of it. Why? What would it prove? Think about it...
... and that's what I think.
Or summat.
Or maybe not...
Dunno really....
Forum whore
Damn straight! I head to the front almost always in Auckland traffic, unless there's only a few cars. Why? I don't want some clown rear-ending me while I'm parked at the back of the queue for a start. Plus all your other points. You'd have to be mad not to do it in rush hour, stuff waiting for 4 light phases to get to your turn.
Even on a shitty 250, you're well out of everybody's way anyway when the lights go green. You're invisible to traffic, in the sense that you pass through the queue without taking up a space at the back, and you accelerate quickly enough that the car at the head of the queue isn't held up by you either. Next traffic lights... straight to the front again, lather, rinse, repeat. It's courtesy for the car drivers (and some are quite happy to move slightly to let me past on occasion) and it gets you where you're going safer and faster.
In terms of dragging off other bikes... I just accelerate at my normal rate. If that's faster than the other bike (who may have got there first) then so be it, but I don't see the issue. Most of the time they're either faaaar ahead of me by the time the light goes green (most bikes), or faaaar behind me. No need to `jostle for position'.
One hell of a ride.
>>I just accelerate at my normal rate.<<
And we wait for you.
IMO the etiquette that applies is the Road Code.
Going for a ride
who gives a rat's arse the reason you're impatient - longwinded justification too. As to your quote above, perhaps you should read and understand before getting your soapbox out. Rosie got it. Go take your own advice.
not everybody - is it really worth the risk?
So based on the two upset Dorklander's opinions and I find there reasoning to be quite lame - its faster and they don't want to wait there turn.
No wonder the rest of the country despises this attitude - Just an Arrogant Fucking Aucklander
It is what it is
It's time...
And what does the Road Code say about filtering to the front of the queue and dragging off the other cars/bikes?
On second thoughts, please don't answer that, it's been done to death on this site many times.
Forum whore
Yup -- hence it's not normally an issue. It's so rare to meet another bike on the roads, let alone another 250RS (Ms Piggy bought them all for spares!) then the issue of `who goes first' is already decided by the bikes in question.
What do you mean? A car's going to catch up to my arse? Very rare, they spend at least 5-6 seconds getting into gear and waking up to the green light, and most cars only really pull away at >50kph from a low-geared bike. But yes occasionally you'll pull up next to a Porsche or RS4. In that case you either pull into the other lane where the Festiva is at the front or you pull well off to the side and let him go first -- if he's quick enough to get ahead, then he'll be miles ahead of the rest of the traffic so you're out of trouble anyway.
There's certain times and places where you simply don't stop filtering the whole time. Parnell Rd can often be at a complete standstill all the way back to Newmarket and it doesn't matter when you get to the head of the queue, as the cars can't move through the intersection anyway. So the point is moot.
Patch, if you spent a little time on Vffaffermon's or my commute you'd soon get the picture. Sure we get ahead, but it's like splitting on the motorway -- either you sit in traffic and expose yourself to danger and hold up other vehicles (occupying a place in the queue), or you get out of the lane and simply `pass through' traffic without affecting its flow, as though you weren't there at all. All the car drivers I've discussed this with (Auckland drivers, mind) understand this logic, and without any coaching from me have long been happy with the practice (lane splitting is a different story usually though).
ArseBiscuit
Awesome advice in a country where folk have been known to respond to such acts with hammers....
Going for a ride
how exactly do you filter/split down a narrow single lane roadunless you take the suicide lane up the inside between the parked cars or ride on the wrong side of the road as the gaps appear in the oncoming traffic - hardly splitting/filtering down that road is it? Your life to lose. Not to mention the pedestrians that may or may not step out in front of you - given that location.
you assume I don't/haven't - what the fuck has the location got to do with your attitude??
But you being 21 you've been everywhere, done everything by now, my mistake as you were, fuckin gen X.
It is what it is
Doesn't play well with others
Sit down and shut up, granddad.
It's better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prov- oh wait, you just did.
Edit: You do realise I hope that trolling other members because you disagree with them does not advance your own argument in any way?
A prudent and careful approach to filtering change my commute from a 60-70 minute nightmate to a sub-25 minute cruise.I have yet to experience ANY road-rage/unhappy opinions from car drivers about my filtering. In fact, I've experienced far worse from car drivers simply for happily, legally occupying a lane at the posted speed limit.
Hmm.
I laugh at people that hate on aucklanders so much
Don't they realise how fucking naive and ignorant they sound?
Geographical location doesn't mean anything you dick.
ArseBiscuit
Or you could interpret such comments that all non-aucklanders are uptight bigots....
Forum whore
Truth hurts, a.
ArseBiscuit
It's spelled "eh" you inbred non-aucklander. Bahahahahahahahahaha
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