Hovering, meaning the guys were so close they could have reached out and tried some of my entree if they'd wanted to while they were at it. This was at a pretty upscale restaurant in San Francisco in the bar area where you seat yourself, thus why the guys were waiting for an available table, saw that we were working on our desserts and figured they would stake out our spot despite the fact that we weren't even done yet. it doesn't happen often, no, but when it does happen it's irritating. I wasn't intimidated by anything, I moved out of the way so the guy could get in and free up the other traffic. You can interpret it that way if you like, but the way I see it it's in regards to the car having a cage, like a race car's roll cage, enclosing the driver whereas a motorcycle is more open and the rider is not enclosed. Simple as that. I don't know what you read, but I'm thinking you might have misread. California state guidelines on lane splitting regarding speed are us follows: 10 MPH faster. So if traffic is going 20, I go 30. If they're going 10, I go 20. If they're stopped. I usually hang out around 10-15. When I say 30, I mean that's the fastest I will go, which is keeping within the guidelines.
I must have mis-read it. That still strikes me as wildly dangerous and sort of a dickish thing go do. I'd be interedted to know the eeasoning behind allowing a bike to "pass" between lanes 10mph over slower traffic in certain circumstances. Seems like a recipe for disaster, abuse and road-rage.
That was warranted. My only protest is the use of American Football as a metaphor. I was going to suggest a Golf instead, but then got thinking about Mods giving out strokes to posters and decided the metaphor may not be ideal.
I don't see why it seems dickish. It's legal to do and there are several benefits to the other drivers on the road. This article and the links/video featured should help clear things up. Keep in mind it's a practice that's legal just about everywhere else in the world. For me, the biggest thing is that if I am just sitting in traffic, I'm a sitting duck. if the car behind me doesn't stop for whatever reason, I've just become the meat in a car-motorcycle-car sandwich. If I keep moving my only threats are from in front of me. I always keep my hand on the clutch and am always ready to be on the brake should someone dart out. I basically assume they're going to, and prepare accordingly. Also, some bikes are air-cooled and will overheat if stationary for too long...and in a warmer state like California that could be a problem.
Overheating is a problem even in unusually cold winters like right now? You know, where the right to burn wood in your own home is being stripped away from the plebes? Thank goodness we have you here, looking out for our best interests!
Except nobody who lane splits properly in the state of California is being a dick. I gave that as one of many examples of the benefits of lane splitting. And you should know very well that it doesn't stay cold in CA for long.
AWWWW YEAH Then again, I guess it's good Flux is no longer constrained by the prison of his car, God forbid this ever happen to anyone!
I don't see the point of the second GIF, but in the first one the rider looks like he's going a little fast and should have seen that car changing lanes. Like they say in the video I linked to, the rider is responsible to make sure a car doesn't hit them. At least that's the mentality you need to have.
I dunno, legal or not it just seems dickish to me with too much potential for abuse or causing problems because of the unpredictability of it. That's a terribly narrow space to have someone tearing through 10mph faster than everyone else.
Also as was said in the video, it might seem reckless and aggressive to the outside observer but when you do it yourself it feels much more natural and easier than you'd think. I disliked it at first but I've gotten my comfort level up and it's much better. As long as a car isn't hugging the lane there is plenty of room. It's much better than sitting at a dead stop and hoping nobody rams you from behind, from which there is little to no chance of escape. That's why I rarely if ever take the bike out of gear at a stop, though, just in case.
10mph is not very fast at all, that's a comfortable running speed for most people and it's about right for moving through stationary traffic. You can stop on a dime at that speed, and any decent biker should have no problem. The motorbike in that gif is going much faster than that. I do this every day and for many years, and never have I been anything close to having an accident because of it. That said, I don't lane split through moving traffic at all unless it's at a crawl, for the reasons demonstrated in 005's first gif, but I do straight overtakes if the oncoming lane is free.