Riding with and Passing Motorcycles

I've been riding since 1972. Well legally anyway! When on 2 I pass using the left side of the passing lane and I do so with a little more twist on the throttle! I do not do as a lot of crotch rocket riders and try to scrape chrome off the front bumper and I NEVER get closer than 200' from the rear of a truck. Those gators can fly high and far and dodging them on a cruiser is not that easy! Neither is any other road trash that might get thrown up! Ever have a truck in front of you smoke the tandems then have a deer come flying at you from under the trailer? Not on a bike but in a truck and that was a nasty cleanup on the truck! I can't imagine what it would have been like on the bike! The only good thing about that was I was passing him when it happened! It came out from under the left wheels, got caught by the ICC and that flipped it into the air! It landed in the left side of his lane or right where I always ride and back where I would have been if keeping my usual following distance!

As is my bad habit when I pass a truck I give him an inspection in my truck, P/U, car, or bike and if I see a problem I'll point it out to him.

When they are passing me I always look them in the eye in the mirror so they know I see them and give them a wave just because!

 

As a mater of fact I have...well sort of.
It came out from under a pickup truck not a tractor-trailer but it landed smack dab in front of me and I was rolling two up on a full Dress Harley Electra.
The wife and I with our gear on the bike weigh in at about 950lbs,we were traveling at about 70 mph when this occurred.
Well long story short I had all of about 1 second to decide what to do so I ran on pure instinct and gassed it rather than braking,old habit from off-roading I guess and it worked.
We hit the deer and catapulted into the air a couple feet as well as coming off the seat quite a ways but by some miracle landed upright on the wheels and got stopped without going down or hitting or getting hit by another car,this on busy four lane highway 26 East of Portland,OR heading into the Mt Hood National Forest on a Friday night.
That #### deer bolted right out into heavy traffic and cars/trucks were smoking tires all around us,we must have had a guardian angel riding along that night lol.
( Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly)

 

I am a rider myself, The pic in the profile is me on my electraglide. I am a firm believer that more people then not, that ride motorcycles are idiots. Sorry but after spending some time over the road. I have seen alot of motorcyclists/bikers and they are complete dim wits.

They run right along side of a truck, travel in the trucks blind spots, cut right infront of 80,000 lb trucks. Split lanes next to trucks!!!!! All of these actions make for dead motorcyclists/bikers. Many people on motorcycles believe that since they are on two wheels and are smaller, that they should and can do what ever they want. My biggest beef is lane splitting or lane sharing. I think that this should be a highly illegal activity in EVERY STATE and should not be performed unless you are a motor officer on your way to an emergency or in pursuit and have your lights flashing.

I could careless if you are stuck in traffic or not.

 

Had 2 idiot bikers tailing me EARLY this morning coming up 85. They came in with alot of other traffic, but while everything else passed me, they didn't. I know these 2 morongs had to have been seeing how close they could draft me, because when I smoked the brakes after a car jerking into my lane ahead of me and doing the same ( I was already slowing down thank God) I saw both of these guys come over the passing lane looking like they were gonna lose it. Saw both of them pulled over in GA later.

 

On my bike I stay out from behind Dumps or anything with an open top. I don't follow big rigs down the road.... I've seen what a flying gator can do to a hood or a windshield, I don't want to think about what one might do to my head!

 

The deer deal will cause a hospital trip to get the bike out of the six!

Many years ago in 1975 I was out one night heading back to Ft Gordon after leaving a "friends" house. I was heading down this hill and much to my surprise a St Bernard was sleeping in the middle of the lane!

It being dark as it was I had no time to do anything but give that thing some gas and did as you did. I learned how to fly that pan head!

The gate guard stopped me at Gate 1 and asked me what was wrong with my headlight because it was bouncing all over the place. Me and that bike were know on post and I showed him why. That dog bent my front rim! He looked at me and told me I must lead a charmed life! I had to pull the front tire and take it to the shop which cost me half my pay for the new rim!

As for recaps. I had one land on my hood as I was passing.
I had one actually the sidewall blow off and slam the side of a car that was passing me. and I had a P/U that passed me blow a tire and part of it landed in my lap!

The rattle snake is a different story! That one is in my blogspot blog! rolloverriderpgr.blogspot.com

 

When passing a big rig, I like to get eye contact in with the driver in his mirror before passing. Then pass as fast as safely possible.

 

I'm a trucker and I have about 50,000 miles on motorcycles. I don't get near a big rig until I have the clearance to pass it swiftly and safely.

In my rig, I leave plenty of space for bikers. I give a wave to let them know I see them and keep my speed steady so they can pass.

 

it's a matter of the situation

normal riding on a two lane hwy, stay way back unless able to pass at next speed zone or junction
pass and leave them in the dust

4 lane interstate, NO wind passing or passed

4 lane interstate, tail wind passing most at 73 mph

4 lane interstate, head wind passed by most at 53 unless able to get behind an empty flatbed daycab so I can follow at a reasonable distance and still have them block the wind

ever notice when following too close the wake effect?


it's just a honda 250