~FYI~

Anybody from here? -


#1 rule - riding a bike is a *dangerous* activity, no ifs, buts or
lies & damned statistics.

What's a trivial injury thing if you're in a car (momentary slip on
greasy patch, bump into tray top in front of you) can easily be fatal
if you're on a bike - period!

These nutcases who do the whole lane splitting moving traffic at speed
are taking what margin you have to absolute zero.

Can you always avoid granny who doesn't see you and suddenly turns in
front of you though even though you're fully alert? well likely NO.

Anyone who thinks it won't happen to them will likely HAVE happen it
to them because they don't recognise the difference between being an
idiot on one hand and what's unavoidable on the other.. you can easily
end up in hospital bed next to the idiot even if you're "Mr safety
vest man" all your life, just a touch less likely perhaps but still
easily possible.

But I like riding and still do.. plenty of others here would be the
same.

I'm off to Eastern Creek next month for another circuit day to bring
the technical skills up to scratch while I ponder another road bike
after some time away..

This time around will stick to my country roads which brings the odds
down somewhat compared to city traffic of course.. but on a bike it's
never ever zero anytime you're on 2 wheels and moving..

For the record I see the latest MV Augusta F4R 312 is claimed 312 km/h
(hence it's name) and saw test on Ducati 1098s pull just shy of 300 at
the creek main straight.. both much better choices than the Hyabusa
barge if you're a genuine bike rider and interested in equal handling
and brakes to match your top end.

Translation: plenty of performance and style for anyone for circa $30K

Heck any of the good 600cc Sports bikes will do plenty for you too in
realistic terms..

 

In aus.motorcycles on 16 Apr 2007 16:51:06 -0700

Probably, but it depends.

If the traffic is such that drivers see no room to change lanes, then
where's the problem[1]?

Everything depends on circumstances. Average riders have hard and
fast rules. Good riders think about the situation and use brains, not
slogans.

Zebee

[1] the answer is "in several places, just not that one" Also, if it
was "absolute zero" then they'd all die. They aren't dieing in great
numbers, they don't even seem to be crashing. THink carefully about
that.

 

Dunno, been trashed in a car twice (as a passenger), once on a pushie,
(some idiot in a black mini van ran over the top of me), and trashed
once climbing mountains (well, falling off them). Laid a bike down
a few times and never hurt anything but my ego, and some pants.

Mark Addinall.

 

Sadly this isn't always so evident to the driver who's picking his nose
whilst sending an SMS, or the driver who's applying her make-up, or the
driver who's shaving (don't laugh, I've seen it!), or the driver who's
reaching over into the back seat to slap the screaming kids.

I've seen far too many occasions where drivers've started changing lanes
onto other vehicles, even in a couple of cases onto semi-trailers.

Sure, they realise what's happening (usually thanks to a hastily-applied
horn from the other vehicle), but in those few brief moments they reduce the
inter-lane clearance from the nominal metre or two (in the case of a
motorway), down to under half a metre - not enough room even for a 50cc
scooter.

I do however agree with you that there're plenty of situations where it's
obvious that a lane-split will be safe, but I think the point the original
poster was trying to make, was in reference to those who blindly zoom
between lanes at 150Km/h+ when the surrounding traffic is already travelling
at 100Km/h. That reminds me too much of the video I saw of that lunatic
riding a deadly slalom at 300Km/h+ through peak-hour motorway traffic in
France a few years ago.

---
Bob Milutinovic
Cognicom - "Australia's Web Presence Specialists"
http://www.cognicom.tk/
telephone (0417) 45-77-66
facsimile (02) 9824-2240

 

No anti-Honda rant today ??
Are you mellowing or something ???

 

You read all that?
Are fucking stupid or something?

 

....by which time a bike's had time to either slow down and slot in
behind, or, more likely, keep going, because it was in, through and out
before the gap closed.

That would be your first mistake. It's neither his, nor is it really a
point.

And the issue there is with the word "blindly". This sounds like
fringe-dwelling stuff, but I find it safer to carve up traffic with a
20-30kph rate of closure than to just trundle along in a slot in one of
the lanes. For starters, moving faster than anything else greatly
reduces the possibility of being taken out from behind or merged into by
a faster vehicle catching up to you. In turn, this reduces the
proportion of your total concetration you need to expend on your mirrors
and right-over-the-shoulder headchecks. Most importantly, though, if
you're doing your own personal re-enactment of the attack on the Death
Star, you're constantly feeding yourself stimulus in the form of the
vehicles you're passing. This heightens your state of alertness, and
there's just plain more concentration and perceptiveness to go around.

If I'm just sitting in traffic, I have to actively work to keep myself
alert and ready to react to threats. If I'm punching through it, that
part's being done for me, *and* I get everywhere sooner.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sat, 21 Apr 2007 18:32:07 +1000

In other words, you don't have the discipline to be alert for the sake
of it, you require extra stimulus to be so.

Zebee

 

Nah. More like I just don't see the point. Expend mental energy which
could otherwise be put to a better use, have the journey take longer
*and*, to my mind, render yourself less perceivable, or... don't. Seems
like a no-brainer.

Given how keen drivers have been to make room for me to get past between
their door handle and the centreline on the dozen or so trips between
Canberra and Sydney I've made along the coast since the start of the
year, it doesn't seem to be much of a public-relations issue, either,
so, given all that, what's the point in bimbling along like someone who
doesn't have the option of squeezing through traffic?

 

so as long as you are the only one doing 20-30k faster than all the
other traffic, you don't need to be aware of what's behind you.

As long as there isn't someone else who shares your approach you are OK?

Hmmmm....

Moike