Is this guy an idiot?

[nightrider]

I think for the first time ever I am having to decide NOT to ride with somebody. It sucks because I like the guy and we also work together, as well as have the same bike. We hang out after work. I like having the company and motivation to check out new spots/rides/neighborhoods.

The guy lanesplits aggressively and constantly, and when leading his vibe is "if you dont keep up then you'll get left behind". Another buddy will follow, I often will not. Going faster is basically pointless after a certain speed, it's not necessarily more enjoyable, and it's inconsiderate of traffic to be weaving in and out and pushing the lane lines constantly. Also no need to split when you are already going 30-70 mph. The fact that he doesn't care what my preferences or riding style is, pisses me off the most. If he's in the lead, he will take completely unnecessary risks and be inconsiderate of other traffic, which forces me to either do the same (dangerous), or get left behind (awkward). I'm then put in the position of being the wet blanket/lecturer/old fart, which I'm not. I ride dangerously enough myself. I think this guys just focking stupid. Headstrong, too cool for school, unable to admit fault, and in a totally unnecessary hurry.

It would be one thing if he was truly experienced. I don't think he is. Today I went to Manhattan Beach. I said I'd meet them in Venice because I knew how he rides and didn't want to ride with him there. On the way from Venice south he skids to a stop at one stoplight. At another one he fails to see we are stopping on yellow and barrels between us at about 25 mph, braking hard, flying all the way through the red light. If we had parked close together at that light he would have taken one or both of us out completely.

He does not wait if he's lost us by lanesplitting. Finally, on Sepulveda, he goes through another totally red light and says he never even saw it. Unbelievable. For me its pretty much the last straw.

Its a shame but I think I've had enough. I think he has to learn his lesson the hard way, and his riding is basically antisocial aggression. The fact that he won't listen makes it a permanent problem. So I dont think I will be taking any more rides with him, although I might 'meet' him somewhere. This might even be awkward or piss him off.

What do you guys think.

[Kasumi]

I think your 100% right and big props for coming to this conclusion yourself. Riding with someone or a group of people is always the most dangerous time because you can be pushed to ride like they do in order to not be left behind but that is the most important thing NOT to do. The group should ride to the lowest ability member not the highest. If they can't do that then they should find a more advanced group. Your completely right to be annoyed at him, ok lane splitting, might be his preference he might like to ride fast and thrill of splitting lanes - i wouldn't but at least its something you can avoid doing by taking your time to ride properly but nothing at all ever excuses going so fast that you can't stop for a red light. Nor should you ride with someone who is blind enough to not notice a red light on more than one occasion. If your going to ride with your buddies and you know some of them are like that then you take the lead or the group nominates the safest leader. If they can't deal with that then they find another group.

Good on you and ditch people like that - they may be nice guys when you go out but if hes a duck when hes riding leave that bit behind!

[pbureau69]

personally I would simply speak to him, and tell him dude, your riding is dangerous and too agressive for us and we rather you did not ride with us, if in your eyes it makes us a bunch of scardy cats or loosers that is fine, we will remember to post about your sorry ass loss when you make the 20sec news on youtube for getting yourself fooked by a cagers or anything else.

I dont ride with folks like that period, when they insist I get off the bike, take the helmet off, and light a smoke... I dont care my life aint worth having a moron that thinks hes evil kenivel (sp?) on a bike...

Cheers

[trumpetguy]

Ride your own bike.  Always.

Bravo to you for seeing this before something tragic occurred.  Keep safe!

[ohgood]

I think your 100% right and big props for coming to this conclusion yourself. Riding with someone or a group of people is always the most dangerous time because you can be pushed to ride like they do in order to not be left behind but that is the most important thing NOT to do. The group should ride to the lowest ability member not the highest. If they can't do that then they should find a more advanced group. Your completely right to be annoyed at him, ok lane splitting, might be his preference he might like to ride fast and thrill of splitting lanes - i wouldn't but at least its something you can avoid doing by taking your time to ride properly but nothing at all ever excuses going so fast that you can't stop for a red light. Nor should you ride with someone who is blind enough to not notice a red light on more than one occasion. If your going to ride with your buddies and you know some of them are like that then you take the lead or the group nominates the safest leader. If they can't deal with that then they find another group.

Good on you and ditch people like that - they may be nice guys when you go out but if hes a duck when hes riding leave that bit behind!

Sounds about right, except for the 'more advanced group' part. The more advanced group won't want him either, because he's so reckless.


I'd be straight with him. He's riding like a complete fool, putting other people at risk. If he wants to ride like a fool and run red lights that's his perogative. Hopefully he won't kill you in the process of the careless cruises. Lane splitting is fantastic when done right. It's totally dangerous and causes road rage when done wrong. You've seen it. Lane split wrong, and people shake fists, flip offs, and squeeze out riders. Done proper, they barely notice other than you're ahead of them.

There's a difference between friends and work acquaintances. A friend will listen (hopefully) an acquaintance will laugh it off and call you a kitty cat.

Either way, your decision is right. Your life depends on every single lane change, mirror check, and overtake. Ride YOUR pace, be sane, and enjoy the feeling that comes with responsible riding. Join a fight club if you want an adrenalin rush. They'll "teach" you a lesson without the cost being life.

[qwertydude]

Hey neat we should meetup I'm a really safe rider in the Norwalk area. We could meet up and ride GMR take your dangerous friend and he'll quickly learn that his riding ability is far behind his ambitions. But yeah it's pretty rare to see other GS's.

[GeeP]

Your friend isn't an idiot, he's the living dead.   

[ATLRIDER]

Kudos for having morals and  the scruples to follow them

[cd]

aggressive lane splitting and racing invisible competitors, and dragons, and myself, i get, and i dont mind, nothing bad aboot that shaZam! in my opinion, but being oblivious to red lights has probability of eating shaZam! written all over it. hahah, sounds like a fun dude though, you should ride with him so you can administer first aid when he eats it, you arent going to stop him from being reckless, so at least help him and laught about it when he does.

[ben2go]

Lane splitting here is considered wreckless driving.Most of our roads are narrow.Interstates are the exception.They're wide but I wouldn't lane split in traffic that's already running 80+mph.If traffic stops,I'll take one of the emergency lanes.That too is illegal,but usually you get off with a warning.Unless you're running over 30-35 mph,then they give it to you without the aid of lube. 

[sanjay]

I have a similar friend (though not as crazy) who passes cars across double yellows in the twisties and generally goes too fast.  I think his motivation is confidence that he's a much better driver/rider than anybody else, but the end result is the same.  I spoke to him finally and told him that on group rides he has to slow down or else it makes everyone else uncomfortable, and when he still does it, we just don't bother keeping up with him.  After a few times of us not inviting him out, he's become much better around us.

Good luck talking to your friend, as it's an awkward thing to bring up.  But as others said, it's good to have both the judgement and the confidence to avoid riding with unsafe people.

[wreckhog]

There is a book about the 80's millionaires at Salomon called Liars Poker. Which is a game of poker you play with dollar bills. The successful employees were referred as BSD's. Big Swinging Dicks. They made it their life to be as obnoxious as possible to everyone around them, partially because it was the culture and partially to stroke their egos. You will find BSD's throughout life. You can choose to be one, and join the culture or you can walk away. Probably a lot safer to walk away.

[Tang]

Just ride at your own pace sooner or later he's going to be like its boring riding alone and getting to places first waiting for you.

Maybe after that he'll start riding safe.

I use to be like that when i was driving a car.

i use to speed, and cut ppl off and get to places first.

but end up waiting alomst 10 more min before my friends will get there..

so now i just drive at their pace and i find it relaxing 

[RobTheTyrant]

there is a certain rush to pushing the envelope... but there's absolutely no rush in ripping it in half and kissing pavement.  If he's going to ride like that, I say stop, change your route/plans and go somewhere else.  that way when he gets there first and waits for ever and no one shows up... you can tell him you would have let him in on the change but he wouldn't slow down and ride with the rest of you. 

I ride with a group of guys who push it pretty hard, but we're all pretty skilled, know each others limits and don't go past them, and we don't go so balls out that we're past the point of stupid.  Lane splitting cars that are even only moving a little is dangerous... you don't know what "the other guy" is going to do!

[Kasumi]

Over here in the UK i don't think we have lanesplitting like you do. Im presuming by lane splitting you mean passing cars in the same lane as you, rather than "overtaking" moving into another lane crossing the dividing lines and passing them. On the motorway (no where near as wide as your freeways) i would never "lanesplit" only over take. Most of the time cars move out of the over taking lane (as they should) when a faster vehicle comes up behind them. If they don't i try to see why not and be patient and back off. I have yet to lose my patience enough to undertake some idiot who is terrified of the motorway and can't change back lanes and just sits in the wrong lane (normally called "middle laners" due to their ability to sit in most commonly the middle lane scared to move to the left or right. I have come close tho!

Off the motorway on normal roads i only pass when i can see, and stick to a couple of very basic road rules to decide whether i can overtake.

1.) what are the road markings saying. If you have two solid lines dividing your side of the road and the other then no overtaking is allowed - there is a reason for this they don't put them in for no reason so stick to it. Also you should never overtake across the hashed markings that often indicate your lane is moving to the left to make room for a right turn place for the opposite carridgeway. Not only are those full of shitty debris because no one drives on them you know they are widening the road for some sort of passing place or turning place for the other carridgeway or just to make some room for some reason.

2.) How far can i see, if i can see past the car and have a reasonable distance to the next obstacle - car or corner or blindspot. Also how long is the vehicle / or how many are there to pass, if so how many am i going to pass at once. This is fairly simple. Also a tip to this is if you pull right out onto the other side of the road - do it slowly so you can see for other vehicles etc... but simply pull out right to the otherside - your field of view is now much much better you can see past the vehicle you plan to overtake your also in the best position to overtake if you decide to. Instead of trying to see through the vehicles or down the side of them and then having to accelerate move to the right (reverse for americans) and then pass them moving back to the left (again reverse) you can just go from an excellent road view and position streight past and then move to the left.

3.) Finaly most important thing is how FAST should i go. The common misconception to overtaking is that you simply change down gears and nail it as fast as possible - this often works out but is certinally not the safest way. Judge when your next ostacle is or how many cars you have to pass or plan to pass. Often when you are overtaking you pull out and and nail it,  this means that your actually passing the car at full pelt, the faster you go the faster you reach your obstacle. Instead of been aggressive be purposeful, only go as fast as you need that leaves you more time to plan before you reach the next obstacle. When you get the hang of it it will feel smooth rather than hanging on for dear life as you lean first one way then the next then come rushing into your next obstacle hard on the brakes. Also when passing vehicles dont be scared to pull back in! If you pass two cars and suddenly a car comes round your obstacle in this case a corner dont be tempted to nail it and try and squeeze past the 3 cars you planned just intime before the other car hits you, if you were following my earlier point of not going faster than you need then you should be able to let off the power and slip into the gap behind the leading car and plan the next overtake from there.


Sorry its abit jumbled but a few quick points turned into an essay!

[scottpA_GS]

Lane Splitting is riding between two cars traveling at a low speed in the same direction.



http://www.motorcycle.com/how-to/lane-splitting-101-3338.html

[nightrider]

Thanks guys. It is pretty much unanimous, which is how I felt already, except for the fact that hey, I like hanging out with him.

I just have to figure out how to handle it when it comes up.

[frankieG]

i do the lane splitting thing when i need to get somewhere and don't want to wait in traffic.  but from what you say it sounds like he is trouble and i would avoid riding with him.  there are people out there like that and no one wants to witness and accident or heaven forbid be involved in one because of another riders poor judgement

[Kasumi]

Lanesplitting only takes place here when traffic is stopped or it is stop go like a traffic jam, or waiting at traffic lights while the traffic is stopped if there is a queue we split lanes to get to the front but its perfectly legal and safe. I think there are rules regarding it tho like you can't exceed a certain speed or do it when traffic is moving over a certain speed.

But really we only ever do it to get past a traffic jam. I wouldn't ever do it when traffic was moving over sorta 25 mph and even then i would start lane splitting at that speed but if it reached that speed would probably be the time i stopped! You just can't tell people move all over the road in there cars and never think to look to see if a cyclist is there or a motorcyclist.

[spc]

Lane splitting here is considered wreckless driving.Most of our roads are narrow.Interstates are the exception.They're wide but I wouldn't lane split in traffic that's already running 80+mph.If traffic stops,I'll take one of the emergency lanes.That too is illegal,but usually you get off with a warning.Unless you're running over 30-35 mph,then they give it to you without the aid of lube. 

Yup same here.  Especially now that tourist season is kicking in, as long as you're safe and aren't going that fast they don't care if you do a little creative driving on 278.  No sense in everyone driving 3 mph.