Proper Passing Technique

[johnn]

I'm still breaking in my 09 GS500, but I'd like to hear how you would approach this situation:

You are enjoying a ride on a very nice, wide but hilly and twisty back road. Speed limit is 60mph. Suddendly you come up on traffic, a couple of vehicles going about 50 mph. Passing opportunities are limited on this winding road as you putt in 6th gear 50 feet behnid the slow pokes. Suddenly you come upon a nice straight passing area. The nearest vehicle coming from the other direction is 300 yards up the road. The two cars in front of you are spaced 100 feet apart.

What's your technique for executing a quick, safe pass?

[mullan]

I had to put this into the metric system to work out.

Head on speed between you and car = 176kph = 49 meters per second
300 yards = 303m
303/49 = 6.2 seconds.

So you have about 6 seconds to do it but in the process shaZam! your pants.  Say 4 seconds to be more relaxed about it.

So you have 4 seconds to convert to metric, input the figures into a calculator, shift to 5th, mirror, signal, manoeuvre.

Actually I am not that experienced, so this doesn't sound like much time to do it safely?

[mullan]

Could go one step further.  If you don't want to break the speed limit and do it at 60mph, then....

Your max speed is 60mph = 96kph
Car = 50mph = 80kph
Distance between you and car plus car and space in front of car = 70 feet = 23m
Speed difference between you and car = 16kph
16kph = 4.44m/sec
23/4.44m = 5.18seconds

So you have 4 seconds to overtake without shitting yourself, but if you want to not break the speed limit you'd only get in in time with 0.8 seconds to spare.  Assuming the oncoming car is not breaking the speed limit.

I would just enjoy the ride at 50.

[lucifer_mr2]

I'd say enjoy the ride at a slower speed.

If I over take, drop a gear or two, pin the throttle open and overtake. Haven't gone down any roads withe the meters marked out in a way that could be used, I just wait til I have a place I know I can get past. No crests, no blind corners.

[Eric_in_OR]

Nothing ruins a good set of twisties like a slow car, but if you are in doubt, just wait it out for a better location. Many times I have spooled up the GS, peaked out around the slow car, and then thought better of the situation. BUT...

Assuming you really do have the distance needed for the pass, I generally anticipate that there is going to be a straight-away and get on the rear car's tail coming out of the turn and shift down 2. As soon as the line turns from solid to yellow, hit it. With 100' of separation, I generally only go for one at a time on short stretches like this one, wait for the next straight away to get him. When it comes to passing, the law may say that you still must obey the speed limit, but it's safest to minimize your exposure in the oncoming lane, get it over and done with ASAP. Passing is my biggest frustration with the GS500, it has trouble with those roll-ons where you need to rapidly get from 50 to 80 mph for a passing situation. This requires you to somewhat tailgate to minimize the overall passing distance when an opportunity does occur.

[johnn]

Thanks for the replies. I was curious what a GS500 would do accelerating from 50 to 80 for a quick pass - yes, one that exceeds the speed limit but one that puts the most room between you and traffic. My understanding so far in reading this forum is that the bike produces its best acceleration when the tach gets on the plus side of 7000 rpm.

[tt_four]

I used to pass people all the time when I was younger. Unless the cars are really close together, I still usually just pass 1 car at a time. There's no need to get greedy. The one thing I'll mention that I do differently that what other people here have described, is that I don't tail gate the car when I want to pass. That forces you to try and accelerate while you're passing, which is going to take you the longest amount of time to pass, considering you're going to start passing them at 50mph, and only hit 80 as you're pulling back into your lane. Back off a little, build up some speed so you're coming up behind them at 80mph, then just gracefully swoop around them and back into the lane. This way it only takes you half the time to pass them because the entire process is done at 80mph.

The other thing to factor in is road rage, and the fact that car drivers don't like being passed. You definitely want to do it as quickly as possible because of this as well. Sneak attack.

All that aside, I don't really pass cars much anymore. If someone's annoying me I just turn off on the next road and see where it takes me, or if it's a road I really like riding on, I may just pull over and wait. In general if you pass one person, you're going to come up behind someone else 2 turns later, and you're gonna waste the whole road trying to pass people anyway, plus I always hated that feeling of knowing that once I've passed someone, I feel obligated to go faster so they're not behind me anymore, which elevated my chances of crashing mid-turn, and the last person I want pulling up as I'm laying on the road, is the guy I just sped past.

[plurpimpin]

If you have to ask whether or not it's safe it's probably not. Go with your gut, if you think it's cutting it close then wait for a better time to pass.

[Adar]

If you know the road really well, you should know when the passing lanes are coming up.  What I always do when I'm passing someone in this situation is back way off sometime before the last turn leading to the straightaway.  Then you accelerate as much as you are comfortable with coming out of that last turn, closing the distance between you and the rearmost car.  Then when you hit the straightaway you are already up to speed so if it's safe to pass do it, if not you should have plenty of time to break.  When passing you always want to spend the minimum amount of time in the other lane, so definitely only pass one car at a time.

[007brendan]

There's a set of twisties by me that I usually run on weekends, and occasionally I'll get stuck behind a slow car, or set of cars.  I usually just pull over for a few minutes and let the cars get a couple miles ahead and then take off again.  Even if other cars pass me while I'm waiting, it really doesn't matter, because most cars are doing decent enough speed that I won't catch up to them for a while.  It's usually only one or two cars that are puttering along, and all the other cars will stack up behind them.

[ohgood]

Thanks for the replies. I was curious what a GS500 would do accelerating from 50 to 80 for a quick pass - yes, one that exceeds the speed limit but one that puts the most room between you and traffic. My understanding so far in reading this forum is that the bike produces its best acceleration when the tach gets on the plus side of 7000 rpm.

50-80 is good, puts a decent gap between passer and pass-e. buuuuut, i wouldn't do it in your situation. sounds like a two lane road, or even a three lane (two + passing lane for uphill bound traffic) and drivers tend to do REALLY DUMB things in this type of situation.

they -never- ever ever check their 6:30 when they get ready to pass, and if you're there, toot-toot peanut butter.

nice thread

[acid]

3rd gear, full throttle

[the mole]

OK, what I do when stuck behind a slow car that I want to pass is to change gears to keep the revs around 5500-6000. I'm not revving it unnecessarily, but if I see an opportunity I drop one gear and go. That'll put me right in the good power around 7000-7500, with enough rpm left to make the overtake without having to change up. There's no point in revving a stock GS past about 9500 as you're over the peak power there, but rather than change up in the middle of an overtake, that's one place I'll wind it out past 10,000.
If you putt along in 6th until you see a gap, you're going to have to change down 2 or 3 gears. That takes time, and leaves room for error in getting the right gear for the move.
Also, you shouldn't sit too close to the car in front. Be back a bit, and when you see a potential opportunity (say coming out of a bend on to a straight, but you can't yet see if its clear), you can start to accelerate. If it looks good (as you get a view down the straight), you keep going and you've started ahead of the game. If its not clear, you've got room to slow down again.
Could be worth going out with a friend and setting up some situations to see how the bike performs. I'd do it on a straight road, but have a mark where you 'have' to finish the overtake by. Keep the car at the same speed but each time start the overtake closer to the mark and see how much room you really need.

[kman]

+1 for 3rd

Stay back from someone slow if you are not in a good passing zone.  that way when you get to a straight you can accelerate in your lane before you have to pull out into the oncoming lane.  put your blinker on as you are closing and see if it seems like you can get by.  if you can't, brake so you dont rearend the slowpokes and if you can make it you should already be up close to you're 80 mark so passing them will be quick.

Keep in mind that if you are behind 2 cars, the car in front of you is interested (or should be) in passing the slow one in front and may be waiting for this same opportunity so watch out for a blinker.  The good thing is that cars tend to be lazy in their lane changes so even if they start to make a move just before you are going to pass, you will either have time to brake and let them pass first, or you will have time to get past them before they fully occupy the passing lane. 

[mister]

Disregarding your break in period because it's not that long...

I hang back a little. As I see the Gap in approaching traffic getting closer to me, I start to accelerate. This way, by the time the gap arrives I am already going faster than the vehicle in front.

You can see me do this overtaking a bus on this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqOvfEqEyUw (it's near the start). From memory, I was in 2nd when starting the move.

Depending on the speed of the vehicle I am passing, I will be in a different gear. For instance... In this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg6jTCuOe8Q at around 5:30 you'll see me overtaking a B Double truck. I do the entire maneuver in 3rd, changing up to 4th as I complete the pass. I was in 3rd for the approach because if the coast was not clear I could easily have slowed and still been in a good gear for following the truck

On this run http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlQfy3YXVJI at around 5:00 I overtake a car with caravan. I was in 4th the whole time and had to come back in at the start due to oncoming traffic. I stay on the other side of the road for a while because I had other riders behind me. Because I am in front I have the best vision of what is coming. It's easier for them to see me while I am on the other side of the road and they have a car in front of them. Thus, if I am on the other side of the road it must be clear for them to pass too.

My general take is, though.... twist the throttle and keep accelerating for the entire passing action, even if you are going faster and have time to complete the pass at a slower steadier speed. Screw that. I want it over and done with quickly. You never know what's coming the other way. Less time on the other side of the road the better.

The GS has two break in periods. The first - keep below 5,500 period. And the 2nd, don't go above 8k period. You ain't gonna do much quick passing in the 1st period - but it's over before you know it. The 2nd period you can pass cars easily without going over 8k. You just may need to do it in a higher gear. 4th instead of 3rd, for example.

Michael