Newb traffic light question

[Bellboy1]

Related to my earlier post about riding to work for the first time, I feel a little silly asking but here goes.

Ok, so for the last 25 years I have paid attention to the existance of motorcycles in traffic, (Thanks to some good coaching early on), but now that I'm actually ON a motorcycle, I realized I didn't pay any attention to what they are actually DOING when I interact with them.

Let me explain. Yesterday I was sitting in rush hour traffic on the way home. At several stop lights, I had to go through a couple cycles of the light to get through. Typical stop and go stuff. Heres my question. Do you:

A. Power walk the bike forward as the cars move up?

B. Let a gap open and just ride forward?

C. Something else I'm overlooking?

I tried A and B and both felt awkward.

A. resulted in a reasonable gap to the car behind me and pumping the front brake seemed to keep them awake. ( A. worked OK but I thought the idea was to get feet up as soon as possible. Maybe not the case in stop and go?)

B. Seemed to encourage the car to speed up behind me beacause he was watching me instead of traffic and we would have to stop again rather quickly. (I didn't really care for B!)

I eargerly await your responses!

[redkow97]

B, but move forward as slowly as possible. You cna't control how much room the car behind you is leaving; so your only option is to control his pace.

if he's leaving 30 feet, then you can get up to 30 mph; if he's only leaving 10 feet, don't go above 10 mph.

You base your pace on the stopping distance he leaves.

...or split traffic to avoid being on and off the clutch constantly. But really, that should be in the back of your mind as an escape route.

[Wicked]

In for learning

[Bellboy1]

The splitting idea was my emergency eject plan! Most of the road was 2 lane but the car in front of me may have had a rider in it as he stayed way to the right seemignly on purpose. I also made sure to fill his rear and side mirrors on the left. That allowed a gap big enough that I could have pulled up on his left and still been in "my" lane and not across the yellow. Should the guy behind have gotten too close I was prepared to pull up there. Everyone was well behaved so I never felt like I was going to get run over, but I never let down my guard either.

I'm going to have to get better at the controlling the pace thing. Sometimes we were crawling, other times it would pick up a little for 20-30 feet.

[siggywiggy]

i would favor one side of the lane for sure. 1. it makes you stick out. 2. it tells the car behind you that BEWARE your sticking out and could turn either direction. I know when im in a car and a bike is off to the side. I tend to allow for more room than if the bike was in the middle

[Mykill]

I leave a fair amount of space between me and the other car. I let the clutch out slow to inch forward if/when I need to. I usually am to one side of the lane (whichever is easier or safer to "eject" to). I always watch the rearview and tap my brakes when someone is coming up behind me when I am stopped.

Sounds like you handled it well. Just keep riding, watching others and always leave an exit.

[gen3flygirl]

Always leave it in gear as well. It might be a pain in the ass to keep the clutch in but if you see someone coming up behind you at a stop you want to GTF as fast as you can.

[CBBaron]

Just feather the clutch. You should be able to move with the vehicles around you. If they move sufficiently then you can get your feet up. If its only a car length then you just leave you feet down like pontoons. I find I can ride at a walking pace or slower without difficultly once youve practiced some.

Craig

[chevysoldier]

I favor the left side of the lane normally. I can see far ahead and if a car runs up my ass, I can move forward and the car will hit the car in front of me and not hit me.

[swingset]

i would favor one side of the lane for sure. 1. it makes you stick out. 2. it tells the car behind you that BEWARE your sticking out and could turn either direction. I know when im in a car and a bike is off to the side. I tend to allow for more room than if the bike was in the middle

This for sure. You don't want right in the middle in traffic. A fender bender even at low speeds can crush you. If you're way off to one side, you might get bumped but you'll fall out or into space rather than be pinned. It also leaves you area to skidaddle out of there if you see something barrelling down on you.

Also, try to get better at keeping your revs up a bit and keeping your feet up on the pegs. The bike will balance, you don't need to dog-paddle the bike. As you ride more, you should be able to keep the bike hovering on two wheels pretty much indefinitely. This practice will make you faster on takeoff in an emergency, too.

[Beegreenstrings]

Left side of the lane is most visible. Most of the time, you need to think of driving, that is the one spot that no matter what the person in front of you and behind you will be able to see you the easiest.

As for the clutch thing. Feather it through in stop and go. No reason to be all excited to get some where. You know you are not going anywhere fast until you hit the freeway.

[Jamez]

Thanks for starting this post, very informative on what others are doing

On a side note how do you feel about flipping up your visor in stop and go traffic to try and stay cool and well ventilated? I assume its ok to do this but that's only a noobs assumption.

[chevysoldier]

Thanks for starting this post, very informative on what others are doing

On a side note how do you feel about flipping up your visor in stop and go traffic to try and stay cool and well ventilated? I assume its ok to do this but that's only a noobs assumption.

I flip mine up all the time while in town. Usually I have sunglasses on so the bugs stay out, but it helps to cool me down a little.

[swingset]

Thanks for starting this post, very informative on what others are doing

On a side note how do you feel about flipping up your visor in stop and go traffic to try and stay cool and well ventilated? I assume its ok to do this but that's only a noobs assumption.

Hell mine is almost never down! I need the air cause I have anger issues.

[C-bus]

I found that I learned the most (and continue to learn ) by riding with others and picking up a little here and there. Don't overthink it.

[wicked94s10]

I have ridden for 13 years and still continue to learn new things. Riding with others is a very good way to learn both what to do and sometimes what not to do

[Likwid]

depending on the volume and how pissed I am I'll either take B or shoulder/split my way to the front

[Bellboy1]

No problem on the post. Since mistakes can be deadly on a motorcycle, I'd rather ask the questions so I have a plan and know what to do in new situations. As in flying you start with an empty bag of experience and a bag of some luck, but you don't know how much. Trick is to fill the experience bag without ever running out of the luck!

Advice from experienced riders is good too. Problem is when you are starting out and making contacts with riders you don't know very well. There are plenty of riders I know that have habits I DON'T want to emulate either!

On the visor I have now done both, but was glad I had it down at speed when I hit a bug.

[swingset]

Advice from experienced riders is good too. Problem is when you are starting out and making contacts with riders you don't know very well. There are plenty of riders I know that have habits I DON'T want to emulate either!

That's a healthy attitude. I've always been quick to tell riders to stay the hell away from group rides and riders of unknown experience when they're starting out. It's hard enough to get all your senses and mechanics in concert at first...and most riders will lead you by default (not always the most helpful).

If you have someone who rides that's skilled and understands your skill level, lead while they follow too...they can observe and you won't fall prey to instincts like trying to keep up or mirror them too closely.

Then, switch off and try to watch their mechanics but from a safe distance, never be afraid of letting them go and riding well behind. It's very "male" of us to not wanna be the pokey fuck in the back, but more riders have creamed themselves riding over their head than any other single factor.

I'm probably not loved here for saying it, but the group rides on this site should serve as a healthy warning of that. I've read about a LOT of guys wadding themselves up on these group rides because of that very thing. Go out with a group of guys of unknown skills, ride like hell, and a turn bites you because you're focused on all the wrong things and riding over your head's ability to cope.

There's nothing wrong with riding in a group, don't get me wrong, but I think you should work up to it not start there....but I think you've got that part figured out.

Anyway, good luck and stay safe!

[Bellboy1]

Finding good mentors seems key. I have a good mentor that I have not even been able to ride with but has a few years of experince herself. She gives me great advice all the time based on my new experinces and millions of questions. The key for me is that she thinks in similar terms as myself, makes common sense judgements and is not afraid to point out where I may have screwed up. She is also not so experinced that she has forgotten what it is like when you are first learning. It is too bad she lives so far away, so we can't really ride together. ( She just joined OR BTW) It was even nicer that she is the previous owner of my bike and has kept in contact with me to coach me along.

So now I'm trying to figure out who to go riding with. There is only so much you can ask on forums and there is no subsitute for real world riding and coaching. That is why MSF is so good because they point stuff out right when it happens and how to fix it. Problem is the instructors are not with you in the middle of traffic when you are trying to figure out OK what do I do now, they didn't talk about this in class? Several OR riders have offered fill this gap to go ride, so I am reading old posts from them, trying to figure out what their riding viewpoints are and soon I'll PM some that seem to fit with my own views on riding. I agree that a large group ride seems the wrong way to get over the first part of the learning curve.

If you already know good riders tap into their knowledge, but also temper it knowing that experience alone does not always mean a person will make a good teacher.

[RSparky]

to add to the traffic light thing, i try to keep the car behind me, close. as in, don't leave him when there's a gap, but slowly accelerate, so he can just let off the brakes and stay right behind me. this discourages cars in other lanes from trying to cut him off and accelerate to "gain" a spot in line.

also, never stop in the middle of an intersection. like when the light is red at the next intersection, but the one right above you is green, and you're just waiting to go... if that happens and you're already in, i'd scoot up next to the cars in front of you just to get out of the way.

[Bellboy1]

Good plan on getting stuck in the intersection Sparky. I didn't have that happen the other day, but it certainly could have. I would have had to improvise because I know I did not have a plan for that, but I don't think I would have just sat there as a target either!!