Bikers.

[Iain]

Had a run in with a biker about 20 mins ago. Still can't quite figure out what happened. I'm definitely at fault in part, if not the greater part and being unwilling to argue with the guy and there having been no accident I just apologised and left it at that.

Basically, pulled into my road, which is supposed to be a quiet side street off a busier road. Traffic was busy on that road and as I pulled off two cars came off with me to use it as a cut through. There are cars parked both sides and further down it narrows to being one car width only. Got to the house with these cars behind me and pulled over to the right where the drive is (remember we drive on the left) to let them pass so I could then manouevre my way in reverse. up the steep and sharp turn that is the driveway.

Realised I was going to have to pull forward and looked and then did so. Quickly selected reverse, looked and turned in reverse so that my front end swung out a little into the road. Hear brakes and a motorcycle appears on my left hand side and just about slows enough to avoid hitting me in the bonnet/front tire region. He swears at me and drives off. I park up, he returns and tells me that I don't look for bikes, which is probably in part true. We part on somewhat less expletive ridden terms.

Thing is - I have no idea where he came from. He says he locked his brakes - does that mean he was doing any speed, or can that happen on a bike at low speeds when needing to brake hard? Secondly, I was in the middle of the road, a quiet road, with my reverse lights on and he tried to pass me on my left. Yes I should probably have seen him, but I'm not sure that he was wise to even attempt this. Thirdly, pretty sure he was another cut througher.

Probably going to get told exactly what I did wrong, but maybe I need to hear it - so, thoughts?

[gunsmith]

Iain I guess he is a new rider, but you have to turn your head and look as you back up.

everybody knows that Harleys so slow they can't hardly get out of their own way.

with most of the current crop of yuppie riders, that is very true.

One time on hway 101 from the airport to sf city I was in a "race" with an outlaw, rush hour traffic and we were both lane splitting at 70 to 90mph
he passed me finally because he really was faster and crazier than I was.

most times I won my little races, mostly because I was a motorcycle courier and drove at top speed for a living.

a normal day was start off in SF, ride to Sac over to Modesto, pick up again in SF and end the day in Santa Cruz.

I loved it when I finally got a pick up truck and didn't have to worry about dying because some idiot couldn't use mirrors or made an illegal left.
I just continue on and if they smack into me then they can pay for damage.
Funny, they always seemed to wake up in time.

[xavier fremboe]

Was it on a weekend?
 
Around here, you get a lot of "bikers" wearing new leathers and boots, riding new $30K+ bikes, with their wife-types riding bitch... Oh, they bad, they bad...
 
And you get a few of them together on the road, it's like they grow attitude. And since they tend to meet at bars, well... As they day goes, the attitude grows... They may have been going five under the limit under the mistaken beloof that izsafferwhen you is schnocked to skid offa da road slowerish....
 
They're the folks who'll trailer the bikes to Sturgis or Daytona.
 

Tough to say.  They were all Harley's and no Geezerglides.  From the looks of the guy that that had the primary 'problem', these didn't look like the guys taking the weekend off from Merrill Lynch to go on a run.  The Hill Country is an interesting mix of retired folks and old hippies.  These cats didn't look like a bunch of investment bankers.  If they did, I would have passed them.  As it was, they were being jackholes and preventing any of us four-wheelers from going past them, or even going the speed limit.  On a 5 hour drive, it gets pretty old pretty quick.  I run up on them fairly frequently, and try to time my gas/#1 breaks to allow me room to run.  I've got the 34 in the front seat, but there's no reason to start a problem.

From the sounds of the posts, I just need to take my car vs. SWMBO's and we won't have an issue.  I'll just blow past them.

[gunsmith]

I've noticed the same kind of jerks in Reno, I understand slow driving and all, but do that in the slow lane!

[Monkeyleg]

"He says he locked his brakes - does that mean he was doing any speed, or can that happen on a bike at low speeds when needing to brake hard?"

Locking up your brakes can happen at low or high speed. Most bikes don't have anti-lock brakes, so stomping on the brakes in a panic stop will lock them up. This often results in the rear wheel losing traction and flipping all over the road, and sometimes results in the bike going down. It's no fun.

"I've noticed the same kind of jerks in Reno, I understand slow driving and all, but do that in the slow lane!"

That reminds me of one trip where I was coming down US 50 from Lake Tahoe into Carson City. I'm sure you know the road, Gunsmith. It's three lanes in either direction, with a nice gentle grade and sweeping turns.

This time, though, the road was being repaired, and the pavement was grooved. OK, so don't take it at maximum speed. Still, it was enjoyable until I saw a guy on a brand new HD riding in the bicycle lane at about 10 mph, terrified of the grooved pavement.

[Iain]

Well, I walked out on to the road a while later and looked at the situation again. A car coming up behind me would have had to stop, I was in the middle of the road (supposedly quiet residential road) and had my reverse lights on.

The only further encroachment that I made, the only way that I took up more room on the left hand side of the road was the minor swinging out of the front end during the reverse. So he tried to nip through a small gap around a reversing vehicle. I'm thinking that yes, I should have seen him and I did look in that direction but failed to register him which is bad, but he wasn't an innocent party.

If I came up that road and saw a car where I was, with reverse lights on, I would hang back until they had made their move, not try and cut around them at any speed. Polite and safer. Doubly so if I was on a bike, because he was quite right - car drivers are bad at spotting bikes, and I'd be taking that into account.

[De Selby]

If I came up that road and saw a car where I was, with reverse lights on, I would hang back until they had made their move, not try and cut around them at any speed. Polite and safer. Doubly so if I was on a bike, because he was quite right - car drivers are bad at spotting bikes, and I'd be taking that into account.

While I try to watch for them also, it's a fact that they're just plain harder to see due to size...

Definitely not wise to use the small size to fit in where other drivers wouldn't expect a vehicle to appear, imo.  Good thing for both of you that no one was hurt.

[86thecat]

They're called Newbies and ride in packs because they're afraid to go out on the road alone. Mostly a bunch of weenies who never had the brass to ride when they were young and now that they've had a mid life crisis think the HD logo will grow them a set. Where can I get a sticker with a bunch of piglets nursing on a sow with a red slash through it?