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[Specter]

electric is a heaven sent when you get stuck in traffic, it's not belching up all the fumes and heat from the engine while you are sitting in traffic.  This also means it is not wanting to overheat either, because it's not moving.  It's also not burning up gas just sitting. I have a little usb fan I can plug in and put the thing behind my wind shield to blow up at my face a little bit when it's just awful totally still out and im stuck more sitting that riding.

aaron

[Motoproponent]

Say what you want about "Commiefornia", "Californistan", or whatever other snowflake melting pwn of the libs.....

Lanesplitting, like real deal european style lanesplitting not just some watered down "filtering" allowance, makes up for all of it.

[Specter]

Until porksword spitting his tabaccer wad out, opens the car door to do and pow, hello Morgan and Morgan.

How does lane splitting work when there are 40 bikes all up front, spaced between all the cars, waiting for the light to change?  Guarantee you even in your 'commiefornia' there is going to be more than one car driver saying F that and moving all the way over in 'his' lane to be a dick about it.  It's in their nature.

aaron

[flynnstig82r]

There have been many studies done on lanesplitting, and it results in big reductions in motorcycle fatalities. Additional minor crashes, but fewer serious or fatal ones. Getting rear-ended, especially at highway speeds when there’s a stopped car in front of you, is one of the most dangerous and most common types of car-on-motorcycle crashes, and rear-end crashes are a lot less common where lane splitting is legal, and this holds in the US and around the world.

Sure, drivers act like dicks sometimes and you have to be ready for that, but they do that even when you stay in the lane. The scariest near-misses I’ve had while riding were almost all when I wasn’t lanesplitting. The only places in California where drivers freak out about lanesplitters and drive aggressively are places where they’re not used to seeing it. It’s like bike lanes. When the lanes first go in and hardly anyone bicycles, some people act like maniacs when they see a cyclist, but when lots of people are biking no one even thinks about them or cares.

[DonTom]

There have been many studies done on lanesplitting, and it results in big reductions in motorcycle fatalities. Additional minor crashes, but fewer serious or fatal ones. Getting rear-ended, especially at highway speeds when there’s a stopped car in front of you, is one of the most dangerous and most common types of car-on-motorcycle crashes, and rear-end crashes are a lot less common where lane splitting is legal, and this holds in the US and around the world.

Sure, drivers act like dicks sometimes and you have to be ready for that, but they do that even when you stay in the lane. The scariest near-misses I’ve had while riding were almost all when I wasn’t lanesplitting. The only places in California where drivers freak out about lanesplitters and drive aggressively are places where they’re not used to seeing it. It’s like bike lanes. When the lanes first go in and hardly anyone bicycles, some people act like maniacs when they see a cyclist, but when lots of people are biking no one even thinks about them or cares.

I don't see how that can be an issue with legal/illegal lane splitting. Anybody with common sense when they must stop suddenly will look to the rear. If illegal to lane split for a car or two, why should anybody care when it is your life at stake? Should make no difference at all where lane splitting is illegal compared to legal. Break the law to save your own life.


I often lane split in CA, such as yesterday on the way to Reno while in CA. Lots of road construction and single lanes cause a big line until the single lane. I was glad I was NOT in a car because the lane splitting saved me perhaps more than an hour of being stuck in traffic. I noticed many of the cars and trucks saw me coming and moved away from the center to give more room. CA car drivers are used to the lane splitters and often try to help.  But too often two trucks can be stopped in front with not enough room between them. But that usually only lasts a couple of minutes until one lane moves enough.


I am sure glad of the legal lane splitting in CA. It is NOT legal here in NV, but I am only 15 miles from CA, where I do most of my riding.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[ddennis669]

Until porksword spitting his tabaccer wad out, opens the car door to do and pow, hello Morgan and Morgan.

How does lane splitting work when there are 40 bikes all up front, spaced between all the cars, waiting for the light to change?  Guarantee you even in your 'commiefornia' there is going to be more than one car driver saying F that and moving all the way over in 'his' lane to be a dick about it.  It's in their nature.

aaron

First of all, my Experia is my favorite motorcycle.

Regarding Lane Splitting, there are a lot of motorcycles in California but 40 bikes at one light would be kind of incredible to see. Fortunately for us the CHP has always used lane splitting as a tool to move through traffic. It's rare that I see a motor cop on a freeway that is not splitting. I think that has conditioned a level of courtesy/respect/fear among car drivers to motorcycles approaching in their mirrors. Plus Intentionally blocking or impeding a motorcyclist in a way that could cause harm to the rider is illegal here. While I don't have a daily commute, when I need to split, I always encounter cars that move out of my path. I have yet to encounter an act of intentionally blocking motorcycles.

[Motoproponent]

I've been moto commuting in the Bay Area for 30 years. I can count on one hand the number of times a cager has been aggressive towards me. And when it happened I was being a 20-something and kicking the hornets nest. (loud revving, pushing mirrors, other entitled dick young sportbiker shit)

Generally speaking the moto passes through the cager's life in a matter of seconds and there isn't really enough time for intentional, premeditated actions like opening doors or blocking passage. Its hard for people that don't live in a place with a developed moto-culture, like California or Europe, where most drivers expect you to be splitting between the 1 and 2 lanes.

As many motos as there are in California I've never seen more than 5 or 6 coalesce in the wild (other than organized and advertised group rides and rallies). The 40 bikes scenario isn't a thing unless a parade permit is involved. Most riders know that if you split to the front of the light, you move over to the right or left to allow the split to feed a line up of bikes between the limit line and the cross walk. At the green the bikes are through the intersection before the cars behind them cross the cross walk. The information campaign has been effective letting cagers know what's legal. Only in states where its not legal have I had the enforcement minded driver that's going to teach the biker a lesson and try to keep them in their place.

Back to the original post, the Experia is really perfect for this area. I never have trouble finding chargers when I travel. The Adv bike stance is really great for negotiating traffic, ditto for the torque available at any legal speed. The headlight configuration is unique enough (dual lights with the lighted "eyebrows") to be noticeable in the side mirrors of cars in front of me. Leaving the house with a "full tank" every day is so much more convenient than living life with my old KTM 1190 Adv. It's the favorite bike of all the ones I've ever owned.

[Specter]

Im not against  lane splitting, it makes a lot of sense to me, just that i see a hard time making it work in states like Florida.  Half these fucking nitwits can't stay in their own lanes to begin with, they are too busy looking at their phones to actually drive or pay attention to whats going on around them.  Then when you do get traffic jams, pretty much every day starting at about 302 pm, I can easily see some jackass in a car, sitting in traffic, 2 blocks from the light, seeing a biker slithering up between rows of cars, doing something because he's angry.  Much of that is probably because lane splitting IS illegal here, but i digress.

On the same note though, since there are so 'few' bikes on the road as you state that they'd not pile up at a street light, then why even bother with the lane splitting?  why give one or two people special privelige?  Is that really going to help solve traffic issues?  I see so many bikers always demanding it, and have to ask, is it really beneficial to the overall situation, or just giving YOU a break?

Aaron

[princec]

Because a lot of us ride bikes to work precisely because we can filter, as it means we have a reasonable expectation of arriving at our destinations at the exact time we expect to, instead of say an hour late because some fool has broken down on the A37 at the top of Pylle Hill causing a 2 mile tailback.

If we couldn't filter, that takes away one of the primary reasons to ride a bike - the other ones being, it's somewhat more environmentally friendly overall, it's fun, it's free to park, and in a very specific small set of circumstances, slightly cheaper.

So if your primary reason for putting up with constant near-death experiences, getting soaked a few days a year, getting roasted a few days a year, usually some other form of discomfort depending on your bike, is not legal, you'd say, "Fuck it" and take the car. And then there's one more car in the way, and it's 50/50 as to whether it's in front of you or behind you.

The take I have on it is that every bike I see on the road is one less car probably in everyone's way. Or in my case until recently, a 2-tonne diesel-burning pickup. I hope my fellow commuters are thanking me every day I don't drive that in front of them any more.

Cas

[Pard]

The reverse function on this bike is so unique and so helpful.

It was one of the top 3 reasons I chose it over any other electric motorcycle.

Energica does not spend enough marketing energy on getting that out there.

Every time I show it off my riding buddies laugh out loud.

[Specter]

Oh it's super helpful,  yah they laugh, then you watcht them wrestling their hogs trying to get them turned around, occasionally dropping one, whereas you just do the F and R and are where you need to be.

I just with the reverse had a little more ass to it, for getting the bike in and out of a chock, and the forward, the speed is juuuust enough to get you into trouble with.  Not quite fast enough to be steady and just fast enough to get you to tip if you turn wrong or hit a bump wrong or something while maneuvering it, so gotta be careful.

Aaron