Passed R-E, Lane Splitting

[incon]

Passed my R-E about 3wks ago now . This week was the first week that I had used my bike to get to work and back everyday. The pervious weeks I avoided riding with days with forecasted bad weather.

I travel from Armadale to Osborne Park and back everyday and I go down the Freeway. At the moment I only Lane split stopped or very slow moving traffic with myself passing between the traffic slowly. Getting in the way of other bikes lane splitting.

Any tips on safe lane splitting would be nice.

[Bradlze]

safe tip would be get out of my way is your not splitting and I want to
haha
spoken about lots of times on here
but my biggest tip is if its banked up and theres a spot where a car could fit in be very very careful when splitting past it
9 times out of 10 somebody will rip there steering wheel to get into the spot before it closes up
keep your eyes open!! never get distracted!

[lo1ux]

high beams always on when i split, pay attention and dont go outside your comfort zone.

[Murley]

Re: Bradlze's post, so true, look out for gaps which give cars an opportunity to change lanes and keep your eyes peeled for driver body language, you can tell when they're about to move before they reach for the indicator/turn the wheel... and be mindful of other splitters behind you, also cover your front brake when it gets a little hairy, and if you really want tuck your mirrors in for a bit of extra room to move (please don't take that last suggestion seriously!)

lo1ux: my comfort zone with splitting is getting a little scary! Down the freeway nowadays it feels like the cars are in reverse, I think I'm pushing it a little too much but man I love splittin, I'm just not sure what I'm doing is acceptable...

Has anyone crashed splitting? I can imagine there would be a HUGE mess...

[Shortfuse]

If you can split cars when parked, you can split at speed. In reality you are only doing a couple of clicks faster than them anyway. Eyeball the drivers in their mirrors and ride through. You are doing the right thing by being cautious, coz I know that I am a bit of a road nazi sometimes (read:alot) and push it a bit silly.

Dont do this coz it is against the law, but if you were boxed in by 2 old men in hats driving volvo's, side by side on the freeway, you could split them as the risk of them changing lanes on you is minimalised by the presence of the other car. It gets a little silly when the traffic is heavy, staggered and you are doing 30+ faster and splitting.

If in doubt, stick to what you are comfortable doing. It will all come with time.

Originally Posted by Murley

Has anyone crashed splitting? I can imagine there would be a HUGE mess...

Not crashed, but had the front tyre of my fatboy BUZZZZZ the rear bumper of a Statesman as it changed lanes infront of me. I think a bit of poo came out that time.

[duffman]

highbeams on.
low (loud) gear.
take extra care when there is a gap big enough for a car to fit into.
stay off the white lines. especially when its wet/damp.
a car will sometimes drift over in its lane a little before flying across. watch out for that.
after a while you learn to read teh traffic.
dont split at high speeds, and dont split more than 20-30km/h faster than traffic is moving.
keep an eye out for bikes coming up behind you, and move over for them.
if your brain isnt 100% there, dont do it.

ive crashed splitting. within 6 months of getting first bike.
i share the responsibility. too fast, white line, damp road.
other factors being that the guy didnt look, nor indicate.

[DAVA]

I'm probably guilty of splitting at too high a speed sometimes. The more you do it the more your confidence grows. Sometimes your confidence grows more than it should and a reassessment of the risk is required.

I am very mindful of gaps bid enough for cars though, as has been said before. And high beams and as low a gear as possible. A loud zorst helps too.

[vegie]

Hey Dava, saw you going Freeway North last night (Fri) around 5:45pm, splitting quite safety I thought!

[DAVA]

Originally Posted by vegie

Hey Dava, saw you going Freeway North last night (Fri) around 5:45pm, splitting quite safety I thought!

good to hear! Obviously didn't see me splitting at 95 then? j/k

But seriously, sometimes i split nice and smoothly, just a little faster than the traffic, then look at the speedo and think *mmm* maybe a bit too fast. I try to keep it below 70 ish

[thro]

Originally Posted by incon

Any tips on safe lane splitting would be nice.

1. Watch driver's mirrors / heads so you can see them when they're looking over about to move on you.
2. Watch out for side streets/gaps in traffic that a cage may decide to move across your path and into
3. Don't try and split faster than you are comfortable with.
4. Cover your brakes so you're ready to stop in a hurry if required.
5. Trust NO ONE

edit:
Yes your confidence grows. Depending on how big the space is, i'll filter at anywhere between 20 and 50km/h through stationary traffic, am a bit more conservative when splitting moving traffic though.

I'll tend to wait a little bit behind a car, see if they move over either to let me through or block, then make the call on whether to split. If I decide to go for it, it's a fistful until i'm in the clear... doing this i have noticed that a reasonable number of drivers actually move out of your way if you're there long enough for them to see you.

[evo9ace]

if you make a mistake, have a blow out, engine lock up or a car drifts into you it is more than likely you will get pulled under a car/truck and die with the pictures to end up on the internet.
so yeh +1 to not going outside your comfort zone.
and in peak hour traffic it is still safer than sitting in a lane waiting fro some dickhead to run into the back of you or change lanes into you

[Anneliese77]

No need to do 100k and hour up the middle. Just cruise and check ya mirrors for other bikes. My bike is loud so hearing oncoming bikes is bit of a test.
Good luck.
Cheers

[frazcat]

cover your breaks and just watch all drivers movements within the car!

[Maxo]

Peak hour lanesplitting along the freeway can get a bit hairy.. so why not make a game out of it and try and race the train.



(what i meant to say was; apply a bit of common sense and only split if you are comfortable)

[vbroom]

^ extra points if you do it on the back wheel

[theblackman]

i've seen people on the bit of the freeway that goes into perth that splits off onto the graham farmer (heaps of lane changing happening) split at probably 50-60kmh over the limit in peak hour traffic. that is nuts.

[Farkass]

well having just come back from singapore where riders seem to ride in a perpetual lane split i must say that on the whole i think however u split, as long as its sensible and within your own riding capabilities should suffice just fine ^^

[g0zer]

cover the front brake :p

[Jedi]

For me splitting came with time, but if you're like me and you like to shift into neutral and take your hands off the bars at the lights, learn not to do this while splitting, because if you fail to anticipate when the lights change and it happens sometimes you end up either holding up traffic or having cars take off either side of you. Most people are already a bit annoyed at you for splitting, at least make sure you aren't going to hold them up. Just sit in first gear with the clutch in like you're about to launch. In the same vein, learn the traffic light sequence so you can get an even better launch. Try not to get distracted, even if you are ready to go and you miss the lights going green you can end up with cars either side of you as you take off, especially on the 250.

Another good point is that on the 250 you aren't the fastest thing in the world, you will beat the average car & driver but a fast-ish car and a driver who knows how to take off will beat you. Just keep it in mind, don't pull up next to a GTR Skyline and expect to be ahead of him, you'll probably have to pull in behind unless he waits for you to take off first.

[padfoot]

Originally Posted by Maxo

Peak hour lanesplitting along the freeway can get a bit hairy.. so why not make a game out of it and try and race the train.



(what i meant to say was; apply a bit of common sense and only split if you are comfortable)

+1

That train does more than the advertised 130km/h down the freeway too! Hoon train drivers!