[ThrottleJock]

I've had a few of these types of bikes over the years. DR350S (dual sport, where it all started), CBR F2 'fighter, 900RR 'fighter, CR500 motocrosser street-legalized (insane), KTM 640 Duke II 'tard, and now the 1000RR naked bike. I had a few normal plastic sportbikes in there too, but most of my street miles have been on this sort of upright bike. As such, my riding style has remained in my roots, I feel like I"m on a motocrosser at all times. Elbows up, chin over the bars, 'fighter stance. I split cars, if traffic's bad I take the sidewalk, I jump curbs, cut through 'lots, launch over railroad tracks and enjoy riding sportbikes offroad (gravel's fun). Am I the only whack job urban assaulter here? I hope not, I need some sort of rationalization for my behavior.

I realized i might have a problem when I found myself jumping my last bike (a fully faired Ducati 749) over this sweet little set of sidewalk ramp "doubles" I found in a K-Mart parking lot. If I hit it just right I could clear the gap and land smoothly on the downside of the second handicap ramp. The 1000RR is much better for this sort of thing, btw. It doesn't make any scary crunching noises.

 

[929_adam]

ahahah.

I've been known to take the sidewalk and jump curbs. theres a few great sets of rail road tracks in my hometown that ive hit a around 70...prawly got 20 feet of air at around 3-5'' high. ahaha. that was sketchy at first.
lane splitting is for sure...i dont like to slow down for cars. theyre too stupid and slow to see me and/or react in a timely matter so i just dont give them the option for either. go fast enough and they dont see you so you just work your way thru.
my pops used to split lanes in traffic in NY when he was young and people would try to open their doors on him. thats where i learned the old boot off their mirror trick. ahaha

:metal:

 

[BMiller]

I'll occasionally lane split, but I've been holding back since I lane split two cars on I-526 at 115mph the other day...........started thinking about the direction my life was heading:nuts: :LolLolLolLol:

Any of you ever have the cops witness this "sidewalk riding" cus I've been tempted, but the way the traffic is around here I don't think I'd really want to run (that and the bad roads) unless I had a vehicle I could leave the pavement with:LolLolLolLol:

 

[dogbreath]

Lanesplitting in Detroit was like... expected. People did in CARS. I can't wait to get back.

 

[ThrottleJock]

Yeah but the Miami cops are not a good judge of the way you would expect cops anywhere else in the world to react. They're more concerned with murderers and kilos than traffic violations around here. We do have moto cops but I've never had one come after me, they don't chase here. I can't imagine it would be very well recieved behavior most places.

Another good point though is that if the traffic's bad enough to warrant sidewalk surfing, it's very unlikely that a cop in a car would be able to catch you. I wouldn't make a habit of it on your commuting route though.

 

[ThrottleJock]

Lane splitting is A-OK here though. Not legal but most of the South Americans don't know what the lanes are for anyway and like Detroit, you see folks doing it in their cars!

 

[The Green Lantern]

ya dude,sidewaks and parks are a riders best friend,for shit like this the 929 was good but my ninja was better mt xt dosnt have near enough power
thats is why i wanna rob a bank so i can have enough money to buy a dr400sm

 

[dogbreath]

DR400SM is superior. I want one too

 

[929_adam]

+3

 

[ThrottleJock]

They look nice but not enough power. I mean they're not gutless but they've got so much brake and stick that they feel slow. Husky or Aprilia for SMs that actually GO. Even my old LC4 KTM was a dog. I'm a total power junkie though so maybe my opinion's :nuts:

 

[The Green Lantern]

meh,but then you gotta factor cost in it the dr i think is the best bang for your buck

 

[skr00zloose]

buy a 560smr and put lights on it. costa about the same i bet, and waaaay more fun than a drz. though i do kinda miss my old drz sometimes, and my duke, and my 7/12... and... and...and...

 

[Candyman]

I don't do much lane splitting or sidewalk riding, I think I value my life too much. If I run into gridlock on the highway I'll ride the curb around the traffic. I've had a trucker see me coming and try to pinch me tween his bumper and the gaurdrail. He almost succeeded too.

 

[sspazz]

around here (sunny SoCal) lane splitting is the norm.. everybody does it, including the cops. now sidwalk riding.. they might get mad

 

[ThrottleJock]

Yeah they try to pinch you off every once in a while. They almost never have the balls to commit though, and the whole attempted vehicular manslaughter thing gives me all the justification I need to break off their mirror or kick in their door on the way by. THey aren't going to catch you, they're stuck in traffic. I punched one guy's window out after a blatantly attempted squashing, I saw him looking in the mirror directly at me (and my headlight) and saw it coming. Legal or not, if you try to kill me with your car I'm going to fuck something up so you think twice about doing it next time. I hate how people that are complete pussies face to face are bad asses with a license to kill when they're in their car. I don't fuck up people's cars when they're just idiots (and there are plenty of them), but you can tell when the attempted pinch is intentional.

I only split at 5-10mph faster than traffic speed, and only when traffic is CREEPING. I don't feel safe splitting at high speeds, things happen too fast.

 

[ThrottleJock]

That sounded angry.

I'm really a nice guy. :honda:

 

[929_adam]

somethings make us all get angry. THAT is one of them for sure.

State Police in MA use the pinch as a pull over technique for bikes. this ****** ass lazy fuck cop pulled that shit on me one day when i was riding with my woman on back. he came flyin up next to me outta nowhere, edged forward a little then started just coming into my lane and pinching me between him and the guardrail. we pulled over alright. pulled over and gave that stupid bitch a earfull of screaming!

even better was he was trying to say i had been busting wheelies all the way down the highway...im like 'with my girl on the back??' you cops really dont know anything about bikes. why dont you take a look down the last exit and check out the 3 CBR's that got off before me with lots of chrome and chrome piss pot helmets.

yah we got an apology. and he never said shit about me riding with my girl on the back on a permit!

:rock:

 

[Guerrilla.1]

just stumbled across this site so i signed up, and decided to post. lane splitting and sidewalksurfing are both illegal here in the great white north, but it doesnt stop most of the hooligans. back in august there was an accident on the highway and some dumb ass cop tried to step in front of me to make me stop, while i was doing 45 down the white line between the rows of cars. he moved pretty quick when he realized i wasnt going to stop. gotta be careful of the plate though, i hang mine on with cable ties, when stopped it hangs down normally and looks legal, at speed it lifts due to wind and the cops can't track you down by your plate. sidewalk surfing though is outta the question, all the curbs are at least 8 inches in height/concrete/broken and mangled or there's some old fuck parked on it pick his nose. cops never chase here, 'cause everyone always pulls over, so they don't know what to do when you do run. i outran 2 cop cars on a hyosung 250 that wouldnt do more than 65mph, it cornered damn good though, twice around the city square and once through it. doesnt take much. but then an old lady took me out the next day, turned left in front of me, i didnt hit but the bike went down i gravel, s'alright the bike wasnt strong enough for me, bought a '97 ZX7-R and have been fightering it over the winter, i peeled of all the plastic on its maiden non-registered/licensed/insured flight, it's alot faster than my 250.

 

[The Green Lantern]

where do you live dude

 

[endo]

+1 to that, where you from man?! I'm telling ya, us Canucks are takin' over the joint. Welcome aboard man.

Back on topic--->
Truthfully, I RARELY lane split, unless it's warranted (ie. it's fuckin 45 degrees celsius outside and I'm in full gear). Most of the time I simply don't need to. The first time I did it, I was 15 cars back or so at a stop light, and my buddy (who I was riding with, I only had a permit) was at the front. I snuck up the middle to get beside him. I've never seen so many middle fingers and heard so many horns. People can be really uptight. Lane splitting, if done right, is harmless. The problem with Calgary would be changing the habits and opinions of people. I saw a guy swerve at a bike that was splitting on the highway...he no longer has a mirror on his volvo...