- What is a Cage?
- A cage is a car.
- What can I do about tailgaters?
- On a multilane freeway, let them pass and tailgate someone else.
On a single-lane road, pull over at a safe opportunity and let them
pass. They may be looking for a tree to hit.
If none of these things can work, drop your left hand as in the "braking"
hand signal. As long as you're riding at a reasonable speed for traffic
conditions and you're not tailgating anyone either, they usually get
the idea and back off.
- How can I tell I’m following at the right distance?
- Use the two-second rule. When the vehicle ahead of you passes an object
on the side of the road, count “One one throusand, two one thousand.”
If you don't pass the object until after you're finished counting, your
following distance is fine. With practice, you get good at judging proper
following distance at any speed. In the rain or with a passenger or
at night, you might want to increase it to the three-second rule. In
the absence of another vehicle, you can use the Vanishing
Point to start counting.
- Why don’t Harley riders wave?
- Perhaps because they think you got the wrong kind of motorcycle. The
ones who know aren’t talking.
- What is it with Harley-Davidson motorcycles?
- I don't know. Maybe if you took a test
ride. (Requires Shockwave.)
- When should I wave?
- When it’s safe. For instance, not in a turn and not when you’re
concentrating on traffic. Some people don't
wave at anyone (For some reason this essay gets reposted on rec.motorcycles
a lot. Perhaps people think it's never been seen before.)
- What is a Squid?
- Someone who assumes more risk when riding than the person calling the name thinks is reasonable.—saddlebag at aol.com
- squid (skwid) n. 1. a motorcyclist who exaggerates his riding
ability by attempting dangerous tricks. 2. a motorcyclist who wears
grossly inadequate safety gear, typically shorts, T-shirt, and flip-flops.
[Naval term for young sailor; typically one on leave with money to spend
on a motorcycle. Believed to be an acronym for Stupid, Quick, and Inevitably
Dead. Or Super QUick, Inadequately Dressed. Which is why I don't mkut
much faith in acronyms as sources of words.]
- Yes, “squid” is a pejorative term, whether in its original
usage for referring to members of the Navy by other members of the armed
forces, or in its current usage of referring to those riders of sportbikes
of limited talent and overarching recklessness. Should you be concerned
that he’ll bust you in the chops? No. He’s wearing sandals,
shorts, a T-shirt and baseball cap on backwards: if he tries to punch
you, grab the hem of his shirt and pull it over his head. While he’s
blinded, stomp on his unprotected feet with your own engineer boot-clad
real-motorcyclist feet. Now that he’s hopping around on one foot
with his shirt over his head, knock him over, pants him, take his bike
for a spin and dump it in a ditch. You’re saving him the trouble
of running it into the ditch himself, and a lot of road-rash besides,
and you get a ride on a nice bike out of it for your trouble!
Take the Squid
Self Assessment Test. Or take The
Official, Sanctioned DoD Squid Purity Test
- How can I communicate with other motorcyclists?
- There are several hand signals you can use.
- To oncoming bikers: Hand palm down, fingers undulating below:
squid alert!
- To bikers with you: Pointing frantically down at something on
own bike: there’s something wrong on your bike, pull over and
take a look!
- Hand slicing across neck: shut your engine off so we can talk.
- Arm straight down, palm facing backwards: stop: I need to pee.
- Point to mouth: I’m hungry; let’s eat.
- Point to gas tank: I need to get gas.
- Hand on helmet: Cops ahead.
- How can I maintain my right of way?
- Here lies the grave of Mike O’Day.
He died maintaining his right of way.
His right was clear,
His will was strong,
But he's as dead as if he’d been wrong.
—Bowman
- Why the heck are some people so inclined as to take exits at the very
last moment?
- A bird sings, Grasshopper, and a dog barks.—Bozo
- What are traffic conditions on California freeways?
- Check SigAlert.Com
(San
Francisco - Los
Angeles - San
Diego)
Know any more pages like these? Let
me know!
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