Lane Splitting 101

[sportrider]

this thread is an instructional aid on how to lane split.(use at your own risk, FZ6-Forum.com or any of the staff are not responsible for any injuries or damage that is incurred attempting to master the skill being discussed in this thread, how ever we will take our fair share of the glory after you have mastered this skill.)

Lesson #1
master the mental side of this first, despite what your self defense mechanism is telling you, if there is enough room for your shoulders between the cars your bike will fit. (unless you're anorexic then use the bar ends as a reference point) I say "shoulders" because people tend to judge by using their mirrors. mirrors will fold in if you clip a car while splitting. it's a common fact that most passenger cars mirrors will be lower than your bar ends, on the other side of the spectrum, most truck and SUV mirrors will be taller than your bar ends. why do I tell you this? simple really, just for fun see how close you can actually get to your car and still have ample room to dip the bike side to side. closer then you thought? in reality freeway lanes are 12 feet wide, the average full size SUV or pickup is under 8 feet (including mirrors) leaving 4 feet of available lane. put two pickups side by side, even if they're centered in the lanes there is still 4 feet of room. your bike takes less then 3 feet, that leaves you a foot to work with. let me ask you this, can you walk through a doorway without hitting the door jam? like I said master the mental side. once you're in the right mindset everything else is easy.

Lesson #2
master the single track line. to those of you who ride dirt bikes this will make perfect sense. for the rest of the people, what this means is, despite what you think all you need is a trail wide enough for your tires(still talking dirt bikes here) I've ridden ridge lines no wider than a few inches at high speed with out losing it because of controlling the bike. think about the pro racers they can run extreme speeds lap after lap hitting the same spot at brake points, turn in, and exit with in thousands of an inch. practice putting your bike exactly where you want it. example; ride on the shadow of a power line in the street. I could give more but you get the idea. once you have honed your skill, start off with slow speed "filtering" at signal lights.



Lesson #3
learn your mass. after you understand the minimum gap you need, and you are confident in your precision riding, your ready to start on moving targets. I recommend starting with compact cars and in small numbers, as in two cars side by side. nothing in front of them, that way once you've cleared them you are in the clear. be committed, once you decide to split traffic, adjust your speed to cleanly overtake the pack. there is no reason to just hang out in cage sandwich, get in and get out.

Lesson #4
watch for a gap between cars, don't get tunnel vision after splitting a bunch of cars side by side, always look for a gap between the cars that might be inviting some cager to change lanes in front of you. beware of semi trailers they can wander quite a bit in there lanes, assuming you've got room can put you in a real squeeze. be sure or don't do it!!!


like everything else in riding this is an acquired skill, it may not always be necessary to use but in a pinch it's a nice skill to have in your bag if you ever need it.

always ride safe and don't be a squid always wear your gear!!!

Excellent brief and very informative but I would like to see a paragraph about the defensive pictures not here. And example of this would be riding in the gap where cages are all lined up nice and pretty. Things start moving and a gap in the line in front of you opens up either on the right or left lane to you. This gap would not normally be long enough for a cage to fit in but watch that idiot try to fit a 20 foot long cage in a slot that is 15 foot long which means that driver has just cut off your single line path and if you don't catch it (see it coming) you are toast.

Split traffic between Riverside and Orange County on the 91 freeway for many years. This is a great heads up. I would suggest learning to do it when all vehicles around you are stopped. Splitting when they are moving opens up a whole different world.

Thanks,
Charlie

PS: I miss the hell out of it too....

[sportrider]

there is so much technique I could discuss here once I actually start thinking about it, it's hard to just narrow it down to the basics. like you stated moving traffic, ups the ante. but with confidence and control most traffic can be split. I should have also mentioned some cagers will hug the line when they see you coming, even with that happening it normally makes the other cage feel crowded and move over in their lane opening the door for you. one trick that I actually used today is, juke them a little, I had this dude determined not to let me pass so I faked like I was going to pass him on the right, when he tried to block me I went left and passed him anyway. it all comes down to skill and common sense. the skill to make the pass and the common sense when to just wait for the openings to pass safely.

YouTube - Lane splitting Los Angeles

" target="_blank">YouTube - Lane splitting Los Angeles

[penguinbiker8]

that $hit blew my mind, thats intense. but all it would take is an idiot on the cell phone to swerve and clip you and send you flying. i dont trust that but thats the risk, and it is fun.

[VEGASRIDER]

Was he late for work or was he trying to catch the first race at Santa Anita?

[Doorag]

I filter for about 45 minutes every day commuting into London. Here are some more tips for filtering (lane splitting)

Don't go too much faster than the surrounding traffic. This is especially true when it is moving slowly. I have two reasons for this.

1. By passing slowly, it doesn't piss off the car drivers as much. If you don't piss them off, then maybe they will be a bit nicer to the next biker.

2. Slow moving cars tend (in my experience) to pull across lanes more often when there is no space for them to go into.

Which leads me on to the next tip.

Watch for gaps between cars ahead of you. If there's a gap, watch closely to make sure someone isn't going to try to fill it. EVEN IF THE GAP IS TOO SMALL! People try to force their way into small gaps all the time.

I also find filtering much more difficult when it's dark since it's harder to judge distance and speed.

Just relax and pay attention to what's happening around you and you'll become comfortable with it eventually.

[pedwards89]

I hope that was cited as a bad example of 'Lane Splitting'. Right?

[Cloggy]

Filtering is also legal in Holland see http://www.fz6-forum.com/forum/europ...motorists.html (Dutch “code of conduct” for motorists) and I do it where ever (safely) possible. I thought the guy in the clip was crazy, at those speeds nobody sees you coming, it's an accident waiting to happen.
I do agree there is a skill to safely splitting, but one of these rules is not to go too fast with respect to your surrounding traffic. I must admit every now and then I might (moderately) speed past someone but only if there is a safe zone (with less traffic) in front.

Obviously in the rain splitting becomes more exciting/scarry as the white lines are as slippery as hell. I find in the rain I am much more cautious, travelling at a slower (continuous) speed I can control.

Lane splitting has been "permissible" in California since the 1950's but there has never been any legislative action to make it out right legal as represented by the lack of codification in the California Vehicle Code. As it is there are 2 places that I can think of where it is not permissible and this would be the outside lane of a highway or freeway where there is a solid line or at an intersection where there is a solid white line in any particular lane. The last 2 states that tried to actually make it legal were Texas and Washington but both actions went down in the House. The State of New Jersey is now in the study faze of similar action. It is not however likely they will actually pass splitting into law. The main reason they won't make it legal is due to "liability." If they make it legal as opposed to permissible then it would offer the rider an ability to file suit for wrongful action on the part of the driver that hit them in an accident. You get hit or hit somebody while splitting and you bought it. Another circumstance where a citation could be issued is where the relative splitting speed is greater than 10-15mph over that of the vehicles being split. Why? Because it is viewed as unsafe.

I now live in a state where lane splitting is not legal and doing it could set you back $150.00. To me this is just plain ignorant as the rider (to me) is far less likely to become a traffic statistic in the gap than they are while sitting in between cages waiting to get hit from the rear. Unfortunately, legislators view it as simply being in a hurry to get somewhere. Keep in mind these same legislators don't ride bikes and all they have to listen to are cops that think it is unsafe as well. I just wish they would allow it to be permissible under certain conditions as did California and if something goes wrong then the rider buys the liability for the accident. It's that simple....

[dako81]

I wonder how much time was saved over being in a cage just on that stretch in the video. Crazy. Hopefully someday I'll get to ride somewhere where I try that. Not as fast, of course.

I think that since there is only usually one person in a car and one on a bike, and bikes get better fuel mileage, and they are smaller, faster, and are cheaper, bikes should get more advantages than they do on the road. They have bicycle lanes in places, maybe there should be more motorcycle only lanes in places. It would cut down so much time and congestion. Just a thought.