No longer being a rider, I can now share an outsider’s perspective on the irritating behaviors of riders that I often witness (in no particular order). I am guilty for doing many things on the list, but for what it is worth, I just want to give my 2 cents.
- Unnecessary revving at an intersections: Throttle blipping while stopped at a major intersection Yonge/Dundas and Bay/Bloor.
- High RPM Riding: Riding at high RPM (near redline) at a constant speed
- Racing other vehicles: Just because someone is driving a sports car doesn’t mean they want to race you
- Lane filtering / splitting: Illegal
- Posing: Wearing all your gear and standing next to your bike with accent lighting hoping someone will talk to you
- Display parking: I see this often in the suburbs where bikers will park on a sidewalk right in front of a restaurant so others can see. Often justified by “avoid people knocking the bike”. I could make the same argument for cars as it relates to door dings. Which is much more expensive to repair than plastic fairings
- Superiority: Riding a bike does not make you more of a petrol head than any other motorist
- Following too closely: I used to hate when cars did this to me while I was riding down bad roads, not sure why riders would even do this. / Revving behind a car, this is an act of aggression.
.
1. Lots of times I rev is because (a) I am stuck behind a car driven by someone who's not paying attention, or (2) pedestrians attempting to cross a big intersection with 2 seconds left on the countdown. Either way, just wanting to let them know that the road is for sharing, and my time is just as important as theirs, and they really should not hold up traffic and be an ***.
2. I did this with my starter bike. Fixed when I moved to a 650. I think a lot of folks who put on 20,000 km on a 125 or 250 would've done this.
3. Nope. it's funny to see cars, expensive ones and shitboxes alike, thinking they need to prove they'd paid good money for their rides. Cars that often want to race bikes? BMWs, any car with a cosmetic spoiler, pickup trucks that's been accessorized.
4. Never done lane splitting.
5. We've all done it in some degree, but it goes down to the manner you do it in. My group parks our bikes neatly and we don't cause a ruckus. You are probably referring to the HardRock posing, King West posing, etc..... wait a minute.... isn't LnL just a big pose fest anyways?
6. When I am in a car and looking for parking, I am often jealous of the biker who managed to find a good spot too.... then I would remember that spot and do it in my next visit
7. Not more superior...but I guess we all feel just a little bit more special because not everyone can ride a motorcycle well, and it is just so much damn easier to drive a car than ride a motorcycle.
8. I agree with the following-too-close bit. Hey, it's your health and insurance.... car or bike, you follow too close and ram someone from behind, you are at fault. For the revving bits, see #1 again.
The same can really be said about car drivers as well..... ultimately it has to do with the driver's habits and attitude.
