where are all the riders ?

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Nobody can complain about lack of riders today on qew west bound, hundreds heading to Port Dover Friday the 13th. :)
 
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I see fewer bikes on my commute (PTBO to Whitby). I personally rarely commute on my bike. It's not a very exciting ride (all slab) and when I'm on day shift I see all manor of distracted driving. Using cellphones, eating (once saw a guy eating a bowl of cereal balanced in his lap!), shaving, texting and more. I've seen folks clearly nodding off as well. I'd rather commute in my cage, have my AC, sirius radio and something wrapped around me on that boring drive daily and I think a lot of other riders are feeling that way too. I ride bikes for fun, not as a tool. I save riding for pleasure and the occasional commute.

As a side note I've also seen couples "coupling" while driving, cars with no working headlights or tail lights tailgating the car in front of them so as to use their headlights, a car with 4 spares on it, no wipers, hand wiping the fog off the windscreen (clearly the heater was gone), bailing wire holding the doors closed and so many other strange and dangerous vehicles in disrepair or dangerous driving between PTBO and Whitby. I even had a guy raise his bottle of Bud and toast me as I went past him! I see the same vehicles daily driving in excess of 50km/h over the limit too.

I can only imagine what it's like riding down the 400 or 404/DVP and Gardiner during the morning/afternoon commute. It must be like playing Frogger!
 
moarmoto said:
I see maybe 3,4 riders in my way to work on QEW between Appleby and royal Windsor.

Actually I think it's more than last year in terms of consistency.
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You probably see me every day then :D. I commute from QEW and Appleby to Dixie and Eglinton, used to see tons of riders on my commute previous years....now I'm lucky to see 2-3, and they are always in the HOV lane haha
 
roadrash said:
How do you get to work on days you don't ride? I would think heavy traffic is all the more reason to ride instead of driving. It's so easy to maneuver through traffic (all legal lane changes). Helps me shave off at least 5 min from a 30 min commute.

Whenever there is congestion on the highway, there is always one lane or the other that is moving. I hop between them with ease and save time. Cars don't seem to mind motorcycles cutting in, in slow moving traffic because we're hardly ever in the way.
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I usually drive on those days. Youre right about the manoeuvring when there is some traffic. But sometimes traffic is so bad that its just a parking lot. If i was on a different bike i wouldnt mind so much but my current bike has under tail exhausts with the pipes runing right by your lges which make it super hot.
Some bikes were really not meant to be sitting still. If i had a 300 or a 250 id do it everyday lol
believe me, i had 2 other SS bikes also air cooled bikes and one was also undertail exhaust and i always rode downtown. But the combination of the new bikes added heat and also this years exessive traffic has taken the fun out of commuting. I do more sitting than riding as soon as i hit 427 and Gardiner going east lol
keeping my fingers crossed for filtering to become legal! :D
 
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I'm essentially a weekend-only rider, and both last year and this year (so far) have not been great. Last year we had to deal with rain pretty much every day of every weekend (at some point), and although this year has been drier, the temperature has been insane (esp for someone who gets heat stroke fairly easy, and only rides ATGATT).
 
Morrissey said:
I see fewer bikes on my commute (PTBO to Whitby). I personally rarely commute on my bike. It's not a very exciting ride (all slab) and when I'm on day shift I see all manor of distracted driving. Using cellphones, eating (once saw a guy eating a bowl of cereal balanced in his lap!), shaving, texting and more. I've seen folks clearly nodding off as well. I'd rather commute in my cage, have my AC, sirius radio and something wrapped around me on that boring drive daily and I think a lot of other riders are feeling that way too. I ride bikes for fun, not as a tool. I save riding for pleasure and the occasional commute.

As a side note I've also seen couples "coupling" while driving, cars with no working headlights or tail lights tailgating the car in front of them so as to use their headlights, a car with 4 spares on it, no wipers, hand wiping the fog off the windscreen (clearly the heater was gone), bailing wire holding the doors closed and so many other strange and dangerous vehicles in disrepair or dangerous driving between PTBO and Whitby. I even had a guy raise his bottle of Bud and toast me as I went past him! I see the same vehicles daily driving in excess of 50km/h over the limit too.

I can only imagine what it's like riding down the 400 or 404/DVP and Gardiner during the morning/afternoon commute. It must be like playing Frogger!
Click to expand...

Not to mention those that have their side mirrors adjusted incorrectly.....looking directly behind. lol So many of those.
 
You might well ask where are all the drivers??
This blew me away ....can you imagine the mess if every one of these opt outs opted in ??

28 per cent of Toronto households don’t have a car — including many suburban homes. Here’s how they make it work
28 per cent of Toronto households don’t have a car — including many suburban homes. Here’s how they make it work
Near Lawrence Ave. and Keele St., 32 per cent of households don’t have a car. At Hwy. 401 and Markham Rd., a quarter of households go without.
Click to expand...
 
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