Lane Splitting--L.A. Style

[James Burleigh]

On Saturday morning I rode from Santa Barbara to Redondo Beach. Traffic was moving at the limit all the way till I merged onto 405 south, ground zero for L.A. traffic congestion.

I don't have a lot of experience riding on L.A. freeways, where they have a different carpool (HOV) lane striping configuration than we have in the Bay Area. Specifically, they have a single, and sometimes a double, double yellow. I understand L.A. motorcyclists refer to the DY, or the double DY, as the "motorcycle lane." It took me a minute to figure out where to place my front tire so I didn't hit the raised reflectors.

It sounds like the dashcam picked up some of my unintelligible mutterings, but I'm pretty sure I'm saying something like, "Are you f**king KIDDING me!" in response to the traffic clusterfeck I suddenly found myself in. It was seven miles before my exit!

As I merged toward the HOV lane, I had to watch for other crazy feckin' motorcycles flying up from behind me. And, as the video show, sometimes motorcycles have to stop in traffic too.

But the freeway did eventually open right up.

Here's a 1:37 clip from about 11:45 AM on Saturday of Memorial Weekend:

https://youtu.be/ZIJy3roLL0o

 

[Fairlaner]

Hans you" Lane Share" like a girl.........

R

 

[LKLD]

Hell, I would still prefer lane sharing "like a girl" over what I'm doing now.

 

[James Burleigh]

Hans you" Lane Share" like a girl.........

R

I know it.

I only went 45 through the stopped traffic. (But hey!--I kept up with the master that time we rode up to...wherever the f**k that was that one time.)

P.S. Thanks again for the USB cable. And it was GREAT having dinner with you and Mrs. Fairlaner. A fun evening.... Next time I'll bring my own "****," ya cheap bastage.

 

[jwhite518]

Hans you" Lane Share" like a girl.........

R

He's a risk manager, isn't it obvious?

 

[ndivita]

That video reflects my personal hell.

 

[gotfz1]

I don't have a lot of experience riding on L.A. freeways, where they have a different carpool (HOV) lane striping configuration than we have in the Bay Area. Specifically, they have a single, and sometimes a double, double yellow. I understand L.A. motorcyclists refer to the DY, or the double DY, as the "motorcycle lane." It took me a minute to figure out where to place my front tire so I didn't hit the raised reflectors.

Do they? The young kids say the darndest things.

 

[TomInPA]

Hans, you're still slipping the clutch. Didn't learn the first time?

 

[James Burleigh]

Hans, you're still slipping the clutch. Didn't learn the first time?

Tell me more....

 

[TomInPA]

First of all, I miss lane splitting more than just about anything else from CA, and the DY DY looks like a good trick.

I thought your first bike's clutch and tranny died an early death from the slipper acelleration you did, but I'm old enough to forget now. Anyway, I sometime do the same, but mostly get it in gear and don't feather the clutch except at very low speed. Am I doing it wrong?

 

[Top_Speed1]

Lots of slipping for that shorta stretch. Yeeeks.

In NY you would of had at least one wise guy fling a door open within your path. Those Kali people are nice@!

 

[TomInPA]

Those "Kali" people can earn an attempted homocide charge for that behavior. They need to be nice.

 

[fjrbird]

Fortunately my route to work does not have that DY DY lines. Otherwise that's dizzying my head riding in between them!

 

[James Burleigh]

First of all, I miss lane splitting more than just about anything else from CA, and the DY DY looks like a good trick.
I thought your first bike's clutch and tranny died an early death from the slipper acelleration you did, but I'm old enough to forget now. Anyway, I sometime do the same, but mostly get it in gear and don't feather the clutch except at very low speed. Am I doing it wrong?

Yeah, I see what you mean, Tom. You're right: I blew up the tranning at about 60K on my first '05. I attribute that to a lot of commute miles where I rarely used fifth gear, keeping the tach relatively high in order to have improved responsiveness in the event of bad juju. And yes, I had also burned out one clutch by then, and was told it looked like a moto-cop's level of wear.

Based on your comment I will be mindful of how I use the clutch to figure out if I think I really need to be feathering it when in close proximity to slow-moving cars, or whether I just have adopted a bad habit. But I will say that I now hover around 4k in the RPMs rather than 7 or 8, because I'm trying to husband my tranny. Also, I'm just less aggressive than those good ol' days. Thanks for your advice.

 

[wfooshee]

I've noticed this in your other videos, too, figured I'd leave it alone since we don't know each other at all, but now that it's come up......

There's still no reason to slip the clutch at 4,000 RPM. You shouldn't be slipping the clutch except at crawling speeds, and then maybe a couple grand on the tach,

There is a friction zone, and it's there for slow riding, but if you're fast enough that a Harley guy would have his feet on the pegs instead of walking with it, then you don't need to be slipping any more.

If you find yourself suddenly needing the torque multiplication of clutch slippage, just squeeze that lever on the left side a little bit.

Remember, a big difference in engine speed and road speed will EAT your clutch.

My own habit in slow riding, which may be just as bad a habit but I don't think so, is to give the clutch some bite to move the bike, then pull the lever in for a short coast. Kick, coast, kick, coast, rather than slip the whole way down that slow stretch. I won't use more than 2500, maybe 3000 RPM in slow riding the FJR.

 

[majicmaker]

Just out of curiosity, what is this DY DY thing of which you guys speak?

 

[James Burleigh]

I've noticed this in your other videos, too, figured I'd leave it alone since we don't know each other at all, but now that it's come up......

There's still no reason to slip the clutch at 4,000 RPM. You shouldn't be slipping the clutch except at crawling speeds, and then maybe a couple grand on the tach,

There is a friction zone, and it's there for slow riding, but if you're fast enough that a Harley guy would have his feet on the pegs instead of walking with it, then you don't need to be slipping any more.

If you find yourself suddenly needing the torque multiplication of clutch slippage, just squeeze that lever on the left side a little bit.

Remember, a big difference in engine speed and road speed will EAT your clutch.

My own habit in slow riding, which may be just as bad a habit but I don't think so, is to give the clutch some bite to move the bike, then pull the lever in for a short coast. Kick, coast, kick, coast, rather than slip the whole way down that slow stretch. I won't use more than 2500, maybe 3000 RPM in slow riding the FJR.

Noted. Thanks!

 

[James Burleigh]

Just out of curiosity, what is this DY DY thing of which you guys speak?

A pair of double-yellow lines next to each other ("double double-yellow") separating an HOV lane.

 

[DeSudet]

What he said. Here in the Phoenix area, we don't have those. What we've got is more like loading zone markings.