Lived Through An Evening Ride...

[old Pilot]

ALWAYS listen to that gut feeling, now if only I would take that same advice.I have made a habit of quickly flashing my brights whenever I'm passing, if I have any doubt as to wether the person in front of me is watching their mirrors.

Did the truck driver even realize what happened or did he just get flipped off from his point? and how bout the pick up, did he flip you off? you were in his lane.

I'm thinking of getting a modulator. Yeah, I think the driver knew what happened. The pickup truck driver? I think he saw me being cut off. Hell, I don't care if he did flip me off, I'm just glad he reacted as he did.

 

[old Pilot]

Glad you're all right (and I've pulled a couple of bone-head moves myself). So what I'm saying is, that you made a couple of poor decisions. Right or wrong (to begin with) just doesn't hold any water when you're on a bike and the offending vehicle is in a cage; you have to do it better and smarter. Sorry for the critique, but when you ride, you need to ride aggressively defensive and think for both vehicle operators.

Point taken.

 

[old Pilot]

... Drop it into 3rd turn the grip....

... road rage fits,... makes me feel bad for the next biker that guy comes across....

... ride aggressively defensive and think for both vehicle operators.

... get on the throttle no matter what I'm passing. ...

... get by them like they are parked...

old Pilot, .....what they said!

Aren't close calls great?! They really get ya' focused.

Take care.

Focused was I, but I'm too old to be center-lining.

There are some asshat rednecks around. The times I've had it happen to me, it usually catches me off guard, so my first instinct is to brake hard. Then try to figure out if they were doing it intentionally. If so, I usually just back off, and give them their victory, take the next turn, or even turn around. I've always figured that I can't win a war with a truck. I gave a tag # to the State Police once, but nothing ever happened with it.Be safe out there...

Even though I was aware of this truck, his sudden turn into my lane surprised me. The more I analyze it, I almost believe it was done on purpose, and that's a frightening thought.

And, yeah, the 25 mph thing probably wasn't the best idea you've ever had. They have bumpers. FJRs do not. Personally, I woulda cracked 'er WFO and gotten the hell outta there. But that's just me.

I hear ya.

the biggest issue was with playing road block. one tap from the driver and it's all she wrote.

Agreed. I.. Must.. Control.. Myself.

 

[Sagebrush]

Like the others have said, when passing I hit it hard and do not linger. Don't give people the time to think, let alone run you off the road. People try sharing my lane all the time when I'm in my 1 ton dually, people are out to kill you if they know it or not. Expect the worst and you will not get pissed, just smile and give them a wave, it screws with thier head.... Blow and gow when passing or sit back and enjoy the ride, ain't worth getting pissed. I ride in morning traffic, almost every other car on the road is not paying attention. I see people running red lights all the time, watch those suckers.

One thing that I realized 100% after my first few months of riding motorcycles was how much it makes you more attentive while driving in a cage. It's made me a much better driver, teaches you to look ahead and expect and avoid the driving zombies.

 

[08FJR4ME]

You need to treat those 4+ wheeled vehicles as rolling road blocks and get past them as quickly as possible then forget them and move on.

I will usually drop two gears, then I get by them like they are parked, not giving them time to get in my way. The bike also has real good brakes, in case one needs to abort a passing maneuver....

Glad you made it back. There's a lot to be said for that "Center-lining" trick!

+1 on the dropping gears. One of the things I have learned here on the forum. Now when I decide to pass I make sure I start above 4K RPM. She really starts to pull hard once you surpass the 5K mark. 2 weeks back ridin and your pullin this shit. TAKE IT EASY BRO. Just sayin!

 

[fjrboomer]

+1 with Bounce. Lets see if we can figure out what is wrong with this picuture. 700 motorcylce vs. tanker truck of multi-ton weight. You should never try to pick a fight with somone that much bigger than you. If he had gotten mad enough you would have been road kill. Glad you survived your incident. I am sure part of that was an instenctive reaction to a sudden risk. You obviously did things right. Now go out and ride and stay safe.