Ducati Monster Forum

(http://www.paularickert.net/albums/userpics/exec-shuttle.jpg)

I had to split by 4 of them on 101 yesterday.

I hate these things.

They are slow, wide, and ALWAYS in the left lane on 101, which isn't very wide as it is.

anyone else?

Definitely hate these things, and not Just the ones from Bauers. Lots of places in SF (Academy of Art, various yuppie apartment complexes, etc) run these things on the streets, double park, block narrow streets, etc. My favorite is the shuttle from Bayside Village that goes all of 6 or 7 blocks to downtown locations. I mean, these people can't walk?

I'm adding these 1D10Ts to my going-to-hell list:
Limo Shuttles
Charter Busses (left lane hogs)
Pruis (Smug Alert)
Escalades
CHP License Plate Mounting Patrol
Vertical Scope
...

+1 So annoying.


But say 101 and I'll say wtf are you doing there? 280.
I avoid 101 south of the city like it was on fire, even caging. It's like the A-hole driver club of America strip.

I normally do, but I live right off of 101, and if where I'm going is right off of 101, it's still quicker.

From RWC south there's a carpool lane which helps.

I have to lane split past those things on the Embarcadero every morning. Sometimes you just can't get past them. You have to duck under the damn mirrors.

I just went down to MotoStrano last week on 101 despite my afore mentioned religious objections. 
Some yahoo with a cell phone stuck to his head in a white Cadilac Escalade decided to try out his late-breaking-techniques on me and squeezed in front of me in bumper bumper traffic in the fast lane. I swear he almost took off my right mirror he buzzed me so close.

I was reaching for my revolver when I realized I don't have one lucky him. I've got to see about installing the mini guns...  [evil]

I don't like those big things either. But I do like these big wide things because they don't get in the way.

(http://i31.tinypic.com/651yyq.jpg)

Hated those things when I commuted to Fremont. These days I'm just glad my Duc sits in the garage. ugh....

...and your arse sits on the couch  ;D

+1  Those things are a pain in the @$$ to get by sometimes.

However, I haven't had to pass more than one on a commute.   

 :'( :wheresthemiddlefingericon:

 >:( :willparkmypriusupyourass:

 [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

Let me revise that:
Prius' that dog it in the fast lane just because they have the sticker :)

What's up with Prius drivers?? Weird, how most of them think they are the king of the fast lane  ???
Oh Well, it might have the best MPG. I'm not gonna get caught driving one.

Nothing wrong with the car. In fact, I really like some of the things it has (engine mgmt software, great HUD, etc) and would consider owning one if I were in the market for another vehicle. But I can't stand the people in Pruis' who enter the freeway, proceed directly to the leftmost lane (whether it's a carpool lane or not), and park it there at 55mph.

BTW - I suspect that the carpool-legal stickers these Prius' and other hybrids/high mileage vehicles get cause this behavior. They probably just get all the way left out of habit, then drive like you're supposed to drive a hybrid: slowly :)

I agree with you with all of the Prius cool technology.
If only Toyota can put all that on a Corolla (regular looking car).

True....not that it'll matter in 5 years anyway. Gas prices ain't going anywhere but up, and I suspect that private cars are going to be a thing of the past. Bikes may be another story...at least for a little while.

See, whatchya gotta do is make gettin' past 'em interestin'.  I suggest running your left hand along the side of them for the last few feet that you're passing them.  Maybe just give the door a little punch as you're making your way around.   [cheeky]

I flipped one of 'em (the left lane hog type) off last ride. You can ask Duckwrench13  ;D

Sure you'd get caught driving one. What could you possibly outrun?   [cheeky]

...a Crown Vic...when it runs out of gas  ;D

...or a hypermiling shuttlebus.

It's weird to hear your experiences with Prius drivers.  Being one of those Prius drivers (never in left lane unless I'm going faster than traffic to the right & nobody wants to pass  ;) ) I'm usually checking out other Prius'.  I haven't noticed them going slow in the left lane any more often than other car types.  As a matter of fact, I'm usually passing other Prius' on their left.  Here I am buying a slow hybrid, tailing idiots (frequently SUVs) doing <70 in the left lane.  BTW, anyone doing that gets a near miss of their front bumper and a left hand out the window if I have to pass 'em on the right.

Forget car types for "idiot generalization"...notice the nationality/ethnicity and age of the driver and you'll start to see where the statistics lie.  [laugh]  I could get REALLY un-PC here, but...  [beer]  Actually, did I already do that?  [wine]

Better yet, let's call it demographics. The Prius drivers that annoy m e by dogging it in the left lane (and yes, they are mostly Prius drivers) are usually white, upper middle class entitlement mentality yuppies who think they're doing the Earth (or Gaia) a favor by driving a car that consumes slightly less gasoline...at 50mph...in the passing lane. Hence the South Park reference ;D And this is coming from a progressive :)

It's true that there are a lot of inconsiderate or just plain bad drivers out there. Something about the act of getting behind the wheel somehow turns otherwise decent people into 1D10Ts. And I've definitely noticed a trend: 8 times out of 10, the car dogging it in the fast lane is a Prius. Like I said before, I suspect it has to do with the carpool lane sticker they can get.

I'd rather see a kitchen full of roaches, than a roadway full of Priuses!  [puke] [laugh]

I haven't really noticed any specific behavior from Prius drivers.  When they do anything remotely aggressive, however, it catches my eye, because one doesn't expect that type of thing from peace-loving hippies.   ;D

No one expects the Peace Loving Hippies!! Oh...wait...uh....I meant The Spanish Inquisition!! [laugh]

Peace loving hippie is just another term for someone who needs protection. I got shot at, and blown up, so they can get out of my way!! [laugh] [laugh]

I certainly don't think I'm any better than anyone else for driving a Prius.  I can't feel too proud of driving my Prius, which is parked right next to my V8 Hemi Ram and my wakeboard boat  [laugh] .  Suppose I had to compensate a bit for my polluting ways.  I don't think I could be classified as a hippie.

To talk with such disdain about a car that actually does relatively less harm to this rock we're living on is just plain silly (euphamism).  [bang]  Not to mention gas prices.

 ???  :'( 

Oh, I'm not disdaining the Prius in general. Just certain people who own them :)

And in the larger scheme of things, the relative change in harm to the environment (or 25mph vs 45-50 mpg) is probably pretty small. It's still a car, it still burns increasingly scarce hydrocarbons, and in some ways it may delay the fundamental changes (e.g. more density, the end of commuting, etc) needed to deal with the energy crisis. But that's all a matter of philosophy  ;D So in my book the jury's still out on whether hybrids and/or alternative energy helps or harms. These technologies can certainly be used for good in the larger scheme of things, but if they help prolong Americans' energy-inefficient lifestyles and infrastructure, they may do more harm than good.

Interesting.  Good thoughts.  It wasn't your remarks I was referring to though.   [beer]

Corrected for accuracy.   [cheeky]

So....... what time you going to be over for dinner?

Mercedes   http://benzinsider.com/2008/03/mercedes-benz-developing-100-electric
just announced they will have no gas burning cars by 2015. They are going full electric. :o

Lets face it, hippies, yippies, what-ev, oil sucks. Its not working for us anymore.

Desmodromic one day will be replaced by something else.  :-[
(I did a concept design for an electric moto utilizing an electric motor the size of a coke can that puts out 100hp!
One on each wheel = 200hp moto with no transmission, no cooling system needed.
Battery technology sucks. That's next to change hopefully. )

Anyway the point is electric is not slow. people are slow. and it sure aint no hippy drippy thing either!
check this:

http://www.nedra.com/

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Hybrids are slow because that's how you're supposed to drive them to get the most out of their value proposition. So yeah, it's the drivers...as usual :)

And I suspect that even a massive switch to electric or other alternately-powered vehicles still isn't going to solve the fundamental problem: our society (infrastructure, etc) is set up to run best on very cheap (some call it subsidized) energy, and the era of cheap energy is over. A switch to 100% electric cars might delay that inevitability for a few years, but it won't solve the problem.

Motor vehicles, especially cars, use absurd amounts of energy, and oil gave us lots of energy bang for our buck. For the past 60 years, the structure of American infrastructure and society...private cars, suburban living, commuting, large detached houses, big box specialty stores, plastic everything, agricultural products that travel 1500 miles to land on your plate...has been based on an assumption of cheap energy. And now that this energy isn't going to be cheap anymore, lots of these things are going to have to change. Unless we get some miracle technical energy innovation that makes energy very cheap again, the changes we see will be drastic.

Sorry, don't mean to be a downer. But it always frustrates me when people assume that we'll find something new that lets us continue our profligate ways. 1% of the world's population, using 25% of its energy. That just doesn't add up to sustainability to me  ;D

+1
Ya you're absolutely right here. We've had this discussion more than once.
I think that we haven't yet touched the kind of energy potential that's posible whether its a fusion fantasy or a major break through in solar etc. The point is also that populations have gotten to the point where we simply can't keep expanding and creating sprawl/commuting/ importing & devouring resources replenishing nothing etc.
The trees are gone the ocean's are getting fowled, the fish are gone... new energy isn't going to change that.

We need to change our habits is what it comes down to... including keeping the slow cars OUT OF THE FAST LANE!  [laugh]

U.S.A. = 5% of the total world population, and consumes 25% of the petroleum derived energy resources.

Yep, it's gonna be a while before we're completely off the dead dino express. [bang]

I start to laugh at the Mofo's in the H2 slurping down the gas on the freeway. That is until I think about all those people in absurdly large Cars are a big part of the reason Gas is so expensive.

I passed a big yellow hummer on the monster some time ago, thinking how much better mileage I was getting. In fact when I checked later, I got 52 MPG doing 75 all the way to San Jose.


Those Prius drivers may need to go to driving school and learn how to drive with the rest of us, but at least they are trying to do their part.

The Hummer drivers certainly aren't helping matters  ;D But gas is expensive because (A) it's scarce, (B) the dollar is for shite these days and (C) developing countries like China, India, and Brazil are demanding more of it.

Hmm...reeducation for Prius drivers...I like that idea  [evil]

Probably need re education for everybody. The DMV should require every one to go to a BMW driving school at the track!
[Edit] Can you imagine the cost savings if everyone drove a little faster, co operated, was on the same page, etc...Fewer freeway backups....

We could be taught among other things, Not to rubberneck on the freeway. accelerate down the on ramp, every other car merges in a two lanes into one situation (Don't get right next to the other guy hoping hes gonna back off so you can be in front) Just assume that since they car two cars ahead merged to the left that they guy right in front of me on the left goes next, then me and so on.

Trust your tires, etc.

Yeah, but first we need to reeducate people to get rid of their entitlement mentalities  ;D

I went for a Mt. Tam loop yesterday, and I swear that the Prius is the bain of my existance.  Something about seeing a Prius barreling down the wrong lane on Chileno Valley ... and the drivers always seem to be more focused on looking at the fuel economy screen than what's ahead of them, besides them, and behind them.  You always see the lone Prius in the fast lane doing 50 MPH and being passed on the right as people come up to them.  Admitttedly I used to have a Honda Civic Hybrid and to get the 48.6 MPG I got with it, I did need to drive it differently, however, I never parked myself in the fast lane either.  The car was the gutless wonder.

http://www.youtube.com/v/LmG05AtNVtM&hl=en&fs=1

The sad part is that my car now gets better fuel economy than my monster.  Gotta love Diesel. 

And actually the Prius is less fuel efficient than the M3 when driven like a normal car.   [evil]  Well, sorta driven normal. 

http://www.youtube.com/v/PP6fe6i1vaY&hl=en&fs=1

They also have a suggestion on what they're good for:

http://www.youtube.com/v/oOvp69lnZbA&hl=en&fs=1

here is a great use of those limos;  check out the video

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=128491

 [clap] ptam,
the vids are hilarious ! [laugh] [laugh]
thanks