Freeway Riding Tips

[awall41]

Does anyone have any freeway riding tips?  I live in SoCal and have about 2000 miles under my belt.  With gas prices getting so high, I want to start riding my 696 to work.  I am really comfortable riding locally but still am a little intimidated on the freeways.

[Timmy Tucker]

I was leery at first as well. Situational awareness is the key. Keep your head on a swivel and pay attention to the drivers around you. The most likely thing to go wrong on a freeway is someone cutting you off/changing lanes into you.

Watch your following distances... if you have to drop anchor suddenly, no one else on the road can stop as fast as you, including the guy behind you.

The wind can get pretty gnarly around 18 wheelers and they have very large blind spots. Pass them or stay behind them.

Make sure your visor is locked down before you look over your shoulder to change lanes when going 70-80.   


If it's the sustained speed and/or wind that bothers you, you will get used to it after a ride or two at speed.

[Triple J]

I almost always ride in the far left lane. That way you only have inattentive cage drivers on one side trying to kill you.

Don't tailgate. Leave enough room to stop. It's more for the guy behind you than for you.

Let tailgaters by if you don't want to go that fast.

Never ride beside a car. Either ride in front or behind the car in an adjacent lane to you. Pass quickly.

Don't panic if someone moves into your lane. It usually isn't anything a little twist of the throttle won't fix.

Personally I think freeway riding is safer than surface street riding. Everyone is moving in the same direction, no side streets, left turns, etc.

[Triple J]

The wind can get pretty gnarly around 18 wheelers and they have very large blind spots. Pass them or stay behind them.

+1 on the wind...just be ready, no biggie.

I pass big rigs if at all possible, and I never ride close to them (even behind them and one lane over). If they shred a tire (not all that uncommon) while you're behind them it could ruin your day in a hurry.

[Spidey]

Good stuff in here already that I won't repeat other than to reiterate that following distance is your friend, and that freeways IMO are safer than city streets.  It's good that you're asking about it, but you'll find that it's less intimidating than you imagine.

• Mentally, it's important to be kinda zen.  Don't let people enrage you and don't ride angry.  I find that I have to consciously tell myself this at the beginning of every freeway ride (cuz I'm a rage-filled douche).  If you have a "<shrug> Meh, whatever" attitude about the dumb shit people do around you, your commute will be infinitely more pleasant.  And it'll be safer.
  
• I, too, ride in the far left lane.  However, I try to ride in the middle or even on the right side.  Crap on the road winds up on the left side of the lane.
  
• It's easy to zone out on the freeway.  We all do it.  But try not to give in.  And don't ride with only one hand on the bars.  You'll be surprised how quickly the mattress appears in the middle of your lane out of nowhere.
  
• Get ready to apply throttle rather than brake for hazards.  More often than not, speeding up is the safer course.
  
• Along those lines, if something is in your lane and you can't get around it in time, whack the throttle open.  It's your best chance of not crashing.  I know that's counter intutitive, but tell yourself that over and over again.
  
• Wear earplugs.  Seriously.
   
• Dress like you're going to the track.  Freeway speeds are fast, and if you come off your bike in anything other than full leather or textile, it's gonna be a problem.
  

Are you gonna be lane sharing?  Because that's a whole separate thing.

[awall41]

Thanks everyone for the info.  I work nights so I am lucky enough to go opposite the flow of traffic.  I don't think I will be lane sharing but who knows.  The only thing I am still skeptical about is the roadwork at night.  I did a little trial run for about 10 miles today and had no problems it actually does seem safer not having to worry about cross traffic or someone blowing a stop side and nailing you  .  I'm sure the local  will be pulling me over once I get back into my city as they usually assume the worst when you're out at 2-3 A.M. 

[SacDuc]

Don't tailgate. Leave enough room to stop. It's more for the guy behind you than for you.

Let tailgaters by if you don't want to go that fast.

^
This is a biggie.

In general check your six every now and then. Be aware that in a panic situation you can stop a lot faster than what ever is behind you.

And never ever ever assume that a car knows you are there. Even the guy right behind you. Even the guy beside you you just made eye contact with. "That guy won't merge I know he saw me." No. No he didn't.

And a big +1 to everything Spidey said. Especially that part about him being a rage filled douche. 

Overall riding on the freeway is pretty damn safe. You will get used to the wind and speed pretty quickly. Just stay alert and you'll do fine.

sac


/I keed, Spidey, I keed

[Triple J]

when you're out at 2-3 A.M. 

Be extremely attentive. There seem to be way more morons and drunks out in the middle of the night. Personally, I don't ride after dark on Fridays or Saturdays...and never when its too late.

[thought]

give 18 wheelers huge amts of distance... next time you see one, put yourself in their viewpoint and you'll notice that even if something bike sized was within 15ft of the cab, it's pretty hard to see due to the height they sit at.  i never really thought about it before till i took my msf with a guy who drove them.  he told me that it's almost impossible to see bike if they are anywhere near the cab and it's best just to make sure you're either ok staying way behind or passing really fast.

and be careful and be ready to get that buffeting from them... depending on the wind, it will either pull you into them or push you away.

[ScottRNelson]

Watch your following distances... if you have to drop anchor suddenly, no one else on the road can stop as fast as you, including the guy behind you.

Please do not believe this!  Unless you spend a lot of time practicing stops from high speeds, you're unlikely to match just about any car with antilock brakes and most cars that don't have them.  You cannot count on being able to stop faster than the cars.

And it's worth saying another time to avoid being next to other vehicles.  Stay in the gaps.  When you have to pass a car in the other lane, creep up on it, then accelerate past and slow back down once you're past the car.  That way, if anybody decides to make a sudden lane change without signaling or checking for you, you won't be in a position to get bumped by them.

[bikepilot]

I agree that freeway riding is about the safest (and most boring) you can do - there are no cars making left turns into you etc.  Just keep your eyes open, ride with the flow of traffic - not speeding like crazy though traffic or acting as a road-block and you'll be just fine.

I've found that CA freeway drivers are among the best in the country when it comes to awareness of motorcycles.  Also, as I'm sure you are aware lane sharing is legal in CA.  You should look up the rules but traffic has to be below a certain speed and your speed can only be greater than that of traffic by a certain amount.  I've forgotten the numbers, but they are pretty low.  Most riders fudge this quite a bit.  In general no one hassles you as long as you aren't stupid.  Splitting is safe, but only if you pay very close attention and are very comfortable with your bike and know exactly how wide you are:)

Be aware that experienced (and/or stupid) riders may split a lot faster than you.  It is consider polite to move over and let faster-splitters by, also take care not to pull out in front of another rider who is already splitting.  I actually had a guy on a monster do this and nearly hit me a couple years ago (near SB).

As far as stopping distances go our bikes, with an expert rider will stop about the same as a sports car on good tires and quite a bit quicker than a sedan on all season tires.  Of course it takes a pretty good rider to get a bike to stop at its full potential so don't count on out-braking cages. A few cages with good brakes and sticky summer tires will out-stop a bike no matter how good the rider.

Have fun and be safe!

[Statler]

I think our transition from throttle to brake is so much quicker then a driver moving the foot over from gas to brake, that the initial slowing down is much quicker, even if in test conditions a car may outbrake an average rider. 

I think the danger of someone rearending you is greater than you rearending a car...  but if traffic stops and does catch you not paying attention, remember to look where you want to go (between cars or to left of traffic in left lane) versus staring at the car stopped in front of you.

And I have no good rational or data for this one, but I think there are two safer ways to go on the highway... with the super slow traffic in the right lane (just watch for merging traffic from onramps and people diving several lanes over to get off offramps), or towards the left and moving faster than most/all traffic.    It's the middle speeds and lanes that get dicey.

Remember things bouncing like little pebbles may be quite large rocks... so wear gear.

If there are pavement transitions you want to go over them as upright and at right angles as possible... so don't ride right next to a lengthy height change and try to climb up it (remember catching tires on curbs on a bicycle as a kid?)

[Scotzman]

At that time of night, no need to lane-share and if the need came up, I probably wouldn't do it just because the people that would otherwise be wide awake are not.

+1 on the ear plugs, especially for any distance. Without them, it gets annoying and fatiguing.

[ab]

in addition, i look at car around me and check what the driver is doing, their mirrors.  but then i still dont trust that and even their signals.  I will even keep an eye on the cars front tire.

on large intersection, i cross light along with a car.  Cagers do not see you and may come onto you doing a left turn on a light.  I even slow down at times until a car is alongside me to cross the light/intersection.  Hope that makes sense.

[duc996]

Stay relax,focus and be a little bit ahead of the traffic.