New 20 ounce tumblers available now! Forum donation credit with purchase. https://www.wildguzzi.com/Products/products.htm#Tumbler
is there a right move?
Well, that was a yummy breakfast. What I meant by my terse remark is just that. Don't stay in a group. It's dangerous. The fast guys will be bored to tears, the slow guys maybe over their riding ability.A car will have a difficult time getting around, and they will want to get around a slow pack of bikes.It's just not a good mix.If there are several on the ride, as ZZ says.. twisties will sort the order out quickly. Fast guys lead, but don't turn off a road until the last guy in line shows up. Ride your own ride. Testosterone can be a dangerous thing. Ride at your comfort level. Period.
Groups can be fun as long as there are some ground rules set ahead of time if there are people that have not ridden together before. The first little bit of winding roads generally sort out the pecking order. If someone is crowding you, let then by. At some point, the fastest or most aggressive riders to the least aggressive will find order. If the riders understand how to ride in a group, which often times they don't, then all goes well. It is not your objective to keep up with the rider ahead of you. It IS your objective to keep track of the rider BEHIND you. Riding in this way, the group can get spread out without anybody getting lost at an intersection, or having trouble without anybody realizing it. On a twisty road, people should allow each bike to have the entire lane. On straight stretches, staggered with the lead bike in the 1/3rd of the lane closest to the center line. Reason is, if a car passes, once it pulls back in past the lead bike, there will not be another bike in the 1/3rd toward the curb that might have gone un-noticed by the auto. As for cagers wanting by, I generally move over to a single file to the curb side of the lane. Slow down and allow the car to get by. Why endanger yourself with a cager that just has to get by. Let them, then move on.Small or larger groups, same rules apply. JMHO.John Henry
10 riders is a large group. We tend to splinter into groups of 4 or 5, the slowest controls the pace usually from the back, at least this is how I lead in twisties. I don't like to drop people that I'm not sure of either riding ability or if they know the way. If a rider cannot keep up and starts disappearing at the rear the rider in front of him should slow to keep him/her in sight, and the next rider will do the same till the whole group slows or turns around.Traffic should be let by if you are holding them up, doesn't happen much in my groups (big fast bikes). On Interstates we like to do speed to take us forward but not more than 10 over, and pull over when possible to let faster traffic by.On big groups, individuals must watch for faster traffic and let them through even if it means breaking the formation for a short while.If some do not know the way, then I post a rider (usually last one before the next group) to show turn at a corner. A rider that has dropped rider behind them must stop at turns and post up to wait on the lagging rider/riders.In twisties the last thing you want is to go looking for a dropped rider on which turn, no one knows if they did not keep them in the mirrors. We have had dropped riders set out on their own GPS to get to destination without telling anyone, caused a lot of back tracking and asking cagers behind us, people working on the roads. You don't want to go there, so all riders should know where or what happened to the rider behind them.
Slightly off topicI've started to ride with a very good friend who has had his "big bike" for about 18 months now I guess.If I'm following him I'm usually maybe 10 bike lengths back. If he's following me he can be up to 200 metres (yards ) back which makes it very difficult to keep track of him (especially when on the Cali with its wildly vibrating mirrors)What would you guys say is the ideal distance.I ask 'cos we're off to Belgium in 3 weeks and it will be a lot easier if we don't keep loosing each other
I basically don't do group rides. Don't enjoy them; think it's needlessly dangerous.