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DannoXYZ · January 26th, 2022, 11:25 AM

Heh, heh... I grew up in Saratoga (south S.F. Bay Area) and have been riding through that traffic for 40-yrs! Yes, it's gotten much worse over time, especially after 2000 dot.com craze! I'm much more conservative with my riding now than when I was younger, seen too many people get squished. Always make sure I can stop within 1-car's length in case something happens.

Only incident I ever had in all this time was because I was NOT lane-splitting. I was following white Honda through downtown Hayward, usual city-traffic with lights. Sneaking up past people slowly, filtering to lights on reds, etc. In this one case, I figured I'd just go with flow of traffic and followed this car. Well.... right as car hits crosswalk, light turns yellow and she SLAMS on her brakes, I heard couple squeaks as she slid over crosswalk lines. Grab handful of brakes and feel back-end come up.... Aaarrghhh.... Not slowing fast enough... back-end coming up more.... >PLOP< was sound as my front-tyre just kissed her back-bumper. Nose of my fairing just tapped top of bumper, probably stopped me from going over bars. Rear-end comes back down smoothly.... AAhhhh.... safe!

All of this happened within fraction of second and 10-ft or so. BUT... If I had been lane-splitting, I could've just kept on going through intersection and not had impact at all. Or I could've braked more gradually and came to stop next to her! So now, even if I'm going with flow of traffic, I'll split in gap between lanes to give myself more braking-room. Also can see further ahead as well.

Traffic's gotten so bad in Bay Area, bikes and splitting is only way to get anywhere. On my 1st day at this new job (I'm IT consultant), I wanted good-looking hair, so I drove cage in. For 35-mile commute to S.F., it took me 2.5 HOURS one-way!!!. I could've ridden my bicycle in less time than that!!! That toll-plaza on Bay Bridge in 2nd video that took me 30-secs to bypass, takes about 45-60 minutes by car, Yikes! So basically I save myself 4-hrs of commuting per day by using moto & splitting instead of being stuck in cage.

Here's similar commuting video, he followed my same route leaving City, across Bay Bridge to Oakland. Had some trouble at end in Berkeley....

Link to original page on YouTube.

January 26th, 2022, 11:25 AM	#8
DannoXYZ ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: AKA JacRyann Location: Mesa, AZ Join Date: Dec 2011 Motorcycle(s): CB125T CBR250R-MC19 CBR250RR-MC22 NSR350R-MC21 VF500F CBR600RR SFV650 VFR750F R1M ST1300PA Valkyrie-F6C Posts: A lot. MOTY - 2018, MOTM - Nov '17	Heh, heh... I grew up in Saratoga (south S.F. Bay Area) and have been riding through that traffic for 40-yrs! Yes, it's gotten much worse over time, especially after 2000 dot.com craze! I'm much more conservative with my riding now than when I was younger, seen too many people get squished. Always make sure I can stop within 1-car's length in case something happens. Only incident I ever had in all this time was because I was NOT lane-splitting. I was following white Honda through downtown Hayward, usual city-traffic with lights. Sneaking up past people slowly, filtering to lights on reds, etc. In this one case, I figured I'd just go with flow of traffic and followed this car. Well.... right as car hits crosswalk, light turns yellow and she SLAMS on her brakes, I heard couple squeaks as she slid over crosswalk lines. Grab handful of brakes and feel back-end come up.... Aaarrghhh.... Not slowing fast enough... back-end coming up more.... >PLOP< was sound as my front-tyre just kissed her back-bumper. Nose of my fairing just tapped top of bumper, probably stopped me from going over bars. Rear-end comes back down smoothly.... AAhhhh.... safe! All of this happened within fraction of second and 10-ft or so. BUT... If I had been lane-splitting, I could've just kept on going through intersection and not had impact at all. Or I could've braked more gradually and came to stop next to her! So now, even if I'm going with flow of traffic, I'll split in gap between lanes to give myself more braking-room. Also can see further ahead as well. Traffic's gotten so bad in Bay Area, bikes and splitting is only way to get anywhere. On my 1st day at this new job (I'm IT consultant), I wanted good-looking hair, so I drove cage in. For 35-mile commute to S.F., it took me 2.5 HOURS one-way!!!. I could've ridden my bicycle in less time than that!!! That toll-plaza on Bay Bridge in 2nd video that took me 30-secs to bypass, takes about 45-60 minutes by car, Yikes! So basically I save myself 4-hrs of commuting per day by using moto & splitting instead of being stuck in cage. Here's similar commuting video, he followed my same route leaving City, across Bay Bridge to Oakland. Had some trouble at end in Berkeley.... Link to original page on YouTube.