Unwritten Motorcycle Rules: Essential Etiquette Every Rider Should Know

There's a misleading, unwritten rule that states if a quote-giving advice comes from someone famous, very old, or Greek, then it must be good advice. Welcome to the Throttle and Roast podcast. I'm your host, Niels Meersschaert. In today's episode, we'll be looking at many of the unwritten rules of the road. Most of these don't appear in your DMV handbook on riding, and you may not have learned them in any training that you've had. But knowing and following these rules will make your experience better and avoid some faux pas along the way. So let's get started other people's bikes. So you see someone else's bike, and it's in the parking lot where you're stopped, or in the gas station, whatever it is. It looks amazing, and you can appreciate that bike. The thing is, look, but don't touch. And whatever you do, don't just go and sit on a bike that you see parked over there. I mean, imagine just what would happen if you dropped the But just think of it from another perspective. It's just plain rude. Don't go up to another person's bike. Now, you can go and speak to that person, talk to them, ask them about their bike. And maybe if they offer, hey, do you want to swing a leg over it just to get a feel? That's fine. But the thing is, is just don't go and just do it uninvited. It's just the wrong thing to do. And it doesn't mean you don't want to. And I get that thinking. I get the wanting, the desire to be able to just experience what that bike is that you're appreciating. But it's not yours. So just don't go and put a leg over it. Now, another one, and this is probably a little bit more in the faux pas kind of category rather than a just don't do is don't ask to ride someone else's bike. Now, it kind of seems almost contradictory with what I was just discussing about, you know, if they offer you. But it's a little different than, hey, would you mind if I do it? So when you ask someone, can I ride your you're putting them in a very awkward situation of where they have to now say no to And then you're going to come back and you're going to say, well, why not? What's wrong? You don't trust me? You know, whatever it ends up being. But you're just creating a really strange situation. And the thing is, is that nobody wants to let someone else ride their bike just from a pure liability perspective. Suppose they have an incident, they crash, whatever it Well, they the one riding that bike. They don't have insurance covering them riding the bike. So now, just from a liability perspective, it puts a lot of onus onto them. The second thing is that most have adjusted the bike to fit them. So they might have adjusted the bars, they might have adjusted the foot pegs, they might have adjusted the controls. Everything is just set up for them. And it's not going to be right for you necessarily. And if you then start changing those on them to make it work for you so that you can try out the bike, well, now this other person has to go and redo their whole bike. So you're just creating a lot of problems for Now, you can certainly ask them about the bike. This is one of the most amazing things that you can do when you come up on other motorcyclists. Ask their opinion. Why do they like this bike? Why did they choose to buy it? What do they think about it? What are the things they think are good? What are the things they think are bad? All of that is incredibly valuable. But just don't ask them to ride it. Now, if you do want to go and try out that well, go to a dealership, look at one of those bike rental services. That's where you do it. And in particular, bike rental services kind of, it's a weird thing because this is individual riders who are offering their motorcycle up for other people to try out. So it is a way for you to ask someone to ride their But where you're not asking them, they're offering it and then you're taking them up on it. So it seems like a subtle difference of, well, they've offered it versus you asking. this is really, I think, where most people can make the mistake making the assumption that everyone who, because they love their bike and is going to be willing to just let any Joe Schmo ride You know, aside from the theft concerns, like it's just not a realistic scenario for it. And even if they're a good friend of yours, I would also say don't ask them to. If they offer it, totally different situation. They may say, hey, you want to take it for a spin? Go for it. You know, that's okay. But don't ask. Now, one of the other unwritten rules that we'll talk about today is signals to other riders. Now we've talked about in a previous one of the basic ideas that you see quite often on the road is that you'll wave to other riders. And this is a show of solidarity of brotherhood of whatever we want to describe it, that sort of recognize that here's someone else out on two wheels and you're on two wheels. And it's sort of a, just hey, like, you know, a heads up, a little tip of the hat, if you just to recognize that. Now, different styles will exist, you know, some people put two fingers down indicating keep two wheels on the ground. Some people might do it as like a, almost like high five sort of slap. Other people will do a tip of the hat. Uh, I actually ended up doing that just yesterday where I was stopped at a light. So my left hand was on the clutch lever, so I really wave my left hand at them. So I just tipped, you know, two fingers to my, uh, to my brow as a little bit of a salute to just as a way of recognizing, hey, here's someone else out on the bike. Now, where you typically will do a wave, I think is the other thing of what are a realistic expectation. Now, if you're in rural areas, I wave at everybody, even scooter riders, and you know, they're out on two wheels and I know there's a bit of stigma and people will say, oh, you know, there's just a scooter. I mean, I scooters, I ride big bikes, I ride everything in between. I don't care. It's just that you're out on two wheels. So I'll wave at everybody. And I would encourage you to maybe think about forgetting the tribalism, if they're on the wrong brand of bike, for example, or they're not your brand of bike. Who cares? At the end of the day, they're out on two wheels and maybe it's not the right bike for you, but it might have been the right bike for them. And you know what they're riding, just give them, give them some consideration on that. And I would say wave to everybody. Now, when you get into an urban environment, you might not wave. And the problem with weaving is it does take your hand off of the handlebar for a moment. It focuses your eyes onto that other rider versus the rest of the road. And in an urban environment where you might have, first off, a lot of different bikes that are going around because it's a much more dense area. If you're constantly just waving at everybody all the time, rather than focusing on all the real road this can be a bit of an issue, especially you know, vehicles that are pulling out of parking lots, vehicles that are turning in front of you. We really want to stay focused. So you might decide not to wave in an urban environment. And one way to think of this is, you know, when you get out on the fun roads, that's when you do your waves again. So I wouldn't worry about it on a urban environment so much, unless it's a doesn't mean that it has to be rural necessarily, but it's more of how dense or how many other vehicles are around. So use your judgment there of if it's just so swamped, it's just too much. You want to focus on riding your motorcycle safely and avoiding any sort of collisions, not on just waving to every other person that's out there. now the other place where you may not do it is on a divided highway. the thing is just practically speaking, you're unlikely to be looking across the to a few lanes of traffic on the other side and seeing that motorcyclist come, you're going at a faster rate of speed. So from a practical perspective, it may not be the case. I've had situations where I might be in the right hand lane of a three lane highway and then there's another rider who's in the right hand lane and another, and then they start waving wildly. And I'm like, I'm not looking over there, that's six lanes in the opposite lane of traffic. And it's a divided highway. There's no way for your vehicle to come into me. I'm not really focusing on what's happening on the other side of the road there. I'm focusing on what's right in front of me. I think, I think there's another area where you may choose not to really worry about waving to another rider. And it doesn't mean that you disrespect them, it doesn't mean that you you know, think that they're doing the right thing by being out on two wheels. It's just more of a practical perspective, like what we had within an urban environment of just, I'm not going to do it. And when you get on the fun roads, wave all day long. That's cool. Now, if it's a divided highway where there's only one lane in each direction, or maybe two, this might change a little bit. But I'm thinking of like here in the U S what we would call like a big interstate, which might be three, four lanes of traffic in each direction. Come on. It's just, it's too big. It's too busy for me to be sitting there and paying attention to other bikes that are on the other side of the road. Now another signal that you might give to other riders, and this is something that can really help them, is warning about hazards that are ahead. Now let's say that you are coming from the opposite direction. Well you might do a quick little tap on the top of your helmet to indicate, hey there's a, there's a speed check up ahead for And this may then give you an avoidance to say, hey, slow down a little bit just because there's gonna be someone who might be looking for a little bit more, exuberant riders that are, are going through that particular road at that time. But if you're riding behind someone, you might also then signal to, hey there's a road hazard here, maybe you put a foot to point at it, you put a finger to point at it, just something, maybe it's a dead animal on the road, whatever it ends up being, just something to indicate to the riders behind you, hey watch out for this. You might also give a signal if you're riding in a group, for example, to say, hey you know let's, let's pull over, I need fuel, or let's, stop, I need a break, whatever the signal that you'll particularly use And there's plenty of resources to find and learn all of the various hand signals that are out there. I'm not gonna go into all of them in this episode, Learn them, they're gonna be very, very helpful for you as you get out onto a road, especially if you're riding with a group. And I think that's the perfect segue for us to get into talking about group rides. Now, if you're mostly a solo rider, group rides are going to be a different experience. And what I'd say biggest faux pas that you could do with group riding is to randomly join some other group of bikes that are riding. And you'd be surprised how many riders try to join another group of riders on the road without asking. That's only a potential safety risk, but it's also a social faux Think of it like sitting down at someone's table at a restaurant and suddenly joining in on the conversation. Not to mention, motorcycle groups have to coordinate riding positions, so adding someone new can throw off everyone. A leader often knows the count of bikes behind So you getting in the mix can make a rider in the group become lost because the leader is counting, oh, I got four bikes behind me and counts the four, but you kind of inserted yourself in the middle. Now the rider who is at the end has disappeared and didn't fall through because you didn't look for them because you didn't know that they were there. know, if you do see a group stopped and you ask, hey, would you mind if I joined you? That's a very different story. And you should respect their response either way. They may have, you know, saying, hey, here's the rules for the ride. Are you willing to follow these? Please follow them. That's fine. But just don't go and join them. Now, there's a little bit of a gray area here, which is you might have a group of riders who are going along and you happen to be going in the same direction as them. And the thing what I'd say there is make it clear that you're not part of that group. So they may be tightly grouped up together. Give a little bit more space between you and the tail end of that group and certainly don't get in the middle of the group. That's the one thing I would say to really avoid. If you're going to pass the bikes, let's say there may be, you know, more of a parade pace. Try to get past through all of them as much as you can. And if you're going to follow behind, just do it where it's clear that you're not part of the group or trying to be part of the group. Because as I say, that can confuse the leader who's counting bikes behind them. And then suddenly like, wait, we have an extra bike. What's going on? But let's say that you are getting ready to join a regular group ride that you've pre-planned in advance. One of the biggest things, and I've seen this happen so many times, and it's just, it's really annoying to all of the other riders and especially the leader. Please make sure you come fully fueled. Don't come in and be like, oh, well, I still got a half a tank or still got a quarter of a tank. And so, you know, whatever, it'll be fine. The thing is now you are assuming that the group is going to then stop for you earlier than they would plan to stop for fuel otherwise. And that's just, it's just putting everyone else onto lack of preparedness. Now they suddenly have to accommodate it. And look, we all in a group have to accommodate some riders all the time. But why start off on the wrong foot where you're going to create that issue? The other one, use the restroom before you leave. I tell this to my kids all the time, like, before we leave the house, I'm like, everyone go to the bathroom, just do it before you leave, just do this way, like, you've gotten everything out that you need before you get on the bike and start going, so that you don't in 10, 15, 20 minutes, whatever, suddenly be like, oh, I gotta stop and pee, just do it beforehand, and it will make it so much easier. that's sort of the prep for the ride, but now as you're actually going and getting into the make sure to hold your line in the curves, don't be weaving in and out and back and forth across the lane the whole now it doesn't mean that you don't apex the curve, but just don't be wiggling within it, you know, it's one thing to hold a line and you're coming through, you're cutting the apex, that's totally fine, but just don't be wiggling all over the place, because it can throw off the people who are behind they may even be trying to maybe even, you know, pick a line that's up just nearby you and then you're kind of wiggling and it throws them off, suddenly they're going to be too close to you because you moved right in front of where they were expecting to be. So just make it a predictable line through the corners. Now, closely related to that maintain spacing between the bike in front of you. try to keep the following distance at least steady, don't make it where you're doing slingshotting back and forth and it goes from being like really close to really, really far away and really close to really far away. A, it's going to a problem for the leader or even the bike in front of you to be like, hey, where'd that guy go? He suddenly disappeared. They're just going to cause everyone to slow down. But it may also be really annoying to the riders who are behind who are saying, well, we're trying to keep up with the group and now you're falling way behind or you're going way up close. just try to keep it a relatively steady spacing. Now, when I say steady spacing, I don't mean the but think of it in terms of your following distance for the rate of speed that you're traveling. Just keep that relatively steady so that if you slow down, you can get a little bit closer as you speed up, you'll get a little further away. That's totally But don't be, hey, we're doing 45 miles an hour and I'm three feet from the bike in front of me and then I might decide in 10, 15 seconds, now I'm going to be 400 feet behind them. And I keep swapping back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. It's like, just pick one and stay with it. It will make it a lot easier for everyone else you're riding with. Now, another great unwritten rule for when you're riding in a group is how you start to think of the positioning of your bike along with the other ones on the ride. In general, most groups, and you'll probably hear this in a rider's meeting before you start the ride, is as we get into the single lane roads where we're going to be, you know, usually twisties, we're going to fall into a single file. Meaning, you and the bike in front of you, you're just, you're following along at its assistance. There's no rider that's coming up next to you or staggered in any way. You've got plenty of, you've got the lane for your entire choice of where you want to position as you're apexing the corners. But as we start to get into maybe more of a straightaway, or even if you're on a highway, you'll oftentimes say, hey, let's keep it staggered. And the reason why we tend to do staggered on a group ride is it allows the overall group to be more compact. you're still maintaining the same following distance of the bike that is directly in front of you, but the bike that is offset from you, you're closer to. But because they're not directly in front of you, you're still maintaining a good following distance. But because we're offsetting and we're staggering between left and right as we're on the road, we are allowing the entire group to be more compact, which means that you are less likely to have an issue of where another vehicle can get in the middle of the or where there's so much distance between the front and the back of the group that it's difficult to manage. So staggered groups on highways, definitely. And on straightaways, you'll oftentimes also go into more of a staggering. And this just allows you to get really nice and close. The other thing that we'll do is even if it's a single lane road, but as we get up to a light, you'll also typically stagger and get in nice and tight. you get that group as compact as possible. It's going to make it easier when the light goes so that you can start going and get through the light. Because the worst thing that's going to happen if you're on a group is now all of a sudden the group got broken apart because not everyone was able to get through the light because we were this long, long single file line. So get it tight, get it closer up as you get to the light and move forward. Now, I will point out another variant to this, which is important to think of for whether you're in a or not in a group. If you see a random other bike that's on the don't necessarily pull up right next to them in the lane. It's that same sort of faux pas well, now you're crowding them, but they're like, who the hell are you? You're not riding with them. So there it's a different situation. I would still say, you know, line up as you would behind any other car, for example, behind but don't try to get up next to them unless they invite you. They you know, wave a hand and be like, hey, come on up, you know, the side I've moved over to one side. That's totally fine if they invite you to but just don't impede and go in there on your own uninvited. It's that same, it's almost getting together with a group uninvited. I just not something you want to really do. And we talked a little bit about this in the signaling that you would do to other riders if let's say you're riding solo. But, you know, when you're in that group, you want to make sure that you signal to the other riders, hey, we're going to be stopping for fuel or a rest stop or the debris in the road. It's really critical to make sure that you're doing that for the group because you're trying to advantage it as likely as you can for all the riders behind you to have that situational awareness. What groups will do also when they get on a ride is they'll put everybody onto comms, they'll all get onto headsets. And this makes it even easier to be able to communicate, hey, we're going to do a fuel stop up here or, hey, we're going to do a rest just so that everyone's on the same loop of what they expect to do. So, try to give as much communication as you can. As I said, the headsets make it really easy because you don't have to memorize all of these different signals. You don't have to ensure that the person behind you actually saw the signal, all that other fun stuff. The comms can make it easier. But as we've talked about in some of the other episodes where we discussed some comm systems, there's no guarantee that every single rider in your group is on the same brand. So, you may not have the comms between everyone. So, you may still need to do a mix. And sometimes what will happen, especially on a well-organized group you might have the leader and then the trailing bike on comms so that they can communicate back and forth together, even if they get pretty far apart. And then everyone else might not be on the comms, but at least you've got your lead and being able to communicate what's going on. So, that's really group riding in a nutshell and some of the unwritten rules for group riding. But let's talk a little bit more generally about some unwritten rules for you just from a basic road safety perspective. One of the most critical things to do is, remember, you're out on two wheels. You've got to manipulate the controls to keep that bike well managed to make sure that you're picking your line appropriately, that you can stop when you need to. And the most important thing you can do is really have that situational awareness. So, keep your eyes on the road up ahead, not directly in front of the tire, but up ahead so you have enough reaction time to be able to make any sort of adjustment. Scan the sides of the road for wildlife or for cars that might be turning in. Just really keep your eyes out for that. And if you see something that could be an then make sure that you cover the brake, you cover clutch. It doesn't mean you activate them, but get your hands from being around the hand to just over the levers. That little can cut reaction time down dramatically. And that's going to just put you into a much safer situation. the other one that I'll say in this, I see it so often with motorcyclists where have this sort of presumption of, well, I have the right of way and therefore I'm just going to go. But right of way and the assumption that the other vehicle saw aren't necessarily the same thing. And the number one collision that occurs between two involving a is a car turning in front of the motorcycle. Now, the motorcycle oftentimes had the right of way, but the car has the mass and the means to kill you. So cover your brake, slow down, assume they will and be prepared to and to avoid it. So not just to stop, but hey, what's my escape line if they start coming? I've can either go left or right to kind of get around them. What's one that's going to give me the most opportunity to escape unscathed? Don't assume that someone's gonna stop. Don't assume that someone's not gonna turn in front of you. In fact, assume they And is a rule set that we are supposed to, as motorists, all But the reality is, as a small, narrow vehicle, a lot of other vehicles aren't looking out for us. They're not gonna necessarily see us, and therefore they will violate our right-of-way all of the Now, another really important thing to do from a road safety is if you see a motorcyclist pulled over on the side of the stop. Maybe they're just taking a break. Maybe they have a mechanical or another Just a quick ask, hey, everything okay, can go a long way to helping someone feel supported and can even get them out of a bind if they have an their phone completely died and they need some support for that. Maybe they need to call on a tow truck, whatever it And by you stopping and checking on you just save them hours of potentially just waiting for some other random motorist to stop. like how we wave to other motorcyclists, this is a way to sort of share that camaraderie amongst your fellow riders and just look out for And half the time, maybe even more, they'll just be like, no, no, I'm just taking a break or I'm just checking directions, whatever it is, that's fine. But the fact that you even checked really goes a long way. And if you reverse it, if you think of what if you were in that situation and you were stopped on the side of the road and you really needed Now, there's some people will say, oh, well, I put a helmet on the ground and that's an indication that I need help. Yeah, fine. If you want to have some code for it, that's okay. personally, I don't want to put my helmet on the ground. You know, you get bugs in there, you get dirt on there. That's not really my goal in it. So just, just stop whenever you see someone. Make it much easier I'm just in the, hey, just pull over no matter A quick ask, hey, everything okay? You need any No one's going to really get upset about that. And if anything, they're going to appreciate it much more. Alright, a little bit of soapbox time. you've heard me talk about safety gear a thousand times on this podcast. One thing I will say is I do believe that a good helmet and visor are a must. And you can have the perspective of, well, you know, I live in a location where we don't have to wear a helmet. Therefore, I don't want to. It's freedom, whatever that That's cool. But I will still advocate for beyond the safety aspect of if you get into a crash. But just from a comfort perspective, a helmet I find is more Suppose you get bird crosses in front of you and smacks into your head. Well, if you're wearing a helmet, that's going to feel a lot more comfortable than having a bird smack you in the head. Even bugs. I mean, some bugs are really bloody And if they hit you in the helmet or in the face because you're not wearing a helmet, it's going sting, not even just if it's a stinging bug, but it's going to really, really sting and it will not be comfortable. And it could even be disruptive to you. If you get like a bird hits you in the head as you're riding, it could distract you so much that you could crash because you got really thrown off. So a good helmet, a good visor, they're going to allow these things to sort of brush off all the time. You know, a bug hits you when you're in the helmet. No, no one cares. You're not going to even really notice it for the most part. It's irrelevant. You might hear a little splat, but that's about the extent of it. And then maybe you have to pull over and clean your visor, but that's the least of the issues versus it hit you in the face. And now you're sitting there stinging, you're We don't want any of that. And not to mention, of course, that, you know, beyond the bugs and the birds that might kind of get in the way, but just as a, a comfort level, like as temperatures change, you're going to be far more comfortable with a full face helmet. As you're getting into these varying temperatures, then you will be, if you're not, I mean, I, I was on a fall foliage ride and there were, you know, a couple of guided rides and I just happened to be, you know, I went out on my own. So I just was following the route on my and I caught up to one of the groups, you know, I ride a little quicker and they were kind of putting along as it bu there was a couple of the riders who were in there who were wearing the little half helmets, but then they had these little face masks on to try to keep them warm. And when we left, it was about 37 degrees Fahrenheit. So just a little above freezing. So it was quite cold. Well, I could see them literally sitting there shivering because they didn't have that. Just put on a full face helmet, put on a neck gaiter. You will be so much more comfortable as you're going out for a ride because you don't have that temperature. Hitting you straight in the face, especially with windchill, it's going to be much, much colder. Now, some people will advocate, well, when it's really hot, you have the opposite problem. And it's like, okay, I could see that a little bit, but a good quality helmet will have plenty of venting. And when you have the heat of the sun hitting your bare skin,it will oftentimes be hotter. So I still think having a good quality helmet and visor is going to make you more comfortable on a ride overall. The more comfortable you are, the longer you can ride the more you will enjoy your ride too. So think of it from that perspective. Another really important unwritten rule from a road safety perspective is watch for obstacles. Keep your eyes up. Don't stare right in front of the front tire. Keep it looking, you know, way ahead of the bike. So you can see issues and obstacles long before you get to them. And therefore you can react appropriately. You know, whether it's a pothole that's in the street or a wood plank that fell off of a truck in front of you, or even a mattress lying in the front of the, in the middle of the road, there's opportunities for all sorts of hazards to be in the road. I just had last there was a dead raccoon right in the middle of the road. And if I not been paying attention, I could have run, run into it. And it was tall enough and big enough that it would have disrupted the tires and the bike in a pretty bad way. But because I was paying attention and looking way far ahead of the bike, I saw it on the road. I was able to move to one side of the lane to get around it. No big deal. Now related to this is also worry about target fixation. Way too easy for a lot of riders is they look at the thing that's the obstacle on the road, and they just keep staring at it. And what happens? They hit it. Look where you want to go, not at what you want to avoid. You want to do the scan so you are aware of what you want to avoid, but then you pick the line you want to do around the obstacle. Don't stare at the obstacle. Now another thing that you'll as another good unwritten rule of the is parking. When you pull into a position your bike so that another bike could also fit into the spot. Now, especially with parallel spots next to curbs, you can often fit three, four bikes per space by parking your rear right up against the and at an angle. And you really help out your fellow rider by giving them space that's available for them to fit their bike in. So we're on small vehicles. If every one of us uses a full parking space, if it's a popular spot for a motorcyclist, it's going to be really difficult for them all to be able to fit in. So try to do parking in such a way that they can get close. Now, when you are the person who's coming into a space that another rider had left open, be mindful of the space that you put next to them. And remember, most bikes will lean to the left to where the kickstand is. You want to leave enough space that they can comfortably get onto their bike and lift it up. And also that you can comfortably lift your bike up. If you park so close that you're right up against them when you're leaned over and now you try to lean your bike up, guess what's going to happen? You're going to smack right into that other bike that's next to you. So you want to have the spacing. And so when you are pulling up, if the bike is to your right-hand side, obviously if you're standing fully upright when you pull the bike in, it's going to be a little bit easier for you to recognize and be like, okay, I've got the spacing right. If you are coming onto the other side where you're coming on the right-hand side of the bike as you're coming into park, you have to think about, well, my positioning is not just to be right next to them while that other bike is leaned over, but when they stand up and when I lean over, how is this going to be? So give a little bit more space when you pull up onto the right-hand side of a bike as you come into park. And especially if it's someone you don't know, I would even argue, give them even a little bit more breathing room you don't know that rider. You don't know their comfort level. You don't know if they're going to be freaked out because this bike is, you know, within three feet of them versus, you know, three inches. You know, different riders will have different comfort levels. If it's someone, you know, I think you can probably get in a little bit closer because you're probably all riding together anyway. You're going to leave at the same time. It's not as big of a deal. But if it's just a random just give them a little bit more breathing room so that it's not so claustrophobic feeling for you still want to be able to fit more bikes into the lane as possible. But that three to four, that might be for people, you know, rather than random. But you can easily fit two bikes into a single space and not give either of the bikes any discomfort and be able to fit a bike in. So let's wrap up. We covered a ton of unwritten rules about riding, from respecting other people's bikes to being prepared for a group ride, ride safety, and even parking. So my question for you is, what is the one rule that you wish more riders followed? Share your thoughts through the text to show link in the show notes, or leave us a voicemail at throttle and roast dot com slash voicemail. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you next week.