Hi everyone,

In about 8 weeks we will be going to the US. We have arranged to book a couple of V-Stroms from Gunnison for 3 weeks and we will go north of Colorado, into Wyoming and Montana (and maybe a bit of Idaho).

Wondering about non-obvious rules (compared to Riding in Europe).

For example is Filtering permitted or not? I heard it depends which States?

Anything else I should be aware of?

Cheers,

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

haha, not sure but filtering is probably not a big deal since there is no traffic there anyway...

The only state where you can "Filter" is California.

Don't forget speed limits and no passing on a double yellow.

Certainly not recommended but there is a certain novelty to riding without your helmet which is an option in some states.

50 State Helmet Law Review

No one said it's sane, but it is a novelty.

And don't pass/overtake school buses when the stop sign comes out to let kids off.

Even if the bus is on the *other* side of the road.

__________________
--

http://www.ytc1.co.uk

Wow! I certainly was NOT aware of such rule! Thanks!

As for riding without helmet, I will keep my face full helmet and all my MC gear! I like the protection

No filtering then? What's the point of riding for commuting then?!


Cheers,

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

A lot of cops are riders too, so you just don't want to be too blatant and they will cut you some slack. Montana is pretty freestyle...try the Looking-to-the-Sun pass for a great ride through a National Park.

I have not ridden in the states you mention, but universally everywhere else I ride you have to expect that cars will A. not properly signal their intention to turn, B. they frequently signal the wrong way, and C. they do not necessarily stop for stop lights or stop signs. This is not a law, just typical driving in the USA. Filtering is illegal everywhere except for California. Many smaller towns have sudden reductions in speed limits that are used as revenue generating machines by local police forces.

hmmmm!!! Sound like riding in Peru then!? (No offence- revenue rising wise I mean )

Cheers, will keep in mind!
big hug from crazy Brazil !( Real crazy, I can guarantee!)

__________________
Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Except that offering a mordida is almost certain to get you into trouble. In that sense, it's more like riding in Chile.

I was surprised at your surprise about the school bus law. The prohibition against passing a stopped schoolbus from either direction is the law in all 50 states, and if that's a surprise I'm wondering what else might be. Filtering is indeed illegal everywhere but California, and in my home state is likely to lead to getting "doored," so this is worth taking seriously.

I'm wondering whether there's a list of such rules somewhere. If not, it might be worth going online to look at the standard rules of the road according to the state of your choice--all are fairly similar aside from helmet laws. There are rules, for example, about how far from a corner you must park, how close to a fire truck or fire hydrant, etc.

Then there's life as it's normally lived: I've hardly ever come to a full stop at a stop sign, but I once had a cop warn me sternly I should be putting a foot down each time. I always ride 7-9 miles per hour over the speed limit (and went over 20 years without a ticket doing so), but 10 mph over can earn you a speeding ticket. And in my state, the freeway rule of "drive on the right, pass on the left" is routinely flouted by people who drive slowly in the left lane for hundreds of miles. This makes passing on the right very acceptable on a multi-lane highway.

Others?

Mark

Montana.

Brings back such fond memories of my childhood and misspent youth. Born and raised there in the Big Sky. Left at the age of 34 to seek further fame and fortune (what fame and fortune I had thus far acquired existed only in my head).

My hometown was a small burg in southwest Montana, not far from Yellowstone Park. Cattle country – big ranches, a place of few people and wide open spaces. It was in some local dive cowboy bar that I experienced my first bout of alcohol intoxication (legal drinking age was more a suggestion than an actual law) and somewhere out there in the dark of night on a back road I lost my virginity – but I digress.

Montana is big, slightly larger than the size of Japan and slightly smaller than Paraguay (I just looked it up, even a Montana boy knows how to use the internet), population 989,415 (Wikipedia). Montana is the 4th largest, but the 7th least populous and the 3rd least densely populated of the 50 United States (also Wikipedia). When I was born, there were fewer than 700,000 (many of them are probably my inbred cousins). There is a reason the population does not increase much there – known as winter.

I had a motorcycle in high school (we are now stretching back to the dark ages here). At that time there was not a separate license for motorcycles, a motorcycle safety course was not even a concept and only sissies wore helmets. If you could keep the thing upright on 2 wheels, you were good to go.

Those were the good old days when there was no daytime speed limit. Depending on road conditions, pedal-to-the-metal was not only legal, but actively practiced by all – you know, testosterone, the open road, low intelligence. Was with a friend one fine summer day in his brand new Datsun 240Z at speeds somewhere north of 130 mph (sorry, us yanks just cannot get a grip on the km/h thing) when we were stopped by one of Montana's finest. Very nice man; he only wanted to see if we had been drinking and if the car had adequate tires for the speed. Thank you, sir, we'll be on our way and by the way, you are doing a fine job out here on the highway.

So, the question was about special rules for riding in Montana. Things have changed, but not that much. It should be relaxing and traffic free. One question was what else you should be aware of – well....drunk cowboys. There is a speed limit now (damn!) and there are pockets of gentrification (commonly referred to as Californication). There are not enough people to make filtering necessary. The largest "city" is Billings at just over 100,000 (trust me, there is no reason to go there).

Before I finish wandering down memory lane, let me give you a couple of suggestions of where to go. Definitely go over the Beartooth Pass after touring Yellowstone Park between Cooke City, Montana, and Red Lodge, Montana. Make your way west to Dillon, Montana, (the place of my birth, be sure to look for the shrine they have erected in my memory, tucked neatly behind the dumpster in the alley at the back of the Moose Bar). From Dillon follow highway 278 which will lead you to the Big Hole Valley, land of the 10,000 haystacks. This is Montana ranch country at its finest. Huge valley with huge ranches at an elevation of 6000 feet (there's that non-metric thinking again) with big mountains all around. Very special place the Big Hole Valley.

Anywhere in western Montana will not disappoint. It's all good; it's all good riding with good camping everywhere – and good people. When you get to the northwest corner of Montana, another very special place close to my heart is Yaak, Montana (population not many), and the Dirty Shame Saloon. You fill in the blanks concerning the rest of that story. North of Troy, Montana, take the Yaak River Road and follow a long loop north and east and when you come back to what passes for civilization in Montana, you are on your way to Glacier National Park and the Going to the Sun Highway (not to be missed).

Anyway, I hope these musings help you on your journey. I wish I could be there to show you around, but my wife and I will be motorcycling our way around eastern Europe for the next several months. Are there speed limits there?

On the school bus issue, you do not have to stop for a bus on the oposite side of the road if the road contains a center divider, either a ditch or curbs, etc. Only when there is no physical divider between the opposing lanes of traffic do you need to stop.

The driver will always claim he/she didn't see you!
Prepare for cage drivers to always do the wrong thing...pull into your path!

If you break down someone will most likely give you a ride in the back of his/her pickup and feed and house you till you are fixed up. I love living in montana.

Fredsuleman thanks for the memories, damn I am getting old.
If you travel the crazy traffic in Mexico or anywhere south of the border you come back to the US and notice how most of the "rules" are now followed but because of that we have more lazy drivers that don't pay good attention.
As for helmets it is always feels good to get out the old Indian and blow to dust out of my hair for a few miles at least once a year, helmets not required on vintage motorcycles in Washington state.
Road Hog