Hi Flossie

ESPECIALLY if Im overtaking you on the 90!

XXDenise

....well with my headrace bearings dying on me today that might just have been possible

Smooth roads

Flossie (Bossies with wings)

Zut!
 

Well Bossie

Youre lucky with the bearings - Im stuck near Clermont Ferrand in France with the AT dead with some electrical charging problem after 40,000mls of trouble free biking ...I had just taken a pic of the speedo at 100,000 mls when the problem showed.

about to phone for recovery service, get back to the UK for work on Monday, transfer pannier racks to my other AT in time for the Belgian meeting on -8th-10th.

Hope youre bearing up well!

Wave? Who me? You bet!
 

I ride around North America and that's a reasonably big chunk of real estate. I have to say that waving and stopping to help is very much alive and well. I broke a fuel pump on my 1200 K bike whilst on the busiest highway in North America (the 401) and within half an hour there was a 4X4 towing a monster covered trailer wading through the ditch to get me and this whole circus was fetched by a very polite fellow on a Hog. On the flip side I've pushed a Harley that had some starter probs (damn near had a heart attack with that paper wieght), fetched some fuel for another guy and phoned for a fellow and his wife to get picked up after his Wing died. As for waving, my buddy and I have discussed getting spring loaded neon hand that activates with a push of a button, but we haven't found anything right just yet so I'll just continue to wave like some demented idiot and enjoy every second of it. I hope the "I'm better/loftier/richer/own a different bike/could care less 'virus' doesn't hit my turf. It would be a very sad day if it did because you meet the nicest people on a busted bike.

Ride safe, ride far,
Stu

I used to get that when I drove a landy but I was driving up the motorway from portsmouth docks in my landcruiser H60 after getting back from Africa, still filthy and tooled up, and got a wave from a classic range rover driver, now THAT suprised me!!

oh yes, and the other day when my moggie minor broke down in lane 5 of the M25 in rush 3hrs a guy with a vw camper helped me push it to the side, while all the beemers and mercs tried to run us over.
when a guy fell of his push bike a while back all the cars in front of me drove round him, as he bled profusely and tried in vain to get up. Me and some Army medics stopped.
basically it's down to the individuals, but I would rather be a nice guy than an asshole!! and maybe if you do something for someone, when your the one on the side of the road someone will do something for you!

Truer words have rarely been uttered!

Wawing
 

Here in Finland about 8 in 10 bikers wave back if I wave (raise my hand) for them. I havent tried not to wave.. A couple of times I was concentrating on something else and didnt have time to react when someone waved. Ofcourse if you are using the clutch you cant wave.

But it creates trust to humanity when someone waves before you can.:tongue3:

Are we seeing all of the waving?
 

When I first started motorcycling everyone waved when we passed each other, and always stopped if the other was stopped. Since then I have continued to acknowledge other motorcyclists but I now nod rather than wave when I'm in the UK. Driving on the left behind a fairing I'm not certain my waved left hand could be seen by an oncoming rider.

I also make a point of always thanking a car that lets me past, dropping the left hand off the bar at home or waving the right leg overseas are not that difficult.

If I see someone stopped by the roadside I usually stop (there are exceptions). I doubt I can offer much practical help for a breakdown, but I can check you don't need medical help or I can loan you my mobile to phone for assistance, or just to tell your partner you're running late.

Twenty years ago in the UK, just about every biker acknowleged me and at traffic lights, when they realised I was a girl, they would try to goad me to race.

The last time I rode a bike in the UK was 6 years ago and the bike (Moto Guzzi California) got more attention than I did.

Last year, riding from the UK to Spain, through France and Andorra - not many waves through UK, EVERY biker in France stuck theire leg out, but when we got to Spain, nothing, nada.

The hubby and I both have XT's and we get ignored by 95% of bikers here - the only ones who acknowlege us generally have panniers on their bikes (as do we). Why? Because the Spanish think we are police. They haven't seen Metal Mules before so they don't know what they are. We're still on UK plates, but even when the cars go speeding past us on the motorways, they usually put their brakes on as they're passing.

But yesterdays incident was probably the most disappointing. There's a big Hog rally in Fuengirola this weekend and the hubby was on his way back from work when he overtook about 30 Harleys on the motorway - he was only going a few mph more than them. He waved to them all as he passed and not one of them acknowleged him. What made it worse - just about every one of them was on a UK plate!!!!

So, if any of you get back to the UK, read this and can remember my hubby on his blue XT with MM panniers on a UK plate passing you slowly and waving, why didn't you wave back????????????

Life is just too short to be bothered by such total BS. Just Ignore. :scooter:

Mollydog, I think I may just take your advice and ignore. Two things happened this weekend which left me speechless. On Saturday morning, we were overtaken by a Honda cruiser. Both me and the hubby not only pulled to one side to let him pass, but we both waved as he passed us. His reaction? Nothing. No thanks, no acknowledgement, nothing.

I was 40 yesterday and we spent the day out riding and visiting some of the local beauty spots. We pulled into the car park at El Torcal and there was a Harley and a Honda cruiser getting ready to leave. We both got off our bikes and waved as they were pulling away and I can only describe the looks on their faces (pillion aswell) as pure contemp. It's a wonder they could see where they were going with their heads tipped so far back in order for them to look down their noses at us. Even the Guardia Civil that pulled us over in the afternoon were friendlier, and their reputation is anything but.

How sad that there is now a growing breed of riders who are anything but like-minded travellers. Or are they just too scared to take their hands off the handlebars and wave back? I never had that problem with the Cali, so I can only assume it is down to ignorance/snobbishness/elitism or all three.

A wave, a polite nod, a smile or a thank you costs nothing, but makes the world a happier place. I would be embarrassed now to be part of the growing cruiser culture and from now on, I will ignore.

Hand and feet signals
 

Hellsteeth Dakota, I was thinking of getting a cruiser, but you have put me right off them now - tested a Honda V Twin 1800 a few years ago and that sure has some torque!! :eek3:
Just kidding, but not about the torque.

I guess I have cut back on the waving bit, since I have been riding a "sit up and beg" style bike during the past few years; so called sports bikes are still the thing to own in the UK and I was usually waving when riding a "firesomething", but those guys do not acknowledge my presence on the road nowadays - most of them anyway.

Now I generally stick with a nod of the head - kind of ambiguous.
You can still get their attention with a thumbs down however!!

I sometimes use the right leg (as used by French riders for a thankyou) to let faster bikes know that I have seen them in my mirror & I am expecting them to pass me and which side I expect them to pass - the right obviously, but it ain't neccessarily so in this day and age on our roads!! (this is used on race tracks for this purpose) - but from the usual hesitation that this induces, I am not sure that this is understood.

Cheers,
Dave

A few points to add... if you go to Aus, most bikers don't wave. It is more like a "I'm cool" cockhanded nod of the head. So look out for that too. just as friendly but not as obvious.

Other then that.. I will always stop, In fact I will stop whether in car or bike. I also have to say, that the best for others stopping has been by far the USA, then Australia, then Spain...(spanish waved a lot too, but they stick out there legs..) The UK :nono:not one of 30+ bikes that passed stopped for me when i was on the side of the road and that included a bikecop (and I was illegally parked)! In the USA I several time I pulled up to do some thing like look at map or get a drink or whatever the next bike that goes pass always pulls over.:thumbup1: Australia there does seem to be a caste system, I have never had a sports bike pull up, tourers mostly do (and the funny thing is the worst condition the bike the more likely it is they will stop), have not seen enough HDs or cruisers in the places I ride (or break down) to know.

Even on the way back from the HU meet here in the Uk I saw a bike and pulled up.. interrupted his phone call but better be safe then sorry.

So lets keep it up and wave, nod, stick a leg out (which always confused me), and lead by example.. Pay it forward as they say:thumbup1::thumbup1::thumbup1::clap::clap::D:D

Sticking a leg out comes from continental bikers ,who when passing you, cant raise a right hand from the throttle so wave a leg instead.