A left turn and a leap of faith

[Gone in 60]

He says "You think drivers are courteous to you on that red Honda? Just wait until you ride a neon-yellow bike with BLOOD printed on the windscreen. You will get a wide path."

Yea, we'll see. Seen enough road rage videos to know people aren't as nice and forgiving as they used to be.

I hope so for your sake though.

If you've never ridden in California, it's hard to picture, but drivers are generally very courteous to motorcycles. I've never really had an unpleasant encounter that I can recall. 
Makes the traffic tolerable, and sometimes downright enjoyable. Even on a red Honda.

 

[Rolls]

I think it’s great you’re taking on this adventure! My time in startups comprises a disproportionate share of my best work memories. Wishing you the best in this venture!

 

[rdprdp01]

My experiences with lane splitting in the East Bay are the same as yours, Pauley. There are good people in this world, and many of them live in Walnut Creek. Take care, David

 

[Cormanus]

[quote="Pauley" pid='273155' dateline='1771975529']
It was rare that I would find a motorcycle group to follow.
[/QUOTE]

You must have been very fast, Pauley!

 

[the Ferret]

He says "You think drivers are courteous to you on that red Honda? Just wait until you ride a neon-yellow bike with BLOOD printed on the windscreen. You will get a wide path."

Yea, we'll see. Seen enough road rage videos to know people aren't as nice and forgiving as they used to be.

I hope so for your sake though.

If you've never ridden in California, it's hard to picture, but drivers are generally very courteous to motorcycles. I've never really had an unpleasant encounter that I can recall. 
Makes the traffic tolerable, and sometimes downright enjoyable. Even on a red Honda.

Ive only ridden in so Cal once, in 2014. After retiring I rode my ST 1300 out Rt 66 to San Luis Obispo, over to Highway 1, up 1 to just south of San Fran, then turned east thru San Diego? and headed for Pikes Peak Colorado. Spent very little time on freeway, but was  stuck in 105 degree traffic jam for a little while ( it was a Friday afternoon), thought about splitting traffic, but looked down between the rows of cars and figured the ST was too big, and I didnt have enough experiece. I did notice one phenominon about so cal drivers... here in the midwest to pass we pull ahead of the car we want to pass a clear distance then move over at a 90 degree angle <---- , in so cal the passers started passing  while they were still beside the other car and passed on a 45 degree angle  /.

 

[rdprdp01]

Very true! It can be a challenging moment when the driver of the car that is being passed has to choose between (1) rear-ending the person who is passing or (2) be rear-ended when they slam on the breaks to enable the passer to enter the lane and have the distracted driver behind them suddenly become very aware of the precarious situation!!

 

[Gone in 60]

Ferret, I have a term for the style of driving you are describing. I call it "Area Denial Driving". Sort of a fear that if you don't take the spot you want, someone else will swoop in and grab it. I'm guilty of it myself when I'm in the car in traffic. I'm not rude or over-authoratative, but it's sort of the norm here.

As far as lane splitting, yes, it does seem daunting at first. When you watch YouTube videos of people doing it, the camera compression make it look even scarier. Here's a video of me on my Bonneville, leaving the museum and heading through Downtown L.A. traffic on the 10 and 5 freeways. Keep in mind, this is sped up quite a bit! I'm actually going between 15-25 mph in the tightest spots. Traffic opens up in Norwalk, where the freeway was widened over the course of several years, with the addition of a carpool lane. Traffic speed goes from slow to 90 at that point. It looks like I'm squeezing through a very narrow space, but it's much wider than it looks.

Once you start splitting, you become used to it, people make room for you, and for me, the singular mental focus makes me very content. Shoving an ST into that space seems like it would be a challenge. I have a simple assessment I do as I approach a space. If my mirrors will fit, the bike will fit. If I have any doubt, I just hang back, and eventually the two cars side-by-side will shift, one will pass the other leaving a safe gap. Some riders are pretty rude, revving their engines when a space is tight, as if to say "Move out of the way, this is MY space!"

Yesterday I realized something interesting. I was passing Irv Seaver, our local BMW dealership while running an errand. I dropped in (I usually buy my helmet cleaner spray there anyway) and figured if I'm going be living on a big BMW touring bike, I should sit on one and see how it feels. They only had new RTs on the floor, and man are they gorgeous. And huge. And heavy. I think I will need to work on my leg muscles to get it up off the side stand.

This dealer services all of the local RTP police bikes in the area, and they have narrower side cases than the regular RT, making the bikes narrower. Interesting... I assume that is because an RTP is designed to be ridden in traffic, and it would make sense that it would be narrower than a full-tilt touring rig.

 

[the Ferret]

Actually BMW RTs are not as heavy as they seem. They are just ponderous to sit on. A 1200 BMW without bags is reportedly 505 dry, wet with bags about 570. About the same weight as a naked CB 1100 dlx.

Yea that splitting video is heart attack city lol

 

[Gone in 60]

Actually BMW RTs are not as heavy as they seem. They are just ponderous to sit on. A 1200 BMW without bags is reportedly 505 dry, wet with bags about 570. About the same weight as a naked CB 1100 dlx.

Yea that splitting video is heart attack city lol

Ha Ha! Might be heart attack city to you, but to me it's mental focus and elimination of anything that doesn't matter in that moment. 

Again, there's more room than what the camera makes it look like. What really made me realize that a camera compresses the width of the image was watching Itchy Boots' videos. Frequently, she leaves her camera running when she's maneuvering her bike through narrow gates to parking lots at the hotels and guest houses where she stays. It looks like the bike is wider than the gate opening, but she rides or pushes the bike through the opening with no problem. 

And yeah, I'm sure the weight of the bike will disappear once it's moving. Thanks for the comparison with the CB1100. That's refreshing. And hey, I used to ride a VTX1800, which was basically a locomotive, and I wasn't in the physical shape I'm in now, so, no worries!

 

[Gone in 60]

Rode to the boss’ house this morning on the CB1100 to get acquainted with the BMW RTP I’ll be riding and to see the process of how the deliveries will work.

Tried on all of the gear I’m going to wear, especially the Sena helmet, and thankfully it all fit fine.

The bike is a ‘16 model, and I’ll have to read up on all of the controls and accessories like the electric windshield, screen menu navigation, etc. We went through the delivery procedures and then did a test run that took us to points all around L.A.

He rode behind me on one of the other bikes, and I realized that this was just as much a riding test as it was a dry run. We were heading through some of the most heavy freeway traffic even for a Sunday, and he wanted to see how comfortable I was in tight quarters, especially while lane splitting.

He had emphasized repeatedly that he wanted safe riders, not fast riders. I’m a conservative rider, especially in traffic and split at low speeds. No problem adhering to his mandate.

The RTP rides line a dream, the weight disappears when it’s moving, and it glides through tight traffic. The seat is comfortable as it should be on a bike designed for all-day riding.

We stopped for lunch and he complimented me on my riding, saying I was clearly comfortable with it and the bike, and admitted that he’s “flunked” a few candidates. Whew.

I’ll take possession of the bike next weekend and will start deliveries. Couldn’t be more excited.

---

Here she is.

 

[peterbaron]

I love this reflective yellow one.
Gone, any deliveries abroad??

 

[pdedse]

I love this reflective yellow one.
Gone, any deliveries abroad??

Well, he could stop by my place if he had to deliver to Canada.

Or maybe they'll send him to Mexico.

 

[Gone in 60]

I love this reflective yellow one.
Gone, any deliveries abroad??

The yellow one is the bike I’ll be riding. The other one is the same bike that is still black and white and is waiting for its decal kit. He said the decals are from Europe and are from the company that supplies police BMW livery decals to most European countries.

One thing I’ll have to do is put a bright label that says “VEST” on the dash. The Helite vest is something completely new to me. It clips to a tethered strap when you’re on the bike. I’d hate to forget to unclip it before I get off the bike. Or, forget to clip it when I get on and have the loose strap get caught in the rear wheel.

So far, we’re concentrating on Southern California but if it explodes, maybe Canada?

 

[Gone in 60]

About to saddle up Superbird to head to my exit interview and to hand over my company computer and keys. 

Yesterday i was clearing out a ton of FB Marketplace listings I had put up for the boss to sell off some old company equipment. Glanced at my FB feed and had to laugh when I saw someone in the local riding community had snapped a photo of one of my (as of Monday) new coworkers.

 

[Gone in 60]

Picked her up after I finished up at the museum today. When I got to the boss' house, he had everything laid out for me. The thermal containers for the cargo, paperwork, tamper-evident tags, phone for the communication with the dispatcher, cameras, and uniform riding gear. 

On the long ride home, I was praying that she'd fit in the garage. She does... but just barely. 
Tomorrow, I'll make some mock runs to get better acquainted with the bike, the delivery app and navigation system, and the real work starts on Monday.

 

[pdedse]

Bike looks great! Rider is in shape, all systems go! Just make sure that garage door behaves.

 

[peterbaron]

Bike looks great! Rider is in shape, all systems go!  Just make sure that garage door behaves.

Agreed.... but for safety reasons, I would buy Reverse Gear Insurance for that fluorescent bike 

 

[Nachodaddy]

That's quite an impressive rig. Hard to miss that one. Have fun!
:biker:

 

[the Ferret]

WOW, that IS a tight fit.

Bike is BRIGHT!

You'll have to give us a synopsis of day 1 tomorrow

 

[Cormanus]

I said in an earlier post on this thread that I had a memory of a UK member who was a volunteer for BloodBikes in that country. I had a pretty good search, but I couldn't find the reference.

However, I did learn this morning that there's an Australian volunteer Bloodbike service for when I need something to do. Bloodbikes Australia