Almost made a Bonneville Panini This Morning

[Gone in 60]

Got my wake up call on the ride to work this morning.
"Sorry, didn't see you" is on another level when it's a semi dump truck who wants your lane.
Funny how quickly the brain can kick in and perform complex time/distance calculations when it has to. Truck travelling approx. 20mph slower than me, approx. four feet of shoulder, approx. 400' before I lose the shoulder...

We can make it!

In his defense, the driver saw me when I was at about even with the back of the truck portion of the rig, and he gave me an extra foot to work with.

 

[bioman_imp]

Wow...

You were very lucky - and you have great reflexes. A reminder to us all: a truck is a lot bigger than a motorcycle.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

That experience seems to be par for the course on freeways of significant metropolitan centers. Good to see the sharpness Gone!

Of course, extra margin is available if the CB1100 was utilized.

Even more margin if a liter+ Honda DCT machine was used.

 

[Gone in 60]

GO, yes, extra margin would have been available on the CB1100 - better brakes if I wanted to haul it down and stay behind the truck, or drop a gear and get past it quicker than a Triumph. On the CB300R, would have put the ABS into play, passing probably wouldn't be much of an option.

And I just realized, all of my closest calls in traffic, including my one incident of actual contact, on this Bonneville, about a mile from where this truck squeezed me, happened while I was wearing hi-viz gear.

Black or dark jacket, I usually get guys pulling onto the shoulder to make extra room for me. I dunno.

 

[emptysea]

The brakes and the acceleration of the CB might of helped you...but perhaps not. However, the RLETs most certainly would have saved you.

 

[Gone in 60]

Hmm, perhaps. In January of 2020 when I made minor contact with a left-turner a block after exiting the freeway, I had the RLETs on the Bonny.

I'm still torn as to whether RLETs on a non-Honda caused the incident due to negative energy, or if the power of the RLETs is blind to the machine they are attached to, and they kicked in at that moment, and kept the accident to one that was so minor that I was able to stay on the bike, continue riding it to work and then a repair shop, and hide the incident from my wife.

That being said, did the RLETs cause the truck to change lanes into me this morning? Or was it predestined, and the RLETs saved me by allowing me the room to squeeze past him on the narrow shoulder and avoid contact?

 

[Tev62]

These large trucks have terrible blind spots, especially one this long and the advanced motorcycle trainers here in Ireland would encourage you to spend as little time as possible around these vehicles. Overtaking these at a slow differential would be heavily discouraged and they would expect you to exceed the speed limit if necessary just to get past them swiftly.

 

[KiowaEagle_imp]

Hmm, perhaps. In January of 2020 when I made minor contact with a left-turner a block after exiting the freeway, I had the RLETs on the Bonny.

I'm still torn as to whether RLETs on a non-Honda caused the incident due to negative energy, or if the power of the RLETs is blind to the machine they are attached to, and they kicked in at that moment, and kept the accident to one that was so minor that I was able to stay on the bike, continue riding it to work and then a repair shop, and hide the incident from my wife.

That being said, did the RLETs cause the truck to change lanes into me this morning? Or was it predestined, and the RLETs saved me by allowing me the room to squeeze past him on the narrow shoulder and avoid contact?

Uh Oh......questioning the rlets.....something bad is gonna happen

 

[Gone in 60]

Now, here's another angle Kiowa.... The RLETs on the non-Honda may be giving me warnings, by throwing less-than-critical incidents at me - a very minor accident that resulted in nothing more than my bike being laid up in the shop while a new fender had to come from the UK during the opening waves of the pandemic, and now a truck that created an instant threat, but one that I was able to negotiate. I rode this bike for years before I bought my CB1100, met you people, and started putting RLETs on every bike I owned.

Tev, good point about trucks and blind spots. I avoid being near them at all costs for a lot of reasons. Luckily, in California, and it may be nationwide, tractor-trailer trucks on multi-lane highways can't drive in the left-hand lanes, or the two left lanes on a big freeway. Since most motorcycle riders tend to stick to the left side of the freeways, the main points of potential danger are at on and off ramps to the freeways, where bikes are near the right side of the road exiting or entering, and are in the lanes that the trucks use.

Which, to shed a little more light on my situation this morning, is why I was so close to a truck in the first place. This area is a bit of a "spaghetti bowl" of lanes, where two freeways converge into one, and there are multiple off-ramps in play as well.

I'm in the left lane of two lanes which will terminate at off-ramps to the 405 freeway. The truck was in the right lane, and was decelerating on an exit ramp to my right, while my exit was about a mile down. I saw him and processed what he was doing, and since he was slowing and leaving the highway, he was starting to exit my immediate attention. However, at the last moment, he apparently realized that he was not on the exit he wanted, and veered over to the left to get back on the highway, right in front of me.

He was probably more concerned about his closing distance to the hard barrier at the "Y" that separated his off-ramp from my lane than he was about any traffic that may have been to his left, and if he did glance in his left mirror at all, his level of panic probably kept him from seeing me.

 

[Tev62]

Well glad you are still here, a good reminder how alert we need to be on two wheels.

 

[Gone in 60]

Thanks, Tev! I used to drive a truck, and where some of the more complicated parts of the highways converge, sometimes rigs find themselves in the left lanes unless they make a conscious effort to move over. There were few times where I'd glance in my right mirror, and see a Highway Patrol car behind me to the right, giving me room and flashing his lights to give me a gentle... ahem.. reminder to move a lane over.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

GO, yes, extra margin would have been available on the CB1100 - better brakes if I wanted to haul it down and stay behind the truck, or drop a gear and get past it quicker than a Triumph. On the CB300R, would have put the ABS into play, passing probably wouldn't be much of an option.

And I just realized, all of my closest calls in traffic, including my one incident of actual contact, on this Bonneville, about a mile from where this truck squeezed me, happened while I was wearing hi-viz gear.

Black or dark jacket, I usually get guys pulling onto the shoulder to make extra room for me. I dunno.

Could be some related to that "syndrome" - like deer in the headlights sort of thing - where the driver sees you, but is now fixated to the point of drifting into your space / direction ... aka "into the light".

Darker cloths have maybe "less of an effect" because there is maybe less to focus on? :huh:

The brakes and the acceleration of the CB might of helped you...but perhaps not. However, the RLETs most certainly would have saved you.

:rofl:

 

[emptysea]

When I'm on my bike, I used to give the trucks the 1-finger reminder to get over to the right. Then my favorite riding partner (my wife) mentioned over our Bluetooth communicators one day that when I flip off the trucker, I have passed him by the time he reacts and gets upset and vengeful BUT she has not, and therefore, SHE is the one at risk. She may or may not have used more graphic language while explaining this to me.

I don't gesture anymore.

 

[Cormanus]

Hmm, perhaps. In January of 2020 when I made minor contact with a left-turner a block after exiting the freeway, I had the RLETs on the Bonny.

I'm still torn as to whether RLETs on a non-Honda caused the incident due to negative energy, or if the power of the RLETs is blind to the machine they are attached to, and they kicked in at that moment, and kept the accident to one that was so minor that I was able to stay on the bike, continue riding it to work and then a repair shop, and hide the incident from my wife.

That being said, did the RLETs cause the truck to change lanes into me this morning? Or was it predestined, and the RLETs saved me by allowing me the room to squeeze past him on the narrow shoulder and avoid contact?

Uh Oh......questioning the rlets.....something bad is gonna happen

Nah, there’s a long-standing tradition of exploring the existential qualities of the RLET— What's an RLET?

 

[Nachodaddy]

Glad that all worked out well. Even though you were not on the CB, I am sure the RLETs saved you. Since I don't need to ride on freeways, I usually avoid them when I can and get off them as soon as I can. A couple years ago a 20ton gravel truck rear-ended my Miata as I was making a left turn and accelerating a fairly good speed. Of course he couldn't see me when he was close enough to hit me, but he should have seen me before he got that close, if he was looking. I suspect he was concentration on the left-turn signal and hurrying to get through the light and didn't see me. I was really mad that someone hit me and KEPT hitting me when I was actually accelerating through the turn, so I sped up and got away from him far enough that I could stop and jump out and start yelling at him. He looked at me like "Where did that old geezer come from?" Miata was totaled and had rubber marks on top of the trunk. If I'd been on a bike, you would not be reading this now. Sometimes, you just never see it coming.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

When I'm on my bike, I used to give the trucks the 1-finger reminder to get over to the right. Then my favorite riding partner (my wife) mentioned over our Bluetooth communicators one day that when I flip off the trucker, I have passed him by the time he reacts and gets upset and vengeful BUT she has not, and therefore, SHE is the one at risk. She may or may not have used more graphic language while explaining this to me.

I don't gesture anymore.

Hmm, some wise words said there.

 

[Gone in 60]

Nacho, your Miata story reminds me of my days as an insurance claims adjuster and from driving a truck. It's scary what you can't see from the driver seat.
"Claimant states that semi truck continued backing up and pushing claimant's parked car. Meanwhile, claimant was standing outside of the truck waving his arms and yelling at the truck driver to stop."

Ok, why is it that now, every time I look at the RLETs on my Bonneville, I hear the ominous music from the Brady Bunch cursed idol episodes?

 

[Nachodaddy]

Nacho, your Miata story reminds me of my days as an insurance claims adjuster and from driving a truck. It's scary what you can't see from the driver seat.
"Claimant states that semi truck continued backing up and pushing claimant's parked car. Meanwhile, claimant was standing outside of the truck waving his arms and yelling at the truck driver to stop."

Ok, why is it that now, every time I look at the RLETs on my Bonneville, I hear the ominous music from the Brady Bunch cursed idol episodes?

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

 

[Gone in 60]

Riding in this morning on the 300, here's the spot where the truck swerved in front of me yesterday. I took a look at the barrier at the "gore point", where the exit to the right splits off from the lane I am riding in.

This is the hard point the truck driver was trying to avoid hitting as he made the decision to pull back onto the freeway lane, but due to its pretty battered condition, looks like some people haven't been so lucky making that last-second decision.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Riding in this morning on the 300, here's the spot where the truck swerved in front of me yesterday. I took a look at the barrier at the "gore point", where the exit to the right splits off from the lane I am riding in.

This is the hard point the truck driver was trying to avoid hitting as he made the decision to pull back onto the freeway lane, but due to its pretty battered condition, looks like some people haven't been so lucky making that last-second decision.

The follow-up analysis is appreciated.