A40 commute & filtering

[SirFallalot]

Good morning guys!
Firstly I do not wish to offend anyone here, as I probably passed, or rather, was passed, by several of you! At first I usually only used the bike for a ride at the weekend, so excuse my amusement / inexperience.

This morning I commuted from Feltham, A312 and through the A40 till Euston, a route I'd already done by car several times.A312 is easy, and on the A40 at first it was rather easy to pass through standstill/slow moving traffic, but after hanger lane I have to say I was too uneasy to do it! There's just not that much space!

I was impressed, and a bit worried, by all the guys in big scooters and bikes wiggling through cars and lorries,, at some point a guy on a little scooter beeped at me because he wanted to filter faster! I did it in just over an hour, which was still 30 minutes less than the train , but these guys could probably do it in 45 minutes.

I do have bar end mirror sticking out, which probably doesn't help, I have to turn them downwards when I get home as they increase width by 10 or 20cm.

So, thoughts, is everyone crazy or am I not crazy enough?? And do you have any tips?

[ThunderGuts]

Only ride as fast and in situations you are comfortable with and can safely ride. There are always going to be people who are faster and who will go for tighter gaps, either when filtering, or overtaking, merging etc. - whether it's safe or not is a matter for them, don't feel obliged to "up your game" to their level.

Just do what you're doing - filter when you're comfortable doing so and don't when you're not. Filtering with no space at all, particularly with moving traffic, gives you no escape should a driver do something unpredictable (and they frequently do as you know I'm sure!). For that reason, I will only filter in stationary or nearly stationary traffic. I also never filter faster than 10-15mph faster than the traffic is moving so I don't have to scrub too much speed if something happens.

Bar ends . . yeah I'd ditch those though if they're the type that stick out which it sounds like they are, but that's just me.
____________________
TG.

[Hawkeye1250FA]

Agree with TG.

Relax and go your own pace, if you genuinely want to filter faster and learn, practice at quieter times.

Keep an eye out behind you if you are going slow though. Nothing worse than being stopped from filtering by another biker not paying attention behind them!
____________________
1993 RF400R - 2002 Bandit 1200 - 2012 1250 FA

[SirFallalot]

[bhinso]

My main rule or filtering is to do it slowly, no more than about 10mph more than the traffic.
Many of the filtering accidents I see on the net are due to someone hooning past stationary traffic.

[bigdom86]

if I don't have a clear view in-front of me for atleast 25-50m I generally don't filter unless traffic is stationary, I only ever filter at 10-15mph above traffic so I can at least rub off some speed or stop if the worse were to happen. have commuted in central london for past 5 years and the filtering some people do is scary and I also don't really understand it as many times I have pulled in on a blind corner and others will just zoom around me blindly but at the next red I am right behind them, in london you are mostly just the quickest person to the next red light (or dead)

[LustyLew]

Try not to get too flustered by the GSXR NinjaBlade wankspangle who insists on revving the nuts off their bike because you're getting in their way. Move over when you can not when they want you to.

See so many riding like cunts through the Blackwall and Limehouse Link Tunnels. No wonder we grief from car drivers or end up on your asses sliding up the road.

[Wonko The Sane]

I hate the run up to the TT as I'm always late for work due to people with panniers on for the first time / once a year on their way towards the docks for the ferry who either can't or won't filter when I can / am happy to and won't let me pass, even when I can get into a clear lane to the side of them to pass comfortably, they cut me off (gits)

Keep an eye on your mirrors from time to time and if someone's been behind you for a while tuck back into traffic and give them a wave past, they might not go much quicker than you, or they might zoom off into the distance, who knows.
____________________
Looking to pass your CBT / Bike tests in Bury Lancashire? try www.focusridertraining.co.uk Would recommend.
They're also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Focus-Rider-Training/196832923734251

[Freddyfruitba...]

[yen_powell]

I mostly get out of the way for L plated bikes to pass me when filtering down the middle of traffic jams. Some of them not only fly along like they're immortal (well, "so far", as the t-shirt says), they bib and gesture angrily at any car that dares to be slightly in their way like the whole world is out to murder them.

Still, it's nice to have them as a sacrificial canary letting the cars know I'm plodding along next.
____________________
Blackmail is a nasty word........but not as nasty as phlegm!
XT1200Z and a DR350 in bits

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

Can we please just call it filtering and fuck this lane-splitting term off.
____________________
"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[MarJay]

[SirFallalot]

[MarJay]

[myvision]

Remember that this week is half term so the roads have been quieter than normal.

I passed my test so i could get to the new office so was thrown in at the deep end commuting Romford to central London i just took my time and learnt which gaps i could fit through and couldn't.

Always check your mirrors as said above the faster mob wake the car drivers up.
____________________
VFR800FI, YZF600R Thundercat and FZS 1000

[SirFallalot]

By the day, does anyone have an opinion on alternatively taking the Great West Road and A4 (Not the M4 as I'm on cbt) instead of the A40/A312? It's 3 miles shorter, but all the memories I have of driving on that stretch are of being surrounded by lorries for a long time



Or should I start another thread to ask that?
Or is there already a sticky with info on usual routes into and out of places? Actually that would make a great thread to keep around and stop ppl like me reposting

https://i.postimg.cc/HW497DBy/Route.png