Large groups of riders

[allweatherbik...]

Having just had my first weekend away on the bike with 11 other riders of differing abilities I was wondering if there was good size for a ride out and if large groups of riders attracted more adverse attention.


Ian

[RascalsCustar...]

Personally, I think it's more important that theres no, or very little competition between the riders. 11 is quite a big group.

Ability is obviously an issue, but don't ever ride faster than you feel comfortable, just to stay with 'the pack'.

[VTR SP1]

Have rules for the ride. Best one in a big group is no overtaking. Makes the ride a lot safer.
Mave a good bloke at the back incase someone has a problem or breakes down.

SP1

[Ric]

when i went may day run, there was about 18 in total i think

it was mildly organised chaos, still went ok tho

[stinkwheel]

Yep, put someone on a reliable bike who knows they are tail-end Charlie at the back.

I think "a group of six or more vehicles with no designated leader" can be interpreted as racing on a public highway if someone was feeling particularly arsey. On big rideouts we have 'designated leaders' by putting a bit of tape round the arm of a couple of people.

If you are not very confident, stay middle to front in the group, the further back you are, the faster you will have to go to keep up.

I find a group of four to six is best, bigger runs tend to split-up into groups of this size over time anyway. Our runs generally have three groups no matter what you start out with. Banzai Billies up front, fast group in the middle then those who take half an hour to get ready and broken bikes coming up the rear. There is seldom more than ten minutes between the groups no matter how far you go.

It is important to make sure either everyone knows where they are going or operate a 'leader follower' system where if the run turns off the road you are on, you stop and wait for the next person behind you to come along, then head off and they wait for the next person etc. It is vital that the tail-end Charlie knows who they are (and preferrably also knows the route) in this instance.
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[mr.z]

Yeh the no overtakeing rule makes life much easyer, pretty much needs to be done...

Fastest riders should be at the back, slower or less experienced at the front.. otherwise the whole thing tends to end up with the group spliting up allot between traffic because of the enormous gaps emergeing!

Ideally 10 is the most i'd want to be following depending on where your rideing... 10+ bikes through busy innercity traffic is a liability... if you HAD to ride in such big groups it would be worth trying to get a police escort.. otherwise smaller groups are a better idea, where its quieter then more bikes are ok, as you can stop if you need to to let people keep up...

The buddy system is another good thing, everyone keeps an eye on their mirrors, if their "buddy" dissaperas then they stop and wait back, this goes all the way till the front bike stops... this depends on being able to stop in a safe place...

https://www.survivalskills.clara.net/riding_skills_23.htm

< worth a read.


Done propperly a group ride is brilliant, done badly its a frickin nightmare + potentially very dangerous... people try to keep up and take silly risks.


edit: (personally don't like rideing with more than 3 tbh, if i'm rideing far i prefer to go on my lonesome as your not haveing to worry about what everyone else is doing and can go at your own pace)
editmk2: (Realise ive pretty much just said what sw did, seems i need to write my posts faster )
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[ZRX61]

Rides that involve more than 20 bikes can be a bit of a handful.. 2 years ago I was on a ride that had in excess of 30 bikes, mostly 1100-1200 Kaws, at one point 33 of us out ran a cop... after we stopped about 50 miles later only half the guys realised we were in fact trying not to be the last bike in the pack & therefore get the ticket, they just thought the ride was "getting a bit spirited"

[Gti]

[Jrod]

[JonB]

My first rideout consisted of 22 bikes.

It is essential that everybody knows where they are going, fortunately as it was a South West Bikers meet everyone knows the area well anyway. It is very likely you will get split up.

A good thing we found was to separate into "fast" and "slow groups. The fast lot would whizz off at the front and the people who just wanted to cruise at a nice pace like me were in the slow group. I didn't fancy going 70 MPH+ over Exmoor really too dangerous and the scenery is too nice to be whizzing past you.
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[Bendy]

I'd agree that everyone knowing where they're going is the key - if you know where you're headed it instantly removes any pressure to keep up if the pace is a bit quicker than you're happy with.

[strag]

I have just returned from a weekend in Wales with 61 bikes. the main thing is obviously safety. This system was used and worked very well, as long as people stick to it:

The Marker System

This requires a leader, a tailender, and markers.

Leader - the leader will be pointed out at the beginning of the ride and will stay at the front of the group for the entire ride. They are familiar with the route and will therefore follow it. They will point out (to the first person behind them) the best position to sit in order to mark each junction clearly for the riders following. They should carry a mobile in case of problems on route.

Tailender - the tailender will be pointed out at the beginning of the ride and will stay at the back of the group for the entire ride. (They may wear a fluorescent vest to make them more obvious). The tailender is always at the back of the group; everyone else stays in front of them, so they should move the junction marker on once they arrive. (This also ensures there is no confusion as to who is the last bike). They should also carry a mobile and have the leader's number in case of problems en route. If anyone from the group has to stop, the tailender should stop with them and find out what is going on. If there is a problem they should get in touch with the leader, or if the person is just stopping for a pee, wait with them so the marker stays in place at the next junction. If, for any reason, people are going to drop off the back of the group (behind the tailender), they must inform the tailender what's going on.

Markers - at any point where the route deviates from the road ahead, the first bike behind the leader will stop at the junction in a prominent place to be a marker for ALL the bikes on the route. They will be shown where to wait by the leader. They will stay there until the tailender arrives! Meanwhile, everyone in the group will have automatically moved forward one place so the second bike ends up immediately behind the leader and will therefore be the marker at the next junction. Once the tailender does arrive at the junction the marker can then work their way carefully back to the front if they so wish. Overtaking is permitted, but please be courteous! If anyone sees someone making dangerous overtakes repeatedly (we all make mistakes sometimes) point it out to the leader and they will have a quiet word with the offender. If they carry on they will be asked to leave the rideout.

Roundabouts

Approaching a roundabout, the leader will signal to the first bike behind them to be the marker at the exit of the roundabout. If you are approaching a roundabout and cannot see the marker from the approach road it’s more than likely that you will need to go part way round the roundabout before the marker becomes visible. If you still do not see the marker, go right round the roundabout and take another look at all the exits, they WILL be there.



Next to your own personal safety should come consideration towards others in the group.

Do not ride beyond your abilities/limits in order to try and keep up. There will be a bike waiting for you at the next junction and there will be regular stops during which you can catch up safely.

Do not get pushed along by a faster bike behind you - move over and let them through. Slower riders, be aware that you may be holding up a faster rider - simply move over and let them past.

If you are the faster bike, don’t make stupid manoeuvres to get past (especially passing on the left! ). Wait till they let you through, or find a safe place to get past.

Faster riders, please give plenty of room when passing and only go for a safe, clean pass. It doesn’t matter whether you ride like a Rossi or a retard, just go at your own pace.

It's not a race and you won't get left behind. Just because you cant see the bike in front doesn’t mean you’ve got to ride like a loony to catch them up again. Take it steady, someone will be waiting somewhere. If everyone follows these simple ideas we can all enjoy a cracking ride and have a good chat at the destination.
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carbon bling

[Gazdaman]

My first group ride had ~30 riders.

We had a leader, and someone at the back, it was fairly chaotic but we all got to where we were going, no-one crashed and lots of fun was had.

I seriously do suggest going at your own pace, pushing it too hard trying to keep up with much faster riders on much bigger bikes is a recipe for disaster.

Gaz

[steveh]

Normaly go out for a run during the week with around 8-9 of us, a few 400's a 600 and the rest 125's always ride to the pace of the person at the back.

so were pretty fucked when we get to traffic lights


Steve
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[allweatherbik...]

Thanks for all your replies. I think I managed to do some things right and some things wrong. As I had the slowest bike and was the least experienced I stayed at the back so I wouldn't be pushed along by the bike behind me. I take the point about knowing the route beforehand as this caused me to u-turn twice and ask directions giving the riders in front cause for concern when I took longer to catch up than usual. I also think being in a group with some sports bikes and my 33 brake GS500 was not the best combination.

Thanks again

Ian

[Villers]

The 'marker system' is outilined in this months ride also!

Ive ridden with the cumbria mag easter egg run with 100+ bikes. It has a police escort and a van at the front, great if you want to do 30mph for like 15 miles

Have also ridden with mag and I always tend to go to the back, not just cos I ride a honda, but becasue there are a few that tailgate and tbh I cant stand it.

On the last bank holiday we went out with them and I somehow managed to get a fly in my eye around newcastle somewhere. I stopped once and a couple went passed me, i couldnt get the fly out though. I caught up and got to the middle of the pack (they were ALL overtaking so I thought nothing of it. I was hoping if I pulled over once I was in the middle it would draw attention. I pulled over again and they all shot past. By the time I'd cleared my vision they were long gone and unfindable.

The story I got from my mate when he asked where I was, was this 'He went back to carlisle with the guy on the kawasaki and his mate'. Cheers lads, good job I wasnt in an effing ditch somewhere.

Think I enjoy it with three or four mates more than a big group


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[stinkwheel]

I have explained before why you want to be near the front of the group if you are a slower rider. If the first bike in a group is doing a steady 60mph, the back marker lands up cracking the ton to keep up.:

[ZRX61]

I was on a ride about 2 weks ago where we had an alarming disparity of bikes: 5 Harleys & 4 ZRX's...
We put one of the Harley duffers up front as he knew the route & the other 4 (out of State) HD's would be able to keep up with him.

One of the HD guys was REALLY fucking slow so I passed him & 2 others, one of the other ZRX's came with me.
Then the fun started, the guy leading was doing all sorts of signals pointing out rocks on the road etc by waving his feet about... however, in the Canyons there are always loads of rocks in the road & it looked fucking hilarious from where I was.
We get to the beach, I walk up to the guy & say "WTF was that all about? since when did Hokey Cokey lessons become part of canyon riding?

[Fruit'n'nut]

[Reevo8]

My first group ride was the Mayday run. It was 80miles on me own, followed by 50(ish) miles with BCFers(around 20+) then we caught loadsa otherbikes, who we filtered with, must have had at least 100 bikes in the cue that day!

On Sunday I was following some guys from the Ace Cafe up to the BMF as an organised rideout, ridden by the owner of the Ace who had his 54 reg speed triple up front.

Immediately i tanked past an RD250, followed by another bike which pulled over, and was starting to smoke. The lead pack was just ahead, and a guy on a kawasaki ZZR600 behind me. Both me and him had pillions, me however on my 33bhp restricted bike, I was sat at an indicated 100mph for a majority of the A1(M)and could see them edging away,turns out that it wasnt hard to find at all, but I was worried I would get lost 200miles away from home, and had to partake in a lot of ducking and diving, made for some exciting riding which kept my passenger awake (he fell asleep twice on the return journey.
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05 ZX10R, (**05 WKR)

[Simple]

smallest rideout ive been on is three bikes which was quiet competitivie and fast through wales.

largest rideout i can recall was bala last easter with 30+ bikes which was fairly rleaxed with those that wanted to do balls out stuff doing their thing and those that didnt just pootling at the back with a map and directions incase they got lost.

recently rideouts have been averaging 10-20 bikes me being on the smallest and slowest bike a varadero125, i hadnt really got a hope in keeping up with the kneedown heros at the front but the ones outfront frequently stopped in laybys etc for the slower and smaller capacity riders to catch up, i may have been on the smallest bike...but i certainly wasnt at the back.

recently the group i ride with have brought in a different kind of 'policy' for rideouts where they use outriders a leader and a sweeper at the back. Im yet to go on a rideout with this scheme but i can imagine the sweeper gets very bored and the outriders are riding at stupid speeds to race to the next junciton/roundabout to hold the traffic up.

ill add further comment after sunday as a large group are off to rutland water...should be interesting
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[Wave2k]

riding in big groups is cool,
much better than rididng on your lonesome joe or with 1 person
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[niff5855]

1st time I was in a group there were 5 of us going up the M5 to the Bulldog bash. The other 4 were all a lot more experienced than me on Bandits and Katanas (I was on a GPZ500).

I was shocked but exilarated at the mad speeds we were zooming along at and I loved it.

But on the way home we took the scenic route and I almost lost the front end 2 or 3 times clinging on to their coat tails. At the 1st stop I said please fucking slow down or I am going to crash.

They did, and then it hammered down so we all had to go slow.

Very very scarey.
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