Confidence or stupidity ?

[Rodd]

So I'm driving home from my parents house tonight and it's rush hour.
Now I'm 49 years old and have been riding bikes since I was 16 and I like to think that I'm a fair rider I don't take risk's or get into any racing with other riders.
Anyway the road I'm riding is full of traffic on both sides with very little chance of filtering or overtaking.so I see this guy on a bmw k1100 come past me wearing just t-shirt and shorts and he was filtering and overtaking all the cars in front or me and he looked like he had all the confidence in the world.
Now I'm thinking is he just stupid or just confident in his riding and I'm thinking what is he seeing that I'm not i.e gaps in the traffic cars not pulling out.

Cheers.

[Wonko The Sane]

Filtering is taking calculated risks

there is always a risk that the vehicle you're about to pass is about to change lanes without any warning whatsoever.

I'm faster than some riders on my commute, I'm slower than other riders on the same section of commute.

Go with what you're comfortable with, if it's a route you use often you'll start to learn the bits where everyone is trying to change lanes, going from lane 5 of the M60, to dive across at the last min to get onto the M602 being my example.
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[Ste]

I expect he thought you're stupid for not filtering.

edit: test

[Bubbs]

Having learned to ride in Central London my filtering skills improved very quickly. Once I jumped up to a 600 I was very confident in my ability to control the bike in traffic and would pull my mirrors in when I got to the tighter parts and continue to filter.

Used to see the same bikes on the way home from work and we'd have filtering races down the A3 out of London. Good fun...

So in summation I think the guy probably had more spacial awareness and confidence with filtering. Agree with Ste that he was probably laughing at you for not filtering.

If there not banging mirrors then there's enough room to filter.
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[Pete.]

[anthony_r6]

You say there was very little chance of filtering, but this guy seemed to find ample opportunity to make progress. I doubt it was too risky.
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[Llama-Farmer]

However confident you are, there'll always be someone more so.

10 years ago or so I was in the back of my dads car in stationary traffic when I seen a guy on a bike with panniers come past us. A couple of cars further up he knocked off both his panniers on a car and van. THAT's too confident.


I like to think I'm reasonably good at filtering. I learnt on a moped in rush hour in a big city when I was in more of a hurry than everyone else.

So now I'll be filtering on the Hornet and will come across other bikes who are just sat in the traffic, or I'll come up behind them and they can't filter any further so nor can I. Sometimes it's quite obvious why... they're a Ewan McCharley on a GS Adventure with hard panniers and the gap is not wannabe-sized.

Other times the gap is plenty big enough, multiple inches either side, but they just aren't confident in that tight a space. That's fair enough.

Often if I filter past bikes sat in traffic, particularly 125s on Ls, and they'll end up following behind me, probably thinking "well if it's a big enough gap for them..."

[CaNsA]

[Pete.]

Just so long as you aren't one of those who aren't confident enough to let other people filter, it's all good.
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132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[Shaft]

Having spent the first three years of my working life as a London DR, pedalling everything from a TS50 to a Z1300, I've done as much filtering as I'll ever need to.

When I see people ripping through traffic, I'm just glad I'm no longer obliged to follow, due to the fact I'm not being paid to do it now.
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[Jonathan A]

I believe that stupidity leads to confidence
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[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[jeddy11]

He is confident in his riding until he has an accident then it becomes stupidity

Probably a fine line between the two ..
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[-Matt-]

Each to their own really - gear or no gear, high speed or low speed it entirely depends on each persons level of competance, acceptance of risk and a bit of luck sprinkled on top.

I wouldn't feel able to accurately judge the person as being confident or stupid from the way you've explained it personally.

[oggie100]

when he's lying on the ground bleeding then his foolishness will become apparent.

I'm not 49, but 42, but I still filter in rush hours.

I really don't understand what this moan is about? Whether or not this guy has personal awareness of his danger is not your concern. If you caught him up and told him, what do you think he'd say to you?

Should I wear decent protective clothing - YES ALWAYS. take it from me.
Should I filter like a knob - YES if the above applies and you want to take a massive risk.
Personally - I'd follow him within braking distance if +/-10mph of current traffic and use him as a shield. If he comes to grief I wouldn't hang around. If a cager sees one bike when filtering you've usually got leeway for the next.

[Rodd]

[-Matt-]

Maybe hes so skilled and confident he doesn't need gear as he'll never crash though

Maybe

[Llama-Farmer]

[Pete.]

[G]

Do you live in the North? I have 'out filtered' motorcycles up here on my push bike!
Continually see riders sitting in stationary traffic when there's masses of space.

[Rogerborg]

I infer that he was riding down the middle of the road between the two directions of traffic?

You can do that, there's usually room. You are however putting a lot of trust in there not being anyone going in either direction who suddenly decides to swerve to the right to, uh... make the queue move faster.

I tend not to do it, and am quite glad that there are few spots on my current commute which really benefit from filtering. I don't delude myself that I can control other traffic using my psychic brain powers.
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[oggie100]

Yes, short of ringing for an ambulance. I'm not a medic, and am not at all going to help his insurance situation as an honest witness. I've got no responsibility if he/she wants to ride in shorts. I see this every day.

The simple fact is there's no 'skill' or 'confidence' in filtering when avoiding an accident. You have no control when a cager changes lanes without hesitation or indicating - which is your primary concern. Your only safeguard is your speed and braking . I'm a pretty good filterer, mirrors in et all, and in 20 yrs I've come unstuck twice.

Personal rule is no more than 20mph difference. Treat *every* car pass as single event and watch those front wheels. 10 yrs I've been ok - but it's no guarantee - hence the decent kit.

[GPC]

Personally, I some time struggle with my filtering ability, having had a long break from riding but always try to be aware of others who want to filter faster than me. I use the M25 daily and some filter through the traffic at 50+ in my view its up to each rider.

[-Matt-]

[G]