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*madness

hehe... Living in Los Angeles you get very used to it. I don't ride a "doner cycle" (my ER working sister-in-law calls them that) but I have always watched in awe.

What I heard when I first moved here was that this is necessary with the amount of gridlock that happens, bikes are air cooled and need to be moving to keep from over heating.

Nothing wrong with that - one of the main reasons you ride a bike is so you don't have to sit in traffic!

The only things you have to watch for are the gaps in traffic as this is when drivers try to switch lanes and won't be looking. Static traffic is much easier to filter (as we call it over here) through as nobody is moving so you've less chance of them pulling into your path.

Things to look for are turned wheels and to generally cover the brakes. Also watch for open windows as you never know if you're going to get a cigarette butt or other rubbish coming your way. Tapping people's arms through open windows sure makes them jump too!

If you have your headlights on full, the swaying motion of the bike as you try to avoid the centre lines attracts the attention in the side mirrors and people do move out of the way.

PS. The majority of bikes are actually water cooled so are quite happy to sit in traffic, but if there's a gap...

i totally disapprove, even if traffic is not moving. getting away with it for years doesn't make it safe.
I'm not allowed to smoke in an enclosed public space, but you guys are allowed to do this? Great.

"PS. The majority of bikes are actually water cooled so are quite happy to sit in traffic, but if there's a gap..."

Well I did say back when I arrived here, that's been a few...years ago...I think they were still spelling Museum with a V.

> "i totally disapprove, even if traffic is not moving. getting away with it for years doesn't make it safe."

well, you'll have to take that up with the state assembly, and the tens of thousands of riders who do it safely and legally every day, including CHP officers themselves. As an east coaster, I was shocked when I first rode through California and saw a surprisingly well-educated driving and motorcycling populace coexisting quite nicely, even giving deference to motorcyclists in conditions where a bike obviously has the advantage (winding canyon roads, slow interstate traffic, etc), rather than pulling some sort of territorial "this is my section of the road and you can't have it" bs. At the end of the day, its about efficiency.

This guy might be pushing the upper limit of legal splitting in a few places, but compared to what the uneducated stunt-prone "riders" prevalent in other parts of the country try to pull, he's not doing anything terribly wrong.

looked just plain reckless and dangerous to me

Ah, the ol' 10 Eastbound gridlock. Boy I'm so glad I moved out here so I could experience that crap.

Yeah, I was amazed that this is legal too, however, it's only legal to go like 30 MPH or something, and rarely to the cyclists go that slowly. Usually they are complete dicks weaving in and out of traffic that isn't slow enough for them to warrant it. And even when it is slow or even stopped, they still race through. It's all I can do to keep myself from swinging my door open on some of those fuckers.

I see this all the time and I live there.

Anyone else hear the Star Warsesque speeder bike sound effects?

It's all I can do to keep myself from swinging my door open on some of those fuckers.

I'd recommend you make a good job of it 'cos most bikers don't take too kindly to that kind of thing, and is likely to come and wrap the remains of your car door around your head

I used to live in California and I owned a Bike. If traffic was moving any faster than about 40 MPH, I wouldn't split lanes. That guy was really pushing it. I used to drive my truck when it rained and it would take me an extra 25 minutes to get to work (nevermind the extra gas I'd use).

My motorcycle would overheat just driving downtown and having to stop at all the lights. In CA a motorcycle is allowed to share a lane with another vehicle.

The other benefit was moving to the front of the line at a red light. Booya!! Everyone who complained about it was just jealous. I never heard of anyone crashing from splitting lanes in traffic.

I thought most of what he was doing was pretty safe. around the 7:00 mark he was probably pushing the speed a bit.

Some people call it "white-lining". It's illegal in some states, legal in others. I believe bicycles are always allowed to do it, but then again bicycles aren't allowed on freeways...

This is not half as scary as some of the scooter traffic in Asia. But those countries also design the roads for mixed car/scooter traffic. I think if L.A. did the same, a lot more people would use scooters.

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