PetePower Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Lane Filtering has been recently made Legal in Adelaide Australia (couple of weeks ago) max speed 30kmh, no use of Pushbike lanes or LHS. Though I have been doing it for the last 30+years it is nice to now be legal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGoldTooth Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 16 hours ago, jhenley17 said: I'm having a hard time picturing frame sliders saving side cases. I'd have to get out the bike, a straight edge, and a protractor to work it out properly, but it's reasonable to believe that the presence of the the slider on the side that fell prevented the bag on that side from a hard hit on the ground. The bag did touch the ground as it has a slight scuff, but I'm sure that it would have been worse without the presence of the slider. Of course, this was a tip-over at zero MPH; in a crash at any meaningful speed with bouncing and possible rotation of the bike around its longitudinal axis, I'm sure the bags would be severely damaged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Woodie Posted August 4, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted August 4, 2017 On 31/07/2017 at 5:52 AM, Rectaltronics said: On another note, I kinda' wish all of the bike's plastics were made of the same type/weight of whatever they use to make the case lids. We'd be replacing a LOT less plastic!!! When I bought my VFR it had already been thrown at the tarmac by the PO. Judging by the gravel rash along the case lid and fairing it had slid someway down the road. Now the two points of contact where the upper fairing and the pannier lids. Upper Fairing: Ground right through. Pannier Lid: Scuffed but not so deep it penetrated. in fact a little rubbing down and some bumper filer... good as new. As a bike commuter I filter (lane split) all the time. I don't agree that there is no point as we all get there at the same time anyway. My 45min journey can increase to an hour 30 easily if I use the care. Filtering gets me to the front of the lights queue, past the queuing traffic at the industrial estate gates et'c et'c.. I have to agree with ridered, lose the panniers and get a top box. Having just toured through Northern France and Switzerland there were numerous times when I had to filter through traffic (Geneva, Dijon, Arras) and I had to be very aware of how wide I was with the side boxes on. But it did mean that for SWiMBO following, as her bikes was narrower without side boxes, if I could get through she could easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rectaltronics Posted August 4, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted August 4, 2017 7 hours ago, Woodie said: When I bought my VFR it had already been thrown at the tarmac by the PO. Judging by the gravel rash along the case lid and fairing it had slid someway down the road. Now the two points of contact where the upper fairing and the pannier lids. Upper Fairing: Ground right through. Pannier Lid: Scuffed but not so deep it penetrated. in fact a little rubbing down and some bumper filer... good as new. As a bike commuter I filter (lane split) all the time. I don't agree that there is no point as we all get there at the same time anyway. My 45min journey can increase to an hour 30 easily if I use the care. Filtering gets me to the front of the lights queue, past the queuing traffic at the industrial estate gates et'c et'c.. I have to agree with ridered, lose the panniers and get a top box. Having just toured through Northern France and Switzerland there were numerous times when I had to filter through traffic (Geneva, Dijon, Arras) and I had to be very aware of how wide I was with the side boxes on. But it did mean that for SWiMBO following, as her bikes was narrower without side boxes, if I could get through she could easily. Too bad you're such a pain to ship to from here. I'm getting ready to sell a perfect upper and almost perfect left upper. Just found a box big enough. Last night, filtering along the same bridge as in the video, many folks were actually making room as I approached, but once again some turd with a Floriduh plate decided to be a dick. WTF is it with the FL drivers? He went a foot into the next lane to block me. When I put on the high-beams square into his side-view mirror he made it two feet. So I just went around him on the outside, LOL. And then one moron in a yellow cab decided to get real close as I was passing and here's the thing... I was certain he would make contact, but there was no sign of any when I got home. The big challenge is to swing any kind of curving motion nice and wide. A real lesson is to watch the pedicab riders weaving through midtown NYC traffic. I should record that a bit and post it for reference. Some folks here would crap themselves. But the theory is similar, which is that the front is narrow so you really have to lead far out with the front before doing the turning part. Generally, since the mirrors are the widest part of most cars (er, um, watch out for steps on vans, big tires on lifted trucks, big flares on wheel wells, etc.), if the bike's mirrors can make it through then so can the bike. Of course sometimes handling can be fiddly on the painted lines so ya' gotta watch that. I do get tempted to put those self-adhesive black bumper strips on my cases though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer GatorGreg Posted August 6, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted August 6, 2017 On 8/4/2017 at 1:37 PM, Rectaltronics said: ...but once again some turd with a Floriduh plate decided to be a dick. WTF is it with the FL drivers? He went a foot into the next lane to block me. When I put on the high-beams square into his side-view mirror he made it two feet... Welcome to my world Rectal! I've had many close encounters over the years with road-rule vigilante dicks like the one you encountered, not to mention all the clueless/lost tourists, the meth heads, the drunk/stoned beach bums, the yahoo red-necks, and the unlicensed illegal aliens - it's nothing short of a miracle that I've never been in an accident in the roughly half million miles I've driven/ridden in Fla! (Hopefully I haven't just jinxed myself ) However, the drivers I fear the most are the elderly Q-tips - many of them are senile and/or blind as a bat! I once got a green light to make a right at an intersection on my old Ninja and here comes a little old lady from the left barreling through a red-light several seconds later in her Mercury Grand Marquis! I could barely see her white hair poking above the steering wheel as she ran me off the road. According to this article, the fatality rate for elderly drivers is 4 x worse than teenagers and unfortunately we have the largest per-capita population of them to deal with: https://www.voanews.com/amp/162760.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rectaltronics Posted August 6, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted August 6, 2017 "Q-Tips"! Yeah, I'm a big proponent of driver retesting. The effin' AARP fights it tooth 'n nail here in the 'States. As a NYC rider I ga-ron-tee you I get it worse with the tourists. Speaking of which, I left the office for some air today and I'm standing at a street corner. There are four kids, Yurpeon, probably around twenty years old, and they're trying to get pictures of themselves framed with some nice newly budding trees up the street. Which is fine except for the traffic on that street that they want to stand in the middle of. I'm watching them do the dance a bunch of times, then realize they're gonna need someone to shoot a pic of all of them. So instead of me, they ask some Q-Tip (LOL) who probably has a Motorola flip-phone and a VCR at home that's been flashing 12:00 since 1990. Who then of course takes a vertical pic ('cause it's a "phone" so ya' gotta hold it that way) so the trees will be eclipsed by the forty-story condos. Kids, these days... Beach bums not so much, just because I don't spend much time that way. But we have Russian beach bums who are in a class by themselves. They're far more obnoxious and can afford much better drugs. In Floriduh I'm pretty sure you don't need to worry much about belligerent pedestrians. Oh, the hipster stories I have. For the visiting yahoos I think I need to get an NRA -branded helmet. Or ride around wearing my "free" leather NRA Lifetime Member jacket maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer GatorGreg Posted August 6, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted August 6, 2017 1 hour ago, Rectaltronics said: As a NYC rider I ga-ron-tee you I get it worse with the tourists. Hmmm...I'm not so sure about that Rectal. In 2015 Orlando had 66 million tourists compared to NYC's 58.3 million according to this article: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-visit-orlando-2015-tourist-numbers-20160502-story.html However, the tourists in Orlando are spread out on the south side of town where all the attractions are (fortunately I live on the north side so I can mostly steer clear of them). But in your case they're all stuffed in Manhattan for the most part. On the other hand, I would assume that most of your tourists aren't renting cars and are instead relying on their feet, taxis and subway? Whereas here the vast majority are renting cars and are out on the road creating havoc! Along with the Mercury Grand Marquis (the vehicle of choice for Q-Tips) I've learned to give v6 Mustang convertibles a VERY wide berth - almost always a rental car driven by a tourist! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rectaltronics Posted August 6, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted August 6, 2017 1 minute ago, GatorGreg said: Hmmm...I'm not so sure about that Rectal. In 2015 Orlando had 66 million tourists compared to NYC's 58.3 million according to this article: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-visit-orlando-2015-tourist-numbers-20160502-story.html However, the tourists in Orlando are spread out on the south side of town where all the attractions are (fortunately I live on the north side so I can mostly steer clear of them). But in your case they're all stuffed in Manhattan for the most part. On the other hand, I would assume that most of your tourists aren't renting cars and are instead relying on their feet, taxis and subway? Whereas here the vast majority are renting cars and are out on the road creating havoc! Along with the Mercury Grand Marquis (the vehicle of choice for Q-Tips) I've learned to give v6 Mustang convertibles a VERY wide berth - almost always a rental car driven by a tourist! The tourists are finding Brooklyn and Queens now. Cheaper lodging and still plenty of "culture" and things to do. And if they're not in cars (whether out of state or rentals) then they're walking out into the roadway in front of moving vehicles. They see all the natives jaywalking and decide it's OK, so every street and intersection becomes a slalom course of idiot avoidance maneuvers. The only saving grace is that the tourists lack the belligerence of the natives. The natives walk out in front of you and when you don't slow down and they almost get struck, they yell at you and try to convince everyone who just witnessed their idiocy that they're in the right. And of course there are the ones who are plugged-in and had no idea that they could easily have been mowed down. My favorites are the ones who know you're coming and try really really hard to make believe they don't know and try not to look. Totally need something like this... (see video at 4:40 if it doesn't automatically start there) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer GatorGreg Posted August 7, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted August 7, 2017 2 hours ago, Rectaltronics said: The tourists are finding Brooklyn and Queens now. Cheaper lodging and still plenty of "culture" and things to do. And if they're not in cars (whether out of state or rentals) then they're walking out into the roadway in front of moving vehicles. They see all the natives jaywalking and decide it's OK, so every street and intersection becomes a slalom course of idiot avoidance maneuvers. The only saving grace is that the tourists lack the belligerence of the natives. The natives walk out in front of you and when you don't slow down and they almost get struck, they yell at you and try to convince everyone who just witnessed their idiocy that they're in the right. And of course there are the ones who are plugged-in and had no idea that they could easily have been mowed down. My favorites are the ones who know you're coming and try really really hard to make believe they don't know and try not to look. Totally need something like this... (see video at 4:40 if it doesn't automatically start there) LOL - great vid! In Florida we prefer to just their asses over! According to this article, 9 of the 11 most dangerous cities for pedestrians in the USA are in Florida - with Orlando ranked 3rd most dangerous! You guys in NYC are surprisingly very nice - NYC was ranked as the 10th safest city for pedestrians in the USA: https://www.curbed.com/platform/amp/2017/1/10/14222026/walking-pedestrian-deaths-street-design-florida Orlando also "wins" the award for most dangerous city to ride a bicycle in the USA: http://www.billbonebikelaw.com/news-from-the-road/dangerous-places-cyclists-ride/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rectaltronics Posted August 7, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted August 7, 2017 Wow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Woodie Posted August 7, 2017 Member Contributer Share Posted August 7, 2017 On 04/08/2017 at 6:37 PM, Rectaltronics said: Too bad you're such a pain to ship to from here. I'm getting ready to sell a perfect upper and almost perfect left upper. Just found a box big enough. Well after I had a Myopic lorry (Truck) driver reverse into me last week I could probably do with a good upper. I'll see what the Inn-Sewer-Ants people come up with. I was more annoyed as I had rescued the upper with some clever plastic welding and spraying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer VifferJ Posted August 16, 2017 Author Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2017 Just got a tank and tail bag to add some luggage capacity along with an Airhawk cushion for my first trip on the Viffer, all loaded up and heading out tomorrow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rckrzy1 Posted August 18, 2017 Share Posted August 18, 2017 On 8/2/2017 at 4:15 PM, TheGoldTooth said: Looks beautiful, but I listened to the photographs closely and can hear the bike begging for frame sliders. Because they were bigger than the OEM ones, I fitted Givi V35s to my VFR and my T-Rex frame sliders saved my bags (and the bike itself, of course), from bad damage when I let the bike fall after incompetently coming to a stop on gravel (the bike stopped like a champ, but my foot slid away from me like a bastard when I put it down). There was a tiny scuff on one of the bags, but you have to know it's there to see it. My findings were with bags on a tip over caused minor damage to top and upper cowls because the bags lifted the rear of the bike causing it to nose over. My giant ctx1300 had bag savers that really worked but there is no were on the vfr for those. So unless I'm needing my bags they will not stay on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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