Motorway riding.

Attending this years rally meant riding 450 motorway miles in total, there and back on the M74, M6, M60 and M61. A few observations.

- I sat at 80ish and was regularly overtaken by other bikes. I hardly over took any bikers, so why so fast? Is it because most looked uncomfortable and they just wanted to get the trip over and done with asap?

- a big tank and a comfy seat helps. I stopped twice on each motorway part, so the longest I did in the saddle was 112 miles and about 1 hour 45 mins from the Southwaite services at Carlisle to the M8 where I leave for home. I could do the 225 miles of motorway riding on one refill with enough to spare for the ends of the trip home and to the rally. I definitely went quicker than others doing the same route, but who had to stop more often, even though my top speed was lower.

- middle lane hoggers mean most motorways are more like dual carriageways and the queues of cars overtaking could be very long and dangerous as tail gating is common. More needs to be done to deter hogging.

- filtering, my bike is wide and I could not get through some gaps. I would pull over for other bikes which filtered up behind me, but at one point I was stuck and had to stop. The bikes behind me then turned, went through gaps between cars and filtered between another lane. Some filtering speeds I saw left no room for error at all.

I went there and back avoiding motorways, but then I only had about 125 miles to travel each way.

One of the things that annoys me is the inflated fuel prices at motorway services, easily 20p/litre above the going rate - at least on a and b roads you can generally find regular garages.

I agree about the middle lane hogging, and tail-gating, even when there's no where to move out of their way

The petrol at the Esso in Buxton was 114.9 ppl. At the Moto services Lancaster it was 131.9 ppl.

I now try to avoid two lane motorways unless it's late at night when I know the traffic will be very light. The M11 from Cambridge to London is a good case: most of the day it is basically one lane in each direction with nose to tail traffic going at 60mph, and another slower one that's almost empty.

What annoys me is if you try to do the right thing and stay in the most left lane you can, with the cruise control set so youre at a constant, predictable speed, other drivers do not anticipate that you are going to need to pull out to get around slow traffic and will happily pass you without any consideration thus boxing you in and causing you to cancel the CC.

This I believe is one of the reasons people hog the middle lane because they can pretty much set the cruisecontrol and stay there.

But doesn't bother me as I drive an Audi and ride a BMW and both are allergic to anything other than "the fast lane" lol

The petrol at the Esso in Buxton was 114.9 ppl. At the Moto services Lancaster it was 131.9 ppl.

Captive market!

What annoys me is if you try to do the right thing and stay in the most left lane you can, with the cruise control set so youre at a constant, predictable speed, other drivers do not anticipate that you are going to need to pull out to get around slow traffic and will happily pass you without any consideration thus boxing you in and causing you to cancel the CC.

 

This really really winds me up!

sat in lane 1 approaching wagon

dick in middle lane comes past knowing you are needing to be out and sits just ahead of you followed by dick coming up behind and following him like a lost sheep

The M25 is currently part of my commute to work. No one uses the farthest two lanes and think that late swerving in and out of lanes randomly gets them to their destination quicker.

Motorway designers don't help. Instead of proper slip roads, they often designate the left two lanes as the turning off lane, so that makes people reluctant to use them as they will have to move right to avoid leaving the motorway!

The new smart motorways are a joke too. They converted the hard shoulder to a new lane but nobody uses it!

Motorway designers don't help. Instead of proper slip roads, they often designate the left two lanes as the turning off lane, so that makes people reluctant to use them as they will have to move right to avoid leaving the motorway!

The new smart motorways are a joke too. They converted the hard shoulder to a new lane but nobody uses it!

When it's opened on the M5 and m4 near me I make great time as no bugger uses it!

Just be thankful you actually have a motorway. This is the kinda crap I need to deal with on our main arterial route (should be a motorway, but can't cause "rural". And tractors use it. )

Also, some turn offs are just that, 90 degree turn offs. No slip road, from a dual carriageway at 70mph, where loads of folk do 90.…

Also, the random far right lane that turns into a slip road for Cathedral on the M8 at Glasgow...catches a few folk out

Also, the random far right lane that turns into a slip road for Cathedral on the M8 at Glasgow...catches a few folk out Screenshot_20170814-215035.png

Yep

Got caught out on that.

How do trailers an lorries get on not being allowed in the third lane.

Not really sure, I guess they just go for it

That road does lead to the Tennents lager factory so big trucks will use it.

The slip road from the end of Gt Western Rd (as it goes over the motorway) onto the M8 west also enters onto the 3rd lane. I am so used to it I did not think it is very odd to have that.

Motorway designers don't help. Instead of proper slip roads, they often designate the left two lanes as the turning off lane, so that makes people reluctant to use them as they will have to move right to avoid leaving the motorway!

The new smart motorways are a joke too. They converted the hard shoulder to a new lane but nobody uses it!

I've sat in the left hand lane several times and sailed past traffic in the farthest lanes, whilst doing only 70mph.

If there's a queue formed I always filter at least 10 cars ahead of the rear of the queue & don't have to worry about being reared ended at motorway speeds !

Left hand bends, most cautious with stuff popping out from lane 2. Wide birth for all left hand drive vehicles.

& if it's possible, avoid motorways

I currently do around 1k motorway miles each month, a 120 mile round trip twice a week. Last couple of contract it has been closer to 1.5k miles per month. I have been doing this sort of mileage on the bike for 2.5 years now. After a while you get to spot those people who drive regularly for work (the 'professional' drivers) and are willing to give you a bit of space - I especially find truck drivers to be good at pulling over to let you through when filtering.

My bike is a BMW R1200 RT, so it's a big beast for filtering with. You get used to the fact that sometimes you just aren't going to get through, and to putting up with the idiots who refuse to pull over and give you space. In fact very little gets me bothered these days, I have seen it all and I know I'll see it again. When people are behaving like morons I just try to get out of their way and leave them to it. I also find it helps to leave plenty of time and ensure you never feel rushed.

Agree motorway riding is boring, to stay safe the name of the game is to run with pack and maintain your safe driving space. By that if someone pull in infront of you drop back and recover your safe braking distance. As for filtering that's fine, but my god some of the speeds some idiots do this fair scares the life out of me.

I like to find and ride in safety bubbles, areas where there is as little traffic as possible. When I come to a group of vehicles I try and get passed as quickly as possible and then relax, in the inside lane in that gap between the traffic.

I like to find and ride in safety bubbles, areas where there is as little traffic as possible. When I come to a group of vehicles I try and get passed as quickly as possible and then relax, in the inside lane in that gap between the traffic.

That's how I drive my car on a motorway. I like having plenty of empty road around me when travelling constantly at speed like that. My wife is quite a nervous person as well and hates it when we start passing lorries so this strategy helps with that too because we won't spend loads of time either sitting near them/behind them, we just get passed as quickly as possible and then chill.

I really wish they would ban slow moving lorries from the middle lane........

I really wish they would ban slow moving lorries from the middle lane........

Red rag to a bull

I've noticed a big shift in which cars seem to be favoured by better drivers.

It used to be German sales exec cars tailgating and causing an issue. Recently I've found cars like Vauxhall insignia's, while they look unsuspecting have a large group of idiots driving them, at least in my area.

You still get problems with surprisingly young guys in very powerful new Mercedes undertaking you given even an inch of space, but I'm having better luck these days with BMW's and Audi's. Which is just as well as I became an Audi driver recently.

Generally I cruise at a "middle of the pack" speed. That way I haven't got anyone flying up behind me, and the coppers will be more concerned with the ones trying to set a new record down the M6.

I like to have a nice safety bubble on the motorway, I ride at a speed that keeps pace with the traffic, give lorries plenty of room, had a close call on the M1 in Leicestershire a few years ago, about to go past this lorry when it had a blow out, scared the shit out of me, always in the back of my mind now when i'm going round them.

I like to have a nice safety bubble on the motorway, I ride at a speed that keeps pace with the traffic, give lorries plenty of room, had a close call on the M1 in Leicestershire a few years ago, about to go past this lorry when it had a blow out, scared the shit out of me, always in the back of my mind now when i'm going round them.

I can imagine that was pretty scary. The closest I have been was about 1/2 mile behind a truck when the trailer tyre blew. It threw a cloud of dust and debris across the other two lanes and I remember thinking that if I had been alongside I could easily have been hit by a chunk of tyre - I rode through the wreckage a few seconds later and it didn't look pretty.

Regarding the comment above from Fozzie - I think that buying an Audi must have given you a sympathetic view of them . I still find that Audi drivers are the most consistent offenders when it comes to poor or aggressive driving.