People that have relocated to CA

[flyjetta]

Did it take a while for you to get used to the traffic here? In all honesty, with the traffic as chaotic as it is here I really feel that the odds are really against us. It seem like everyone here swerves in and out of traffic too carelessly and that you can still be cautious, maintain buffers etc. and you still will get kreamed.

I know I know... it can happen everywhere, but coming from a town of almost 1 million the traffic was way more tame than here in San Diego.

Anyone else have second thoughts about riding after they relocated here?

Do you think the incidents of motorcycle accidents here are more than anywhere else? Freaking insurance rates can be crazy..


What insurance companies do you guys use for auto and motorcycle?

[J.Moto]

I think it will depend on the person. For some people, the traffic density can make it harder for them. I never had any issue at all. At one point my visiting Father said something like, "Wow, I'm surprised how well you do in this traffic." I was thinking to myself, huh? It's no big deal for me, but I have pretty good hand-eye coordination and reflexes, and when I am driving, I'm pretty much just concentrating on the road (unlike others). When I started riding a motorcycle here, it was no issue at all for me.


And I just switched from McGraw Insurance on my bike to AAA, because when I combined it with my El Camino I just bought, the overall rates dropped.

If you are only insuring a bike, look into McGraw.

[smokescreen]

i feel like it forces more focus. like that old starwars game, where you had to run the death star!!!

Seriously though. If you try not to dwell on the fact that one wrong move can get you run over, there concentration that riding, and lane splitting safely requires, is really great for clearing your head!

[Savage]

Mcgraw insurance FTW!

I never rode back home before I moved here, just drove a car.

[acer66]

la traffic is one reason for me to ride a bike

[Dragonhawk]

Like others have said, I started to ride when I moved to Los Angeles. Never did before.

I was sick of waiting in traffic and thought, "I refuse to be one of these damn lemmings. There MUST be a way around this traffic. Jet pack? ... Helicopter? ... Teleportation device?"

Then a motorcycle whizzed past.

While the jet-pack sounded really freakin' cool, the motorcycle seemed a lot more practical.

[Darth Lefty]

Jet packs are real... and fly for 40 seconds...

[Kyoseki]

I spent the last 4 years riding in Central London...

... what traffic ?

[malkey]

Originally posted by Kyoseki
I spent the last 4 years riding in Central London...

... what traffic ? But you barely have a 10 minute commute now though...

[smokescreen]

wasn't there a guy in utah or Nevada, that attached a JATO pack to an El Camino once? I think he hit the only mtn in 100 miles goin sorta fast, and nothing was salvagable.... They ID'd him through the teeth they found in part of the steering wheel... But DAMN!!! What a way to go!!

flyjetta- just one thing. Never lane split between a vehicle ad an open lane... Pass with space. The rearview check is a lost artform in CA.

[Darth Lefty]

Originally posted by smokescreen
The rearview check is a lost artform in CA.
I think my next cage is going to be an FJ Cruiser... has blind spots you could hide elephants in... and there's going to be a lot of them.

[smokescreen]

there will not be a lot of elephants here!!

julia drove one... said it was fair off road, and did ok in a river crossing, but it has a Cartoonish interior, and the roof doesn't come off, which is bullshit!!

+1 on those blind spots though!

[MOO]

LA traffic is definitely frightening, but I figure if I can learn to drive here I can ride anywhere.

I learned, am learning, how to drive in traffic, and its a great challenge...u have to PAY ATTENTION!

...and I can go anywhere I want quicker than anywhere else...which isa niiice.

P.

[dnakase]

I feel safest on a bike lane splitting when traffic is at a dead stop. When its patchy then just scan for cell phone users.

Most of the time I'll look behind me and I'm holding up some one on an R1 or ZX-10 wanting to do 55-60 between cars and I seem to see the same ones from time to time :confused: so I guess I'm just slow and cautious. I top out at 45 unless traffic is moving.

But you do have to have a 6th sence about what's happening 5 to 10 cars ahead. Try to stay out of blind spots and be activly passing traffic.

Some say loud pipes save lives, but the times I'm in a car the only time I notice loud pipes is when the bike is in front of me. For all intents and purposes you are invisible to others, even if they were looking and they are not. They are on the phone, reading the paper or putting on makeup.

[Jrod]

This is my one real hate of LA. I moved here from boston, i have to disagree with who ever said "if you can drive here, you can drive anywhere". In the northeast, the far left lane is for doing a minimum of 15 miles over the limit, and if someone comes up behind you, you move over and let them pass. Also people are just a lot quicker at changing lanes and making decisions.

I have never seen this event until i moved here. People with broken down cars in the middle of the highway, just sitting there with their blinkers on. That just wouldn't happen back where i am from.

Also people don't really run red lights, b/c the person that is about to get the green has probably already started going.

I would really like to see mandatory hands-free cellphone usage on the road, or even better, outlaw cellphone usage on the road.

that is my rant. Other than that, the weather is way better.

[CRH49]

California drivers are bad, might even be the worst in the U.S., although Arizona would be serious competition for that title. I travel a lot for work, and it seems as though drivers in most major cities are bad. DC, Seattle, Phoenix, Atlanta...all seem just as bad to me. My opinion, nothing more.

If you are a member, USAA has pretty good rates and coverage for motorcycles.

[cucamonga]

Originally posted by Dragonhawk
Like others have said, I started to ride when I moved to Los Angeles. Never did before.

I was sick of waiting in traffic and thought, "I refuse to be one of these damn lemmings. There MUST be a way around this traffic. Jet pack? ... Helicopter? ... Teleportation device?"

Then a motorcycle whizzed past.

While the jet-pack sounded really freakin' cool, the motorcycle seemed a lot more practical.

+1 !!!

Didn't ride until I ended up in the IE and got sick of the long commute. Have almost 40k miles under my belt now, all lane splitting miles. Have seen a lot of crap happen, but if you pay attention and are ready for anyone to cut you off, you'll be ok. Biggest mistake would be to assume that the cager will stay in his/her lane, applies to all lanes including hov.

I agree that London has lotsa traffic, but Londoners seem to be more used to lane splitting bikers due to the sheer number of bikers on the road. Here in LA we're fewer in number, plus there are way more massive suv's with soccer moms on cell phones. Also, Londoners just seem to be far better drivers, probably due to the narrow roads taking a lot more attention and skilled driving!

[Kyoseki]

I would say London drivers are more focussed on driving, you're not allowed to use a cell phone in the car in the UK, but the roads are a lot narrower and traffic clumps up just as bad - what's worse though is having to contend with pedestrians.

In LA, pedestrians generally obey traffic signals and cross in the right places, in London, because there's so many more of them, they'll just wander out into gridlocked traffic without looking for bikes filtering through, I nearly nailed some idiot outside Harrods who decided it would be a great idea to sprint across the road after the light turned green, I stopped with my front wheel literally between his legs, he was holding onto my handlebars.

[T140]

There is definitely more 'stuff' in the roads here versus back east (i.e. furniture, appliances, tire treads, boxes).

People drive much faster. Speed combined with hard turns on the freeway results in lots of rolled cars.

People don't slow down in the rain.

[svcat]

I remember moving here from the UK and telling my wife that I wouldn't need a car. Yeah. That didn't last. Then there was the driving on the wrong side of the road, and the drivers. And the getting lost. I followed a guy into a parking lot when lost once because I thought he looked like he knew where he was going.


Then I got a bike.


:D

[Kyoseki]

Originally posted by T140
There is definitely more 'stuff' in the roads here versus back east (i.e. furniture, appliances, tire treads, boxes).

People drive much faster. Speed combined with hard turns on the freeway results in lots of rolled cars.

People don't slow down in the rain.
Oh yeah, I'll agree with the crap on the roads thing, what's so fucking hard about strapping your damned step ladder to the back of the damned pick up huh ?

The freeways still worry me, I've ridden much faster on UK Motorways, but people are so stupid here they drive 6 feet behind the car in front regardless of what speed they're doing or whether the conditions warrant it.

Let's just be grateful that rain is a somewhat rare occurrence here.

[flyjetta]

I'm going to take a little while with it, just to get a better idea of the roads here and to gain a little confidence, the way people drive here is so different compared to milwaukee, but I can't imagine getting rid of it, riding my motorcycle year round is a big reason why I moved here

for now, it will be my weekend fun, after a while I'm sure I'll be riding it a lot more, good thing is my morning commute is like 7 minutes :)

thanks for the replies everyone!

[maxpower220]

I am in the military and move around quite often. The road system in CA, for the most part, are great. There are several problems that the roads create; 4 lanes of traffic that merge off down to 2 lanes. This creates bottle-necks and traffic problems. Drivers in S.D. seem to be very consistent in the way that they drive, which should help. When I was in FL, there were "snow birds" that drove slower and were usually older driver. They mixed with people who drive fast. This made for a terrible commute.
I have found it easy to ride here, but you really have to look out for ALL of the lanes of traffic instead a just 2. Lane sharing laws really benefit the rider, something that most states do not allow.

[NukleoN]

Shit max your avatar is NSFW...gotta be careful with those...

[soulofadra6o]

Originally posted by NukleoN
Shit max your avatar is NSFW...gotta be careful with those...

is mine decent enough?

[maxpower220]

Shit max your avatar is NSFW...gotta be careful with those

I am not familiar with the term NSFW?

[NukleoN]

Not Safe For Work. :D Oh mang there it is again. Those are hawt...but since everyone sees my monitor at work I just have to scroll your avatar off screen.

[StickS707]

I am also military and this is my first time on the west coast. I'm north of Santa Barbara...Central Coast area (Lompoc/Santa Maria)...The traffic up here is extremely light, unless you go to Santa Barbara or before/after work, so I'm good with most of the traffic. I just hate people who are in the left lane that won't get out of it...even when there is more than enough room to go to the right lane. I learned to drive in Germany and I don't like passing on the right, but sometimes you get that IDIOT that refuses to get out of the right lane, even when there is a "Slower Traffic Keep Right" sign...ARGHHH now I'm gettin pissed again:mad: