I've been driving nearly 30 years and have never once seen a biker tailgating a lorry, until today. On the M4, a bike about a metre from the back end of an artic, couldn't believe me eyes!! Have I led a sheltered life and missed seeing all the bikers doing this or was this a rarity?
Is it widespread? A suicidal riding riding practice surely??
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"I've been driving nearly 30 years and have never once seen a biker tailgating a lorry, until today.....Is it widespread?"
Apparently not.
V
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it's pretty stupid........loss of vision and the disruptive air from a vehicle in front usually buffets you, sometimes quite badly....although i've never tried getting that near, so maybe the rough air isn't there that close and you can then slip stream.......must have a death wish
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Not behaviour to be condoned at all though at least the biker could stop more quickly than the truck, on a dry road at least.
Much worse I fear is the more common occurance of trucks tailgating cars where the car has much better braking power than the truck and would not stand a chance if an emergency stop were required.
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at least the biker could stop more quickly than the truck on a dry road at least
That's a common misconception that claimed quite a few FS1E pilots. Air brakes are awesomely powerful. Unladen, on a dry road, an air-braked truck can come to a dead stop in only 8 feet from 20mph.*
[Normal speed for a busy urban street.] Laden; on a slippery road, is a completely different matter....
If you can't stop it in 20ft from 20 [under full control - even on a wet, greasy, braking lane;] then your HGV driving test is over - without even leaving the test centre.
* Ford D1614 2-axle rigid; fitted with a chalk gun; on a dry tarmac runway.
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>> at least the biker could stop more >> quickly than the truck >> on a dry road at least That's a common misconception that claimed quite a few FS1E pilots. Air brakes are awesomely powerful. >>
But we arent talking FS1-E's rather contemporary bikes with powerful twin disc set ups and modern tyres, a modern bike can scrub off speed amazingly quickly, quicker than any car down to about 15 to 20 mph, a car is perhaps more stable braking at low speeds, than being said if on a dry Shellgrip type surface you can litteraly pull the lever as hard as you like and the bike will just stop, with or without ABS.
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but you've only got that one yard to realise that the lorry is braking, by which time you're mincemeat.
JH
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Is it widespread? A suicidal riding riding practice surely??
As a teenage wannabe bicycle racer of moderate ability I used to use a downhill sliproad onto a dual carriageway to tuck in behind trucks doing about 40mph. It was possible to hold them for several miles. I did this in imitation of Sean Kelly, who claimed to use the same technique. I consider myself lucky to be alive.
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As a teenage wannabe bicycle racer of moderate ability >>
Funny so was I, 10 mile time trial in around 25 to 27 mins IIRC.
Once clocked at between 65 and 70 mph down Stag Hill off the hogs back into Guildford.
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>> As a teenage wannabe bicycle racer of moderate ability >> Funny so was I 10 mile time trial in around 25 to 27 mins IIRC.
I had a ten-mile training route, which was up hill and down dale that I used to reckon on doing in about half an hour. I recall a couple of weeks of battling to get it under 35 minutes and then after that it came down to 32 quite easily. I never cracked 30 as I recall and looking at it now I'm not surprised. I was rubbish at time trialling--hill climbs and sprints were my thing. I bet teenage wannabes now could give us database records accurate to within tenths of seconds and balanced against heart rate and blood pressure.
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>> As a teenage wannabe bicycle racer of moderate ability >> Funny so was I 10 mile time trial in around 25 to 27 mins IIRC. Once clocked at between 65 and 70 mph down Stag Hill off the hogs back into Guildford.
On a bicycle?!
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Downhill skiers hit those speeds so why not cyclists? Watch the descents in the Alps during the Tour de France. They are hitting those speeds. The only time I've been (well) over 60 on a push bike was on a hill near the village of Ryle in Northumberland. The road was so bumpy I couldn't actually see. More commonly, if you ride at reasonable cruising speeds you have to watch for motorists who simply don't anticipate that you might be doing more than 12mph and pull out in front of you. It's especially bad on tandems because 20-25mph is easy on the flat even for semi-fit leisure riders; 45-50 is no problem and not at all uncommon on a long sweeping descent somewhere like North Wales. And tandems take a bit of stopping.
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It's a pretty stupid thing to do. As is mentioned on here if the truck driver hits the airbrakes full on, it doesn't matter how good the bike brakes are the riders reaction time will have to be nil or he (assuming it was a he and not a she) will have a face full of truck.
Probably find they were on reserve and trying to conserve fuel to get to the next petrol/service station.
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Friend of mine used to do it in his 2CV with motorway coaches. He could cruise at 75 like that, when the car could barely pull 60 on its own. He never hit one as far as I know, but it must have been quite emotionally draining after 50 miles or so.
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We used to slipstream lorries on a pushbike in my youth, quite effective it was too.
A friend did it once and quickly realised that the lorry was towing a trailer - he got out very quickly!
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Don't see it very often but when bikes do tailgate it's very scary.
I was driving (in a car not a truck) along a busy M6 in the outside lane, overtaking several cars in the middle lane when I saw a bike coming up fast behind before settling about 2m off my bumper. He was so close I couldn't see his headlight or indicators in my rear view mirror.
I got past the 5 or so cars I was overtaking (and which were all driving too close to each other for me to pull in sooner) and wanted to let him past as soon as I could so I indicated and pulled into the middle lane - fortunately for him I checked my n/s mirror as I was changing lanes because he'd decided to undertake me and only a big swerve by both of us avoided me sideswiping him.
From his reaction (head shaking side to side and pointing a wagging finger) he clearly thought I was at fault.
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I used to get into a lorries slipstream all the time when I was commuting up and down the A34 to Abingdon College on my FS1E, and later my Honda CB100N. Once tucked up behind a lorry you could almost close the throttle right down and still tank along at 50 to 55 mph. Helped with saving fuel as well - which came in handy when I was a poor student.
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And me on my CB100N in the eighties. Suicidal practice with a cable operated disc brake.
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How close did you have to get? Will try it next time I'm on the bike...
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Close enough to nearly be clonked on the head by something falling off the nether regions of the truck on one occasion ! Don't try it at home.
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Motorcyclists not only believe but apparently actively practise Darwinism.
madf
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Motorcyclists not only believe but apparently actively practise Darwinism. madf
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Darwinism is materialist. Realistic. 'All things must pass' etc.
People who think they are immortal are not materialists but, er, idealists.
Most of the human species under the age of 30 and quite a few old enough to know better if you ask me.
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I passed the bike and had a look at his face, looked wide eyed and young to me! Also, the bike wasnt a very big one. I watched the artic pull out to overtake a car in the slow lane and it swerved out quite suddenly, the bike looked like it was attatched to the lorry with a bit of string, he just blindly followed the back of the lorry. Stange thing was, the bike overtook me later doing about 75, then further on, I passed it again, this time tucked up behind a horsebox. What a nutcase
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"lorry with a bit of string"
That actually occurred to me when you originally posted !
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I used to do this a lot on a pushbike. You need to be very close, more than about 2m away and you're out of the slipstream and can't get back into it.
There's another technique that I used to use for going downhill quickly. I realised that no matter how tucked I was my arms would always add more drag than I though was ideal, so I'd fold them flat behind my bike. I reckoned that would take me from about 45 up to 50mph on a 1 in 10 hill.
Both are very stupid things to do, however I recognize that I'm an adrenaline seeker and I've done far riskier things that without injury.
--
I read often, only post occasionally
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Every time I walk to work I see the same energetic cyclist, coming the opposite way to me. Good for him, I used to think, at least he is on the road unlike 90% of the other cyclists I see. However, the last time I saw him he was hanging on to the rear of a truck, being towed along at 30ish mph. My opinion of him has reduced (not that it matters to him!)
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Actually what I thought cyclists did was get hold of the back end of some vehicle that wasn't going to go all that fast, bus or lorry, and just be towed along, never mind suction.
Urban stuff we're talking here.
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Perhaps the biker is trying to intimidate the artic driver into going faster!!!
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