I`ve been away from bikes for nearly 8 years. Now back in the saddle I`ve noticed very little nodding go on.
But people on similar type bikes have nodded and a old boy on a harley, But sportys must think i`m Churchill :cool4:

It is a strange concept the bikers nod, I have been doing it since 1980 when I was riding my Honda SS50 and still do it now on my Morini special or Yamaha Tmax. As has already been commented on there are some strange situations where what you are riding will get different responses. I find in the main classic british bike riders do not nod or wave, sports bike riders tend not to unless they mistake my tmax headlights for an R6!, custom bikers particularly choppers and most harley riders nod, strangely people riding in shorts and t-shirts never respond??. I nod everyone regardless and have stopped caring if I get a response or not as there can be many reasons.

ps XTGIRL hope you got back from the hubb meet at ripley, let me know what was up with the Tenere. We got back ok apart from my sons Serow suffering a puncture.

Regards

Robin

Sorry mate, I didn't see you......
 

Got to admit I'm sometimes guilty of not nodding, but only on motorways when I'm overtaking, and concentrating more on what the dithering, flat capped, Volvo/Qualcast driving idiot in front of me is doing, than on the biker on the other carriageway.
I've found Cruiser riders to be quite frequent nodders, as are Sportsbike riders. But Harley riders? I might as well be invisible.........

Used to get the same thing when I had an old Mini.

I think you seem to get more bikers waving at you in winter as there's a kind of mutual respect that neither one of you is a sunny, summer weekend-only rider. My boss has a cleaner than clean GSXR750 and I ride more miles in December alone than he does all year.

As for scooter riders, I think the majority of us view them as being mostly 16-year-old kids who will lose interest in bikes as soon as they get a car licence, so they're not worth bothering with. The way some of them ride doesn't help and I'll admit that I don't nod or wave to them unless they do so first.

However, I do think there's camaraderie no matter what you ride. For example, on my ride home from work today, I was behind a car tailgating a girl on a 125 cruiser of some kind, complete with L-plates. I don't like seeing "one of the family" being hassled by a cager so I cut in and forced him to back off and I'd do the same for a scooter rider. Hopefully, most people here would do the same regardless of bike or level of experience.

Just did some more research on the nodding. 500 miles me lots of nodding.

I reckon about a third nodded back.

There didnt seem to be any stereotypical non nodder and if the passing bike was with pillion there was a higher percentage of return nods. I tried the leg kick but I think it looked like I was slipping of the pegs !

Back in the day when I was an overpaid flash ********, I had a BMW with a cruise control/throttle lock. Must have caused a few crashes by waving with the right hand as I passed at highly illegal speeds and the wave recipiant went into rubberkneck mode :nono:

Andy

Being a 125 motorcyclist on L plates, I tend to nod at any type of biker, get nods back from >25%. Was shadowed home by some type of Honda tourer a week back, with pillion. He gave me lots of space and smiles and made me feel like I was on a test! Although Iv never felt comfortable filtering with company, tend to avoid that all together.

Interestingly I was riding 'easy rider' style a few days back with a motorcycle paramedic who appeared to be transporting organs! Although understandably they didn't stick around for long!

WHAT?? How do you get an organ on a bike, I mean, all those pipes and keyboards and....

Oh I see, I'll just go nod here on my own.

theres always one....
 

..joker amongst the group! was a cool looking bike though, very impressed with his/her luggage storage capacity - was like a little village on the back. the flashing blues were disconcerting to say the least when I first noticed them though...:eek3:

in response to the original post...

you need to look at a map girl, 'northern' for BRITISH bikers is some-way upwards of yorkshire. and it's laughable that london is more bike-sociable than other parts of the UK. it has to be the most fashion-led biking place I've experienced. no surprise supermoto's turn heads, and with a girl on top... how cool!

I would agree with others that there's definitely a subconscious assessment of the bike coming towards you. there was a drive in the UK about 4 or 5 years ago to 'make biking more acceptable'. we seem to be reaping the benefits of 'my other car is a GS/Harley/Gixer Thou' now.

as motorbiking is becoming more mainstream in the UK, the camaraderie you are looking for is becoming rarer. you do tend to see it (as has been said) in the winter, on rainy or windy days or late at night.

if you ride 'north' during november, I bet your nod-rate is much increased.

Hey hey, I started reading this thread earlier before I went out to Shoreditch (to look for my new DR-Z) from down here in SE London. I hate being a stereo-typist (and I'm not talking about having my headphones on whilst I write)... but I didn't get any response all day. I always without doubt nod, even if I'm leaning right over taking a bend and see an on-coming bike. I nod. Anyhow, I narrowed the bikers down to being arrogant culture-less couriers and nervous and scared fair-weathered bikers enjoying the 2 days of sunshine that England has to offer them to ride the streets of London.

Thinking about how it was overseas, I think riding on the right makes it easier to wave since your left is more visible to them. Also, being out of the hustle and bustle of the city gives you more time, space and freedom to wave.

AnyhooOOoos, I disagree with you XTGIRL, I find the bikers out of London are friendlier, but that's probably just my perception and experience.

Cheers!

I've never ridden a bike in London and have no wish to. What I have found with car drivers in the South and especially London is a complete lack of any kind of courtesy. This is, IMHO, progressively noticeable once you get south of York. At the risk of tarring everybody with the same brush, I don't see why anyone would think bikers are any different. In mainland Europe, I've been completely blanked by southerners when I've spoken to them at fuel stops, never mind getting a wave.

Scotland is much better. They've even got BMW drivers who've figured out what the indicator stalk is for and will even let you out at junctions.

BTW, "up norf" doesn't start at Watford Gap services.

Where is "North"?
 

A friend who moved to Hayling Island told me "oop north" started at the mainland for him. My Sicilian first wife thought Rome was the boundary. I guess it is all relative.

With a daughter living there I regularly ride in London (too tight to pay the congestion charge) but can't claim it's a pleasure. I try to persuade myself the proportion of idiots is no higher than anywhere else, it's just they're more obvious when its so crowded. I prefer riding in the North West, but Manchester is not always better than London. Maybe it's just a city thing? I have had drivers pull over to stop me filtering past in London, Manchester and Liverpool, and other drivers have pulled over to let me through in the same cities. I know I'm less courteous than I would like in heavy traffic because I'm too busy not getting lost/ run over/ nicked or whatever in the crowds to pay you as much attention as I would otherwise.

Ooop North starts where you can get 100 miles in before breakfast and the breakfast is actually nice to eat (excludes Watford Gap), costs under a tenner (still excludes Watford Gap), contains more Black pudding and less beans/no nasty manufactured potatoey things and comes with a pot of tea that doesn't taste like it was made with socks (definately excludes WG). Now I realise this makes certain area's of East London at certain times of day theoretically part of the North, but i'm sure they'd rather have that than Croissants at fifteen quid a pop :offtopic:

Andy

Ha ha, check out Roy Harpers Watford Gap song, a plate of grease and a load of crap.

Funnily I am just off for mine now hope I survive the morning. :scooter: