Passes & Canyons Blog

I got a comment from Mark in regard to my most recent post, wherein I mentioned a rider going the other way tapping the top of his helmet to warn me of a radar trap up ahead. He asked if there were other signals that are used to communicate while riding. I had written about hand signals in a post back in 2008 and I referred him to that post. But that got me to thinking about how it can be good to cycle back to certain topics from time to time because there are always new people coming into motorcycling, as well as readers who didn’t see what I wrote 12 years ago. Just because you wrote about something 12 years ago doesn’t mean you should never mention it again.

On the other hand, I don’t want to just repeat myself. So I figured I would do a Google search for “motorcycle hand signals” and see what showed up. Turns out there are a lot but also not so many. Which is to say, there seems to be one basic chart that you see with many different organizations’ logos slapped on them. That would be one in the image above. I know you can’t read it that small so here’s a link to it.

Here’s a different one, which I linked to in that 2008 post. It’s a gif so it shows motion, which can be useful in understanding just what it is you do.

For the most part, these signals are for things like “start your engines,” “hazard ahead,” and “police ahead.” That’s all well and good, and certainly we should all know and use them. But in some cases there was a little humor injected. In particular, there was this one. Now, I made a decision when I first started this blog not to use language that could be offensive to some people, and this chart is a bit off color. That’s why I’m linking to it, not just dropping it into this post. So you can choose to view it or not.

And here’s another that is similar.

Good for a laugh. But anyway, thanks Mark for giving me a topic for this post. And I also want to mention, any time someone comments on any of my posts, as Mark did, I post a reply. But I’ve never had the blog set up to notify the person I’m replying to that I have replied. Well, I just added such a plug-in. It also works if someone other than me replies to your comment. So hey, comments are always welcome.

Biker Quote for Today

Why bikes are better than women: Motorcycles don’t get jealous if you come home with grease under your fingernails.

We had our piano moved on Saturday and it was a spectacle of coordination and communication. These guys were pros.

They had specific terms for each move in the process and they were constantly checking in with each other. Not once did someone decide to push the piano some direction without first asking, “Can I come your way?” or whatever the move called for. Going downstairs they confirmed with each other step by step and had total control of this large, heavy burden with never any confusion at all. None.

I was fascinated. And I got to thinking how that was so not like so many group motorcycle rides I’ve been on. The worst case I can think of happened in our early days, a story I know I’ve told before.

Bill and John and I were going up over a pass in Utah, with me in the lead, and we were approaching a turn-out on our left with a great view. I decided to pull off but just an instant before I made my move Bill went shooting by me. He apparently was tired with my pokey speed and wanted to bump things up a bit. If I had moved an instant sooner we would both have been on the ground and not in good condition. We learned a lot from that experience.

It’s all about communication. Of course, back in those days there weren’t a lot of people who had communicators and those of us in the OFMC still don’t, except for the rider to passenger communicators Judy and I have and John and Cheryl have. But even back then there were hand signals. You just had to agree on what they meant and then use them. Of course, turn signals are good, too, and if I had used mine on that pass Bill might not have gone shooting by me. But they don’t do a thing for you if you don’t use them.

I know I did a post some years ago where I provided a link to a web page displaying a number of basic motorcycle hand signals. Well, I’m going to do it again here because this graphic includes several more, different signals that strike me as pretty useful.

This latest graphic comes from a blog by a guy name Michael Padway, a motorcycle attorney. You know how it is, these guys want to get your attention so if you have a crash you’ll think of them and give them a call. Sometimes in the process they really do create and offer materials that are worthwhile. I think this is one of those times. And apparently the guy does ride.

Actually I think both of these displays of signals is good because they both have at least a few that the other lacks. So point your riding buddies to both of them and then talk it over before your next ride. The skin you save may be your own.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if you’ve had to replace your tires, but because they were too old and not too worn.