I was taking a class to get my motorcycle license today, and I happened to mention a sign I’m sure I’ve seen about motorcycles weaving on the decks of certain bridges.[sup]*[/sup] The instructor had never heard of such a thing. I’ve searched the internet and found nothing to back up my memory. The class continues tomorrow, and it would be nice to have some evidence that I’m not a complete idiot. Help me out, fellow Dopers. If anyone has seen such a sign, let me know. If anyone can link to a picture of one by tomorrow morning, even better.
It’s mostly on draw bridges, I think; those with metal grating as the road surface. I always thought it was an instruction for motorcycles to weave slightly, so their tires don’t get stuck in the parallel metal grating. Or it may be a warning to other motorists that the metal deck will cause motorcycles to weave.
I cannot help about your specific question, but just some fun trivia - the aston expressway in birmingham is a 7 lane motorway (think highway)… except that 3 out of those lanes are bidirectional, or in terms of the centre lane tridirectional depending upon ones definition of direction.
In other words, it has tidal flow. So in “normal” conditions, the middle lane is closed and you have 3 lanes going one way and 3 going the other way - with the centre, 7th lane, closed. When tidal conditions apply, you have 4 lanes going one way and 2 going the other way, again with the centre lane closed.
Anyway the actual centre lane (physically rather than logically) is closed to bikes at all times, because the drainage covers of all things were killing bikers - this shows how much design care they put in to things into the sixties.
So the rightermost lane during tidal flow (remember this is the UK and therefore righthand lane = fastest lane) is prohibited to bikers.
Not quite the same thing as what you’re after, but some silly infrastructure based problems for bikes nontheless.
Meanwhile - something slightly more like what you’re after
Your tires will “float” a bit on the metal grated surface. You don’t want this to come as a surprise.
Also be aware that on a paving project, you may encounter a similar surface on pavement. The machine that scrapes up the old asphalt will leave longitudinal grooves that will mess with you as well.
You’re not crazy, but I’m damned if I can find a picture of one right now.
Here’s a groovy discussionon the Dope from the past…
It’s the latter. The grating will cause the bike to want to weave or “float” across the surface, which tends to terrify new riders. It can be especially bad if you have tires with full-circle rain grooves like this.
I hates riding on those roads. Not only is it hard to control my bike, there is a lot of road trash that gets tossed around.
Robot Arm good on you for taking a safety class. Many people just buy a bike and jump into traffic. I’ve been riding for 17 years, but I still take a safety class every year. Mostly I know what they are telling me, but it helps me to remember to watch for hazards.
Please buy good protective gear. Last month, I got hit by a thoughtless bint on her cell phone. If I hadn’t been wearing a good helmet, I think I would be dead now. Always wear gloves, because if you fall over, you will use your hands to stop the fall. And remember that you are invisible whenever you ride.
Can you minimize the accidental weaving by doing it on purpose, though? I know that on my bicycle, grooves that run parallel (or nearly so) to my path are to be avoided; a wheel can slip into the groove and it’s that much harder to steer out of it to keep my balance. The metal road deck on a drawbridge is essentially nothing but grooves. If you deliberately cross it at a slight angle, do you minimize the tendency to get caught in the grooves? (And of course if the bridge is long enough, you’ll have to reverse the angle to stay in your lane.)
I wonder if NHTSA has an e-mail address for questions like this.
I saw that thread. Don’t know if I posted there, but I’m glad you’re okay.
This is a bit of a medium-term goal. I don’t have covered parking at my apartment, so actually getting a bike will probably have to wait until I have a house with a garage. I wanted to get the class done this year, and before the weather got nasty. If I pass, that qualifies for the motorcycle endorsement for my license. I aced the written portion.
There’s a metal suspension bridge less than a mile from my house, and I drive across it all the time. You can feel it in a car, but it can be scary as hell when I’m on the motorcycle. The thing is, it just *feels *scary; as long as you continue at an even speed, keep looking forward, and don’t try to turn, you won’t have a problem at all. But like I said, it feels pretty damn terrifying- it’s kind of what I imagine trying to drive during an earthquake would feel like.
As Lightnin’s says, it just feels scary, but just hold on tight and let the bike weave around, nothing bad is going to happen. If you’re going to fall, it’s not going to be from the bike tires jumping an inch from one side to the other.
To answer your question above about per-emptivly weaving, I suppose that could work since you would be going across the groves instead of with them, but you’d also be constantly leaning the bike (since you’re turning) on a metal surface. This is one of those things where I’d tell you that people have been riding motorcycles across grooved surfaces for a very long time, there’s no reason for someone that just learned how to ride yesterday to try to make up a new way to do it (or anything else). As my MSF teacher would say when we wouldn’t follow his directions “You can do it your way, but I promise that my way is better.” Besides, the areas that tend to have these grids are usually bridges, so they’re, what, 50 feet, you’ll be over it in a few seconds. Enjoy the view and don’t worry about it too much. After you do it once, you’ll realize it’s not that big of a deal.
The bigger deal (but still not that big of a deal) is something like this*, that’s long, curved, and made out of grooved concrete…and it’s all at highway speeds with cars all around you…plus you have to be paying all kinds of attention so you don’t miss your exit.
*I was hoping to find a picture of some of the runs an interchange in Milwaukee that have grooved concrete which tends to go for much longer then grates or grids.
PS, when if comes to this kind of thing, my biggest pet peeve is still making a right turn and having to hop over that nearly parallel line where the road surface changes type or height. Sometimes you’ll see a biker back off it and then come back at an angle. You don’t want to hit that with both tires at the same time.
The thing that bugs me the most is the wind. The way it works out anytime I bring my bike out on a week/workday I usually have to take it over the Hoan Bridge. It’s so ungodly windy up there, it’s enough for me to say ‘nah, I’ll just leave it at home today’. I think this summer I put about 60 miles on it :smack:. You’ll even see other bikers on this bridge hunched over trying to stay out of the wind as they fight to keep their bikes in the lane. Luckily, the whole thing lasts about 90 seconds, but it’s kinda terrifying.
I didn’t think it was a new way. I saw the signs and figured that was standard practice for motorcyclists, even though I wasn’t one of them. In fact, I can’t remember the last time or place I saw that sign; I suppose it’s possible that it’s old advice but it works better to ride straight and the signs have been gone for some time.
And I’m not a totally new rider. I took a similar course in high school when I used to ride a scooter, and I had a bit of experience on bigger bikes as well. That’s been a few decades ago, now. Never hurts to learn something new all over again. The course provides the motorcycles, and passing the eval at the end qualifies for the endorsement on my license, which is handy when you don’t actually have a motorcycle yet.
I passed. Not perfect, but pretty good. Should have my new license in a couple weeks.
I suppose I just hadn’t heard it then. But it still made sense to me when my teacher would yell that at us when we did something our own way (the wrong way) instead of the ‘right way’. Especially when the right way is a bit counter intuitive…“You can do it your way, but my way works better”.
This usually came up when we had to do the 135 degree turn. It’s hard to get used to turning your head into the turn instead of looking forward.
Is the OP’s sign in areas where expansion joints, especially ones with smooth metal plates, cross the road at an angle?
There is a sign my friend saw in Manitoba. Take your sign, Boyo Jim, and replace the grid of the road deck with the bumpy road surface from the “road has been milled or grooved” sign, the eighth one down on this Ontario Ministry of Transportation page. I have been unable to find an example of the “grooved road” sign with a bike instead of a car.
I knew what it was right away, but my friend was trying to convince the kids that it meant, “Jugglers on bicycles ahead”.
Thank you Robot Arm for your kind words, but I brought that up as an example about how good safety equipment can save your life. If I hadn’t been wearing my helmet, wacking my head might not have have killed me, but I would have been so stunned that I couldn’t roll/crawl out of the way of the oncoming pickup.
Congrats on your passing the class. I’m pretty sure that you will pay attention to the mistakes you made and will try to correct them on your own.
What sort of bike are you wanting to get? I like my big heavy Harley, I think its much easier to ride than a squirlley sport bike, but everyone is different.
