Group ride safety

[learningtofly]

Next weekend I'll be going on a ride out that I organised on another (non-bike related) forum. There'll be about 20 of us, ranging in experience from relatively new to advanced/biker veterans. Many of us won't have ridden as a group before.

If you were going to pick out (say) the three most important things in terms of safety to touch upon before we set off, what would they be?

[Guest]

1. Stagger your spacing - don't ride immediately behind the bike in front - form a zigzag shape.

2. Use a back marker.

3. Don't make slower/less experienced riders feel that they have to keep up.

4. Arrange meet-up points at suitable intervals.

5. Exchange mobile numbers.

6. Have fun - it ain't a race.

Edited March 16, 2019 by Anonymous

[Guest]

And yes, I know you said "3" but "6" is better....

[learningtofly]

And yes, I know you said "3" but "6" is better....

 

Haha - thanks. 4 and 5 are noted but already taken care of (I've spent a lot of time on the organisation). In fact, a couple of riders are hooking up with us en route.

[Bender]

Space and pace, more accidents happen when those 2 go wrong.

[mikestrivens]

It’s implicit in above but ride for yourself not the group.

[Tankbag]

For large groups look up 2nd man drop off

[raesewell]

It is explained here

https://eurokclub.bike/index.php?topic=3541.0

[Six30]

Make sure your not at the front of the que in the cafe , your get collared to buy the teas

[elizabethf]

If you have people on 125s you will know they cannot go on motorways but also be mindful that some might struggle to get over- or maintain - 60mph so dual carriageway may have to be limited too - my CBR with me on it was quite happy doing 60-70 for a ride (it took issue when my bf was on it though lol) but my friend's much older 125 struggled so id drop to about 55 a lot if we went out together. Anyone on an L plate or new to group riding should be kept in the middle of the group and not necessarily expected to mark.

Ive had some great ride out on my 125 but also some god awful charity ones where everyone at the front on their sports bikes and power ranger gear (sorry for the stereotype, just trying to paint a picture) hung about for the first junction then pinned it and left everyone else behind with no idea where we were going.... we found a decent pub instead.

[learningtofly]

Make sure your not at the front of the que in the cafe , your get collared to buy the teas

 

Thanks all. The smallest bike will be 600cc, and we won't be racing on dual carriageways... it's just going to be a bimble through the Chilterns, ending up at H's but with a couple more stops along the way. Everyone has the route already, either on Google Maps or one of the GPS formats.

Edited March 16, 2019 by learningtofly

[Six30]

If you have people on 125s you will know they cannot go on motorways but also be mindful that some might struggle to get over- or maintain - 60mph so dual carriageway may have to be limited too - my CBR with me on it was quite happy doing 60-70 for a ride (it took issue when my bf was on it though lol) but my friend's much older 125 struggled so id drop to about 55 a lot if we went out together. Anyone on an L plate or new to group riding should be kept in the middle of the group and not necessarily expected to mark.

Ive had some great ride out on my 125 but also some god awful charity ones where everyone at the front on their sports bikes and power ranger gear (sorry for the stereotype, just trying to paint a picture) hung about for the first junction then pinned it and left everyone else behind with no idea where we were going.... we found a decent pub instead.

 

L plate or new to riding .... get em at the back not in the middle .

[elizabethf]

Yeah but at the back they might disappear....

[Six30]

Yeah but at the back they might disappear....

 

If they are the middle then who evers behind them will disappear to

Edited March 17, 2019 by Six30

[Valko]

Rule #1: do not potato yourself.

If you keep rule #1 everything else will be fine.

[fullscreenaging]

Keep the guy behind you in your mirrors.

[JRH]

If you use the 2nd man or corner man system then everyone can ride at their own pace. As corners are marked for direction no one gets lost and the tail gunner collects the corner man an makes sure no one is stranded.

[geofferz]

For large groups look up 2nd man drop off

 

Never heard of that - thanks.

[Stu]

2nd man drop off every time!

Providing everyone knows what they are doing and does it right it never fails

[learningtofly]

Thanks everyone. We did discuss the options in respect of ride management, but we (and I) wanted to keep it as simple as possible. Everyone will have the route on their chosen devices so cornermen, etc aren’t going to be necessary. There are ample windows for hooking up/rejoining along the route so it shouldn’t be an issue at all.

[mikestrivens]

famous last words

[kingmunky]

Generally covered already but:

1) Ride at your own pace, don't worry about getting left behind or trying to keep up with others, people will wait and you'll enjoy yourself more.

2) Keep your distance on all sides when the group gets close together.

3) Offset your riding line from the rider infront, you'll have a better view and more time to react if needed.

4) ENJOY!!

[learningtofly]

famous last words

 

I’ll be shooting some YouTube footage for my remaining subscribers.

[Gin]

2nd man drop off every time!

Providing everyone knows what they are doing and does it right it never fails

"Everyone knows what they're doing". The first year this happens on a rally ride, I'll be really impressed!

Though you do take on quite the task of trying to keep 40 riders all together

LTF you've had some great advice from others, and despite my ribbing Stu I'm sure the ride will go great.

Staggering and keeping in your place in the line will always be my main bugbears in group rides.

There is nothing more irritating that having people constantly changing their road position and having everyone along the snake tail have to adjust for them or that one rider who just has to be further up in the queue over taking everyone (which then only causes more chaos in the stagger).

DonnieBrasco and MegaWatt, I am looking at you!

Hope your ride goes really well, give us an update after x

[Tiggie]

I remember one year at the rally where [mention]Tango[/mention] was tailend charlie and had to roundup and redirect Sue and myself like a couple of lost sheep as we had taken a wrong turning!