Staggered or side by side

[graler]

On my way in to work this morning I looked in the rear view and saw a couple of bikes gaining on me. They rode very distinctively side by side - in passing and corners. It was a couple of Sheriffs deputies on Honda ST1300's sweet. They passed me and I just snuck right up behind them. I was surprised that they rode side by side all of the time. At one point on the freeway the guy on the left started to drift right. They missed bumping bags by less than an inch.    Made me wonder how often they actually do bump while riding S X S.  I seem to recall in MSF that staggered is always recommended to give yourself the whole lane and more room to take evasive action. S X S would be kind of a cool riding experience particularly if you were riding a distance. It would bring alot more communication into the equation.

Joe

ps. When we got to a smaller intersection and a turn they shifted to staggered only for the turn then right back into formation. When they pass or change lanes it looks like a couple of jet fighters in formation - cool.

[happycommuter]

Ponch and Jon are supposedly trained to ride like that, not sure why. I guess for easier unaided communication between them or something.
Not advised for civilians.  Stagger for safety.

[B83550nighthawk]

They ride side by side so one can see if the other one has problems immediately... or falls off...

[cmyers]

It takes ALOT of trust in another individual not to mention practice and preplanned discussions on who goes what direction in the event of an obstacle. It is enjoyable riding side by side, I have done it a few times at low speeds when participating in bike "parades" across campus or through short sections of town. There are only two people that I trust well enough to ride SxS at any speed.

[green427]

Like HC said, only Ponch and Jon are qualified to do that.

Even when stopped, not a good idea, if Ponch sees a sweet little thing and drops his bike, it will land on Jon, and Sarge will be upset. Mechanic in white lab coat (forgot his name, irritating little fella) will not be happy.

I see a lot of H-D riders around here doing that. Mostly it is a guy and his woman.

[ariwhiteboy]

If I want to ride side by side with my wife we go to Sonic in the old pickup truck! 

[popo303]

In my younger days (84 NH 700S) I had one good riding buddy (78 GS 750) and we rode everywhere together, miss that guy, but anyway back to the point, we always rode SxS trusted each other completely and knew each others style of riding, could anticipate the others moves precisely... that being said there is noone I think I would trust to ride SxS with again without much much riding time.

[tcoop]

I would not ride SXS with my bike it wanders some when I get above 60 mph. I have ridden some v-twins and don't seem to drift at all (lower center of gravity) but I still prefer to be staggered.(just need to get some communication devices for my wife and I)

[Bumblebee]

If you're right next to someone, you have absolutely nowhere to go when a cager, or a deer or dog or bouncing scary thing or suddenly flat tire squiggles tries to take you out.

IMO, except for slow in mostly controlled conditions, side by side is hoo-rah hero riding looking for a place to test crash gear.

[highwayjamin]

cmeyers is right, you have to really trust someone to ride like this.  I myself can only think of a couple people I would trust to do this.

[tbante]

Side by side eliminates all safety margins.

[ariwhiteboy]

cmeyers is right, you have to really trust someone to ride like this.  I myself can only think of a couple people I would trust to do this.

Still no matter hom much you trust someone, blow a tire or get clipped by somone pulling out and you're both toast....no thank you sir.

[DesignFlaw06]

OK, I'll be honest. I had to look up who Ponch and Jon were.

Side by side is plain stupid, no matter how much you trust the other person. Now if the inherit danger wasn't there, it would be fun. But so would riding without gear, traveling at 150 MPH, etc.

Just because it's fun to do, or it makes you look like a badass (so you think) doesn't mean it's a good idea. For those of you that ride or have ridden side by side, consider yourself lucky and ahead of the game if nothing has happened.

[graler]

Ok - I understand all of the safety aspects listed above. I am sure that the motorcycle officers put alot more miles on than I do - greatly increasiing their risk of anything good or bad happening. Since it is so unsafe I wonder why they ride like that.

[cjbear11]

OK, I'll be honest. I had to look up who Ponch and Jon were.

Um....yea. No clue here either....

Riding side by side in my opinion is too unpredictable, and therefore stupid. I don't even like it when other riders are too close to me while riding staggered. If I'm riding with only one, or two other riders, than I like to ride single file. Not staggered. If I'm in a group bigger than that, then it's staggered.

[ariwhiteboy]

Cmon guys, no idea who ponch and jon were?!?!  I guess I'm the only kid who grew up with three channels...

[JB1290]

I only ride side by side with a very few, select people that I trust. If I'm riding with people I'm not that familiar with, I will always stagger myself from the other riders.

I have to admit, I don't like to ride side by side much since its not as safe.

[Bumblebee]

Ok - I understand all of the safety aspects listed above. I am sure that the motorcycle officers put alot more miles on than I do - greatly increasiing their risk of anything good or bad happening. Since it is so unsafe I wonder why they ride like that.

Maybe because it's different and sort of shows confident invincibility? No clue actually.

While they do a lot of training that most riders never get, I wouldn't necessarily use the police motorcycles as a safety standard. Just take a look at their crash gear, or lack of, for example. The faceplant I did would have put any on duty american police motorcyclist I've ever seen in ICU then into major face reconstruction and skin graft village for a long time. I walked away unharmed other than a minor headache that went away a few hours later.

[cjbear11]

Cmon guys, no idea who ponch and jon were?!?!  I guess I'm the only kid who grew up with three channels...

Well, we had probably four channels, but ponch and jon do not ring a bell with me....

[tcoop]

CHiP's an old TV show about two motercycle cops back int the late 70's early 80's
http://www.thewb.com/shows/chips/drive-lady-drive-part-ii/e94f48b1-ea29-4f0c-8a57-5a4f9bd6a732

[flynrider]

  When I first started riding (back in the CHiPs days), my buddy and I used to ride SxS down the highway all the time.  Then one night on a dark Interstate my buddy came upon a discarded tire in his half of the lane at 70 mph.  I'll never forget looking over and seeing his bike flying through the air inches away from me.  I thought we were both dead.   As luck would have it, he was able to keep it on two wheels  after landing.  The impact was hard enough to deform the front mag wheel and the bearing cap had all of the heads sheared off the screws.   That was the last time I had any inclination to ride SxS.

[green427]

Cmon guys, no idea who ponch and jon were?!?!  I guess I'm the only kid who grew up with three channels...

Well, we had probably four channels, but ponch and jon do not ring a bell with me....

Not to worry, it was a super-cheesy show that involved two motorcycle officers sitting on their bikes, but the bikes were on a trailer at all times while a camera focused on them.

The show concentrated on how cool the cops looked while dealing with traffic drama. It also focused on beautiful women with torn shirts and skimpy shorts crying for help, and falling in love with the cops while they carried them out from their burning cars.

The highway accident scenes were grossly exaggerated, and many of the cars had disappearing dents. I was sad, though, to see some pristine muscle cars get creamed.




The show also concentrated on Ponch's super-bright teethy smile.

[happycommuter]

The highway accident scenes were grossly exaggerated, and many of the cars had disappearing dents. I was sad, though, to see some pristine muscle cars get creamed.

I wasn't of driving age at the time, but I thought that period drum frequently led to multi-car pile-ups, and that the leak-prone gas tanks full of leaded gas were prone to spontaneous explosion soon afterward.  Am I to believe that every third car on the road at the time was not a VW Beetle as well?

 

[Brittles]

I think they were riding KZ1000's? 

[ariwhiteboy]

I think they were riding KZ1000's? 

Correct!