Filtering Masterclass, Please

[gbs]

a flashing ultrabright LED front lamp, one of the white ones.

A suggested use of lights when filtering. Seems a good idea to me - anything to keep the drivers attentive must be beneficial .

 

[jimboalee]

A suggested use of lights when filtering. Seems a good idea to me - anything to keep the drivers attentive must be beneficial .

A blue flashing LED works a helluva lot better,,,,

 

[CotterPin]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I had another go tonight on the same road, sticking to the middle of the road this time because there was a massive gap all the way down. Glorious.

This is one of the great things about Cycle Chat - the mass of experience and the number of people willing to pass it on. In that vein, here is my twopence worth:
Like others have said I would ride on the outside of the lane at a relatively slow pace, covering the brakes at all time, ready to stop if needed. An I would be looking out at all times, across the top of the cars to see what might be about to come out between them, and into the vehicles where possible to see if the driver might be about to pull that u-turn to go home and get their bike to ride to work :-) And especially look well down the road to see if the traffic might be about to start moving more quickly. If you do have to stop, look back at the driver immediately behind you to try and gain eye contact. You may need to negotiate your way back into the traffic lane if it starts to move again. Building up a relationship (however brief!) with a driver can help.

 

[snailracer]

...
For some reason in the last few weeks, motorists and motorcyclists have all been much nicer than usual. Cars have moved over to make the centre way wider, bikers have got out of the way if its a gap they don't think they can fit through. It's all getting a bit spooky!!!

The problem with cars moving over is that they may not be aware that another cyclist is about to filter past on the side they're moving over into. A cyclist should be very wary if there is another filtering cyclist/motorcyclist filtering parallel to them.

 

[slowmotion]

This is one of the great things about Cycle Chat - the mass of experience and the number of people willing to pass it on. In that vein, here is my twopence worth:
Like others have said I would ride on the outside of the lane at a relatively slow pace, covering the brakes at all time, ready to stop if needed. An I would be looking out at all times, across the top of the cars to see what might be about to come out between them, and into the vehicles where possible to see if the driver might be about to pull that u-turn to go home and get their bike to ride to work :-) And especially look well down the road to see if the traffic might be about to start moving more quickly. If you do have to stop, look back at the driver immediately behind you to try and gain eye contact. You may need to negotiate your way back into the traffic lane if it starts to move again. Building up a relationship (however brief!) with a driver can help.

Excellent post, CotterPin. Eye contact is worth a lot in heavy traffic, not least because it makes drivers realise that you are, actually, a fellow human being.

As others have said elsewhere, if you go up the inside in order to get to the ASZ, however slowly, watch out for a passenger getting out and dooring you. It happened to me a few months ago. I was only creeping along at walking pace, but a second later I was sprawled on the pavement with the bike on top of me. Fortunately, no harm was done, and the guy was extremely apologetic.

Safe rides.

 

[hackbike 666]

Some girl I followed from Mile End today she was filtering at some speed between parked cars and traffic....I wasn't sure if she was riding a fixie....Cycle like that and she will have a ped walk in front of her and maybe she will learn...

I have fitted an LED Lenser to the left fork and a CREE to the right fork on both Audaxes...I bet they will be good in traffic...

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T55o0-7vEzM[/media]

 

[slowmotion]

That was horrible. She will get doored.

 

[jimboalee]

Captain Scarlet's daughter, after his affair with Destiny Angel.

 

[Norm]

Some girl I followed from Mile End today she was filtering at some speed between parked cars and traffic....

Probably unnerved at being followed by Darth Vader.

 

[Jaguar]

Always the middle with caution for me,...Just need to be careful when getting to the front if its traffic lights as you don't want to be stuck in the middle ...

... when the lights change. That's how I go, keeping an eye on the lights all the time. If they look like changing soon, I stop and stick my left leg in front of the car closest to me (I position myself right in front of the driver, so he can't not see me).

The lights change, we take off, I move to the left of the lane.

If someone's been helpful, I wave.

 

[magnatom]

Some girl I followed from Mile End today she was filtering at some speed between parked cars and traffic....I wasn't sure if she was riding a fixie....Cycle like that and she will have a ped walk in front of her and maybe she will learn...

I have fitted an LED Lenser to the left fork and a CREE to the right fork on both Audaxes...I bet they will be good in traffic...

Um, err, you were keeping up with her, weren't you? Thus were you not filtering at the same speed as her?

Also is that a red light that you jumped?

 

[Norm]

Um, err, you were keeping up with her, weren't you? Thus were you not filtering at the same speed as her?

Also is that a red light that you jumped?

I held off posting exactly this, but I can't ignore the irony in Magners commenting on someone else's video!

I still haven't tried commute-time in London Town, I'm not sure where I'd ride in that situation, it looked like two lanes and a bus lane turning into two lanes and a car park, I'm not sure there's a "safe" way to make progress.

Well, other than stopping at the red lights, of course.

 

[jonny jeez]

Um, err, you were keeping up with her, weren't you? Thus were you not filtering at the same speed as her?

Also is that a red light that you jumped?

+1, my immediate thoughts exactley

 

[jonny jeez]

I don't usually ride in heavy traffic, and last week when I was faced with a slow-moving jam (in the rain, so I didn't want to sit and wait in it) I realised that I'm not very good at filtering. I know there are some master filterers on here, so can I have some words of advice? What do you do when you've got two lanes of cars that are moving about five car lengths, then stopping again for a few minutes, on a two lane road? Where do you position yourself? In some places there was room on the left, in some there was room on the right, and in some there were big gaps down the middle, but I've been warned against "splitting lanes".

Thoughts?

Hi Taxing, without sounding too "self promoting"..check out the "essential guide " its pinned at the top of the Commuting forum.
Origamist offers a master class in filtering (section 8) and there are many other hints for riders just like you who are new to riding in heavy traffic

link here if you have trouble finding it

Good luck

 

[magnatom]

I held off posting exactly this, but I can't ignore the irony in Magners commenting on someone else's video!

What irony? I've always been happy to accept criticism, and to give it. That's the nature of posting these videos after all...