i didn't know that constantly shifting in a lane was aggressive? thats is what i do. i hardly ever ride in the the middle of the lane....oil scares me.

 

ditto, especially in stop and go. You get cages sitting at stop lights just dripping oil and water from running the A/C in the warmer months so I avoid the moisture in the middle.

As for slab riding its a crap shoot, if your on routes that your familiar with you know the spots that people generally make there moves when going around corners and such but overall where I ride just depends on the scenario, after all its my lane and I use it as best I can to ride another day.

 

While living in Phoenix I had a friend on his bike get pulled over by a motor cop who informed the reason he had pulled him over was for not riding aggressive enough. He said he had followed him for a few miles and noticed that my friend was just simply riding in one spot and not making himself visible, and that he was going to get himself killed if he wasn't more aggressive.

So when I say aggressive I don't mean being an @sshole and cutting people off, but if you think about it, if you're behind a guy who's all over his lane getting people to notice that he's there it kind of looks like he's aggressive simply cause he isn't just staying idly in one spot letting cages have their way with his lane. Looks like he's saying, this is where I am b!tches, you will know that I am here.

 

im with oldschool1983 - i am never in the center of the lane where the all oil and other debris are (contrary to DMV's opinion. i ride wherever there is most space and always look for an escape. righteous or not, if i try to defend my space i lose unless the other person yields (unless it is a vespa) my first bike was crappy 81 yamaha XS11 and it seems like i got ran off the road numerous times despite my position (including close enough to slap the driver through their window) it seems that a loud attractive harley is more visible (wierd!). i still NEVER linger next to a car just in case. i used to drive truck and people had no problem cutting off an 80,000lb truck that can't stop...don't think a 700lb two wheeler is going to phase them. i do change back and forth between the inside and outside of the lane to be visible as i approach a car and to create the largest cushion. what is the best way when you are riding with two bikes though? does the front guy stay on the right or the left of the lane?

 

Depending upon the road, either away from the oncoming cars or in the center of my lane. but I move around tp avoid man hole covers and other holes in the road.

 

I think the best way to answer this is: I conciously make myself as visible as possible to that which poses the biggest threat.

I am only in the middle if no one is around me. I never ride directly next to a vehicle. I stay about a bikes length from their bumper, wait for an opening ahead of me so I am not tailgaiting the person in front of me and throttle it past the vehicle to the right of me.

If I see someone making a left hand turn from the opposite lane, I jump to the left hand portion of my lane and make sure I am visible. Hell, flash my highbeams if I feel I have to.

Mark me down as aggressive. To me, there is nothing better to rely on that my own defensive driving.

 

I move around like most of the others, and for the same reasons. Where I am in the lane depends on what's happening at the moment and where other vehicles are.

 

I have had most of my closest calls come when I am on the farthest right lane. In Phoenix, I17 Southbound to Thunderbird Westbound is my biggest problem. Cages turning off the freeway think that they have the ROW just because they can't see what's coming at them. Two times in the last week I've had 2 cages do blind turn on red right turns directly in front of me. So if at all possible I stay to the left as much as I can.

 

Since when was shifting positions in lane aggressive? According to all sources that I am familiar with, the safest place to be in the lane is not constant.

 

Two words.

Headlight.

Modulator.