It's tough.

Rode w/the HOG Chptr for years(Rd/Cptn for a long time)
Riders with skills & riding styles (or lack there of) all over
the scale.

Rode with another group for one year. They were a bunch of
old women. Nuns ride faster than these guys.

Others ride too fast. It's hard to find a riding partner, let alone a
group to ride with.
Ride your own deal. Race when it's on YOUR terms.

 

I have a coworker like that. Me and a friend of mine ride all the time. Same riding habits. We usually ride anywhere between 5-10mph over the limit on open roads. When my coworker rides with us, he always falls way behind. I never push him to keep up. I let him ride at his pace. I sure as hell don't want to be responsible for him wrecking out cause I pushed him. There were times he got the idea and kept up with us. Other times he still rode at his slow pace. If you ride with this guy ALL the time, I would talk to him about it. What's the worse he'll say? "No, I'll ride at my pace!" At least you'll understand why he is riding that way.

 

I have a friend who rides slow and his mount of choice is a Honda CBR1000RR! The last time we rode together I knew it will be a slow day so I picked my 1956 FLH (rigid frame) Panhead because it naturally forces me to slow down a bit. I kid you not 3 turns and I would loose him!! Something very wrong about that!!

 

Exactly....u wanna go faster than that knock yourself out. Not me, that's where I ride, 5-7 miles over the posted speed limit. That's about the tolerance level of the cops around here. Any faster than that and they are pulling you over. I'm sure my riding buddy isn't gonna pay the $150 dollar fine for me plus the increase in my insurance on my cage AND bike.

 

Maybe we should petition "match.com" to set up a category for lone riders or unhappy group riders so they can find that "perfect" riding partner. Hmmm

Seriously though, I've seen group leaders that "think" they are riding the speed limit, but their speedometers are so far out of calibration, many times they are a good 3 MPH below the speedlimit. Good to have a gps to tell ya how fast you are really going since HD has yet to figure out how to design an accurate speedometer.

 

Exactly how I feel too. I'm a 5-7 over the limit kind of guy. I've ridden with a few other that always wanna go faster. They usually like to tailgate pretty close to cars in front of them too. My theory is that I don't get a ticket and I get home to my family safe.

To the guy who says someone riding the speed limit is way too slow: Are you willing to pay other's tickets if you lead them at a high pace? As long as safety isn't compromised by riding too slow, put you ego away and enjoy the ride. You aren't proving anything by riding way over the speed limit.

My driving/riding record backs up my statements...

 

Yep, Thought my buddy was being a puss and driving slow on a recent 500 mile road trip. Stopped for gas and he bitched that I was going to fast. Asked him since when is 72 in a 65 in the wide open too fast? He said I was going 80. Pulled on a GPS ap on my cell phone and sure as hell found out the speedo on my 11 street glide was running about 7 mph slow and I had been running 80.

I don't know about you but I have had a few mishaps with Johnny law in the past and any day I'm not meeting one is a good day.

Maybe your speedo is off, or his, or both in opposite directions. If not, ride alone or just keep leaving him behind. If it bothers him to be left behind he will either keep up or stop riding with you.

 

You ride within your comfort zone and allow him to ride within his. If it bothers you, find someone else to ride with. I ride with a sport bike rider. When he wants to have crazy fast fun on twisties he signals me and I know he will be waiting at the next junction...

 

Seems like nobody rides the same as everyone has their own ideas. I've started riding alone most of the time and like it better as I do what I want and don't have to watch the others. Then at stops there isn't any criticism going on.

 

I ride with my brother and always thought he's just going to be slow and there's nothing I can do about it. He rode a Kawasaki Vulcan 900 and was always lagging way behind. He got a Streetglide and now we are dead on. It wasn't actually him, it was his bike. He said the Vulcan was revving way to high when he tried to keep up so he would back down. Now his bike is comfortable at the same speeds. Never really thought about it in those terms. I thought it was him. He scares me now.