We all need a reminder from time to time. Here are some filtering reminders
Roadcraft Nottingham is a UK motorcycle school which was established in March 1989.
I am a fully qualified professional motorcycle instructor of 39 years and offer motorcycle riding tips and tips on riding a motorcycle for the first time all the way up to advanced riding.
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39 Comments
Thank you for the tips!
How do you say thank you, by nodding head or raising hand? Sometimes I filter but sometimes I don’t if I’m too tired and in stop traffic light I position myself either near the left or right mirror it depends where is the easy escape in case of emergency.
I've got caught out by the filtering speed thing once on the M4 out of London. The traffic was stationary I filtered passed at about 20 30 mph , then as the traffic moved I increased my speed to carry on filtering, the traffic got faster, I got faster, next thing I know I'm filtering at 90 mph 😮 bit silly so I backed off and dropped in a space. One word of warning, one rider was doing a high speed filter and got clipped by a wing mirror, got ran over by 7 cars before anyone realised what was happening. Yes, it's fun but keep on your toes kids…
Spot on! I’d just like to reinforce to not filter to the head of the queue at roundabouts because the driver on your right (assuming left side driving!) will be looking only to the right for their traffic gap and will be oblivious to anything on their left.
Don’t ride as if you’re invincible, ride as if you’re invisible!
As a rule of thumb I filter at no more than 10mph faster than the traffic I'm passing but up to 30 mph. From 30 its an overtake/undertake and its safer to just go with the traffic flow. Still see some idiots filtering at stupid speeds and passing vehicles between moving traffic and the left hand kerb.
What bike are you riding?
Being rear ended on a motorcycle can be life altering, and is seldom caused by rider error.
I have been told it is illegal to go right to the front when filtering in the UK. Whether it's true or not it helps me keep in a lane when traffic starts moving again.
lovely accent.
Very well done. I personally think some noise is good. I think it’s good to use hazards as i think it helps people notice you. Each rider will have their own style. Great video. Subscribed!
make a nice change seeing a biker riding correctly and not zooming between moving traffic and crying when it goes wrong
I like how you say “thank you” even when the driver of the car is not really helping you out or when you are pulling into the front of the line of cars. In Los Angeles, where I ride and drive sometimes, traffic is quite aggressive, but a wave of the hand after a lane change that was a bit close seems to always “disarm” the road rage tendency.
over the years ive filtered hundreds and hundreds of miles in UK, also in many European cities. I always put hazards on and high beam. Im not sure of the legality but cars do notice you. I always thank too. Never use front brake but cover rear. Cheers, good vid.
Totally agree about your filtering technique, no need to filter at 20 mph faster than cars doing 15 mph already , only been deliberately cut up in 50 years of motorcycling, moved across from the right to block my left filter on a slow moving dual carriage way , they’d thought they had hit me , but no my boot left a nice dent in his passenger door and I was gone . But always acknowledge bad and good drivers 😊😊👍👍
"It's down to you to watch out for them." Life lesson!
I agree with what you’re doing and your filtering is really good, really smooth and safe and not coming into conflict and contact with any other motorist.
But, there is a hard and fast rule, the speed you can legally filter is between 15-20mph. If it’s faster than that it’s deemed and undertaking/overtaking and therefore you’re committing a road traffic offence.
Good video 👍 i ride daily for work and generally filter on m25 at the end of the day. I'm also a hgv driver and almost all are bike friendly and will generally give you a bit more space if they can, probably because truckers and bikers are the minority on the road and we have to stick together.
You've given some great advice for riders who are a little unsure about filtering. Keep up the great work and be safe bro 💪
Good video thanks. I always find filtering pretty stressful because of the amount of concentration required. Was surprised at how many people moved out of your way.- especially on such a quiet bike,. Have to ask, were you wearing a high-viz yellow jacket and a white helmet by any chance ?
I've never understood why the uk can't follow Germany on this by moving as far over to the edge of the carriageway and allow safe passing of this. Ie bikers and emergency services
To your point on not getting rear-ended- my concern isn't it happening while I'm moving, but that a distracted driver doesn't notice the light turned red. It's a low probability but high damage incident.
Here in Venezuela they filter at ridiculous speeds, I've seen some crazy stuff here, especially in Caracas
Not saying i never do it but i think its sketchy at anytime
Yeah, as someone else said, solid tips, refreshing to see a video That somehow doesn’t make the speeding badly positioned motorcyclist the victim
What lane is the Bike in should there be an accident ?
If a car in front of you in a built up area stops or slows down, don't try to take advantage of that immediately. There might be some lunatic pedestrian jay-walker trying to cross 2-3 or sometimes 4 lanes of slow-moving or congested traffic in a bid to get to the other side of the road (or Heaven ?) a little bit faster. Alternatively, there might be a car trying to join the road from the left. Beware ! Stay safe. P.S Stationary congested traffic is a magical attractor for all sorts jay-walkers and kids to cross in between cars and lorries. Don't speed, rev up to warn them ?
Another advise – let other, faster-filtering bikes to pass when safe to do it. This is 1. Nice and respectful thing to do and 2. The guy in front of you will make it safer for you to follow him as he will be the one "demining" the road ahead for you….
Finally… A calm, relaxed instructional video which doesn't make out 1 person is wrong and 1 is right.
It's all about observation and consideration on the road, for all road users. 👍
The purpose of a filter is to catch particles and separate them out. Letting bikes go by while holding back cars, isn't nothing but line jumping. Exactly like the ones that jump line at an amusement park. As a bike rider of over 50 years. In a auto I always back off from following bikes a little more than cars. If 4 bikes pass me every light, then I lose 150 feet of line postion at each stop.
I also find that lorry drivers are more attentive to what's going on around them in slow/stopped traffic, and I always thank those who move over. When in my car and traffic slows/stops, I always position myself to the outside of the lane, so if a bike is filtering, I am already moved over.
Hello. This is a great video. And you make excellent points. I have a very small YouTube channel, and I was wondering if it would be ok with you, to use this video and translate it to greek for our fellow motorcyclists, that may not speak English?
All credits and links of your video and channel will be included in the video and its description.
Athens Biker.
Thank you.
I pretty much do all that even when cycling. Of staying in the gaps and acknowledgement or sign of thanks . When driving i do try to keep an eye out for bikes, but not sure if that is because i also cycle and as im in a van so have no central mirror i tend to watch my mirrors to the side a lot. Also like you say make my position visible. If they cant see you because your position is poor. Then its not thier fault plus give myself and people sliding room
Fully agree with everything you said except the thanking people who didn't let you in. I'm a trucker, on the road all day and one of the things that really pisses me off is people who "push in" and then say thank you as if I had any choice in the matter.
If I've seen you and you are faster than me and it's safe or sensible, I will let you in, if I don't, there's a reason that maybe you are not aware of, you may be fine and there may be no problem at all but don't thank me afterwards.
It’s a good point about trying to fit in the gaps. It gives you time and options if you aren’t to the side of a car or worse, lorry. You have to recognise they might not see you and try for a gap, if you are alongside them you risk being sideswiped. It’s better to hang back in the gaps, especially at junctions.
Also good comments about observation. You have to observe for other drivers, you aren’t easy to see so anticipate for other drivers. Help them help you, effectively.
Back in the mid sixties I was a passenger in a car on its way to north Devon,on the approach to Glastonbury there was a two mile queue of almost static traffic.A motorcyclist passed us on its way to filtering to the front,a couple of minutes later he passed us going the opposite way escored by a Police motorcyclist.I tend not to filter unless traffic is static and even then,I don't like it………………………………………..
How to filter. With care . You can never be absolutely sure about possible events ahead. I dont do it as a rule unless the traffic is sparse.
They are right about bieng rear ended best to get a few cars behind . Old mr caution. R
You lost me at "electric" bike.
It's an ecological (let alone economic) disaster in the making. ALREADY stories of electric car – "out of warranty" battery replacement costs (sometimes more than the value of the vehicle). China have "graveyards" full of electric vehicles where it's not viable to replace the (failed / failing) batteries. I believe France have one as well, for all the government electric vehicles it's not economical to repair. That we're NOT running combustion engines on water is due to the censorship of powerful and controlling entities. (Water engines, what is this lunatic talking about?? I've SEEN it. Before he was assassinated, an inventor in the USA had invented a mechanism to "shatter" water molecules (NOT "electrolysis) using resonant frequencies. This was done by a super-duper spark plug. WATER was fed right up to the cylinder, whereby the 'special' spark plug shattered the water into component hydrogen and oxygen – and voila – combustion! NONE of the inefficient overheads of electrolysis. Exhaust output is WATER (yes, standard exhaust manifold will rust out real fast, and you'd need stainless steel pistons & valves for longevity, but it CAN BE DONE). The genius we have for a Prime Minister in Australia is telling everyone "the future" is charging your electric car off your own house solar system at night. Anyone who puts up the money so they can charge their EV off their own solar system AT NIGHT is well and truly deserving of "the future".
Thank you for putting material like this into the public domain. I wish the IAM and their partners would do a bit more training material online.
Thank you for sharing your experience!!!!
One big problem, that I am increasingly finding, is that as utes, SUV's (and cars in general) are getting bigger and bigger, the gaps to ride through are getti ng smaller and smaller.. there's bugger all room between two RAM's.