Hi all,
I recently read Uneasy Rider by Mike Carter and thought it was an enjoyable enough read. However he mentions British bikers not waving and acknowledging each other and then it dawns on him the British greeting is leg waving Now he was new to biking when he wrote the book but I'm guessing he just hadn't noticed the odd nod here and there and was over thinking things!
But it got me pondering: Apologies if the matter of "nods" has been raised before but i'm a newbie here. I remember being a proud 16 yr old on my little AP50 sitting at a set of lights and having every member of an oncoming MC nod at me - making me feel like a true road warrior and quite the man about town!
Now i'm lucky if one in ten bikers nod back (don't hold me to that figure) and that's in winter which used to be the last bastion of biker nodding where the foolhardy few ackowledged a fellow masochist in their sodden, shivering misery!
Am i alone in this observation and just an aging old fart who is missing something?
No you're not going senile Squiddy, there seem to be fewer nods being exchanged as time goes on. There also seems to be a bike type divide, cruisers wont nod to sports and vice versa and nobody nods to mopeds/125's! I however try and nod to everyone unless im coming unstuck on a corner and then it might be a leg wave but possibly not for the reasons you think! lol! Long Live the Nod!
I try & acknowledge any biker I see when i'm out, I don't always get a response but i'd say its more than 1 in 10, more like 5 or 6. Sometimes its just not possible to respond as I tend to ride the twisty roads around Brecon & Mid Wales so half the time a bike is passed before either of us have a chance to nod.
I agree however that less people wave or nod now compared to when I started riding at 17, then it was around 8 in 10.
Its a state of mind thing,
In these days when biking has now become something the upwardly mobile now do 'cos they have shed loads of cash burning a hole in their pocket, and don't know what to spend it on, the nod seems to have been forgotten, in the 'old' days when biking wasn't so cool and trendy people nodded more it seems,
I still nod, are bikes coming towarsd me, and shake a leg if a pass another bike on my side of the road, perhaps i'm just old skool, even if i don't ride a bike which isn't painted matt black and originates form the dark ages.
Still as BP says cruiser's (or very few) won't nod at sports bikers and vice versa, and adventure bike riders don't nod at anyone
haha true - in the gs brigade, nods appear to be few and far between ;-)
I too nod at everyone and shake a leg if I pass someone on my side of the road (or more likely they are passing me!)
... mind you I did get neck ache last week nodding at everyone going into and out of Rivington Barn ...
Well i rode a SH125i from Bordeaux to colchester 2 years ago in full kit with my mates on a vfr800 and a cb600f we got some funny looks pulling in too Routieres for lunch and dinner, but was a proper good holiday !!!!!
The scooter did perform well 118kmh max ...rode the fock out of it but as i knew the route i was heading up the nods and stuff first .....got some double takes lol
I ride a cruiser/trail bike and standard road bike and yes i will nod at any bike I see including mopeds and scooters I really dont understand why some bike riders look as I nod then just ignor me, one day thay will be broke down on the side of the road and I will still stop for them just hope thay will do the same for me or any biker
I've never got the narrow-mindedness of it. It just seems to have got worse over the years, in the States it's pathetically vitriolic at times.
It seems to have gone from being a biker to being in a certain biking clique.....kind of. I never truly got the anti-scooter thing back in the day but understood the Rocker/Mod back history but bikers being snooty to other bikers is just a wee bit heart-breaking Luckily there's still plenty of good folk out there too!
I Nod was one of the things I liked about ridding when I started, you may be alone on your bike but every biker is with you.
I tend to do it less for scooters but thats becuase uptill recently I lived in Milton Keynes and there all ridden by 16 year old's who would probably think you where trying to attack them if you nodded.
:)
In London you're unlikely to got a nod back, I think if you nodded to every rider you'll be like the chruchill dog.
nod 100yd nod 50yd nod, set of lights nodnodnodnodnodnod
I nod if I can, still too busy concentrating most of the time. I love it if someone nods at me though.
One day I had a line of about 5 blokes on big cruisers all nod at me when I've gone the opposite way on my little 125 (with L plates and me wearing a pink crash helmet ) Made my day, that did
Never had anyone shake a leg at me and I'd probably fall off if I tried it
I once read an avert for a bike which said "Its OK to not nod, you will enjoy our bike so much you won't have time" I think it was for a Buel or a Victory something like that.
Maybe bikes have just got a little more distracting hense the low nod to nod ratio.
I have noticed in London that it is nearly a crime punishable by a Paddington Hard stare to say hello to anyone, so I see what you are saying Ragnar
When I rode my own bike I nodded at other bike riders, I still nod now, as a pillion, but not on the motorway.
I don't feel insulted when they don't nod back at me, especially if they are on the motorway, I think it's best to keep the concentration going than break it and cause, or be in, an accident.
Shaking the leg is something new to me, I never knew of it in my teens and it's not something I will ever do.
![Nods, waves and leg shakes! - Forums [Biker Match]](/images/backgrounds/strips/8mobileLQ.jpg)
![Nods, waves and leg shakes! - Forums [Biker Match]](/images/backgrounds/strips/8desktopLQ.jpg)
