Lane-Splitting

I need some tips for lane-splitting from those who live in California, where it's legal. I want to start commuting to work regularly. I live in LA, so my commute is stop-and-go. I will most likely lane split until I reach the carpool lane. I've done it once already, and it kind of freaked me out. I'm still a new rider, so lane-splitting is new to me.

I had the most trouble when a car would suddenly get too close to the car in the next lane, making it hard for me to go in between them. One minute there was space, the next there wasn't. There is little room for error.

What are the best practices?

Thank you!

ETA: I own a Ninja 250.  

Lane-splitting is a practice that requires a lot of experience, awareness, and riding skill. I would highly recommend that you approach it very very carefully, especially since you don't have that much experience. In fact, I would recommend that you only do it when traffic is stopped or nearly stopped, because dealing with it at higher speeds like 25-35 mph demands a lot of riding skill to avoid an accident if a car encroaches upon your space.

By experience, I mean that you need to recognize the dangerous situations before they happen, and avoid them (or approach them with extreme caution). I know I don't need to say this to you, but I'll mention it anyway: RULE NO. 1-- DO NOT GO BLASTING BETWEEN CARS AT SPEEDS 20 MPH OR HIGHER THAN TRAFFIC. You see dozens of idiots doing this every day, and while they might think they're invincible and look cool, I can guarantee the odds will catch up with them. Splitting lanes for nearly 35 years, many times on the same routes at the same time every day, I've seen countless riders who have treated this privilege as some sort of game end up on the ground, or disappear from the grid entirely.

A typical dangerous situation: as you split lanes through traffic, an opening in traffic comes up in one lane on either side. The chances are very good that one of the cars adjacent to that space will want to swoop in and take it; usually just as you're coming up on that space. You need to exercise extreme caution as you approach that space. Cover your brake levers with your fingers/foot to be prepared just in case, and move a little into that space as you enter to give yourself some room in case the car adjacent to you does decide to swerve in there.

This brings up the riding skill part. You need to have a lot of confidence in your ability to countersteer and/or brake hard in a panic situation. You also need to be using your peripheral vision constantly, because focusing on one area will have you overlooking another more important area that you will recognize too late. I've heard some people say to look at the front wheels of the cars you're approaching because any movement will warn you before the car begins moving into your path; the problem with that idea is that you are target-fixating on one spot, when you need to constantly scanning ahead for other threats. You need to keep looking ahead to comprehend the traffic situation unfolding in front of you, while being aware of any movement in the cars you're about to pass.

Riding skill also comes into play with knowing exactly how much space is enough for you to fit through safely. This only comes with experience. And nothing will piss off a car driver more than you knocking off their mirror. You need to be confident in your braking so that if the space closes up, you can slow/stop in time to avoid getting pinned between the cars. You also need to be very confident and skilled in slow maneuvering, because the spaces will more often than not be very tight.

Suffice it to say that lane-splitting is a practice that can be relatively safe if done prudently, but even then it requires a lot of riding skill. And you won't be comfortable with doing it until you have a good amount of riding experience under your belt.

I'd recommend going to a big empty parking lot and practicing hard avoidance maneuvers, i.e., countersteering hard to either side as if you're avoiding something. You should also practice hard braking as well. Practicing these maneuvers and ingraining them into your muscle memory will help you when you need it most to avoid an accident.

Sorry to sound like a downer or lecturer, but I want you to understand the dangers and requirements to avoid those dangers that are involved. Lane-splitting is not only risky but a privilege, and the more we have riders abusing it or doing it unsafely or rudely, the more chances that privilege will disappear and we'll be stuck like every other cage driver in traffic as it is in most states.  

Thanks kento. Your response was extremely helpful to me. I will definitely practice emergency stops and hard avoidance maneuvers. I've seen other riders lane-splitting at really high speeds, and I definitely fear for their lives. It's scary stuff.

Thanks again!  

What Kento said (big time).

What you have to do, to get secure and at ease...involves a bunch of rules or things to do all the time, and skills of picking an exact line (one of your choice).

Once you get comfortable with yourself, You will be safer between the lanes, than a biker in a lane between bumpers.

One thing...(really everything is going on at the same time, though)  Watch the gaps that will open up as the cars move. If a gap opens big enough for a car to get into..someone may very possibly want to change lanes, to get into it.  Fat chance they will look for a bike coming up the split. You have to read the mirrors (your looking right in them as you approach the cars) and see the faces (and the eyes as well). And read the wheels..They will show a car shifting over, a little better (a little sooner) than the whole car will show it.

If a car is suspect to change lanes, hold back behind the path it would take (so it doesn't take you out)

Well after you get advanced skills, there may come a time when You will have the option, turn into the gap the car is going into (changing lanes) with that car, and quicker than it was going, so you have clearance, all the time...That takes a mindset..thinking is too slow...Just feel it should be mentioned...even though I'm not sure I should mention it.

Splitting spaces (between lanes), a dirt bike rider has a huge advantage..if that dirt bike rider aggressively rode between close spaced tree's (like is common in East Coast Enduro racing), programming the subconscous mind, for the place your bike, combined with the plan for the changing spaces with the motion playing out.

If it is possible...some people have located, and went through the same schools the cops go through to learn how to ride in traffic (etc).

Let us know how it goes, what you feel about how it is going, can anything additional help?

Can you start in wide spaced lanes? Where the traffic moves slow, no drama?


Oh about cars getting too close (narrowing the space to split) It will happen, but hardly ever so much that you can't keep going.  You might shift to the other lane (away from the lane the "drifter" car is in). At worst, be sure (look) that no other bike is behind you, if you have to stop for the moment for the situation to change. (that's only happened twice in so many miles between the lanes, it's hardly mentionable).  

This past weekend, I went for it again. I hit traffic late Friday night, so I decided to lane-split. I think I did well, except on my way back I experienced something my boyfriend later explained to me as "brake fade." I wasn't sure what it was at the time. However, now that I know what it is, I am researching it online to figure out what causes it and how to prevent it. Any input from you guys?  

I don't believe it is possible to tax your brakes (no cooling time) so hard, in any traffic situation..to get Brake fade.

I almost never use my brakes, in splitting lanes. Just momentarily here and there.

Is it possible you are dragging your brakes, alot...expecting to use them?

Even on long downhill grades in the mountains, where I use my brakes hardest (and the longest time on the brakes) I don't get fade.

Can you describe the situation you were in, and what you were feeling...to us?  

I think my problem is that I am using my rear brake too often. When I lane-split, I do it at slow speeds. For me, slow speeds mean that I will be using my rear brake. I think I used it so much, that it stopped working. The rear brake lost its stopping power, and it felt really loose.

Once traffic cleared, and my speed picked up the rear brake started working again. I'm guessing my bike cooled, and the rear brake regained its power.  

That sounds very observant, Maybe Kento and or Andy Trevett will chime in on how best to change that.

I'm feeling at a bit of a loss, because I've never ridden a 250 Ninja, and in tight quarters at that, so I don't know how the engine braking is on it.

I'm thinking, your confidence will increase real fast, as you get more time between the lanes, and..your awareness of what is coming (by the experience of it) will drastically take the emphases off the brake use.  And it will shift to a smooth flow...

(I'm eager to hear if that is right, as time goes on).

I'm also thinking you need professional (that will be a coach with face time) instruction on using your front brakes.  

Perhaps your foot is resting on the rear brake pedal with the result that it is being applied even when you don't realized that it is.  

To confirm that this is not happening, put the bike on its center stand, or a rear wheel stand and get on it and sit in your normal riding position with your right foot "covering" the rear brake as you normally do.  Then have a friend rotate the wheel by hand to see if the brake is dragging.  If it is, then an adjustment of the stop at the lever is called for to allow your foot to rest on the foot peg while the ball of your foot comfortably touces the brake pedal without causing the brake to engage.  

xbacksideslider:
Perhaps your foot is resting on the rear brake pedal with the result that it is being applied even when you don't realized that it is.  

To confirm that this is not happening, put the bike on its center stand, or a rear wheel stand and get on it and sit in your normal riding position with your right foot "covering" the rear brake as you normally do.  Then have a friend rotate the wheel by hand to see if the brake is dragging.  If it is, then an adjustment of the stop at the lever is called for to allow your foot to rest on the foot peg while the ball of your foot comfortably touces the brake pedal without causing the brake to engage.

This is my guess too, unless you are using the rear brake too much.

Another thing to watch out for is that you aren't looking far enough ahead, and focusing on what's right in front of you. This typically leads people to gas/brake/gas/brake as opposed to holding a more steady speed.  

Lane-splitting is an option. And no matter how slow and smooth you are there is some fate at play. The use of the rear brake is not such a hot idea. Maybe pratice only using rear brake after you grab some front. being freaked out when lane splitting is the correct mind set. Lane split when it looks safe,otherwise hang back and work your way through the pack.  

I'd recommend going to a big empty parking lot and practicing hard avoidance maneuvers .  

This is what I heard for a CHP officer after I high sided my bike trying to avoid couple of yahoos playing break checking on the 405 fwy.  CHP: "Could you have split lane to avoid this?", Me: "No, cars in both lanes were riding on the reflector". CHP: "If you can split, always do; you can not blame other drivers who don't know how to drive, but you can control how you ride!!" Bottom line is CHP recommends spliting not to stay ahead of the traffic but to avoid distracted drivers.  I now split lane just to avoid them, occassionally I move into the lane so the other idiot rider can go by me at 85 mph!!