Closing of the season is coming, and you probably want to spend the holiday beautifully. And what could be more beautiful than an even column of motorbikes driven by confident people?
In order for your group trip to make a splash and not cause falls, injuries, do not take the trouble to study the rules that were specially developed for all motorcyclists by a group of Moscow bikers together with the Internet projects Oppozit.ru and Biker.ru. What is stated in them was tested in practical “trainings” on Moscow roads. The full text of the rules can be found on these sites. We will try to give the quintessence of this informal "law on movement in a column."
So, the leader and the trailing must be experienced motorcyclists, able to analyze and predict the development of traffic situations. First of all, learn the proposed or develop your own system of signals to alert all moving in the column about what is happening, about maneuvers and manipulations. The leader gives all the basic signs, and everyone in the column must duplicate them so that they reach the very “tail”. Gesturing should not look like a random or random wave of hands - the signals should be fixed, held for several seconds. The “length” of the signal will exclude their incorrect interpretation. You should not rely on any changes in speed and direction of movement to be understood by themselves. You should count on "a fool", signals should warn of a turn, braking, stopping, rebuilding, dropping out of a column, a proposal to overtake yourself. It is necessary to provide for “signals of personal need”, with the help of which an individual motorcyclist could inform the “management” about problems with the bike or simply about the desire to leave the convoy for a while.
The leader is obliged to communicate his decisions on maneuvers and others to the closure and not to take any action without his permission. In this case, both “main” would be nice to have a walkie-talkie or at least mobile phones.
The column participant must be able to ride in parallel in pairs at the same speed. Practice with someone, first together, then, if possible, four, etc. What is the main thing in the column? Distance! Everyone must comply with it. The authors of the "Group Riding Rules" calculated the optimal, as well as changes in stopping distance depending on speed. Start and accelerate (speed up to 40 km / h) with a distance of about eight meters, move in settlements (40-60 km / h) - 11-12 m, move on the highway (60–80 km / h) - 15 m. Beautifully driving a large column faster than 80 is already difficult and fraught with confusion and reeling.
If you do not want to be disgraced, bring your bike to mind. The vehicle must be technically sound, especially with a well-functioning brake system. Supervisors should be encouraged by managers in every way. Shouting at the beginning of the movement about the upright stands in front should be as loud as possible.
The closing column has almost more responsibilities than the leader. He, in the end, knows better from the “tail” what is happening in the column. In addition to his “paschi”, he must also suppress the actions of drivers of cars and motorcycles who are not participating in the convoy, but who are trying to break it or wedge it.
The start from the gathering place can go something like this. Starting and warming up the engines, everyone sits on motorcycles. After that, the closers (there may be two of them, it’s even more reliable) block the strip into which the column will leave, and they give the host permission to “move” along the walkie-talkie. He shows the column the appropriate signs and begins acceleration in the vacated lane. Closing men join the column when they have passed all of their own.
Perhaps someone from passing motorcyclists will want to join. But since they may not be familiar with the “charter”, managers must decide who can and should not go “in the herd” (remember the paragraph on the technical condition of motorcycles). The affiliates take the places indicated by the trailing ones.
Not the most troublesome thing - refueling. Designate the refueling places when drawing up the route and report them to the entire convoy; calculate stops based on the minimum volume of the participants' gas tank and the average fuel consumption of your motorcycles. The law of the column: refueling is mandatory for everyone, regardless of the "individual" fuel consumption and the presence of gasoline in the tank.
