I nod if I can but don’t if needing to focus on the traffic or road conditions... I always think a non nodding biker is busy doing the same so never think them rude... mind you a whole pack of bikes coming the other way needs a wave rather than overdrive nodding!! ...glad bikers don’t flash lights as that can be very misleading to traffic
I once flashed to my mate comin t'other way, then realised he was turnin reyt. He thought I was flashin him to turn, and consequently did. Don't know how I missed him.................
Nod, wave, nothing back. Their problem , don't care either way. You get angry, wow. Life's too short. Someone needs anger management therapy.
One of the best things about this forum, from an American Anglophile's perspective, is the endlessly entertaining humor and colorful slang! Gits, wankers, tossers, lol! This thread is the mother lode! You guys would be awesome to hang out with! Stateside, as a new adult rider seven years ago, I was not sure about the proper "biker wave" etiquette. The common greeting is the index and middle finger in the "V" formation, held upside-down and low, palm-forward, at about a 20-30 degree angle to the vertical. As nearly 50% or more of the bikes you pass here are Harleys, I thought it might be a sign of "V-Twin" pride/hubris but I wasn't sure. As I was riding a Honda CBR250R thumper, I decided my sign would be the index finger for single cylinder. I found out later that the American "V" sign is not the awesome '40s Churchillian "V" for "Victory"; it's the '60s anti-Vietnam War peace sign. As one who came of age in the late '70s / early '80s, the peace sign to me is something of an anachronism and rather dorky and uncool. My Baby Boomer elders would take umbrage at that assessment but there it is. It's not really the peace sign though, because the original peace gesture was arm extended up and forward, palm forward, with the V upright. In the US biker variant, it's arm out to the side, down at an angle, palm forward, V upside-down. Being charitable, if we grant that it's a peace sign, then as a universal symbol of biker brother- and sisterhood, it's not bad. No matter who you are or what you're riding, we're all of a kind...we're riders. Peace. After riding my CBR250R for three years I bought a BMW F800GT. Now I became (or so I thought) a member of the BMW sophisticates club. Just kidding, I could give a rip about the BMW drone/clique mindset, but I was riding a BMW and assumptions could be made about who I was. I switched from the thumper index finger to a too-cool-for-school index finger and middle finger held together point-and-shoot gesture. Like, "Dude. You're cool. I'm cool. Actually, I'm on a BMW so I'm cooler." Now that I'm on a Thunderbird, my new gesture is a "V" but it's not fully splayed open because I'm on a parallel twin. So my fingers are just slightly separated. It's like an amalgamation of my thumper wave, my cool-guy BMW wave, and the peace sign. It's definitely easier for those in countries where the convention is to drive on the right-hand side of the road, because the left / clutch hand is free to gesture on the near side. By the way, why don't some bikers wave back? Basically it's because they are in their own zone and don't give a sh*t about you or your bike. If that bothers you, one strategy is to never initiate the wave but always reciprocate.
What a fine essay exploring your need for acceptance; y’git fat, spawny-eyed, parrot-faced wassack! But you are right, we’re all dead cool and you’re welcome to be a part of it!! Most of the Brits would love to try out some stateside riding, and quite a few already have... Peace brother!!!
For great use of British swearing, search Derek and Clive on youtube. Foul, but funny. Also, you might like to know that we love a faggot or two for dinner!:
How can you say that about finest mechanically recovered meat with cereal filler? I suppose you hate Fray Bentos boil in the can pies as well?
