Why do you NOT filter?

I dont filter when:

I can't be bothered

I'm tired

I'm cold and need to warm my hands up a bit on the engine

There are faster bikes behind me that I am letting pass

I perceive that the risk of filtering at that point is too great for the benefits, no matter how much everyone else makes it look

I don't like how the person ahead of me is driving, so I'll wait till theres a larger gap

I have maria and a loaded topbox and the bike is a bit heavy for me to control

its too dark for filtering to be safe at that particular point

Many reasons why i dont filter sometimes

Matt

why i don't sometimes

Not enough room (perceived)
Take a break, get some air, take a look around.
Going to imminently turning right, or left.
Twonk in a car ahead that you know is going to be a problem

Originally Posted by timwilky

Motorway filtering tends to be reasonably accepted by car drivers, whereas in towns they don't bother to think there may be a bike passing them when they decide to u turn without indication or force their way across a stream of traffic because it is queued etc.

This is my experience too, the exception being riding in London where the car drivers are the most bike-aware of anywhere I've ridden by a long way, probably because there are so many bikes about and they don't want their cars scraped.

[dyzio]

ok, I haven't been clear on that...
This happens in two places on my daily route, both on a dual carriage way. I can understand that someone is new to biking and/or lacking confidence (especially a guy on a very wobbly - brand new - triumph sprint). However I started filtering from day 1. When I think about it, this was one of the reasons why I got a bike - I don't want to spend almost 2 hours on a 25 mile commute!
This route is taken by people going to/from work and jammed in the morning & afternoon... I don't get it, why would you extend the time up to an hour (by car or non filtering bike) when you can filter and do it in 20.

[SoulKiss]

Which roads you talking about?

Used to live in the Bridge of Don, and then moved out to Alford, so know the roads round there pretty well

I very rarely need to filter on the motorways as the traffic is usually moving quick nough (40+) to not need to filter. Of course there are those that 'filter' at 70+. But they are eejits. Town filtering is a bit more fraught with danger but I seem to do that more as the traffic is usually doing about 5mph near Twickenham. When I started out I would not filter as I only had a 125. Some people are just not confident enough or are happy enough to queue I guess.

I always filter unless:

I am riding with someone who I know is not comfortable filtering. Even so I tend to do it when there is plenty of room and time to do it safely.

some people wait to filter until an other bike is infront for self preservation. As in if a car driver sees one bike go past thet instinctivly look for a second or third. If any one is going t obe hit by some idiot its the first rider.

I have done that when filtering at higher speeds 30+, i have also had a bike pull in to make sure i was first at filtering as well.

Originally Posted by neio79

i have also had a bike pull in to make sure i was first at filtering as well.

But you've caught 'em up haven't you.... could just be getting out of your way...

[Luckypants]

I sometimes don't filter because I forget! I ride country roads all the time and rarely go into town, but am getting better. I have to make myself ride into Chester or Wrexham to keep my town riding skills up.