over confident filtering

Just had something of a epiphany. (sp?)
I think why pulling up far enough and the cars letting you go first works is because the guy on the inside can't see what's coming round the round about with you in his face (he's also not going to miss you there ^_^)

If you really have to be first away at a junction the trick is to position yourself correctly.
If I filter to the front and want to make sure that I dont have a "race" on my hands I position the bike slightly in front of the suspect car.
I do not do this with a cocky attitude, I just do it as if to say, don't worry, I wont be holding you up. If you know what I mean.
That way, the car is not going to speed away as you are blocking his path and you are left with a clear route ahead to get on your way.

Originally Posted by Furry Ginger One

If you really have to be first away at a junction the trick is to position yourself correctly.
If I filter to the front and want to make sure that I dont have a "race" on my hands I position the bike slightly in front of the suspect car.
I do not do this with a cocky attitude, I just do it as if to say, don't worry, I wont be holding you up. If you know what I mean.
That way, the car is not going to speed away as you are blocking his path and you are left with a clear route ahead to get on your way.

I do this too actually. There's one section of a particular route of the commute that I don't always do (several choices over which way I go), has a cross roads with traffic lights. I used to just sit there in the traffic & wait as the road is pretty narrow.

Now, if the road is clear, I'll happily move right to the front of the queue, and usually, as the lights change, I haven't even stopped, just slowly rolling, so light acceleration & I'm gone before the car lets it's handbrake off.

Ok - just to clarify, I did beat the car off the line but not by enough because I was scared of pushing wide into the car on my left, and thus as I got half way across the roundabout he was in danger of clipping my back wheel. The cars on the left tend to stay quite tight as to further complicate things they have a filter lane with no kerb divider coming in from their left which makes things pretty narrow.

I think it would be a lot easier for me to pile up the left only lane before the roundabout (it's a 3 lane road and the left only lane is always empty) and then cut in front of the left hand lane of the two straight ahead lanes, however, I remember a few people advising against this in the past.

oh and I couldn't position myself in front of the car as there wasn't space. Basically a second after I arrived at the front of the queue it was our turn to go. What you have to remember is that this is Bradford and nobody indicates. I think I could have nipped out straight away but I stopped and put a foot down as it wasn't clear what was happening. As it became clear there was space to go I had already lost my advantage on the cars because of stopping.

I guess the secret is to roll up to junctions slower so that you can time a spurt of acceleration, but as I just said, this is Bradford - i.e. probably the most dangerous city roads in the country (and yes I have lived in London. London is childsplay compared to Bradford).

Originally Posted by grecian9

this is Bradford - i.e. probably the most dangerous city roads in the country (and yes I have lived in London. London is childsplay compared to Bradford).

I'd have to agree with that actually, grew up just outside Leeds. Leeds' one-way system & bradford can be a complete nightmare. The main problem you've got is the language barriers (without putting the forum in a dubious position, but expressing my opinion).

Sounds to me like Mr Peugeot 107 was being a bit of a ****. But also you may have wanted to judge it a little better. You live and learn matey, next time go faster!

mr peugeot was prob pi$$ed off sitting in traffic, ive had fag ends and allsorts flicked at me in busy traffic, you just have to laugh and give them the finger

[Stu]

My first impression based on my understanding of your firdt post was.
If I had filtered past a few cars to get to the front, therby saved a lot of time compared with being in a car, then if the situation is such that it is difficult to get in front of the lead car, then it's probably not worth it, given that you've made good progress against the others.

Best wait behind the lead vehicles and pull into the space they leave (first car usually pulls a big gap on the 2nd one) to avoid upsetting people - especially if they're in something nippy.

Observation of what you're up against is handy - if it's something slow, or you can use it as a shield when it pulls out, then fine, if it might be competing against you, give it up. Every situation is different.

Mind you, even with sporty cars, if you can spot the gap coming up, keep rolling (and the sporty cars are stopped on the line) you can usually do them - just needs more observation and practice!