Waving at Groups of riders

Grabcon · Jul 30, 2015

All of this waving will stop or be limited to the few in a couple of weeks when Sturgis is done. Living in the Denver area which is a main thoroughfare to Sturgis I have seen over the years that before the event in Sturgis many do the wave and after very few if any. Hang in there we are almost done waving for the season.

rjs987 · Jul 30, 2015

Is that what you call a "wave" of bikes? or are they mostly tied on trailers being pulled by trucks?

SMSW · Jul 30, 2015

I had no idea this was such a hot button topic - like oil, tires, and batteries. Thanks to all. I'd never really thought a whole lot about this, and the different points of view have crystallized my feelings about this.

I wave because of a feeling of comradery for fellow bikers. If I drove an old MG TD, I would probably wave to fellow MG'ers, and I will continue to wave to other bikers - modified like Mark does it. Got a big kick out of Bush's reply and I loved Jimbo2's solution - but Doug's from a house sale at $2.50 is more thrifty.

Where else other than this site can you get so many great responses to examine any issue from different pov's?

Mantaray23 · Aug 4, 2015

i wave at anyone on two wheels... Bikes, trikes, can-am, scooters, etc.... get the most fun waving at scooters, they seem overly happy that someone on a bike will actually wave at them... But what the heck... if i can bring a smile to anyone enjoying riding out there in our great USA then i feel great. I believe the cup should be always 1/2 full.

ST4Sal · Aug 4, 2015

One thing I learned is that the 1%'s don't particularly like being waived at. One trip I passed two guys and waived .. Nothing.. then i stopped for gas and they passed me.. I passed them again and waived ... nothing... Then about an hour later while i was at the IRon butt motel and just getting back on my bike they rode in and parked next to me.. One of the guys stated that it's a sign of disrespect.. go figure. BTW the rest of my trip I never saw them again.. three times in two hours and then nothing...
I\

BakerBoy · Aug 4, 2015

ST4Sal said:
One thing I learned is that the 1%'s don't particularly like being waived at. One trip I passed two guys and waived .. Nothing.. then i stopped for gas and they passed me.. I passed them again and waived ... nothing... Then about an hour later while i was at the IRon butt motel and just getting back on my bike they rode in and parked next to me.. One of the guys stated that it's a sign of disrespect.. go figure. BTW the rest of my trip I never saw them again.. three times in two hours and then nothing...
I\

Interesting Sal. Do you think they meant disrespect (by you) when you waved at them, or it would be disrespectful if they waved at you? And, disrespectful of who?

SilberPfeil · Aug 4, 2015

I got tired of waving and not being waved back to. I could have stopped waving. Instead my solution is to wave and not even look for a return wave. If s/he doesn't wave, I don't notice and don't care.

I also wave to non-riders. People on their porches or on their tractors, or whatever. I especially enjoy waving or pointing at children and seeing their reaction. I wave at trains and occasionally get a response (wave or whistle), which is pretty cool. When I'm in the middle of nowhere, I'll even wave at trucks. I noticed once in the middle of Kansas (not on I-70) that guys in pickups and semis would sometimes wave at me for no reason (maybe they were riders).

Regarding the original question - I normally leave my hand out and make a little motion for later riders. If I can't wave, I try to nod.

MNKid · Aug 5, 2015

I wave at anyone on 2 wheels as long as it is safe to do so. In my area most HD riders wave, Goldwingers wave, the only ones that don't are the squids on their crotch rockets.

ReSTored · Aug 6, 2015

Mark said:
Hold my left hand out until we've all passed each other as long as can hold my hand out safely...

Same here, but often I feel a bit silly doing this. If you pass one or two riders the wave has meaning, but more than that it seems to be a bit contrived and fake.

DonMac · Aug 6, 2015

I wave at everybody, scooters, dirt bikes, mopeds, I don't care. If they choose not to wave back, they lost out on the warm fuzzy I get from it.

Mark · Aug 6, 2015

ReSTored said:
Same here, but often I feel a bit silly doing this. If you pass one or two riders the wave has meaning, but more than that it seems to be a bit contrived and fake.

Bikes in the middle of that big pack are still riding... I'll keep holding it out... but, my arm sure does get tired!

Bush · Aug 7, 2015

ST4Sal said:
One thing I learned is that the 1%'s don't particularly like being waived at. One trip I passed two guys and waived .. Nothing.. then i stopped for gas and they passed me.. I passed them again and waived ... nothing... Then about an hour later while i was at the IRon butt motel and just getting back on my bike they rode in and parked next to me.. One of the guys stated that it's a sign of disrespect.. go figure. BTW the rest of my trip I never saw them again.. three times in two hours and then nothing...
I\

You are lucky they didn't kick your bike over and torch it!

dkruitz · Aug 7, 2015

I wave at anyone I can. Some of you grizzled guys don't and that's fine. No worries, there's no requirement to do so. One thing I wonder: for every car that's behind me and sees we wave, and thinks "There's another motorcycle on the road." Maybe if it gets the cagers thinking more about bikes, then I'm all for it.

ddemair · Aug 8, 2015

dkruitz said:
I wave at anyone I can. Some of you grizzled guys don't and that's fine. No worries, there's no requirement to do so. One thing I wonder: for every car that's behind me and sees we wave, and thinks "There's another motorcycle on the road." Maybe if it gets the cagers thinking more about bikes, then I'm all for it.

I can't help but suppose that maybe the cager behind me is thinking "boy, that guy knows a lot of people".

PrairieDog · Aug 8, 2015

I'll never forget the first day I was riding and someone waved to me, I felt like I was part of the club, so now I wave at everyone, you never know that person may be on their very first ride. I have theory about why people don't wave. Harley guys don't wave because they are too afraid to take their hands off the bars just in case the bike shakes itself apart or if they do the whole drop the fingers low and to the side, they aren't really waving they are just catching parts that are falling off. BMW guys don't wave because they are desperatly clutching the latest recall notice. Goldwing guys don't wave because they are busy making coffee or programing the CD/GPS/Cell Phone/Sat Nav computer. Adventure guys don't wave because that is the job of the support van that is following them on their long way around. As for me, I wave at everyone on two wheels but I've got admit I really like the whole idea of standing up on the pegs, locking the throttle and waving with both arms. I might have to start trying that.

DonMac · Aug 8, 2015

PrairieDog said:
I'll never forget the first day I was riding and someone waved to me, I felt like I was part of the club, so now I wave at everyone, you never know that person may be on their very first ride. I have theory about why people don't wave. Harley guys don't wave because they are too afraid to take their hands off the bars just in case the bike shakes itself apart or if they do the whole drop the fingers low and to the side, they aren't really waving they are just catching parts that are falling off. BMW guys don't wave because they are desperatly clutching the latest recall notice. Goldwing guys don't wave because they are busy making coffee or programing the CD/GPS/Cell Phone/Sat Nav computer. Adventure guys don't wave because that is the job of the support van that is following them on their long way around. As for me, I wave at everyone on two wheels but I've got admit I really like the whole idea of standing up on the pegs, locking the throttle and waving with both arms. I might have to start trying that.

I agree 100% with your philosophy.

Reginald · Aug 8, 2015

I wave at most riders. I don't wave at those on Harleys with the biker gear, monkey bars, and no helmets; they're in a different world. A Harley rider wearing the ATGATT gear will typically wave back, another motorcyclist enjoying life.

TRNewtown · Aug 9, 2015

Reginald said:
I wave at most riders. I don't wave at those on Harleys with the biker gear, monkey bars, and no helmets; they're in a different world. A Harley rider wearing the ATGATT gear will typically wave back, another motorcyclist enjoying life.

Had to laugh at the term "monkey bars", I have always referred to them as ape hangars. Riders with ape hangars are the only ones that I don't wave to. I wave to everyone else on two or three wheels - long groups of v-twin riders, trikes, scooters, can-am's, BMW's, kids on bikes, sport bikes, ... I don't necessarily care if they wave back, but I will say that close to 100% of riders wave back in the cold months (December thru March).

ST Gui · Aug 9, 2015

ReSTored said:
If you pass one or two riders the wave has meaning, but more than that it seems to be a bit contrived and fake.

I guess it means whatever you think it means.

. One of the guys stated that it's a sign of disrespect.. go figure.

See above. And next time be sure all your fingers are extended.

I wave at everybody.

T_C · Aug 10, 2015

TRNewtown said:
Had to laugh at the term "monkey bars", I have always referred to them as ape hangars.

On the old bicycles they were monkey bars (or on a playground), but on a motorcycle especially the cruiser style, I agree, ape hangers.

Waving at Groups of riders

Grabcon

rjs987

Robert

SMSW

Mantaray23

ST4Sal

Gone Riding!!!

BakerBoy

It's all small stuff.

SilberPfeil

MNKid

ReSTored

DonMac

My backyard

Mark

Gotta make tracks

Bush

dkruitz

ddemair

PrairieDog

DonMac

My backyard

Reginald

cyclepoke

TRNewtown

ST Gui

240Robert

T_C