This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Howdy pardner [talking waves]

F

Frank Rizzo

Joined Dec 2012
123 Posts | 0+
Ottawa Ontario
With spring finally inside of a month, I'm starting to think about the bike again - yay!

Anyway, thinking about riding led me to the collegial topic of waving, and I'm simply curious to know, do you:

1) wave at other riders?
2) include scooters and Can Am Spyders?
3) abstain from waving at any riders of another brand or type of bike? [I'll leave you to fill that blank as you see fit] and if so, why?

For me, it's

1) yes
2) I return all waves, but don't proactively acknowledge scooters and Sypders
3) sadly, I've been snubbed as much as 11 times in the **same afternoon** by - in my case - Harleys, so I said screw it and only return the waves I get. No offence to the many great people out there who ride them.
 
Too funny!!! I live in York, PA where they make Harley Davidsons so needless to say, they are a dime a dozen here. I can't tell you how many times I've ridden my bike past a group and do the "wave" with not even as much as a glance. My co-worker has a 100th anniversary dyna low rider that I rode last summer and I could barely shift gears due to the amount of waves that I had to return. I simply don't get it. If you ride, you are a rider. I try to do the wave whether you are on a Honda scooter, Goldwing or a Harley full dresser. I do have to admit though... I can't bring myself to wave to the Spyder guys because they remind me of snowmobiles for the road.
 
Frank, you brought back some great memories. Always loved the wave. Been living in Thailand and Korea for 14 years now and had actually forgotten about the wave back home. Back then everyone waved, regardless of bike.

Here I used to sort of wave to big bikes only, rarely get a response here. So I kind of backed off. As far as scooters, if I waved at every scooter I would not have time to either work the throttle or the clutch. You got me thinking and I think I will try and wave more again here, maybe start a trend.

Hope it warms up for you soon.
 
1) yup
2) nope (haven't seen such a Can Am Spyder here in Belgium)
3) It seems the Harley riders (or customs) don't have that tradition. Or at least don't maintain it. But I do wave at almost all riders, if under 120kph. Above, if the road allows it :)
 
I wave at everyone on two/three wheels.. I put a special emphasis on waving at scooters haha.. usually you'll see the biggest smile on their faces cause they're not used to that..

Harley guys usually don't wave back.

In my Subaru.. I wave at any Subaru with a hood scoop..
 
I wave at other bike riders, have my whole life. I don't consider three wheelers to be motorcycles, though. I ride a lot of different bikes, and around here it's mainly the ape hanger HD types who don't wave back. Even when I'm on my HD! It's all about The Attitude, man....:rolleyes:
 
In the UK we nod our head at other riders, obviously like you johnny foreigners we could wave with our left hands but it seems odd to wave with the hand opposite the flow of traffic.

We have the same problems with Harley riders and more recently BMW adventure heroes. no point nodding at them as they are too up themselves to bother.
 
It's the hand signal difference that amuses me...I was told that you are supposed to use your right arm to signal a right turn in the UK. Here it's a salute with the left, hand raised.

This is on my old bikes with no turn signals, of course. Which are prone to stalling if I let go of the throttle...
 
My responses:
1) wave at other riders?
YES! If I see a bunch of crusier tough-guy types... esp with "CUTS" then I give a super enthusiastic/feminine wave
2) include scooters and Can Am Spyders?
Nope. 3 wheels get no wave as they arent bikes. sorry goldwing/ultraclassic conversions. As for scoots...since I dont live in asia...no waves bc well.... they probably need both hands cause theyre drunk :)
3) abstain from waving at any riders of another brand or type of bike? [I'll leave you to fill that blank as you see fit] and if so, why?
No brand hating here.
 
I think the reason ape hanger Harley riders don't wave is the risk of losing control when taking one hand off the bars. I wave or nod to all riders no matter what shape or size.
 
I do wave at every kind of bike. I find more HD riders respond than don't. I liked zibbit's comment on scooters and will try that! Spyders, sure, why not - it’s not a cage!

Before I had my MC license, I remember training to ride with a car behind me. Afterwards, the very experienced rider in the chase car had one major beef... I had failed to wave..

It's actually one of the things I really like about riding - as if we are all two-wheeled fans and therefore "we never ride alone.."
 
Frank Rizzo said:
With spring finally inside of a month, I'm starting to think about the bike again.
Click to expand...

Really? I'm only one province over and still have 6 feet of snow in March. At this point it's hard to beleive I'll ever be riding again!
 
BlueSwede said:
I do wave at every kind of bike. I find more HD riders respond than don't. I liked zibbit's comment on scooters and will try that! Spyders, sure, why not - it's not a cage!
Click to expand...

Then I guess you'd wave to us in our MX-5, if the top was down? It's no cage, it's a sportbike with four wheels. A Spyder is just a car with a missing wheel and a set of handlebars. You get backwards steering along with all the drawbacks of a bike such as no weather protection. At least I can run the A/C or heater, making the Miata useable in all weathers.

A regular at our local hangout showed up with the latest high-zoot trike, forget the name. It was styled like something from a bad sci-fi flick and had a Chevy fourbanger in it. He admitted it would spin the rear wheel in the first three gears. That tire was about 8" wide and driven by a belt narrower than the one on our Harley, so I figure that the lack of rear traction was intentional. It's just for looks and the novelty, and even less practical than a bike. I'm amazed that people buy them.
 
I wave at all, and don't care who waves back. Funny story...
I used to bicycle a lot, 150 miles a week on average. I wave at other bicyclists. One winter my wife got me these DVDs of scenic roadways. We had a projector and 92" screen in the basement so I set up my bicycle on my indoor trainer and "rode" while playing the DVD. I got so immersed that when I saw some bicyclists coming my way I waved at them.

Yes, in my basement. I waved at the bicyclists in a video projected on a big screen.
 
Like Rutter said, here in the UK we do a sideways nod.

Quite surprised to hear you guys do a wave over there actually; I find even taking my hand off the bar to thank a car driver for moving over not really that pleasant, especially if you're carrying a bit of speed.

I ride so often in London though that I don't give/receive a nod that much, unless I'm on the 'blade and I see another Super Sport. Out in the countryside where I live though I nod anyone on two wheels except scooters. They don't count as real bikes IMO.

Does the wave exist in any other countries outside of the states? What about the nod?
 
We nod.....but raise a finger and spin it to warn of plod.....

And were well into Autumn here in Australia but it's 31C today.... :)
 
I wave to Harleys just to confuse them, I give them an extra special wave with my whole arm flailing around, they try really hard not to wave back. I guess when you're dressed like a pirate you're supposed to be mean. I don't know why I wave at anyone, I feel obligated or something.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

B
939 Rough running, wont rev/accelerate
Replies
22
Views
2K
gatdammit
gatdammit
H
The Blue Beauty's first mountain run! *PHOTOS*
Replies
9
Views
3K
Canto
Canto
H
Questions about ordering a Hyperstrada Low model
Replies
21
Views
7K
zippy49
zippy49
ZRider
24 Hour Mountain Trip
Replies
4
Views
2K
ZRider
ZRider
zippy49
Not Ducati, but let's go to Baja!
Replies
2
Views
2K
zippy49
zippy49