Featured Advice To Foreign Bikers On French Roads

Hi all,
I often cross foreign bikers on french roads, because I'm near Belgium, Germany, UK, Holland...The "problem" is that here, in France, we have a real strong tradition : greeting all bikers you cross (with hand) or overtake (with leg) when you ride, even if it is dangerous at this moment to remove your hand or leg from your bike
It proves you deserve to be in the "bikers clan", otherwise you are categorized as an asshole & a coward.
This tradition comes from the 50's, and sadly, foreign bikers very rarely respond to the salute.
All French bikers know & strictly respect this tradition, except blind bikers who are excused .
So, when we meet such an "unpolite" biker, we exclude him from the "bikers clan" & categorize him (her) as a graduate asshole.
We have so many home-made (non-bikers) assholes in the country that it is not useful to increase the number with foreign bikers.
So, when you come for a ride here, don't forget to greet all the bikers you meet.
Thx

 

I am French but it seems to me the same thing is done on many countries no ?

 

Normally it’s the HD riders that don’t wave back, oh and the Deliveroo folks. Evil bunch.

 

Some years ago the old folks on HD did not wave back. Now those old folks have been replaced by new old folks coming from other types of bikes... and they wave back.

 

Manuel C.
I myself wave or nod to all bikers. But many times it is returned by a no reply. Doesn't bother me. I just know i have done the right biker salute. I think no less of other bikers. Yes some time ago when we were touring France so many bikers passed us with their foot stuck out. It never dawned on me it was a welcome till we parked up near some French bikers and i just had to ask. They had a good giggle as they explained. And we all had a coffee together.
Joe.

 

With the foot instead of the hand you don't have to let go the gaz (then we go faster )

 

Hi all & joe,
maybe there is a way to salute in every country, or maybe not....
But what I am sure is I am not often waved back by foreign riders in France, & sometimes I see an astonished look in their eyes....certainly germans or another kind of Neanderthalian people....
Anyway, I always do it because I'm 52 and ride a Triumph, so I'm the highest thing on the road and a graduate member of the "clan"

a bit pretentious, isn't it ??

 

I can extend Manuel C.'s list to all of Europe. In all the countries I have traveled by bike in recent years, greeting with the hand or foot was common among motorcyclists.
But mopeds or scooters are excluded from this!
If you have cruise control, you can "loosely" greet the other bikers with the hand of the throttle. This sometimes still provides for "astonishment" with the biker colleagues.

 

Part of the problem arises from the fact that in the UK we ride on the left; waving requires the rider to take their hand off of the throttle.

Because of that, we have a tradition of a restrained and respectful nod of the head.

Riding on the right in a continental fashion allows for a more flamboyant hand wave without interrupting forward motion.

The traditions are different and don't necessarily blend together well.

It's worth realising too, that many Brits consider "foreign" to be akin to a race track, so are a bit too busy holding on and trying not to embed themselves in the scenery to wave, nod or anything!

 

Don't worry about right or left hand side driving, cruise control or anything else, this thread is only a joke & no more than a joke

 

I'm in the "non biker clan" then.
All those "sunday and dry weather bikers" like to do the biker gesture.
I personally don't care and ride.
The important thing is to stop and help if a bike is stopped on the side of the road.

 

yep...the best way to see your bike disassembled on the road side is to let helpful bikers try to fix a problem.....

 

I always wave to other bikers as l pass them....

 

A common or favoured way acknowledging other riders in the UK is a nod or tilt of your head.

This can be imperceptible depending on the individual rider’s technique.

If ur concentrating looking at the oncoming UK motorcyclists’ feet then you would probably miss the ‘twitch’ like nod of their head and think we’re all rude gits. Most of us are, but it is an unfair stereotype to apply to the minority whom are amiable and polite.

When I get out to France again I’ll be sure to flick my feet out and do the cancan down the road to make sure I’m properly seen.

Are we expected to shave our legs or is that optional?

 

I must be an old grumpy French biker:
- I say hello to anybody riding a motorbike of any size.
- I only use my hand and neither my foot which I use to kick a ball or an ass sometimes.
- I never say hello, or answering, to any biker riding in a dangerous manner.
- I stop at pedestrian crossing when riding the motorbike, which is not so common in France.
- I hate most of the bicycle riders.

 

Shave your leather trousers........if you ride like an Italian : short & sandals, then shave your legs & put some nail varnish too
Bicycle riders ? kill'em all !!!

 

Its an interesting one. I ride a Harley and a Triumph and will nod/wave at all other bikers when I'm riding either. What I've found is that as a Harley rider, the majority of other bikers won't nod back, yet if I'm on the Triumph they will.

 

Pitty - it used to be a way of being and feeling part of a brotherhood. I've been riding all of my adult life (35 years), so a million miles away from the "Sunday and dry weather riders" and have always nodded.

 

Unfortunately, I don't feel the "brotherhood" anymore.
That meant something in the late eighties. Now people just look at your bike to check if theirs is bigger...