how (not) to ride a 650 Burgman italian style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9zZxpvSPJA
The next one is more sensible but this rider is still pushing it a bit. Nice scenery though never ridden the Furka pass, should have when we rode from Verona to Sion in Switzerland in torrentail rain. Went over the Simplon instead.
[url]ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMekikaz9m4&t=598s[/url]

The first video - I expect riding like that from sportsbike riders, but I thought us scooter riders were more sensible. Obviously not this one. If any drivers of the cars and lorries he was flying past didn't see him coming and changed lanes it would have been 'Up the curtain to join the choir invisible'. The second one was better but still pushing his luck.

Our Italian chum will get away with thousands of over/undertakes like that, until one day.....he won't.

It's many years since I rode in Italy but the expectation of such riding styles always seemed to improve the skills of the other road users. Ride like than in the UK (or North America) where dull compliance has robbed them of any skill or awareness and your life will be shorter than in Italy (or Germany where it's occasionally still legal).

My favourite was the sections of Autostrada that were single carriageway with a shared overtaking lane. Originally Roman so very straight. About 300 yards before you lost the solid line and got the dotted one they'd all be jockeying for position. At 150 yards the first one would chance it and go for it. You'd get three miles of overtaking then the other side would get their turn. Of course they'd all wait until 150 yards past this point to actually finish (or even start) their last overtake. You basically had a 2+2 free for all with plenty of mirrors exchanged at the switch overs! Never saw anything worse than noise and rude gestures though.

Andy

I was surprised to find that the standard of driving in Italy better than I expected, it was bedlam but it was a lot of fun mostly. I was expecting the worst though.

Andym wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2024 4:23 pm
My favourite was the sections of Autostrada that were single carriageway with a shared overtaking lane.

That sounds a lot like some sections of the A303, where people either misjudge (or deliberately) overshoot the double-white lined closing section of their overtaking lane at very high speed in a late overtake, almost causing a head-on with oncoming traffic. Its a traffic cops favourite patrol area.

An old thread about it on pistonheads:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/top ... 590810&i=0

Pukmeister wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2024 1:50 pm Our Italian chum will get away with thousands of over/undertakes like that, until one day.....he won't.

Indeed. One day his luck will run out.

Andym wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2024 4:23 pm
My favourite was the sections of Autostrada that were single carriageway with a shared overtaking lane. Originally Roman so very straight. About 300 yards before you lost the solid line and got the dotted one they'd all be jockeying for position. At 150 yards the first one would chance it and go for it. You'd get three miles of overtaking then the other side would get their turn. Of course they'd all wait until 150 yards past this point to actually finish (or even start) their last overtake. You basically had a 2+2 free for all with plenty of mirrors exchanged at the switch overs! Never saw anything worse than noise and rude gestures though.

Andy

Not that dissimilar to the A66 between Scotch Corner and Penrith - though there are only dual carriageways and two lane roads, no 3 lane bits. There bits that were possibly 3 lanes wide, but they've all been reduced to 2 lanes by application of acres of white paint.

And as they say.....MORE PAINT, MORE DANGER !!!

MrGrumpy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2024 3:17 pm Not that dissimilar to the A66 between Scotch Corner and Penrith - though there are only dual carriageways and two lane roads, no 3 lane bits. There bits that were possibly 3 lanes wide, but they've all been reduced to 2 lanes by application of acres of white paint.

They used to be, and for some strange reason were colloquially known as suicide lanes.