I`ve been posting a few articles here for a while now on subjects from
asking about good commuting machines to city riding. I thought I`d relate
about my first experience about riding in city traffic.

After starting 2 year old RD350R I filled her up then headed for the
A38 carriageway. From driving a cage into work a knew that the traffic was
very light for this time of the morning and didn`t really have the need to
do any lane splitting at all at the approach to the islands. The bike
seemed to cruise more than adequately at 70mph with room for acceleration.

My first bit of lane splitting I did was on the approach to Tyburn island
in Birmingham. This is a 4 lane island with fast flowing traffic and a
potential death trap. I gunned my engine hard here to get on the island
ahead of the main traffic. The next potential obstacle is the Aston
Expressway and the Queensway tunnels but luckily the traffic was relatively
free here (unusual this). The journey took about 15-20 minutes less than in
a cage.
I think I`m going to have a bit more of a challenge tommorrow during the
rail strike, well we`ll see……

Oh, btw does anyone have any tips on bike security? I`ve currently got
a hefty chain through the back wheel, a front disc lock and of course
the steering lock.

–
Philip Thompson               |EMail: p…@wcl.bham.ac.uk
Wolfson Computer Laboratory   |In my dream I was drowning my sorrows,
Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre|But my sorrows they learnt to swim.
Birmingham, UK.               |-Until the end of the world.