Distance from Kerbside?

Lowride
Lowride Posts: 214
edited February 2012 in Road beginners
I bought my first road bike in August last year. Just before christmas I went into a LBS and spent ages talking to the owner, he's been a roadie for years. He said that he rides one metre from the kerb.
I've always ridden closer to the kerb than this, one metre is 3.2 feet. I was curious as to how far from the kerb other people ride. I can see his reasoning, I guess it makes cars less likely to try and squeeze between you and the oncoming car. But, I think it could also make getting hit more likely as there will always be somebody who won't wait regardless.

Opinions please
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Specialized til I die
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Comments

  • ShutUpLegs
    ShutUpLegs Posts: 3,522
    Read the highway code
  • Lowride
    Lowride Posts: 214
    Regardless of what the highway code may say everybody will ride differently. Instead of posting an arsey comment you could have said how far from the kerb you ride..

    Dickhead
    ________________
    Specialized til I die
  • wasabi_m
    wasabi_m Posts: 164
    Little harsh!

    1m sounds good.
  • Tom Dean
    Tom Dean Posts: 1,723
    it depends
  • smidsy
    smidsy Posts: 5,273
    If you hug the kerb (or at least stay close to it) you are less visible and also not riding on the nice tarmac.

    If you ride about 1/3rd into the carriageway you are more likely to be seen and you get in the smooth/clean tarmac.

    When a car passes you they are supposed to give you as much room as passing a car so being in the gutter does not encourage the car driver to give you the space. The closer to the gutter you are the more the car is likely to try and squeeze past as they think they can fit even if something is coming the other way.

    Holding good road position may be slightly counter intuitive but is actually safer for all.

    Regardless of where you are in the carriageway there will always be an idiot who blasts past you with 6 inches to spare but if you have space inside you and the gutter you have a safe zone to steer into and not hit the kerb.
    Yellow is the new Black.
  • 1@ATIME
    1@ATIME Posts: 89
    I agree 1 metre's about right. I've been commuting regularly for the last 2 years on country lanes and always make sure to pull out when approaching bends and oncoming traffic. You can guarantee whenever I don't someone will always try to pass between me and the whiteline.
    Ribble Stealth
    previous: Kiron Scandium, 80's Raleigh Equipe, Striker :)
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,164
    about 1m usually, and *further* if there's no room for a car to pass safely at speed - but if i can, i'll always pull in much closer to let the driver past once he's seen me and slowed down, and if he doesn't, well he'd probably have got me anyway!

    riding alongside parked cars, stay at least a door's width out, double that if you see a parent loading/unloading offspring, as their situational awareness will be on a par with that of a small biscuit

    in traffic i tend not to ride on the drops, i think being a bit more upright improves visibility
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    1m is a good rule of thumb. If it's narrow - sitting in the path of the left-hand tyres is a good shout - just to make it so that cars HAVE to pass you properly, rather than blitzing past 20cm away - but without rubbing it in their face that they've had to slow down.
    _
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    1m or thereabouts usually.

    Closer than that and I'm weaving round rainwater gulleys, broken bottles, puddles of indeterminate depth etc.

    I'd rather stay out there so that drivers have to make a conscious manouvre to overtake me, and I don't surprise them by weaving about like a slalom skier on amphetamines.

    I've just had a quick leaf through my copy of the Highway Code and can find no advice regarding how far from the kerb one should cycle, so the earlier advice wasn't particularly helpful. It does suggest giving parked cars a wide berth, which is certainly sound practice, and says that using cycle paths isn't compulsory.
  • MichaelW
    MichaelW Posts: 2,164
    Widely seen behaviour is that overtaking car drivers give you the same clearance that you give yourself from the kerb.
    Vehicular cyclists use the primary or the secondary riding position according to how much they need to control overtaking traffic.
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    When you are riding in a largish bunch, not everyone can be a metre away from the side of the road.
    It's a case of use yer noggin.. common sense and a good calls about going out from obstructions etc.
    I've answered as you have posted in the Road riding section and not Commuting.
  • navrig
    navrig Posts: 1,352
    I ride roughly where the left wheel of any car or lorry would be. If it is good enough for them then it is good enough for me. Why should I accept the lesser quality surface of the gutter? That's about 1m from the kerb.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,196
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    1m is a good rule of thumb. If it's narrow - sitting in the path of the left-hand tyres is a good shout - just to make it so that cars HAVE to pass you properly, rather than blitzing past 20cm away - but without rubbing it in their face that they've had to slow down.

    This.
  • t.m.h.n.e.t
    t.m.h.n.e.t Posts: 2,265
    Whatever distance is safe and apropriate for the circumstances.
  • redvision
    redvision Posts: 2,958
    im the same, usually about 1m from kerb.

    this is quite an interesting article though:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-14575975
  • wishitwasallflat
    wishitwasallflat Posts: 2,927
    Navrig wrote:
    I ride roughly where the left wheel of any car or lorry would be. If it is good enough for them then it is good enough for me. Why should I accept the lesser quality surface of the gutter? That's about 1m from the kerb.

    +1
  • ShutUpLegs
    ShutUpLegs Posts: 3,522
    Lowride wrote:
    Regardless of what the highway code may say everybody will ride differently. Instead of posting an arsey comment you could have said how far from the kerb you ride..

    Dickhead

    You're calling me a dickhead when you don't know the safe distance to cycle from the kerb?

    Jesus wept.

    Here's your next 3 threads:

    Make your bike go where you want it to, including moving around objects safely
    Stop quickly if you need to
    Look all around you when you’re riding, including behind, without wobbling
    Signal if you’re turning right and left, without wobbling
  • navrig
    navrig Posts: 1,352
    ShutUpLegs wrote:
    Lowride wrote:
    Regardless of what the highway code may say everybody will ride differently. Instead of posting an arsey comment you could have said how far from the kerb you ride..

    Dickhead

    You're calling me a dickhead when you don't know the safe distance to cycle from the kerb?

    Jesus wept.

    Here's your next 3 threads:

    Make your bike go where you want it to, including moving around objects safely
    Stop quickly if you need to
    Look all around you when you’re riding, including behind, without wobbling
    Signal if you’re turning right and left, without wobbling


    I think he was just signing his post, not calling you a DH.
  • kentphil
    kentphil Posts: 479
    I ride so I'm not in the the gutter riding over drain covers etc, but not far enough out to obstruct cars. Seems to work ok for me (touch wood).
    1998 Kona Cindercone in singlespeed commute spec
    2013 Cannondale Caadx 1x10
    2004 Giant TCR
  • lucan
    lucan Posts: 339
    Navrig wrote:

    I think he was just signing his post, not calling you a DH.

    Classic :lol::lol::lol:
    Summer: Kuota Kebel
    Winter: GT Series3
  • Muffintop
    Muffintop Posts: 296
    Somewhere between the two wheels of the car depending on circumstance. If it's a lorry then it's usually where I can see the driver in his wing mirror (I'll be waving at him in some fashion if I'm behind him at a junction) or where the on coming cars can see me. I used to hug the kerb, but you're more likely to hit a pedestrian who hasn't seen you, and it's better you slow someone down ('cos then they've definitely seen you) than they misjudge or you have to ditch your line and they end up clipping you when they pass.

    Mx
    FCN: Brompton: 12, Tourer: 7, Racer: 4

    http://www.60milestonod.blogspot.com
  • Hoopdriver
    Hoopdriver Posts: 2,023
    One metre for me too - looks like it's pretty much a consensus
    http://www.My-Bicycle-and-I.com
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    I ride outside the line of the drains and a bit to the left of the where vehicles' nearside wheels normally go, to stay out of the rough stuff without being a c0ck about it. If needs be I'll move out a bit further to be in that vehicle wheel area. and occasionally I'll take the whole lane - for example through a narrowed section of road where I don't want anyone to be tempted to overtake.

    Buy a copy of Cyclecraft by John Franklin. £8 well spent.
  • gmacz
    gmacz Posts: 343
    About a metre as well or in he middle of the inside black line.
    A bit closer if going uphill slowly.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF7qtyrtq9M
  • team47b
    team47b Posts: 6,425
    About 7 meters :D
    my isetta is a 300cc bike
  • Stone Glider
    Stone Glider Posts: 1,227
    +1 for Cyclecraft, the best money you can spend on cycling.
    The older I get the faster I was
  • team47b
    team47b Posts: 6,425
    team47b wrote:
    About 7 meters :D

    spell check!

    About 7 metres :D

    ...which puts me about 1 metre from the other side of the road!
    my isetta is a 300cc bike
  • gmacz
    gmacz Posts: 343
    We got it
    :)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF7qtyrtq9M
  • EV!lution
    EV!lution Posts: 51
    I also stay about 1 meter, or where the left wheel of a car travels on the road, you can been seen more easy cars will wait to pass you instead of trying to squeeze past, and the surface is clear as all the cars pick up the dirt and thorns , so u you get less punchers.
  • Peddle Up!
    Peddle Up! Posts: 2,040
    About a metre for me too. Any closer and you're in the realm of discarded car flotsum and missing drain covers. :shock:

    If you're too close to the kerb and cut up by a car/truck you may have no room for manoeuvre.
    Purveyor of "up" :)

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