Do You Stop?

I'd imagine the dude might be hostile since i was on a Japanese running bike offering assistance to a non-running POS. I'd stop for an HD out in the country, not in the city where his buddies might see him. He's got a phone anyway.

 

funnily enough a couple of days ago I was in the back garden when I heard a Harley being started and coughing and banging a few times and had a look out the front and a couple of hundred yards away was the bike with a pillion on it, when I got there and asked if he needed anything he said it just started playing up, he'd jus filled up at the local BP,it ran a few seconds banged and stopped,I told him where I lived if he wanted to use my garage and he said thanked me and said he would leave it a few minutes and try again it must have started ok as he never came to my place,wondered if it could have been the regulator playing up, have not seen him again, pretty sure he lives in the next village to me and he goes past my house, nice little Sportster

 

Filling stations have pretty much disappeared from many areas of rural France so motorbikes running out of petrol is not uncommon especially as many stations shown on GPS maps have long since closed. Cellphone cover in the mountains is also very patchy. So at least in the Alps most riders will always be happy to stop and help a rider seeking assistance.

Obviously if you are concerned for your own safety - perhaps passing through a run down neighbourhood - then don't take risks, just note their location and when you can stop safely alert the police so they can check if the rider needs help.

If you need help just stand by your bike and flag down an approaching rider. On a bike like a VFR it is no great hassle to take a pillion out and back to the nearest filling station to collect a can of fuel so they can get going again.

 

What brand of bike they ride doesn't make them anymore or any less of a biker to me. And even though it is stretching it, I include trikes, CanAm's and even Vespa's as bikers! Besides I would have to come to a complete stop and read the emblem to know for sure if it was a Harley, as all the big v-twins look the same to me. Of course 20 years ago going by the old saying "90% of Harley are still on the road, the other 10% made it back home", it would have been a pretty good bet if it looked like a Harley and was broke down, it was a Harley. I have heard now days they have greatly improved in their reliability. It is my understanding the percentage making it back home this past year climbed to about 18%. OK, so I made all that up!

In 2007 I stopped for a guy and gal riders and they were on, you guessed it, a Harley! It was one of those early spring days in northern Arizona that started off sunny and then turned overcast and nasty cold for the sleeveless vest and dew rags they were wearing. The battery was dead in their only cell phone and mine was on the kitchen counter where I always left it when riding back then. After chatting a bit, he didn't want to leave his bike unattended but ask if I would haul his gal to their hometown. I did and we met up with some of his buddies who took a truck and trailer to recover him and his bike. After chatting with him, her and a couple of his Harley friends, they had a new found respect for an old guy on a ZX14 and I had a few new biker brothers and sister. It doesn't make any difference to me, I stop.

 

I have read, somewhere, that there is an international recognized procedure to take when you are in need of assistance while out on the bikes. Just now, I have tried to find this article. I have found literally dozens of other articles from several main stream sites that make mention of this in one way or other but no one seems to know the origins of it or in fact if it really is true. I suppose to a signal to become known, it needs to be shared. Here on this thread is VFRW's opportunity to jump in and share.

Motorcycle in distress. Parked on shoulder of road, place your helmet on the ground as near as practical to the fog line behind the bike.

I liken this to parking your vehicle on the side of the road and putting your hood up to signal you are suffering mechanical issues.

 

Randy the helmet behind the wheel is recognised as the international sign of distress

When I got my travel insuranice for my motorcycle rental vacation it was printed in big letters on the front and back pages

 

In my part of Arizona most bikers don't wear nor carry a helmet!

 

Just recently stopped and helped 5 women in a rental van with a flat on the turnpike.

 

And that's how the movie starts...

 

Have heard of this but never actually seen anything written down or discussed on any forum that I'm on.

 

Hopefully THEY all thanked you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I read this a few weeks ago, but did not bookmark the address. I think the article was written by a Britain, perhaps because of certain words he/she used. Maybe I can peck around a bit and find it. I remember at the time I didn't think it would be that popular in some places in the US because of so many that ride without helmets.

 

Use your beer can or whiskey bottle then

 

Nope exactly the opposite. Shoulder of the road isn’t terminology used over here, and I have no idea what a fog line is.

 

https://forum.officer.com/forum/public-forums/ask-a-cop/72428-fog-line-what-is-it

 

Cheers Lint. I did some research after making my comment.

 

Hmm. I though the fog line was what appeared around about the 4th whiskey.

 

I was thinking this.

 

My response was in reference to a helmet being placed on the ground, not in reference to the words 'shoulder' or 'fog line', it could have been Australian. 'Fog Line', I had to look it up as well, now we both know, clever internet