The Low Five Wave ....

Delray

Well-known member
Every rider recognizes the Low Five, the little wave riders exchange when passing each other. I've always enjoyed this show of brotherhood.

Over the years, most riders wave and I wave back. Nowadays my return wave has evolved to a full head bow, Japanese style, to show respect. It's easier and more responsive than waiting to see if you get waved at, or offering a wave only to be left at the wave-altar with nothing in return.

I think riders who ignore waves fall into two groups. 1. Harley riders. 2. Land yacht riders, you know, those enormous $35,000 beasts suburban guys ride on weekends to show what bad motorcycle boys they are.

An ignored wave used to irk me. But I realized my BMW mega-scooter is ten times smarter than any Harley or land yacht, so not waving is their issue. I figure they're snobs, and ignorant ones, at that.

South Florida, where I ride, is the scooter mecca of America. They're everywhere. 150cc's to 300cc's are especially popular. Kids go to college classes, chicks commute to work, old guys make pharmacy runs.

Occasionally, when I pass a little scooter, they offer me a low five wave. Do you think I wave back?

God forgive me, I do not.

I look away. I check my speedometer. I stare straight ahead, steely-eyed, into the future, refusing to acknowlege their little mosquito-mobile is the equal of my mighty BMW C650 GT.

Perhaps I am a snob, and an ignorant one, at that.

But at least I can smile at the non-waving Harley and land yacht riders. I know exactly where they're coming from.
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Ceesie76

Active member
I wave too, and would at smaller scooters if there were any here in SoCal. Harley people don't generally wave that's right and no waving on the highway at 65 mph, just not practical.
When my family drove Saab 96s in the seventies and eighties they always exchanged waves with other Saab 96 drivers.
These days when I am out in a classic car, I typically greet, and am greeted by, other clasic car drivers.
It seems it's also down to rarity. When I rode scooters commuting and moving about Geneva (Switzerland) there were tons of scooters so nobody waved, you'd not know where to start.
Fun tradition among humans.
 

DrCohen

Active member
Every rider recognizes the Low Five, the little wave riders exchange when passing each other. I've always enjoyed this show of brotherhood.

Over the years, most riders wave and I wave back. Nowadays my return wave has evolved to a full head bow, Japanese style, to show respect. It's easier and more responsive than waiting to see if you get waved at, or offering a wave only to be left at the wave-altar with nothing in return.

I think riders who ignore waves fall into two groups. 1. Harley riders. 2. Land yacht riders, you know, those enormous $35,000 beasts suburban guys ride on weekends to show what bad motorcycle boys they are.

An ignored wave used to irk me. But I realized my BMW mega-scooter is ten times smarter than any Harley or land yacht, so not waving is their issue. I figure they're snobs, and ignorant ones, at that.

South Florida, where I ride, is the scooter mecca of America. They're everywhere. 150cc's to 300cc's are especially popular. Kids go to college classes, chicks commute to work, old guys make pharmacy runs.

Occasionally, when I pass a little scooter, they offer me a low five wave. Do you think I wave back?

God forgive me, I do not.

I look away. I check my speedometer. I stare straight ahead, steely-eyed, into the future, refusing to acknowlege their little mosquito-mobile is the equal of my mighty BMW C650 GT.

Perhaps I am a snob, and an ignorant one, at that.

But at least I can smile at the non-waving Harley and land yacht riders. I know exactly where they're coming from.
View attachment 3287
Sometimes it's safe to take a hand off the controls, and sometimes it isn't. I always do a head bow.
 

RiaanL

New member
Here in ZA (South Africa), Most other commuter riders also just do a head bow, especially in city/town traffic Very few does a low five. (But I have seen some on single lane dual carriage freeways)
 

Greg goes wild

Active member
I do the same when i ride if i do see them in time. Heck i give the Police a BIG THUMBS UP and if they
are on bikes i do talk to them. They LIKE the BEEMER. Delray i was out in FLA. for 2 weeks in Pt. St. Lucie
and Ft. Peirce and in Delray have a cousin that lives there. Did not have my bike with me.
Most bikers do wave back but then some do not oh well is what i say
 

Delray

Well-known member
"I was out in FLA. for 2 weeks in Pt. St. Lucie ... did not have my bike with me."

Easy to rent motorbikes in South Florida.

I bought a Kendon motorcycle trailer recently and sold it two days later. Riding up and down the single ramp with my legs waving in the air was unnerving. My immediate reaction was, "That is not happening twice." Kendon has triple-wide ramps so you can keep your feet grounded at all times. I will explore those.

The trailer buyer, Javier Blanco, owns a motorcycle rental company in Miami called Blanco Cycles (easy to remember if you've seen the Al Pacino movie "Carlito's Way." There is a bad guy called "Benny Blanco from the Bronx." Javier says he rents Harley Sporters for $80 a day and has a couple mid-size bikes for less than $80. He's a good guy. Left Cuba at 19 not speaking a word of English and now runs a successful company in his 20's. Great country, America.
 
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leonm47

New member
You think yall have problems with not being waved at try being a Black Guy in Texas riding a C650GT but I've been Black in Texas all my life
it's amazing what one can learn to live with.
 

Delray

Well-known member
"try being a Black Guy in Texas riding a C650GT"

That's a shame. A rider is a rider. And the rider of a BMW C650 GT is someone special.

Heck, I'd extend "someone special" to anyone on a two-wheeled machine over 400cc's (smaller bikes, you're just baby men, go home to your mommies).

This is anecdotal, but since you mention it, I realize I've seen less than five black motorcyclists in South Florida, and that's over several years in a densely populated area. I used to ride with one of them on Sunday nights when we both had Burgman 650's.

Are black riders a minority? I searched for statistics on the ethnicity of U.S. riders but can't find anything (I did find a 2010 study that said blacks are more likely to die in MC accidents). If blacks are roughly 15% of the U.S. population, wouldn't you expect around 15 of 100 riders to be black? No way that % is true where I live.

I see black automobile drivers everywhere, every time I go out. If black motorcycle ridership is unusually low, is there a cultural reason?
 
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mjnorris

Active member
Ironically, I as a white man am eligible to join a majority black mc. Having served in the 9th Cav Regiment at Fort Hood I can apply to join The Buffalo Soldiers mc. I do not plan on doing so because I feel it would be presumptuous on my part.I don’t see many black riders around Tulsa but I do know that there are a couple of clubs here in town.
 

Ceesie76

Active member
There are relatively few motorcycles to be seen in Southern California, but a fair proportion of those are driven by Black riders. Especially the oftentimes highly customized 'bagger' HDs but also more subdued HDs, and often with music playing.
This week while out on the C650 running some errands I was temporarily 'joined' by a fellow on an older HD wearing a 'Mongols' jacket. When I looked that up later Wikipedia informed me it's a '1%' club with a relatively high proportion of Black and Native American members.
 

Delray

Well-known member
"There are relatively few motorcycles to be seen in Southern California"

That seems mind-boggling given the great weather for riding.

My daughter is in her final semester of Chinese medical school in Los Angeles. Her fiancee considered getting a bike but they decided she'd probably be visiting him in a hospital within a weeks or burying him because he'd be hit by a car. They visited me in Florida and I took them to the Keys on the six lanes of I-95 and they said it was like "little old ladies on Sunday compared to an L.A. expressway."
 

Greg goes wild

Active member
"There are relatively few motorcycles to be seen in Southern California"

That seems mind-boggling given the great weather for riding.

My daughter is in her final semester of Chinese medical school in Los Angeles. Her fiancee considered getting a bike but they decided she'd probably be visiting him in a hospital within a weeks or burying him because he'd be hit by a car. They visited me in Florida and I took them to the Keys on the six lanes of I-95 and they said it was like "little old ladies on Sunday compared to an L.A. expressway."
I hear ya Delray 13 yrs ago i had a Aprilia Atlantic 500 cc scooter and i was doing 75 mph and other cars
were flying by me like i was standing still.. That was on I 95 when i was on vacation back then. I have seen
many black guys riding all sorts of bikes here in the Houston area
 

Ceesie76

Active member
It's completely counter intuitive that there are very few motorcycles here. Not only the climate but consider also the oftentimes horrendous traffic and parking challenges. I just zoom by and drop it wherever.
 

Road Scholar

New member
I always wave and return waves if its safe to do so. I don't take it personal if its not returned. Sometimes the other rider is preoccupied with just riding. Its a friendly courtesy that I'm thankful to be a part of.
 

C650KCsport

New member
I wave at everyone, even motorcycle cops. Sometimes people wave back, other times they don't . I used to get my knickers in a ringer when they wouldn't. Then I caught myself not seeing someone coming from the other direction. Mostly that happened with a highway divided by a concrete barrier. But I do try.
 

Claudini

New member
I always give the Harley Riders the benefit of the doubt for not waving. So many newbies buy an oversized Harley and can barely handle it. ( think Wild Hogs). I just figure they are afraid to let go of the handlebar for any reason. If a Harley rider waves, that is probably an experienced rider.

If motorcycling was like dating;

A Honda would be your first love,
A Ducati would be the date you never bring home to meet your parents, and
the BMW would be the one you marry.

V/R Claude
 

Delray

Well-known member
"I always give the Harley riders the benefit of the doubt."

Funny line about Harleys I am borrowing from the Burgman 650 forum ....

"People knock Harleys, but the fact is, 90% of them are still on the road.

"The other 10% managed to make it home."

"A Honda would be your first love,
A Ducati would be the date you never bring home to meet your parents, and
the BMW would be the one you marry."


If this is true, I'm on my sixth marriage! (6th BMW)

My first maxi-scooter was a Honda Silver Wing. My first love, and first bike, was a Suzuki 650. I swear that thing had more chrome than a '57 Buick, and I loved to make it shine.

Ducati? I don't get Ducati. I bought my 4th BMW C 650 GT at a Ducati dealership and the salesman let me sit on a $110,000 Panigale V4. Felt like it weighed eight pounds. "All carbon fiber for speed," the salesman said (actual weight 348 lbs. ... 231 horsepower ... 168 mph). All Greek to me. I'd never have a need for that kind of speed.

BMW Motorrad for life!
 
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