Mike “Spanky” Sanford
The stagger formation is a proven method of safely maneuvering a group of motorcycles down the road, and it’s something you’ll have to learn if you want to ride with our chapter. The reality is, only a small fraction of our membership rides together on a regular basis, which means there’s always a number of “new” folks in the group whenever we hit the streets. When you join us on a chapter ride, you’re relinquishing a little of your riding independence for the good of the group, so it’s important you know what a staggered formation is and how it works. So how do we ride in a stagger formation? It’s really quite simple!
In a stagger formation, the lead bike rides in the left third of the lane while the second bike is one second behind and occupies the right third of the lane. The third bike is two seconds behind and rides directly behind the lead bike, with each following bike “staggered” from side to side in the same fashion. The one second/two second safety intervals are the minimum required to insure each bike has enough room to maneuver and the actual distance between bikes increases as the formation’s speed increases.
A stagger formation gives us enhanced visibility since it’s pretty hard not to notice a large group of bikes rolling down the street! It also allows a greater number of bikes to occupy the same piece of roadway, which gets us through traffic and intersections in minimal time. But one of its biggest advantages is that it gives each bike the room to safely perform evasive maneuvers when needed, even when riding in a tightly knit group.
Riding in a stagger formation is not the easiest thing to do, especially for someone who’s just starting their riding career, or starting over after a long layoff from the world of two-wheel fun. It takes a lot of concentration to do it well and letting your attention wander can result in unpleasant consequences, but by following a few simple rules, you too can reap the benefits of riding in a group.
Acceleration of your bike should be smooth, with no “jack rabbit” starts, and you need to stay behind the bike diagonal to your position. We have a wide mix of riding skills within our membership and not everyone will accelerate or decelerate in the same fashion. Basically, if your front wheel is anywhere near the next bike’s rear wheel, you’re too close and need to give them more safety cushion. You wouldn’t want a car encroaching in your lane space, so you shouldn’t encroach on your fellow riders either! Every rider deserves enough room to safely perform emergency maneuvers without worrying about colliding with another bike.
Remember too that riding in a formation requires almost non-stop throttle adjustments. You just can’t hold your throttle steady and expect to hold your correct position within the group. If you find yourself having problems maintaining a steady position, here’s a trick a lot of folks use. Use your ears as well as your eyes. If the exhaust noise of the bikes ahead suddenly gets louder, that’s your cue to increase your throttle to stay with the pack. Conversely, if the bikes ahead suddenly get quiet, it’s time to close the throttle to maintain position. Waiting until you actually see the bikes ahead pulling away or getting closer is actually too late. That delay before altering your speed is the primary cause of the dreaded “rubber band” effect, which squeezes and stretches the group, and makes formation riding more difficult for everyone.
So is this a lot to think about? You bet! Is it all you have to think about while riding in a stagger formation? Not hardly! But is it worthy of your best effort? Absolutely!! Your safety, and the safety of your fellow chapter members, depends on your ability to properly ride in a stagger formation. By applying these few simple rules, and practicing your skills whenever you ride, we can all enjoy safer group rides using the tried and true stagger formation. Throughout the year, we’ll cover different aspects of formation riding in a continuing effort to improve our skills in the interest of safety. But if you just can’t wait until our next newsletter, please visit our website and look under the Safety heading for more information. Thanks for listening and until next time…Ride Safe!