Modern Vespa

So there I was, minding my own business, sitting at the front of a red light. I hear a sport bike coming up behind me, lane-splitting through the stopped cars behind me to get to the front.

When he got up to the front, he looked over disdainfully at me. Well, I imagined it was disdainful, but he had a smoked visor so I couldn't really tell. In my mind, though, it was definitely disdain I was getting.

He gave me the brief chin-lift nod, equal parts "Let's go!" and "Fuck you".

I returned the gesture.

When the light turned green, I went WFO for all that I was worth. By the time I got across the intersection, he was already closing in on the next intersection, and kept going.

Totally smoked me.

(While the events above are actually fictional, they are in fact a much more honest rendition of most of the stories we hear 'round these parts...)

Yeah so I'm sitting there at the lights minding my own business when this fool on a Hayabusa shows up. Lights go green and we both unleash everything we have.

I would have loved to have seen the look on his face but the smoke was too intense as my GTS rear tyre broke free and laid a licorice strip through two sets of lights.

To be honest I wasn't paying any attention to how far ahead I was, I was too concerned that my front wheel that was already off the ground was going to come right over...............true.

In the immortal words of my father "the first liar doesn't have a chance" R

I've beaten tons of sport bike riders at red lights!

They had no idea we were racing though. And I'm pretty sure didn't even know I was there.

Jess I think thats funny(haha).I like to pull away slowly.

THATS exactly the right description, (and I hadn't heard it put that way before) for this man-to-man greeting, which I believe many of us begin using in JR high school when our testosterone starts to flow.

And yes, it means exactly what you described " hey man, eff you!".

I just never heard it broken down into its basic elements before.

One thing I know for sure is that my Vespa has not smoked anything yet and it even has a pipe on it.. I keep passed all the time 0n the 105 WOT, and I have to move over in carpool lane to let others pass

LOL!! I use the "Chin lift nod" all the time and I don't mean "eff you" to anyone. Damn, I've been challening people to a race for years and didn't even know it! I use the "Chin lift nod" because I have my left hand on the clutch so I can't give my preferred "Isacc the bartender" (from the 1970's hit The Love Boat) greeting.

Here it is... the internet ROCKS!

I like it when they come up from behind seeing the tough looking MP3 500 from behind and then they get a glance of the two wheels in front usually discourages them and mellows the sport bikers testosterone/estrogen. I think the dog carrier in back also has an effect. If I'm on the GTS I would usually pull off slowly, just gotta look cool because of the MV magnet on the front and side. Going to fast? Let me slow down..."MV". 3 inches tall and it reflects at night!!

Oh, the stories I could tell of smoking completely unaware sports bike riders. Fun times. One time I did it to a coworker, and mentioned it during lunch. He said he did not notice it was me, and just thought someone had tossed an empty coke can on the street

/Andy

It's a context-dependent gesture. There are lots of times when it's just a simple nod. But in the right conditions, it's a challenge.

It's no "fist-pump" !

(I get those sometimes from sportbike riders near Palomar mountain. ALWAYS sarcastic)

Possibly my only decent victory against a sport bike at a light was a few weeks ago. I was the one lane splitting up to the front, with a sport bike occupying the lane two lanes over. (This was on Lawrence Expressway for the locals...)

When I got up to the front, the sport bike looked over at me, surprised to see anyone there. The light turned green almost at that moment, and I took off. The guy on the sport bike looked up at the light, saw it was green, saw that I was getting away, and promptly stalled his bike at the light.

It was actually pretty funny, and I laughed inside my helmet.

But it was really only because I surprised him.

Yah! Way to smoke that sport bike, Jess!

for clarification these are the exact conditions the majority of the Scooter > Sport bike stories actually went down in.

The guy in the background of the picture is dressed as a "Garbage Pail Kid" named "Pearl Necklace Peter" that's the funniest thing I've seen in this thread thus far.

I over took my first car today.

Wearing a bright pink riding jacket, either a pink helmet or a white one with a pink visor, and being on a scooter tends to lessen the confrontations at stop lights. Which makes it all the more satisfying when I do smoke a sportbike through an intersection. 8)

I was at the light the other day when this Ducati 1199 pulls up and starts revving his engine. He looked over directly at me challenging me. The light changed to green - I was on it though and began twisting the throttle the instant the green light lit... but he shot through the intersection completely smoking me. Meanwhile, the 64 Express I was riding downtown started slowly pulling forwards the next bus stop...