A good read sir, but I have a few queries.

1. In every offline G2G event, we've 10+ riders with varying riding levels. We ride for 100s of kms via highways? Is that way too dangerous?
2. Assuming I keep my group small (say 5 riders with similar traits), how does a newbie learn?
3. And most importantly, is a similar thing possible in India? I have seen that 'generally' trucks/cars give way to a fairly large biker group, even though the 'cars' can outrun all bikes easily.

Thanks Divya. As for your queries:

Yes, 10+ riders together would face the very dangers elaborated in my above post. I have always advocated small groups. Break down your numbers into smaller sub-groups of 5 or so and put in a gap of half a mile or so between each sub-groups. You can always co-ordinate on phone if not in visual contact.

Newbies are best placed within the group and a couple of them squeezed between the lead and the sweep will give them enough exposure to learn and practice. Typically you tend to have newbies and experienced riders distributed either in equal numbers across a group or majorly the more experienced ones are more in number. There is no hard demarcation dividing the magnitude of experience though but those willing for and initiating a long distance group ride usually have some confidence in their riding ability, which invariably comes from experience and so the majority naturally tends towards being experienced.

I have myself experienced aggressive behavior of motorists on the highway here if they feel encumbered or obstructed by too large a group of bikes, especially if the bikers are hogging the road by spreading out across its width. They tend to squeeze in between the group during an overtaking move. Feeling obstructed is also natural as everyone has an equal right to passage. Of course the behavior dynamics would change when a couple of automobiles face a huge horde of bikers - the sheer numbers would suppress the aggression within the worst of them.

Thats something I have always advocated on Pune xBHP group rides. We would inadvertently fall into groups of that size riding with people we are comfortable with. At least we used to (not been to Pune on a bike for a few months now ).

But this exact behavior is something that pisses off Mumbai xBHP people. This topic has been discussed at length on Mumbai-Pune G2Gs (and the respective G2G threads) too. Would love it if Mumbai people put their point of view forward.

Nice read, these are obviously one of the few perils of group riding. one more thing i would like to suggest is, the width of the band, the group occupies on road should not be too much.

and the distance between each rider should be related to the speed, above 100 kmph, maintain atleast 10 mtr.s.

Thanks for the very informative post OF. Never have given a thought to group riding as I always ride solo. So now will keep a watchful eye if ever riding in a group.

Group riding!! Ah, tell me about it! After having led a few of the massive interstate rides here down south I can tell a few things for sure...


- All theory goes for a toss when we have about 50 odd bikes doing 300-400-500kms in a day!

- In the end it all boils down to leadership, leadership from the lead & sweep rider!

- Breaking down into smaller groups DOES NOT work ... Simple fact is that on a long ride, the smaller groups will catchup with each other and it will be difficult to keep distance then.

- The toughest part of a maintaining group order/formation is overtaking fast (but slower than you) vehicles. And being overtaken by faster vehicles.

- We might say that with regular group riding people will start following a rhythm, but many times at least 20-40% of the riders are new to the group. So the final and most important line is that *all* the riders need to have a cool head and they should be able to lead the person behind them and be led by the person ahead of them.

Praful babu: you are almost a mass leader of bikers there . Yes, the lead and sweep make all the difference.

What you say of such big groups is also absolutely correct. Size matters in the wild and it is a jungle out there on the roads. 50+ bikers are a 'gang', however disciplined and sober they are on the road, just due to sheer numbers and nobody pressures such a huge organism!

Breaking down into smaller groups works, and that is needed in numbers close to 10-15, if all participants realise the greater safety in split groups. Catching up and becoming a large group once again defeats the very purpose of splitting. So there is a need for clarity on the necessity of riding as a small group.

Overtaking (whether you do it or get overtaken) is the point of closest interface with other traffic and that's where the highest probability of trouble lies. And just imagine the plight of a car (with a family in it) getting overtaken by a huge horde of roaring engines and battle-clad knights .

I seem to be agreeing with both Of sir & praful

Sir :bcoz that's the way it should be done ideally

praful:That's the way it happens practically

somewhere between there exists the equilibrium which is the most difficult to achieve but results in a safe ride

Very thoughtful article sir. I have experienced this issue a few times while riding in group, especially in two-lane roads. We have to agree that this will cause a problem to four wheelers. I completely agree with OF sir recommending smaller groups.

Who have you been discussing this with? Me? DK? Ketan? Rachit? Any other oldy here? Do let us know

And I am sure by smaller groups OF didnt mean groups of 1 who ride away with no sense of responsibility towards other riders.
And why bring up Mumbai (leave asides pune) when we have NEVER EVER ridden in a ride led/tailed by you???

As far as riding in a formation protocol is concerned, the Old Mumbai clan has had enough incident free huge formation rides.
Even the Videocon Ducati ride had a sizeable number. We broke up in smaller groups and still rode as 1 giant group

In that image I am leading the second group.

We are parked safely, We are not hindering the road traffic which this pic seems to do


My two cents about Group "Formation" riding
- Make groups of 10
- Ride in a comfortable pace and let people choose their group basis their speed preference, Faster+Able guys in first and last groups
- DO NOT be an obstruction to traffic
- Ride in a staggered form
- Keep enough braking distance from the one ahead
- Watch out and point for road hazards
- As a leader dont let your followers disappear

Ok here's an example why it fails to work :-

Assume we have a group of 50 bikes, split into 5 groups of 10 each. Now 10 is a very manageable number!

Assume that all 50 going to be riding at similar speeds of 80-120 Kmph

And each group leaves with a 5 minutes gap between each other.

The only way they will remain within 5 minutes of each other is there is *no* traffic on the road. This assuming that everyone rides at a similar pace.

Practically speaking most such large groups rides are done during daylight, at a time when there are other road users too. And this is where the split groups fail. Usually when a small group hits either of the following -

1. City/Town/Village Bypass OR the Outer limits of either
2. Fast moving trucks which take time to overtake
3. Fast moving cars which take time to overtake
4. Or anything that slows down riding on the highway

This is when the group ahead will have to drop pace and will get slowed down in overtaking say a large truck, these disturbances reduce the time/distance gap between groups and usually over a 100 kms stretch most groups catch up and form a larger group.

There also another problem, wherein it becomes difficult to increase the starting time gap between each group, if its made 10 odd minutes people will start getting restless.

All things said and done, I usually recommend an early start and only division of speed groups [With each group being led and swept by the fastest bikers (not bikes )]. Though in the past it has happened that the Slow Group reached before the Fast Group, classical case of Tortoise and Hare story

BUT breaking down into small groups will work if the ride is a small ride and does not involve covering large distances! Since there is plenty of time to cover the short distance!

I remember my first large group ride we were about 24 bikes from Chennai & Bangalore thundering down a state highway, I could see the fear in the villagers when we'd pass through. Reminded me of the movies of the yesteryear's where the Daaku's would come charging into villages and everyone would be running helter skelter screaming at the top of their lungs bhaagooooo daaku xyz aa gaya

One thing I learned firmly is...what works in the West doesn't work here or may be what worked in the 50's in West works here now
Add to that, during the 2010 interstate meet, I witnessed even the Govt buses yielding to bikers with a group of 12 members atleast.

Just FYI, I was referring to the very first ISG2G in 2008, where we took the route from Vaniyambadi to Salem not via Krishnagiri

satyen chill & agreed

sometimes antz goes from mod to member to mod again

& yeah -- do we need to justify -- afaik there hasn't been any huge group rides in the history of xbhp as much as from mumbai & that automatically adds credibility to what's practiced being right & what is wrong

This being a generic discussion should be kept as such only