The Wave
If you've ever logged into any motorcycle forum online, you've undoubtedly seen more than one thread dedicated to The Wave. Do you wave to other bikers? How about sport bikes? Metric bikes? What about scooters? For something as simple as a casual greeting between people on the road, it sure does consume a lot of web space.
Personally, I wave at just about everyone on two or three wheels. The way I see it, we all have the same chance of being creamed by a Q-tip turning left in front of us, so we
all belong to the same tribe. (With apologies to any Q-tips out there who might be offended. Actually, since my hair is almost all white now, I guess I qualify as a Q-tip now too. Dang. I think I've offended myself. I might have to quit
speaking to me.) At any rate, I do wave at almost everybody: sport bikes, metrics, Harley's; even motorcycle cops, who will very often wave back. I don't know why that surprises me but it does. I've almost decided to quit waving at scooters
though. They almost never return the wave. I think they're spending all of their energy trying to look as intimidating as possible, which isn't easy while riding a scooter. All things considered though, I figure I get about an 80% return on my
waves. Sometimes, if I'm in the middle of a turn, an intersection or otherwise preoccupied, I might not see an incoming wave until the last second and I only have time to do The Nod. It's not as overt as The Wave, but it'll do in
a pinch. Since I do occasionally miss a wave completely, I try not to be bothered when someone doesn't return one of mine. There is, after all, a lot going on when you're controlling several hundred pounds of pure, unadulterated v-twin power,
so a missed wave is to be expected now and again. Of course, as with all things, there are exceptions to the rule. I suspend all waving activity during Bike Week and Biketoberfest. There are just too dang many bikes out on the
road, and quite frankly, I get tired of all that waving. This seems to be a mutual, silent agreement among us, because no one else waves during those weeks either. Then there's the question of how to wave. Being exceptionally cool, at least
in my own mind, I use the two-finger wave, down low. (That's as opposed to the one-finger salute, up high. I do admit I've given that greeting before too, but that's another subject.) I know some bikers who give specific instructions to their
passengers. "You're job is to look good and wave to all other bikers." Not a bad idea. So if you see me on the road, give me a wave if I don't throw one your way first. It's a nice way to acknowledge a fellow biker and it makes the people
driving cages wonder what they're missing.
