Orlando/Florida Riding Rules and Tips?

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Seems on the East coast of Florida right now, (and later, the entire eastern seaboard) your fixin to have a tropical storm/ hurricane.

If hitting the beach on the east coast, there's supposed to be some SERIOUS Rip currents. Gaurenteed someone will drown in it..

The west coast, should be fine (if your looking for a beach)..

 

[payneib]

Yeah, we got caught in one on our honeymoon in 2008. But I'd literally just got back from a deployment involving disaster relief for a cyclone in Burma, Florida bad weather had nothing on that!

Saw a hog at a junction on the way from the airport to the villa last night. It was really weird seeing a biker just sit in traffic at the lights............

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Saw a hog at a junction on the way from the airport to the villa last night. It was really weird seeing a biker just sit in traffic at the lights............

Yea, it sucks.

Did he have a helmet? Bet NOT!

 

[payneib]

He did actually, but not full face.

 

[payneib]

I have more comments on American driving later........

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

He did actually, but not full face.

Wow, very surprised although you do need $10,000 health insurance and be at least 21 years old to NOT wear one...

In SW Florida, bout 2.5 hours from you, probably 95% of HD riders don't wear helmets.

This am, I actually had an older guy pull up next to me in his van, open his door and mention something about me wearing a helmet (kinda an atta boy)...

 

[payneib]

Wow, very surprised although you do need $10,000 health insurance, be at least 21 years old and be a complete nugget to NOT wear one....

FTFY

Right American driving...............

How the hell do you lot do it??!! It was my first go with an automatic car today and it's a nightmare. Spontaneous gear changes when you don't need it, holding back the power when you do want it. Anyone that prefers that to a proper gearbox needs shooting.

The cars are mental. We're in a GMC Yukon XL, which seems about average around here. ITS A TANK!! Absolutely ridiculous. No one needs this much car, surely? If I tried to drive that in my local town, it'd get wedged in the first corner. Or demolish a house. The blind spot off the mirrors was enough to hide another 4x4 in today!

What's with the speed limits? 45 in a three lane (what I would call) motorway. I guess the authorities are worried my mobile fortress of a car will spontaneously develop a speed wobble and take out half the state when it falls over?

And I met that soccer mom you're all always talking about. A wagon the size of ours, pulling up to a red light. Missing the right side mirror, one hand with her phone to her ear, the other holding a newspaper on the steering wheel while she was talking to the kids in the back. Nuts.

Having a great stay mind you, and the father and brother in laws are driving for the next two days, so I'm off the hook for a bit.

Hiring a bike is right down the list if priorities now. If I've enough dollars left over towards the end, I'll give it a punt. But with the way the roads are, and not many places to go, it's not a priority at all.

 

[Erci]

FTFY

Right American driving...............

How the hell do you lot do it??!! It was my first go with an automatic car today and it's a nightmare. Spontaneous gear changes when you don't need it, holding back the power when you do want it. Anyone that prefers that to a proper gearbox needs shooting.

The cars are mental. We're in a GMC Yukon XL, which seems about average around here. ITS A TANK!! Absolutely ridiculous. No one needs this much car, surely? If I tried to drive that in my local town, it'd get wedged in the first corner. Or demolish a house. The blind spot off the mirrors was enough to hide another 4x4 in today!

What's with the speed limits? 45 in a three lane (what I would call) motorway. I guess the authorities are worried my mobile fortress of a car will spontaneously develop a speed wobble and take out half the state when it falls over?

And I met that soccer mom you're all always talking about. A wagon the size of ours, pulling up to a red light. Missing the right side mirror, one hand with her phone to her ear, the other holding a newspaper on the steering wheel while she was talking to the kids in the back. Nuts.

Having a great stay mind you, and the father and brother in laws are driving for the next two days, so I'm off the hook for a bit.

Hiring a bike is right down the list if priorities now. If I've enough dollars left over towards the end, I'll give it a punt. But with the way the roads are, and not many places to go, it's not a priority at all.

LMAO @ all of the above! I agree with your assessment 100%.

It's a shame most Americans never bother to learn to drive manual, which has been proven to make people better drivers. I too hate driving auto, but it does have its places. Stop-n-go traffic is a common occurrence in my area and that's the one place where I actually prefer auto. However, I only consider auto cars which have manual mode. This way I at least have some control over what transmission is doing :thumbup:

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

That's funny!!! True unfortunatly...

Yep, that beast your driving is bigger than most folks do. You'll drop $100 easy filling it up.

+1 on the roadways... That's why I posted howare these guys are running 10-14,000 RPM's around town?? In my city, I think there may be one road where the speed limit is 60MPH. That's first and second gears??

And yes, not just the old ladies with the phones while driving, a whole bunch more than that. One almost took me out Monday (on the phone jabbering, she had a stop sign, I ddn't, 30MPH zone). The "Stebel" got a work out that day and I know I at least annoyed her phone call.. She missed me BTW :thumbup:

BTW, automatic cars, (short of the sportier cars) are the norm here too.

 

[Cloggy]

IMO It takes a bit of getting use to driving in the states, a far cry from British driving, it’s not so good in slow moving traffic but if you’re looking to going further afield it works very well. I’ve had 2 holidays in the states and both times took a hire car and drove from location to location.

IMO On the American open roads the larger automatic cars work pretty good (especially with the cheaper “gas”), and give you a bit more comfort. The roads in the states are wider, straighter and generally simpler, and I think the right turn rule is great and works well, the whole infrastructure is different, there is not much public transportation (apart from in the cities and around Orlando) which is why everybody who is old enough has to be able to drive to get anywhere.

Here in Europe there is much less space especially in the cities, and as there is a reasonable public transport system in place so you can impose more rules and have stricter driving tests.

These are my own observations and I don’t mean to insult anyone with them (sorry guys ), I think both systems work fine in their own way, both have advantages and disadvantages.

Having said all that, you do have to be extra cautious in and around Orlando due to the extra tourists (Brits) who are in strange surroundings

Have a great holiday and enjoy the American culture :cheer:.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Yepper, Orlando is one of the biggest tourist area's not only in Florida but in the US. Lots of traffic, a good part of it tourists (a big part of the economy).

Most rental cars are the smaller cars, but yep, that truck is becoming the minority with the rising gas prices.

Have fun while your here, maybe you'll pick up an accent!!

 

[MG-242]

Yep, I couldn't agree more on the benefits and experience of driving a manual transmission auto. We have 3 cars and all 3 are sticks. Unfortunately, they are becoming more and more difficult to find. We had to have our new one brought in from another state.

And, yes, large SUV's and cell phones are killing us - literally! Yesterday, inside my helmet, I had to tell mutliple people where to put their phones to see if would help them drive better and the sun don't shine there

Enjoy your visit!

 

[payneib]

Saw two bikes today, both hogs. I think one was the same guy from the other night, but it was full face lid, all the gear and rain suit (what I would consider a properly prepared rider). The other was two up and..........nothing. Jeans, vest, trainers. The mind boggles.

On a slightly lighter note, I drank a bottle of corona today......THROUGH a margarita!!! Mind=blown.

So what's everyone doing to celebrate the Colonial Terrorist Insurrection, Aided by the French Day tomorrow then?

 

[payneib]

rising gas prices.

Lol.

What is it now? $4-5 a gallon? Not been to a petrol station yet. We're paying £1.30 a litre. Or $7.80 a gallon (ish). It's so cheap out here I might start drinking it.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Lol.

What is it now? $4-5 a gallon? Not been to a petrol station yet. We're paying £1.30 a litre. Or $7.80 a gallon (ish). It's so cheap out here I might start drinking it.

I know prices elswhere are much higher however, before out current president, regular was approx $1.87 / gallon.

Almost double that now in roughly 6 years.

IMO, thats a good reason for out economy being in the dumps. Folks spending much more $ for fuel vs other things that could help the economy grow. The fuel costs transfer to transportation costs for food and everything else. One reason why you'll see much smaller cars.

Towns here in the states, most are generally spread out so you need transportation. Buses and trains, (short of in the BIG cities).

 

[payneib]

[MENTION=6338]TownsendsFJR1300[/MENTION] : thought I'd post here, seeing as it's kinda turned into my holiday thread! Lol.

Saw some more bikes on the road today, tshirt shorts flipflop. Obviously safety flipflop......lol. I got up close to harley outside Publix, all I could think was, "bugger cleaning that......". Really nice bike though, and proper helmet left on the seat. Wish I had time to hang about and wait for the owner, maybe have a sit and try it on for size, but family was waiting.

The weather's been good. The evenings a bit muggy hot, but through the day the cloud cover helps keep the sun off, and the rain is only heavy for ten minutes max, and then it's a nice cooling drizzle. Just right for our one year olds first holiday, it's made it really easy on the, "worrying about sunburn and heatstroke" front.

This might sound odd, but what else is there to do around Orlando? It's been our third straight day of Disney today, and I'm out. No more Disney please. Or any other parks. I think we're planning a water park tomorrow, weather dependent, but I'm fairly close to putting my foot down and saying "no".

I might offer to drive everyone out in the mornings, then go look around some harley dealerships, maybe try and snag some cheap kit from some other bike shops, maybe take in a museum? I'd love to find out more about the civil war, or the terrorist insurgency of independence. We're not hitting NASA this year, which sucks, as that's truly my favourite bit of Florida. Maybe we'll come again when little 'uns a bit bigger and I can see the look on his face when he sees the rockets for the first time.

 

[Cloggy]

I think you won't find anything from the war of independance as if I remember correctly Florida was a Spanish colony at the time. There's an old Spanish fort at st Augustine, also an aligator farm and a quaint little town. I loved the NASA thing, but each to his own. We also took a canoe trip somewhere North of Orlando, but that's not really suitable for a 1 year old. We enjoyed sea world, but a week of attractions can get pretty expensive. Maybe a day at the beach kids love that, but you have to be careful which beach you go to, as many beaches have cars on them, which I think is less suitable for kids.
Anyway have a great time:thumbup:

 

[payneib]

Saw this bad boy today:

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Turbo charged Hemi???

 

[payneib]

Not a clue. I couldn't tell you anymore than "it's a Mazda engine, I think six cylinder". The pretty girly stood next to it didn't know anything more than it was built by students at a technical college in Puerto Rico.