Other than a display of bravery and a suicide wish?

maybe to prevent lane sharing. I have had people try and get beside me . that whole piece of lane belongs to one person. some do not understand that.

The edge of the road is usually worse. More potholes, broken pavement, and all the other road debris like gravel.

Plus it gives you a little more time to react to things coming out into the road from the right. examples: deer and cars.

iam assuming your talking about motorcycles.but around here bicyclists are just as bad if not worse. it makes my blood boil when they are riding 2 or 3 abreast wont pull over and let you go around them. they spent well over a million dollars on a bike path but they still choose to ride on our country rodes like they own them. last time I checked they didn't pay any motor fuel tax.

Every once in great while on freeway here or close or somewhere . Come across cycle club with jackets an colors. Not often. Rarely 1 per centers or outlaw bikers. More sight them yrs ago . Seen about 10-12 awhile ago go home from work. Couldn't see name on jackets but from tx. Newer bikes with fairings an helmets . Dress up more expense outfits. Sometime u see them travel to the big Sturgis biker rally come up or from it . That in August ?

They're trying to stay in the track of 4 wheel vehicles I believe. Just something I have heard.

Good reasons stated. Middle of the lane is avoided due to oil trail from leaking crankcases. Not a big deal most of the time but can be very slippery when wet in some stretches.

Also, the driver in front of you will see you easier in his/her rearview mirror if you're next to the centerline.

Those pedal bikers love the shoulder line also when they have 4 feet of paved shoulder to ride on. Going up hill they are constantly in and out of traffic like wack a mole.

As stated above. Staying in the tire tread area for less debris and oil etc, and easier to avoid collision from people turning onto the road into your lane.

It's for visibility to other drivers. Also prevents people coming into the lane and wiping them out.

Fill up a squirt gun full of Coyote Urine. Ride by them. And hose them down. Bet after that they stay on bike trails ! LoL!!

^^^This. I was at one time a certified motorcycle safety instructor and this is what we taught.

Around here they ride ON the center line. Or at least the crotch rockets do on any multilane road.
Seems our laws against lane splitting does not apply.

Legally they have as much right to use the roads as motor vehicles, or so my bunghole biker brother is fond of saying to anyone that listens.

Maybe but do they have to constantly remind us every five minutes? I'm beginning to wonder if they aren't short bus special.

It's Sturgis time. Just wondering.

I live a few hours from Sturgis, and we have plenty of bikes (motorcycles) going through here right now. I counted about 225 yesterday, that I met in 32 miles

All were headed north to SD

The biggest group was about 27

12 years ago, my son and I were out before daylight, going up to SD border to hunt coyotes. We turned at Mule Creek Junction, where the highway forks, and there is a rest area at that intersection

There was a sign saying ‘Free ice water’, with a few pallets of bottled water, and a few tables, that were manned by 6 or 8 guys that were obviously ‘bikers’

My son needed to use the rest room, and was about 8 at the time, so I walked in to the building with him, and then back out again when he was done

We were headed back to the pickup to head east, when a couple of the guys called out to us “Hey, you guys want a bottle of water?”

To make a long story short, we spent about 10 minutes visiting with them, drank a bottle of ice cold water, and ate a few cookies they’d brought

They explained that they bought pallets of water in Newcastle every year, brought them to that rest area, and gave them away, free for the asking. They said they knew water was important to stay hydrated and alert, and a break was good for anyone.

These weren’t guys that were playing ‘biker’ for the weekend, they were the real deal, and some wore patches that I’ve came to recognize in the last 12 years.

They were fun to visit with, and I finally asked:

“OK, what’s the deal with the first bike in a group riding right on the center line”

They didn’t hesitate a bit in explaining that they did that to push over oncoming traffic, and that they took turns doing it sometimes, on long trips. They knew it was dangerous, but they felt it needed to be done

I pointed at the big grill guard and bumper on my Ford pickup, and said I know that they often passed with in inches of that bumper…

They just shrugged and kind of laughed it off

We thanked them for the water and visit and headed out

Since then, I’ve seen the big groups do it 100’s of times, and I have no reason to doubt what those guys had told me.

By the way, I think they only were able to use the rest area to give away the water for one more year, and the state told them they couldn’t do it anymore

Maybe there were more reasons involved, but I can say that I saw 100’s of bikes there at times that week

Wonder how many West Coast Mirror conflicts they've lost? LOL

If you are talking pedal bikes, this is true. But legally they are also required to follow all the same laws as motor vehicles*, and it is illegal for them to ride two abreast. We used to call the extended mirrors on pickups for pulling trailers, "bicycle mirrors" because they stuck way out at just the right height catch bicyclers.

*Back when I was in high school, one of the guys in my class got a DUI on a bicycle. He knew he was to drunk to drive, so he took his little brothers bike, he was apparently too drunk to bike also and managed to run into a light pole and crash. To add insult to injury, while he was at the hospital getting stitched up the cops did a blood alcohol test and gave him a DUI and a MIP. A couple years later I knew of a guy who got a speeding ticket on a bicycle, going 39 mph in a 20 mph school zone. Really quite impressive he got a bicycle up to 39 mph, even if it was downhill.

We ride the center line to give us more time to react to deer, bear, coyotes, etc. as well in Northern Wi.