Safe filtering

Lane filtering or motorcycle filtering is riding between lanes in slow or stationery traffic.

Being able to safely and confidently filter is an essential slow speed skill for riders to have, especially those who regularly ride in traffic.

In developing filtering skills, the goal is to be able to ride the motorcycle as slowly as possible while maintaining complete balance and control. A good rider should be able to achieve this from a virtual standstill to a walking pace.

Lane filtering is legal in all Australian states and territories if done safely, but there are some restrictions. One common requirement nationwide is that the rider must travel at less than 30 km/h, but you should check with your local authority to ensure you’re meeting the relevant legal requirements of your state.

Filter skills

A quiet or empty carpark provides the perfect location in which riders can practice. Here are some key considerations that will help the rider master their filtering skills.

1: Head up

The best starting point to begin practicing filtering is to keep the head up with eyes forward. There’s a good reason for doing this; the organs of balance are in the inner ear; they’re called the vestibular system which include fluid-filled loops. These respond to the rotation of the head, so if a rider looks down, they may find that they get a bit wobbly – it’s very easy to drop the head, so they must concentrate on eyes forward and looking ahead.

2: Vision

When a rider is in traffic and looking ahead and in the direction they want to go, there’ll be cars on either side when filtering, so they should use their peripheral vision to watch those vehicles. The peripheral vision is like a ‘fight or flight’ mechanism for the body, so if there’s movement like a car coming across a lane, indicators going on, or somebody opening their door, a rider is more likely to see that and react quicker peripherally, than if they were looking directly at it.

3: Engine

The next thing riders need to understand is how to use the bike to help them. To go as slow as possible, you increase the engine revs to about double the idle, and what that does is stablise the motorcycle. The engine and the crankshaft spinning and so forth, create forces that help balance the bike, making it less wobbly.

4: Rear brake

When filtering, the rider stays in gear and the back brake is engaged – the front brake isn’t used at all during this slow speed technique, only the back brake which is ‘dragged’ along.

Make sure your brakes are in good, working condition and use high quality Bendix Moto brake pads on your bike. They're suitable for a wide variety of motorcycles including cruisers, commuters and small / medium trail and touring bikes, as well as large capacity bikes.

5: Clutch

Along with the rear brake engaged, the clutch is in the friction zone, allowing power to be slowly fed in as needed.

6: Body

How the rider’s body and limbs are best positioned on the bike is also important to know. The closer a rider’s arms are to being at 90 degrees to the steering stem the better – in this position riders have greater bike control.

If you’re too far on the handlebars, then it’s much harder to control and feel the bike properly.

Having the core engaged is also beneficial. A good way to practice core engagement is to put the stand down, sit on the bike and lean forward so the riders feels the weight on their arms – then take the arms away and the rider should feel the core engaged.

That’s the feeling they should have on the bike, so there’s a light effort on the bars, they’re not holding on too tightly.

Putting it all together

When drilling safe filtering, the rider should keep all the individual elements in mind and try to put them together: first gear riding as slowly as possible, throttle is at double idle revs, clutch in the friction zone, rear brake dragging, eyes looking ahead, arms 90 degrees to the steering stem and core engaged.

It can take up to 10,000 hours to perfect a new skill, so it’s important that riders keep practicing so that the filtering process becomes second nature when they’re out riding in traffic.

As a leading manufacturer of quality brake pads for the motorcycle industry, Bendix knows the importance of rider safety, that’s why the company has partnered with leading Australian riding school, motoDNA, to develop a series of tutorials to help keep riders safer on the road.

For more in-depth training options, motoDNA, offer choices spanning from traditional rider training through to the innovative Digital Academy, which provides a platform for riders to practice their riding skills at their own pace, in their own time and on their favourite roads.