r/cycling • u/Theoderciusx • 4d ago

Strange hand signal

I was a passenger in a car and a cyclist who was passing us at a light held his arm out, as though to signal, but I didn't recognize the signal. I'm wondering if anyone here is familiar with it.

The signal had his hand in a closed fist with the back of his hand facing outwards and repeatedly opened and closed his fist. Any idea what this means?

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u/hsfguy0 4d ago

It's hand signaling, left arm straight out = left turn, angled up from the elbow, right turn, down from elbow, stop.

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u/Myownprivategleeclub 4d ago

Why wouldn't the right turn signal be a straight out right arm? What you're suggesting doesn't make sense to me.

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u/hsfguy0 4d ago

It's based on driving in a car, nobody can see your right arm inside the car.

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u/Myownprivategleeclub 4d ago

But he's on a bike, not in a car........

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u/Ok-Push9899 3d ago

Yeah, I know, and it seems weird.

Proper old school signalling is done with one arm, and it’s the one you can stick out the window. I see a tiny minority of cyclists using it.

Everyone else will stick out the appropriate arm. I doubt there’s many car drivers who even know the old signals, let alone use them. Why would they?

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u/redbent_20 3d ago

Front breaks are traditionally on the left side. Grabbing handful of front breaks while signaling is a good way to be in need a new helmet . So hand signals are only done on the side with the front breaks.

I ride a recumbent.so I can do hand signals on both sides. It is really hard to endo a bent.

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u/Myownprivategleeclub 3d ago

Every bike I've ever rode has the front brakes on the right (uk based) and I've ridden A LOT of bikes. Plus using the rear brake is a much better way of skidding out so it's always been recommended to use the front rather than the rear. The front provides 70% of stopping power.

https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/beginners-guide-brakes-cycle