Turning

• Left Turn - Signaled by the Road Captain, and passed on through the group, by extending the left arm horizontally.
• Right Turn - Signaled by the Road Captain, and passed on through the group, by extending the left upper arm horizontal with the forearm bent 90 degrees vertically upward.

Slowing Down

• Signaled by the Road Captain, and passed on through the group, by extending an arm horizontally and making an up and down movement of the arm with the palm down, parallel to the ground.

Stopping

• Signaled by the Road Captain, and passed through the group, by extending an arm towards the ground with the palm facing backward with the fingers spread.

Pointing Out Road Hazards

• Signal initiated by ANYONE seeing a hazardous condition on the road surface (road kill, oil, gravel, significant pot hole, etc.)
• point the left or right hand downward at a 45° angle at it. All following riders will repeat this, and all riders will avoid the hazard.
• A hazard can also be indicated by extending the left leg for a hazard on the left or extending the right leg for a hazard on the right.

Single File

• When conditions warrant single file (narrow road, anticipated wind-blast from trucks, obstruction, pedestrians, etc.) the Road Captain will raise his/her left hand straight up, holding up just the index finger.
• All other riders will repeat this, and the two columns will merge into one.
• When single file is signaled the riders should begin increasing their distance to 2 or 3 seconds between motorcycles.

Returning to Double File

• After singling up, when single file is no longer necessary, the Road Captain will raise his left hand with thumb and pinky out, other fingers closed, rotating his wrist back and forth (indicating left, right, left, right).
• All other riders will repeat this and resume staggered formation.

Tighten Up the Formation

• When the Road Captain feels that the formation should be tighter (bikes closer together) (usually after being informed by the Tail Gunner), he raises his left hand with fingers spread wide and repeatedly closes them into a fist.
• All other riders repeat this and close up all unnecessary space in the formation.

Turning Around

• Signaled by the Road Captain, and passed back through the group, by motioning rapidly in a horizontal circle with the left hand and with a single finger extended.

Pointing Out Scenic Points

• Signaled by any rider who wants to point something out to the group by sweeping their left hand from right to left across in front of them and is passed back to the last rider.>

Telling a Rider Their Signal is Still On

• Signaled with the left upper arm horizontal with the forearm vertically upward, with the fingers toward the helmet, and making a "C" with the thumb and forefinger, opening and closing the fingers several times.

Start Your Engine

• Signaled by the Road Captain rotating, in a circle, his/her vertically extended arm over their head

Stop Your Engine

• Signaled by the Road Captain making a horizontal movement with their hand under their chin.

Rest Stop

• Signaled by any rider by extending the left arm upwards and tapping the palm on top of the helmet several times.
• The signal should be passed ahead by the other riders to the Road Captain.

Gasoline Stop

• Signaled by any rider by patting or pointing to their gas tank.
• The signal should be passed ahead by the other riders to the Road Captain.

Food Stop

• Signaled by any rider pointing to their mouth.
• The signal should be passed ahead to the Road Captain.

Filling in When a Rider Leaves the Group

• We use the criss-cross method.
• If a riding position becomes vacant, the rider closest to the vacant position will signal and head check, and then move into that vacant position.
• This will trigger a chain reaction all the way down the formation to the tail gunner.
• The criss-cross method is considered to be safer by our chapter because the action all happens in front of you and it is never necessary to pass a rider in some possibly unexpected way which may startle the rider being passed.