What Does It Mean When A Biker Puts Their Left Hand Up With The Palm Facing Forward?

While riding with your biker gang, you need to be aware of some important things on the road. Every biker in your group should drive close to each other so that in case something happens to one of your members, for example, if they run into an accident, all the other members of the group can quickly come to their rescue. Along with this, each member of the group should be connected to each other via call. This will ensure that the leader doesn't have to ask everyone to stop whenever they want to pass on an important message.

While staying connected via phone or Bluetooth helmet is great for communication, you must also be aware of different hand gestures that bikers use. For instance, the leader of your biker group may swing their left palm downward to signal other bikers of the group to slow down. Similarly, there's another important hand gesture that you should be aware of while riding in a group. This signal involves a biker putting their left hand up with the palm facing forward. It's mainly shown by the leader of the group to signal other bikers to follow them.

While riding in a group, it's important to have a leader. They're usually the people aware of the road conditions, know the best route to the destination, and, most importantly, have good management skills. A biker putting their left hand up with the palm facing forward is apparently a group management signal. This hand gesture is also known as "Follow me."

This gesture is mainly shown by the group leader when they want the other bikers to follow them. Other bikers are then supposed to follow the leader until any other hand signal, like two fingers up, is shown. There may be situations when the current group leader wants to transfer the charge to someone else. Maybe because the other person knows the road ahead better, or there's some issue with the current leader's bike, because of which they have to leave the ride in between.

In any such case, the current group leader will use another group management signal to transfer the leadership. You'll see them extending their left arm roughly 45° downward, with their palm open and facing forward. They'll then move their hand multiple times from back to front in an arc. At that point, the backup leader is expected to take charge of the journey ahead. Generally, bikers always consider such scenarios before starting their trip and have someone assigned as a backup leader to take up the responsibility in case the current leader has to step down for any reason.