There is nothing more difficult.

Traffic in general, or major city traffic?

General traffic, a 7 or 8.

Major city traffic (potholes, cabs, buses) 8 or 9.

IMHO I would think a 10 in mental effort would land you in the looney bin after 30 minutes or so of that level of riding.

There are a lot of variables.
Areas around major shopping centers tend to be cluster making the beast with two backs, and can score up to 9.
Limited acess blvd's with moderate speed limits can be as low 2.
Time of day and day of the week is huge, a M-F 8 - 9 can be a 2-3 on Sunday morning.

i had to say a 6 because in my opinion 5 is average, and i only have to think a little bit more than driving my car to ride the bike.  but then again, i drive my car really careful and pay ALOT of attention to the people around me because i dont want it to get hit.  to me, riding a bike is not that hard in traffic.  and almost everything i do is a instinct rather than a thought process.

also it may be worth mentioning that i live in a smaller city and the traffic is different here than in bigger cities.  we do not have any highways in town, and its just stoplight after stoplight after stoplight, but i would rather have to deal with traffic on the interstate than in my town.

Most of us think of it in a lesser sort of way, cuz we do it (some all the time) and it seems an average thing to us. But ask someone who is new to it and/or riding in general and you'll get a diff perception.

And that "casual" perception of it is what gets most of us into trouble at some point. To be as safe as possible in traffic and in general, it should get a 9-10 on your attention scale but then most folks can't concentrate for that long... 

needs to be a 2-axis choice.

you need lots of skill or lots of luck.

the drunken infant whos a lucky sonovapregnant dog will do fine.

likewise, the cursed surgeon will get nailed.

sounds stupid, but i know guys who i won't ride with because they are idiots but who've never so much as laid a bike down in a parking lot and have ridden 20+ years.

I would say 10 ....... you will survive ...... end of story

Quote from: CDawg on June 24, 2008, 12:52:19 PM
I remember reading somewhere that it takes 2-4x more mental effort to ride a motorcycle compared to driving

Co-ordination? IMO, it doesn't take any more coordination to ride a bike in traffic than it does to ride one down a dirt road.

What it DOES take is more skill, experience, confidence, and situational awareness.

Traffic is easy.  It's the open road - and the wealth available options - that I find problematic. 

Quote from: dlearl476 on June 25, 2008, 09:08:08 PM
Co-ordination? IMO, it doesn't take any more coordination to ride a bike in traffic than it does to ride one down a dirt road.

What it DOES take is more skill, experience, confidence, and situational awareness.

and don't forget oodles of joie de vivre!

Quote from: ducatizzzz on June 25, 2008, 06:33:29 PM

sounds stupid, but i know guys who i won't ride with because they are idiots but who've never so much as laid a bike down in a parking lot and have ridden 20+ years.

Quote from: FatguyRacer on June 27, 2008, 06:06:01 AM

rofl

i meant they are stupid riders, doing stupid things, but have been very lucky.

I ride the 110 to the 10  freeway everyday during rush hour. Its about a 22 mile ride one way to work and traffic is stop and go the whole way. It takes a high degree of concentration, coordination, and balls to make it there and home in one piece. I agree the stress level is high cars trying to squish you, cutting you off, the people on cell phones who are not looking where they are going. Every day I get cut off, boxed out, panic stopped in front of me or someone try's to change lanes when I am right next to them. All this from Downtown to Santa Monica and back. But still I would rather ride than be stuck behind the wheel of a car. So I would have to give it a 10 with a combination of city and freeway driving during rush hours I feel like I should get some kind of trophy when I get home!

Quote from: Mika on June 24, 2008, 01:37:17 PM
it is also a matter of TOTAL CONCENTWATION

Excellent movie.