He takes his left hand from the handlebars as we pass, giving me the motorcyclists' high sign. Two fingers, like "peace" but not meaning peace, pointed outward or toward the ground at 45 degrees. Most bikers greet each other this way.

There seem to be rules about the high sign. I still haven't figured them out, therefore this treatise, this inquiry. I have figured out the following rules:

Rule #1 - the default option is that all bikers signal this way when they pass each other.

Rule #2 - Rule #1 can be modified by circumstances, not limited to:

a. the median - I have noticed that most bikers treat the median as if it creates a wall of impenetrability, and they do not signal if the signal would have to travel across the median.

b. lane proximity - the signal is not typically made when more than one lane separates opposing traffic.

c. freeway - usually, since there is both a median and a lane proximity issue, bikers don't greet when travelling opposite directions on the freeway, even if they can clearly see each other.

d. conditions - if I'm tight into a corner, like hell I'm taking my hands off the handlebars. Unless I'm in a left turn, and then I would. Right turn, forget it. Bad weather also trumps the signal if signalling would create an unsafe circumstance. Under questionable conditions, other signals may occur (see "Types of high signs", below).

e. Bike Snobbery (tm) - Some people just don't cross over. You're more likely to get a return on your high sign if the other biker rides something by the same manufacturer as your bike. Sport bikers seem more ready to signal to me on my Honda cruiser than Harley riders are.

f. gender - Chicks cross over to signal other kinds of bikes more than guys. Or maybe I'm just wishing they did.
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Types of high signs:

The conventional high sign is two fingers, like the peace sign, held briefly down and away from the left handlebar.

Variations:

Whole hand down - just no peace sign.

Whole hand up - howdy, pardner!

one finger - index finger lifts off the handlebar. Used when the rider is lazy, or when it wouldn't be safe to signal otherwise.

Head bob - when time, distance, or circumstance prevents taking the left hand away from the controls, riders may bob their heads at each other, chucking their chin upward to show that they've seen the other person and acknowledge their inherent biker coolness.
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Emotional Trauma of the Unreturned Signal

I feel affronted when other bikers don't "hey" me back. What did I do? Is it because I'm a chick? Because I have a bike that's only 600ccs? Because it's not a Harley, or not a Kawasaki, or not a sport bike? Am I a total poser, in my black jacket and leather chaps and half helmet, and do they KNOW I'm a poser, more to the point? Did their biker radar go off and therefore exclude me from high-sign consideration?

Naw, he/she was just being a dick.

Okay, that's my initial reaction, but I can cut them some slack. Maybe they were concentrating on riding safely, or on their grocery list or their kid's birthday or what they were going to do to their lover when they got home, all sweaty and monoxided from the road. Maybe they just spaced out.

Maybe, just maybe, karma is served when I give the high sign and I don't worry about whether or not I get one back.

I bow to your Buddha nature, other rider, and then I potato-potato-potato off into the sunset, or the middle distance, or your dreams.