Some nice pics there, thx. It's great that your missus is also into bikes and can enjoy the hobby with you. No such luck for me - have taken my other half out exactly twice as a pillion, several years ago. First time I didn't exceed 30mph on a 10 minute trip around the block, second time was a couple of laps of Richmond Park in london at an average speed of maybe 30-35mph with nary a junction or any other traffic to bother us...
If I close my eyes, I can still hear the screaming and feel the pincer like death-grip around my waist - really! Sod that for a game of soldiers - I think we both decided at the same time, and with equal conviction, that biking was something I was going to be doing without the pleasure of her company from then on.
Fortunately I've got a couple of mates who ride, and so does my lil' bro. It wasn't nice seeing him nearly executed in front of me a couple of years ago by an utter remorseless dickhead who'd decided it was a good move to overtake the car in front without indicating or looking in his mirrors while my bro was 75% of the way through overtaking him, but probably best not to dwell on that crap - suffice to say it's indelibly etched on my mind as it unfolded in slow motion in front of me. Have had a couple of knocks and scrapes myself but nothing of any great significance or worthy of a post here, thank god. Your accident on the A27 sounds fairly grim, have ridden on that bit of road many times.
@slacker - don't see why you can't post a bit of biking stuff here as long as people are interested in it (I, for one, am) - it's no more or less relevant than most of the stuff in the ChitChat forum and nobody's forced to read it. That's my take on it anyway.
remorseless dickhead who'd decided it was a good move to overtake the car in front without indicating or looking in his mirrors while my bro was 75% of the way through overtaking him, but probably best not to dwell on that crap -
Not the first time I've heard of it happening (happened to a colleague at work, the car in front was right up the arse of a tractor and not looking like she was ever going to overtake, so he overtook and the dozy bint suddenly decided she'd overtake the tractor without looking). I think the police prosecuted her for careless driving, and my colleague was hobbling about for a couple of months. There's also a video on YouTube of something similar happening, shot from the biker's point of view, somewhere in Europe.
Car drivers aren't taught to do a "lifesaver" before pulling out and overtaking (and if they are, they forget). Most cars have enormous blind spots - if I ever change lane in my car I always do a "lifesaver" because the blind spot in the mirror is large enough to conceal a 17.5 tonne truck. A quick check over the shoulder confirms that I'm not going to barge into someone who's passing me.
As such I would be *extremely* cautious when overtaking a car that looks likely that it may also want to overtake whatever's in front because chances are he'll just pull out when he feels like it without proper observation.
Car drivers aren't taught to do a "lifesaver" before pulling out and overtaking (and if they are, they forget). Most cars have enormous blind spots - if I ever change lane in my car I always do a "lifesaver" because the blind spot in the mirror is large enough to conceal a 17.5 tonne truck. A quick check over the shoulder confirms that I'm not going to barge into someone who's passing me.
Yeah, same here - my car driving improved when I starting riding a bike as it's easier to do the same checks in both like you say. The amazing thing was, we were following the guy for a good minute or more before he decided to swing out - he must have known there were bikes behind him (even without checking his mirrors, I had a somewhat moody exhaust at the time that could probaby be heard in the next county). If he'd just flicked his indicator on to give a second or so's warning of his impending stupidity, that would've been enough.
Still, you have to take the rough with the smooth I guess. 99% of drivers, even in London, are actually fine in my experience. It's the 1% you've got to stay wary of!
It now has 20 odd miles on the clock, cos she has now ridden from Milton Keynes to Bedford
at the Suzuki dealership
D'oh! Petrol station shut, but we can wave at the guy in Honda dealership, we looked at his bikes last week :twisted:
Her dad's support vehicle has everything and the kitchen sink. He can get to Spain on one tank full, and doesn't actually have to get out, like ever.
Hmm. 90mpg you say
right we'll just top this up by putting a whole ?2's worth in, and then reset the trip meter, and wait until the pretty yellow light comes on
Camper van wins a drag race. that' can't be right.
Still, you have to take the rough with the smooth I guess. 99% of drivers, even in London, are actually fine in my experience. It's the 1% you've got to stay wary of!
trust me , there are plenty of numpty drivers outside london also ;) it's busier for sure, but paradise circle/circus ? is a joke to navigate in brum
with a bike you have to bed in the engine like I did with my car? for hhm 1000 miles etc?
Your home looks smaller than mine but thankfully you don't have Victor Meldrew on one side and the Addams Family on the other.. (and the crazy woman who loves cats with her sex manic son in 216)
trust me , there are plenty of numpty drivers outside london also ;) it's busier for sure, but paradise circle/circus ? is a joke to navigate in brum
Oh yeah, I agree totally. The difference for me (and maybe it's just psychological) is the level of sheer agression there tends to be around london. I've never had anyone deliberately drive their car *at* me to prevent me filtering in heavy traffic anywhere other than in london (and it's happened there several times). I just think, albeit a huge generalisation, that people have less regard for each other the closer to central london you get.
That VanVan looks really nice though thx1138. Lovely colour scheme. If I had somewhere to keep it, I'd love something like that myself just for mucking around on. I've got no space though, and I don't like the idea of leaving bikes parked in the street for any length of time as they're like scrote magnets round here.
The trouble is if just 0.1% drivers are terrible drivers, you're probably going to have at least two or three near you in any given journey (how many thousands of cars do you see on your commute?)
The other problem is a small percentage of drivers have a real problem with motorcyclists filtering - they think if they can't make progress, then nobody else should be allowed to, and deliberately try to block them. (Filtering is indeed a legal and recognised practice in the Highway Code). I read a news story a few weeks back where a car driver decided "there was not enough space for a motorcycle to pass" and therefore deliberately moved out to block a passing bike "for his safety", pushing him into oncoming traffic. That particular driver received a jail sentence. (Good. He should also receive a lifetime driving ban).
With people that try to block me filtering, I bide my time, I appear to ignore them, don't shout or hit my horn or even look at them, then pass as soon as the opportunity allows - which it will.
With people that try to block me filtering, I bide my time, I appear to ignore them, don't shout or hit my horn or even look at them, then pass as soon as the opportunity allows - which it will.
Yeah... I like to give a customary cheery wave as I go past them too for added effect. :)
A friend has had somebody open their car door in front of him on the M25 in a jam. He managed to brake in time but there then ensued a stand-up row between him and the car driver who didn't like the idea of him filtering through the stationary traffic. After a minute or two, in a case of near perfect timing, a police motorcycle (presumably on his way to the accident that caused the jam...) happened upon them and absolutely let rip at the motorist. I assume he also issued a ticket as the guy shouldn't have been out his car on the motorway, but my mate had gone by that point.
Yellow car could and should have stopped, but I think the policeman was unwise in pulling out in front of an HGV. Not only is an HGV is going to struggle to manoeuvre at short notice (credit to the driver for doing so - I thought the truck was going to hit the bike), but it hugely blocks the view of following traffic. Once the yellow car has a clear view (there is a car between the yellow car and the HGV) what he sees is going to be completely unexpected on a motorway. Yes, he had time to stop, but it looks like he made no effort until it was too late. If he was nattering on his phone then throw the book at him, but coming across a stationary obstacle at motorway speeds with seconds of warning is a nightmare.
It's just down to bad observation. 10 seconds in, the truck has already seen the cop before he has pulled in front of him, he's on the hash markings looking at the oncoming traffic hand raised, they've both seen each other. Yellow car driver is in a world of his own, not looking.
Vehicles behind the yellow car are not 100% blame free, not looking far enough down the road and scanning for possible situations to arise, second one fannys about a bit perhaps out of understandable shock/panic too. But most the blame lies with the yellow car.
I wonder, had yellow car not been there, would car behind have stopped? Or did he need the yellow car to react to? They are certainly bunched up a bit....
Yes, the traffic should have been able to stop in time in principle - but in fairness to the car drivers, pulling out directly across a lane of relatively fast-moving motorway traffic and parking there has got to be a pretty f*ckwitted maneouvre in anyone's book.
Comments
If I close my eyes, I can still hear the screaming and feel the pincer like death-grip around my waist - really! Sod that for a game of soldiers - I think we both decided at the same time, and with equal conviction, that biking was something I was going to be doing without the pleasure of her company from then on.
Fortunately I've got a couple of mates who ride, and so does my lil' bro. It wasn't nice seeing him nearly executed in front of me a couple of years ago by an utter remorseless dickhead who'd decided it was a good move to overtake the car in front without indicating or looking in his mirrors while my bro was 75% of the way through overtaking him, but probably best not to dwell on that crap - suffice to say it's indelibly etched on my mind as it unfolded in slow motion in front of me. Have had a couple of knocks and scrapes myself but nothing of any great significance or worthy of a post here, thank god. Your accident on the A27 sounds fairly grim, have ridden on that bit of road many times.
@slacker - don't see why you can't post a bit of biking stuff here as long as people are interested in it (I, for one, am) - it's no more or less relevant than most of the stuff in the ChitChat forum and nobody's forced to read it. That's my take on it anyway.
Not the first time I've heard of it happening (happened to a colleague at work, the car in front was right up the arse of a tractor and not looking like she was ever going to overtake, so he overtook and the dozy bint suddenly decided she'd overtake the tractor without looking). I think the police prosecuted her for careless driving, and my colleague was hobbling about for a couple of months. There's also a video on YouTube of something similar happening, shot from the biker's point of view, somewhere in Europe.
Car drivers aren't taught to do a "lifesaver" before pulling out and overtaking (and if they are, they forget). Most cars have enormous blind spots - if I ever change lane in my car I always do a "lifesaver" because the blind spot in the mirror is large enough to conceal a 17.5 tonne truck. A quick check over the shoulder confirms that I'm not going to barge into someone who's passing me.
As such I would be *extremely* cautious when overtaking a car that looks likely that it may also want to overtake whatever's in front because chances are he'll just pull out when he feels like it without proper observation.
Still, you have to take the rough with the smooth I guess. 99% of drivers, even in London, are actually fine in my experience. It's the 1% you've got to stay wary of!
at the Suzuki dealership
D'oh! Petrol station shut, but we can wave at the guy in Honda dealership, we looked at his bikes last week :twisted:
Her dad's support vehicle has everything and the kitchen sink. He can get to Spain on one tank full, and doesn't actually have to get out, like ever.
Hmm. 90mpg you say
right we'll just top this up by putting a whole ?2's worth in, and then reset the trip meter, and wait until the pretty yellow light comes on
Camper van wins a drag race. that' can't be right.
I told you it would fit!!
trust me , there are plenty of numpty drivers outside london also ;) it's busier for sure, but paradise circle/circus ? is a joke to navigate in brum
with a bike you have to bed in the engine like I did with my car? for hhm 1000 miles etc?
That VanVan looks really nice though thx1138. Lovely colour scheme. If I had somewhere to keep it, I'd love something like that myself just for mucking around on. I've got no space though, and I don't like the idea of leaving bikes parked in the street for any length of time as they're like scrote magnets round here.
The other problem is a small percentage of drivers have a real problem with motorcyclists filtering - they think if they can't make progress, then nobody else should be allowed to, and deliberately try to block them. (Filtering is indeed a legal and recognised practice in the Highway Code). I read a news story a few weeks back where a car driver decided "there was not enough space for a motorcycle to pass" and therefore deliberately moved out to block a passing bike "for his safety", pushing him into oncoming traffic. That particular driver received a jail sentence. (Good. He should also receive a lifetime driving ban).
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/General-news/2010/April/apr0910-Driver-who-blocked-overtaking-biker-jailed/
A friend has had somebody open their car door in front of him on the M25 in a jam. He managed to brake in time but there then ensued a stand-up row between him and the car driver who didn't like the idea of him filtering through the stationary traffic. After a minute or two, in a case of near perfect timing, a police motorcycle (presumably on his way to the accident that caused the jam...) happened upon them and absolutely let rip at the motorist. I assume he also issued a ticket as the guy shouldn't have been out his car on the motorway, but my mate had gone by that point.
motorway mayhem, possibly nsfw
It's just down to bad observation. 10 seconds in, the truck has already seen the cop before he has pulled in front of him, he's on the hash markings looking at the oncoming traffic hand raised, they've both seen each other. Yellow car driver is in a world of his own, not looking.
Vehicles behind the yellow car are not 100% blame free, not looking far enough down the road and scanning for possible situations to arise, second one fannys about a bit perhaps out of understandable shock/panic too. But most the blame lies with the yellow car.
I wonder, had yellow car not been there, would car behind have stopped? Or did he need the yellow car to react to? They are certainly bunched up a bit....