Bikers....

[iaind]

Had one last night hovering about 3 inches away from my tail light ,I was trying to overtake this coffin dodger in front of me but had to keep an eye on this biker at the same time ,I just moved right over in the end as he was really annoying me. If your going to overtake just do it

I know when I had a bike I use to ride fast as it was such an uncomfortable riding position ,wrist aches,backaches,and numb bum and your either to hot or to cold. Fun for about a year I found .

Think thats the other reason I'm not too inclined to start riding a bike, wouldnt want to give up my comfy seat, heater/air conditioner and music

 

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Had one last night hovering about 3 inches away from my tail light ,I was trying to overtake this coffin dodger in front of me but had to keep an eye on this biker at the same time ,I just moved right over in the end as he was really annoying me. If your going to overtake just do it

I know when I had a bike I use to ride fast as it was such an uncomfortable riding position ,wrist aches,backaches,and numb bum and your either to hot or to cold. Fun for about a year I found .

Thats because sports bikes are crap for road use , I had a GSXR 750 SRAD for a while, as soon as you dropped to legal speeds it just didn't make sense. Best sports bike I had for road use was a CBR600FN, was sort of half tourer half sports (when they were new, it'd be considered a classic probably now )

Fog

 

[iaind]

Thats because sports bikes are crap for road use , I had a GSXR 750 SRAD for a while, as soon as you dropped to legal speeds it just didn't make sense. Best sports bike I had for road use was a CBR600FN, was sort of half tourer half sports (when they were new, it'd be considered a classic probably now )

Fog

I hate to come over all Clarkson, but why can't they give them names, like cars. I'm sure my microwave is a CBR600FN

 

[Scort]

I know there's a few bikers about here and obviously a lot of motorists..

I don't want to start a massive flame war, but why do so many bikers drive like idiots? They seem to think the public roads are their own private racetrack and that they have more of a right to use the roads than us car drivers. I've seen bikers on the way home doing what must be well over 110~120, swerving in and out of traffic.

Being both a driver and a rider, I feel like I have a good insight into both worlds, and whilst there are riders who do the above, there are also a fair amount of car drivers who do too.

The amount of bikes I've had sit right on my tail on the dual carriageway when I'm overtaking traffic on the inside, then try to undertake me. I always pull into the inside lane after I've passed traffic and indicate when I do if there's something behind me.

Again, true of both drivers and riders, and certainly a pet peeve for me (the sitting on your ***), regardless of the vehicle they are in/on. But a rider who does that is asking for trouble imo.

Or they seem to expect me to pull over into the verge/kerb to let them past in traffic - why can they not just wait in a queue like the rest of us?

Look, I know its part of the accepted ‘British mentality’ that everyone must queue, and woe betide anyone who dares to jump ahead, but seriously, a bike is probably less than a third the width of the average car, and a car rarely (if ever) takes up the entire width of a lane, so those gaps… you expect the thin vehicle not to use? Seriously you, and indeed any driver with this mindset, needs to stop treating the road like it’s a queue in a store and be more courteous out there!

I know a lot of bikers will slate car drivers for not paying enough attention to bikes but I always see them and pay attention to what they're doing - do they not realise they're very difficult to keen an eye on when they're swerving around well over the speed limit?

If you do always see them, then I really do congratulate you, we do need more attentive drivers on the road for certain! But again, I fail to see (other than a size issue) that a car acting in a similar manner is any less of a problem

I dont want anyone to think I'm saying all bikers are the same, but there seem to be such a high proportion of them that are willing to risk their own life and the life of others. I've never ridden a bike, so could someone try to explain - is it worth it? Why do so many ride like this?

I did kind of feel you were/are saying this, I’ve not read past your OP yet, so I may be correct. But you do seem to have an attitude problem when driving, some of the things you have raised and the way you type about them, make me feel that you are one of the many divers I have come across who simply have a ‘bee in their bonnet’ about bikes.

I urge you to try a bike, in fact, I wish all new drivers were made to take a CBT, just so it gives them an idea what it is like to ride a bike – could help in the long-run to prevent accidents to.

Scort.

 

[Flukester]

I think as many people said here there are idiots in cars and on bikes... and a idiot biker stands out as bikes are generally faster and easier to chuck through traffic. Some of the 100mph filter power rangers need a ban tbh, but they are quite rare.

I commute daily on a bike for several reasons.. but the main one is i don't get stuck in traffic. I always filter if traffic comes to a stop, and if on a motorway if traffic drops below approx 30mph i start to filter. I'm quite happy to filter past police cars at this speed, and they even move over to let me through on occasions.

The whole point of the OPs post I think stems from frustration at being stuck in traffic. I experience these frustrated drivers several times a year, last year on two occasions were blatent attempts to knock me off.

- spotted a biker up ahead having a huge argument with someone in car, car door was open, thought nothing of it and as i approached just where he had been the car door swung open and I had to pull emergency stop. The nippers in car were doing this to all bikers for a laugh... i went beserk.

- few week later was filtering down total grid lock traffic, most people had even moved to side to let bikers through, who all got a wave. Suddenly car ahead in oncoming lane, crawling at no more than 5mph swerved across the white line and slammed on brakes to block me, i skidded and made a emergency stop. All the chavs in car were laughing....


This is the kind of behaviour I see from car drivers, if your frustrated about being stuck, buy a bike.. nothing to stop you. A bike can be a scary place to be just because of how exposed you are, if you have never experienced it you will never fully understand.

If every car driver was forced to ride a bike for a few months, i think there would be a lot more careful and observant traffic on the roads though many of you would stick with bikes as after riding one you may not want to be back in your slow tin can


edit: one thing i wish car drivers wouldn't do is pull to verge to let me past on fast a / b roads, overtaking safely in just about any gap of traffic isn't a problem on a bike, but having a ton of crud from kerb / verge spat up in your face is

edit edit: sorry if i come across a *&^% in above post, i'm not a great rider by a long shot and bikers are not above the law.. but filtering is legal why not take advantage of it ?. It's like asking a plane to stay out of the air because it's 'not fair'

 

[LeftfieldTilt]

........
If every car driver was forced to ride a bike for a few months, i think there would be a lot more careful and observant traffic on the roads......

+1

That feeling that you will lose in any RTA definitely keeps you sharp.

 

[Shoei]

If every car driver was forced to ride a bike for a few months, i think there would be a lot more careful and observant traffic on the roads though many of you would stick with bikes as after riding one you may not want to be back in your slow tin can

Or Darwinism would take effect and reduce the number of numpty drivers by a "HUGE" amount.

Used to hate commuting on the bike sometimes, early morning drivers were the worst, still semi-brain dead and not paying attention. Give em as wide a berth as possible.
Used to overtake some and when i was a good 20 ft in front would see em move over in the mirror as their comatose brain would suddenly realise a bike had passed and they should do something!!

Funniest commute home was when chav in his "chipped/chopped/dropped" clio tried to take me on when i was on the VTR1000.
Never seen a clio engine let go in such a spectacular style. More smoke out of the back than the red arrows doing a fly by. Still made me chuckle.

 

[iaind]

I did kind of feel you were/are saying this, I’ve not read past your OP yet, so I may be correct. But you do seem to have an attitude problem when driving, some of the things you have raised and the way you type about them, make me feel that you are one of the many divers I have come across who simply have a ‘bee in their bonnet’ about bikes.

I urge you to try a bike, in fact, I wish all new drivers were made to take a CBT, just so it gives them an idea what it is like to ride a bike – could help in the long-run to prevent accidents to.

Scort.

As you said when you posted, you hadnt read past the first post. I do think I came across badly, but I hope I cleared things up a bit in later posts.

I'm definitely not one of those "I'm queueing so you should have to too", but I like my wing mirrors attached to the car and my alloys not being scraped by being forced over.

The whole point of my posting was to try and understand bikers, which I think I do now, a bit

 

[Flukester]

As you said when you posted, you hadnt read past the first post. I do think I came across badly, but I hope I cleared things up a bit in later posts.

I'm definitely not one of those "I'm queueing so you should have to too", but I like my wing mirrors attached to the car and my alloys not being scraped by being forced over.

The whole point of my posting was to try and understand bikers, which I think I do now, a bit

but have you actually lost wing mirrors or had alloys scraped ?, i doubt it.

only once have a removed a wing mirror from a car, but that was with my fist after being physically assaulted on a garage forecourt.

a biker will always try not to hit anything, it would damage his bike or throw him off... at least on a real bike. some spotty kid on a shed scooter may not care much, but just get his reg plate and report him.

 

[iaind]

The whole point of the OPs post I think stems from frustration at being stuck in traffic.

edit edit: sorry if i come across a *&^% in above post, i'm not a great rider by a long shot and bikers are not above the law.. but filtering is legal why not take advantage of it ?. It's like asking a plane to stay out of the air because it's 'not fair'

Not at all - as I said above, I hope my later posts made me come across as less of an a**hole.

Of course I get frustrated when I'm stuck in traffic, but I'm not one of those idiots who takes it out on other people or tries to barge in front. I'll just sit back, turn up my music and try to relax

I suppose I have had several bad experiences with bikers, as none of my friends are bikers it has probably severely tainted my view, which is why I wanted to try to understand a bit more.

My last biker story, to try and let you guys know where I'm coming from. I was coming off a roundabout onto a 50mph dual carriageway, accellerated up to 55ish and approached cars doing 35~40 on the inside lane. I checked my wing and rear view mirrors, indicated, checked my mirrors and blind spot and moved out. A biker shot right up behind me and started waving for me to move over. Not wanting to speed up, I carried on overtaking the traffic and went to move in. He actually managed to undertake me at this point, while I was moving in. At red traffic lights up ahead he started beeping and waiving for the police car that was stopped at an accident on the other side of the road.
He told the policeman that I was trying to "ram him off the road", so he told us both to pull over around the corner ahead.
I stopped and he pulled alongside me and started yelling at me. IIRC his points were
-I was going to fast, and shouldnt be. Well, if I was going too fast, what was he doing. He seemed to think he was exempt from the limit.
-If I did hit him, it would be worse for him than for me. Quite true, although he didnt seem to grasp the fact that it would be quite shocking for me and would almost certainly have been his fault.
When I called him an idiot he just said "well if you want to go mate!!? **revs engine**"....oooo kay then.
When the police joined us, I tried to calmly explain what had happened but the biker was set on trying to press attempted murder charges. The copper eventually told the biker to stop being such an idiot, that he had seen what had happened and that the biker needs to calm down.
He asked for our driving licenses and insurance, which I gave to him and went on my way as it began to transpire that the biker had a provisional license and no insurance.

As I said, I think the fact that experiences like this have been my only real contact with bikers has warped my view, which I was hoping to change with this thread

 

[iaind]

but have you actually lost wing mirrors or had alloys scraped ?, i doubt it.

only once have a removed a wing mirror from a car, but that was with my fist after being physically assaulted on a garage forecourt.

a biker will always try not to hit anything, it would damage his bike or throw him off... at least on a real bike. some spotty kid on a shed scooter may not care much, but just get his reg plate and report him.

I've had wing mirrors clipped and nearly scraped alloys (they're 18" so easy to kerb them) when trying to move over. At the moment if I see that width of my lane - width of my car < width of bike, I'll stay where I am.

I think that's quite reasonable and I'd treat all traffic the same. The one exception to that is the emergency services, if I have to mount the kerb to let them past, I will.

 

[Vix]

I had a police biker weaving about all over my back end the other day. Not sure what he was playing at. He came from out of nowhere, then sat on my back end off the exit of a dual carriageway.

I always pull as far to the left as I can for bikers, but he made no effort to pass me. I fully expected him to be about to pull me over for something, but he just sat there.

 

[iaind]

I had a police biker weaving about all over my back end the other day. Not sure what he was playing at. He came from out of nowhere, then sat on my back end off the exit of a dual carriageway.

I always pull as far to the left as I can for bikers, but he made no effort to pass me. I fully expected him to be about to pull me over for something, but he just sat there.

Maybe something caught his eye and he was just trying to check you out? In a non-sexual sense of course

 

[Flukester]

fair enough... but 'nearly scraped alloys', not sure if that counts for much

i guess you just have to live with fact that everyone makes mistakes or dumb desicions on road, some bikers and car drivers do it everyday all the time, but like others have said natural selection will fix that soon enough when they push it to far one day.

you worry about a wing mirror ?, I've had a car fail to see me in front and push me out into the middle of a busy roundabout, that was brown trousers time I can tell ya

 

[Flukester]

I had a police biker weaving about all over my back end the other day. Not sure what he was playing at. He came from out of nowhere, then sat on my back end off the exit of a dual carriageway.

I always pull as far to the left as I can for bikers, but he made no effort to pass me. I fully expected him to be about to pull me over for something, but he just sat there.

some police biker riding is appauling, I've followed a copper for miles before and watched some of wobbliest riding I've ever seen in my life... a lot of police riders learn to ride a bike in police so are pretty inexperienced.

 

[iaind]

fair enough... but 'nearly scraped alloys', not sure if that counts for much

i guess you just have to live with fact that everyone makes mistakes or dumb desicions on road, some bikers and car drivers do it everyday all the time, but like others have said natural selection will fix that soon enough when they push it to far one day.

you worry about a wing mirror ?, I've had a car fail to see me in front and push me out into the middle of a busy roundabout, that was brown trousers time I can tell ya

I'm not too worried about either, although the alloys cost a lot to refurb a year ago. I know they're unlikely to actually damage a wing mirror but they can be expensive too. I'm not going to risk the damage just so someone else can get where he's going a few seconds earlier, he can just wait until the road is wide enough for me to move over.

I think a lot of bikers wont have seen the sort of behaviour I'm talking about because by the nature of it, it can only happen to you if you're in a car. All I will say is on the roads I'm thinking of, I always see some bikers waiting in the queue - some even shake their heads when they see other bikers pushing through

 

[iaind]

some police biker riding is appauling, I've followed a copper for miles before and watched some of wobbliest riding I've ever seen in my life... a lot of police riders learn to ride a bike in police so are pretty inexperienced.

They're big old bikes too, I'm guessing those are probably harder to control?

 

[mr jamez]

Its nearly bike season, the weather is improving and riders who have had their bikes locked up all winter are starting to go out again and get a little over excited! It will calm down soon, the ones who don't will end up eating hospital food.

 

[spp]

Sadly it only takes a few to make it seem that the majority of bikers are idiots. I ride a bike, and nothing irritates me more than when I'm out riding, and see a person on a bike doing something stupid. Gives us all a bad name.

 

[Cookie-Monster]

and unfortunately you will see a higher percentage of rubbish riders in spring summer as the ones that are likely to rid like big willies are also the sort that will not venture out in the winter from my experience.

I ride bikes but am by no means experienced and i drive cars, there are arses everywhere you go, people get desensetised to bad car driving because it happens so often and people get angry at bikers for doing things they wish they could like filter through traffic also as mentioned above what looks dangerous to someone that is only used to car responsiveness may be perfectly safe on a bike.

unfortunately unlike car drivers natural selection tends to take care of people that ride well beyond their abilities