Things That Annoy You Most!!!

Sagalout said:
I don't get people being annoyed with others not wearing protective kit. Sure, I completely understand and agree with it being unacceptable to take kids on the bike without full kit, but apart from that, this is an 'at risk' hobby / lifestyle. Most car drivers think its insane that we ride bikes anyway. My wife's friends always ask here why she 'lets' me ride a bike, and were even more shocked when I took our 13 year old son around Europe. What I'm getting at is that acceptable level of risk is completely personal.

Personally I generally wear full kit when out for a proper ride, but if its hot, or I'm popping to work / town I'll often just wear jeans. If very hot and I'm sticking to under 30 then a T shirt. In fact in France when it was 36 degrees I ended up riding with no gloves most of the time as I couldn't get them on, but I did have hand guards which keep the bugs off.

Maybe I feel differently because my other hobby is cycling where other than a helmet, which only works up to 15mph anyway, I have no protection, and will often be doing 35mph+ (fastest I've been is 55mph on the Fleetmoss descent) in lycra!

As for what annoys me most...car drivers not paying attention to the roads (especially on mobiles and failing to indicate), bikers who treat the roads like a track day and try to apex unsighted right handers, and cyclists that jump red lights
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It's an interesting debate for sure, personally for me, I always kit up - it could be a 12 hour long rideout, or a 10 minute commute to work; used to do that when I lived in Swindon - actually took longer to kit up, get the bike out and then change at work, than it did to ride there.

For me personally I do this for two reasons, personal experience and a lack of selfishness I guess - if that's the right word. The former is knowing exactly how badly injured you can get in a 30 mph accident with a car, and the latter - hearing what nurses have to do because someone cannot be bothered to wear the proper kit.

Now, I know we could argue it's part of their job - for the sake of spending an extra 5-10 minutes to put your kit on, you could save someone the time and hassle of cleaning and dressing your wounds, not to mention subjecting yourself you all that pain and an increased recovery period. I just can't see it as anything more than selfishness when you look at it from a different angle - if you have the kit you should wear it, christ, it's cost us all enough so why not wear it.

I like the analogy someone once used during a debate about kit/no kit - would you run along and dive onto your kneecaps without protection? A sane person would say "no way", so why do some consider doing 30mph + in just jeans/t shirts... there's a real chance you could end up clouting your knees/elbows etc in an off.

The issue of heat I personally don't see - I've worn full kit in the height of summer when we have one :D) and have never been sweating so much I could have done without wearing a cow. Sure getting gloves on can be a tad difficult and popping a wet lid back on isn't fantastic, but get moving with the visor open a crack and you're soon back into the swing of it. Granted this wasn't in the searing heat of another country, but I would rather keep the skin on my hands and glove up - as overriding that deep-rooted natural reaction to put your hands out, was something I never managed to stop when I came off on another occasion: then I walked away with a broken finger, but would have been much worse if I hadn't worn gloves.
 
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When I had my accident last October the ambulance crew told me that once they get the call to go scrape up a biker all they are praying for is that he is wearing Proper gear.
 
i saw atleast three or four riding completely barechested this summer!!!

if ever they'd have come off, it would have grated them down to the bone:eek:
 
Many of the same ones as the people who have replied already, however i do have a very special kind of loathing for people who do not put their lights on in the rain. Put simply it makes it very difficult to see them, especially as everyone these days must have a variation on grey as their preferred choice of car colour.
 
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Scort said:
Time for a helmet cam maybe? Think the police would do anything if you sent in a video.... doubtful I bet.
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I'm going to get one when I have a bit more spare cash. I know of least one incident where a guy sent his footage to the police of the driver threatening him and they gave him a warning about his behaviour. For others matters, especially where you can't see the driver, it might be no use to the police.

I'm deciding between either a Drift HD or the new Contour.
 
Hesitant/erratic drivers

The ones that roll forwards when you filter to the front of a Que of traffic

The drivers that seem to make it as hard as possible for you to filter in traffic

Cars that decide to do U-turns where the carriage way starts/ends on the ring road near me when there's a traffic jam and don't indicate/look behind.

And I have a personal vendetta with coaches after one on a roundabout decided at the last possible second to not use the exit he was heading for but use the next exit without looking and nearly collecting me in the process.

To be fair majority of drivers near me aren't too bad, I think most of them are used to me when I go to and from work and hear me coming :D
 
had another plonker today follow me for about 3 or 4 mile within a few feet from my back wheel

why do they do it?
 
Because they're ****tards. I never let anyone follow too close for too long. I slow right down, turn to look at them and tell them to back the **** off.

It works quite well.
 
I do the same, but flip up the front of my helmet so they can clearly hear me, oh and see my angry face to.

But i do agree tailgater's all want a good beating.
 
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