Think bike, think biker...

cruxiform

cacophony said:

cruxiform said:

I wish more would. I was out riding this morning and it appears I am invisible, which is surprising as I'm an 18 stone bloke on a 1200cc motorbike.

you see, i would counter that by saying, that surely it's us car drivers that are invisible?. that can be the only rational explanation as to why as i sat in the road with my indicator going, waiting to turn right into a side road,a man on a motorbike decided to overtake me at about 50mph just as i commenced my turn, then after i slammed on my brakes and applied quite a bit of pressure to my horn (ooh-err), he turned round in the saddle and gave me the 'wanker' sign. but wait, that means i can't be invisible as he could clearly see me. hmmm... that doesn't make sense...

I'm a car driver too as well as ride a bike. All I can say is that I have more near misses on the bike than I do in the car. It's not because I'm riding like a loon. In fact the reason they are near misses is because I ride defensively and can anticipate car driver's actions. Otherwise they might be incidents. When driving the car I always do a quick lifesaver look over my right shoulder before any right hand move. Not sure if they teach that in the current driving test but I think they should. 

Headphones

Never quite understood the inabilty of (poorly trained c/w most riders) drivers to see a bike - unless the rider wears a dayglo jacket and has a white fairing...

That looks at a glance like plod.

Remarkably selective vision, car drivers.

Now, if it was a prerequisite to a car test was a bike licence...


I rode a white R80RT for a while, having previously owned a smoke red R100RT.

prowla

I think bikers need to think about their vulnerability when they're out on their two-wheeled steeds.

octatonic

prowla said:

I think bikers need to think about their vulnerability when they're out on their two-wheeled steeds.

We do- it is mostly what we think about.

Car drivers (and I am one of those too) need to think about not killing people (other car drivers, cyclists, motorcyclist and pedestrians) in order to get to the next traffic light a few seconds quicker too.

TheBigDipper

starwarsnosebleed said:

All the years ive been driving a car, it seems to me that some bikers feel they can disregard the laws of the road, speed, cut you up, overtake on blind corners, and generally think they own the road.

Obviously thats not ALL bikers.....Just 95%.
And i say that being from a family of a few bikers.

Not saying car drivers dont do the same, but there seems to be a bigger percentage of bikers that are maniac speedfreaks, compared to car drivers.

Different vehicles have different acceleration and braking performance. What might be unsafe for a car might be perfectly safe for a fast motorcycle. Things can look far worse from a car drivers seat than it does from the riders viewpoint. Gaps that are huge for a bike may look small to the car driver observing them go past. The amount of time needed to overtake safely can also be vastly different. All without breaking the law. 

There's no "wrong side of the road" unless there's a traffic sign or white paint enforcing something. I'm perfectly capable of safely overtaking a car on a left hand bend on a rural road where the car driver has no view of what's coming the other way. Because my head is higher, I can see over the hedges. My positioning to the right means I can see my course is clear and safe. 

The trouble is, not all motorcyclists are trained to do this safely and to know when not to even try. 

octatonic

TheBigDipper said:

starwarsnosebleed said:

All the years ive been driving a car, it seems to me that some bikers feel they can disregard the laws of the road, speed, cut you up, overtake on blind corners, and generally think they own the road.

Obviously thats not ALL bikers.....Just 95%.
And i say that being from a family of a few bikers.

Not saying car drivers dont do the same, but there seems to be a bigger percentage of bikers that are maniac speedfreaks, compared to car drivers.

Different vehicles have different acceleration and braking performance. What might be unsafe for a car might be perfectly safe for a fast motorcycle. Things can look far worse from a car drivers seat than it does from the riders viewpoint. Gaps that are huge for a bike may look small to the car driver observing them go past. The amount of time needed to overtake safely can also be vastly different. All without breaking the law. 

There's no "wrong side of the road" unless there's a traffic sign or white paint enforcing something. I'm perfectly capable of safely overtaking a car on a left hand bend on a rural road where the car driver has no view of what's coming the other way. Because my head is higher, I can see over the hedges. My positioning to the right means I can see my course is clear and safe. 

The trouble is, not all motorcyclists are trained to do this safely and to know when not to even try. 

Exactly.

Bikes are progressing vehicles- they are designed to get ahead of the traffic.
Clearly there are safe and unsafe ways of doing this but most car drivers don't understand what is safe or unsafe on a bike.

I actually think it is about ego- people don't like being 'beaten' by a bike.
I've had people yell at me for filtering, despite it being perfectly legal and the safest place to be.
I've had dicks in white vans turn their wheel to block the space between two cars purely to stop me from coming through- it is just arrogance and selfishness.
It seems to be more of a problem up north- people down south seem more chilled about it.
If we were all in cars then they'd get nowhere so imho they should stop being dickheads and just let us through.

Legionreturns

I cycle, as well as drive. I've passed 3 tests; motorbike, car and minibus.

My one conclusive finding after many years of research is thus: 

There are fuck heads on the roads. 

Some of them drive motor vehicles, some of them ride bikes (either motorised or mechanical) and some do more than one. 

I always think, that if you wouldn't react towards someone in a certain way whilst sharing a pavement, you shouldn't do it on the road.

Fat chance though, because fuck heads.

NickL

Sporky said:

...think bikiest?

Or think bikest?

Or think "most bike" or "most bikey"?

Can you be more bike?

The answer is none. None more bike.

TheBigDipper

NickL said:

Sporky said:

...think bikiest?

Or think bikest?

Or think "most bike" or "most bikey"?

Can you be more bike?

The answer is none. None more bike.

My bike goes up to eleven.

stickyfiddle

? 

Sporky

NickL said:

Sporky said: 

...think bikiest?

Or think bikest?

Or think "most bike" or "most bikey"?

Can you be more bike?

The answer is none. None more bike.

A much better answer than most of them.

This wasn't meant to be a bike vs car thread.

Sesh

Sporky said:

NickL said:

Sporky said: 

...think bikiest?

Or think bikest?

Or think "most bike" or "most bikey"?

Can you be more bike?

The answer is none. None more bike.

A much better answer than most of them.

This wasn't meant to be a bike vs car thread.

Reminds me of the pike vs carp thread on theFishBoard.co.uk 

jackio

Reminds me of the pike vs carp thread on theFishBoard.co.uk 

When 'pike' won, were the 'carp' team changed people forever? 

ThePrettyDamned

octatonic said:

TheBigDipper said:

starwarsnosebleed said:

All the years ive been driving a car, it seems to me that some bikers feel they can disregard the laws of the road, speed, cut you up, overtake on blind corners, and generally think they own the road.

Obviously thats not ALL bikers.....Just 95%.
And i say that being from a family of a few bikers.

Not saying car drivers dont do the same, but there seems to be a bigger percentage of bikers that are maniac speedfreaks, compared to car drivers.

Different vehicles have different acceleration and braking performance. What might be unsafe for a car might be perfectly safe for a fast motorcycle. Things can look far worse from a car drivers seat than it does from the riders viewpoint. Gaps that are huge for a bike may look small to the car driver observing them go past. The amount of time needed to overtake safely can also be vastly different. All without breaking the law. 

There's no "wrong side of the road" unless there's a traffic sign or white paint enforcing something. I'm perfectly capable of safely overtaking a car on a left hand bend on a rural road where the car driver has no view of what's coming the other way. Because my head is higher, I can see over the hedges. My positioning to the right means I can see my course is clear and safe. 

The trouble is, not all motorcyclists are trained to do this safely and to know when not to even try. 

Exactly.

Bikes are progressing vehicles- they are designed to get ahead of the traffic.
Clearly there are safe and unsafe ways of doing this but most car drivers don't understand what is safe or unsafe on a bike.

I actually think it is about ego- people don't like being 'beaten' by a bike.
I've had people yell at me for filtering, despite it being perfectly legal and the safest place to be.
I've had dicks in white vans turn their wheel to block the space between two cars purely to stop me from coming through- it is just arrogance and selfishness.
It seems to be more of a problem up north- people down south seem more chilled about it.
If we were all in cars then they'd get nowhere so imho they should stop being dickheads and just let us through.

Yeah, there are probably proportionally the same number of shit motorcyclists as car drivers but many more cars on the road. 

I sometimes see bikes overtaking a car, on the right, that is indicating it'll go right - which is obviously shit motorcyclist. 

I've seen cars intentionally narrow the gaps in traffic to stop bikes filtering. Sod that - I'd rather the more vulnerable user was *way* ahead of me, where I can't hurt them. Dick car driver. 

I've noticed a general trend over the last 8 years or so that road users seem to be less patient and take more risk. I don't know why. 

octatonic

ThePrettyDamned said:

octatonic said:

TheBigDipper said:

starwarsnosebleed said:

All the years ive been driving a car, it seems to me that some bikers feel they can disregard the laws of the road, speed, cut you up, overtake on blind corners, and generally think they own the road.

Obviously thats not ALL bikers.....Just 95%.
And i say that being from a family of a few bikers.

Not saying car drivers dont do the same, but there seems to be a bigger percentage of bikers that are maniac speedfreaks, compared to car drivers.

Different vehicles have different acceleration and braking performance. What might be unsafe for a car might be perfectly safe for a fast motorcycle. Things can look far worse from a car drivers seat than it does from the riders viewpoint. Gaps that are huge for a bike may look small to the car driver observing them go past. The amount of time needed to overtake safely can also be vastly different. All without breaking the law. 

There's no "wrong side of the road" unless there's a traffic sign or white paint enforcing something. I'm perfectly capable of safely overtaking a car on a left hand bend on a rural road where the car driver has no view of what's coming the other way. Because my head is higher, I can see over the hedges. My positioning to the right means I can see my course is clear and safe. 

The trouble is, not all motorcyclists are trained to do this safely and to know when not to even try. 

Exactly.

Bikes are progressing vehicles- they are designed to get ahead of the traffic.
Clearly there are safe and unsafe ways of doing this but most car drivers don't understand what is safe or unsafe on a bike.

I actually think it is about ego- people don't like being 'beaten' by a bike.
I've had people yell at me for filtering, despite it being perfectly legal and the safest place to be.
I've had dicks in white vans turn their wheel to block the space between two cars purely to stop me from coming through- it is just arrogance and selfishness.
It seems to be more of a problem up north- people down south seem more chilled about it.
If we were all in cars then they'd get nowhere so imho they should stop being dickheads and just let us through.

Yeah, there are probably proportionally the same number of shit motorcyclists as car drivers but many more cars on the road. 

I sometimes see bikes overtaking a car, on the right, that is indicating it'll go right - which is obviously shit motorcyclist. 

I've seen cars intentionally narrow the gaps in traffic to stop bikes filtering. Sod that - I'd rather the more vulnerable user was *way* ahead of me, where I can't hurt them. Dick car driver. 

I've noticed a general trend over the last 8 years or so that road users seem to be less patient and take more risk. I don't know why. 

Yes and I should say I see a lot of bad riding from motorcyclists.
This isn't a driver vs rider argument, it is a normal person vs dickhead argument.

Sporky

ThePrettyDamned said:

I've noticed a general trend over the last 8 years or so that road users seem to be less patient and take more risk. I don't know why. 

I think it's you getting old and grumpy, plus a healthy dose of confirmation bias.

octatonic said:

This isn't a driver vs rider argument, it is a normal person vs dickhead argument.

No it isn't. It's a thread about stickers!

I still think "think bikiest" sounds righter.

thecolourbox

On the back of this thread, I'm thinking of getting a sticker that says "Think Horse, Think Horser". There was another version I considered where the second word rhymed with bank, to illustrate passive-aggressively my disdain for the poor drivers in and around Birmingham.

Nikko

Think Brick...brick loves lamp.

Myranda

Sporky said:

...think bikiest?

Or think bikest?

Or think "most bike" or "most bikey"?

Can you be more bike?

DAM YOU SINES AND STICKERS YOU'RE GRAMMER IS POUR AND CONFUZING.

I thought it was thinkiest bikiest ... 

strtdv

Contemplate velocipede