Before this thread goes down such a path, please don't tar us all with the same brush; neither "camp" (and some of us are in both) fits the generalisation that the OP leans towards. To redress some balance, my experience from yesterday aboard my Hornet 600:
In no tearing hurry, I had gently leapfrogged a long line of cars on the Fosse Way until I was then behind the "obstruction"; a Clio being driven somewhat sedately at about 45 MPH though with no outward signs of Irrational Dodderer On Board; middle aged lady and three kids, not too much chat going on, no highjinks from the back seat, no smoking (from the woman not the kids!), and reasonable road positioning.
A nice gap in oncoming traffic then appeared, so without side turnings, animals, or other hazards ahead, in short order I had a glance at the Clio rear view mirror for eye contact, performed a mirror check, indictator on, life saver over the shoulder, and gently wound on the gas (no need to engage warp drive for this overtake but I was in the right gear if I needed to). What happened next? The Clio driver braked hard, very hard, presumably thinking that the several hundred yards ahead before a truck crawling along towards us wasn't enough for me to complete my manouevre. Thankfully, having started with near centre line positioning I was already sufficiently far over in to the other lane to conduct a normal overtake without need for swerve.
"OMG there's a motorbike behind being ridden by an adrenaline fueled junkie. We're all gonna die." Just because there are some of the former on the road, and a few were out yesterday if my ride was representative, doesn't mean we all are; please Mrs Clio judge each situation on its own merit, and if you can't, leave your own lethal weapon at home.
IDOB after all.
Surprise, surprise; on pulling back in my mirrors were ablaze with Clio full beam and the Vectra driver who had been following me - and which no doubt had come within brown pants of wiping out the Clio - was flashing its lights at the Clio. No doubt the hooligan on the blue bike was the subject of Mrs Clio dinner table discussion, too.
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I missed one bit out, the frantic "slow down" gesticulation as I went past the Clio, and four heads all turning as one!
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No doubt the hooligan on the blue bike was the subject of Mrs Clio dinner table discussion, too.
Wouldn't doubt it SjB. Idiocy is far more dangerous than recklessness, because there's a lot more of it.
You seem to be pointing out discreetly that some BR posters imagine recklessness where it doesn't exist. If you are, I agree.
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You seem to be pointing out discreetly that some BR posters imagine recklessness where it doesn't exist.
Thank you.
I was.
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Just to show the other side of the coin, i'll tell you what happened to me on Sunday.
Was travelling along an A road in mid Wales, quite a lot of cars tootling along at about 50.
Passing a few cars along a 1/4 mile straight, dipped headlight on.
As I passed the 4th car it suddenly pulled out when we were right alongside (friend riding pillion), I swerved as best I could but he still made contact with both our legs & the handlebars.
I really thought we were off as we were now just a foot or so from the grass verge on the off side & our stability had been seriously disturbed.
Thanks in part to the handling of my K1200R BMW I managed to regain control, while Scott My pillion, displayed his displeasure at the unwelcome advances of the car driver.
We were extreemly lucky not to have come off
We pulled in & very calmly, in the circumstances, explained to him what mirrors were to be used for. But I for one realise that we all do sometimes make mistakes. The car driver was also shook up & certainly didn't mean to try to kill us.
No damage to the bike although I later noticed the near side crash bung had a scrape with some car paint on it, so hopefully I left a mark to remind him to check his mirrors in future.
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A fortnight ago there were two fatal accidents involving BMW cars within 20ml. of each other;perhaps they should be banned!!
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> and the Vectra driver who had been following me - and which no doubt had come within brown pants of wiping out the Clio
The lesson is never to tailgate anything. No swerving required then.
While I agree that there are some very good motorbikers, there are lots who must have a death wish. Perhaps it's complacency or maybe they are young and therefore immortal?
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"The lesson is never to tailgate anything. No swerving required then."
Exactly, with the power advantage of a bike, there is no need to get anywhere near the rear end of a car,
With the reduced braking efficiency of a bike, compared with a car, its crazy to get anywhere near the rear end of a car.
If the car in front will cause a problem if it suddenly stands on the brakes ( even if there is no reason to do so) you are too near.
Speaking as an ex Biker . IMHO that is :)
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I went out on Sunday (reluctantly, SWMBO insisted) and it was a totally nerve racking experience, bar a short sensible run on a very heavily Policed bit of road. Sunday drivers were out in droves and spoilt the run (about 100 miles or so). The standard of motorcycling I witnessed that day was poor and bordering on reckless, there were groups of bikes weaving in and out of traffic and some lone riders with road positioning that defied belief. I was bumbling along really, my heart not being in it. But these packs of bikes do spook Mr and Mrs Average. Two things stood out to me that day, one was again the total near perfect stance of the 1200GS, it suits every bit of road its on, it bumbles happily it can still give mega-bikes a run for their money when warp factor is engaged this linked to superb braking - I mean really outstanding braking, one finger power braking on a big brute like this has got to be felt to be believed,I'll say it again one finger - (no foot) brakes his huge chunk of German engineering carrying two adults, it defies belief at time, the word awesome is not an exaggeration....the other thing is how vulnerable you are to other road users and fickle road surface issues. I didn't enjoy it. enjoyed the posts from other riders on here though.
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Yes, I too can state that the looney season for bikers has arrived. Even on the continent. Fine, single bikers are sometimes crazy and sometimes very well behaved. The worst road culprits of any type by far are groups of bikers. Even on three lane motorways they tend to snake from lane to lane when overtaking as they try to keep formation. One or two may look in the rear view mirror to check for cars approaching at 160km/h, but as they all ride in such close proximity the danger is not over until the whole snake has completed the manoevre. In the trip from Frankfurt to Calais I had to take more evasive action due to bikers than any other road user. Cars towing stuff (caravans, trailers) were second.
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One of the reasons I won't go on a motorbike is that (having only two wheels) they are more liable to fall over sideways than a car! ;-)
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L\'escargot.
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Bit harder to make a trike fall over! Feels fantastic too, better than a bike (for me) even though you can corner so much quicker on a bike.
Having said that, my machine has been with the trike builder for the last few weeks, getting new seats, adjusted gear lever, front side impact bars with headlights mounted on top, etc. While all my triking buddies have been out every day in the nice weather for the past fortnight, the closest I've managed to get to feeling the wind in my face with the engine running has been the lawnmower ...
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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As a Darwinist, I think certain sections of our populace are trying to speed up evolution's drawn out story and diy.
I don't think on the whole motorcyclists drive any worse than car drivers ... but as the danger from an accident is much higher well...
madf
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Around 6 years ago a bunch of us had bikes assembled at the local factory - looked a bit like BMW's but souned like a bag of spanners. they were totally unreliable due to poor build quality and worn out moulds and castings. we did get them running after a fashion but always rode with plug spanner, sand paper, screw driver (to adjust the carbs) and some spare plugs. after a good season of biking (every day to and fro to work and most of the weekends) the bikes were wrapped up for the winter and this cycle carried on for a while. However, all good things caome to an end and a combination of masive road repairs and an increase in road traffic contributed to my selling my bike - in particular the shaven headed black mercedes driver that did a u-turn across double white lines and then abused me when i followed him to the traffic lights and remonstrated an experience worsened by a repeat performance by a black G-wagon 10 minutes later.
In all fairness, I had a great few days on a borrowed bike riding around Crimea last summer but it could be simply that I don't trust other road users - or, possibly i am becoming a wimp in my old age!
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One of the reasons I won't go on a motorbike is that (having only two wheels) they are more liable to fall over sideways than a car! ;-) -- L\'escargot.
I understand that sentiment of what you write, but actually, thanks to a bloomin' great gyroscope at each end of the frame, a (moving) motorbike is very unlikely to fall over. Witness what happens when riders part company with their machines in many a circuit racing accident; the bike stands itself back up and carries on running until it hits something.
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