General Chat

I have nothing against them but some of them do have a death wish (or seem to). this weekend we travelled up and back to Milton Keynes. Most of this journey is on ordinary A roads, the first part from here is via a winding road, two way with double white lined throughout and 50MPH. So, on Friday what posessed the young motorcyclist to overtake us on a bend crossing double white lines doing about 70? Especially as about 2 miles down the road he had stopped in a layby to chat to a fellow biker.

And I lost count of the times on Sunday, both in traffic on A roads, two way going at about 50 we were overtaken very closely by bikes, the worst being on roundabouts, dual carriageway weaving in and out of traffic. And don't start me about them in M Keynes. (Ohj I did see a few bikers riding within the limit sensibly, they were normally older and often had a passenger. :-)

It seems to mainly be the weekend "hobby" riders that are the nuisance and danger, to themselves and others.
On the other hand "boy racers" in cars do it all week.
Having ridden a motorbike on an 80 mile round trip to central London for 18 years and covered around 250,000 miles in the process I despair at some of the antics.
However, it would help if car drivers looked in their mirrors more often, especially before pulling out to overtake!

Testosterone and motor bikes are a lethal combination and always have been. The accident stats are terrible. I like riding a bike and so far I am in one piece. Bikers need to be a lot more defensive assuming the worst such as car doors flung open, cars pulling out at T junctions, deliberate squeezing by cars and trucks, potholes and skiddy surfaces. Stupid overtaking is dangerous and just annoys car drivers stuck in queues. Bikers should remember that field of vision from cars is poor and most drivers don't look or signal in time anyway. Women drivers have problems sorting left from right as well especially if stressed.

Bikers should view a car with child passengers in the same way as a mouse views a cat. Car drivers need to be far more aware of their Road space. They cruise around in a bubble too often failing to look. 99% of drivers are far too close to the vehicle in front. This in itself is bad enough. As soon as a gaggle of cars become aware of a biker they close up even further aiming to squeeze the biker. Pathetic.

Not just women drivers Rollo men can be right planks too when flustered :-|. I too was a biker until my aches and pains set in :-D

"Women drivers have problems sorting left from right as well especially if stressed. "

LOL which century are we in!

Bikers that dodge in and out of traffic whilst speeding are asking for trouble. That's not to say car drivers aren't at fault ever for not looking for bikers, but weaving in and out makes it difficult and lets be honest the biker usually comes worse off if there's an accident.

"Testosterone and motor bikes are a lethal combination and always have been"

Most bikers, with decent bikes are hardly full of testosterone! Most are retired - or nearing it!! :-D :-D
You just have to go to the Harley Davidson Café/shop in Southampton to see the baby boomers - well, booming!

Apparently, millenials don't like motorbikes, so they'd be in the minority - but possibly the biggest idiots.

Nevertheless, a post full of cliché's - how quaint :-D :-D

It's almost as if someone doesn't realise bikes usually also drive cars, and that they are probably aware of a drivers vision, and what it's like with children /grandchildren in a car.
I love the way car drivers, apparently, hunt motorbikes in a 'pack' - and 99% of drivers are too close to the car in front - obviously Rolo is that 1% who isn't.

Is it statistically correct that "Women drivers have problems sorting left from right as well especially if stressed."? Or is that another opinion dressed as fact?
More women REPORT an inability to tell left from right, but that's not conclusive evidence.
In fact, one in 5 people (not categorised by sex) has trouble telling their left from their right - so one can assume a fair proportion of motorcyclists have this problem too.

It's statistically true that more men than women are colour blind - is this their (men's) excuse for jumping red lights?

Driving home from Chichester on the motorway yesterday, we saw one woman on her phone, one man reading a book, another a map, another fiddling with dials
(ie stretched across the dashboard) and two other men on mobiles.
There was a hold up - but we were all doing 40mph. :-S

Whiteways cafe north of Arundel at he weekends THERE,S HUNDRED,S OF THEM

Firstly I declare a hatred for motorbikes, a friend was killed riding his bike when I was 16 and that has stuck with me ever since.

Hubby rode a bike for decades driving daily from various UK counties into central London. He had one accident when a car in front suddenly braked but he had time to 'lay the bike down'.

We see absolute lunatics riding against the flow of traffic and taking chances with their lives and that of other road users.

To balance that we have also seen car drivers oblivious to oncoming motorbikes and attempting to pull out from side roads. They obviously are unable to calculate the speed of the bike and think they can 'beat them to the road space'.

Add to the above the inappropriate gear that some bike riders wear which simply tempts loss of limbs that makes me shudder with dread.

A chap we were friends with who survived a crash but lost both arm and leg on left side and he was lucky! other friends did not survive.

More education is needed and longer P plate periods should be legislated.

Sue

Try living within 20 miles of the Triumph factory if you want to see lunatic bikers!! The lamp posts in the area are graffittied with 'Think Bike!' posters everywhere, the majority of the bikers are young and think they are riding on a race track. If they want to keep them safe they should put up 'Think Motorist' posters instead. As someone said, they are likely to come off worst in an accident. They undertake and at speed round here, even using the cycle lanes to do it, and when you are doing the legal speed limit yourself, they must be exceeding it when they fly past, crossing solid white lines into the bargain.

Rutland is another bad place, as we found out over recent weeks of travel there. Youngsters again and racing each other along narrow winding roads, overtaking in dangerous places and all over the wrong side of the road on bends.

Yes, motorists are at fault too and do need to be careful turning out of junctions and when overtaking, but if bikers are flouting motoring laws particularly with speeding etc they can appear out of nowhere and how many actually wear high viz clothing despite all the advertising??? I am not convinced that such individuals have any regard for their own lives, or, maybe more importantly, the lives and safety of anyone else.

Cyclists are much more refined road users. :-D

Here's a thought....taking into account what was said earlier....where do female bikers stand with regard to abilities?? :-D

I know a few female bikers - if you know what you are doing bikes are a great way to get around greater London. I am quite happy to ride pillion with any of them and as my life is on the line cannot praise more.

ANNX and Caroline are quite right a think car sign should be welded to the instrumemts. Suitable clothing should also be compulsory starting with boots. Biking in trainers.. Mad

I spend quite a lot of time in Rutland cannot say I ve seen more mad riding than usual but South Lincs is def hard on the nerves. There are lots of reasons to go to Rutland but not many for leaving.

I think young bikers i.e. non car drivers should be made aware that when they are ducking and weaving in and out of a long line of cars moving at about 30/40 some cars do have a blind spot so they may not be visible in the mirror even if the driver looks. With the roads full of pot holes sometimes the car swerves almost involuntarily when it hits a pot hole, if a biker was just cutting past close to the car they could easily be knocked off. It is also worth saying that none of the bikes we saw doing any of the above, including the lad overtaking on double white lines, were wearing L plates. and the bikes were all sizes up to large Harley D types.

Oh and not all car drivers were innocent either, the part of the A34 and M40 that we travel on from Oxford saw some awful driving. Must have been the thought of the Grand Prix just up the road! :-D

I've seen bikers in flip flips T-shirts and shorts......total madness...then again I've seen some whizz up the road with no helmet when road testing after fixing something and stunt driving on public roads.....madness.....but that's not all bikers.

I doubt if any biker has not come off at some time or other. The outcome often rests on what the biker and any passenger are wearing. As helmets are compulsory maybe gloves and boots could be added to the list ez enough for the police to check.

I wrote off a bike (Triumph Bonneville) nr Newbury in 1969. Thanks to my leathers I was mostly just injured pride, a long walk and a bolicking from my old man. I was really peeved at the cost of new kit. Two weeks later I was hitch hiking on the then unimproved A34 nr Chievely. A biker whizzed by down a dip and right into a National Travel coach. It took his head off. Quite spoilt my day.

Since then I have never come off. Captain Slow.

Before anybody asks Ducati 620 10 years old.
If I wanted to drive a truck I would of course pick a Sturgis machine. No beard, no beer gut, almost no tattoos so I don't.

I always thought the 'Think Bike' sign was warning the motorists!

It is Elizabeth

The younger of my two (elder) brothers is a 'biker'.
He drives (and rebuilds) retro Moto Guzzis.
He has been 'T-boned' twice in his life, resulting in a titanium shin bone, and during the last 4 years (he's 66 now) in two knee replacements.

He acquired his love of bikes from our dad, who was a courier in WWII, riding a Norton 16H, and, after the war, when he could afford it, bought a Norton Triumph Speed Twin.

Personally, I've never had much of a liking for motorbikes.
My other brother (the eldest) built himself a chopper in the 1970's, and took me for a ride on it.
The number of car drivers who (apparently) couldn't see him was scary - as was the number of people who opened their car doors without a thought as to what was coming (us)! I can only say it's got worse since then.
I've refused offers from both brothers to pillion on their bikes since!!
Elder brother gave up 'choppers' fairly soon, as a van as needed to move his bonsai pots between exhibitions. (he's a potter).
I even missed my Cornish gran's funeral, as youngest brother went down on his Moto Guzzi, and I didn't fancy the stress.

But have to agree there are some right blithering idiots about - both on bikes and in cars. :-| :-|

Ann we get motorbikes going down & up A75 .they are always about as they go to Ireland via Cairnryan .it can be very busy .but some of the riders are good ,but you do get some trying to weave in & out of the traffic .I tend to just move over a bit & let them go, But it can be a nightmare if they come up behind you, to be honest we stay away as it is best thing to do. mind you some car drivers are just as bad not just young drivers either ..some men don't like a woman overtaking them silly old S~~~ds ;-) :-D

Never argue with an acid-throwing Moped rider.