Last night 23rd March 10. I was riding home Westminster to Kent when another biker Learner on a 125 cruiser, (No dig at any persons ride) decided it was his right to shout abuse from behind me at lights about my biking skills. Nearly all sets of lights
Now first of all i was a bit taken back from this. I ride a 600 and do not take the pi55 with speed but I did over take him on westminster bridge road at circa 35 MPH.
His comments where I believe that I was going to Kill someone and hopefully myself. That i was going far to fast for anything (35 mph overtaking a cruiser doing 28 on an incline.) He proceeded to call me a pr!ck and maybe even a cee u next tuesday (He has and Aussie or south african accent)
When I was taught to ride,i was taught to accerelate away from lights as this is one of the saftey features on a bike, keeping a nice gap and away from danger. Also I am by far no way the quickest I see many a bike safely overtaking me and cars to get from their AB. Why pick on me.
Now I don’t mind a biker of any standered saying that I was a bit dangerous or maybe slow down on the courner. In fact any advice to improve my riding that will help save me or others on the road is appreciated. But to continue to come up behind me a say “I am still behind you” or “YOu drive like a fu3king maniac” really gets to me.
Maybe he was annoyed he did not have the acceleration of a 600 or the fact that my bike is loud so it may seem at 7000 rpm I am screaming along at 70 mph when infact it is 40 mph.
If you are on here please post what was so bad about my riding so I can learn.
Also should I have done something hideous or just ignored it as I did. Also Would anyone of actually sped up and got home quicker.
Whenever I get annoyed by anyone or anything on the roads, I simply remember that everyone else out there is a complete See You Next Tuesday and get on with riding for myself.
Might sound a bit keyboard warrior ish, but while he is shouting obsceneties at you at traffic lights why dident you put your sidestand down and go over to him and ask him what the problem is?
A chap the other day got a little pissed at my riding and was shouting at me. I’d overtaken him pulling away at the lights. I had my plugs in and couldn’t hear a thing. Anyway, he gave up after a while as he clearly wasn’t happy riding at a pace.
It’s interesting that the guy was on a different kind of bike: his perception might have been different to yours. Once while I was on my Monster s4rs, riding with a guy on a 1098, a chap on a Deauville was complaining that we were giving bikers a bad name speeding through town. Initially we didn’t know what he meant - front wheels were on the deck, after all - but then we realised that to him, we were pulling away quickly. To us, we were pulling away normally, getting the (dry) clutches in as quickly as possible so as not to destroy them. To him, on his less focussed bike, we were moving quickly.
Haha. It was when I bought it. Now, 15 months and 1 clean later…not so much.I don’t get annoyed. Jealous perhaps. But I know my role. A 125 cruiser is not going to keep up with a 600, fact. So I saunter along enjoying my ride and not really worrying being left behind at lights etc. As long as you don’t cut me up, you crack on sir.
am i missing something here? :blink: so your riding along and a biker who rides something faster wants to get past you (fair play) but is it ok to literally accelerates past really close to them just because your faster? I mean a really close shave??? that ok then?
I mean come on I’ve had it, and it does scare the life out of you! That doesnt mean i’ve not been observant, I always am and always let other bikers past me, but that odd occasion where out of nowhere one just blasts past you like theres no tomorrow
No way am i supporting the other rider here on the 125, he’s bang out of order to be cursing you that way. but not all bikers on 600s+ are angels either
the problem is you can’t always look in your mirrors all the time you’re riding. you can look in them, then look ahead again and suddenly somebody comes past you quickly, its once happened to me before while filtering and im on a 600 and it does scare the **** out of you but it doesn’t neccessarily mean that it was a dangerous manouvre.if the person went past you when you wanted to move out, well you should’ve checked your mirrors first and then shoulder checked
personally i would have told him…to **** off, dickhead…wtf does he know about riding??
then i would have proceded to tell him he should pass his test and buy a big bike and ride for at least 6 months then come back and have a rant…then i would be well up for a ding dong if he likes:D
seems what really happended was you overtook a 125 L plater, this upset his macho mojo…hence he thought he would try and have a go…what a plank!
I know Ive posted negatively before on here about other riders. In no way do I consider myself a ‘great rider’, but I’m not completely crap and I know that I have a good awareness of other riders. I normally don’t really care WHAT other riders do unless they deliberately impede me. I’ve had several ‘encounters’ with other rather less considerate riders.
One time, on the KTM, I pulled up at a set of lights at Old Street at about 6:30 in the morning. It was dark - this was about 2 or 3 months ago - and there was nobody else around. This guy on a bike then decided to pull IN FRONT OF ME. I mean there is nothing else about and Ive not just cut him up or anything. So I pulled forward and he did it again! So I waited for the lights to start changing and pulled off ahead of him and carried on riding normally. I mean what is the PROBLEM!?? Surely we are all just trying to get somewhere!?
If people want to pull wheelies on the road or ride fast, I have no problem with that :hehe: that’s up to them, but I really abhor people that are just looking for a fight :crazy:. I have all the patience in the world for someone who is just trying to get somewhere. More often than not, theyll see me and pull over to pass and I’ll go out of my way to thank them, but it’s the 1% of complete and utter idiots that cut you up, slam on their brakes or meander around with no real sense of purpose that really get my goat! I’ve never been shouted at, but I did shout at a scooter rider once for nearly running someone over on a pedestrian crossing.
In general I have found most bikers to be quite polite and not inclined to road rage. However, I might well be wrong. I have seen bikers riding dangerously at all bhp and cc levels - but in London there seems to be a predominance of L plate 125’s undertaking buses, getting up close to lorries, pulling out on pedestrians and generally taking risks. I used to be one of them, but I remember when I was on a TW 125, a guy on a 600 pulled up at the lights and said ‘Nice Tyres’! He then said I should look in the mirrors a bit more, check the road and tie my hair back so it wasn’t in the way and wished me luck in the test. Nothing wrong with impromptu advice like that, if it’s done in a pleasant way.
Generally speaking the etiquette amongst bikers is good. I had a fully patched HA allow me to filter in front of him down the A23 a couple of years back, until I pulled over and waved him past as I could tell I was holding him up. So good manners do exist and I think are the norm, rather than the exception.
but not all bikers on 600s+ are angels either