Buzzed by bikey posse !

[harpo_72]

I was coming back From the club after some evening practice and driving down A road when seven motorbikes passed me at 100+ mph. Not one was wearing full leathers and they were all over the road. Scared me witless, I was expecting to see some horrific accident around the next corner !

 

[Blue in Munich]

All over the road or in the right position? You don't usually stay on the road at those speeds if you don't use all of it.

 

[harpo_72]

There looked to be an element of being at the edge of ones talent level! They were swarming around each other, and one was on the opposite side on a blind brow ... Bit silly if you ask me! Plus the roads in Buckinghamshire are really bad for pot holes and patch repairs. Seriously I don't understand why people and that is car drivers think they have 2 lanes to play with, my speed is as fast as one lets me go, I don't wash out wide and I don't enter wide I stay in my lane. If I could guarantee no oncoming traffic then I would use both lanes and get another 20-30mph corner speed ... But we are not racing.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Seriously I don't understand why people and that is car drivers think they have 2 lanes to play with

Suppose it depends on how you've been taught, nothing wrong with it if you understand the hows and whys. If it isn't something you've been taught then I can understand that it looks wrong.

 

[Khamelion]

Suppose it depends on how you've been taught, nothing wrong with it if you understand the hows and whys. If it isn't something you've been taught then I can understand that it looks wrong.

I know hte subject is bikes, but as mentioned in another thread my auld man was a motorcycle copper and went through the police training for cars and bikes, when he taught me to drive I was taught to use the whole road as long as it was safe to do so.

I do to this day straight line a round about, rather than stay in the painted lanes as so conscientiously provided by the council, on country lanes I'll cut corners as long as it's safe to do so.

 

[harpo_72]

I am not a member of the emergency service. So don't need to drive like that, I can, but I won't because I will be well over even the highest speed limit in this land. What was going on with these bikers was pure lunacy there is no other excuse for it. I have no problem with speed but common sense does not seem to be in abundance. I suspect the TT has got them all revved up - despite 1 fatal accident already and god knows what happened on the Sunday before.
I would love to sit down and listen to the traffic police on their views and how they set their cars up, how meticulous they maintain them ...

 

[Imurg]

All over the road or in the right position? You don't usually stay on the road at those speeds if you don't use all of it.

The right position is on the left hand side of the white line doing the speed limit or less - end of story.

 

[wull]

I don't understand why they wouldn't be wearing all the gear,maybe they had Kevlar jeans on which is very popular these days.

Usually when you go out for a ride with a group you are fully kitted out with the leathers or full protection at least whether it is textiles with fill armour or Kevlar jeans at the very least.

Usually idiots with no armour or protection are going a very short distance but even then you can get caught out like I did.....EEJIT!!

Were you on a bike dude,seems that way from your second post?

 

[harpo_72]

No i was not, gave the bike up after I met the wife. I drive a sports car, little lowered and stiffer than normal with a suitable tyre rim combination to maximise grip.

 

[Hobbit]

The right position is on the left hand side of the white line doing the speed limit or less - end of story.

Most Police forces run 1-2-1 assessed rides for us idiots and you'll be advised to "straight line" bends and roundabouts if safe to do so, i.e. you've checked for traffic. And if you're sitting just below the speed limit you'll get a voice in your ear saying overtake then drop back to the speed limit.

Strangely enough, IAM, the Institute of Advanced Motorists training also includes straight lining in its training courses. RoSPA's advanced courses, inc Gold Award, also includes straight lining.

 

[Imurg]

And yet if you do it in your driving test you'll get failed.

The problem is that Bikers and Car Drivers, advised to straight-line corners/roundabouts when it's safe, get into the habit of doing it and then tend to do it when it's not safe.
How can it be that I have to train someone to pass their driving test when I know damn well that if they drive like that once they've passed they'll get eaten alive within the first week?
Teach someone to go round the Hangar Lane Gyratory, for example, in a manner that will get them through their test, they pass and on their way to work the next day get cut up, barged and generally beaten up by the rest of us doing it completely differently.
After a couple of days they decide the only way to live longer is to start carving everyone else up and generally doing to others what is being done to them. They get into difficulties and crash because they don't have the exerience to back off at just the right millisecond to avoid it, something that years on the road teaches you.
The New Kid gets the blame - but really, if everyone drove "properly" there wouldn't be the temptation to cut up others.

At the end of the day, there shouldn't be a need to straight line a corner or a roundabout.

 

[Andy808]

I have a couple of questions.
Firstly were they all wearing leather jackets and gloves?
Were they wearing proper boots?
Is so then I would suspect most of them were wearing protective jeans. I know that sounds mad but several companies now make jeans and combat trousers with Kevlar in the material and protective padding where it's needed.

Once I was on a ride out with some friends when we got pulled over by a traffic cop on a bike. He had no problem with the speed we were doing, how we were riding or the bikes. It was just me as I was wearing a pair of jeans and not leather trousers. As he began lecturing me on the importance of wearing full protective clothing while out on a bike my mates stood chuckling until he finished and gave me time to speak. I said nothing, undid my jeans, to show of a pair of full Kevlar under trousers with full padding in the hips, knees and lower back.
He chuckled along with my mates and said I could have told him earlier but I thought he was having so much fun I'd leave him to it!!
Things aren't always as they seem so don't always presume your right.

 

[harpo_72]

Some had bomber jackets, jeans and trainers, one had a leather jacket on and jeans and riding boots ( so perhaps kevlared up) another had what could only be described a yellow wetsuit on that was all baggy...
Suffice to say their attire was one thing their behaviour blatant disregard for others safety was not suitable ( I don't want to get into bikey dress code etiquette, that's a golf thing!). What I fail to understand is why a motorcyclist is allowed to break the speed limit?
Sorry I also neglected to mention that the corners were blind due to the foliage growing so high, so straight lining roundabouts ( which means actually being able to see and read the traffic was not possible).
There is now way I would start a thread purely to slag a bunch of people off, but some times you see stuff and you think nah that is too much.
As for advanced driving instructors, well I have experienced them and their out put as well. The funniest moment was being told to let the pedal cyclist know I was there by giving him a toot of my horn. What followed was a complete comedy of bad language gestures and wobbling about ... Not really the right way to deal with a cyclist who is behaving in a correct manner. The other one was listening to some police interceptor driver tell us that the black marks were where the concrete had melted... And that was how skids were made. I did not have the heart to indicate that the melting temps of concrete and tyre rubber were significantly different and that the rubber would actually shear under heavy braking leaving a black residue. Suffice to say that advanced licenses only breed arrogance and contempt for other drivers and justify poor skills and speeding. Perhaps some form of education would actually benefit so that this manner could be justified - perhaps 3 years combined working in test facility for crashes and A &E ... Then some understanding as to cause and affect may be a good detterant

 

[Blue in Munich]

And yet if you do it in your driving test you'll get failed.

The problem is that Bikers and Car Drivers, advised to straight-line corners/roundabouts when it's safe, get into the habit of doing it and then tend to do it when it's not safe.
How can it be that I have to train someone to pass their driving test when I know damn well that if they drive like that once they've passed they'll get eaten alive within the first week?
Teach someone to go round the Hangar Lane Gyratory, for example, in a manner that will get them through their test, they pass and on their way to work the next day get cut up, barged and generally beaten up by the rest of us doing it completely differently.
After a couple of days they decide the only way to live longer is to start carving everyone else up and generally doing to others what is being done to them. They get into difficulties and crash because they don't have the exerience to back off at just the right millisecond to avoid it, something that years on the road teaches you.
The New Kid gets the blame - but really, if everyone drove "properly" there wouldn't be the temptation to cut up others.

At the end of the day, there shouldn't be a need to straight line a corner or a roundabout.

Then maybe it's time we had a meaningful driving test. I've never quite worked out how reversing round a corner qualifies you to drive on a motorway.

I wouldn't disagree with you that lane discipline in this country is generally appalling, and that there are people out there who straight line bends without knowing the reasoning behind it, but having been taught to position for vision, with due regard to safety, I can't agree that you should always be to the left of the white line, as you term it.

 

[wull]

I'm guessing you happily go along at 60 with your sporty motor

 

[DCB]

On the way back up the M6 from last years meet at Hillside I saw two real idiots on the M6, outside lane, doing well over the speed limit on a big bike. They were both wearing shorts and gutties. I did wonder if the bike had been nicked as no sane rider would do that surely.

 

[Blue in Munich]

I'm guessing you happily go along at 60 with your sporty motor

Having seen your other thread, were you one of those overtaking him??

Is it appropriate to wish you a "speedy" recovery?

 

[harpo_72]

I'm guessing you happily go along at 60 with your sporty motor

Yup ... And honestly no, but I don't endanger others or myself, I have hit that age where I don't need to scare myself by being on the edge of my ability.

 

[Hobbit]

At the end of the day, there shouldn't be a need to straight line a corner or a roundabout.

The reason behind straight lining is quite simple. Cars and bikes don't tend to skid when they're going in a straight line. But you're right about there being two different methods of teaching depending on what level the rider/driver is at. For car drivers, crossing hands is a big no-no to get thro' the test, or it used to be, whereas you're taught to do it on the advanced course because its quicker.

Suffice to say that advanced licenses only breed arrogance and contempt for other drivers and justify poor skills and speeding. Perhaps some form of education would actually benefit so that this manner could be justified - perhaps 3 years combined working in test facility for crashes and A &E ... Then some understanding as to cause and affect may be a good detterant

31 years since my last accident on a bike suggests an advanced licence doesn't breed poor skills. As for 3yrs in A&E; 21yrs working in the Acute Care areas, A&E, theatres and Intensive Care has given me a fair grasp of what could happen.

Perhaps an example of the skills a biker develops is to travel with them in a car and ask them to give a running commentary - loose gravel, manhole covers, white lines(slippy when wet), wet leaves, mud, horse droppings, smell of fuel as you approach a roundabout. Changing road positions(gentle weaving) - other road users are less likely to see you if you maintain a constant position in the lane. Ride so that you can see the driver's head in his wing mirror.... and on and on...

Kevlar jeans take longer to wear through than leathers - not something I'd want to go out and prove. Some leather trousers are nylon lined - bl00dy painful when the nylon melts as you slide down the road. Some trainers are actually short bike boots/trainers.

I don't doubt some bikers can be inconsiderate, just as some car drivers can. But the safe speed they might be going at can seem frightening to some car drivers - I've had a gaggle of bikers go past me that has scared the bejesus out of Mrs Hobbit but it didn't bother me in the slightest.

 

[wull]

Having seen your other thread, were you one of those overtaking him??

Is it appropriate to wish you a "speedy" recovery?

:rofl: