Anyone Else Feeling Invisible?

[vifferman]

I've started to treat indicators as a "Maybe". You often get more indication from subtle movements just before a turn.

• Change in road position
• speed approaching another vehicle
• head movement
• approaching a junction

I find that from these signals I get as much warning as from the flashing orange things.

True dat.
However, you still need to be careful. I got so good at reading what people were going to do by observing them, I got caught out by someone whose signals ('subtle movements') said he'd seen me, when in fact he hadn't. If I'd listened to that little voice that said, "Tootle him just in case", I wouldn't have crashed my VFR750.

On the other hand, we bikers can be exceptionally misleading by forgetting to cancel our indicators. This is incredibly dangerous in nz if you leave your left one on, I've nearly been nailed a couple of times with the give way rules.

Yeah.
I've done that a few times, and sometimes even got grumpy with other drivers for driving badly, when I'd forgotten to cancel the indicator. This was especially easy to do on the VTR, because the lights on the dash were in odd places.

[Ixion]

The people I hate are the ones who have to go like 10ks over speedbumps because their COOL LOWEERD HONDA CIVIC cant go over any faster without scratching their home-done paint job. Fucking morons. THey dont realise that theres people behind them.. other ppl are the ones who slow down before they start indication, how the hell are others meant to know theyre gonna slow down? Bastards.

Ah speedbumps. I like speedbumps. For some reason (trailie heritage I suppose) Li'l Ratty totally ignores speedbumps of all types. I've tried putting it over them faster and faster , up to over 140kph. Makes no difference to it at all. Gets airborne momentarily at really high speeds is all.

And, conveniently located as a short cut on my way to work is a road with 13 of them (yes, the local council went a bit mad. I gather the people living in the road asked for speedbumps to slow down all the dirvers and trucks using it as a short cut. The council didn't want to, the residents grumbled and the council finally relented "Okay then, you want speedbumps. Well we'll GIVE you speedbumps. And don't say you didn't ask for them". So now no-one uses it as a short cut). And some nice S bends between them.

Some mornings I get a clear run. And of course, because the cages go so slow there now, Mr Plod never bothers with it. Whee , Li'l Rat bike loves it.

Other mornings I seem to get stuck behind a procession of cages, all slowing to 10kph. Not just the boiracers either, everyone does. I no sooner get past one, and I'm behind another one. Tedious

(Oddly enough Mrs Ixion, who is in all other respects the worlds slowest most sedate and cautious driver, goes like a rally driver over speedbumps. She hurtles over them flat out, shock absorbers banging from full compression to full unload and me (as passenger) practically fracturing my skull on the roof . I don't understand it at all. And she denies it.)

[XP@]

True dat.
However, you still need to be careful. I got so good at reading what people were going to do by observing them, I got caught out by someone whose signals ('subtle movements') said he'd seen me, when in fact he hadn't. If I'd listened to that little voice that said, "Tootle him just in case", I wouldn't have crashed my VFR750.

One caveat...

NEVER ASS-U-ME they have seen you!

[vifferman]

Ah speedbumps. I like speedbumps. For some reason (trailie heritage I suppose) Li'l Ratty totally ignores speedbumps of all types.

The execrable Volty I had for a day as a loaner had one redeeming feature: it loved speed bumps. Oweing to a soggy and bouncy suspension, and low weight, you could pogo it over speedbumps very nicely. Bounce down immediatley before the hump, then pull up going over it, and there was no impact at all.

I'm glad we didn't get speedbumps in our street in response to our neighbour's bleating about "all the accidents". Well, I guess 18 in less than a year is rather a lot... But we got pedestrian islands and no parking outside our house, instead. Bit of a bugger, seeing as we've no off-street parking. But at least I can still ride/drive as fast as I like around the sweeping curves (and 'traffic-calming measures' ).

[Gremlin]

I gotta say that doing tons of k's on a bicycle can really teach you about cars.

You are constantly being overtaken, or overtaking (depending on the size of the hill) and it really teaches you about car behaviour.

Can't say what I actually look for (could only describe it as being indecisive, slow, weaving or something) but all I know is that car x is wrong. Dunno how wrong, just wrong, something doesn't add up.

Even if you are proved wrong, doesn't matter, better than not adjusting and the car is wrong... Even then, you can still totally miss one...

Best one today was an SUV (why are they always crap??) who was halfway into another lane, then tried out the flashy thingie

[DingDong]

This is why we hate them... cages not women (i love women)