The *****wit cyclist thread

[NordieBoy]

Fuck bumble bee guy. As the slower rider he should have slowed and made room for the faster rider. Double fuck him for being a big enough temper tantrum douchebag for physically attacking the camera guy, totally unnecessary. I hope the cops get him.

Being a slower rider, I let people past if possible and if, in doing so, cause no issues for myself.
Otherwise I treat it the same as in racing. Hold my line and try not to wobble all over the place and the faster rider will find a way past.

[jasonu]

Nah it's just a way to drum up publicity for Shane Cameron's next opponent. Free advertising etc, quite clever really.

I thought the O for Orsum guy turned him into a retard.

[Swoop]

Right, say that again when someone is tailgating you...

Rarely, if ever happens.
I know how to use the left hand lane and allow others to pass unhindered.


Either that or I'm in the fast lane up someone else's arse saying "get the fuck out of the way!".
Speaking of which... Why is it that Sunday night drivers are so brain-dead? 80k in the fast lane?
80????? Seriously?

[5150]

Well, it had to happen. Yesterday morning while taking the wife to work at 5:30am I got one of them lycra sausage jockeys.

The scene: We were driving down Ulster street by Whitiora, where it meets Victoria St by the Farmer Family statue. Dark, foggy and damp road. We had green light and I crossed the intersection at no more then 40 clicks.

Enter Stage Left is a vauge figure wearing jeans, black jersey, beanie and black cycle stack on his melon. Bike is gray with no lights, no hiviz anything. I only just caught him with the corner of my eye as he hit our left guard and flew across the bonnet. The freestyle judge gave him 9 for style and 4 for effort. We stop, call the popo and the ambo's. In between crying and screaming the cycle sausage guy starts screaming at us that we cut him off. WTF??? I told him he ran red light, but no, he insists I cut him off.

The worst was popo's response. They told me i should have slowed down and let him through. My response was. "FUCK THE LOT OF YOU"S, I WOULD IF I COULD SEE THE CUNT!!!!" and anyway, why should I give way to him when it was me who had a green light while he ran the red?? To which I was told that I will be let off with a warning. Even my insurance agreed with me and still want to pursue the idiot for damages to my car.


And I have asked the cops the obvious question. Why do they always run safety campains on cars, motorbikes and trucks but never on cyclists. His response was classic.




You ready?................






Here it goes:






"Because alot of cyclists do not have enough money to pay the fines, and anyway, they are not registered road users so it would be hard to pursue them for infringments and not worth going through courts"


WTF????

[Tigadee]

Speaking of which... Why is it that Sunday night drivers are so brain-dead? 80k in the fast lane?
80????? Seriously?

Oh, was that you?

On a slightly serious note, I know what you mean... I was stuck behind an empty taxi this morning on the motorway going 90kph in the fast lane. I suppose he thought since he was empty and already 'at work', he ought to conserve fuel but nelegected to think of others who may be on their way to work.

But that's why I love biking to work, just as soon as a gap opens up, I can zip into the next lane and get past him...

"Because alot of cyclists do not have enough money to pay the fines, and anyway, they are not registered road users so it would be hard to pursue them for infringments and not worth going through courts"

Wow...

That's perfect though... Next time anything like this happens, we should just reverse, run over the cyclist again just to make sure, and then speed off.

I mean, it's not worth going through courts, right? And when claiming insurance, tell them you hit a kangaroo.

[Flip]

Well, it had to happen. Yesterday morning while taking the wife to work at 5:30am I got one of them lycra sausage jockeys.

The scene: We were driving down Ulster street by Whitiora, where it meets Victoria St by the Farmer Family statue. Dark, foggy and damp road. We had green light and I crossed the intersection at no more then 40 clicks.

Enter Stage Left is a vauge figure wearing jeans, black jersey, beanie and black cycle stack on his melon. Bike is gray with no lights, no hiviz anything. I only just caught him with the corner of my eye as he hit our left guard and flew across the bonnet. The freestyle judge gave him 9 for style and 4 for effort. We stop, call the popo and the ambo's. In between crying and screaming the cycle sausage guy starts screaming at us that we cut him off. WTF??? I told him he ran red light, but no, he insists I cut him off.

The worst was popo's response. They told me i should have slowed down and let him through. My response was. "FUCK THE LOT OF YOU"S, I WOULD IF I COULD SEE THE CUNT!!!!" and anyway, why should I give way to him when it was me who had a green light while he ran the red?? To which I was told that I will be let off with a warning. Even my insurance agreed with me and still want to pursue the idiot for damages to my car.


And I have asked the cops the obvious question. Why do they always run safety campains on cars, motorbikes and trucks but never on cyclists. His response was classic.




You ready?................






Here it goes:






"Because alot of cyclists do not have enough money to pay the fines, and anyway, they are not registered road users so it would be hard to pursue them for infringments and not worth going through courts"


WTF????

Thats a 30 pointer.

[Jdogg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpZG4...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLC-y3AIVt4

I bike to work everyday - Never had an issue - I just ride like anything big than me can kill me - simple - I value my life over my ego/perceived road rights....

[neels]

So hang on, was it

one of them lycra sausage jockeys.

Or was it just some random dude with a death wish on a bike?

a vauge figure wearing jeans, black jersey, beanie and black cycle stack on his melon. Bike is gray with no lights, no hiviz anything.

Anyway, I just about cleaned up one of them myself the other night, dressed about the same at about 8pm. Stupid is as stupid does I guess.

Short answer is sounds like the police are a waste of time so leave it up to your insurance company, cyclist with no lights well before sunrise = not your fault, get the car fixed and let them chase him for the money

[5150]

So hang on, was it

Or was it just some random dude with a death wish on a bike?

I think one and the same, just that during the day he didn't want to dissapoint his other lycra clad mates. Either way, they all look the same to me.

And yes, I agree with you re insurance. I just found it interresting that cops did not give him a fine for dangerous/reckles riding and running a red light, instead telling me to slow down and let him through. I am intending to write a letter to the Police commisioner describing the incident and asking for his view on the cyclling and their policing matters. So watch this space

[ellipsis]

...sometimes 'thick' or 'with a death wish'. is more an apt tag than 'arrogant'...like the rope head git riding against the flow of traffic on a one way system in peak hour traffic, headphones on, in Chch that I spied recently...his antics only got smiles and head shakes from drivers in the near miss vicinity...he probably gets home every night...

[5150]

The police response to my question at the time of the accident further ensures me that all the traffic campaigns on our roads are nothing to do with safety, and are rather cleverly disquised plots for revenue collecting.

[Mushu]

iYRe, you should be shot.

Judging by your arguments you are quite possibly an intelligent person, but you have definatly missed the point.


We all have the right to a safe journey to and from work but what you have to understand is that if I have to be at work at 8, I know if I leave home at 7:20 I can get to work with anything up to 20 minutes to get a coffee or whatever but that time can be greatly affected if I get some prick who is doing about 20 in a 60 zone (you say you average 30 - 50 but the average lycra covered asshole seems to do 20 - 30), I leave 20 minutes of spare time to account for these assholes and sometimes it's barely enough. Keep in mind I have a short commute, it takes me 10 minutes to get to work at 7am on a Saturday
You should be able to keep up with the traffic flow, or take another route where you don't obstruct it.

It's true there are other vehicles on the road that can't achieve the speed limit but often their purpose itself precludes its ability to reach speed limits (Truck, tractor, forklift, etc, etc) not just as someones chosen transportation and more often than not the drivers of these vehicles try and stay out of the way of traffic (diferent routes, times to avoid obstructing traffic) I have driven and worked with alot of these types of machines.
If you can ride a bike somewhere, as far as I can tell you can walk there too -Luggage capacity: same. Range: Similar [conservation of energy]- it will take longer, but you guys are happy to hold us up so you mustn't have anywhere to be yourselves. (Obviously this doesn't just apply to the work commute - just a small example)

I have no problem with alot of cyclists out there, I used to ride a BMX when I was going to polytech a couple of years ago, and rode a MTB around untill I got a car license. But what you have to keep in mind is you are the only one who you can trust with your safety I knew it when I was 12 and I know it now, don't EVER just expect these people to even see you, and if you keep this in mind you wont be in the way of larger (faster) vehicles unless it is absolutly necessary.

Also, iYRe, you mention having never stacked your motorbike, good on you, neither have I (but I have stacked the odd trail bike, and managed to highside a pocketbike once) but you mention having never stacked a pushbike, this makes me think that your safety margin is far too wide, I couldn't begin to count the amount of times I came off my pushbikes over the years. And if you can't effectively use your bike to the edges of its performance (turning, stopping) you may be too scared to take appropriate action in an emergency.

If you want to use the kms/accidents ratio as an argument I'd like to point out that my mother never had an accident in something like 25
years, despite the fact that she is one of the worst drivers I have ever known, from when the neighbor taught me to drive at 12 till when mum handed in her license, she doesn't drive now for medical reasons, I did the majority of the parking and all the parallel parking - cos I could do it first time when it would take her 5 minutes.

There are those cyclists that are the living embodyment of Darwins theory.
About a week after getting my bike (still quite shakey but starting to get into the corners and have fun with it) I was riding Summit rd from Gebbes pass heading to Sign of the Kiwi, about a quarter of the way I see a cyclist a couple corners ahead, plenty of time so I start checking for oncoming cars and looking for my line around the cyclist. The way it worked out I caught up to him just as he entered a tight left hand corner but decided that since I can see around the corner, I'll just sit close to the centreline which would leave plenty of room between us as I overtake.
When I was about 10m behind this guy he starts peddling (there was a gradient change and he is now travelling uphill - I hadn't considered that this would effect me) This caused him to take up far more room on the road, swinging the bike side to side as he peddled. He also started concentrating on getting up the hill, and forgot about the corner crossing to the centreline by the time I caught him
So here I am, not alot of options avaliable to me given my experience and avoiding him put me directly into the oncoming lane (luckily I had already checked for oncoming cars - hit a soft pushbike vs. hit a oncoming car the answer is obvious so if I don't know what might be in the oncoming lane I'll mow down that cyclist everytime)
It was here I just racted without thinking - rear brake, huge turning skid, managed to keep the bike out of the ditch somehow and then this guy is looking at me like I'm some kind of danger on the road. - I was well under the speed limit (didn't have the confidence to go fast enough to break the limit at that time)

With the skill level I have now I could have easily kept it on the road, but even Rossi himself wouldn't have been able to keep it out of the oncoming lane.

I think cyclists should be made to ride on the opposite side of the road, toward the traffic.
When they are looking at the trucks, busses and SUVs barreling down on them with no regard for their safety, maybe more of them will figure out that they can't rely on these poeple to not be adjusting stereos or lighting a smoke or reading a text.

The most effective way of not being hit is to watch the traffic and assume they are actually trying to run you off the road. While on the BMX (In both Christchurch and Sydney) I used both sides of the road, both footpaths, median strips, parks and other vehicles to efficiantly get where I need to go without ever holding anyone up and no injury was ever done anyone else as a result of this and I've only had scrapes when I have come off. Never hit or been hit by a car.

[FJRider]

... "Because alot of cyclists do not have enough money to pay the fines, and anyway, they are not registered road users so it would be hard to pursue them for infringments and not worth going through courts"


WTF????

The kicker is ... as a licence is not required to operate them ... personal ID is often not carried. It's certainly not required by law. A drivers licence is required to be carried (by those issued them) ... but not everybody has one. (or admit at time they have one ... if it suits)

The cop may issue a ticket to a cyclist ... but if given details are false ... the cyclist is in the clear. No doubt ... plenty have done this, and cops see writing a ticket to a cyclist is only done for serious offences.

Registration of bicycles may be seen as a start ... but personal ID carried at all times would cover a lot of issues in many respects.

I can(not) see that as being popular ...

[5150]

The kicker is ... as a licence is not required to operate them ... personal ID is often not carried. It's certainly not required by law. A drivers licence is required to be carried (by those issued them) ... but not everybody has one. (or admit at time they have one ... if it suits)

The cop may issue a ticket to a cyclist ... but if given details are false ... the cyclist is in the clear. No doubt ... plenty have done this, and cops see writing a ticket to a cyclist is only done for serious offences.

Registration of bicycles may be seen as a start ... but personal ID carried at all times would cover a lot of issues in many respects.

I can(not) see that as being popular ...

Funny thing is that where I come from, former estern block EU coutry, having a license for operating a push bike is compulsory, and most schools were actively engaging in road code training. I got my cycle license when I was 10 as most of kids did. It prepared us all to become aware and responsible road user. Also upon reaching age of 16, every citizen was issued with an ID card which held your personal details. You were required by law to have it on you ALL the time and failure would end up in arrest. Yes, some might see it as over kill, but for a country with over 40 million people it worked wanders. I do not personally see a problem with licensing ALL road users including cyclists and making carrying a form of ID a legal requirement. It would certainly make popo's job alot easier.

[FJRider]

Funny thing is that where I come from, former estern block EU coutry, having a license for operating a push bike is compulsory, and most schools were actively engaging in road code training. I got my cycle license when I was 10 as most of kids did. It prepared us all to become aware and responsible road user. Also upon reaching age of 16, every citizen was issued with an ID card which held your personal details. You were required by law to have it on you ALL the time and failure would end up in arrest. Yes, some might see it as over kill, but for a country with over 40 million people it worked wanders. I do not personally see a problem with licensing ALL road users including cyclists and making carrying a form of ID a legal requirement. It would certainly make popo's job alot easier.

I spent a few years in Singapore ... Push bikes were required by law to have a rego' plate. And an ID card (with photo) was required by LAW ... to be carried at all times ... by EVERYBODY.

A law such as that would solve a lot of problems for the enforcers for sure. The "civil liberties brigade" may argue a bit though.