why????

Fastlad

I went out yesterday for a 30 miler on my road bike to enjoy some rare sunshine and halfway round a motorbike passes me going in the other direction and the pillion passenger sticks two fingers up at me!! WHAT THE FECK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?
Obviously if your a cyclist you must be open for abuse.

wildmoustache

Fastlad wrote:

I went out yesterday for a 30 miler on my road bike to enjoy some rare sunshine and halfway round a motorbike passes me going in the other direction and the pillion passenger sticks two fingers up at me!! WHAT THE FECK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?
Obviously if your a cyclist you must be open for abuse.

perhaps he/she mistook you for a friend?

Jez mon

What can I say. Unfortunately it seems to be part of road cycling in this country...usually when i get a bit of verbal, i'm just happy they've not thrown something at me/tried to run me over

fast as fupp

you should of chased them down and tw@tted them with a big stick!

1892

They were showing how many brain cells they have

Parsnip49

Maybe you didnt wave at him. Lucky he didnt punch you in the face.

gtvlusso

Firstly, you'll never catch a motorbike....
Secondly, as a motorcyclist myself, I condemn this behaviour and it is not representative of 90% of motorcylists out there (allot of them cycle too and are on this forum!)
Thirdy, A motorcyclist is more likely to punch you out if you retaliate.....(see: Hells Angels and carbon/kevlar gloves)

Agree - this country sucks for it's road user attitudes and cocks like that do cyclists and motorcyclists no favours.

Clip in, warm-up and pedal hard! Find a big hill, usually sorts me out when I have a bit of rage to get rid of.

wildmoustache

gtvlusso wrote:

A motorcyclist is more likely to punch you out if you retaliate.....(see: Hells Angels and carbon/kevlar gloves)

Clip in, warm-up and pedal hard! Find a big hill, usually sorts me out when I have a bit of rage to get rid of.

it's not worth the aggro b/c the motorcyclist is very well protected from attack ... helmet, thick leathers etc. and then often about 30% bodyfat padding too!

I'm with you on the big hill ... good time to go for a pb!

unclemalc

This is one of those topics which crops up all over the place as and when some poor sod comes into contact with a motorised knuckle dragger.
Personally I reckon on some abuse 1 out of 3 rides. The worst I had was a half-full milk carton lobbed at me from a passing (same direction) van. He was doing 40-odd mph up a hill so I had no chance of retribution.
Usually its in the form of some verbal which, more often than not, you don't really understand due to passing speeds.
On the occasion some t**t passed me in a van and called me a p***k as he went by, I responded in kind through his window with a polite "F**k you".
Strangely, he didn't stop to debate the advice. Shame. 8)

fossyant

Smile and wave, smile and wave.

Pitty you weren't going down hill on a twisty.... could have scared the motor biker a bit......

downfader

I have never, ever had aggro off a motorcyclist. Infact all the bikers I know are really cool, and seem to get similar abuse to we pedallers. I see us as brothers on two wheels

Kids on mopeds, however... thats a different story. Or teens in their first car, with no where to go, again, can be a bit of a cock. They do this sh*t to pedestrians and old ladies too. :roll:

fossyant

Proper bikers are great.....

Nearly kicked the sh!t out of a moped kid last week, but 'let it go' - had I retaliated I would have been in trouble with the cops.... all 8 stone of spotty foul mouthed kid....... :evil:

chuckcork

fossyant wrote:

Proper bikers are great.....

Nearly kicked the sh!t out of a moped kid last week, but 'let it go' - had I retaliated I would have been in trouble with the cops.... all 8 stone of spotty foul mouthed kid....... :evil:

Retaliate and you're in trouble, however kill them using a motorised vehicle and you're fine?

Seems that way from the Jason MacIntyre verdict, no wonder we cop it from everyone on the road.

Simonb256

I too have never had any problem with motor cyclists.

Qutie often I even get a nod 'hello' of them and I return one too.

Sorry, once I had an issue with a motorcyclist, I was on an Island and he undertook me (was hardly any room anyway) and almost went over my front wheel (I was leaning quite hard and going quite quickly)...

Lagavulin

unclemalc wrote:

Personally I reckon on some abuse 1 out of 3 rides.

That's an awful statistic.
I feel very fortunate in that I've had three bad experiences in about two years on the road. One involved an orange being thrown from a sun roof in my direction, the closest I came to physical violence was with a van driver (impatience heading through a island crossing) who pointed at the cycle path. he most recent was an elderly chap in a Golf who cut me up passing through another narrow section of road due to island crossing and then pointed towards the cycle path. I expected better from an experienced driver and suggested with my hand he was a person who pleasured himself profusely. His repost was two fingers via the rear view mirror. This got my goat. I chased after and caught him at the junction just ahead. Not big, not clever but my exact words were “It’s a road bike now f**k off and die you old c**t”. The last word I don’t approve of and safe only for people who try or I believe have tried to maim or kill myself.

Touch wood, never had bother from any motorbikes or even chavs/charvers on mopeds.

synchronicity

Living in Spain, I rarely get any trouble. But I agree that mopeds are the worst & I've been luck to have only had two or three run-ins with them after a few years of cycling. I too have a full motorbike license, but those crazy moped riders just lack repsect for everyone. One guy nearly bowled me over. :evil:

unclemalc wrote:

and suggested with my hand he was a person who pleasured himself profusely.

The last time I tried that in sydney, a man in an alfa romeo stalked me, even going so far as to do not one but two 180° turns. This was after he came racing up over the crest of a hill into an intersection in which he had right of way (and in which I was already in the middle of well before he was there). So do be careful whenever you make that signal, especially if you do it more than once & they've already doubled back once! I could even track the 180 bpm maximum adrenaline rush at a whopping 20km/hr later on. Eventually I had to yell at the top of my lungs at the next intersection full of people that I'd call the cops if he didn't stop following me... He soon went but I'm not proud of my actions because he could've easily run me over...

Apparantly the git only had one point left on his license and was worried that I'd dob him in. :roll:

st68

1892 wrote:

They were showing how many brain cells they have

if that were the case it would be a one fingered salute

walleyes

We get regular problems with some [not all] motorcyclists down here in South Wales in the spring/autumn when we are out on the clubrun [not so much in midwinter the fair weather M/Cyclists not to be seen then].
Typical scenario is club run - Sunday morning - dozen or so of us riding in pairs on a quietish cross country road [we single out for any build up of traffic]. The bikers come up from behind at crazy speed cutting the racing line and realize we are in the way so we get all the w*****r gestures and the finger. Most weekends this is.
One day there will be a big slide out with one of these guys coming the other way, I just hope we are not in the way then. F***in nuts.
Having said that, I don't want to tar all bikers with the same brush that would not be fair after all we know as cyclists what that is like don't we?

salsarider79

I've had one or two small 'debates' or 'discusions' with car drivers before. My favourite was in Spain when a driver pulled along side me (I'm doing 40+kph) just before a roundabout, then decided to turn left in front of me. I saw him put his indicator on, so had just enough time to hit the brakes. I screamed so loud at him, he looked at me with a 'what did I do?' look, then hit a kerb and punctured his tyre.

p.s. I've taken to thanking drivers/riders who wait paiently for me, or who give me plenty of room. Does anyone else do this?

redvee

salsarider79 wrote:

I've taken to thanking drivers/riders who wait paiently for me, or who give me plenty of room. Does anyone else do this?

If the drivers I meet are considerate towards me and other cyclists tehn they are thanked but this is rare as not all drivers do so.

downfader

I've thanked a fair few drivers, sadly you tend to get blanked for it. :?

notanotherhill

Bus drivers cos they never give you any space, and taxi drivers...oh sorry I cant critisise taxi drivers, I forgot that that they own the road and therefore are above critisism.

Lagavulin

On Friday I pulled up on the right-hand side of a white Mercedes Sprinter van at a set of lights. He was in the left-hand filter lane to turn left and I was going straight on.
I see the window being wound down and prepare myself thinking up reposts to the usual cycling-based insults.

"Alright mate, going far... or have you been far?"

I'm glad I checked myself as I was about the reply with "f**k off!".

Told him I was about half way into a quick 30 miler before work.

"Ah well, you've got a lovely morning for it" and as the light's turned to amber "Enjoy and you take care mate, ta ra".

What's that all about? I was in shock. Is there someone I should've reported the guy to? I got a partial plate at the time (my default action with a white van :oops:).

I could get used to that sort of reception at lights/junctions very easily.

Mettan

I had a an odd one on a training ride the other day - going downhill, car coming the other way - long water pistol comes out of the rear window and squirts me slightly (on the lower leg) - strange, given that it was a New-ish car and didn't obviously look like it was full of chavs :shock:

forty four

im in california and the huge majority of comments or gestures i get are positive. on occasion people do bad things it is so easy and cowardly considering they can just drive away which they do. it seems in england from what i have read it is much worse over there i wonder why that is?

forty four

motorcyclists also are abusive out there? we share the mountain roads on descents and such there ussually quite friendly. knock on wood.

spen666

forty four wrote:

im in california and the huge majority of comments or gestures i get are positive. on occasion people do bad things it is so easy and cowardly considering they can just drive away which they do. it seems in england from what i have read it is much worse over there i wonder why that is?

Pressure on space?

Jez mon

Not all motorcyclists are abusive. Last year I had one compete and utter chav fly by me on his dirt bike as close as possible I'd guess a few inches at most.

A few miles later an older guy (I'm guessing!) came along in the full leathers and riding a big Harley, slowed down and gave me a friendly wave!

TBF, I think most "proper" bikers are happy to give room, respect and sometimes a bit of encouragement. Weekend Warriors with a mid-life crisis, might be different.

1892

It's the same with everything, you tend to remember the morons more than the ones who give you room

Tonymufc

notanotherhill wrote:

Bus drivers cos they never give you any space, and taxi drivers...oh sorry I cant critisise taxi drivers, I forgot that that they own the road and therefore are above critisism.

+1

softlad

has anybody taken the trouble to point out to the OP that it was the <pillion> who flicked the V, not the rider...?? The rider may not even have been aware...