London Dynamos

badback

Just a quick note to day that wearing team colours of the London Dynamos and riding like idiots are not a great way to publisise your club.
In the last week I have seen three riders dressed in full London Dynamo kit act pretty shamefully on my commute and in Richmond park. Jumping reds and swearing at traffic that you are holding up are not great ways to conduct yourselves and do little to promote cycling clubs or general cycling either.
I would have expected alot better from 'experienced' cyclists.

prj45

badback wrote:

I would have expected alot better from 'experienced' cyclists.

All I can think when I see them in RP is "Dynorod".

Gussio

This has been covered here before. They are a large club, wih only a small minority of riders like the ones you describe. However, agree that they ought to behave better when in "uniform"...one bad apple can sour the barrel.

FrankM

Gussio wrote:

This has been covered here before.

Hasn't it all?

BentMikey

I think it's black cab syndrome - the vast majority are pretty good, but the bad apples draw unwanted attention to the club.

Must admit I've noticed the same, but then I see plenty of other cyclists riding like idiots, so why should the spread of human behaviour in any one club be any different.

mroli

Its interesting though isn't it - I've recently started riding wearing my charity's colours and it has made me SO much more conscious of riding safely, courteously and in accordance with the law... Perhaps the size of dynamo makes some members feel as though they can hide in their anonymity(sp?!)

Clarion

I regard a London Dynamo jersey the same way I do an Addison Lee logo on a car.

Expect something stupid, and you are rarely disappointed.

Rich158

Dynamo have a reputation that's not wholly undeserved when you experience the behaviour of some of their members during races. It's unfortunate if it's just a few tarnishing the whole club, but then the club could take action to prevent that.

In my club's rules it states that all club members should ride courteously all the time and bear in mind that when wearing club colours they represent the club as a whole and should behave accordingly. Ay trangression of this is dealt with, although I've yet to hear of anyone being asked to leave the club. Then again we do pride ourselves on being extremely friendly, competetive maybe, but never badly behaved.

georgee

I know it’s very easy to defend them a s a few bad ones, and yes I’ve met other nice ones when commuting/racing/training but there are a good portion of utter c*cks in he club.

Best action is to drop a note to the enquiries e-mail on their website cc’ing in prologue their main sponsor, else you’ll never get a response.

mrc1

The one i encounter most days on my commute doesnt do the club's reputation any favours either - he is sloooooow

essex-commuter

mroli wrote:

I've recently started riding wearing my charity's colours and it has made me SO much more conscious of riding safely, courteously and in accordance with the law..

Very interesting point. Controversially, could this mean that if cyclists had to be registered and carry a visible ID on them it could make them ride safer leading to fewer incidents?

Not my view at all, just something I thought about as I rode home tonight. Oh and what a great ride home, best this year I reckon. Blazing sun, left off 30 minutes early, took the longer scenic route and had a tailwind...life doesn't get any better!

symo

Dynamos suck. MDCC FTW

OldSkoolKona

Rich158 wrote:

In my club's rules it states that all club members should ride courteously all the time and bear in mind that when wearing club colours they represent the club as a whole and should behave accordingly

+1 for that in the club I ride with, its not hard to engender a culture in a club

Harry182

I have a theory about cyclists who RLJ -- that they're the same d1ckheads that talk on their mobiles while driving.

hells

essex-commuter wrote:

mroli wrote:

I've recently started riding wearing my charity's colours and it has made me SO much more conscious of riding safely, courteously and in accordance with the law..

Very interesting point. Controversially, could this mean that if cyclists had to be registered and carry a visible ID on them it could make them ride safer leading to fewer incidents?

Not my view at all, just something I thought about as I rode home tonight. Oh and what a great ride home, best this year I reckon. Blazing sun, left off 30 minutes early, took the longer scenic route and had a tailwind...life doesn't get any better!

I don't think having a reg plate would change cycling behaviour as it is only you as an individual that looks bad if caught doing things you shouldn't. I cycle within the law and try to be courteous to others aswell as protecti8ng myself (even if they are being abusive to me) but when I am wearing my army cycling jersey I am even more aware of my actions as I have army emblazoned on my chest, back and sides so I am representing them to the public and anything I do wrongly will make the army look bad as well.

Petromyzon

Hey all;

I'm a Dynamo member so I'm sorry to hear the above. Why not have a word with the rider(s) in question when you see such issues arise, or send the club an email? If the rider is on a distinctive bike that should effectively be a name and shame...

I agree with the other posters- we are a big club, with a centre of gravity (if you like) on the London side of Richmond Park and a very distinctive kit. We are therefore very noticeable on the commute side of things and have a responsibility to ride well.

However, I really do think that if you did a fairly sampled survey we would ride far better on average than your typical commuter (I would imagine this is also true for BR posters). I'm not going to lie, I've seen a few other Dynamos ride stupidly (including one guy who is a regular on my commute, RLJs all the time, and is resistant to naming and shaming on our forum with a bike description and everything. What to do?).

But....the vast majority ride well and I've learnt a lot from them in my time. I try and ride safely, cautiously and respectfully but I've had my riding politely moderated by more experienced members on one or two occasions. We are not some evil cult with a secret constitution requiring guttering newbies, RLJing and flipping off cars as mandatory behaviours. We do engender a culture of good riding but there are always a few who are having off days and hopefully a tiny, tiny minority who are persistently out of order.

I agree that there is a debate to be had about taking a large number of people riding in Richmond Park at peak hours but there are also undeniable pros to this- access for beginners and the chance for people who live more centrally to ride in nice surroundings without having to ride for ages out to the sticks.

Finally- if you see someone on the commute why not say hi! It's a friendly club with riders of all standards (even slow ones as the brainiac above takes care to point out) who have fun riding together.

Roastie

Rich158 wrote:

Dynamo have a reputation that's not wholly undeserved when you experience the behaviour of some of their members during races.

Must disagree with you on this Rich - I've always enjoyed good, hard competition against the Dynamos. Perhaps the guys who ride like twunts aren't racers but just posers?

Petromyzon

Bit of a non-sequitur but Roastie your prototype bike (Alfine/Gates/Discs/big rubber and guards) looks like my dream training bike. Prefer drop bars but looks great:)

Clarion

Good on you, petromyzon, for putting your head above the parapet on this and sticking up for yourself. I have to say that I haven't seen a London Dynamo rider riding well, but it may be that I generally see the same riders, and they're not a good example.

Carry on riding as a credit to your club, and I shall for mine, and I hope to see you on the road.

vegas76

Second this. London Dynamo are utter w@nkers! Behaviour in Richmond park gives cyclists a bad name.

pblakeney

vegas76 said:

Second this. London Dynamo are utter w@nkers! Behaviour in Richmond park gives cyclists a bad name.

Fück me. If it takes 12 years to repeat bad behaviour then I'd say they are doing pretty good. 🤣