top gear this evening

csmuk1

i have just watched the absolute pile of shit that was the top gear episode on cycling this evening - i am nearly speechless - but not quite, what the fuck does those twats think they are doing? fucking wankers. I have never been so disappointed by the bbc - what a piece of inaccurate, bile filled crap.

csmuk1

where did all my bad language go?

roger_merriman

csmuk1 wrote:

where did all my bad language go?

Censored.

Top Gear is what it is, it was playing for laughs.

Whiz

Lol at the thought of top gear being accurate

slowbike

I assume the OP took Spitting Image seriously - and thinks Have I got News for You is the BBCs news programme.

Top Gear is (supposed to be) a mildly funny show themed around cars ... did you really expect a serious piece about cycling?! Jokes on you!

woopidstanker

I certainly wasn't expecting an accurate piece on cycling... but I did find the images of a mangled up bike in pretty poor taste...

Dub L

As a huge car AND bicycle enthusiast (shock horror) , I took it exactly how it was intented, which was completely toungue in cheek. I thought it was pretty bloody funny. The red wire/green wire film was absolutely superb.

The Rookie

With Dub on this, it was always going to be tongue firmly in cheek, the red and green wire was great, the point about how dangerous busses (vehicle or driver) are was sensible and the final 'advert' was very much in line with it being a car programme though the 'inch' could have been worded better, it wasn't a hate filled diatribe that i feared it could have been!

chris_bass

I wouldn't expect Top Gear to portray cycling accurately in the same way I wouldn't expect Neighbours to portray Australian life accurately.

Rudd

My issue with this program was whilst what you'd expect from the program ie a bit of a pi$$ take there was one very irresponsible comment. The suggestion that it only bus drivers that put cyclists in danger was of course incorrect and worse than that will cause legions of car drivers to now believe their driving stlye is absolutely ok. IMO there is a minority of cyclists, car drivers, cabbies motorcyclist and even pedestrians who all need to change the way they behave on the road if they are to get safer.

t4tomo

+1 for the 2 posts above.

It was funny and what you'd expect for Top Gear.

Red and green and the Righteous adverts were both good and should be should to a lot of London commuters.

OP have you either had a sense of humour bye-pass or not watched Top gear for 10 years - its no longer Tiff Needell and the Hairy rally driver chap (Tony?) reviewing that latest 1.3 small hatchbacks for shopping carrying capacity, with VB-Hs VPL the only nod to entertainment.

Initialised

Actually there was plenty of good advice in there if you weren't to busy indulging in Righteous Fury:

Pass cyclists with 6 foot clearance (repeated several times)
Cyclists may run reds, don't get wound up about it (sometimes it's actually safer and they wont be right on your bumper when you want to pull off)
More bikes means less congestion
Take care of your bike and your less likely to break your face
Buses and big vehicle are dangerous for cyclists
Turning right is dangerous for cyclists (so give them room)
Righteousness wont keep you alive so break the rules for safety's sake

Then there were the spoof videos which highlighted most peoples ignorance more than anything

rockmonkeysc

csmuk1 wrote:

i have just watched the absolute pile of shoot that was the top gear episode on cycling this evening - i am nearly speechless - but not quite, what the fark does those twats think they are doing? ******* wankers. I have never been so disappointed by the bbc - what a piece of inaccurate, bile filled crap.

Dude. Calm down, go easy on the ass cream if thats whats making you so angry.
I commute on rural and urban roads and I thought they made some good points between the jokes.
Some of it was spot on.
The main points I picked up were, learn the difference between red and green. Can't argue with that.
Don't be a d1ck to others if you don't want them to be d1cks to you. Good general advice that applies to everything in life.
Bus drivers are all out to kill you. Maybe an exaggeration but if you ride as if they might be about to kill you and avoid the biggest, most dangerous vehicles in the city you won't go wrong.

supersonic

Initialised wrote:

Actually there was plenty of good advice in there if you weren't to busy indulging in Righteous Fury:

Pass cyclists with 6 foot clearance (repeated several times)
Cyclists may run reds, don't get wound up about it (sometimes it's actually safer and they wont be right on your bumper when you want to pull off)
More bikes means less congestion
Take care of your bike and your less likely to break your face
Buses and big vehicle are dangerous for cyclists
Turning right is dangerous for cyclists (so give them room)
Righteousness wont keep you alive so break the rules for safety's sake

Then there were the spoof videos which highlighted most peoples ignorance more than anything

Couldn't agree more. I think it worked rather well - the parodies of themselves, and the messages that were there, as you mentioned. It was never ever going to be a 100% serious piece of journalism. And the few that have complained about this 'very controversial' piece, never mind the press who have jumped on it for a story, have actually helped raise issues even more. If this would have been top gear 15 years ago with Tiff and Quentin, nobody would be talking about it.

I actually also liked James' raising issues of maintenance.

dav1

I thought it was quite funny.

There were a lot of messages in there and in the end many positive ones as listed above. Its not really what I focused on though.

The big message was for me that Clarkson and May are not cyclists and have no idea about cycling. By extension many top gear viewers are in the same boat. The "work harder, buy a car" messages were funny for that reason alone and the point was hammered in that it was total and utter tosh.

It was nice to see Clarkson S*** himself attempting to turn right and being pushed into fast-moving traffic by a bus like the rest of us have to on the daily commute. In its silly way the "having a go" bit was probably the most informative of all for a driver. They actually made the point that courteous and courteous drivers can coexist fine on the roads.

The last bits were quite funny, I just took it as classic light-hearted Top-gear childish humour. People need to stop taking their jokes seriously..

cooldad

I found it rather amusing.

goonz

Definitely tongue in cheek and found some of it pretty funny actually. Good to see them having a laugh even if taking the piss a little.

Only thing that was cringeworthy was watching Chris Boardman's face when they showed all those videos.

gbsahne001

goonz wrote:

Definitely tongue in cheek and found some of it pretty funny actually. Good to see them having a laugh even if taking the wee-wee a little.

Only thing that was cringeworthy was watching Chris Boardman's face when they showed all those videos.

I can't believe that they weren't in on it...and perhaps some acting going on?

I quite liked the righteousness advert, a number of times I've been had right of way but have avoided injury or death by giving way to lunatics in cars who've decided to ignore the rules of the road.

goonz

They must have been in on it. Either way Chris must know what a bunch of numpties these guys are so wasn't going to be expecting rocket science.

chris_bass

gbsahne wrote:

I quite liked the righteousness advert, a number of times I've been had right of way but have avoided injury or death by giving way to lunatics in cars who've decided to ignore the rules of the road.

I agree, sometimes although you may have right of way it is easier and better to let the car go, especially if it gets them ahead of you so they don't try and pass you somewhere they shouldn't.

HellsCyclist

Chris Bass wrote:

gbsahne wrote:

I quite liked the righteousness advert, a number of times I've been had right of way but have avoided injury or death by giving way to lunatics in cars who've decided to ignore the rules of the road.

I agree, sometimes although you may have right of way it is easier and better to let the car go, especially if it gets them ahead of you so they don't try and pass you somewhere they shouldn't.

I agree with this. It may also help not to increase their already negative attitude towards us that some of them may have. Even when on a motorcycle I would much rather let a faster moving vehicle pass than have them following me, for peace of mind if nothing else.

As for the top gear stuff on cycling, I thought it was a good laugh. I thought the ad was a funny way of showing the attitude the anti cyclists have.