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Motorbikes wtf ?

Worst of all, a racing track was built next to us, without any possible discussion or case study.
A political decision.
Bikers (and silly, pointless fast Italian and German cars) make an incredible and unbearable noise all day long. Isn’t there a law against that?
Actually there is! The same law that says you can’t mow your lawn on Sundays or at night.
But nobody seems to care. Local authorities don’t do anything to enforce the law – politics again.
I hate noisy selfish and childish bikers that awake me on Sunday mornings and prevent me from napping.
I really enjoyed the lockdown last year. It felt like we lived in the country again!

There is a law that tracks/circuits cannot have loud pipes over a certain dB, and the times that use of the tracks is regulated in the U.K. I believe.

I think it is an E.H.O. (environmental health officer) role to monitor the noise if alerted to it.

Our friends in Scotland live less than a mile from Knockhill race track, and you can hear the noise bouncing off the hills when there is British Superbikes or Touring cars racing, but it is regulated and there is a specific time window that it is allowed.

We have always fancied going to the Monte Carlo - Monaco F1 race, that must be fabulously loud, bouncing off those walls.
We did go to the British F1 many years ago (Silverstone) back in the Michael Schumacher days, and that was fantastically loud.
 
Any Harley....they are all shit.

I tested a Harley-Davidson Rockstar for RiDE bike magazine many years ago, pegs hit the ground with no effort. Slow speed turning circle was dire. Brakes were less than impressive.

I suppose they work if the road is straight with no bends, and you want to fart along at 50 mph for ‘not very far,’ as the tank range is poor.

If I wanted to have arm-ache, and be laughed at, then they are perfect.
 
Yes there is a law, but we live in a lawless area. Sad but true. Bikers couldn't care less and they feel free to do anything because they have friends in high places.
 
Bit OT but the road users that currently really scare me are people on electric scooters weaving in and out of rush hour traffic on the Old Kent Road wearing air pods.

Yes the article the week about how they've launched a pilot scheme in four London boroughs for e-scooters to be able to be used on the road as long as people have a driving licence and insurance made me laugh. Have none of the morons that run the London borough councils actually been on the streets of their 'fair' city? E-scooters are everywhere, roads, pavements, parks... and they're a menace... and no one seems keen to enforce the law so more and more of them are appearing.
 
True - but equally relevant when you consider a wide range of activities from scuba-diving, rock climbing, and parachuting, to more sedate things like smoking, over-eating, or drinking to excess, or simply lack of a decent diet and fitness. There's a lot of things out there'll kill you if you're not careful :)
All of the above hobbies are relatively safe but certain bikers put themselves at unnecessary risk by being reckless.

I believe people should be responsible & take better care of themselves but not many share this view unfortunately.
 
Yes the article the week about how they've launched a pilot scheme in four London boroughs for e-scooters to be able to be used on the road as long as people have a driving licence and insurance made me laugh. Have none of the morons that run the London borough councils actually been on the streets of their 'fair' city? E-scooters are everywhere, roads, pavements, parks... and they're a menace... and no one seems keen to enforce the law so more and more of them are appearing.
I do find this an odd false equivalence; there never seems to be such outrage about motor vehicles which do far more damage year in year out. & to pre-emp the next line, there are probably more uninsured drivers on the roads than will ever use an e-scooter;)
 
Yes the article the week about how they've launched a pilot scheme in four London boroughs for e-scooters to be able to be used on the road as long as people have a driving licence and insurance made me laugh. Have none of the morons that run the London borough councils actually been on the streets of their 'fair' city? E-scooters are everywhere, roads, pavements, parks... and they're a menace... and no one seems keen to enforce the law so more and more of them are appearing.

https://news.sky.com/story/illegal-...ng-crackdown-by-west-midlands-police-12328036
 
I do find this an odd false equivalence; there never seems to be such outrage about motor vehicles which do far more damage year in year out. & to pre-emp the next line, there are probably more uninsured drivers on the roads than will ever use an e-scooter;)

Er.... motor vehicles are legal on the road. And you'll get plenty of 'outrage' (if you want to call it that) from me about uninsured drivers and the way some motorised vehicles are driven, but e-scooters (some of which can do over 50mph) are not legal on the road... end of (aside from these pilot schemes). If I got on a motorbike and started tooling round London with no insurance, no licence and no helmet riding on the pavement etc. when it suited me I'd hope I'd last about 5 minutes. Yet these tossers seem to weave on and off the pavement, in front of pedestrians, other vehicles etc. etc. without a care in the world as they basically know they are largely ignored by the law. I can only assume you don't have the misfortune to be in London as if you did you might have a different opinion of them.
 
Back on topic, I live in the countryside and have a fair few bikers running past my property. Most are fine, some are daft and dangerous, a good few can be noisy, but... in the grand scheme of things I can't get too upset about it. I lived in London for 18 months and there is way more noise there in an average evening from all sorts of things (planes, trains, noisy city types, drunks, smackheads, loud cars, general city 'vibrancy') so I'll take a few loud bikes and at least they're getting out and seeing the countryside.
 
I tested a Harley-Davidson Rockstar for RiDE bike magazine many years ago, pegs hit the ground with no effort. Slow speed turning circle was dire. Brakes were less than impressive.

I suppose they work if the road is straight with no bends, and you want to fart along at 50 mph for ‘not very far,’ as the tank range is poor.

If I wanted to have arm-ache, and be laughed at, then they are perfect.
My business partner has this lump of pig iron. It's probably worse than the Rock Star. He never takes it past 60mph because it vibrates and wobbles too much. We live near mountains and he has to turn wide on the mountain roads to stop the foot decks or whatever you call them from touching down. It sounds much too loud and it looks awful.

50338130076_00af4acabf_n.jpg
 
On one of my recent drives down to the south of France, I followed a chap on a sports bike through Lyon, on the urban section of A7. He was wild. He popped a wheelie coming out of the Fourvière tunnel, and stayed on his rear wheel for literally kilometers while traveling at the same speed (or higher) than all surrounding traffic, frequently with one arm behind his back or gesticulating. Have to say it was fascinating to watch. I made sure i kept 100m between him and me in the unlikely event he’d fall off. Finally lost him when he turned off 10 km later. Clearly a grand master.

Clearly an idiot.
 
Worst of all, a racing track was built next to us, without any possible discussion or case study.
A political decision.
Bikers (and silly, pointless fast Italian and German cars) make an incredible and unbearable noise all day long. Isn’t there a law against that?
Actually there is! The same law that says you can’t mow your lawn on Sundays or at night.
But nobody seems to care. Local authorities don’t do anything to enforce the law – politics again.
I hate noisy selfish and childish bikers that awake me on Sunday mornings and prevent me from napping.
I really enjoyed the lockdown last year. It felt like we lived in the country again!

**** a duck... That's sad!

I know I've had a grumble about the 'racetrack' that's the local bypass to us on a summer Sunday evening; but it's just a grumble...

But whining like you've done is just a bit pathetic really...
 
My business partner has this lump of pig iron. It's probably worse than the Rock Star. He never takes it past 60mph because it vibrates and wobbles too much. We live near mountains and he has to turn wide on the mountain roads to stop the foot decks or whatever you call them from touching down. It sounds much too loud and it looks awful.

50338130076_00af4acabf_n.jpg


Wow, that is one ugly mofo.

And those mudguards… eek.

They sell plenty and have been going for a long time, but that doesn’t equate to something desirable.
 
Er.... motor vehicles are legal on the road. And you'll get plenty of 'outrage' (if you want to call it that) from me about uninsured drivers and the way some motorised vehicles are driven, but e-scooters (some of which can do over 50mph) are not legal on the road... end of (aside from these pilot schemes). If I got on a motorbike and started tooling round London with no insurance, no licence and no helmet riding on the pavement etc. when it suited me I'd hope I'd last about 5 minutes. Yet these tossers seem to weave on and off the pavement, in front of pedestrians, other vehicles etc. etc. without a care in the world as they basically know they are largely ignored by the law. I can only assume you don't have the misfortune to be in London as if you did you might have a different opinion of them.
Apologies but I thought you were referring to all e-scooters rather than just the illegal subset. But even so they are a minority compared to uninsured car drivers & bikers which, if you lived near the peaks & open Forrest, you would notice far more.

Having said that I did notice an e-bike that was going a bit too fast on the pavement this morning; I do disapprove but it is probably insignificant compared to the other examples given.

You would be surprised at just how many people get away with being uninsured on our roads, it runs into millions & is a far, far bigger problem. You then have the bikes with the small number plates etc.

Taken in the round I think e-scooters are not a threat to society compared to motor vehicles.
 
On one of my recent drives down to the south of France, I followed a chap on a sports bike through Lyon, on the urban section of A7. He was wild. He popped a wheelie coming out of the Fourvière tunnel, and stayed on his rear wheel for literally kilometers while traveling at the same speed (or higher) than all surrounding traffic, frequently with one arm behind his back or gesticulating. Have to say it was fascinating to watch. I made sure i kept 100m between him and me in the unlikely event he’d fall off. Finally lost him when he turned off 10 km later. Clearly a grand master.
The French seem to be world leaders at wheelying, loads of them do it and in fact wheely-prone bikes are quite popular here too. Eg the KTM 690 SMC


Also loads of kids on push bikes seem to be able to ride to school on their back wheel for the entire journey. Even round corners. Kudos
 
Electric vehicles - yeuk!

E-scooters, e-bikes, e-motorcycles, e-cars, e-vans and e-trucks / e-buses. Hate them all and I believe electric is not the way to go forwards for many many reasons. Why do I dislike them? Many reasons but one of the buggest is that they have very litle noise associated with them apaet froma bit of whine. This IMO is highly dangerous to pedeatrians, cyclists and other road users as you need to be very very aware of them or you may get very surprised by them due to this lack of noise. I wouldnt want to be riding a bicycle around town with a huge lorry or bus passing close by at pace.
I would make it law to have all electric transport fitted with a suitably loud mechanism to promote their presence.
Either that or bring back the 'man walking in front with a red flag'.

There are a great many reasons why motorcyclists have loud pipes (apart from the great sound) one of which is to promote awareness of their presence to other road users such as car drivers meandering along blissfully unaware of other road users whilst they ponder whats for lunch driving their 'mobile chicanes' and pulling out in front of motorcycles. This of course is why motorcycles were frequently seen with their lights on to warn of their presence. No longer a thing now as all motorcycles now have no 'off' switch for lights by law.

Rant over ....
 
There was a review of an electric bike on The Motorcycle Show on ITV a while back - despite initial reservations the review was pretty positive. Fast, quiet, fun to ride. The main snags were range and cost. I guess those will both improve in time.
 


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