Your Bike

[Tibertus]

Aw man, I'd never be able to stand being restricted to certain cc sizes. We had some officer candidate exchange students from the New Zealand Air Force come visit us a while ago and they were amazed that I was riding a 650cc motorcycle at 17. I guess they have similar restrictions to the UK in order ride motorcycles. I guess there's a point to having restrictions though, most people would not have been as responsible as myself at that age if they were given a motorcycle capable of hitting 130mph.

 

[Pharaoh Llandy]

Indeed. Also, they limit us because we eventually run out of rock. It's alright for you yanks with your big long open roads, but on little islands like the UK and NZ, you have to turn at some point, and too many people weren't turning, and ended up in the sea!

 

[Tibertus]

I know I've shown you video of our mountain roads. They're like race tracks! 

 

[Pharaoh Llandy]

Yes yes, rub it in. Tomorrow I shall post some pictures of my trip through the Dales and Lakes, although none were actually taken whilst in motion, for obvious reasons.

 

[Phonemelter]

I know I've shown you video of our mountain roads. They're like race tracks! 

Well, there is a downside to that too. I know someone who, years ago, would go flying across some hilly mountain roads on a truck, hopping it up almost vertical on it's back wheels upon landing. However, one day when he and a bunch of buddies were doing that, a small car was driving in the opposite direction, but he didn't see it and landed right on top of it. Nobody was killed, but his insurance company was sued for $200,000 for damages and medical fees.

Other than that, it is fun to race on them. 

 

[Tibertus]

I know I've shown you video of our mountain roads. They're like race tracks! 

Well, there is a downside to that too. I know someone who, years ago, would go flying across some hilly mountain roads on a truck, hopping it up almost vertical on it's back wheels upon landing. However, one day when he and a bunch of buddies were doing that, a small car was driving in the opposite direction, but he didn't see it and landed right on top of it. Nobody was killed, but his insurance company was sued for $200,000 for damages and medical fees.

Other than that, it is fun to race on them. 

Good thing I don't drive a truck.

Yes yes, rub it in. Tomorrow I shall post some pictures of my trip through the Dales and Lakes, although none were actually taken whilst in motion, for obvious reasons.

Sounds fun, I'll be waiting.

 

[MISTER_GENGHIS_KHAN]

I JUST CHECKED WHAT A BIKE WAS, IT CERTAINLY DOESN'T SEEM AS STRONG AS A HORSE.

 

[Tibertus]

I once ran my motorcycle on nothing but chopped horse meat.

 

[Michelangelo]

I've had my 2000 Honda RC-51 for a couple years now. It sports dual Arrow carbon fiber pipes, a hot bodies undertail with integrated turn signals, tinted screen, and a nasty set of LED's. 1000 cc's of V-twin power is awesome.

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And with LEDs:

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[Swadius 2.0]

What a silly bike. I liked the other one that ran on chunks of horse meat and spewed kitten blood from the exhaust pipes Tiberius had.

 

[Grunar]

Was a nasty bike crash on the way home yesterday  they were covering the poor guy up, a car had hit him while the car was overtaking a lorry.

 

[Pharaoh Llandy]

I've had my 2000 Honda RC-51 for a couple years now. It sports dual Arrow carbon fiber pipes, a hot bodies undertail with integrated turn signals, tinted screen, and a nasty set of LED's. 1000 cc's of V-twin power is awesome.

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And with LEDs:

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A bit too sporty for my taste, and I bet it just guzzles petrol, but it looks quite nice otherwise.

Was a nasty bike crash on the way home yesterday  they were covering the poor guy up, a car had hit him while the car was overtaking a lorry.

Ouch. Did it hit him from the front, or from behind? I swear, the biggest cause of death to motorcyclists is car drivers. They're bloody lunatics. Being one myself, I know.

 

[AWdeV]

Car drivers or motorcyclists, which are the lunatics?

Probably both.

Hell, cyclists are pure madness here. They've got rights in traffic, as they should have but they also have duties and goddamn they hardly ever perform those. I'm genuinely pleasantly surprised when I see a cyclist look behind him/her and sticking out an arm to indicate they're gonna make a right or left turn before making that turn. Generally they just throw themselves in the direction they want to go which is bloody inconvenient for any heavier traffic.
Or even something as simple as putting on your lights when it's dark is apparently an impossible task.

When I was still cycling regularily to school I usually had to leave early enough for it to still be dark in winter. After a small distance a black dude, clad in all-black on a black light-less bicycle pops out of the darkness opposite me. Dude. Do you know how solid cars are?

Also; people with music on in traffic. I imagine it to be distracting and a while ago a kid got crushed by a tractor because he didn't hear it coming, didn't hear his friends warning him and didn't hear the frantic honking coming from the distraught tractor-ist.

 

[FrisianDude]

I don't think the tractor honked seeing as most honkers wouldn't honk over the noise of it being a ****ing tractor. But yeah, some music is aiite I think but if it's so loud you can't hear tractors then you'd best expect being squished.

 

[Tibertus]

Was a nasty bike crash on the way home yesterday  they were covering the poor guy up, a car had hit him while the car was overtaking a lorry.

I saw a car pull out into the road from a sideroad right in front of a motorcycle yesterday. Fortunately the motorcyclist swerved and avoided it. That could have been nasty though. He was doing 50mph and had his girlfriend on the back with no gear whatsoever. I would never take a girl onto my bike unless she had at least a jacket and a helmet, that's just retarded.

 

[Grunar]

Was a nasty bike crash on the way home yesterday  they were covering the poor guy up, a car had hit him while the car was overtaking a lorry.

Ouch. Did it hit him from the front, or from behind? I swear, the biggest cause of death to motorcyclists is car drivers. They're bloody lunatics. Being one myself, I know.

Head on i think, the car was in a field along with bits of the bike :/

 

[Pharaoh Llandy]

Was a nasty bike crash on the way home yesterday  they were covering the poor guy up, a car had hit him while the car was overtaking a lorry.

I saw a car pull out into the road from a sideroad right in front of a motorcycle yesterday. Fortunately the motorcyclist swerved and avoided it. That could have been nasty though. He was doing 50mph and had his girlfriend on the back with no gear whatsoever. I would never take a girl onto my bike unless she had at least a jacket and a helmet, that's just retarded.

Retarded indeed. 50mph isn't overly fast, but it's fast enough to kill a person, and car drivers rarely end up worse off in collisions with bikes.

When I was doing my DAS, one of the guys on the course doing his Standard test was also a lorry driver by trade. He said it is so easy for them to not see bikers, because they're so unbelievably tiny, and if a lorry was to crush one, they probably wouldn't even feel a bump. Even cars are insignificant things in comparison.

Was a nasty bike crash on the way home yesterday  they were covering the poor guy up, a car had hit him while the car was overtaking a lorry.

Ouch. Did it hit him from the front, or from behind? I swear, the biggest cause of death to motorcyclists is car drivers. They're bloody lunatics. Being one myself, I know.

Head on i think, the car was in a field along with bits of the bike :/

Not good. I am super paranoid when over-taking. I only do it on roads I am familiar with, or when I can see at least 200m down them. Overtaking generally takes me about 3 seconds (for a car) or 5 seconds (for an articulated lorry). I would never try it on a bend or anything, that is just asking for a world of pain. Sucks that the biker down there ended up like that. There was an accident today or yesterday not far away from here (up in the Lakes actually), close to where I was last Friday. Not a pleasant thought.

 

[AWdeV]

What's "DAS"?

 

[Pharaoh Llandy]

Direct Access. Basically if you're over 21 you can opt to take a bike test on a bike no less than 33kw output, and if you pass, you can ride any engine size unrestricted.

Basically this:  http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/LearnerAndNewDrivers/RidingMotorcyclesAndMopeds/DG_4022568

 

[Phonemelter]

Hell, cyclists are pure madness here. They've got rights in traffic, as they should have but they also have duties and goddamn they hardly ever perform those. I'm genuinely pleasantly surprised when I see a cyclist look behind him/her and sticking out an arm to indicate they're gonna make a right or left turn before making that turn.

I have never seen a cyclist down here ever use hand signals. My favourite thing they do, however, is ride in the middle of traffic where there is a perfectly good sidewalk right bloody next to them. Because the traffic here is awful, there is little opportunity to just use the other lane to pass them whilst driving, so it just slows everyone else down.