And today's commuting highlight is...
Discussion
gareth_r said:
I'm assuming that the last two posts were attempts at humour, and not serious replies, so I'll laugh politely, and give up. 
No, come on, at what spacing do two separate stationary vehicles constitute a "traffic jam"?There must be some kind of definition (legally ;-) ) otherwise any line of cars could be considered a "jam" and the no overtaking thing applies.
Was it you on the white Pan Euro on the M4 this morning by the way, dawdling along in lane 2 whilst lane 1 was empty?
Putting the left indicator on as I (legally) passed on the left was sooooo clever....about as clever as the "POLITEnotice" hi-vis.
CAPP0 said:
I keep saying on here how I'm not a BiB-basher, but my sympathy for them is waning. I mean, ref the double lines, it's the bikes who are putting themselves on offer, they're really not doing any massive harm, albeit breaking the rules, but most bikers have a healthy sense of self-preservation and are just making a bit of progress, and will drop back in if there's something coming the other way. Surely it doesn't take Einstein to work out that there are much more important things to address. For example, instead of having 4 coppers hanging around for this, why don't the bike BiB have themselves a little rush-hour filtering session and pick off the phone t
ts? They'd meet their monthly ticket target in an hour. There are plenty of other options too. But no, let's go for the soft easy target.
I must admit that I'm slowly creeping into your camp. A few months ago the BIB rocked up in force in the side road beside Lee Green Fire Station with the sole intention of nicking the "Motorcyclists" that nip round the wrong side of the traffic island.ts? They'd meet their monthly ticket target in an hour. There are plenty of other options too. But no, let's go for the soft easy target.Anyone that knows that stretch will appreciate they were doing a roaring trade. Never saw a cyclist getting nicked though....
gareth_r said:
he one that says that, with certain exceptions, you must not cross a solid white line.
Regardless of what you believe, a vehicle in a queue of traffic is not considered by the police or the courts to be a "stationary vehicle" as far as the law is concerned, you cannot, legally, cross the white line to overtake it, and motorcyclists have ended up with a ticket for doing so.
What would you expect to happen if there was a large gap between two stationary vehicles in a traffic jam, and a car driver overtook the second vehicle, crossing a solid white line, and occupied the gap?
I know we've all done it, me occasionally, London commuters every day, but it's still an offence.
I was recently on a Bikesafe course where we were asked by a police traffic officer (an inspector) what we would do if faced with a hundred yard jam of stationary traffic, nobody coming the other way, and a solid white line that would have to be crossed in order to overtake. His answer was that we should overtake the whole lot, perfectly legal as long as they are stationary.Regardless of what you believe, a vehicle in a queue of traffic is not considered by the police or the courts to be a "stationary vehicle" as far as the law is concerned, you cannot, legally, cross the white line to overtake it, and motorcyclists have ended up with a ticket for doing so.
What would you expect to happen if there was a large gap between two stationary vehicles in a traffic jam, and a car driver overtook the second vehicle, crossing a solid white line, and occupied the gap?
I know we've all done it, me occasionally, London commuters every day, but it's still an offence.
I'd like to see you stand up in court and convince a magistrate that 'stationary vehicle' doesn't mean 'vehicle which is stationary'.
ajcj said:
I don't know what your budget is, and I haven't looked at kit prices for a while, but I heartily recommend Halvarssons top-end kit. It isn't cheap, but it really is very waterproof indeed, as well as being breathable, temperature-regulating, and all that good stuff. I always believed 'waterproof' was only ever a relative term in motorcycling, but I have ridden through storms that resembled someone throwing swimming pools at me, and came out bone dry.
I have just ordered a Halvarssons Prime jacket and Prince trousers as commuting kit and cant wait to try it out along with gloves and jeans too.SteelerSE said:
black-k1 said:
CAPP0 said:
(PS - ref the HG comments above, I too have the last of the proper Goretex Pro kit. It's very good. When I was skittled the other week, the kit survived without a mark, but it did make me wonder, if the kit was damaged and I had to claim, what would I get? The cost of their (frankly poxy) "Sheltex" replacement? That would not be good.)
Have a look at the Klim Badlands suit. Appears to be aimed at the market that the old HG Master kit was aimed at. immigrant said:
SteelerSE said:
black-k1 said:
CAPP0 said:
(PS - ref the HG comments above, I too have the last of the proper Goretex Pro kit. It's very good. When I was skittled the other week, the kit survived without a mark, but it did make me wonder, if the kit was damaged and I had to claim, what would I get? The cost of their (frankly poxy) "Sheltex" replacement? That would not be good.)
Have a look at the Klim Badlands suit. Appears to be aimed at the market that the old HG Master kit was aimed at. Google Aerostich. A guy I work with has one and it's an extremely desirable piece of kit.
308mate said:
Google Aerostich. A guy I work with has one and it's an extremely desirable piece of kit.
As a commuter aside, I managed to put my back out last week so it's the train today and tomorrow. I think the posh kids must be off as I got a seat on the train.
The good part of this is that I have codeine for pain relief which should make the day fly by!
Not today's highlight but Sunday is close enough. After nearly 2 weeks of being off the road and spending a lot of time on sorting it out I'd arranged a ride around Wales with my sister. Left mine, went to the garage and managed to fill the tank with Ultimate Diesel. Couldn't believe it, complete idiot 
Light and dry in, light and dry out and a cheeky little race with man-dem K5 GSXR600 rider, replete with skull balaclava, ridiculously loud exhaust, Nike Air safety boots, hoody but sadly not the best at launching (neither am I, really).
"Das well-quick innit? Too quick for dis"
Seemed like an ok lad actually.
"Das well-quick innit? Too quick for dis"
Seemed like an ok lad actually.
Fleegle said:
Tribal Chestnut said:
In other news I got pulled over today heading down Park Lane, thought it was 40, but it's 30. 40 is only on the north-bound side.
One of those unpleasant moments where the lights go on and you slow down expecting them to pass, but they don't. End result was a telling off, so I can't complain.
Yeah, because South bound is so much more dangerous than the opposite side of the roadOne of those unpleasant moments where the lights go on and you slow down expecting them to pass, but they don't. End result was a telling off, so I can't complain.
You couldn't make it up. WTF goes through the planners heads
Orchestrated to catch you out in the same way as the bus lanes
Commuting with 1 engine mount/crash bung at the moment - vibrates nicely around 80 mph 
Going to motorliner, maidstone next week to see if they can helicoil it so I can re-fit the crash bung which the last owner must have tightened too much & stripped the thread - how much do you think Im looking at if they need to drop the engine etc?
Going to motorliner, maidstone next week to see if they can helicoil it so I can re-fit the crash bung which the last owner must have tightened too much & stripped the thread - how much do you think Im looking at if they need to drop the engine etc?
Right behind an accident on the way back this evening, not major thankfully
Location - New Cross, on the 1 way system
A group of sports bikes, an enduro and a scooter were waiting to turn right at the lights at the end of the short straight just past the Venue nightclub. Last of the cars coming from Kent make the turn, our lights go green and a couple of the sports bikes peg it toward lompit vale/lewisham, a red R1 on the outside. Needless to say he tries to pass the last car heading londonbound following the road round to the right...the R1 locks up, drops it and hits the rear O/S of the car.
|http://thumbsnap.com/9MWH8nyQ[/url]
(red = car, blue = bike)
After stopping to make sure the guy is ok, he is and is yelling at the car driver...didn't look to be much damage to either the car or bike thankfully, besides a few scuffs.[url]
Location - New Cross, on the 1 way system
A group of sports bikes, an enduro and a scooter were waiting to turn right at the lights at the end of the short straight just past the Venue nightclub. Last of the cars coming from Kent make the turn, our lights go green and a couple of the sports bikes peg it toward lompit vale/lewisham, a red R1 on the outside. Needless to say he tries to pass the last car heading londonbound following the road round to the right...the R1 locks up, drops it and hits the rear O/S of the car.
|http://thumbsnap.com/9MWH8nyQ[/url](red = car, blue = bike)
After stopping to make sure the guy is ok, he is and is yelling at the car driver...didn't look to be much damage to either the car or bike thankfully, besides a few scuffs.[url]
Edited by kiethton on Thursday 30th March 13:17
bennyboysvuk said:
I was made to feel like a slow, sensible, old commuter today when a youth on a nice Repsol CBR300 came past on the inside with the throttle pinned as he aimed between two lanes of cars on the A31 at about 50 mph that were slowing for traffic lights.
Oh for the days when you just "knew" you were immortal!black-k1 said:
Oh for the days when you just "knew" you were immortal!
Speaking of which.....Top marks to the cocksocket on what appeared to be a stolen pizza moped last night, doing wheelies and generally being a total throbber all the way from Chelsea to Vauxhall Bridge, either holding up all the traffic in the process or causing emergency stops from all around when barging in to squeeze past traffic islands or through the various sets of lights. Such a fecking hero that he rode like a tit and yet slowed down to keep left of an island? Wow...what a guy.
If you're reading this, Cocksocket, you will die, preferably soon, when your ambition/ability ratio tilts the wrong way.
And having your podgy mate come along on his sister's pink Vespa might fend off anyone who tries to intervene in your cocksocketry but it won't bother the laws of Physics coupled with the science of anatomy and physiology.
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