And today's commuting highlight is...

[kiethton]

Desiato said:

kiethton said:

Traffic going home was ridiculous!

Sat in new cross for a good 10 minutes unable to filter through. Although other bikes took to the pavement, conscious of what happened to another PH'er I sure as hell wasnt!

There had been an accident or incident at Deptford bridge and the whole junction was closed off, was a bit of a pain. I went off via Lee Green.

Indeed, I normally go through Lewisham and off toward Catford, ended up going through Brockley & Lower Sydenham in the end!

[Bikesalot]

Sneezing.....lots and lots of sneezing.
Followed by snot.

Thought i'd managed to escape hayfever this year but it seems to have arrived in one big snotty mess this time.

Other than that - a lovely clear ride in.

[sjtscott]

Highlight this morning personally observed GS with full top and side boxes..( i.e. kin wide) blast down the wrong side of the road past a major traffic light junction on the highway head on towards two lanes of traffic - our side of the road gridlocked but normal bikes making slow progress up to the junction on the correct side of the road.
Here's a nice google streetview pic of the junction - you see the van turning right.. yes the GS was on this wrong side of the road on the right of the raised reservation blasting down that side fast.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5094914,-0.06022...
So I see he solved his problem for around 100m but then got stuck on the outside of the traffic just past the BP garage visible on the street view due to cars etc coming head-on towards him.. I passed behind him and down the middle on the correct side of the road.
Why oh why would you commute with a GS fully boxed up? Those bikes and the highway even sans boxes don't work unless you're gonna pull all these dodgy illegal moves.
You only see these crazy dodgy moves or general lack of riding skill filtering on big bikes during the summer.

[tjlazer]

Race black visor on today, so much better than the drop down lenses on my touring helmet. Plus cooler looking. Slightly paranoid with passing first police car but by the third I decided they didn't care either. It's bloody sunny so it makes sense if I can actually see.

[shoestring7]

Love reading the stories of you lot facing the daily struggle into and out of London. Especially as my commute is a 10 minute bumble through sunny Sussex lanes, usually in an open face helmet and regular clothes, and when I park up outside my place of work the security is such that I usually don't even bother to take the ignition keys out

SS7

[sjtscott]

tjlazer said:

Race black visor on today, so much better than the drop down lenses on my touring helmet. Plus cooler looking. Slightly paranoid with passing first police car but by the third I decided they didn't care either. It's bloody sunny so it makes sense if I can actually see.

Police don't bat an eyelid esp in london with regards to dark visors. In 20... into my 21st year of riding I've not had an issue outside of London either.
Agreed the full visor is better but since I got my GT Air I get the best of both worlds without faffing around changing visors now - Dark sun visor deployed on demand - I can also ride around town on the slow moving traffic clogged bits with the main visor up just using the sun visor which is great.
I'm also running the sun reactive pinlock on my clear visor two - so I get a double bubble extra dark visor when I use both in extreme bright sun like today for instance it works really well. The only downside of this pinlock it just doesn't go dark enough when used on its own - but it does take the edge off the bright sun.

[sjtscott]

shoestring7 said:

Love reading the stories of you lot facing the daily struggle into and out of London. Especially as my commute is a 10 minute bumble through sunny Sussex lanes, usually in an open face helmet and regular clothes, and when I park up outside my place of work the security is such that I usually don't even bother to take the ignition keys out

SS7

I'd agree with you but I get to live and work in London and still get about thats why I use the bike and I don't have to use the stuffed public transport either. You can't really get it unless you do yourself for a genuine reason - biking outside of London just is such a different experience.

I used to bike commute (for the first 3 years of my biking career) in the summer months when I was still living and working in Surrey/Hampshire and it was fantastic to have virtually effortless commute, this was back in the day when most roads hadn't been nannied down limit wise and camera were rarer and you just had to have eagle eyes for the cop cars Whilst I'd drive on the M3 to my office I'd always take the back roads on the bike it would always take far less time on the bike and I stuck to each and every 30/40/50 posted limited through the towns/villages too NSL/DC well lol

[Biker 1]

shoestring7 said:

Love reading the stories of you lot facing the daily struggle into and out of London. Especially as my commute is a 10 minute bumble through sunny Sussex lanes, usually in an open face helmet and regular clothes, and when I park up outside my place of work the security is such that I usually don't even bother to take the ignition keys out

SS7

+1
No speed cameras en-route. Several different choices of route - fast A roads, twisty B roads, or proper technical unclassified stuff. Door to door its about 2 miles, but the nicer scenic route is 7. My excuse is that the engine needs to heat up properly, & 2 miles ain't enough....

[supercommuter]

Biker 1 said:

shoestring7 said:

Love reading the stories of you lot facing the daily struggle into and out of London. Especially as my commute is a 10 minute bumble through sunny Sussex lanes, usually in an open face helmet and regular clothes, and when I park up outside my place of work the security is such that I usually don't even bother to take the ignition keys out

SS7

+1
No speed cameras en-route. Several different choices of route - fast A roads, twisty B roads, or proper technical unclassified stuff. Door to door its about 2 miles, but the nicer scenic route is 7. My excuse is that the engine needs to heat up properly, & 2 miles ain't enough....

I used to love my 11 mile commute when i lived in Wiltshire. Those days are long gone

[Dakkon]

shoestring7 said:

Love reading the stories of you lot facing the daily struggle into and out of London. Especially as my commute is a 10 minute bumble through sunny Sussex lanes, usually in an open face helmet and regular clothes, and when I park up outside my place of work the security is such that I usually don't even bother to take the ignition keys out

SS7

I'm sure a bird will poo on your bike soon enough

[Piersman2]

Dakkon said:

shoestring7 said:

Love reading the stories of you lot facing the daily struggle into and out of London. Especially as my commute is a 10 minute bumble through sunny Sussex lanes, usually in an open face helmet and regular clothes, and when I park up outside my place of work the security is such that I usually don't even bother to take the ignition keys out

SS7

I'm sure a bird will poo on your bike soon enough

Especially if you're prepared to pay her to do it!

[fergus]

sjtscott said:

Why oh why would you commute with a GS fully boxed up?

Perhaps he had to take his globetrotting adventurer aspirations to work? And let's face it, they are likely to be far too big for a mere top box...

[Fleegle]

Pothole said:

sjtscott said:

Fleegle said:

Saw a Honda Grom rider on his arris this morning. No other car around so at a wild guess tried turning right a little too quickly for his little wheels to cope with.

I did notice though his leg was a little pink. Maybe down to wearing shorts. Also noticed no gloves and no socks under his trainers. I'm not one to normally call out peoples attire when riding a bike but sometimes it's just not cool to try and be cool !!


Fortunately he came off opposite the hospital entrance

I'm the same people can wear what they want when riding but I personally do wince at the lack of gloves.. SV extra loud exhausts just observed on my lunch break jeans and t-shirt, NO gloves.. throttling off up to the lights both hands off the bars and coasting - so also yes WTF is it with the hands off the bars I'm too cool for school brigade coasting??? It only takes a special minicab move to spoil things.

It's fun!!! I expect HIM to be a grumpy old fker...

I wasn't be grumpy this time, just pointing out how things can go wrong. He can wear what he likes but, as in this case, needs to be aware of the risks. I wonder if he wraps up next time?

[Fleegle]

SteelerSE said:

Got back to my bike today and saw that it was on the side stand not the centrestand. I then spotted the note. And then the dent in the tank...

Insurance is underway. What a ballache but a massive thank you to the BMW rider (William) who was kind enough to write the note and be a witness. Top bloke - thank you.

I've had the same thing happen...........but without the note. No doubt in my mind a scooter rider was the guilty party

[sjtscott]

fergus said:

Perhaps he had to take his globetrotting adventurer aspirations to work? And let's face it, they are likely to be far too big for a mere top box...

Maybe they were full of the proper dakkar BMW bike kit he wasn't wearing lol Most GS riders suit up to match the full Ewan and Charlie look this guy wasn't bothered.

[SteelerSE]

Fleegle said:

SteelerSE said:

Got back to my bike today and saw that it was on the side stand not the centrestand. I then spotted the note. And then the dent in the tank...

Insurance is underway. What a ballache but a massive thank you to the BMW rider (William) who was kind enough to write the note and be a witness. Top bloke - thank you.

I've had the same thing happen...........but without the note. No doubt in my mind a scooter rider was the guilty party

I feel very lucky. Otherwise it's just tough - make a claim.

[Fleegle]

SteelerSE said:

Fleegle said:

SteelerSE said:

Got back to my bike today and saw that it was on the side stand not the centrestand. I then spotted the note. And then the dent in the tank...

Insurance is underway. What a ballache but a massive thank you to the BMW rider (William) who was kind enough to write the note and be a witness. Top bloke - thank you.

I've had the same thing happen...........but without the note. No doubt in my mind a scooter rider was the guilty party

I feel very lucky. Otherwise it's just tough - make a claim.

Unfortunately it's not worth it. The excess is more than the cost of the repair. The downside is that the bike I used to guard fiercely and looked after has now lost its appeal. I still love riding it, but it has turned into an appliance since that happened.

I will get around to swapping the tank over with my other TRX, so no cost involved, but without the love motivation becomes hard to find.

[Bikesalot]

having a sneezing fit on a motorbike is dangerous....bloomin hayfever - has anyone actually found a cure?

Otherwise the roads were empty this morning, usual Friday calm the way I travel in.

Bike ticked over 51,000 miles too still roaring along.

[sjtscott]

I still haven't altered my route lol force of habit. Although lighter free flowing still solid up to Tower Bridge on the highway - the big billy b*llox summer riders were out in force today. What doesn't help are the trucks and coaches on this road - esp when one completely blocks any 'legal' and I stress that strongly way of passing them. What I don't like is being tooted up by the summer biking t**ts for NOT taking the illegal passing manover.
Mr CBR600RR being the culprit for horn abuse fully ghost rider gettup in stealth black committing enough offences to get an effective ban before he got to tower bridge had any of the cop cars (at least 3 and 2 vans I saw and passed) had spotted him had they not been stuck in the traffic and chosen to do anything about it.
Anyway he was dealt a final blow because as we know 600s are super slack from a standing start lol Didn't see him past tower of london crossing lights lol

Edited by sjtscott on Friday 16th June 09:27

[Harji]

shoestring7 said:

Love reading the stories of you lot facing the daily struggle into and out of London. Especially as my commute is a 10 minute bumble through sunny Sussex lanes, usually in an open face helmet and regular clothes, and when I park up outside my place of work the security is such that I usually don't even bother to take the ignition keys out

SS7

It's always more fun getting to work on motorcycle, regardless of where you are. Since I started riding to work, the thought of catching a tube train (as I used to do) horrifies me!

Sometimes, just sometimes even the heaviest traffic can be a satisfying challenge. My biggest high five to myself was filtering all the way from Whitechapel (East London) to West London due to some bad bad jams. That's a distance of 14 miles filtering.