London to Brighton Ace Cafe Reunion run
Discussion
Yes,
Good buzz riding with a pack of a couple of hundred bikes.
Though a few dodgy riders in there, pushed to the front and stayed there.
Saw one guy nearly loose it at the Ace, he will have been lucky to have got out of London let alone Brighton.
Was a good bash, that is a serious amount of bikes in one place, nightmare journey home three hours, got off the M25 and went cross country.
What where you riding?
Nick.
Good buzz riding with a pack of a couple of hundred bikes.
Though a few dodgy riders in there, pushed to the front and stayed there.
Saw one guy nearly loose it at the Ace, he will have been lucky to have got out of London let alone Brighton.
Was a good bash, that is a serious amount of bikes in one place, nightmare journey home three hours, got off the M25 and went cross country.
What where you riding?
Nick.
Hi Nick, was riding the norton. Deliberately missed leaving from the Ace as I learnt from last years experience. Going around the 25 was ok till we hit the junction of the M3 and then hit gridlock. There was hundreds (quite literally) of bikers filtering on all lanes at sensible speeds through the carawling traffic. It was bloody hard work checking the mirrors for cars and bikes who were all trying their upmost to keep going. When we took the exit for the M23, just as we got to the overpass, the traffic joining the M23 was totally grid-locked. Going up the hill, the reason for this was apparent - a people carrier on the other side of the road was flamed out and the fire service had put it out. Our traffic jam was caused by loads of rubber-neckers getting an eye full 
About 6 miles from Brighton we were over/under taken from all angles as a bunch of foreign bikers (German?) screamed passed us. I was sat in lane two and they flew by on both sides really motoring... about half a mile later we approached a wall of traffic and two of them had gone down the road, with a black vauxhall astra driver asking if they were ok. I did the same as the guy who fell off walked towards me with his bike in bits clearly suffering from shock, but he was obviously well pissed off and muttered something in some language I couldn't understand. A load of hardley dangerous pulled up to help and we carried on with our journey.
I had my cute token blond girly on the back who thought it would be a good idea to wear high heels
By the time we got there, she had managed to melt most of her soles off on my exhausts - both sides 
On the way back I just finally managed to run it in for the first time, as it now just reached the 1000 miles and leading to a short blat on the M25 where I overtook about thirty bikers in the middle lane on an otherwise empty stretch of road at around 110 leptons
I got home to find that I have yet another oil leak and that melted plastic does not come off the zorst easily.. that may well be my next post!
All in all a great day, met some fantastic geezers, and thought we were especially lucky as the weather was so good considering its September. Roll on the next one
About 6 miles from Brighton we were over/under taken from all angles as a bunch of foreign bikers (German?) screamed passed us. I was sat in lane two and they flew by on both sides really motoring... about half a mile later we approached a wall of traffic and two of them had gone down the road, with a black vauxhall astra driver asking if they were ok. I did the same as the guy who fell off walked towards me with his bike in bits clearly suffering from shock, but he was obviously well pissed off and muttered something in some language I couldn't understand. A load of hardley dangerous pulled up to help and we carried on with our journey.
I had my cute token blond girly on the back who thought it would be a good idea to wear high heels
By the time we got there, she had managed to melt most of her soles off on my exhausts - both sides On the way back I just finally managed to run it in for the first time, as it now just reached the 1000 miles and leading to a short blat on the M25 where I overtook about thirty bikers in the middle lane on an otherwise empty stretch of road at around 110 leptons
I got home to find that I have yet another oil leak and that melted plastic does not come off the zorst easily.. that may well be my next post!
All in all a great day, met some fantastic geezers, and thought we were especially lucky as the weather was so good considering its September. Roll on the next one
I saw lots of bikes on the M25 and getting off onto the M23 yesterday around 11am - I presume that this is the same run?
I gotta say I was amazed with the poor riding practice witnessed - of the around 100 bikes I was in the traffic flow between J12 and J8/7 I counted only 5 bikers riding safely! Some roadcraft was poor but some was just plain stooopid - what's this technique where you move up to a car (already in lane 3) from lane 2 and then cut across their bumper with a fag paper space (and no turn signal)?! Give us some time to react - this caused emeregency braking for the front car and those following numerous times (including me). There was a pack of foreign plated bikes that were being driven particularly dangerously. I noticed 2-3 bikers were pulled by the BiB at one point - I wonder why?!
Don't get me wrong, I applaud fast bikes (and cars) being riden safely but unfortunately not yesterday. I'm not saying I don't have 'moments' myself but not on a busy motorway on a Sunday morning with cars full of families looking forward to a nice day out!
Anyway cool to see so many shiny bikes and hope you have a great day and lived to tell the tale.
Rant (report?) over.
I gotta say I was amazed with the poor riding practice witnessed - of the around 100 bikes I was in the traffic flow between J12 and J8/7 I counted only 5 bikers riding safely! Some roadcraft was poor but some was just plain stooopid - what's this technique where you move up to a car (already in lane 3) from lane 2 and then cut across their bumper with a fag paper space (and no turn signal)?! Give us some time to react - this caused emeregency braking for the front car and those following numerous times (including me). There was a pack of foreign plated bikes that were being driven particularly dangerously. I noticed 2-3 bikers were pulled by the BiB at one point - I wonder why?!
Don't get me wrong, I applaud fast bikes (and cars) being riden safely but unfortunately not yesterday. I'm not saying I don't have 'moments' myself but not on a busy motorway on a Sunday morning with cars full of families looking forward to a nice day out!
Anyway cool to see so many shiny bikes and hope you have a great day and lived to tell the tale.
Rant (report?) over.
AMG Merc said:
...Don't get me wrong, I applaud fast bikes (and cars) being riden safely but unfortunately not yesterday...
It doesn't help that many bikers rarely do over 1000 miles in a year - they don't build up enough experience just once a week in good weather and then change to another bike a year later...
AMG Merc said:
I saw lots of bikes on the M25 and getting off onto the M23 yesterday around 11am - I presume that this is the same run?
I gotta say I was amazed with the poor riding practice witnessed - of the around 100 bikes I was in the traffic flow between J12 and J8/7 I counted only 5 bikers riding safely! Some roadcraft was poor but some was just plain stooopid - what's this technique where you move up to a car (already in lane 3) from lane 2 and then cut across their bumper with a fag paper space (and no turn signal)?! Give us some time to react - this caused emeregency braking for the front car and those following numerous times (including me). There was a pack of foreign plated bikes that were being driven particularly dangerously. I noticed 2-3 bikers were pulled by the BiB at one point - I wonder why?!
Don't get me wrong, I applaud fast bikes (and cars) being riden safely but unfortunately not yesterday. I'm not saying I don't have 'moments' myself but not on a busy motorway on a Sunday morning with cars full of families looking forward to a nice day out!
Anyway cool to see so many shiny bikes and hope you have a great day and lived to tell the tale.
Rant (report?) over.
I gotta say I was amazed with the poor riding practice witnessed - of the around 100 bikes I was in the traffic flow between J12 and J8/7 I counted only 5 bikers riding safely! Some roadcraft was poor but some was just plain stooopid - what's this technique where you move up to a car (already in lane 3) from lane 2 and then cut across their bumper with a fag paper space (and no turn signal)?! Give us some time to react - this caused emeregency braking for the front car and those following numerous times (including me). There was a pack of foreign plated bikes that were being driven particularly dangerously. I noticed 2-3 bikers were pulled by the BiB at one point - I wonder why?!
Don't get me wrong, I applaud fast bikes (and cars) being riden safely but unfortunately not yesterday. I'm not saying I don't have 'moments' myself but not on a busy motorway on a Sunday morning with cars full of families looking forward to a nice day out!
Anyway cool to see so many shiny bikes and hope you have a great day and lived to tell the tale.
Rant (report?) over.
Allthough its wrong to generalise, the only terrible riding I witnessed was that from the foreign plated bikers who ended up spilling and then getting pulled - serves them right. The pack at that point slowed down after the warning and a more sensible ride ensued after the wakeup call. It's all too easy to get a false sense of security and follow the crowds' line through the traffic, but every vehicle should be assessed in its own right as the situation changes from rider to rider as more road is covered.
It was good to ride through Brighton town centre and pass the wall of police motorcycles that had gathered there in anticipation. I even got a nod by one which was great and although plod was massive in numbers there was a good atmosphere and I didn't see any trouble. I would liken the foreign bikers attitude to ours when we do Le Mans.. do we really respect their laws and speeds or are we on holiday
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