And today's commuting highlight is...
Discussion
BigMacDaddy said:
avoiding the bell-end on a Sportster who seemed to think he should be occupying the exact same space on the road as every other bike he came across 
Never ceases to amaze me how much space some bikers can take up. Absolutely no consideration for the rest of the biking fraternity. Invariably they could move forward just a foot and the bike behind could then squeeze in front of the blood great truck at the lights, but no, they just sit there. I assume they are of the same breed that sit in their cars in traffic looking at you, whereas if they just moved over a foot we could get on our merry way.
I always try to work out if they're retards, totally unaware of whats going on around them, or just selfish b
ds. The Selfish Gene said:
how far is too far as a commute?
I've just seen my dream house - but it is 125 miles from the office :-)
currently I do 12 miles each day.........................so it's a bit of an increase
I do 120 miles each way 3 times a week. I don't mind it at all. Right gear including heated apparel, hand muffs and the right bike with a good intercomm it is a breeze.I've just seen my dream house - but it is 125 miles from the office :-)
currently I do 12 miles each day.........................so it's a bit of an increase
I did it for 5 days a week for 6 months Jan-June. It was brutal. 6-7am leave house and 7-8pm arrive home.
Harry H said:
Never ceases to amaze me how much space some bikers can take up. Absolutely no consideration for the rest of the biking fraternity.
Invariably they could move forward just a foot and the bike behind could then squeeze in front of the blood great truck at the lights, but no, they just sit there. I assume they are of the same breed that sit in their cars in traffic looking at you, whereas if they just moved over a foot we could get on our merry way.
I always try to work out if they're retards, totally unaware of whats going on around them, or just selfish bds.
At the same time I hate this time of the year because of how I act around other people slowly commuting into the office enjoying the pleasures of motorcycling in all its glory. I often get into the office and think 'I wonder what that guy was thinking as I barged my way past him on an unnecessarily large adventure bike with fluffy hand muffs and salt caked gear because I am all year biker'..I fear some times we may come off as cocks. Although I do not fear it enough to stop being one..I try to tame it down.Invariably they could move forward just a foot and the bike behind could then squeeze in front of the blood great truck at the lights, but no, they just sit there. I assume they are of the same breed that sit in their cars in traffic looking at you, whereas if they just moved over a foot we could get on our merry way.
I always try to work out if they're retards, totally unaware of whats going on around them, or just selfish b
ds. Edited by supercommuter on Thursday 3rd May 15:08
supercommuter said:
At the same time I hate this time of the year because of how I act around other people slowly commuting into the office enjoying the pleasures of motorcycling in all its glory. I often get into the office and think 'I wonder what that guy was thinking as I barged my way past him on an unnecessarily large adventure bike with fluffy hand muffs and salt caked gear because I am all year biker'..I fear some times we may come off as cocks. Although I do not fear it enough to stop being one..I try to tame it down.
Likewise, during Autumn / Winter commuting on the bike when weather allows (I avoid the salt) I'm very chilled out ... yet Spring / Summer when the FWB's start commuting I get irritated very easily by the lack of spatial awareness they demonstrate and therefore become impatient which results in me being mildly pissed off when I arrive at work. Have a brew at work, then think yeah that was a dick move.Edited by supercommuter on Thursday 3rd May 15:08
I had one guy on an adventure bike last night I was following through traffic that had absolutely no idea whatsoever that I was following him for the best part of 2 miles through city traffic ... I got to a set of traffic lights and of course he parked himself between the cars just behind the line and then saw me in his mirrors ... made no effort to move forward a bit to provide a little space. So the lights went green and I sat on his rear wheel, then as he tipped into the bend I went round the outside of him shaking my head and buggered off into the distance ... got home and thought .. yeah that was a dick move too...
Mr OCD said:
supercommuter said:
At the same time I hate this time of the year because of how I act around other people slowly commuting into the office enjoying the pleasures of motorcycling in all its glory. I often get into the office and think 'I wonder what that guy was thinking as I barged my way past him on an unnecessarily large adventure bike with fluffy hand muffs and salt caked gear because I am all year biker'..I fear some times we may come off as cocks. Although I do not fear it enough to stop being one..I try to tame it down.
Likewise, during Autumn / Winter commuting on the bike when weather allows (I avoid the salt) I'm very chilled out ... yet Spring / Summer when the FWB's start commuting I get irritated very easily by the lack of spatial awareness they demonstrate and therefore become impatient which results in me being mildly pissed off when I arrive at work. Have a brew at work, then think yeah that was a dick move.Edited by supercommuter on Thursday 3rd May 15:08
I had one guy on an adventure bike last night I was following through traffic that had absolutely no idea whatsoever that I was following him for the best part of 2 miles through city traffic ... I got to a set of traffic lights and of course he parked himself between the cars just behind the line and then saw me in his mirrors ... made no effort to move forward a bit to provide a little space. So the lights went green and I sat on his rear wheel, then as he tipped into the bend I went round the outside of him shaking my head and buggered off into the distance ... got home and thought .. yeah that was a dick move too...
Sadly my commute is so long I have no patience which is not good. I try to stay in London one night now to reduce my time on the road but would rather be at home with my wife!
supercommuter said:
The Selfish Gene said:
how far is too far as a commute?
I've just seen my dream house - but it is 125 miles from the office :-)
currently I do 12 miles each day.........................so it's a bit of an increase
I do 120 miles each way 3 times a week. I don't mind it at all. Right gear including heated apparel, hand muffs and the right bike with a good intercomm it is a breeze.I've just seen my dream house - but it is 125 miles from the office :-)
currently I do 12 miles each day.........................so it's a bit of an increase
I did it for 5 days a week for 6 months Jan-June. It was brutal. 6-7am leave house and 7-8pm arrive home.
Harry H said:
Never ceases to amaze me how much space some bikers can take up. Absolutely no consideration for the rest of the biking fraternity.
Invariably they could move forward just a foot and the bike behind could then squeeze in front of the blood great truck at the lights, but no, they just sit there. I assume they are of the same breed that sit in their cars in traffic looking at you, whereas if they just moved over a foot we could get on our merry way.
I always try to work out if they're retards, totally unaware of whats going on around them, or just selfish bds.
At the same time I hate this time of the year because of how I act around other people slowly commuting into the office enjoying the pleasures of motorcycling in all its glory. I often get into the office and think 'I wonder what that guy was thinking as I barged my way past him on an unnecessarily large adventure bike with fluffy hand muffs and salt caked gear because I am all year biker'..I fear some times we may come off as cocks. Although I do not fear it enough to stop being one..I try to tame it down.Invariably they could move forward just a foot and the bike behind could then squeeze in front of the blood great truck at the lights, but no, they just sit there. I assume they are of the same breed that sit in their cars in traffic looking at you, whereas if they just moved over a foot we could get on our merry way.
I always try to work out if they're retards, totally unaware of whats going on around them, or just selfish b
ds. Edited by supercommuter on Thursday 3rd May 15:08
Problem I have is I have to be in by 08:30 and often don't exit until 19:00 - so that would be big days with the bike...............
shame the house has enough space for many bikes and cars!!
The Selfish Gene said:
Blimey Supercommuter - I was only half serious but fair play on that commute.
Problem I have is I have to be in by 08:30 and often don't exit until 19:00 - so that would be big days with the bike...............
shame the house has enough space for many bikes and cars!!
Yep that is unsustainable! be 6am - 9pm days.Problem I have is I have to be in by 08:30 and often don't exit until 19:00 - so that would be big days with the bike...............
shame the house has enough space for many bikes and cars!!
I did this as I know in the long run I will be at home 4 days a week but continue with the London salary! end game!
The Selfish Gene said:
how far is too far as a commute?
I've just seen my dream house - but it is 125 miles from the office :-)
currently I do 12 miles each day.........................so it's a bit of an increase
75 miles and 1h40m each way. That's as far as I'd do every day. I've just seen my dream house - but it is 125 miles from the office :-)
currently I do 12 miles each day.........................so it's a bit of an increase
I resort to the train in the 5 winter months as I live in the country where local roads don't get treated. Ice scares me. I'm too old to bounce and the bike is too expensive to fix.
Another great weather day for bike commuting in London and it seems due to the bank holiday weekend most of London took the day off on the East side of town. Its like a half term traffic wise today. Got to work in super quick time comparitively 
Award of the day goes to Mr shiny CBR600F (original early 2k vintage like I had not the pretend F which is/was a hornet with a fairing bolted on) with the noisiest can - another blast it in a straight line merchant when the road is empty but completely falling to pieces for filtering through gaps you could fit tanks through. Stuck following him embarrassing himself holding up another bike and myself with a crawl through latter part of the limehouse link tunnel today. Also what is it with the shiny brigade and super noisy cans? All it does it draw unwanted attention to yourself. Sadly for him I know how super slack they are off the line.. its all noise and no real go unless you race start them, he kept up with me as I wasn't trying but as soon as we got to the traffic queue around wapping on the highway he just disappeared backwards.
My real highlight near work being completely pulled out on by a S Class executive minicab (dropping some celeb idiot at ITV no doubt, we get a ton round the southbank area, well until they pull the site down very soon) - driver clearly on a phone call but even hands free this was impairing his eyes from working correctly. As is usual saw this happening and correctly predicted the idiot would just pull out anyway so was already prepared for it.
Award of the day goes to Mr shiny CBR600F (original early 2k vintage like I had not the pretend F which is/was a hornet with a fairing bolted on) with the noisiest can - another blast it in a straight line merchant when the road is empty but completely falling to pieces for filtering through gaps you could fit tanks through. Stuck following him embarrassing himself holding up another bike and myself with a crawl through latter part of the limehouse link tunnel today. Also what is it with the shiny brigade and super noisy cans? All it does it draw unwanted attention to yourself. Sadly for him I know how super slack they are off the line.. its all noise and no real go unless you race start them, he kept up with me as I wasn't trying but as soon as we got to the traffic queue around wapping on the highway he just disappeared backwards.
My real highlight near work being completely pulled out on by a S Class executive minicab (dropping some celeb idiot at ITV no doubt, we get a ton round the southbank area, well until they pull the site down very soon) - driver clearly on a phone call but even hands free this was impairing his eyes from working correctly. As is usual saw this happening and correctly predicted the idiot would just pull out anyway so was already prepared for it.
Close call with a car that come around a blind bend after running a blatant red, probably red for a good 5 seconds. Gave her the wnkr sign for doing so and her boyfriend went berserk in the car which let to more pointless back and forth sign language.
Traffic has been very minimal the last couple of days. Love it.
Traffic has been very minimal the last couple of days. Love it.
Ah, looking forward to getting back to commuting on the bike on Tuesday following being a tube/bus wker after my voltage rectifier died taking the battery with it - a maximum journey time of an hour into London by bike is approx 2.5 to 3 hours by public transport depending on connections - three weeks of that crap has not been fun - just hope that I don't get lumbered in with the "shiny brigade" since I've also washed off all the winter road-scum and salt that had built up over the layers of acf-50, so much so you can actually seem some chrome for a change!
ker after my voltage rectifier died taking the battery with it - a maximum journey time of an hour into London by bike is approx 2.5 to 3 hours by public transport depending on connections - three weeks of that crap has not been fun - just hope that I don't get lumbered in with the "shiny brigade" since I've also washed off all the winter road-scum and salt that had built up over the layers of acf-50, so much so you can actually seem some chrome for a change!Great ride in generally but obviously the sun has brought the biking/cycling hords out in London. So a number of less clued up 2 wheeled commuters again this morning. The queue of bikes filtering down the middle through the limehouse link tunnel that I was at the back of at 8:15am told me this.
Despatched the lot with seasoned forward observation and filtering once out of the tunnel and didn't see them again. Hence making my ride in that more pleasant.
Despatched the lot with seasoned forward observation and filtering once out of the tunnel and didn't see them again. Hence making my ride in that more pleasant.
No pics, but god that was good!!
First proper ride on the CBR900 929 that i bought about 3 months ago. I didn't expect it to be better than the VFR (1998 Fi) but it was amazing! Like it was engineered yesterday. Lovely, lovely, lovely machine. Quite why the 929s are so cheap is beyond me.
Can't wait for the ride home!
First proper ride on the CBR900 929 that i bought about 3 months ago. I didn't expect it to be better than the VFR (1998 Fi) but it was amazing! Like it was engineered yesterday. Lovely, lovely, lovely machine. Quite why the 929s are so cheap is beyond me.
Can't wait for the ride home!
PTF said:
No pics, but god that was good!!
First proper ride on the CBR900 929 that i bought about 3 months ago. I didn't expect it to be better than the VFR (1998 Fi) but it was amazing! Like it was engineered yesterday. Lovely, lovely, lovely machine. Quite why the 929s are so cheap is beyond me.
Can't wait for the ride home!
Wait until you try a 1000cc Sports bike made in the last 8 or so years lol No I don't own one because they are just plain stupid perf wise for the public road First proper ride on the CBR900 929 that i bought about 3 months ago. I didn't expect it to be better than the VFR (1998 Fi) but it was amazing! Like it was engineered yesterday. Lovely, lovely, lovely machine. Quite why the 929s are so cheap is beyond me.
Can't wait for the ride home!
The 2011 ZX10R blew me away when I test rode that things have moved on from that somewhat too. Something like a detuned R1 Engine in the MT10 really isn't lacking in real world performance with cica 160hp either - thats a stonking engine too lol
sjtscott said:
PTF said:
No pics, but god that was good!!
First proper ride on the CBR900 929 that i bought about 3 months ago. I didn't expect it to be better than the VFR (1998 Fi) but it was amazing! Like it was engineered yesterday. Lovely, lovely, lovely machine. Quite why the 929s are so cheap is beyond me.
Can't wait for the ride home!
Wait until you try a 1000cc Sports bike made in the last 8 or so years lol No I don't own one because they are just plain stupid perf wise for the public road First proper ride on the CBR900 929 that i bought about 3 months ago. I didn't expect it to be better than the VFR (1998 Fi) but it was amazing! Like it was engineered yesterday. Lovely, lovely, lovely machine. Quite why the 929s are so cheap is beyond me.
Can't wait for the ride home!
The 2011 ZX10R blew me away when I test rode that things have moved on from that somewhat too. Something like a detuned R1 Engine in the MT10 really isn't lacking in real world performance with cica 160hp either - thats a stonking engine too lol
It kind of feels half way between a blackbird (got one of those too) and a newer 1000RR.
CAPP0 said:
Yep, definitely a lot of wobblers out this morning.
Also there was a bike involved in a crash on the M20 at J4 this morning, early - I heard several sirens around 6.30. Hope everyone's OK from that.
Recently, I'm constantly hearing about bikers crashing and ending up either dead or being disabled for the rest of the lives. Either on the radio, TV, social media or general conversations, it seems to be everywhere. Really depressing and yet I still occasionally can't help but have a quick blast on a long straight knowing it wouldn't take much for the inevitable to happen. Sorry about the negativity but it does keep popping up every day or so. Ride safe people!Also there was a bike involved in a crash on the M20 at J4 this morning, early - I heard several sirens around 6.30. Hope everyone's OK from that.
Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff