Summer boys and Newbies...

[Dark Angel]

I'm out on the R1 today on a decent twisty, and I’m catching a bike that’s ahead of me without breaking the speed limit. I ride on the centre line in the hope that he sees me in his mirror and I close him down quickly. He sees me and, as I’m about to pass him safely on a short straight, he accelerates.

He wants to “play”.

He’s accelerated into a bend and I back off rapidly because I don’t want to get caught up in his crash. I know this road, and, through his actions, I also know that he doesn’t. “If there’s anything coming the other way…” I think as I watch him panic brake and run w-i-d-e through the turn, creating an apex that takes him almost but only-just-not quite to the opposite kerb.

I sigh with relief and I’m sure he’s learnt his lesson as we approach another short straight, this time one that leads into a sharp, right/left “chicane”. I move to catch and pass him and… he accelerates. I back off and let him go. Again.

Somewhere, someday, someone might have told him that the fastest way through a chicane is to "straight-line" it. He doesn’t understand the “slow in/fast out“ mantra. He doesn’t appreciate that the "straight-line" mantra only ever applies with 100% forward visibility where the potential for oncoming traffic exists.

He was fearless, I’ll give him that: in the sense that fearless means “ignorant”. Ignorant of his own mortality. Ignorant of road safety rules and procedures. Ignorant of the carnage he might cause for himself and innocent others. Ignorant of his novice-calibre lack of experience and completely unaware of his lack of bike control and speed management.

He frightened me - and I hadn't even met him.

Eventually I passed him and lost him through a series of quick sweepers. I left him chastened (I hope) and safer (I pray) in the same way that I’ve been schooled so often on the road and on the racetrack. I’ve been lucky. No-one ever told me they were better or faster than me. Quite literally, they showed me the way to ride - and they showed me why it can take most of us a lifetime of experience to learn how, when and where to travel quickly and safely on a motorcycle.

They made me wonder: “How the hell does he do that?” and the question forced me to seek out the answers.

I hope he lives long enough to do the same.

 

[ogr1]

Jeez DA...Ya must be getting slow.
The other rider did survive.

 

[Dark Angel]

Jeez DA...Ya must be getting slow.

...That's impossible - coz I've never been fast!

 

[slim63]

I totally get what you are saying DA those of us old enough to have been riding quickly & safely for a good while & have survived have good sense ingrained in our being those that are new or have had a long break seem to have no sense at all at times, a lot seem to think the latest & greatest bike + expensive kit will make them a riding god it plainly doesn't when an old fart like me (or you) can easily keep up or even pass safely on pretty much any old bike with reasonable HP

I too used to instruct & although i'm rusty now I still don't have to think too much & just get on with it, I have lost count of the amount of times crap riders have said you nutter you accelerate when you get to a bend & no amount of explaining will get it into their heads that yes I do if I know the road well or have clear vision around the bend because i'm in the right position in the road & have already sorted out the slowing down or braking as needed

Another one is "you don't break much do you" trying to explain that timing, forward vision & not making a complete dogs arse of your approach to any given obstacle/ danger/ problem /overtake means you don't often need to brake is a complete waste of time & effort to some of them

A mate of mine who has had a break from riding is safe but is not particularly slow, I know he's not going to do anything daft & am happy to get on the back of him sometimes (massive thing for me as I hate not being in control) but his timing is off eg we come up to a roundabout he looks & even if there is plenty of room or even no cars in sight he virtually stops before deciding to go, it drives me absolutely nuts, timing of overtakes is the same eg if I am leading (going steady for his benefit) I will overtake quickly & smoothly then have to wait for ages for him to catch up even though there was room for 5 bikes to overtake, if he is leading I anticipate his move & am on it so usually am able to go with him (if its safe) again it sometime has me swearing inside my helmet

 

[Dark Angel]

OH-yeah: a few grins and grimaces of recognition in there for me, too, as I read that!

That’s what’s changed for us old-timers, I guess. Gone are the days when we rode so frequently with roughly the same group of mates that we gained experience together, in “real time” on the road and in every kind of weather. In a way our experience and expertise were cross-pollinated throughout the group until we were all much the same in terms of riding ability - and also in that most important factor of all, biking road sense - which I’ve always maintained is indescribably different and infinitely superior to “car” road sense.

Chuck in a few overseas tours, topped-off with racing and/or track days accrued over the years and here we are, “the last of the few” in biking terms. All this experience isn’t unique to us, of course. There are still plenty of younger riders coming through; it just seems obvious, though, looking through older eyes, that more than a few of them are in need of further training. Lots of it. Because they’re not going to get the same opportunities to learn that we have, starting from today - and stretching back to our beginnings, all those years ago.

How rare it is, these days, to see ten, twenty or thirty bikes headed out to who-knows-where, but in a way that makes it obvious to most observers that they've done this, maybe hundreds of times before? Even rolling past a line of parked-up bikes can tell you something about the composition, experience and potential level of riding experience within the group. Some riders don't enjoy riding in large groups because, they said: "there's always a nutter, somewhere who'll spoil it". Sometimes that was the case - but mostly, it wasn't and I miss those days of riding with lads I trusted and respected. Anyway... (sob!)

...They say nostalgia’s a thing of the past, but EEEE-eeee, lad: them were the days!

 

[Stevebrooke]

I was once coming down the A65 from the Lakes and had just come off the Settle bypass. There were two motorcyclists in my mirror and they were all over the road overtaking on double white lines and brows of hills. They came past me (I do my own thing and let others do theirs) and continued like this until we arrived at a set of temporary lights in Hellifield. For some reason they stopped side by side in the queue of traffic whilst I proceeded to filter to the front and went on my way when the lights changed. I never saw them again and to this day wonder why they took all the risks on that stretch of road and then ignored the best opportunity to pass a dozen or more cars safely and slowly.

 

[Dark Angel]

...A perfect summation of whatya could reasonably describe as:
inexperience, lack of road craft and lack of biking sense.

...Knobs...

 

[slim63]

All of the above is ringing a few bells from my distant biking past

When I started, riding in groups of 5 or 6 up to about 30 was the norm & if any of us young handsome guys acted the pratt one of the older more experienced guys would have a subtle word, do it again & you could expect a thick ear & be banned from going out with them for however long it took to change your attitude, we used to do Mag runs & rallies all over the country all the time with hundreds of like minded folk in perfect safety but its all changed now, last time I did RTTW 3 years ago I swore never again because 90% didn't know how to ride in a group, imo that's a yearly pile up just waiting to happen

Probably the biggest mistake I see in newer riders is they don't know how to brake properly (back brake merchants) sitting behind one of those really gets on my wick as its basic stuff that should be taught properly but often isn't, I often wonder how long some of these idiots would survive if taken back to the late 70's/ early 80's & stuck on a gs1000/z1000/cb900 with enough poke to get you into trouble & crap brakes …………………… but old farts like us had to adapt & work it out eg learn proper road positioning & how to get round a bend because there is no way you are stopping

 

[Dark Angel]

Exactly. "Knowing how to ride in a group". They don't know because they don't do it often enough,
and there's no "guidance" present to put them right when they get it wrong.

"They don't know how to brake properly". A few weeks ago while riding on the M6 motorway,
I saw a single (bike) skid mark that was approximately 70 metres long. It was fresh, but there
was no scarring to the road surface so he/she probably got away with it. I guess.

 

[slim63]

While out yesterday some berk on a 675 triumph went past the 2 of us & the car in front like his arse was on fire & it really was a dodgy overtake way to close to a bend, que panic braking arse twitching etc but thankfully he just made it

My smooth & steady mate shook his head waited for the right time & popped past the car a little later with me right behind, no drama there, only minutes later without trying we were behind silly bo**ocks on the triumph entering a series of tight bends & I could see even my steady & sensible mate was getting frustrated as the twat was in the way of a nice smooth run through nice smooth bends, proof positive that you cant buy skill or common sense

 

[Squag1]

In a similar vein, I was in car on secondary road. I saw a milk tanker coming out of the yard.
I decide I wasn't going to be stuck behind it so floored it and overtook.
As I passed the nose of the truck I spotted the humpback bridge sign.
I could ease up, I took off over the bridge and as I did I could see all the gashes on the road from previous mistakes.
I wondered where I was going to end up, but it landed on all 4 wheels without incident.

Luckily there was no oncoming traffic.

Guy I heard of had similar incident in an Alfa Sud. He took off over bridge and hit the brakes. The brake are inboard right beside the gearbox. When he landed the brakes held but the driveshafts sheared off at the disc. He was revving away but nothing happening.

 

[Dark Angel]

All of the above is ringing a few bells from my distant biking past

Biker Spirit.

Hard to know whether it’s still there; whether it’s there but we’ve lost it; or are we just getting old?

I like to think it’s still there.


...Know what I mean?


(Play in "Full screen"!)

 

[slim63]

Biker Spirit.

Hard to know whether it’s still there; whether it’s there but we’ve lost it; or are we just getting old?

I like to think it’s still there.


...Know what I mean?

All my long time mates still have that bit of steel running through them along with a thick streak of dark humor over good friends lost to our biking passion & yes a heavy dose of compassion as well, so basically not a lot has changed since the late 70's & early 80's apart from a lot of grey hair for those that still have any + one or two beer guts & old injuries to contend with, the spirit is still there but the bodies are failing

Many youngsters into biking seem to have a different attitude I for one cant get to grips with but just occasionally I meet a lad or girl that has been bought up in a biker household & my faith is restored, unfortunately that seems to happen less & less now

 

[slim63]

In a similar vein, I was in car on secondary road. I saw a milk tanker coming out of the yard.
I decide I wasn't going to be stuck behind it so floored it and overtook.
As I passed the nose of the truck I spotted the humpback bridge sign.
I could ease up, I took off over the bridge and as I did I could see all the gashes on the road from previous mistakes.
I wondered where I was going to end up, but it landed on all 4 wheels without incident.

Luckily there was no oncoming traffic.

Guy I heard of had similar incident in an Alfa Sud. He took off over bridge and hit the brakes. The brake are inboard right beside the gearbox. When he landed the brakes held but the driveshafts sheared off at the disc. He was revving away but nothing happening.

Well before I was legal to ride on the road a bloke from the village jumped off a hump backed bridge on an old beeza & lopped the top 6' off a telegraph pole it crippled him & put him in a coma for the best part of a year, he passed away 3 year later from complications & infection
Cracking bloke who was a good sportsman & had competed in the tour de france a couple of times, those that knew him had to have a good hard think before getting into bikes seriously after that

 

[Dark Angel]

All my long time mates still have that bit of steel running through them along with a thick streak of dark humor over good friends lost to our biking passion & yes a heavy dose of compassion as well, so basically not a lot has changed since the late 70's & early 80's apart from a lot of grey hair for those that still have any + one or two beer guts & old injuries to contend with, the spirit is still there but the bodies are failing

Many youngsters into biking seem to have a different attitude I for one cant get to grips with but just occasionally I meet a lad or girl that has been bought up in a biker household & my faith is restored, unfortunately that seems to happen less & less now

Yes. There's always "The Dark Side" that can rob us of our friends, or at least deprive us of their biking
presence through injury, but life still has the funny old habit of going on.

Have you ever ridden through a town or city and noticed that some tiny, tiny kid's going crazy with excitement -
or simply staring in wonder at the sight of you and your bike? It's just there, right from the start - you're a born
biker (or biker babe) and nothing in the world will ever change your instincts, no matter what. That was me.
That was you. That was us. And we're still here.

With the coming extinction of fossil fuel-based engines and the shift to other forms of propulsion, the kids of today
will be the last to know the pure exhilaration of riding the bikes that we ride, and have ridden. That's the only real
difference that I see. They're still true bikers and most will always be so. Just like us.

I hope they make the best of what time remains...

 

[andyBeaker]

Well before I was legal to ride on the road a bloke from the village jumped off a hump backed bridge on an old beeza & lopped the top 6' off a telegraph pole it crippled him & put him in a coma for the best part of a year, he passed away 3 year later from complications & infection
Cracking bloke who was a good sportsman & had competed in the tour de france a couple of times, those that knew him had to have a good hard think before getting into bikes seriously after that

The only time I have been airborne in a car was when I was navigating on one of those gentle Sunday morning time trial events where accuracy against the clock is the aim rather than out and out speed. My mate Keith was driving in his Sunbeam Lotus and didn't appreciate the finer points of the event, particularly over hump back bridges.

We ended the event with a badly cracked windscreen and I have no idea how I got to the end without throwing up.

RIP Keith, taken too young by the Big C but he had a blast!!

PS I have just remembered being with Keith in his Supermirafiori when at least one of the brake pads had worn through and was making a hell of a racket...his solution....turn up the radio

 

[Malone]

I was working at a Chrysler dealership when the Lotus came out, and as we weren’t tooled up to service them I had to bring our demonstrator back from Bristol. It was quite a smart car in the day with a good turn of speed. I’ll bet a good one today would be worth a few quid.

 

[Squag1]

Happened me on a bridge I forgot about.
Found myself looking into headlight but landed safely.

 

[Cougar377]

Ballacrye...

Good....

...and not so good....

 

[Malone]

I was working at a Chrysler dealership when the Lotus came out, and as we weren’t tooled up to service them I had to bring our demonstrator back from Bristol. It was quite a smart car in the day with a good turn of speed. I’ll bet a good one today would be worth a few quid.

found a couple, here’s one at £32k. From memory I thought they had a Getrag gearbox from new and not ZF

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1039061