Bikers and Sundays - Clubhouse

Ratbag

pirate

23/09/2002 at 16:21

Just what is it about people with motorbikes and Sundays??

I cycled from Bloxham to Chipping Norton and back yesterday. A distance of about 10 miles each way and all the time I was being passed at high speed by groups of bikers. Then it seemed that the same ones (?) turned around and went zooming back again. I swear I saw th same bunch at least three times. There were others too. I've noticed many times in the past that Sundays seems to be bikers day. They often park en masse in a town and walk up and down the line admiring each others' bikes, jump on them and ride off again. I'm sorry but I don't undersatnd.

I know there are bikers on the forum so please can someone explain what it's about?

cougie

pirate

23/09/2002 at 16:51

You wanna try North Wales in the Summer Ratbag ! I'll be slogging my guts out on my pushbike over the hills and these dudes come blatting over the hills at HUGE speeds. Then we all stop in the same cafes.
I think they like the bends and the speed - sure can't be the scenery as that is just a blur. And it can't be the cafe in Ruthin or on the Horseshoe - they'd be better off in their local Starbucks !

Quite often though, not all of these bikers make it back home again. :-(
Why do these bikes need such huge top speeds ?

Sassie

23/09/2002 at 17:00

You should try Box Hill on a Sunday guys! And loads of people gather to watch, making the whole thing seriously dangerous. The police (any of you out there?) don't seem to do anything.

Gnasher

23/09/2002 at 17:15

My husband is a bit of a bike enthusiast, he owns two and Sunday is generally our day to go out on them. We aren't the speeding types (one of the bikes is a Harley so speed isn't an option!) I can safely say that we are courteous road users (possibly because I run and he cycles at times? Whenever we stop and park up we get a bit of attention, either because of the chrome on the Harley or his MV Agusta which is a bit of a rarity on the roads

Barkles

23/09/2002 at 18:33

I've got to own up. This used to be me. I used to sacre the excrement out of myself every Sunday on my huge red V4.
It's exhilerating, but potentially very bad for you. If you don't fall off, you get little exercise and tend to drink huge quantities of ale and sleep in tents.
loved it at the time, but gave up the day Mrs Barkles told me she was expecting.

Besides it's important that the kids at school know I'm a great role model.

honest.

Argue and I'll piss on your drive.

Ratbag

pirate

24/09/2002 at 08:58

Yeah, but nobody can really explain the fact that they all park up and then wander up and down looking at each other's bikes. You don't get car drivers doing that. Is it some kind of sexual substitute?? Like who's got the biggest engine or something? And why only on a Subday, as it seems? What do these people do the rest of the week???

Still don't understand it...

Tepster

24/09/2002 at 10:17

Well, Ratbag, you do get car drivers doing just that in country pub car parks! It just depends on what you drive. Anyway, it's all about boys and their toys, and maybe it's a substitute for something, who can be sure. I'm a biker myself, but I couldn't see myself doing the kind of thing you're describing. I enjoy riding a nice bendy road at legal speeds, and there are trackdays if I want to go flat out. My excuse for owning a bike is that I don't have a car and probably never will - they clog up the road, consume more petrol and make their owners into lazy bun-munching couch potatoes, because it's just so much easier to drive there than to walk, or take the bicycle or the bus...
But riding up and down the same road and spending hours admiring each other's bikes? No thank you!

WildWill..... pirate

pirate

24/09/2002 at 10:35

It’s a what you are thing: -

You are a runner
Your are a cyclist
You are a biker

What ever you are you go out and do it at a weekend (since you have to work all week)

Will

Mister Baimbridge

24/09/2002 at 10:46

Maybe us runners could all meet in car parks and admire each others trainers or our 'engines' :-) There's one on the A46 near Bath we're people seem to do this!!!!! Very scary

Peet

24/09/2002 at 10:57

I was a biker until recently (when I had to sell my BMW R1100S). At heart, I still am, and I can't wait to get another one.
It's like all hobby things - it's good to meet people with similar interests. Riding a bike is exhillarating - even at slower speeds.
People also do customise their bikes - even sports bikes. When you meet someone for a ride, it's quite natural to look at what they're riding.
And the police do do things about it. Believe me - become a biker and you'll soon feel victimised. How often do you get police stopping cars at car parks checking for tax, illegal number plates, loud exhausts etc? Not very often. You get a recognised bike event, and you can guarantee there will be the over zealous plod there.
And cars do do this too. Have you not seen the boy racer GTI clubs, with their loud music, even louder exhausts, and often very irresponsible driving?
Sure - bikes can be ridden poorly, but in my experience, car drivers are worse in towns where injuring pedestrians is more likely.

There. Minor rant over.

Tepster

24/09/2002 at 12:36

There are irresponsible cyclists, bikers and car drivers, just like there are sensible ones from all of the above categories. And thanks Mr B, I'll avoid the A46 in future!

Slowboy

24/09/2002 at 19:32

Just like you have favourite running routes, bikers have fave roads, so you ride them again and again. Anywhere around Devil's Bridge in Kirkby Lonsdale does fine for me. There's a car park with a sign that says 'Monday to Saturday any vehicle, Sundays Motorcycles only'. About the only positive discrimination for bikers I've ever come across.

Sunday's the day you get to enjoy riding purely for the pleasure of it, rather than as a means of getting from A to B - and as for admiring each others bikes it's really just down to jealousy. Someone on this thread mentioned an MV Agusta, now that's making me really green....

Agree with the comments about irresponsible speeds and behaviour though, but I've yet to come across any group of road users who are all completely responsible all the time...

Edski

24/09/2002 at 21:17

At Vyrnwy the Sunday before last a few bikers were a nuisance round the course. There's no excuse for bikers weaving in and out of runners - which a few of them did. It's not as if the road goes anywhere either - just around the lake, so why they had to ride around it defeats me. It would be much better if the organisers applied to close the road to traffic and that would stop the cars too, although I didn't notice any cars weaving in and out.

SY3

Gnasher

25/09/2002 at 06:56

Slowboy - I showed my husband this thread (he's the lucky Agusta owner) and he laughed out loud at your comment. He gets an incredible amount of attention from other bikers when he's out on it. I am not sure that my description of it as 'a really pretty bike' goes down quite as well as it might though.

Scar Runner

25/09/2002 at 09:31

Slowboy, there's no need for that sign on Devil's Bridge since there's no hope of gettting a car parked there on a Sunday anyway!
Anyway, isn't there some talk of banning them from there? (don't shoot the messenger)

Slowboy

25/09/2002 at 09:44

Gnasher, I'm not suprised he gets attention, that's a bike that's not so much rare as legendary.

Laura, there have been rumours of bikes being banned from Devil's Bridge rumbling on for years. Hopefully it'll come to nothing and we can all go on enjoying ourselves in our different ways.

By the way, looking at your profile on the URWFRC website I see you finished the Paris Marathon just ahead of me - I came in in 4:14:20, so you almost certainly ran past me (i felt like I was going backwards by this point).

Dark Helmet

25/09/2002 at 10:08

I was trying to resist posting in this thread as it is a conversation that I have regulary at work with non bikers.

As for what we do when we 'inspect' other bikes; it usually a mixture of technical things like tyres and suspension settings (you can really feel the difference on a bike between a bad tyre and a good one) and just a good look at the latest bikes or indeed a look at some classic bikes.

Will summed it up perfectly!

cougie

pirate

25/09/2002 at 10:20

Runners do miss out on a lot of 'tecchie' things really. As a cyclist I will have a look at a fellow cyclists bike if its got some nice bits on it. But when I'm running I can't really go up to someone and admire the cut of their shorts.

Advantage is that running is much cheaper though.

Monique

pirate

27/09/2002 at 16:43

Tell me about it, I've just bought a bike for the triathlons: 625 £sterling, reduced from 1000, it's worth more than my car and this weekend the children will be travelling on the roof rack while the bike reclines on the back seat!

cougie

pirate

27/09/2002 at 17:05

Attagirl Monique.
I had the girls from the office round last week, and they insisted that my wife got the wedding album out.
They were a bit surprised to find my bike in a few of the shots before we went to the church.
(it was a very nice bike and only a few weeks old) And lived in the front room for a while too.