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Cyclists - Traffic Lights


ioneabee

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Funniest thing yesterday, mate driving us to football cutting through Richmond Park which is generally seen by cyclists in the area as just a giant outdoor velodrome. We turn right at a roundabout, and in the passenger seat i look left and see this woman on about £5k worth of carbon race bike, with absolutely no idea what to do. Clearly cyclists never give way on the little mini roundabouts in the park and she just cycled at us just staring at the car...at the very last second she just anchored up when she realised that cycling onto a roundabout with a Range Rover on it was not a good idea and just fell on her side with her clip on shoes still attached to the pedals.

 

I just laughed, I felt guilty afterwards, but I just did. Muppet.

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^^ I laughed a little to coldel so don't feel too guilty. :D

 

My soon to be ex-boss in work has a carbon fibre framed mountain bike ~ cost him £3.5k. :scare: He only uses it to cycle the 2-3 miles to work each day. Honestly he must be mental in the head.

 

I mean I know we all drive performance cars that we rarely get to use at there full potential but at least most of us do at times, whether on track days or autobahns, use them to full potential whereas he's just got some mental high spec bike that he tootles along to work on. :wacko::lol:

Might as well have bought a £100 second hand Raleigh bike for all he does on it.

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Believe it or not £3k isn't all that much to spend on a nice bike these days, the current Electric Dura Ace group set is £2k by itself....if I had the cash I would love a Pinarello Dogma F8....but you wouldn't get any change from £10k!! Sadly even with such a bike I'll still be panting away on even a small hill :)

 

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Believe it or not £3k isn't all that much to spend on a nice bike these days, the current Electric Dura Ace group set is £2k by itself....if I had the cash I would love a Pinarello Dogma F8....but you wouldn't get any change from £10k!! Sadly even with such a bike I'll still be panting away on even a small hill :)

 

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Look's really nice but honestly what's the point unless you're some type of professional racer/cyclist at National competition level?

 

I mean no matter what bike you buy they are all powered by the same thing, the rider. Yes lighter materials, better gears etc all make it easier for today's riders but then isn't that partly against what a lot of cyclist are trying to achieve which is good physical health. :shrug:

 

Personally I have a Raleigh Mantis from 1992/93 and that'll do me just as good as any of these OTT bikes.

mainpic.jpg

 

Haven't used it properly in over 19 years though now. :lol: Cars are much more enjoyable imo. :thumbs:

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LoL there is no point....but much like everything else in life don't every one aspire to have the best car/house/phone etc regardless of need/usage :)

 

I've got a set of lovely carbon Dura Ace wheels for my bike which have a RRP of £700, but I don't use them because I think they are too nice to be exposed to pot holes / rain ..... I know it's totally crazy, the 'problem' with bikes is you can buy lots of bits one at a time, the actual frame set for the bike in the picture is 'only' £3k which when you consider the total cost of a complete bike is a bargin, so you could buy just the frame set, swap over all the bits from your current bike and than slowly upgrade :)....it's basically like modding for cars, but just as expensive and pointless!! Unfortunately I have a problem with both which means my wife is always amazed why my bank account looks so empty at the end of each month ;)

 

If you like speed I think your be surprised at how fun going down a 7% hill is on a pedal bike...I get close to 50mph, at that kind of speed a tiny pot hole is enough to send you crashing into cars/trees etc, and the only protection you have is your skin and a plastics helmet.

 

Drafting a lorry/bus/car is also great fun, doing 30mph 30cm front the back of car equipped with 4 massive brakes, when the only brakes on the bike are made out of rubber, it really does make you focus on the road/sent the heart rate up.

 

Stuff like that all makes doing 150mph (on a private road ofcourse :)) in my 380bph 335i feel very dull and insulated in comparison!!

 

Infact every time I get into a car after a ride it's amazing how little 'feel' for the road you get through the steering wheel compared to the handle bars....I would really love a motorbike but I'm pretty sure if I got one I'll be dead/broken something major within a week :(

Edited by gangzoom
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Boils my **** ignoring lights, there's just no reason for it, be patient.

 

I miss riding my Raleigh Actiator, first thing I modded. Toe clips, new saddle, bar ends, extra water bottle - like it needed to weigh more, heavyiest bike ever. :lol: If there was a national network of dirt tracks, I'd ride everywhere.

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On my way to work in Cambridge, I was waiting at traffic lights. One cyclist slams on his front brake and pulls an endo, the woman behind him had no intention of stopping and was too close behind him and got a face full of tyre! I laughed so hard she gave me the finger. Priceless.

Edited by Rock_Steady
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^ the sort of person who gets hit smashed off the bike by getting his jollys of sitting inches from them, then sues the car driver and edits the edit put it son youtube so it looks like the drivers bad

 

+1, its when cyclists are right on my tail at 30mph 'to get a kick' that boils my $#55. Absolute no win for the driver, if the cyclist hits the back of you any damage to the car is never going to get paid for by the cyclist, and invariably it will be the drivers fault somehow i.e. not giving them room.

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Saw a classic this afternoon.

 

Traffic lights with a left hand filter and straight on, left hand filter goes green

 

but there is a Lycra clad cyclist sitting in it who is going straight on and wont move

 

so nobody can turn left on green, soon the hooting starts and then the cyclist starts

 

the V signs and refuses to move, he so busy giving grief to the motorists he hasn't realised the

 

straight on lights have gone to green so he still sits in the filter lane. As soon as the lights go back

 

to red he peddles through them, still giving us poor motorists a load of abuse because somebody

 

had the audacity to hoot at him...!! :lol: :lol:

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Given the general feeling between the two, cyclists/motorists it wouldnt surprise me if something doesnt get done soon, i get the feeling its getting to boiling point!

 

I went for a little cruise on my mountain bike the other day, a motorist was waiting to pull out of a junction and a Bradley Wiggins wanna be was coming down the road, the car driver had edged out to get a view to his left as there was a line of parked cars, the cyclist coming from the right had to move maybe a foot or two out into the road to pass the car, he sat up in his saddle and pointed that the front of the car was a foot or two out the junction and gave this wtf do you think your doing look with massive grimace, the car driver went ballistic! I was coming from the left and just shouted at Bradley, get a F ing grip mate just go round! There was absolutely no need to make such a big deal of it, he just had to cycle round, but he had to make a point of it!

 

It will end in tears i tell you!!

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Given the general feeling between the two, cyclists/motorists it wouldnt surprise me if something doesnt get done soon, i get the feeling its getting to boiling point!

 

It will end in tears i tell you!!

Definitely agree with you there ~ it's only a matter of time before someone get's pushed to far and it all explodes.

 

Unfortunately for the cyclists it's not going to end well for them as shown below in a horrific incident that happened in Brazil I think it was..

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Funniest thing yesterday, mate driving us to football cutting through Richmond Park which is generally seen by cyclists in the area as just a giant outdoor velodrome. We turn right at a roundabout, and in the passenger seat i look left and see this woman on about £5k worth of carbon race bike, with absolutely no idea what to do. Clearly cyclists never give way on the little mini roundabouts in the park and she just cycled at us just staring at the car...at the very last second she just anchored up when she realised that cycling onto a roundabout with a Range Rover on it was not a good idea and just fell on her side with her clip on shoes still attached to the pedals.

 

I just laughed, I felt guilty afterwards, but I just did. Muppet.

 

Same thing happened today! Two cars turning right, I was the second one, guy on a bike cycled at the car in front and last minute slowed almost to a stop then tried to edge out in between me and the other car turning right at the roundabout, what on earth is wrong with these people! They got a death wish? Or are they people that have never sat a driving test and do not understand the rules of the road (possibly option 2?).

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Please don't send me to hell but a few weeks ago I was out cycling, pulled up at a red light as you do.

 

A girl of 8 or 9 was to my left waiting for the little green man to tell her she could cross. It turns green and at this point another cyclist comes from behind me, cycles across me to go on the pavement to cut the corner and nearly wipes out the girl. Pushes past and hops back on the road.

 

This really did pee me off!

I try to ride my bike within the Highway Code and use cycle paths where I can but this numpty just took the biscuit :angry: :headbang:

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Oh and on the same journey two different taxis nearly took me out by overtaking me on blind bends with other cars coming the other way which meant they were as close to 2 inches from me when they cut in

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Please don't send me to hell but a few weeks ago I was out cycling, pulled up at a red light as you do.

 

A girl of 8 or 9 was to my left waiting for the little green man to tell her she could cross. It turns green and at this point another cyclist comes from behind me, cycles across me to go on the pavement to cut the corner and nearly wipes out the girl. Pushes past and hops back on the road.

 

This really did pee me off!

I try to ride my bike within the Highway Code and use cycle paths where I can but this numpty just took the biscuit :angry: :headbang:

 

There in is the problem, most drivers obey the rules mostly, most cyclists don't, mostly.

 

I am no model driver, I am sure most of us aren't but you can see those cyclists that do stick within the law must hate knowing that the big majority that take the pi$$ just end up tarring them all with a brush.

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Please don't send me to hell but a few weeks ago I was out cycling, pulled up at a red light as you do.

 

A girl of 8 or 9 was to my left waiting for the little green man to tell her she could cross. It turns green and at this point another cyclist comes from behind me, cycles across me to go on the pavement to cut the corner and nearly wipes out the girl. Pushes past and hops back on the road.

 

This really did pee me off!

I try to ride my bike within the Highway Code and use cycle paths where I can but this numpty just took the biscuit :angry: :headbang:

 

There in is the problem, most drivers obey the rules mostly, most cyclists don't, mostly.

 

I am no model driver, I am sure most of us aren't but you can see those cyclists that do stick within the law must hate knowing that the big majority that take the pi$$ just end up tarring them all with a brush.

I'd say get out on a bike and see how many drivers are considerate.... On anyone journey I will have multiple incidents with cars not looking beyond me the cyclist and just wanting to make progress regardless. I've had cars try to over take me when I'm positioned to overtake a stationary bus dropping passengers with cars coming the other way.

 

That particular numpty had to apologise when he parked up at his place of work only to find me leaving the bike shed.

 

Even as a solo cyclist you will have encounters with drivers who think you shouldn't be on the public highway.

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Please don't send me to hell but a few weeks ago I was out cycling, pulled up at a red light as you do.

 

A girl of 8 or 9 was to my left waiting for the little green man to tell her she could cross. It turns green and at this point another cyclist comes from behind me, cycles across me to go on the pavement to cut the corner and nearly wipes out the girl. Pushes past and hops back on the road.

 

This really did pee me off!

I try to ride my bike within the Highway Code and use cycle paths where I can but this numpty just took the biscuit :angry: :headbang:

 

There in is the problem, most drivers obey the rules mostly, most cyclists don't, mostly.

 

I am no model driver, I am sure most of us aren't but you can see those cyclists that do stick within the law must hate knowing that the big majority that take the pi$$ just end up tarring them all with a brush.

I'd say get out on a bike and see how many drivers are considerate.... On anyone journey I will have multiple incidents with cars not looking beyond me the cyclist and just wanting to make progress regardless. I've had cars try to over take me when I'm positioned to overtake a stationary bus dropping passengers with cars coming the other way.

 

That particular numpty had to apologise when he parked up at his place of work only to find me leaving the bike shed.

 

Even as a solo cyclist you will have encounters with drivers who think you shouldn't be on the public highway.

 

I have been out on a bike, I used to have a Scott CR2, used it to cycle 2k miles across France and used it a lot around Putney/Richmond etc before selling it.

 

If cars undertook, cut up, didn't look more than ten yards ahead of themselves etc as much as cyclists do in general there would be x10 more fatalities on the road than we see now.

 

Some drivers are dopey in that they might make bad decisions in moving traffic, however, a red light is a red light, giving way to the right is giving way to the right, really simple obvious stuff which cyclists seem to have decided are not applicable to them - start obeying the rules such as this and you might find cars are less likely to want to 'get that place back' which most cyclists complain about.

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I don't live in London but I know cyclists take the pee down there. Here they are a little more observant to the rules of the road. The numpty who nearly took out the girl is the exception to the rule. That said you get the weekend packs that think they rule the road here (chester outskirts are very rural).

 

I agree a red light is a red light. I see as any motorists jump them as I do cyclists. I know it's different up here but I'm getting the impression that folks feel cyclists are the devils advocate when there are as mang motorists who are accidents waiting to happen... Hence Mr whackywills thread.

 

Not having a pop at you coldel as I know areas are different and maybe my attitude is different from most.

 

P.s before I started using my bike I had similar opinions :)

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