Just been out for a spin. Sat in slow moving traffic on the Christchurch bypass I had a biker come up beside me and do a really noisy double-declutch right beside me. I mean, hood down, windows down, REALLY loud, right in my right ear-hole. Frightened the flippin’ life out of me.
This isn’t the first time a biker has done this, in fact It’s happened a couple of times this week. Always in slow-moving traffic on a dual-carriageway, me in the left lane, bike coming up the middle. Is this a thing they find amusing? Rev the bike and scare the pants off the oldie in the hairdressers car?
I will probably get contradicted as I’ve never been a biker, but there are four currently in my family. So I reckon it was not done deliberately, as I doubt the biker was that interested in you. Bikes in general tend to be noisier than cars anyway, and in a confined space next to you, extremely loud, and as for “double de-clutch” from what I’ve seen it seems to be the norm. My view is don’t take it personally. If however the moron does a wheelie as they pass you that is something to get worried about!
I have ridden a bike for longer than I care to remember and yes I have had some loud bikes.
Still do, but it’s seems a trend to Rev the guts out modern bikes until they hit the Rev limiter, why, I have no idea, just wish the engine would go bang when they do.
But then people put the top down and turn up the music when the sun comes out.
I’ve seen dashcam videos on YouTube where some bikers will chase down cars over-revving their engine in anger if some other motorist annoys them in some way.
I got quite the shock when I was driving once, I was considering overtaking a lorry ahead of me, I casually glanced out of my side window only to find two bikers sitting there that hadn’t been there mere seconds before - and I never even heard them arrive there !
Definitely heard them rev away mind
Definitely not guilty of that - the only time I’ve ever used the stereo was when I briefly turned it on to see if it was working when I bought the car.
Filtering as it’s called is legal (within reason) however sensible bikers feel the need to make drivers aware that they are there, as people often swap lanes without looking in their mirrors or inadvertently closing the gap. Generally it’s not to be antisocial.
Being pedantic here (sorry) but there’s no such thing as double declutching on a motorbike. They have sequential gearboxes so gear changes don’t go through neutral. (1/2 excepted) For a smoother downshift a blip on the throttle to match the revs is used. I think that’s what you heard.
Just as an observation, it’s a fact that many bikers like the exhaust note to be audible to improve their chances of being noticed by other road users.
JS
Quite of late…it seems the phrase “it’s a THING” or “is this a THING” has become…quite a thing.
A bit like “innit”, beginning a sentences with “so” and gawd knows what else.
Septic Import?
You can tell, I have a thing about this…thing.
Provided there are no witnesses, if you hear an under 16 wannabe WOKE with metal in it’s face & purple hair using The Thing, could you just slap them a corker around the lug 'ole for me. Character building for them.
I agree. I have certainly noticed a profusion of ‘so sayers’ on the radio completely unable to answer a question without starting every answer with the word ‘so’. I just wince waiting for the inevitable ‘so’. I’m not sure from where it originates.
While we’re on this sort of topic, I’ll be pedantic again. The common misuse and confusion between its and it’s really grates with me.
its is a possessive pronoun, meaning ‘belonging to it’ and does not have the apostrophe
it’s is a contraction of it is and does not relate to possession.
Just asking after having bikers come alongside me in slow moving traffic and rev their engine right in my ear, suddenly and REALLY loudly. Seemed an awful lot like it was malicious, but perhaps I’m imagining it.
I was asking because I’m a newbie at this ‘driving with the hood down’ lark and wondering if it was a common occurence.
Apologies if my choice of idiom offends your sensibilities. (And for the edits)
Hence why it’s “Mirror - SIgnal - Manoeuvre” in that order; not that you’d know it from the number of drivers who seem to start a manoeuvre, indicate part-ways through it, and finally glance in their mirror to see what mayhem they have caused!
As we’re being pedantic here, it’s can also be a contraction of “it has”. The car needs to be filled with petrol and it’s to be done today.
I think most of us have pet annoyances when it comes to the ever evolving English language.
Mine is Americanisms creeping in. Like ‘airplane’ for aeroplane - coming from an RAF family that one grates in particular, but most people might not even notice.
I recently emailed Cinch, the car buying company, about the ad they are running on TV.
I asked them, if it wasn’t too much trouble, to tell that bearded bloke who does their adverts that in America they say ‘Anyways’ while here in the UK we say ‘Anyway’. I got a very nice reply from Alannah from their Customer Service Team saying “Thank you very much for your email and for reaching out to cinch. I will pass on your feedback to the marketing team.”
I still can’t believe folk buy cars this way. Perhaps new but secondhand, the amount of duff ones I’ve seen, they looked great in the pictures, not when viewed in the flesh.
Anyways, ( ) rather than “aggressive Bikers” being a thing, I think that there are aggressive people, who happen to ride bikes.
However, I agree that bikers need to let other road users know they are there to protect their safety and a louder exhaust does help in this respect, especially as they can get into positions that car drivers are not expecting, like adjacent to you.
Perhaps he was worried that you may be ready to pull out to overtake and you may be aware what was ahead and behind, but not next to you?
Indeed. I was a biker myself many years ago. In fact, when I decided to treat myself for my 70th birthday it was either a roadster or a bike. My daughter put her foot down, and here I am (with a big smile on my face and happy she did).
Unfortunately it tends to put them in the driver’s blind spot and they often ‘hover’ exactly there while they wait for a gap to open. I’m surprised there aren’t more accidents than there are.
Yesterday I came head to head with a M/C coming towards me in the right-turn box I was occupying. He seemed quite put out that I should be there.
