Thursday 23 December 2010

The recreational motorcyclist, explained.

    Snow everywhere, not much to do at work, far too much to do when I'm not at work. Between trying to sleep and trudging round town in my wellies I've not had much time to participate in this sphere of late.
    I'd much rather be riding my motorcycle than sitting in a near-empty office, but to do so today would be nothing short of insane. So I spent a while early this morning watching YouTube videos to exorcise my motorcycling bug.
    I appreciate not all my readers will be familiar with motorcycling, so here are three instructional videos: a quick guide to help you understand the recreational motorcyclist.


How recreational motorcyclists see themselves

How the rest of the public see us


How my motorcycling friends see me

8 comments:

  1. Superb videos. #2 especially. Anyway getting through North Wales is an acceptable defence in court.
    Ride carefully!

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  2. I think bikes are wonderful things if ridden responsibly and with consideration for other road users. Now the track is another affair, if you want to be like men behaving badly then this is the place for it. Mind you I know one or two females who are just as crazy about riding their bikes!
    Never mind love the weather will improve soon.

    Shirley Anne xxx

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  3. I adore biking - but I draw the line when there is ice on the road!

    I'm sure I don't see you as the bottom video though...

    Though people may see me as the middle one considering what I ride... (I'm not - I stick to the rules, oh for a track day...)

    Stace

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  4. I was most struck by the number of cars pootling along in the outside lane in number 2 .... for snow-based fun, you can't beat a motorcycle combination!

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  5. I kept waiting for the horrible crash in the 2nd video. I'm glad it didn't happen. Those two are insane. It would be kind of hard to explain that video in court.

    Melissa XX

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  6. I seem to remember that video on one of the police programs on tv. As I recall both riders were eventually caught and severely punished for their dangerous riding not to mention their high speed.
    By the way I forgot to say that I found it difficult imagining Jenny as the rider in the last video. The guy in that shot doesn't appear to be sitting comfortably at all!

    Shirley Anne xxx

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  7. I learned to ride a bike before I left school and have had many happy hours enjoying interesting country roads and fantastic scenery and visiting places off the beaten track in Europe. Many happy memories. It's very different from being in a car.

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  8. Evening all,
    I would sincerely hope that the pair in number two ended up having their collars felt. There's general purpose riding like an idiot, for which I have some symapthy, and there's riding like an idiot endangering people other than yourself.

    I know I'm slower than most of my friends. I don't have the er... balls for it or something. In particular when I'm on the little Honda I dwarf a tiny little rather aged bike so I'm especially slow. I amused some of my friends mightily in the summer with my face-on-the-tank antics to squeeze a few extra MPH out of it. So video three with the blokes pootling along on geriatric machines needn't be too far from the truth.

    I had something like a trailie with spiked tyres in mind for the snow, but I must have left my steel soled boots at home. I can imagine one of those powered second wheel Urals would be capable in the snow, but I wouldn't like to try any combination!

    TBH I'm mostly a bimbler in my motorcycling. A summer day and an empty rural B road is perfect for me, plenty to look at, some nice twisties to pretend it's 1975 again, my bike is new and I am trying to be Barry Sheene without going too fast by today's standards.

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