Scary bike moments

[metalmonkey]

I think it must have been the cloest call I had last Thursday evening, I was riding home, so there was come ext 19 for the M25 to take the A41 back here, I was going straight on the at the roundabout, had the bike leant over.

When the is 4x4 decide to move across 3 lanes without any warning. I have never sat my bike up so quicker or braked like that. Nearly ended up underneath it.

The other was about a month ago, when a cra thing pulled right in front of me I had to servue out of its way otherwise I would have t-boned, so I flashed my lights and this prize idiot. Anyway they started following flashing lighte beeping the horn waving and shouting.

I had to choices, either turn round and fight em, or legg it, yes my bike does go fast;) Which was lucky I didn't fancy my chances fighting 4 people.

Anyone else had one? I intend to keep my rubber the right way down!

[FG1]

A couple of thunderypants moments there Chris.........

[shifter]

I had to choices, either turn round and fight em, or legg it, yes my bike does go fast:wink: Which was lucky I didn't fancy my chances fighting 4 people.

Wouldn't the warant card of done the trick?

[G]

Two recent ones for me

Monday - Went for an overtake that was abit naughty, i knew there was a 10% chance of there being a car that I hadnt spotted on my observations as the view wasnt perfect, made the move.......and there was a car, think I gave us both a fright and enforced the opinion of the old bloke in the rover 75 that bikes are a menace.

The other was a couple of weekend ago on the A54, cornering relatively quickly and the rear tyre went massively on some gravel inbetween the car tyre lines, wheel span and lost traction as I was coming out of the bend, luckily no one to witness it lol

[Alpinestarhero]

The only time I thought "oh s^&%, im about to die" was the other week, when a lorry driver couldnt make up his minde as to which lane he wanted to be in. He moved to the middle lane, and i thought "ok, my chance to get by". so i did, with some caution incase a car infront pulled into my lane. but oh no, mr lorry driver decided to move back over, while i was half way alongside.

and bare in mind, this is a long lorry, not a short one, a loooong one.

so anyway, i had a choice: brake, and hope i dont get squashed off the road and end up wrapped around one of the wooden bollard things on the grass verge, or gun it, and hope i dont get squashed off the road and end up wrapped around one of the wooden bollard things

I gunnned it

and thanks to my illegal but loud fuel exhaust, the driver was alerted to my presence and stopped moving over. just.

Thats the only time i've thought "ohmygodimabouttodiepleasegodimtooyoungiwanttoliveo hcarp"

No other major incidents. I generally ride with enough room for error so that i can always call upon my dads advice of "if your running too wide in a corner, push on the inside handlebar". Worked so far.

Matt

[yorkie_chris]

That's the reason I feel much safer on Mway on a full-fat bike rather than a kneecapped one!

[tonyk]

i guess it must be me...........
i get scary moments every time i go out..........
and its really getting to me...some times i ride slowley, them some car idiot really hacks me off............then its off to 3 digits on the speedo...
i dont think there is enough space on this forum to go into details...

...........everyone ride safe.................

[Ed]

Two recent ones for me

Monday - Went for an overtake that was abit naughty, i knew there was a 10% chance of there being a car that I hadnt spotted on my observations as the view wasnt perfect, made the move.......and there was a car, think I gave us both a fright and enforced the opinion of the old bloke in the rover 75 that bikes are a menace.

...and did you take away any learning?

I have one only, usual story of car pulling out from left hand junction not far from me. It's actually happened twice now in the same spot, both times when a car in front of me has been turning left so the emerging driver's vision is obscured. If it's safe I now ride on the wrong side of the road up there, if not I slow right down. John and darylB will both know the junction - Longden Road and Bank Farm Road.

[thedonal]

I had a woman race onto College Roundabout in Kingston in front of me last week- I was heading right from the Kingston side to go toward the river- safe and sensible speed, indicating, noisy exhaust. She was on the corner next to the college.

The car in front of her went- had plenty of time to shoot out quickly and I was expecting it. Then this woman just raced out from at least a car length back- gave a good 4 or 5 toots of the horn and she just looked at me- not even an apologetic wave.

I just had enough time to get round the back of her- it's ignorant c**ts like that that really get me riled.

And you can guarantee on most light controlled roundabouts first thing in the morning that LOADS of people jump the lights- and not 'just on the red' either. Very blatanly late on the red light appearing. I'm surprised there aren't more accidents on Tolworth roundabout first thing.

Grrrrr!

Though I am finding now that if I ride a bit more laid back, I have less scary moments. It's all about when not to go for it and hoon around!!

[Jester666]

Enough to add grey hairs since I started riding!

Possibly the scariest one was on the M4 on the way back from Bristol.

Riding at a nice sensible 85 ish in the outside lane, rapidly catching the car in front, make a judgement call, go to undertake the slow moving cage who is level with someone in the middle lane, as I'm pulling up towards the gap both cars brake, hard!, I go through the rapidly closing gap, cilp the inside cars mirror with my hip and the outside cars wing with my knee! Accelerate hard, get through just.

Only when I'm past them do I see the huge lump of cardboard across both lanes! Tight sphincter moment as I go across the cardboard and away!

Way too close!

[plowsie]

I'm lucky to escape a hairy moment every day...today, bike sliding all over the place due to pretty much running a slick on the rear and the front being pretty sh4gged on the shoulders, will leave pics tomorrow. The best pick of the day is the roundabout that is been done up near mine, i hit a divot in the road, the bike actually dropped of edge of tyre for some reason, boot down pull the thing up, made it look okay and that nothing was up until, looking a right tw4t as I went playing slalom around the cones on one of the exits :lol:

Not normally that bad, but I did have kimi Raikonen in a rover 75 find an apex on a roundabout that he obviously didnt know, so in true leon haslam (read me being a tw4t for trying tyo get out of his way) style booted myself up the inside, only to have the door closed by Alex Barros on entry to the rest of the roundabout :D Blast of the horn, wucking fanker!

Then there was last week, someone has a lacoste trainer mark on their door as I couldn't find the horn quick enough :D

[chris8886]

wucking fanker!

Then there was last week, someone has a lacoste trainer mark on their door as I couldn't find the horn quick enough :D

love the reversal!! lacoste trainer eh? nice one, though a bike boot would've done much more damage!! ;)

[Alpinestarhero]

That's the reason I feel much safer on Mway on a full-fat bike rather than a kneecapped one!

Definatly; If i was in 5th or 6th gear, or maybe even fourth or third (i was in second) then I may well have ended up squished :shock:

My horn gets used a bit more now

[Alpinestarhero]

I had a woman race onto College Roundabout in Kingston in front of me last week

I feel nervous on that roundabout, I've had a few iffy moments there too

[blueto]

what is it when cars just change form one lane to another on a motorway without indicating ehen they see a bike coming up quick in the mirrors.

Do they think its funny? the silly cow did yesterday going up the A3...she knew what she done and laughed as i over took her performing a finger funtion.

consequences could have been severe yet some people dont take that into ocnsideration.

[G]

...and did you take away any learning?



Of course.........alot of riders probably are a menace lol

To be fair I knew it was naughty before i went for it, I probably wouldnt go for it again.

[ThEGr33k]

Well the worst Ive had recently was going along the A64 I was right over to the line just nipping past cars when a car saw me (on the other side of the road) and pulled right over as far as he could to the white line on his side to make me pull over. Id have loved to insert brick in his his face at that moment :D. Just thought, heh Nob and carred on. Most car drivers are ok here and pull over to give me room and so get a nice wave off of me. Motorcycle PR FTW. :cool:

That's the reason I feel much safer on Mway on a full-fat bike rather than a kneecapped one!

Indeed. Its even nicer having the extra power now for getting out of squeezes. The bike is producing about 70BHP at motorway cruising speed (85MPH) so has enough gut to roll on in top and make stunning progress.


Though I am finding now that if I ride a bit more laid back, I have less scary moments. It's all about when not to go for it and hoon around!!

Indeed keeping calm Ive found does help. If people **** you about then give them space and just dont react... I mean these that do it on purpose do it for the reaction. If its a genuine incident then, well keeping relaxed means you can think clear when you need to.

I'm lucky to escape a hairy moment every day...

Mate... thats pretty bad. :(

what is it when cars just change form one lane to another on a motorway without indicating ehen they see a bike coming up quick in the mirrors.

Do they think its funny?

Ive never noticed anyone doing it to me. No doubt they will now. Its because they get all upset cos we make more proress through the traffic easier so they have to try to stop us. Maybe denying people something gives them a kick? :mad:

[plowsie]

love the reversal!! lacoste trainer eh? nice one, though a bike boot would've done much more damage!! ;)
Don't do boots if on the way to work, only do boots if on a ride/long journey.

[neio79]

yes every time Pete and Lissa go past me with their echaust at full chatter, made me jump out my seat last time.!!!

[neio79]

. Maybe denying people something gives them a kick? :mad:

i think its jelousy, they cant stand that we are not as held up by traffic, so probably think well if i can progress you shouldent be able to. I have slowed right down to a crawl after getting past someone like tha.

[Spikenipple]

When we were out on Monday Neio, you had overtaken a fair few cars that I didn't try to overtake till a long straight. So i overtook them when possible, then gave the bike a bit of love to catch up with you. I was going over a ton, round a long-sweeping right-hander that was also down a hill, which tightened up halfway round....I had no choice but to use some front brake, but as I was cranked over pretty far, I was ****ting bricks!!

[Drew Carey]

Some peeps on here already know about my really scarey moment.....

Was on the NW3 ride coming through the mountains to Aberystwyth in the sheeting rain. Behind me was Gid, Stewie and Double D (Plus a few more).

Just as I came around a tight slow left hand bend doing 20mph, a gust of wind came down the mountain side and slapped the bike sideways. The tyres lost tractions and the bike actually went sideways, I had both feet on the ground "motocross stylie".[-o<

Was the scaryiest moment of my life and I also had Lily on the back.Gid told us afterwards he was trying to decide who to run over, me or Lily!!!!
:D

[neio79]

Just thought of an other one, seeing lilly in those waterproofs of hers on the welsh ride a couple of weeks ago.

[MiniMac]

i think its jelousy, they cant stand that we are not as held up by traffic, so probably think well if i can progress you shouldent be able to. I have slowed right down to a crawl after getting past someone like tha.

+1

Someone does that to me I'll be having their mirror off.

[Kinvig]

i've had a few exhilarTING MOMENTS in ukraine, russia & kaz....I'll save till have a cold pint of peeva in my hand....!

[Alpinestarhero]

Dirrrrk! How you feeling dude?

And, its not a competition, so as good as your stories will be, you dont win anything :D

except maybe hero-status for getting as far as you did

[garyholc]

I had one last week. One of the roads I use now and then as a shortcut goes past a steelworks. The works is on one side of the road, the scrap metal on the other, and enormous CAT trucks go across the main road during the day whenever the road is clear.

Anyway, had a 4x4 infront of me, nothing else on the road, nothing behind us, just us two. Doing about 40mph, keeping my distance when one of these lorries appears at the junction and stops waiting for us to pass. The idiot in the 4x4 infront panicked and slammed on the brakes to let the lorry pass.

No way I could stop in time, and ended up slamming on the brakes, rear wheel locking and skidding down alongside the left of him (couldnt go right as the lorry had started pulling out).

Thankfully the lorry saw me and he stopped. I got out and gave the guy a mouthful, saying since it was only us two on the road if he had used his mirrors common sense would have said just keep going, plus its a lot harder to stop on two wheels than four. Complete idiot. And worse still, if I had left a nice imprint in the back of his 4x4, I would have been to blame.

Made a nice skid mark along the road though, was quite impressed!!! I did think about measuring it ha ha ha.

Also had my fair share of people cutting across lanes on roundabouts etc. but thankfully I can usually notice people about to do this and when you beep at them, pull up along side shaking your armoured gloves at them, they usually apologise.... :)

[Davido]

^^^

You were following too close. Whether or not he stopped ofr no reason,you should always have enough time to stop.

[northwind]

My worst was with another bike... Near my old office there's a nice twisty but narrow bit of road (up past Craigmillar Castle to Little France) that I used to use as a shortcut. There's a blind 90 degree right hander right at the end, and I was just riding towards it as normal- when a guy on a ninja of some sort (it was big and green) came flying round the bend, straight into my lane, and went past me on my LEFT between me and the kerb.

The only reason he didn't get me head on was because of luck- I'd set the corner up wrongly and I was on the right of my lane instead of the left where I should have been, and where he went. And also, when I saw him run wide I didn't react quickly enough to do anything, which is just as well because I would have moved left to get further from his lane, and again that's right where he went.

So, sometimes freezing up in terror is the right thing to do ;)

[DanAbnormal]

Going for a ride with a certain someone here. Was wet and very twisty road. Came hooning into a left hander only the turn tightened up a bit more than I anticipated and a car occupied the space my bike wanted to goto. Had to use all my jedi powers to make the bend. Still, made me realise there is much more grip in the wet than I thought.

[garyholc]

^^^

You were following too close. Whether or not he stopped ofr no reason,you should always have enough time to stop.

Funny thing was that I was actually keeping a good distance, but he literally performed an emergency stop. No doubt his brake assist and ABS helped him stop in no time, whereas on a bike we dont have this luxury? You can't slam on the brakes as you go over the top, the only option I had was to go around him to come to a stop, which in its own right was pretty quick!

[northwind]

If you can't stop in the space between you and the guy in front, you're too close... Don't mean this in a nasty way, I'm no riding god, but you were definately too close. Bikes can stop faster than most cars in good conditions, just did a wee google and apparently a posh landrover goes from 60-0 in 115 feet, a stock SV on standard tyres in 198 feet frexample.

I think our perceptions of distance are all screwed to be fair, we're so used to driving in traffic where nobody leaves a big enough gap. Motorway gaps are almost always too small, if you leave a 2 second gap on a busy motorway someone'll invade :mad: so we just kind of get used to it.

Not saying this to rub your nose in it or anything like that, just that it's something to think about. Sort of like the cliche "assume there's a brick wall just out of sight round this bend"- if you're ever riding too fast to stop in the distance you can see, you're not safe. And we know this, but we still do it all the time.

[fatneck]

im gonna be having bad dreams about a big green ninja flying out of a blind corner and passing me on my LEFT now - classic. glad it worked out ok!