View Full Version : Back Off! (tail gating)
OK, so, commuting to work this morning, coming along the back road into Denbigh. Check my rear mirror. He's a little too close for comfort, maybe he wants to ride pillion?
I have a distinct habit of being a c-nut, as many of you lot will attest to ;)
Since my rear brake is adjusted so that I can flash the light without actually braking, that's what I did. He backed off, then after the next bend, he's asking for a lift again :|
Right then, he wants to play kiss chase does he? Let's make it easy for him. So then I'm down to 25 mph in a 50, with no possibility for him to overtake. But now I realise that if he wants to actually kiss my bike, that's it, game over, and I don't like the taste of tarmac. Hmmm.
So I gave a little wave with my left hand, down next to the bike, as if to motion "get away from my rear you q...." or words to that effect ;) Flash the brake light again as I'm doing this.
Well. Smack me with a kipper. He only goes & does it. Backs off a good couple of hundred yards in fact! :o So I get back up to speed, so does he. And he stays away from the rear of the bike! :o
So let that be a lesson to you folks. "Ask" the "nice" people driving motor-vehicles to give you some more room, you never know, it might just work!
Dave The Rave
08-03-07, 11:24 AM
Mate, are you 6'4 and 240 pounds wearing a katana across your back? Otherwise I think this was pure luck!
5'11 & I have a katana, but I think that North Wales police would want to stop me a lot more often if I carried it around on the bike :(
You could be right, but hey! It worked so :smt019
Ceri JC
08-03-07, 11:31 AM
I had a similar experience with a white van (of all things) a few months back. I was amazed to find he actually stayed back at a safe distance and didn't beep his horn/flash his lights/gesture that I was in the wrong, the way most drivers do when you point out they're doing something a bit dangerous.
thedonal
08-03-07, 11:48 AM
5'11 & I have a katana, but I think that North Wales police would want to stop me a lot more often if I carried it around on the bike :(
You could be right, but hey! It worked so :smt019
LOL- I've been thinking of a way to strap my Tan Tow to my back to take it to training- but, indeed, this isn't the wild East, so best be discreet.
Reminds me of Kill Bill- where they're riding with their Katanas attached to the bike!
Dave The Rave
08-03-07, 11:54 AM
LOL- I've been thinking of a way to strap my Tan Tow to my back to take it to training- but, indeed, this isn't the wild East, so best be discreet.
Reminds me of Kill Bill- where they're riding with their Katanas attached to the bike!
Jesus, does everyone on this forum owns a blade of some sort? Good job I didn't say a pump action shotgun or a nuclear warhead that could have been an eye opener!
Ceri JC
08-03-07, 12:02 PM
Jesus, does everyone on this forum owns a blade of some sort?
I only own throwing knives these days, although I'm reasonably competent with both western fencing swords and chinese butterfly knives.:)
LOL- I've been thinking of a way to strap my Tan Tow to my back to take it to training- but, indeed, this isn't the wild East, so best be discreet.
Reminds me of Kill Bill- where they're riding with their Katanas attached to the bike!
Do like I do then, quick release cable ties to the rear subframe ;) No cutting when you get to training. Zip it back onto the bike when you're done.
Jesus, does everyone on this forum owns a blade of some sort? Good job I didn't say a pump action shotgun or a nuclear warhead that could have been an eye opener!
No shot-guns or nukes here, let me check under the bed though, find all sorts under there. ;)
I do however, have several "blades." Ranging up from wodden staffs & a wooden katana, through a couple of small "hunting" knives (aka tantō - I wouldn't suggest hunting with them, you'd take your own hand off as well as kill some small animal - triple blade type jobs) through to my pride & joy (kept above the bed), live blade chisakatana.
I do kenjutsu btw ;)
thedonal
08-03-07, 12:12 PM
I've only got the Tan Tow *(single knife) and staff (Kun) at the moment- though will start Shuang Tow *(double knife) later this year. Missed the double axe course last year- looks interesting!
Shaolin Kung Fu for me (Tiger Crane combination).
* Read as Chinese Broad Sword
Going back on topic for a mo- fair play Baph. Politeness and respect on the road goes a long way for me (and correct use of indicators). I really think that the govt should focus on promoting these at the moment over drink driving (which is allegedly on the decline). Plus being in the correct lane- so many people cut across 2 lanes from the right to exit left on Tolworth Roundabout (plus jump the lights)- why can't they get in the right lane to start with. Makes the journey SO much easier.
If what you have is a broad sword, like a sabre, then I'd say that was more of a Dao than a tanto (pronounced Tan Tow).
The knifes I own, I bought after the Kinves Act '97, and technically, are illegal to sell because they could be used for combat purposes.
However, when you spend a few hundred on a live chisakatana, and you know that if anything hits the blade with any force that it will chip it, it makes you reluctant to try it in combat unless you really REALLY have to! Still, the non-live blades could be used in combat, and would still cause some serious damage, but if you talk to the shops selling them about the type of martial art you do, they realise that if you were going to get into a combat situation, you probably would rather not use the knife in the first place.
Strange, I didn't intend this thread in this light, but anyhow...
thedonal
08-03-07, 12:37 PM
Aha- different dialects. My club's from Singapore and speaks Hokkien (less wide spread Chinese language)- hence the different spelling and pronounciation on some things. Like our first Routine- the Sum Chen. Is pronounced differently in various languages/styles (even some Karate use this form)- and the moves in the form vary from style to style, but there are enough similarities to make it a variation of the same form/kata etc.
My weapons are just practice weapons (though not much you can do with a staff, 'cept not hit people with it!)- so I buy the non-sharpenable variations. Not intending to murder anyone in the near future (or lose a limb in a klutz moment!).
Luckypants
08-03-07, 12:43 PM
OK, so, commuting to work this morning, coming along the back road into Denbigh. Check my rear mirror. He's a little too close for comfort, maybe he wants to ride pillion?
How come you let him get so close? :smt077
My weapons are just practice weapons (though not much you can do with a staff, 'cept not hit people with it!)- so I buy the non-sharpenable variations. Not intending to murder anyone in the near future (or lose a limb in a klutz moment!).
Staff's are actually pretty versatile. Good way to disarm an opponet (if you get a shot, hit their forearm HARD on the underside of the wrist, reflex action makes them open fist ;) ). Take legs out, sharp blow to the head, use to get a longer kick etc etc.
I do training with wood mostly, but now & again we'll play with metal, but I'd never dream of taking a live blade out when fueled with adrenaline :|
I'm not being funny people but you meust be seriously slow riders if you have problems with cars following you too closesly. Fair enough if there is alot of traffic infront of you and you cant over take. but generally a small twist of the throttle will make a gap of a hundered yards or so between you and a car.
I'm not being funny people but you meust be seriously slow riders if you have problems with cars following you too closesly. Fair enough if there is alot of traffic infront of you and you cant over take. but generally a small twist of the throttle will make a gap of a hundered yards or so between you and a car.
Maybe you can explain why people SHOULD be going fast? And possibly why they should be going fast all the time rather than taking a pace you feel like at any given time whether it's pootling along to enjoy the view or bombing it at speeds you'd get into trouble for :smt084...?
The fact of the matter is, no matter what speed you're going at, if a car drives up your @rse they're leaving you NO room for survival if things go wrong (blowouts, etc.).
fizzwheel
08-03-07, 01:38 PM
I'm not being funny people but you meust be seriously slow riders if you have problems with cars following you too closesly. Fair enough if there is alot of traffic infront of you and you cant over take. but generally a small twist of the throttle will make a gap of a hundered yards or so between you and a car.
I'll dictate how fast I want to go not Mr Cardriving F*ckwit who's driving to close behind me. Normally I find opening the throttle just encourages this sort of burk to go even faster and drive up my ar*e more because they think I want to race. I just dont bother I ride at my own speed if they want to be a d*ck I let them get on with it.
Maybe you can explain why people SHOULD be going fast? And possibly why they should be going fast all the time rather than taking a pace you feel like at any given time whether it's pootling along to enjoy the view or bombing it at speeds you'd get into trouble for :smt084...?
The fact of the matter is, no matter what speed you're going at, if a car drives up your @rse they're leaving you NO room for survival if things go wrong (blowouts, etc.).
Fair point. But the reason i bought a bike was for the speed. Maybee its just me but i dont think i have made a journey in the last 6 months with out going at least double over the speed limit at some point or another. Saying that though the speedo on the SV overreads so much i was probably just doing the limit.
I'm not being funny people but you meust be seriously slow riders if you have problems with cars following you too closesly. Fair enough if there is alot of traffic infront of you and you cant over take. but generally a small twist of the throttle will make a gap of a hundered yards or so between you and a car.
You're right, a bit of throttle would of openend the gap behind me. It would of also closed the gap in front of me, and I'd be doing what I didn't appreciate the guy behind me doing.
Bare in mind, I opened with "OK, so I'm commuting to work..." Surely that implies a lot of other people doing the same thing.
Fair point. But the reason i bought a bike was for the speed. Maybee its just me but i dont think i have made a journey in the last 6 months with out going at least double over the speed limit at some point or another. Saying that though the speedo on the SV overreads so much i was probably just doing the limit.
If your speedo truely is that in-accurate, you need it fixing. I'm sure that MOTs have a limited range of accuracy for speedo's don't they?
To be truely blunt, I could comment more on your posts, but I wont. You bought the bike for a truely different reason than I did.
Who'd like to start running a book on "How long the biker that openly admits to almost constantly being twice the legal speed limit will keep his bike in one piece"??
I just hope that when you come off, you're not too injured. Riding on public roads at the speeds you're talking about really is out of order, IMO.
diamond
08-03-07, 02:04 PM
Sorry but i have to agree with gsv on this one. The number of times on this forum that people have moaned because cars going slower than them wouldn't let them past or moved out on them deliberatly so they couldn't overtake, yet your moaning when you were obviously doing exactly the same thing to him. Why didn't you just pull over and let him past then you could have carried on crawling along at whatever pace you were comfortable with.
I commute 120 miles everyday all weathers and if i was ever going that slow that a four wheeled vehicle was desperate to get past then i would give up my bike and get a robin reliant cos it would obviously be more suited to me.
Each to his own i suppose.
Sorry but i have to agree with gsv on this one. The number of times on this forum that people have moaned because cars going slower than them wouldn't let them past or moved out on them deliberatly so they couldn't overtake, yet your moaning when you were obviously doing exactly the same thing to him. Why didn't you just pull over and let him past then you could have carried on crawling along at whatever pace you were comfortable with.
I commute 120 miles everyday all weathers and if i was ever going that slow that a four wheeled vehicle was desperate to get past then i would give up my bike and get a robin reliant cos it would obviously be more suited to me.
Each to his own i suppose.
I couldn't overtake the car in front of me, for the very same reason that I couldn't pull over & let him past.
The back road into Denbigh is just that, a back road that runs through the countryside. The places to stop are very limited. (Luckypants, heading from St Asaph to Denbigh, just after the straights but before the S-bends, 8:45am).
I'm comfortable at speeds way above what I was going, but traffic conditions prevented that, and he wanted to sit close to my rear, which meant that if anyone had hit the brakes hard, he wouldn't of been able to stop before I was under his car. He showed no intention/desire to get in front of me, just sitting close behind me.
I slowed, so that if anyone in front of me braked hard, I could brake softly, give myself more room to allow for the guy behind me. Not to P him off (but that was probably a side effect off it - and no, I'm not complaining about that).
I commute 100 miles a day, every day, but sometimes, traffic denotes how fast I commute. A robin reliant isn't suitable either, becuase of the same traffic that slows the bike down.
EDIT: Funny how folks assume that because I'm on a bike, I can therefore ride at speed constantly. End of the day, I was the one in the situation, and I acted based on far more information than I've put in this thread. Put yourselves somewhere similar, I can't imagine anyone pulling over on to the grass (verge btw, not open field - hedges V close to the road), nor overtaking the car in front, nor behind happy about being in a sandwhich.
socommk23
09-03-07, 12:57 AM
You're right, a bit of throttle would of openend the gap behind me. It would of also closed the gap in front of me, and I'd be doing what I didn't appreciate the guy behind me doing.
Bare in mind, I opened with "OK, so I'm commuting to work..." Surely that implies a lot of other people doing the same thing.
If your speedo truely is that in-accurate, you need it fixing. I'm sure that MOTs have a limited range of accuracy for speedo's don't they?
To be truely blunt, I could comment more on your posts, but I wont. You bought the bike for a truely different reason than I did.
Who'd like to start running a book on "How long the biker that openly admits to almost constantly being twice the legal speed limit will keep his bike in one piece"??
I just hope that when you come off, you're not too injured. Riding on public roads at the speeds you're talking about really is out of order, IMO.
as far as i know, this isnt tested!
http://www.maplin.co.uk:80/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=27909&C=Newsletter&U=07P03-3&T=12385787
this is what you need :)
Jesus, does everyone on this forum owns a blade of some sort?
Nope, not me. I have a crossbow:D
Funnily enough, though, I bought that in Wales................in a little shop in Aberaeron.
Nope, not me. I have a crossbow:D
Funnily enough, though, I bought that in Wales................in a little shop in Aberaeron.
Did you know you're legally allowed to shoot a welshman with that thing? So long as it's a Sunday & you're within the walls of Chester that is.
Happy hunting ;)
(Good job I'm English huh?)
Dave The Rave
09-03-07, 09:14 AM
Did you know you're legally allowed to shoot a welshman with that thing? So long as it's a Sunday & you're within the walls of Chester that is.
Happy hunting ;)
(Good job I'm English huh?)
I know there are some stupid laws still in existence, but surely this cannot be the case? So I can take a crossbow, invite a friend from Wales to Chester for a Sunday dinner and a pint, perforate his brain with a bolt and walk away smiling? No punishment what so ever?:confused:
I know there are some stupid laws still in existence, but surely this cannot be the case? So I can take a crossbow, invite a friend from Wales to Chester for a Sunday dinner and a pint, perforate his brain with a bolt and walk away smiling? No punishment what so ever?:confused:
The law actually states bow & arrow, but yes, if you can convince Plod that a crossbow is the same as a bow & arrow.
Same applies in York, every day except Sunday, and it's not Welshie's, it's Scots.
Another one for you, it's still illegal to sell most goods on a Sunday (despite numerous businesses doing just that). However, you can legally sell carrots. You can also legally charge as much as you like for a single carrot, or a bag of carrots, and give away free with the purchase anything that might entice customers. Such as the stuff they came to buy but can't because of the law.
English law rocks!
Alpinestarhero
09-03-07, 10:03 AM
If I have tailgaters, I tend to 1) stick to the speed limit. They dont like that, specialy when its a 20mph zone. 2) dip the brakes to get the light on for anything. They dont apreciate that either. and then 3) i'll pull over after a bit and let them past, if they havnt overtaken first.
My dad used to have a trick on his old gsxr (92 carb'd model) of killing the engine via the switch, then flicking it back on. The "bang" from feul igniting in the exhuast used to scare tailgaters, and make them back off - especially effective in an echoey tunnel!
Matt
My dad used to have a trick on his old gsxr (92 carb'd model) of killing the engine via the switch, then flicking it back on. The "bang" from feul igniting in the exhuast used to scare tailgaters, and make them back off - especially effective in an echoey tunnel!
Matt
My other half does that, its really funny. I have never dared do it, in case it goes wrong!
vBulletin® , Copyright ©2000-2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.