Gripe of the day - What is yours?

[svenrico]

Originally Posted by Bike27

I'm not looking for another argument Svenrico and I totally agree that attempting this:
Much better than a solicitors letter if you can manage it, BUT considering your gripe of the day, I couldn't help wondering how much you were using your mirrors prior to that car overtaking you?

Assuming you are talking a NSL single carriageway A road (so 60mph) if I found myself doing about 50 (not often) I would be regularly checking mirrors to see if any cars were closing in and I may then adjust my speed accordingly (as if a car is going to overtake me I prefer it to be more on my terms than theirs). These days I'm generally a little above the speed limit on such roads, usually still enough to keep the vast majority of cars behind where they belong, but if one still wants to overtake, then at those speeds I would say they are more likely to give a fair bit more room.

However I accept you were letting the engine warm up, but even up to 5k the SV has more than enough grunt to keep the vast majority of cars at bay.

And yes maybe the car driver was just a grade A ****, and nothing you did would have made much of a difference

Was it an Audi or a SUV by any chance?

I am not looking for an argument either .
It was an SUV of some sort. There is nothing wrong with doing 50mph on the A road I was on, it isn't a dual carriageway and there wasn't any other traffic about at the time they overtook; in any case you don't have to ride or drive at the maximum permissible speed limit and I can't agree the purpose of riding is to 'keep cars at bay'. If I am riding at 50 mph let them overtake when it is safe just don't cut in close to me. I was aware there was a car behind me but so what , you don't need to accelerate to get away from them or slow down to let them pass, unless it is a particularly twisty stretch of road and they are obviously keen to get past as soon as a straight stretch of road appears. It doesn't usually happen on the bike but I sometimes slow down when I am in the car to let delivery drivers for example ,who are obviously in a hurry , get past. Generally same as you I normally ride at about the speed limit on these roads.
ps I never ride above the speed limit of course.

[admin]

Not always a great idea to speed up as I found to my cost back in the 70's. I was riding back from Southend on a dual carriageway at a legal speed over taking slower traffic when I noticed a Ford granada up my chuff, so sped up. He did the same. So I thought, this is a boy racer in his 3litre granny, let's see if he can keep up with my GT750? He couldn't and then........the blue lights came on. Another 3 points...

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[Bike27]

Originally Posted by admin

Not always a great idea to speed up as I found to my cost back in the 70's. I was riding back from Southend on a dual carriageway at a legal speed over taking slower traffic when I noticed a Ford granada up my chuff, so sped up. He did the same. So I thought, this is a boy racer in his 3litre granny, let's see if he can keep up with my GT750? He couldn't and then........the blue lights came on. Another 3 points...

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Rather depends how much speeding up we are talking about. If I was doing 50 in a 60 (then obviously dependent on road type and conditions) I would be expecting that there's a reasonable chance a car may at some point want to overtake. I'm not always that keen on being overtaken, because as already documented here, you can't always expect them to do it 'properly' . So if, doing 10mph under the limit I became aware of a car closing in (slowly, from a distance) I would probably speed up to 60 or 65mph (and yes I do realise that 65mph would constitute speeding) in order to maintain distance and from experience that is enough to keep most drivers behind most of the time. I'm just trying to point out that if you ride under the speed limit, you are more at risk of being badly overtaken by one of the many poor drivers we have on the roads these days. If like me you tend to ride a little over the limit, many of those same drivers will tend to not be bothered about overtaking.

If however Svenrico never speeds even by a few mph, then obviously it makes it harder to avoid being overtaken and clearly the more one is overtaken, the more chance of being overtaken in the style of his gripe of the day.

Not trying to make a case for mild speeding, just saying that I believe it can help in this scenario.

[Adam Ef]

I highly recommend doing the IAM or similar course for this sort of thing.

[Chris_SVS]

Originally Posted by Adam Ef

I highly recommend doing the IAM or similar course for this sort of thing.

Who will be very up on not doing 50 in a national

[svenrico]

I think this is all maybe getting a bit out of control ! I don't constantly ride around at 50mph in a 60 limit. I ride to suit the prevailing traffic, weather and road conditions and would tend to ride at about 60 in a 60 limit. There was absolutely nothing wrong with riding at about 50 when I was overtaken. If you see a car coming up behind you you shouldn't usually speed up so they can't pass or slow down for no reason, just ride normally and let them pass. It is annoying if you are following a vehicle and it accelerates as you are overtaking or brakes for no apparent reason. If vehicles carry on at a constant speed you can judge when to overtake.
ps there was a bit of sarcasm in my comment about never exceeding the limit - vehicles often travel along at more than 70mph on dual carriageways and it is quite common to go along with the flow (until somebody spots a speed camera bogey man and then you see the brake lights coming on !)

[svenrico]

Originally Posted by Adam Ef

I highly recommend doing the IAM or similar course for this sort of thing.

What sort of thing ? I presume you mean the car driver should take the IAM or do the IAM say you should always travel at the speed limit ?!
I am not not trying to start an argument, I just think the circumstances I described are being misunderstood somehow. I was just riding along normally at a fairly constant speed .There is nothing wrong with taking it a bit easy until the engine warms up. I would point out I live in a rural area and it isn't unusual having tractors or farmer's ****e on the roads so 50mph isn't all that unusual.

[Adam Ef]

Nothing personal intended. Being caught by surprise sort of thing.

[Bike27]

Originally Posted by svenrico

If you see a car coming up behind you you shouldn't usually speed up so they can't pass or slow down for no reason, just ride normally and let them pass.

Yes I agree, if they are close enough where they may be considering an overtake, but I was talking about when a car is still much further back......

Originally Posted by Bike27

So if, doing 10mph under the limit I became aware of a car closing in (slowly, from a distance) I would probably speed up to 60 or 65mph

I'm just saying from the moment I become aware of a car in my mirrors (could be a long way back) I'm assessing its speed relative to mine and might adjust mine (a little) accordingly. Just saying it is a strategy that I believe can make for a less stressful ride (for me at least).

If riding on muck strewn roads then clearly that can change things rather alot........

[svenrico]

I think that's my gripe pretty much exhausted. Let's move on .