Re: Bottom clencher
 

Don't weasel out ... come on, in a few words (or a short paragraph if needs be) what is 'the point' ... if you can write it down then I might be able to understand what you mean by 'the point' ... if you can't at lest begin to put it into words, then you probably don't know what 'it' is yourself!! ;)

So stop talking/writing guff and write it down ;)

Re: Bottom clencher
 

Riding in London traffic you usually have one or two moments a day, some may just be being over cautious about people at juntions.

Re: Bottom clencher
 

One or two "oh ****!" moments in a day? I think we need to look at the definition of "Bottom Clencher".
We're surely not talking about predictable things here are we? It has to be a moment where you think you are probably going to crash, not where you know you can stop yourself crashing and not something that happens a lot either. Surely?

If I were having one or two of those each day, I would seriously think about putting away the bike for good, because statistically, you're heading for a crash, and soon.

Re: Bottom clencher
 

Sorry my friend but this is the extent of any reply to you. I do not have the inclination to go over this in a nice slow A to B manner. If you don't see it,you don't see it. Dont mask that with blabber. Get over it, my point was missed by you. Not the worse thing in the world.:p

Re: Bottom clencher
 

If I averaged one bottom clenching moment per ride I'd pack in. Sooner or later a bottom clencher will turn into a bad accident.

Re: Bottom clencher
 

Quite ... a bottom clencher to me is an 'oooh thats a bit tight' (tighter than I would have liked/meant) ... 'hummm that b1tch pulled out ... but I saw it in time/predicted it, but still had to avoid her' ... 'oops, the back end stepped out a bit there, didn't mean for that to happen' .... sort of stuff ... you know ... sorta a bit closer than you expected/wanted ...

... not an 'oh feck I am dead here' moment!! ... they are a less frequent ... but I still get them!! :D Don't you?!!? :smt103

Re: Bottom clencher
 

Ah, now see, I took you to mean the latter.

What you meant as a bottom clencher... If a gap is a little tight it's because I put my bike there, it's VERY rare that a gap will be tighter than I thought it was a second or so before being there. Plowsie will verify that even with a fully loaded bike, I don't mind tight gaps.

Someone pulling out can't be prevented, but if it surprises you in any way shape or form, then IMO, observation needs work. Anyone sat at a junction waiting to come out I assume they will & alter my line/speed to suit (even taking to the wrong side of the road if space allows).

I had a moment on the AR actually, and even that I wouldn't call a bottom clencher. I'd made my plans & wherever the chips fell, they fell. The situation was that I was riding defensively behind a novice rider, and saw a car coming up behind me. I went to close the gap between me & the novice & the car tried to overtake me. My position (my front wheel at the side of the front riders rear wheel) meant that for the car to hit the person I was protecting, I'd be on the floor for sure. I knew the car wasn't going to do that. This was also coming up to a blind crest. A VERY dangerous overtake IMO. So I stood on my horn (partly to get the front riders attention as to what was happening, and partly to warn oncoming traffic). At that point, I'd conciously made the decision that *IF* something came over the hill, I was going to hit both brakes HARD, and dive left to try & avoid the carnage, throwing the bike on the grass to my left if I had to.

I'd made a plan for worst case scenario, all in a few split seconds. It wasn't a bottom clencher (but could well of been for those behind me).

Re: Bottom clencher
 

I think I did about 20 miles on the AR with my bottom thoroughly clenched after having a big ridiculous both-ends wobble off a wee kicker in the first, wet section :rolleyes: So I take it back, I do still get them after all.

Re: Bottom clencher
 

I kind of agree about the regular ones riding in London, but as I am expecting idiots to do supid things its more a fist clencher moment :P

However like Northy I DID have a serious one on the AR when some in-bred looking yokel on a quad decided that after about 4 or 5 bikes went past, he wasnt going to wait for the others that he could see coming and dived from the farm road on the right across the road and tried to slot himself into the space between 2 bikes doing about 60 miles and hour and not that far apart.

Still proves that

a) My brakes work
b) Pilot Road 2's can help keep the bike up under emergency stop conditions at speed on a wet road
c) Hyperpro front springs really dont dive as much as standard ones
d) I'm better at this biking lark than I thought I was :P

Re: Bottom clencher
 

Ah, that knob on the quad, I saw him pull out but didn't realise it was so close. Mine wasn't really a big one, doubt I was in much actual risk, it just knocked me right out of the groove for ages and made me really paranoid.