On Yer Bike!

LEAURA · 06-02-2006, 05:46 PM

I'm curious to see what your general thoughts are about Bike riders on the roads. I ride my bike everyday to and from work and average 4 serious near misses a day followed up by the abuse. Now don't get me wrong, I believe It's a 2 way street and both motorists & bike riders need to obey the road rules put In place.On the other side of the fence I also love to take the XR8 for a spin on the odd occasion and have seen those bike riders oblivious to the rules of the road and understand how frustrating It really Is, however just hop on a bike and go for a ride and see the world from a cyclists point of view and you will see that bike riders aren't that bad. A motorists right to drive Is the same as a somebody elses right to cycle. It will be interesting to see what other people think.
Thats my little ИИИИИ session for the day, THANKS.

06-02-2006, 05:49 PM

There was a thread about this not long ago...

http://fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=33133

RavenLS1 · 06-02-2006, 05:50 PM

i hate bike riders that ride two a breast on the main road when they have a perfectly good bike track to ride on that the goverment built for them!!!!!!! (example) Beach rd melbourne

gtfpv · 06-02-2006, 05:56 PM

id love to own and ride a bike on the road . but never will . reason 1 i think people who ride bikes on a road need lots of experiance at bike riding 1st . ( ie from a very young age like 6 years old ).
and reason 2 . if you can have an accident in a car that is or is not your fault you can have one on a bile . but the odds are you will live in a car . cant say the same on a bike . one hit , thats it.

Woz · 06-02-2006, 06:06 PM

I want someone to explain this "Hellride" thing that was going on the other saturday morning.

Apparently it's a big thing that's been going on for years and years and is quite well known amongst cyclists.

Can someone please explain that to me so I can maybe understand why dozens of cyclists decided to turn right from the left lane and nearly steer right under the truck that I was in. Not one of them signalled, not one of them looked, not one of them showed any logic. Most of them nearly disappeared under our truck.

And apparently this group of dickheads is well known.

I'm sending out a "please explain" to the cycling community.

aimzes · 06-02-2006, 07:35 PM

most of the ones i come across are d**k heads but i give them a heap of room, cause if i hit one no matter what they did wrong id be at fault.

the ones i love are the blokes who ride in the middle of the lane so even people like me who are pretty cautious around them cant overtake them and have to put up with going 20km/h in a 60 zone.

i do give them a good mouthfull whilst driving past though, so i guess its all even in the end.

oh btw, saw this rider stop at a set of lights and put his hand on a blokes old stato. so the passenger gets out and leans against the rider. lol it was the funniest most random thing ive ever seen. everyone had a bit of a laugh, untill of course he told the rider to get well and trully f-ed. then it kinda got a bit serious.

Jeld-Wen Falcon · 06-02-2006, 07:37 PM

I dont mind it if they give you room to pass them, but when they ride near the middle of the road that really ИИИИs me, especially on a higher speed road.

max^power · 06-02-2006, 07:56 PM

here we go again. nobody mention rego... please!!

sfr rob · 06-02-2006, 08:30 PM

if it wasnt illegal, i would mow them all down.

you asked.....

MO · 06-02-2006, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by max^power

here we go again. nobody mention rego... please!!

Rego the buggers!!!!!!!

**Peuty** · 06-02-2006, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfr rob

if it wasnt illegal, i would mow them all down.

you asked.....

I'd be more concerned about the damage to my car rather than the law....

pauljh74 · 07-02-2006, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeld-Wen Falcon

I dont mind it if they give you room to pass them, but when they ride near the middle of the road that really ИИИИs me, especially on a higher speed road.

The reason for that is if the cyclist gives the car room to get past in the lane, the driver quite often doesn't overtake leaving enough room to the cyclist. We're talking a few centimetres from the car mirror to the cyclist. That's too close. Forcing the car to change lanes at least partially is seen as a safer method. It's actually what car drivers should do in some of the narrower lanes on roads. There's also things like broken glass and potholes to dodge, so they use more space to allow them to change their line to avoid such obstacles.

As for the Hellride, you get the front group, then the rest. The riders at the back don't want to lose the riders up front, so they resort to all sorts of things to keep up and stay in 1 pack. It's crazy. Some are genuinely crazy, most just want to keep up and follow the others. A friend of mine did it a few times - I'm not quick enough or crazy enough to give it a go.

In response to the comment about why don't riders use bike paths next to roads. Well, do you think those bike paths can safely sustain riders travelling at 40km/h or more? They're designed for slower novices and are frequently used by rollerbladers and pedestrians walking dogs. My sister ended up in hospital with concussion after an out of control rollerblader collided with her on the bike path. She used to commute using the beach road bike path.