Is it time to start calling out bad cyclists?

Will it be easier to ride over shadows if I upgrade to skinny tyres on my commute?

Only if it's not raining.

i dodge man hole covers and just about any imperfections in the road
i love to swoop and swoosh
going straight is well boring innit

i dodge man hole covers and just about any imperfections in the road
i love to swoop and swoosh
going straight is well boring innit

Do you wear a cape too?

I used to think it was funny when I saw cyclists who avoid every single manhole cover and tiny imperfection in the road but then I saw somebody get knocked off pretty badly when they swerved out suddenly (in the dry) to avoid a manhole cover without checking their six and went straight out in front of a car.

Maybe I'm over confident but I normally find it is better to keep a straight line and suck it up. Even in the wet. You're more likely to come off on a wet manhole cover if you're swerving to avoid it IMO.

Do you wear a cape too?

only on special missions

only on special missions

Seems legit.

[QUOTE=Dramatic Hammer;2814827]Do you wear a cape too?

only on special missions[/QUOTE]

euph?

That's the thing though. We're waiting patiently in queues and at lights, while slow morons ignore these points of etiquette/crucial elements of the Highway fucking Code and get in our way. It is they who are rude in action, we're just rude verbally.

From a technical aspect, yes, you're right but from an attitude aspect you're ALL wrong.

I agree with Skydancer. Just take the moral high ground, let her do her thang and enjoy the humorous side to her behaviour. After all she's not harming anybody.

From a technical aspect, yes, you're right but from an attitude aspect you're ALL wrong.

I agree with Skydancer. Just take the moral high ground, let her do her thang and enjoy the humorous side to her behaviour. After all she's not harming anybody.

In that case why don't we all follow her example? Except at speed obviously because no-one here is a nodder..

In that case why don't we all follow her example? Except at speed obviously because no-one here is a nodder..

You're just being over dramatic now.

You're just being over dramatic now.

I put the hammer down with flair.

I don't think it's worth complaining or commenting over. 2 choices:

1, chill

2, make sure you are fast enough to get past her without her catching you up at lights (this doesn't require light jumping).

To be honest I couldn't give a fuck most of the time, i'm a happy little zen cyclist!!
I think it just wound me up that day as she had complete obliviousness to causing twenty or so people to go round her every set of lights and probably as oblivious to other stuff going on around her....

Chill geezers
It's these people we want on the road and loads more of them!
You're bringing the angry motor culture road rage to the cycle culture. You're the SUV cyclists hooting and bumping anyone in your way.
Chill

Apologies for the unsolicited email.

I witnessed a rider in your full club kit aboard a [Bike description removed], riding from Stockwell to Hyde Park Corner this morning (11/04/12).

He was jumping reds, pavement riding and undertaking all forms of traffic in a rather erratic and dangerous manner.

It did not appear to occur to him that he was, frankly, riding like a bit of a fool in full club colours and still being caught and overtaken by other riders who obeyed every road law that he chose to flaunt.

I do not for a second think that his riding would be indicative of your club so would request that someone tactfully remind the gentlemen that he is obliged to obey the law like everyone else?

Not doing so reflects badly not just on him but also your club and every other cyclist on the roads.

Kind Regards

London dynamo?
(is that actually a club or just a company that make cycling clothing for dicks?)

Name withheld. I'm not into shit talking clubs on the basis of a single rider.
Be interesting to see if I get a response though.

I've seen the rider on many occasions and he's never been the best but today was just something else.

The place: Hyde Park

You: Fat, middle-aged bloke on a Pinarello

Them: A gaggle of Italian women on Boris Bikes, going the wrong way up the main road.

The situation: Mid-life crisis man spaffs into Italians at full speed, ends up on his arse shouting indignantly.

Me: Man shouting "FUCKWITS!"

isnt this thread getting out of hand?

a massive thread written by bikers calling out bikers?

I just wanted to say reckon its enough, stop it,
the more times that riders moan about other riders the more it adds to the culture that says theres something wrong with cycling, the sounds Im getting from non riders every day- but cyclist jump lights, go on the pavement etc etc

theres so many drivers that are using the roads badly that need calling out, I mean so many times daily I see phones, ipods on, the other day a guy with an Ipad- ffs surfing an Ipad whilst driving-
these are the ones to call out for being bad users.

Ive been riding fixed since before I was in the womb but dont feel the need to carp on about the unskilled riders I see every day

did start a thread called 'is it time to start calling out bad drivers' -- it is!but seems to have disappeared?

come on cycling is brilliant- properly, really , brilliant

no offence meant MG.

^ yes

the more times that riders moan about other riders the more it adds to the culture that says theres something wrong with cycling

No, it only adds to the culture that says there's something wrong with some cyclists, some of the time.

Example

Yesterday AM whilst I was waiting in traffic at the Strand junction someone asked me to move out of the way, seemingly so he could filter to the front and get into the roadworks of death before everyone else waiting.

I moved and was treated to the sight of him actually wedging his bike between a bus and nearside of a car whilst trying to go through a gap and forgetting he had a 3 foot wide set of double panniers behind him. If either of them had moved while he tried to back out he would have been fucked.

When he had extricated himself the lights went green and as I went past him I just said "it wasn't really worth it was it?" and he refused even look me in the eye.

'Calling out' bad drivers on a cycling forum isn't likely to raise awareness amongst the 4-wheeled demographic. It's probably much more effective, as far as trying to change behaviour is concerned, to report bad drivers/bad driving, and diplomatically mention the cyclist's perspective in relevant conversations.

It's been mentioned on here before that some cyclists pull dick moves because that's what they've observed others doing, and are copying what they assume to be best practice. Whilst we have the option of raising the subject in situ if we're there when it happens, we can also describe/discuss those situations on here, within a section of the cycling community. A fair proportion of what's been described here differs from the usual knee-jerk red light/pavement stuff.

I think this thread remains worthwhile, and will remain so as long as thoughtful posters continue to contribute.

I think the main thing is, none of us want to see anybody at all getting hurt out there, regardless of what they ride or wear and as the posts put up in the rider down threads, we are a caring bunch.

My question, and the question which i think the thread raises is, if we see other cyclists putting themselves or others in harm because of how they ride should we do anything about it?

I leave people to it and generally just shake my head if i see crazy riding, but if it was the other way round I'd prefer someone to tell me if i'd done something dangerous....

All just thoughts really.....

There are a number of problems I think, or at least in my own experience.

• You see someone do something dangerously irresponsible
  
• If you catch them, then you'll (generally) have exerted yourself, you'll appear quite threatening just because you've appeared "out of nowhere", breathing hard, and you may be cross
  
• All the ingredients for a row are right there- the bad cyclist is going to be defensive, and if they do have at the back of their mind that they've been a bit naughty then they'll likely get angry as a first response
  
  

It's all a recipe for a shouting match as you cycle down the road.

A while ago I told a van driver to pull over so we could discuss what he'd just done, which he did.

I stayed calm, laid out why what he had just done was very dangerous, and why he should not do it, he responded that he'd do it again, and "if I killed her* then I'd just have to do the time then wouldn't I".

In all honesty, I should have just thumped him when he got out of the cab- it would have had more effect than talking to him rationally.

*He almost hit my girlfriend with his van

It's all a recipe for a shouting match as you cycle down the road.

^ been there, waste of breath. Hard to chase alongside someone and reason with them whilst out on a Raleigh Shopper stuck in a spinny gear.

isnt this thread getting out of hand?

Not if it's used as intended. A community needs to be self-regulating, which I think is its aims. Its purpose is to show that cyclists are able to address the perils of their own making. If cyclists as a whole seem to be fascinated with the errors of just motorists to the exclusion of everyone else, in the same way that they may view 'us' as their typical/default source of anger, we're not doing a very good job of keeping our own house in order by ignoring our own downfalls. I think the thread wants to encourage this kind of responsibility, but when it becomes a substitute rant thread its intentions are diminished. Being able and prepared to call out there and then dangerous riding as often as driving, maybe inspired in part by this thread, shows a useful degree of critical awareness.