most of us fall off occasionally, it can be a matter of luck whether it's serious. Over 40 years on a bike I've come off 4 times, only once involved a couple of days in hospital for concussion but nothing broken. Saying that, in a marriage both partners have the right of veto, if one of us really said "no" I think the other would respect that.
dazzor
New member
Interesting.
40 years and only 4 spills, impressive. Do you ride every day to work? If so whereabouts? Approximately how many miles would you say you've covered in that 4 decade tenure?
26 years, roughly 200,000 miles, in and out of London (Central to outskirts) in rush-hour has seen me off about 7 times.
I like your wife. You should marry her again, just to be absolutely sure.
N1VEN
New member
I've just started commuting to Central London (Blackfriars) from Newbury, Berkshire. Aside from a Vespa that I had for 5 years on a provisional license, this is my first bike, although I have been riding a pushbike through London daily for the last 15 years, (the last 6 of which were in London) so am sure that due to my awareness and experience of other motorists unpredictability, I am a better motorcyclist that most.
I have always been put off by the heightened risk of additional speed associated with a larger bike, so have resisted doing my bike licence until recently. With train fares rising another 6% and with no improvement to the service, enough was enough and I bought my MT-07! I love it but am a pretty cautious rider and intend to stay that way.
I will be doing approximately 25,000 miles a year and I am curious to know more about your spills, as 7 offs seems pretty high to me. Were they self inflicted? Could they have been avoided? Were any of them serious? Are you still happy riding a bike through London?
Thanks,
Simon
dazzor
New member
Hi Simon,
Where to begin, ha ha
I'm on the move now but will post something up soon as I get a chance.
Basically though, yes some where avoidable and one was pretty much self inflicted.
Personally I don't think 7 is bad....depends on ones perspective though.
Chat more soon
Darren
N1VEN
New member
Thanks, appreciate it.
Not that your responses will suddenly make me sell my bike, far from it, but I am curious to know what I'm dealing with!
Not that your responses will suddenly make me sell my bike, far from it, but I am curious to know what I'm dealing with!
On spills - I have been biking in and around London for 20 of the last 30 years, 4 of which were as a despatch rider, so I have a fair bit of experience. Like Dazzor, I have done well over 200,000 miles on bikes, most of it in heavy traffic. My Dad was a Met Police traffic officer (class 1 on bikes), and before he died, passed on quite a bit of advice to me.
I've had 3 accidents in that time;
1. Someone came through a red light and I hit the side of him. Avoidable, I was gunning it away from the lights myself, but he was still held responsible, he was just gambling.
2. I hit my knee on the back of a car that was crossing in front of me, and I thought he was going to be clear by the time I got to him. He stopped, and I hit him. My fault, but a stupid mistake. Avoidable.
3. A drunk driver hit the car in front of me, head on, and I went into the back of that car. I can't really see how I could have avoided that, the car in front went from 40mph to minus 20 mph in half a second.
I wasn't seriously injured in any of these.
All of those happened before I was 25. Nowadays I ride more carefully and definitely slower then I used to. It's unlikely that I'm going to repeat any of these crashes.
Here's how I see it.
- You are half way there when you recognise you are inexperienced, and that you take it easy to compensate. That is EXACTLY the right attitude.
- Understand that the serious accidents are usually associated with speed. This is a generalisation, but if you have a crash at 20mph, you're going to come out better than one at 40mph, right? It also likely that at 20mph you will have time to avoid the problem altogether. So, be sensible.
- Remember on a bike, you have far better vision than a car driver. Use that to your advantage - car drivers will do stupid things because they don't see you. You need to see them doing it, and avoid it. Experience helps here, but get used to watching everyone like a hawk. After a while you can anticipate what they're going to do.
- Be in the right place on the road. Don't follow too close, and if someone is up your arse, let them pass or move to where they're not up your arse. I know Ego can say you deserve to be in front of a 50cc scooter, but if you're endangering yourself, let it go.
Do some, all or more than this, and you've only got statistics to deal with. I do all I can to avoid accidents, but sometimes they just happen. What I try to do is make the odds the same as the 'you could get hit by a bus on the pavement' ones. Then I'm no worse off than anybody else.
Last thing, just to put the above into perspective - you already get to ride around traffic, use bus lanes, and generally go at 2 - 3 times the speed of a car through town. Enjoy that, you don't need to get to work 5 minutes earlier than you already do.
So, if you see an old fart on a bright blue MT07 on the A4 one morning, give me a toot, I'll get out of your way
I've had 3 accidents in that time;
1. Someone came through a red light and I hit the side of him. Avoidable, I was gunning it away from the lights myself, but he was still held responsible, he was just gambling.
2. I hit my knee on the back of a car that was crossing in front of me, and I thought he was going to be clear by the time I got to him. He stopped, and I hit him. My fault, but a stupid mistake. Avoidable.
3. A drunk driver hit the car in front of me, head on, and I went into the back of that car. I can't really see how I could have avoided that, the car in front went from 40mph to minus 20 mph in half a second.
I wasn't seriously injured in any of these.
All of those happened before I was 25. Nowadays I ride more carefully and definitely slower then I used to. It's unlikely that I'm going to repeat any of these crashes.
Here's how I see it.
- You are half way there when you recognise you are inexperienced, and that you take it easy to compensate. That is EXACTLY the right attitude.
- Understand that the serious accidents are usually associated with speed. This is a generalisation, but if you have a crash at 20mph, you're going to come out better than one at 40mph, right? It also likely that at 20mph you will have time to avoid the problem altogether. So, be sensible.
- Remember on a bike, you have far better vision than a car driver. Use that to your advantage - car drivers will do stupid things because they don't see you. You need to see them doing it, and avoid it. Experience helps here, but get used to watching everyone like a hawk. After a while you can anticipate what they're going to do.
- Be in the right place on the road. Don't follow too close, and if someone is up your arse, let them pass or move to where they're not up your arse. I know Ego can say you deserve to be in front of a 50cc scooter, but if you're endangering yourself, let it go.
Do some, all or more than this, and you've only got statistics to deal with. I do all I can to avoid accidents, but sometimes they just happen. What I try to do is make the odds the same as the 'you could get hit by a bus on the pavement' ones. Then I'm no worse off than anybody else.
Last thing, just to put the above into perspective - you already get to ride around traffic, use bus lanes, and generally go at 2 - 3 times the speed of a car through town. Enjoy that, you don't need to get to work 5 minutes earlier than you already do.
So, if you see an old fart on a bright blue MT07 on the A4 one morning, give me a toot, I'll get out of your way
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dazzor
New member
So true, such good advice!
If ANY vehicle is going fast ENOUGH...stick behind it, simple.
da1kini
New member
YES! dig in the ribs while riding is totally safe
DD
N1VEN
New member
Thanks Sdiro, I'll keep an eye out! Where do you come in from?
Really appreciate you taking the time to give your perspective on things and definitely agree with the ego comment
I'm 27 now (I know that's far from old) but I hope that the wreckless speed bingeing is out of my system now!
Really appreciate you taking the time to give your perspective on things and definitely agree with the ego comment
I'm 27 now (I know that's far from old) but I hope that the wreckless speed bingeing is out of my system now!
I come from Richmond, join the A4 at the Hogarth roundabout and go through to the city.
27 huh? I'm 47, and to be honest I am still capable of hooliganism when I'm in the mood!
The trick is to do it in the right place at the right time. Speed binging is fine, it's fun. As you say, it's the reckless bit we need to keep a lid on. You'll be just fine. Enjoy the bike.
xt660isgood2
New member
7 times! Without being racist here. It’s because the majority of London now doesn’t actually come from the UK and have taken their “test” or not, away from this green and pleasant land. I know it’s a very said thing to say but: I can’t think of a worse shi”hole to visit. Good luck out there?
dazzor
New member
Blimey, bit of a grenade post that one, I think.
I'm doing what I've got to do to earn the money to support my family mate. I'm unlikely to earn what I do elsewhere (within the realms of viability)
Ok 7 times includes, muppet walking right out in front of me with 2 feet to spare, being young and stupid on a ZX6R, getting my knee down on a blind bend only to see a car parked on a Red line, rubbish Vee-rubber front tyre on a bike giving way...the rest were more complicated than I care to write about using my iPhone
xt660isgood2
New member
The point I'm making is: driving/riding in London is really really rubbish. You can't dispute that? if you can I am very worried? Apolls if I have upset you. Good luck out there
dazzor
New member
Oh Christ no, you haven't offended me in any way, ha ha.....my apologies if it came across that way in my reply.
Perhaps I get a bit of misplaced, colloquial patriotism for the place as I'm originally from North London....but yes, I agree it's dire in many ways, not just driving/riding.
I think the thing that irks me ever so slightly is when people say they've been riding 117 years and only come off once and that was because they forgot to take the disc lock off....I'm being ridiculous but you get the gist. Turns out Yoda of biking lives in a remote part of world with a fraction of the road users.
Anyway, I'm not proud of my past faux pas, I just hope I allow those mistakes to make me a better and more considerate biker / road user in general. I know it sounds boring but of late, bikes for me are much more about a convenient, cheap and reliable form of transport to get from A to B in one piece....I think the MT-07 might just blow a few cobwebs out though
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