http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-36...louts.html

About time too ..
All that,s needed is a level playing field.
Why should they get a free ride.!
Tax, insurance,and registration to be able to trace them when THEY CAUSE ACCIDENTS or Dangerous Riding , point,s system as well so they can be BANNED like everyone else ...
What,s good for moterists is good for the lycra bandits ..
How many cycleists are on the road ..?? may get £millons more in revenue to help with the upkeep of the roads they ride on and don,t pay a penny .
IF YOU TAX ONE GROUP OF USERS
TAX THEM ALL ... ONLY FAIR ...  Wales
Were the mud is thicker, and the ruts are deeper.
(And we have the water to wash it off, and more on the way..! )
Sd4 and chrome Ar*e piece, Auto box for best fun
09 Xs Gone
12 xs Gone
HSE with Leather seats and 4 years warrenty.. staying for now !

Every Tuesday night round by me the bikers in lycra are out doing road trials and all sorts. They ride 3 or 4 abreast, and while they may well be tanking along under pedal power, they are holding up and blocking all traffic behind them.

So many bikers now show little regards to the rules of the road. Yes they can ride side by side, but have respect for other road users.

If they are riding on the open roads they should show a disc to confirm they are registered and have passed a competency test. If they fail to conform to the cyclists highway code then they should be prosecuted the same as a car driver would be.

AND STOP UPLOADING EVERY ''NEAR MISS'' OFF YOUR HELMET CAMS TO THE T'INTERWEB SHOWING YOU SCREAMING AT A MOTORIST PASSING 10 FEET AWAY !!!!!!!

rant over

p.s. I do ride a bike but not on the roads, and I don't wear lycra as I would look like a 6' 2'' middle aged caterpillar

I too am a cyclist, and unfortunately it is true that 90% of cyclists are arrogant, inconsiderate idiots. who for some reason think they have some kind of right to behave like this.

Iain

They do time trials around here, the marshals at the checkpoints are the most arrogant @gentlemen@ ever.
Tootle past at maybe 40 on a 60 road and they are running into the road shouting abuse, forgetting this causes everyone to do 60 mph past them on the return trip.
They are having fun yes doing there hobby, but we are using our local road for jobs school runs etc etc At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

Since I engineered my unemployment I have realised that as I have no time constraints anymore, consequently I'm a lot more tolerant of all other road users including cyclists and horses. One notable exception, the next who pulls up next to me on his push iron when I'm stopped at the lights , and puts his hand on my car roof to stabilise himself will lose his fingers . I'm going to put a couple of rat traps on the roof rails ! 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

I took and passed a bike test under the old cycling proficiency scheme when I was at school.

Just had a look for the certificate but I didn't find it but I did find my father in law's Bicycle Licence which was a legal requirement to have to ride a bike where he lived at that time, I think he was 8 or 10 years old when he got it. I also found his Cigarette Lighter Licence - I kid you not - you had to have a licence for a fag lighter although I suspect it was just another means of raisng taxes, however, I think he had to wait until he was 14 to apply for the lighter licence.

Back to bikes: There just isn't enough space on the roads for everyone these days, or is it that we have enough space but too many road users of all sorts?

Here's a question for some knowledgable people. At a junction near me the cycle lane goes right up to the white line - usually they stop well before leaving cyclists to fight it out with cars, buses and HGVs. Towards the end the lane narrows to 38 centimetres (15 inches for the oldies) but my handlebars are 46 centimetres (18 inches) wide. How do I contain the bike within the cycle lane?

The road planning gets worse. This junction has two lanes and a bike lane (well, half a bike lane) on the approach side but immediately after the exit the road narrows to just one lane. There are no signs indicating this and it is only the width of the junction, about 9 or 10 metres (30 to 34 toes, sorry I mean feet) where it narrows resulting in a bit of a scramble to merge into one lane.

I agree there are lots of arrogant cyclists but there are also lots of aggressive and poor car drivers. A bit of common sense and tolerance all round would go a long way.

J

Speaking as a pavement user (when walking my dog) I get very angry that despite the council spending hundreds of thousands of pounds creating cycle lanes on the roads in this town, there are still some arrogant cyclists who insist on cycling on the pavement. As if that weren't bad enough, many of them think it's OK to cycle 'hands-free' whilst they use their mobile phones! Aren't cyclists covered by the law about mobile phones? If not, they ought to be.

Never has so much been spent on so few , cycle lanes empty , special lane in front of other traffic at lights etc Do it now ! Your a long time dead !!

Living near and using roads on the route of the T de Yorkshire means that the number of cyclists I have to deal with has shot up. Most of them are fine, I always hang back and wait until I can pass leaving them plenty of room and 70% of the time I get a friendly wave of thanks from them.
Then there are the minority, the "Lycra Bully boys" who seem to think the road should have been closed to all other traffic so that they can ride as they like, using the wrong side of the road so that they don't have to slow for bends and junctions and screaming abuse at anyone in their way (including other cyclists).
I've lost count of the number of times i have been waiting to pull out of a T junction and got abuse from one turning onto the road I am on because my being there has stopped him ( never a her for some reason ) from taking the racing line. Mine, Saab convertible
Hers, MY08 GS auto

Chances are if they're an arrogant kn@b on two wheels they'll be an arrogant kn@b on 4 wheels as well. However being a bit of a tw@t on a bike 'generally' causes less damage than being a tw@t in a car - agreed many don't help themselves or the image of cycling but having done a fair bit myself in the past overall cyclists are no worse than car drivers - don't forget that a vast majority probably are car drivers as well so should know the rules and laws - and just reflect society in general where everybody is only concerned with their own agenda and self importance.

Unfortunately you do tend to learn to ride aggressively and take the road space you need as many car drivers don't give you any room or time - or even seem to realise that you need the room to avoid potholes, manhole covers drains etc which are a lot more dangerous to cyclists.

Just the same as the innumerable cases of bad/dangerous driving that we all see (and are guilty of on occasion ourselves) go unpunished the same is true of cycling offences - traffic police are seemingly few and far between and have been superceded by "road safety" cameras which only look at speed - you've got to be trying pretty hard to set one off on a bike - we did try sometimes ........ FL No 1 - 2012 (MY2011) XS manual Firenze Red - Gone
FL No 2 - 2012 (MY2012) XS manual Barolo Black - SWMBO wanted one too!
FL No 3 -2013 XS SD4 Auto Santorini Black
Series III SWB Hardtop - long gone
110 CSW V8 - long gone
Discovery 1 200Tdi - long gone

Well if every cyclist was charged a nominal £200 a year ,that could go a long way to filling up the pot holes they make close to the kerb ......  Wales
Were the mud is thicker, and the ruts are deeper.
(And we have the water to wash it off, and more on the way..! )
Sd4 and chrome Ar*e piece, Auto box for best fun
09 Xs Gone
12 xs Gone
HSE with Leather seats and 4 years warrenty.. staying for now !

mudslinger wrote:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3654022/Cyclists-riding-test-licence-Angry-motorists-call-end-Lycra-louts.html

About time too ..
All that,s needed is a level playing field.
Why should they get a free ride.!
Tax, insurance,and registration to be able to trace them when THEY CAUSE ACCIDENTS or Dangerous Riding , point,s system as well so they can be BANNED like everyone else ...
What,s good for moterists is good for the lycra bandits ..
How many cycleists are on the road ..?? may get £millons more in revenue to help with the upkeep of the roads they ride on and don,t pay a penny .
IF YOU TAX ONE GROUP OF USERS
TAX THEM ALL ... ONLY FAIR ...

If there were a Pound donated for every time someone, that doesn't understand how roads are funded, made this same tired old argument, there would be a very large pile of cash indeed

I wonder who the Daily Mail are going to pick on for their next minority hate campaign? Look out, it might be 4x4 drivers again if there's enough circulation to be gleaned by exploiting that rich vein of prejudice

mudslinger wrote:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3654022/Cyclists-riding-test-licence-Angry-motorists-call-end-Lycra-louts.html

IF YOU TAX ONE GROUP OF USERS
TAX THEM ALL ... ONLY FAIR ...

Road tax does not exist it is a Vehicle Excise Duty (VED)- a tax aimed at a specific group of public road users to raise money for HM Gov. More recently the fees have been altered to encourage less polluting cars - with varied success.

My car (a fiesta) is tax free on account of its low pollution levels. On that basis we should be paying cyclists to ride on roads as they produce only a tiny amount of CO2 and no carbon monoxide or particulants at all. ONLY FAIR

I cycle quite a lot to work when I can on public roads and park paths to and from work and long distance rides. Its good for me, my wallet and the environment.
However I have some pet hates :
I do think cyclists could do themselves some favours which would help reduce the wrath of non-cyclists.
Cyclists should have a bell and have 3rd party insurance by law IMO. Cyclists should be more aware that they are a relatively silent form of transport and not easily heard by people or dogs and should not go flying up to the backs of people or dogs without ringing their bells. They also then try to cycle between the dog and owner without realising that the dog owner having just been scared by the cyclist will naturally call the dog over to get it to safety.
Unfortunately, though the Pedal Bicycles Safety Regulations require that a pedal bicycle be fixed with a bell at the point of sale, but there is no legal requirement for bicycle to be fitted with a bell for it to be ridden on the road - that needs to be changed, Ive had 38MPH out of my bike - they can be quite dangerous to cyclist and others. Jules

The National Cycling Charity states that having a bell fitted is a good idea if the bike is to be used outside of Great Britain because a bell is part of the minimum requirements for international use of a pedal cycle as required by the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic - see I knew we are better in the EU - about time our Gov just got in line and made bells a legal requirement

Yes Ive got a thing about bell-less bicycles  Jules

I wear Lycra , I drive a 4x4 - sensibly But I have been knocked off my bike three times in ten years each time the Police have agreed driver to blame and accident was avoidable.
Try riding a road bike without Lycra !! 2011 XS,Sumatra Black, GONE MARCH 2014- RR Evoque Prestige 5 door ,MY 2014,Loire Blue, Silver Roof, Panoramic roof.
MY 2016 Disco Sport HSE Auto Scotia Grey,REJECTED
Mercedes E220D AMG line with air suspension(Gone)
DS 200 SE Dynamic my 21 (Gone)
DS 200 SE Dynamic my 22 (Gone)
Audi Q5 40TDI S line (gone)
Discovery Sport D200 S 2024 MY