Timo goes green. Very green.

So green in fact, that I was worried I would get pulled by JP for being
excessively green.

What happened? Well, I dropped the Sprint off at Jack Lilley's for its
service yesterday and the nice young lady behind the counter handed me
the keys to a nice, shiny, new, green Speed Triple.

Of course, fives minutes after I set off in the direction of work the
heavens opened so it wasn't exactly the best time to get aquainted
with someone else's bike, especially if you've just signed a piece of
paper that suggests you would pay the owner up to two grand if you
lobbed the bike.

So I wobble around the first corner and carefully head up the first
long straight road, alternately cursing the digital speedo[1] and the
speed limit. First roundabout approaches and a cnut driving a bus
takes his own sweet time maneouvering his mobile roadblock
around. That's going to get a bit ttiiiiiiiiigght. Common sense gets
the better of me and rather hastily apply the anchors. Nice,
controlable even in the wet, the bike stops unflustered. Rather unlike
the rider...

After a second's worth of a breather I follow the bus around the
roundabout; bad move, as it's belching diesel fumes of such vile
blackness that they would make the captain of an RN destroyer
proud. Aha, dual carriageway, let's get past this buggeraaaaaa. OK,
the gearing is slightly shorter than on the ST so it shifts nicely
when you turn the 'loud' grip. Oh, and being new, the grip turns a lot
easier, too. Which means that once I deciphered that speedo again and
find I'm doing *eeek* miles over the limit, I quickly apply the
anchors again before I make the aquaintance of some of Her Majesty's
finest.

Slowing down for the next roundabout produces a nice cascade of
backfires through the exhaust which suit the bike nicely. Thanks to a
pair of terminally stupid car drivers I can't filter past them as the
bike is ever so slightly wider than a postage stamp. Nor can they get
their act together and move off. Finally, they spy a gap that's just
about big enough for five busses and they move off. Sloooooooowly. Got
to get past them, because that's plainly ridiculous, not to mention
dangerous - I can't get out of first gear when I stay behind them, but
the wobble about so much that I hesitate to go for the next gap (those
two grand again). Finally I've had enough, spy a gap and give it some
beans. Smaller can of beans next time, please, thinks I as I try to
carefully lower the front wheel back to Mother Earth. At least clumsy
here gets it back down without making a hash of it and disappears up
onto the M25.

A rather boring ride to Canary Wharf convinces me that this bike needs
a louder exhaust. Not on the antisocial side of loud, but just a tad
more fruity. As it is, the noise of the exhaust is out-droned by the
cooling fan, so the whole package gives off the impression of someone
talking the talk and not able to walk the walk. Which is a bit of a
pity simply because I found it a competent bike - not one that
triggers an immediate "want" but it's quite, errmm, nice to ride. Oh,
and did I mention it was green?



[1] Bad idea IMHO as I take longer to decipher the speedo than
glancing at a needle to check the approximate direction it's pointing
into.

 

So he's a "cnut" because your lack of anticipation that a large vehicle
might use a lot of the road to get around a roundabout? And even though
he was doing it slowly (which I read as "carefully, giving lots of time
for numpty twats to realise what the score is") you got flustered.

You're the "cnut".

 

I was thinking that, but I'm not **** enough to say it.

 

$:

And many bikers are "fucking idle, or crap" also. [1]

[1] I may or may not be in this category. Blaney definitely is tho [2]

[2] Clue: He's not crap.

 

I like it up here. I feel taller.

I'd take issue with "many", and suggest "some" as a replacement.

And in Timo's case, his side of the story sounds like it was his
(Timo's) lack of anticipation, because he'd already described how the
"cnut" took "his own sweet time maneouvering". That doesn't sound like
he (the bus driver) was idle, or crap, to me.

In essence, it's a bit like taxi drivers, isn't it? It's easy to label
them because they're easy to identify, not because they're empirically
worse drivers (in the case of LGV drivers, they're empirically better
drivers). When we're cut up by a car, we don't even register it. When
we're cut up by a car that has a taxi sign on it, we immediately launch
into an anti-taxi driver rant.

 

Using the patented Mavis Bacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Ben Blaney

Aha! The old "well reasoned argument" tactic, eh? :^)

I know what you mean, but I do get pissed off with the "might is right"
brigade. The type that just sail out on a roundabout because they can,
or take three lanes because they're too lazy to swing the wheel or
change a gear.

And as for empirically better drivers? Well, on the day they took the
test, yes. ;^)
--
Nigel
WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20

ZZR1100 and Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner" (No , I'm
not sure how that happened either).

 

Oh, yeah, sure.

Sailing out on to a roundabout just because they can is an example I
won't defend, though I have done it myself. All I can say is that a
very heavy, slow, long vehicle is very difficult to get from 0 to 10mph.
You might have three gearchanges, for example. Especially if the
traffic is very heavy and there aren't any big spaces So, to avoid
waiting ten minutes and causing a massive queue (thus pissing off lots
of people) in the past I have sailed out and pissed off one person.

Next time you see an HGV taking a wide swing at a turn (and, it'll more
likely be a rigid than an artic, as rigids have bigger turning circles)
have a look at where its back wheels end up. You might be surprised
that that "lazy" turn was in fact absolutely necessary to avoid mounting
the kerb.

In terms of accidents per mile driven HGV drivers are the best on the
roads.

 

And car drivers in MK?

 

There's 2 kinds of driver in MK.

There's the nutters that seem to just hope and pray the roundabouts are
clear, and there's a nervy ones who spend ages looking for what they
consider a 'safe' gap.

Admittedly, I get pissed off with the former just as much as I do the
HGV drivers, there's nothing worse than having to stamp on the brakes
when you're going for it round a roundabout.

It's just that it's easier to steer round a cage than it is a 40-ft
trailer.

 

Supermarket managers in <insert placename here> are exceptionally lazy -
sometimes the shelves aren't fully stocked, and there aren't enough
checkouts open, and there's no chicory.

But you, Lozzo, have eyes, ears, a brain and roadsense. You rely on
your own thoughts and experiences instead of falling back on the same
old tired cliches without considering it, such as SteveH so elegantly
demonstrated. I'm not surprised that your views differ on this topic.

 

MK seems to bring out the worst in 'em - probably because it's a bit of
a PITA driving an HGV in MK.

Or maybe it's just that there's so many roundabouts that you have to hit
the anchors to avoid an HGV pulling out on an almost daily basis.

 

It's easier to get a cage round a roundabout that it is a 40-ft trailer.
That's why they do it.

Have a chat to some of the delivery drivers at your place sometime.
They'll have seen it all. They'll be able to explain why every
grievance you have is churlish, and tell you where/when and how you, as
a car driver, are being really fucking inconsiderate to them. And I bet
you are, not because you mean to, but because you have no clue what it's
like.

 

Using the patented Mavis Bacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Ben Blaney

Ummm. Yes, OK, I'll buy that. I'd argue that you're a thinking man, and
most times it's done it's not to avoid pissing off a queue, but to avoid
pissing off a trucker (the one at the wheel). But OK.

No, I'm not talking (typing?) about that, I'm talking about the cavalier
carving across lanes, because not to do so would take a little effort. I
know that a rigid LGV can't turn like a Metro, but a lot of guys make a
real meal of it.

Interesting. Source?
--
Nigel
WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20

ZZR1100 and Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner" (No , I'm
not sure how that happened either).

 

You so ably demonstrate what I was saying, though you're not aware of
it. Next time you nearly T-bone a car, you won't even remember it five
minutes later.

 

OK, I can appreciate why it's a bit of a bugger driving an HGV, and
generally I will make exceptions for them, 'cos I can see on a daily
basis the hassle involved in driving them.

But just ploughing onto a roundabout and cutting people up is fucking
dangerous - the H8/V11 roundabout here is the worst for it - there's
loads of time's I've had to go from nearly knee-down to bolt upright in
a split second to steer round an HGV that can't be arsed to stop.

 

There are a lot of wankers out on the road.

I make a real meal of it. I hate rigids.

I made it up, of course!

No, seriously, I'm sure I read it somewhere credible.

 

I can imagine that dealing with a roundabout every few hundred yards in
an HGV isn't fun.

In a just managed to get it into 8th gear before having to brake and
drop it back down to 1st again sort of way.

 

Using the patented Mavis Bacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, SteveH

Erm...

<hops over fence>

Steve, mate...

"Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy
action".

In other words, if this happens a lot, WTF are you "nearly knee-down" in
the first place?

<compromises and sits squarely on fence>

Cor, dunnarf hurt yer bum, dunnit?
--
Nigel
WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20

ZZR1100 and Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner" (No , I'm
not sure how that happened either).

 

SteveH fascinated us all by saying...

Multi-lane roads criss-crossing a well signed area with industrial
estates clearly marked and with adequate slip-roads onto the main
arterial routes. It must be hell driving an HGV around MK, especially
with the lack of traffic congestion and the abundnce of wide and well
marked roundabouts to negotiate.

 

Becuase there's a couple of ****-off big roundabouts near me that are
just asking for it, and it's just about the only place I have the
confidence to lean the bike that far.