It was a blog, the man was musing. If you actually read the item its perfectly harmless and was merely posing a question. I dont see him mentioning gallows and hanging bikes!
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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It was a blog, the man was musing. If you actually read the item its perfectly harmless and was merely posing a question. I dont see him mentioning gallows and hanging bikes! ------------------------------ TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
I have actually read it RF hence my post!
It is not perfectly harmless, it is completely inappopraite for someone is such a position.
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Thats a gross over reaction and massive misrepresentation of the facts by being very selective about the content. Not to mention a misunderstanding of blog culture.
I may not like North wales police motoring policy, but you cant argue about the open nature of it.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Thats a gross over reaction and massive misrepresentation of the facts by being very selective about the content. Not to mention a misunderstanding of blog culture.
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No that is a gross over reaction.
and massive misrepresentation of the facts by being very selective about the content. >>
Not at all, I posted a link to the full piece.
>>Not to mention a misunderstanding of blog culture.>>
Actually I reckon it is NWP that misunderstands blog culture dressing up a positioning statement probably written or edited by the PR dept and posted within the force website as a blog.
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Actually I reckon it is NWP that misunderstands blog culture dressing up a positioning statement probably written or edited by the PR dept and posted within the force website as a blog.
As a question and not a dig, have you made your feelings known to Wolfbane or whatever his name is via the blog feedback thingy?
Perhaps we could invite him to contribute to the thread? Seems to have time on his hands (checks clock, back to work....)
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>> >> As a question and not a dig, have you made your feelings known to Wolfbane or whatever his name is via the blog feedback thingy?
Good point, I have now.
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This is nothing new. North Wales Police have taken a draconian attitude towards bikers for years. This is why when we go out on the bikes for longer treks, we give our hard-earned to to campsites, local shops, pubs, restaurants etc in anywhere but Wales. Sure, the roads are great, but when I go out for a day or weekend on the bike, I want to enjoy myself and feel welcome where I go. The North Wales Police seem to go out of their way to prevent both.
Let them have their peaceful country if it's that important to them. £2bn worth of annual contributions to the Welsh economy and 100,000 Welsh jobs depend on the tourism industry and I am proud to contribute nothing towards it. I would urge others to do the same.
Cheers
DP
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It would make my day to see motorbikes banned from Dartmoor, as 9 times out of 10 when I come across one it's being ridden dangerously. In particular, when I come around a blind corner I do not expect to have to leap on the brakes as hard as I can to avoid a biker who's overtaking.
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A blanket ban on a something because of the actions of a handful of idiots seems very draconian.
You're not a government minister are you?? ;-)
DP
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>>It would make my day to see motorbikes banned from Dartmoor, as 9 times out of 10 when I come across one it's being ridden dangerously. In particular, when I come around a blind corner I do not expect to have to leap on the brakes as hard as I can to avoid a biker who's overtaking.<<
That's ridiculous. That's like me saying everytime I've come across a gold coloured Xsara, it was being driven by someone driving ridiculously slow and not indicating.
The avoce is completely true. It's only happened twice but still true all the same.
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One thing the complainers about bikes never seem to notice: A bike with a legal exhaust is almost inaudible. The problem comes with the "not suitable for road use" silencers fitted by morons for whom a power to weigh ratio similar to an F1 car is not enough.
I heard a programme about zero tolerance policing in New York on R4 a few months ago. One chap used to sell illegal car exhausts. Every time the police stopped someone using an exhaust from him, they summonsed him. As he said, that meant a day off from work making no money. After enough of this, he simply stopped selling illegal exhausts.
As usual, what is needed is effective application of current laws rather than new ones. Why can't those who have the power see this? If the Police stopped every loud motorcycle (and car), fined and impounded (or whatever the sanction is) until fixed, the problem would go away. There would be no need for new laws.
V
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When a bike comes up behind you, you will hear its exhaust before you see it in your mirrors. So noise in this case is a vital safety factor.
HJ
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Anybody who drives up the A65 between skipton and kirby lonsdale will know what a complete pain 95% of div heads on their bikes are, it is so bad in the summer ive foregone the pleasure of driving up it to admire the area...............
Ban bikes here and i will be the first to start re-spending my money in the area (seriously)
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And I'm inconvenienced, when I drive, by the following:
Caravans
Lorries
Vans
Mopeds
Pedestrians
Animals
Rovers
Vintage Cars
Funeral Precessions
JCBs
Roadworks
Trains at level crossings
Can we ban all them too? Because the world should be a place where everyone else sacrifices their rights to please me.
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Yes ban them all, fine by me
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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The good thing about the A65 is the large police presence that they try and give on summer sundays to stop this idiotic riding,.
Maybe a post from someone who lives on or near this road could post?
Or a policeman that has to knock on deceased relatives doors and also have to look in adjacent fields for motorcyclists heads after they leave the road after hitting stone walls.
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>>A65 between skipton and kirby lonsdale
Take to the back roads oldman! - much more leisurely and hassle free progress. Coming from slightly further to the West, I used to go via Gisburn, Paythorne, Wigglesworth and so on to avoid the traffic jams, lunatics on Fireblades, and beastly caravans on the A65.
The bikers do get it right by aiming for the butty van by the bridge in Kirby Lonsdale though!
Number_Cruncher
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Oh well in that case then I will take the silencer off - i will be doubly safe.
Do be serious HJ,
If you push that argument, I can see the legislation where bikes that have to be environementally unfriendly as they need to make a loud noise to be safe will therefore be banned totally as being fundamentaly unsafe.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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actually TVM hj is spot on with what he says,i am a rear view nut and these bikes even get the better of me ,they are there in a flash and if it wasnt for the exhausts you arent aware of them till they come flashing past near enough tha t you couldnt get a fag paper between your car and their bikes.........
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When I'm sitting at home with windows closed I can hear the motorbikes on the by pass a mile away , double glazing notwithstanding.
I don't object to motorbikes , I've held a bike licence since 1969 but doesn't mean to say I have to put up with the noise - or the idiocy of some I see pulling wheelies at stupid speeds in areas of natural beauty.
Try a trip round Box Hill of a weekend if you want to see some of what Plod was talking about in his Plodblog.
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Try a trip round Box Hill of a weekend if you want to see some of what Plod was talking about in his Plodblog.
Once or twice on that bit of the A24 I have seen the aftermath of an accident with bits of biker scattered down the road. Sometimes they do seem to be driving a bit riskily, but none of them has ever frightened or threatened me. Much more often the Box Hill bikers, and the ones who are often to be seen on summer weekends on the A29 a bit further south, are simply going gloriously quickly.
I don't envy them however because bikes scare me now. I don't think I'm a good enough driver for safety on a fast bike, and I certainly wouldn't want any other kind. Like HJ and om I am often surprised when they zip past, but also often see them coming and sometimes give a flash of the left indicator to show them it's OK to pass. About half the time they return the courtesy with a cool little lift of the nearside hand.
I regard proper bikers as proper drivers, like truck drivers, some other drivers and me. I guess the crap ones don't last long.
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>>>> I regard proper bikers as proper drivers, like truck drivers, someother drivers and me. I guess the crap ones don't last long.
I've seen plenty of crap truck drivers. Plenty of good ones too.
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HJ's "safety benefit" from noise has its downsides. I live near a road leading to the Trough of Bowland vicinity, which I think is publicised by nocturnal rally drivers and daytime performance bikes. It's no joke when they pollute these quiet roads with their lunatic riding: Isle of Man speeds. Unfortunately the roads aren't closed to other users.
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I agree with Cheddar's point and also RF's. As regards the blog in question the phrase that springs to mind is glass houses and people. Suffice to say I have an inside line here from a local (to North Wales) colleague. Maybe my blog (if I was pretentious enough to think that my views were of any interest to anyone) would be bemoaning the use of 4WD soft roaders in National Parks such as the Lake District and their long term effect on the enviroment.
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This I became born again (and had some training) I've realised how badly some riders actually ride....
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Why do motorcycles have to be so noisy? Bikers might like the noise they make, whether they be a kid on a CVT scooter modded to sound like a chainsaw or a forty-something on a sceaming superbike. But to the non-biking majority, a noisy motorbike is just a nuisance. Same goes for noisy cars. Modding a vehicle to make it noisier is plain anti-social!
I know someone whose neighbour is a compulsive DIY-er, forever drilling, hammering, scraping etc. Presumably he likes the noises made by his chosen hobby, but nobody else does.
Here's my solution. Fit a sound pick-up mike near the exhaust outlet on the bike. Fit a mini amplifier and earpieces inside the crash helmet and have a wireless link between the two. Then the biker could hear the sound of his bike at whatever volume he chooses without annoying everyone else.
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>>It would make my day to see motorbikes banned from Dartmoor, as 9 times out of 10 when I come across one it's being ridden dangerously. In particular, when I come around a blind corner I do not expect to have to leap on the brakes as hard as I can to avoid a biker who's overtaking.<<
"When I come around a blind corner"
Is it me or are you supposed to be able to stop in the distance in which you can see?
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Really a bit of an aside on this bike specific subject, but many, many years ago I worked for the Austin distributor for London - Car Mart - anyone remember them?
Anyway, at the end of production of the Mini Cooper S 1071 cc, staff were offered the chance to buy one with a DISCOUNT (shock horror in those days!).
I aleady had one, converted to 970 cc to compete in the under 1000 cc club racing class, but two of my colleagues took the offer and bought one each.
Remember these were bog-standard cars, unlike mine.
One fine day plod stopped one and gave NOIP for excessive noise.
"But it's a perfectly standard car, no more than 6 months old!" said my colleague.
"If you hadn't accelerated so hard, would you have made less noise?" said plod.
"Well, yes I suppose so"
"Right then, you're nicked!"
Moral - excessive noise, unless measured by a noise mete), is subjective and plod can do pretty much as he/she likes!
(
Roger. (Costa del Sol, España)
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Living in North Wales I can say that I'm not overly pleased with some of the North Wales police motoring policies.
However after regularly driving around North Wales, Snowdonia etc I can certainly see the reason for the Blog. The A5 seems to turn into a bikers playground when the sun shines & speed limits have pretty much no meaning, I'm not talking about 5/10miles per hour above either. If the North Wales force is to implement an evenhanded "speeding" policy then it certainly should take as close a look at the behaviour of motorbikes as it currently does at cars. From my experience the levels at which bikers exceed speed limits far exceed those of cars.
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I think mountainkat you will find that North Wales police have been targeting bikers for years: they bought a helicopter specially for this purpose.
I have had a few biking holidays in North Wales, but not any more. We clear off down to the South of France now (and Germany for the Nurburgring), with the added bonus of not getting rained on every day!
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
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