Looking for the opinion of some more experienced riders.

Been riding 125cc scooters and bikes for over 6 years now to commute from Surrey into London. Ride all weathers and never had any incidents. Was just getting ready to book das but over the last few months the number of accidents I see seems to be going up till this week when I saw the immediate aftermath of someone going into the side of a car, someone come down right in front of me but I was cycling so stopped in time, 100 yards after that there was a crashed bike abandoned and then a few miles later someone else had been taken out by a car.

I know that as the weather turns there seems to be in increase in accidents but Monday and Tuesday has really gotten me thinking. My journey is 10 miles of filtering and 4 miles dual carriageway. Alternative is to cycle 4 miles then half an hour on the train. Cycling all the way everyday isn’t an option as the kids 1 and 3 would be in bed by the time I get back.

Anyone had similar experiences?

Sort of. Had much more to do with my complete lack of self control. That would have got me eventually. My need to commute came to an end though.

But… I wouldn’t consider commuting by bicycle. That is suicidal.

I’m surprised cycling is not the same as cycle ,4 miles plus 30 min on train after adding faffing at either Ed at the station.

No to be honest

Unfortunately, all bikers are physically vulnerable (and they motorised ones are generally going a bit faster than cyclists) so I get your point about the fear

As with the dicks on pushbikes, seems to me that there are some bikers who take liberties (with their own safety) and I’m guessing it’s often them that suffer

I regularly see bikes filtering between 2 lanes of motorway traffic, both of which are doing 60+ mph. I get bikers in town overtaking at really inappropriate times – couple of days ago, one squirting on the power while crossing wet road hatchings, half way round a bend in a 30 zone. It’s not a gridlocked area; other than at lights, the longest queue I sit in on my typical commute is about 20 seconds

If I was on one, I’d stay in the traffic rather than filtering/shoving in. Make yourself a space and “own” it – you have the advantage of being able to move at the same speed as cars etc so you can do that at all times

Unfortunately the traffic is so bad filtering for 10 miles is due to crawling and gridlocked traffic. The roads I have to take are officially the most congested in Britain!

“I regularly see bikes filtering between 2 lanes of motorway traffic”

Happens all the time on the M62 on my way to work when cars are doing 50-60mph. Scares the crap out of me as I don’t want to hit one of them but their speed differential to the cars must be 10-20mph and even if you check your mirrors carefully they dart in and out so fast they’d be under your wheels in a microsecond.

Unfortunately the traffic is so bad filtering for 10 miles is due to crawling and gridlocked traffic

well then I agree, you’re likely to have one sooner or later. Roads have one “safe” lane and they’re full of cars; if we ride on the margins, our safety is also marginal. I know filtering around low-speed traffic is legal but that’s not the same as being safe

But… there’s no point riding a motorcycle if you’re not filtering.

Yes i lost a few mates the summer before last and called it a day. I always saw a lot of accidents through work but i kinda blocked them out as i do most things at work but when its your mates its different

Ive done advanced courses. Police courses and rospa ones. All i did was ride faster and faster around more and more bendy roads. I was going to come unstuck at some point

People said (including me) a motorbike was safer than pedal bike as you could accelerate out of trouble had more road presence and were on the road less time for a given distance. In reality it isnt

I’ve not quite called it a day as I do still own a motorcycle – however it’s only a little 500 and it hasn’t had an not for 18 months…
I had a couple of years of ‘realisation’ where I became increasingly aware of the fragility of humans, and the risks involved with riding high powered motorcycles (cbr1000rr at the time)…
After riding for over ten years, I swapped the superbike for a triumph tiger – unfortunately although the bike was brilliant and slightly less likely to cajole me into stupidity, something has changed in my mind. When the tiger had done less than 1000miles between MOTs I decided it’s time was up. I sold it last March and bought a bike van instead.

I do still think about riding, but I have filled the time with other hobbies and Harley Dyna’s are too expensive for me…

Having said that, I have an interview on Tuesday morning which would make commuting by bike seem like a good idea so we’ll see!

Close to the bone this.

I’ve been asked not to get one by my parents and wife.

Which is odd given my dads been a motorcyclist all his life.

Basically as he put it , the roads have changed.

He is currently recovering from a head on smash with a van who was traveling on the wrong side of the road round a blind corner and left him no where to go. – gps camera verified my dad was cornering at 30mph when he hit the “kerbside” of the vans front end…. Van looked to be going a fair bit faster in the footage but obviously he wasnt forthgiving with how much he was actually doing.

Although stubborn auld git – hes having another motorbike when he recovers as ” if it was my fault id hang up my boots but there was nothing i could have done”

But he is still adament he wouldnt be enthusiastic if i got a motorbike.

Rode motorbikes of all shapes and sizes for about 20 years, hung up my boots a couple of years ago after a spectacular near miss made me realise the balance between fun and danger had swung too far deathwards.

To be fair the worsening condition and congestion of roads had been sucking the fun out of riding for sometime and I always preferred pedalling to petrolling so once I moved to a more practical bicycle commute distance it was an easier choice.

Still hire a motorbike now and then for holidays but wouldn’t go back to day to day use.

I’ve had motorbikes for over 30 years,these days I hardly ride them,FZ750 & XT600 as I struggle to find the time.I have to say my perception of risk has also changed as I get older & there’s risk involved riding motorcycles.That said there’s also a lot of risk involved riding a bicycle in traffic.It’s all subjective,I can’t say that I’d enjoy that kind of commute

Yep, riding since 16 but after a few seasons of club racing, going back on the road was rubbish. A mental 500 supermoto scratched the itch for a while but these days if I’ve got time on my hands, I’d rather be on a push bike.

Conversely I’m thinking of getting a motorbike after years of not having one. I think I’m falling out of love with cycling. Not having that will make time for enjoying a motorbike again.

After I had kids something must have happened in my brain and I wasn’t prepared to take the risk anymore.

Maybe when they leave home I will become a born again biker and kill myself then.

I rode for 12 years on bigger and bigger bikes until I got caught at 97.1 on the M11, which gave me a bit of a shock so since I was due to be moving abroad soon I sold the big bike and bought a CB250RS for blatting around town on. Went abroad and never got back on a bike after that.

I do think having been a motorcyclist has benefited my road bike handling though.

I’ve had bikes for over 30 years and the one thing I’ve tried to avoid is using them for commuting. I think that’s a way to quickly tire of them. Same with cycling to work, I only do it occasionally during the summer. Motorbikes and pushbikes are for weekend fun 😀

Gave up motorbikes years ago after too many near misses from drivers not paying attention or blatantly trying to knock me off because I was filtering slowly through stationary traffic. Incidents reported to Police but nothing happened.
A few years ago I returned to biking but for fun now. I must admit I am much more aggressive to people that cut me up or pull out on me now. SMIDSY doesn’t cut it anymore as I will actually stop the driver and give them both barrels regardless of age or gender. If they can’t open their eyes and pay attention whilst driving they have no right to be on the roads.This has lead to visit from the Police who wanted to lecture me on my attitude whilst riding the bike. This was after an old bloke jumped a red a light and I had to take action to avoid him as just carried on through until I caught up with him at another set of lights. They had no interest in checking the CCTV cameras to see what had actually happened or to take action against a dangerous driver.
I’m not saying bikers are saints as I see plenty of stupid actions by them including filtering at high speed in fast moving traffic and just using the roads as a race track. I have seen a biker almost daily on my commute who rides like an idiot. I must have seen his bike trashed and him laid out in the road at least four times now yet he still rides like a tosser.

Another on that’s been riding for over 30 years ..had some lucky escapes in that time ….I don’t ride much now. I enjoy building my brat bike and will rid it but prob only a few hundred miles a year …just purely sunny days…….I’d only ride on the in Europe now as they seem to have more respect to motorcyclists imho

Yes, before I even started

Promised myself that was going to take a DAS but timing/money never seemed to sync up. Then (and maybe it was just me paying more attention) accidents involving bikers being wiped out by gormless drivers increased. Then we had a daughter, and as much as I wanted to look badass on a triumph, it became apparent that I needed to do what I can to be around for her. Also, I never cycle on the road because I feel totally exposed so I reckon I would have chickened out anyway

But that’s just me

I’ve thought about it, but not from a safety point of view. More practicalities/financial. It doesn’t make sense for me to run a bike and a car at the same time and if I’ve got both, the bike is relegated to ‘expensive toy’ status.

Commuting, it isn’t any faster than a car once I’ve factored getting gear on, unlocking and garaging at each end. Also rubbish for days out as you have to carry all your gear with you.

Leisure riding, unless your paying to go on the track regularly you’ll never really push your limits, or the bike’s, without risking your life to a hedgerow.

Another lapsed motorcyclist here, I sold my last bike around ten years ago after 20 years or so of riding including two as a London motorcycle courier and six testing fast sports bikes for one of the mags.

I still think motorcycles are brilliant things and I’d never tell anyone else that they should or shouldn’t ride one, but for me a combination of increasing traffic levels, more bad driving/an increasing awareness of my own vulnerability and a decrease in the amount of time I had to go riding meant I gradually rode less and less.

I still ride pushbikes on the road, but I try as much as possible to avoid busy commuter times because a significant number of people driving too and from work appear to have had some sort of common sense lobotomy and don’t care about anything beyond arriving at their destination as fast as humanly possible.

The bottom line is that you’re vulnerable to other people’s mistakes on a motorcycle and only you can really decide whether you feel it’s an acceptable risk. You can make your life safer by riding defensively – maybe it’s worth looking into an advanced riding course if you do want to carry on – but you’re always inherently vulnerable to stuff that’s completely beyond your control like the oncoming driver on the wrong side of the road scenario mentioned up above.

i only rode them for pleasure at the weekends and I stopped riding motorbikes last year to ride my bicycle more. However still miss it. Bought an old bonnie yesterday to satisfy my urge for an occasional blast on a bike.

I just stopped enjoying it. Not because of accidents or drivers or anything, I just lost the mojo and mountain bikes took over the same space in my life, so it became a method of transport, then I got a car for bike hauling.

So,

I was taken out whilst fitering on the M25 by a BMW driver who decided to change lane both without looking and whilst the lane he was moving into was already occupied (I think he was actually trying to kill me).
Laying on your back on the overtaking lane of the M25 is a very strange place to be, believe me.

Managed a few commutes after that but have sold the bike now, too many drivers with literally zero common sense and/or regard for anyone other than themselves.
Weirdly, I’ve always felt less vulnerable as a road cyclist.

I binned motorcycles off last year after 14-odd years of road riding and a couple of seasons’ racing. I just lost all passion for it so sold up at the start of this year. I don’t miss it at all. Cycling took a back seat for a few years after I got my motorcycle license but the love of pedalling never went away and I think, comparing the two, I get way more of a buzz from a good turf out on my MTB than riding a motorcycle.

OP, think we’re just getting to the end of the silly season when all the middle-aged ‘Rossi wanabes ‘ put their ‘Gixers’ away and get back in the Mondeo, should start calming down soon. Carry on commuting.

Mental supermotos are great especially using them for every day use ime.

But as mentioned above, something unpredictable is always lurking around the corner whether that be a car, horse etc or even shoddy build quality and dodgy FI in my case that left me retired just short of building up to nearly 5 years no claims.

I’d only ever bike off road in future, too many weapon cagers out there these days.

I used to go out on the motorbike at weekends and have a blast, also lots of trackdays and holidays to Europe + commuting. Nowadays, I spend my spare time on the MTB. Got to admit, its far safer. However, I still ride every day to work and get the same buzz as I did when I first started. I’m also getting the itch to go on another Euro trip seeing as my bike will do it in comfort 🙂

No desire to stop riding, I just love 2 wheels.

Nope, but I don’t think I would enjoy commuting on it 5 days a week, I find the amount of concentration required a bit draining. I probably use the motorbike for road use once or twice a week, and always for longer trips – maybe twice a month.

You aren’t that safe whatever mode of transport you take – I was messed up and now have plates in my elbow due to a cycle incident (from about 2mph!).

I can’t say I get a real thrill from riding motorbikes on the road – off-roading is where I get my kicks now, although that’s not without injury either 😆

I’ve ridden motorbikes since I was 17 all the way to about 2005’ish.

The last bike being a Honda Hornet……loved it, the bike the riding etc.

Then one day sitting in a tin box, dark, raining I looked up and saw another riding approaching with all the gear etc.

I never pulled out or anything, but thought to myself that’s me and I truly I still couldn’t see the biker. Hard to explain, I could see but not see.

After that I rode a lot less, then eventually sold the bike. Just lost the the lustre for it and felt unsafe.

Kept the leather jacket though :-)… actually qualify to wear one 😉

…

Hornet was fun though 🙂

Limit the things buy law to the maximum speed limit, make hi viz and safety clothing compulsory, headlights on dip at all times, and strict enforcement of all traffic laws.

Redthunder – sorry, but I completely don’t understand your epiphany..

Just like every other road vehicle then?

slimjim78 – Member

Redthunder – sorry, but I completely don’t understand your epiphany..

It sounds like he just saw through the eyes of so many other motorists for a moment.

Redthunder – sorry, but I completely don’t understand your epiphany..

Your right, I don’t fully understand why I lost my desire with motorbikes either.

Just knew I didn’t what ride motorbikes any more, an epiphany I cant explain only unto myself.

It sounds like he just saw through the eyes of so many other motorists for a moment.

Probably sums it up.

Lol project – is your car hi viz. more so do you think any of that would help – 125s still get knocked over by cars- their restriction to the speedlimit doesnt help cars see them…

I guess you dont see the irony in that car drivers say the same about cyclists too ….