I think this is the latest general thread about them.
I'm seeing these and their marks all over the place lately. Riders always wearing a face covering up to their eyes.
Out for a walk, two of them jump out of the trees across the pavement 10m in front of me, proceed to wheelie a long way down the wrong side of the dual carriageway. Biking in the local forest, two of them nailing it up the fire road to the top of the trail. Walking on a divided shared use path, I've been passed by one in the cycle lane, and seen one come down the cycle lane beeping its horn at pedestrians walking in the lane. Waiting at some traffic lights in my car at a crossroads, two of these shoot through red on their back wheel.
From the looks of it, it seems popular to do a donut circle in place on grass, leaving a round mark. There are muddy lines down various unfenced grass slopes locally.
They are the new dirt bikes TBH, but you can't hear them. Had loads of run ins with them, either on my bike or in the car.
They are the new dirt bikes TBH
This.
And attract an even more dodgy set of riders.
This 👆🏻
Yup, the lot riding these things are dodgy ****ers. The balaclavas define that.
We had two splatted on a local road which stopped me getting home, but calling into the pub, they were 'lovely lads'. Both in 20's, barrelled down road with speed humps, driver pulled out and bang. Riders lived, but the facebook war was great (i had to use someone's login to see it).
Report on crimestoppers. The authorities can't do anything about a problem if they don't have the data and crimestoppers is a convenient way to get information in to the system.
My run ins.
Few years back One numpty at glentress
Last year One numpty in maryhill (I was working on the viaduct)
Yesterday 5 numpties wheelieing through Falkirk.
Met one in my local wood - which is a slightly cheeky ride for an MTB but if you 'be nice say hi' it's generally OK. There was evidence of his skid and wheelspins everywhere, and as discussed above the general public won't really differentiate between a SurRon and a regular MTB, so we'll all get tarred with his brush. Really pisses me off.
I just had a look and these things cost between just under £5k and about £8.5k. How does a 15-year old afford that? And if they are all stolen, who are they stolen from?
Selling drugs or at least running them. Middle management in IT pays nothing compared to what these kids are earning. Plus they don't have the finance on an Audi to keep up with.
As above. They seem like a very useful tool for balaclava wearing roadman to make a quick getaway, usually down routes the Polis can't follow at 40+mph. Hence cycle tracks.
So perhaps the Police should use them and all.
My brother got one (cheap from a mate whose wife said that it violated the “no motorbike agreement they had”), no idea which model. He’s been thrashing it around the old tracks and jumps we made on my parent’s farm for the last 6 months. They’re awesome fun. I know we all turn our noses up at them (“oh I say, they’re like a commoner’s ebike”) and there are loads of scrotes riding them around (at least they’re smaller and less noisy than the dirt bikes they all used to ride), but on private land they’re great fun and being almost silent means they don’t piss off the neighbours like motors and quads (and a trike) used to when we were kids.
It’s had loads of abuse, minimal servicing (I swapped the pads out recently)and for about £1,800 (Inc charger, etc) it’s great.
But then neither of us plan on riding it on the road or public trails.
My little brother (43 years old) does often wear a balaclava in winter, but usually only when it’s very cold and he’s out cutting down trees of general estate maintenance at the NT property he manages.
The reason so many of these young scamps suddenly seem to be cruising around in £££££ E-MX bikes is because many are involved with drug running and they get them bought for them by higher-ups, this not only makes them more effective at their job but ties them into the gang because they need to 'pay off' the bike.
As had been said above, the laws are already there, but there's not enough resource to enforce them.
And, whilst I'm sure there are farmers and other law abiding users out there, my encounters with them have also been 100% 'balaclava'ed tosspot tearing down a local cyclepath with a spliff hanging out his mouth"
He’s been thrashing it around the old tracks and jumps we made on my parent’s farm for the last 6 months. They’re awesome fun. I know we all turn our noses up at them
Not when used as intended as above, great fun.
Two lads by me were killed on one, the ensuing riots gained national attention. As always everybody elses fault accept themselves and those who bought it for them (family or so they say )
The reason so many of these young scamps suddenly seem to be cruising around in £££££ E-MX bikes is also because
Sam Pilgrim being epic on one
We had two splatted on a local road which stopped me getting home, but calling into the pub, they were ‘lovely lads
Sad as it is when anyone dies, there's an element of sound-bite bingo when you read reports on these accidents...
Lovely lad, heart of gold, loved his family, loveable rogue, bit of a rascal, etc. etc.
A 200% import tax. Make it financially impossible for most to own them.
The law that introduces that tax will have to be written incredibly carefully to avoid actual legal e-bikes getting caught up in it.
And then que Sur Ron marketing bikes with tiny cranks and pedals to sell them as E-bikes but with MX foot pegs in the box and software that can be delimited and set to run off a throttle by anyone with 5 minutes and an Internet connection.
The brands making these bikes and actively marketing them towards the urban scrote market are 100% part of the problem here.
A 200% import tax. Make it financially impossible for most to own them.
TBH it’s how they are being sold is the problem, classify it as a motorbike that requires registration and insurance and don’t permit sale for off road use only and sell thru a dealership.
Currently you can just mail order one no questions asked.
If caught on the road without reg and insurance straight in the crusher.
Meh I hate being a fun killer but it’s the few that stop us having nice things.
They are the new dirt bikes TBH, but you can’t hear them.
Exactly, I'm rarely caught off guard when out and about but these do almost every time.
If you took a cross-section of 100 Surron ‘owners’ I suspect you’d find 99 of them are balaclava wearing, drug dealing scumbags. Apologies to the 1%.
Would be great if the police could get a list of them from the seller or from payment processors. Then go after a small sample, if it yields criminals then crack on go through all of them.
Report on crimestoppers. The authorities can’t do anything about a problem if they don’t have the data and crimestoppers is a convenient way to get information in to the system.
I have a few times. Feel like a bit of a fool tbh to keep reporting them really, they know but can't and/or won't do anything.
If they had an officer hide in the bushes beside the cycle path with a stinger at the ready for a couple of hours on an evening, they'd almost certainly nab a few.
They're the scumbag's favourite toy round here, seeing them more and more, Clearly the Rozzers aren't able to catch and/or confiscate them.
Watched two wheelying between cars, through a red light into a section of dual carriageway the other night, followed by their lower tier mate on his E-scooter... hoodies and facemasks or Balaclavas means the police certainly can't chase, much less follow or else it ends up like the whole thing in Cardiff the other week.
Interestingly the small number of scumbags that typically blat about on stolen MX bikes every summer seem to be strangely absent so far. I doubt they're still in hibernation, it's more likely they've moved onto Sur-rons, no need for time consuming maintenance or buying petrol, all they need to do is plug it in round their Nan's house. While I don't miss the noise of a knackered 2 stroke being inexpertly strangled, you could at least hear them coming better.
Sod it ban the bastard things, both the sale and ownership of them, some rules need to be enforced:
You can purchase (and register) a proper road legal E-Motocycle when you produce a license in the shop. The Sur-rons (and the privately owned e-scooters need to be taken away and crushed, make the import and sale of them illegal. They get a single, brief, amnesty to hand them in for a refund. After that, whip out the battery pack and straight in the crusher they go (the bikes). I also reckon anyone who's kids have one (however it was funded/supplied) should be put on something like a parenting order by default...
<p style="text-align: left;">Interestingly, Faceache shoved me a fairly recent post from South Yorkshire Police off road team. Seems that Sur-rons are currently their main confiscation.</p>
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02KZ7tqA7rjLCVXfqg1P9vXrY6SymSD4sy1VwGEt2Xz2xeKD6pCgumc3c8NVc8jJQ5l&id=100064546216014
Yep and six months later Auctioned off again, no doubt to end up back in the hands of another scumbag...
The comments underneath that post are..... enlightening.
The number of posts basically saying 'snitches get stitches' on a Police FB page gives you a fair idea of the mentality we are dealing with here.
West Mids have invested in drones: https://www.west-midlands.police.uk/frequently-asked-questions/police-drones
Makes a lot of sense, although I'd like to see high speed drones to catch the likes of the surrons, trace them back to their houses, video evidence, bike seized and then crushed.
2 were going round Woburn yesterday, annoying as I had my kids with me, we overtook then when they stopped for a fag break
I've twice now told a couple of pairs of different lads riding them up at the local cycle trails in a public park by me that they aren't allowed to be used there.
Both times been verbally abused, threatened and then told off by my gf who says I'll get knifed. Hate the things and it's only going to get worse.
Both times reported on 101. Both times heard nothing back at all, even with photos.
Is it cos they don’t wear helmets that the cops can’t chase them?
Rife round here too, however Police beign very active about it and chasing reports, asking for evidence etc.
Still some nuggets who respond 'whats the point in reporting' on the social media post/email comms literally asking people to report so they know where to find them....
That's the theory, I imagine most of them wouldn't wear helmets anyway, seems to be an article of faith for the average scally, whether they're motorized or pedal powered.
Actually reported a lovely balaclava'ed gentleman doing wheelies past the local shops yesterday evening via 101 and was told something similar, please report so that they can identify where/when they are being used and are more likely to be able to catch them.
Part of the problem is a lack of public awareness and education. I appreciate there is a proportion users who are fully aware that what they are doing is illegal, but there are plenty who aren't. Urban myths about what you can and can't do are rife.
The department of Transport should be running ad campaigns to educate the public, especially teenagers and their parents, as to the difference between an electrically assisted pedal bike and an electric motor bike, which Sur Ron's clearly are. The adverts should also make clear the penalties for using unregistered motor bikes (electric of otherwise). Most of these kids are only interested in these bikes until they can get a driving license and a car. If they are made aware that you will get points on your license before you even get it or be disqualified from driving, they may think twice about using these electric motorbikes illegally.
Bloke turned up with his 3 kids on electric quad bikes and his sur-ron at wythenshawe park bike tracks yesterday. The bike trails there are already showing significant signs of wear thanks to these things, they were throwing up stones all over the place.
There were probably more kids on the bike tracks than on the playground.
in those photos in kayak23's post one of them appears to have a numberplate (GH22 SUS).... if thats not fake then at least the bike itself might be road legal,even if they person riding it is not legal and is riding it in a place where its not allowed.
edit : just checked that number plate - doesnt appear to exist - so its fake.
They look like great fun. Mountain biking at higher speeds and zero effort. As long as they are available they will be used. I don't remember being too fussed about rules and regulations (or what others thought) when i was 18.
Cutting off the supply is the only realistic option.
I keep looking for one being scrapped or auctioned off as I reckon they'd make a good basis to convert somrthing like a BSA Bantam to electric.
Not that the Bantam frame would be an improvement, but I don't think I'd suit the Trapstar hoodie look of a Sur-Ron 🤣
It's all about Hoodrich for the spotty ASBO-magnets round here.
Jeez, is this what passes for fashion now? 😆
I saw a local teen in one of their trackies the other day. Baby blue with a massive logo on the crotch. Looked ****ing ridiculous!
Looks like a character out of Mortal Kombat.
They seem very common in South Wales. 3 of them passed the police station on the back wheel as I was walking past, so they clearly aren't concerned about losing them. I know when I was in Bristol there was a 1 strike policy for e scooters where they'd then be confiscated, but I suppose it's much harder to catch these.
Yes JD sports...that's not at ALL terrifying...
Sigh...
DrP
They look like great fun. Mountain biking at higher speeds and zero effort. As long as they are available they will be used. I don’t remember being too fussed about rules and regulations (or what others thought) when i was 18
Cutting off the supply is the only realistic option.
They do. I want one. I'm 42. 🤣
We've a few acres of private woods here, and a pretty good network of greenlanes. Frankly it's an indicator only of my poor finances that I've not bought one already! 🤣 Please don't ban them, I want one 😁
(I'm glad I don't live in suburbia/cities where they're becoming a problem though. Out here in rural Wales I've never even seen one!)
Plenty of them still wazzing round Cannock Chase & surrounding areas.
We also get the petrol dirt bikes over the back form us (Shoal Hill Common) - reported several (what feels like hundred...) times and still the Police have done nothing about it. We won't walk the dogs or let my daughter ride over there now.
We've had a couple of close calls - mainly from those who look of an age to know better.
I'm half thinking of getting myself a drone and filming them and sending to the Police.
I’m half thinking of getting myself a drone and filming them and sending to the Police.
I've done Police work on their behalf before to facilitate their investigations. Huge waste of time.
I was also rear ended by a Sur-ron a few months ago.
I was driving the 'big van' and I saw 2 scrotes on one bike in my passenger mirror. Flying along the pavement. No helmets, full ninja masks. They dropped off onto the road and didn't appear in my other mirror so I knew they were right behind me.
I gently slowed down so that they could more easily circumnavigate my vehicle but I heard a loud thump followed by a clattering sound. I kept driving and when I could see them in the drivers mirror the bike was on the ground and they were slowly picking themselves up. I would have stopped to check their health or administer First Aid if required but I didn't fancy being stabbed for my trouble.
My biggest problem on a daily basis is walking to nursery with the pram. I have to take the widest possible line around blind corners because I don't want to push junior in the path of a flying Deliveroo bike.
We’ve a few acres of private woods here, and a pretty good network of greenlanes
Green lanes are not off road and you still need to be registered, taxed and all that shizzle just as you do on the road.
Only private land is off road.
Bloke turned up with his 3 kids on electric quad bikes and his sur-ron at wythenshawe park bike tracks yesterday.
To be fair thats probably the only way of getting WBP trails to work. They are utterly woeful.
( apart from the pumptrack, it's great)