Forum menu
E-scooters, Surrons and the like are all over the place here too. The rules are really strict, but nobody seems to care. I think a lot of parents just see it as easier than driving their kids to places.
I nearly ran over two kids on the same e-scooter last year when they crashed in front of me. I can't say i've heard of them being used for crimes, but the hospitals are recording statistics of the accidents and fatalities from all the crashes.
However local police did a weekend operation where they pestered the crap out of everyone not following rules. They even released a video.
A while back we nearly totalled a kid (maybe 10) riding a Husky 501 without a helmet in a country town. My wife was about to turn into a car park and he came down the inside narrowly missing us - then had the cheek to look back at us like we'd done something wrong!
The clue with these is - are there two on a moped?
We got chased similar near Rother Valley. Managed to get through one of those metal stiles.
My thought process has always been you're better away from the edges of towns and cities in the hope they don't leave their territory too much. But they're now popping up everywhere.
There's always been off roaders around here but never really had any problems in the pre-covid era. So when did they turn from off-roader to marauders?
I suspect is was with the cheap imports of quads and bikes.
So when did they turn from off-roader to marauders?
When super-quiet electric jobbies that can still do 50 mph and which you can mail order from China no questions asked became a thing.
Coupled with an overstretched and underfunded police force and the emergent belief amongst the scrote population that not wearing a helmet means they won't chase you.
There's not really more scrotes than there were 10-20 years ago, they're just highly mobile and much harder to catch and therefore can engage in general scrotiness with much greater efficiency over a much wider area.
I saw a youtube video last night of a pari of moped car jackers with two-up on each trying to block then rob a van (it was all dash cam footage). The van driver just ploughed through the bike trying to stop him. I chuckled!
DrP
then had the cheek to look back at us like we’d done something wrong!
I could just visualize the 'Scrote Scowl' and textbook "What you looking at dik hehd?" as I read that.
@chambord, that's near where I live and 'scalley alley' is aptly named on Strava (the farm track) - that's the Woods over in Woodbank, and the escape into Bredbury. I use that farm track regular on both the CX, commuter and the MTB. I've come across the sur-run lot round there often.
Seen a few surrons round here in the Rhondda but it is mostly illegal mx-bikes that come out at the weekends and ride the local hills - occasionally a police helicopter will be out for them, but mostly they ride uninterrupted.
Often the trails and paths are in a bit of a trashed/rutted state but also some of the paths are kept in reasonable shape because the bikes have used them and kept them clear.
Sometimes when you are out walking you think you've found a new path down the hill, but it then turns out just to be where the mx-bikes have gone down it and then turned to climb back up, so you've walked down it only to be faced with a rutted walk back up the hill again.
A lot of the coal tips have big rutted line up them where the mx-bikes have been doing hill climbs.
In two minds about it - one it is illegal, but 2) there is not much else provided round here for entertainment.
"In two minds about it – one it is illegal, but 2) there is not much else provided round here for entertainment."
I'm very clear about this. It's illegal, noisy and damaging. If they need somewhere to ride so be it, but find somewhere that it is legal to ride. Even then/ there it may be an inappropriate place because of the damage caused. If a place can't be found then tough, don't ride. As you say, the damaged tracks and trails throughout the hills above the Rhondda, Cynon, Dare, Aman, Afan and all the other valleys is dire. So much of the old coalfield area is treated by some so selfishly. It's been going on for years and it just isn't acceptable.
In two minds about it – one it is illegal, but 2) there is not much else provided round here for entertainment.
You wouldn't buy a cow if you didn't have a field.
I assume that neither of you ride "cheeky trails" or footpaths?
Cheeky trails, all the time, footpaths not so much, but I'm not complaining about illegal mx bikes on old coalfield areas.
First they came for the MXers ....
First they came for the MXers ….
They said that twenty odd years ago when the laws were changed to restrict motorized vehicles to a smaller proportion of the network, and the trend is still (very slowly) towards improved cycling access. That and there's a big difference between legal and illegal use, it's like arguing we should allow muppets to speed because if we don't the next thing you know they'll ban us all from driving to Tesco.
Speaking as a councillor who has to frequently deal with residents objections to cycle infrastructure the number 1 reason I hear for why some people don't want traffic free cycle routes near them is because 'We'll get motorbikes speeding along them.'
Whilst this kind of objection has always existed in one form or another, the emergence of Sur Rons and the antisocial douchebags who ride them has been utterly corrosive to local public support for improved cycling infrastructure and given a certain section of society that just hates all bikes a big, pointy stick to beat us with.
Did make me think twice about riding alone.
I had every sympathy for him, right up until he was steaming along the roadside on one wheel at the end, at which point I was rooting for the scrotes.
I put his exuberant riding and wheely-ing down to adrenaline from the situation. It was still dickish though.
Say you can’t do a manual without saying you can’t do a manual ?
When I saw this thread I thought about that spray marker as a deterrent/ weapon. I saw a vid where the police were using the dna marker spray on moped riders in London. They seemed to be using the tactic of knocking them off their mopeds at speed with a patrol car then dousing them with that marker spray if they get away. Seemed like a good idea and might. Be a worthwhile investment but caution needs to be exercised if confronting idiots like that. In that vid posted of the guy with the spray one of them seemed to have a welding hammer.
The spray is called Farb spray - it's a permanent paint and it will wreck clothing and dye your skin for a few days - doesn't wash off that easily.
Is the FARB spray legal? I mean, this amazon link seems to say it is: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Criminal-Identifier-Defence-Multi-Function/dp/B076KDXG4Y
It also seems relatively cheap. Almost Secret Santa cheap.
It's supposed to be as a non-irritant, but you never know. Deep Heat or Linx and a lighter (flame thrower) may be better
Is the FARB spray legal? I mean, this amazon link seems to say it is: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Criminal-Identifier-Defence-Multi-Function/dp/B076KDXG4Y
It also seems relatively cheap. Almost Secret Santa cheap.
If you scroll down on that amazon link you get this "Meat tenderiser"
I'm not sure the local constabulary would agree with that description if they found it in your camelbak.
I’m very clear about this. It’s illegal, noisy and damaging.
Stats show that in areas where a cycle pump track has been built then the local anti-social behaviour and crime is reduced (when they were asking for volunteers to help with the track near Barry Sidings they linked to this information).
If they could do something similar for the mx-bikes it might help, maybe several areas rotated on a fallowing basis. Health and Safety though would be a problem though, would need to do something like track inspections like Swinley Forest do so they can get out of liabilty.
They've been riding these things here for ages it seems, they aren't going to stop it so maybe the best option is to manage it.
I was walking past Treorchy cemetery just after last xmas in the latter stages of a long walk and there was the drone of mx motors so I looked around and these is a big dirt area there were a bunch of kids around 10 years old were looping around on their small mx-bikes they had been bought for xmas.
I spoke to some parents who were helping load the bikes back into their van after their kids had been riding, and they said that getting their kids hooked on bikes would hopefully keep them away from drugs/other crime, etc. They had a point.
As you say, the damaged tracks and trails throughout the hills above the Rhondda, Cynon, Dare, Aman, Afan and all the other valleys is dire. So much of the old coalfield area is treated by some so selfishly. It’s been going on for years and it just isn’t acceptable
But consider that a lot of this area was coalfields and the area was pretty trashed by that industry. It has recovered to a good extent but designating areas that can be managed with controlled amounts of damage, rotated to allow recovery, would be feasible.
Complaints about preserving and protecting the countryside round here run hollow when a lot of the countryside and hills are manmade and huge areas of trees are regularly harvested from the hills, leaving big areas of debris and damage.
Another vehicle that is popular roound here is the snorkle equiped Suzuki Jimny with jacked suspension and extra large wheels and tyres. You see a few of them up on the hills often burnt out, and bits of drivetrain scattered about.
I spoke to some parents who were helping load the bikes back into their van after their kids had been riding, and they said that getting their kids hooked on bikes would hopefully keep them away from drugs/other crime, etc. They had a point.
True, Once hooked on MTB's and or Dirt bikes you can't afford drugs 🙂