In your opinion, what represents the very pinnacle of 2 wheeled bell-endery?

being drafted
I often ride around Regents Park on the road bike to get some fitness training in
I ride on my own, at my own pace, not trying to race anyone – so why do people insist on sitting on my back wheel when there’s a head wind, then overtake when it’s gone?
if you want an easier ride, just slow down a bit!

why do people insist on sitting on my back wheel when there’s a head wind, then overtake when it’s gone?

Why does it matter, it’s not making your ride harder is it?

+1 for RLJing. It’s a perennial bugbear of mine, those who do it are often the slowest riders and you end up having to risk your neck getting past them four times over.

Why does it matter, it’s not making your ride harder is it?

it puts me off, and actually makes me ride faster which isn’t necessarily what I want to do; puts me off my rhythm

Gradually slow down until you eventually come to a halt, they’ll get the idea eventually 🙂

Grown men riding on the pavement

Litter. I rememeber riding at Cannock recently, I helped remove a guys mech after he had broken it and falling off. We finished, he put his pack on and went to ride off leaving the mech in the side of the trail, he only picked it up when I asked is he wanted me to put it in the bin at car park.

nee and shin guards strapped to the massive camelback so the ride can gnar up on the energy section of whites

What? Oh no! Someone wanting to be comfortable up their fire-road climb? Stop press!

Also people need to learn to deal with drafting. Some people have far to go.

idiots on bikes cutting me up when I am driving

brakes – Member
Why does it matter, it’s not making your ride harder is it?
it puts me off, and actually makes me ride faster which isn’t necessarily what I want to do; puts me off my rhythm

It actually makes it easier, but it’s rude and potentially dangerous.

Folk shouldn’t do rides and rely on drafting strangers – we’ve all heard some tool say “yeah just finishing a 100-miler” – aye, right.

roadies who cycle two abreast on main roads (i understand the safety side of it on country lanes etc etc) but on a main road, just so they can chat utter shit pisses me off as a driver, and lets face it, if it pisses off a fellow cyclist then imagine the hatred in non cyclists…

Generally yes. The problem with alot of the other stuff is there’s not as many people to race on it, and alot of the tracks are bridleways so I can pass without having to shout.

Genuine LOL at that, well done!

People being a knob in public, be it littering, RLJing, riding on pavements etc. It’s how we all get tarred with the same brush!

Drafting does annoy me if they don’t say hello or anything. If you’re gonna sit 2″ off my back wheel why not talk to me… It’s pretty dangerous if nothing else, I may not have noticed and suddenly brake or swerve!

“To me the ultimate in naffness is lycra replica team kit. I always thought it looked achingly strokerish in a look-at-me, I’m Lance Armstrong type of way.”

What about if they are dressed up in full HTC Highroad kit including flash sunglasses

As I drove through Ongar, (north west Essex) I thought whose this geezer all decked out in team clobber…. Turned out it was the man himself.

Tooted my horn furiously.

People who knock other people off when trying to overtake during endurance events.

Oh hang on a second that was me!

Whoops (and sorry again)!

OscillateWildly +1
Got overtaken by a pair of such folk whilst doing a long ride home on the road bike the other evening.
I was wearing my favourite pro-cycling team strip (which obviously I am a bell end for) but they had shaved their legs (no helmets tho’) and were carrying far too much lard to be racers….

So as they were obviously trying to out bell-end me I sucked their wheels most of the way home – they couldn’t shake me 😆

OscillateWildly +2

“A mobile equivalent of a Roooooney England shirt in the pub.”

To be fair its not, is it.

If the said cyclist was stood in full regalia in a pub then yes. But they are out participating in their sport. Much like and lads wearing their Spurs/arsenal/ west ham …. actually you dont see many of them these days…. football shirts on a Tuesday night at training

People who think that the trail (or indeed the road) is their personal closed off track and ride expecting everyone to get out of their way.

better to ride two up on main roads. forces idiots in cars who are rushing to nowhere to give a little more room instead of squeezing round when there is on coming traffic. or so i would like to think.

alex222 – Member

better to ride two up on main roads. forces idiots in cars who are rushing to nowhere to give a little more room instead of squeezing round when there is on coming traffic. or so i would like to think.

well in that case, you are one of the c*cks im on about – no need what so ever on main roads – it riles me up, so i cant imagine what it does to non cyclists….

read the highway code. so you are one of those idiots who will squeeze past me whilst you are in a rush to get to your riding spot 200 meters past me. yep you are the maximum two wheeled bellendery then.

alex222 read the highway code….

better to ride two up on main roads.

Hmmm…

TBH having read STW makes me even more concerned commuting. 2 abreast is not breaking any law and you should be a little more patient

TBH i would think it is safer side by side on a main [ ie wide and fast] road than on a narrow [and fast] twisty country road.

the two by 2 thing is encouraged by the highway code and the police, so bollox to car drivers. All they have to do is raise and lower the sole of their shoe by a few mm.

2 abreast is not breaking any law and you should be a little more patient

Might not be breaking a law, but when I am holding up traffic in my car, generally I will pull over out of common courtesy. Some cyclists seem to think it’s ‘us vs them’ and common courtesy shouldn’t apply.

FFS even on a bike forum you need to defend a cyclist not breaking the law on the road.
Car is king even here.
Yes it may delay you but so might a hearse the bastards

It’s not about the car being king is it – it’s about common courtesy. Like I said I try not to hold people up unnecessarily in my car too.

but the point IS why on earth do they need to ride 2 abreast on main roads/??!?!?!? why oh why, regardless of the law?? there is simply no need other than to chat….riding 2 abreast clearly causes a driver to go even wider of the pair, thus either making them cross on the wrong side of the road, or wait and wait and wait until a gap comes clear…..when there would be no need if it was single file….

its like some cyclists purposefully try to wind drivers up….i dont get it…

i ride some road on mtb to link up places, and out of courtesy me and a mate as soon as we see cars coming decide to go single…why? because it pretty thoughtless and ignorant to ride two abrest imo…

Even so if i ride single file i should still be given

give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car (see Rules 211-215)

So it is logical then to ride two a breast so the group is shorter hence easier to over take as you have to use the oncoming lane and not just bully your way past.

That says ‘give cyclists as much clearance as you would give a car’, not ‘pretend the cyclist is the width of a car’ surely.

I find on many bits of main road cars can quite easily and safely pass me without going into the other lane.

alex222 – Member

Even so if i ride single file i should still be given

give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car (see Rules 211-215)

So it is logical then to ride two a breast so the group is shorter hence easier to over take as you have to use the oncoming lane and not just bully your way past.

rubbish – absolute rubbish – overtaking 2 roadies side by side, given a gap inbetween them is not going to be far off the width of a standard hatchback car….so by your theory cars would be basically overtaking another car to get past, on a main road, where they would clearly not need to if in single file…..overtaking the width of a car is much more dangerous in a built up area than overtaking 2 single lined cyclists….

you clearly sound like the typical stuck up ‘im a cyclist’ i own the road type…the law is wrong in many ways, not just here, just like in many other walks of life, doesnt use common sense all the time does it??

It’s already been said a couple of times but people who care what other cyclists look like/ride/wear probably top the list of bell-endery for me.

thus either making them cross on the wrong side of the road, or wait and wait and wait until a gap comes clear

if you see the highway code picture the car is [partly]on the other side of the road to overtake a cyclist so it just has to be further over to overtake 2 – I cant be bothered googling for it- NO I CAN
If they are waiting it is the cars coming the other way stopping them overtaking why not get cross at them?

Yes Grum when I commute the one thing I can tell about car drivers is how courteous they are to my needs…every ride every day.

here argue with this then

you clearly sound like the typical stuck up ‘im a cyclist’ i own the road type…

And unfortunately you are sounding like the typical car driver I own the road type.

Top of the list for me is those who can sit on their handlebars facing backwards, but riding forwards! Grrrrrrrr I could never do that as a kid, nor now 😀 must try harder! I think the picture below is of the rider above just showing off!
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For me the pinnacle recently was a bloke riding an electric bike through the outdoor section of Eurobike way too quickly and skidding the back wheel behind folk to get them to move out of his way. There was just no need for it really. Not good PR for the bike brand.

ha ha ha @ davidtaylforth

I hate cyclists who just ride along 2 or 3 abreast on a country road, who have no obvious reason, apart from to have a friendly chat.

Perhaps go single file, just for 1 minute, so a car can pass?

Top of the list for me is those who can sit on their handlebars facing backwards, but riding forwards! Grrrrrrrr I could never do that as a kid, nor now must try harder!

OH OH OH! Bastards who can wheelie for ever. BASTARDS!

Yes Grum when I commute the one thing I can tell about car drivers is how courteous they are to my needs…every ride every day.

So because car drivers aren’t considerate, you’re going to be inconsiderate too? I just think this furthers the confrontational ‘us and them’ attitude that doesn’t do anyone any favours.

Yes in your pic the car is on the other side of the road but on a lot of main roads there is a lot more room than that.