Odd encounter with motorbike on Bridgewater canal path yesterday…

Cycling along yesterday and heard a loud bike on the bridge above the towpath, then after a few moments I realised he wasn’t on the bridge but on the path behind me. So I pulled to one side and waved him through. He says thanks and sped off in a puff of stinking smoke.

About a mile later there was a woman having a furious altercation with him on a feeder path.

You shouldn’t be here….

What harm am I doing? I stopped to let you join, what’s the problem?

Etc etc with the woman getting more irate and the bebalaclavad mbiker being fairly unrepentant but pretty conciliatory and reasonable with his responses.

Anyway, the missus and I had stopped to check the woman was ok, which she completely was. The woman then brought me into the conversation by saying “Don’t you agree he’s out of order and shouldn’t bloody well be here..”

At which point I recalled the mbiker’s patience when he was stuck behind me, his politeness when he eventually passed and compared it to the general attitude to Manc motorists and realised that actually I didn’t have a particular problem with him.

I waved to the woman to suggest she go round the mbike and proceed, but she wasn’t interested and started ranting at the mbiker.

At which point I left her to it.

Which really surprised me. In general terms I dislike motorbikes intensely. And don’t like them on paths, cycleways and tow paths. But the fact of the matter was that he was much less ofa threat than your average Manc driver.

There is no point to this thread, I was just surprised to find myself not siding with the cyclist..,

Very CSB

All I can think is that the woman was a complete moron for ranting at him, middle of nowhere having a go at some ‘bloke’ on a motorbike almost feels like asking for him to get a knife etc out of his pocket or just simply pushing her into the canal!?

It’s a bit like the not-so-few on here who ride cheeky footpaths. Granted, motorbikes are a bit more intrusive, but being polite goes a long way.
We end up with rules and restrictions because people are arseholes.

Completely out of order riding a motorbike on a tow path no matter how polite the rider.

Your either trolling or I’m a bit confused by all of this but some scroaty Mcwanker is riding a motorbike on a path and you think it’s fine because he waved????

It’s the only balaclava ed motorbike/sur-ron rider in the whole of Gtr Manchester that was polite then. Never met on that isn’t a dangerous idiot. Nearly been hit on my bike by them even more than when in the car. Should have kicked him in the soup.

Your either trolling or I’m a bit confused by all of this but some scroaty Mcwanker is riding a motorbike on a path and you think it’s fine because he waved????

Yeah, almost…

I didn’t think it was “fine”, but the encounter didn’t offend me anything like as much as like  as dozens, if not hundreds, of encounters with apparently law abiding responsible car drivers in Manchester.

Which is weird. Which is why I posted the thread.

We end up with rules and restrictions because people are arseholes.

You know, I’d never thought of it that way, but you’re absolutely right.

‘Some’ people though, obvs

Which really surprised me. In general terms I dislike motorbikes intensely

Fair enough. I hate traction engines. Dicks.

Your either trolling or I’m a bit confused by all of this but some scroaty Mcwanker is riding a motorbike on a path and you think it’s fine because he waved????

I’m with RNP on this, We have various shared use and canal tow-paths near us, there’s also proper MX track within a couple of miles. But all the little shits do is practice their wheelies and rip up and down paths where bikes/peds/kids/dogs have ROW but not motor vehicles.

The ones on Surrons are just the one’s that have shifted enough product for a special gift from their favourite ‘Uncle‘ so they get a stealth moto to really **** with strangers and try to evade the Rozzers.

The last thing I want is the wider public perceiving some sort of equivalence between me on my push bike, and Scrotes on stolen crossers and Surrons funded by the proceeds of the drug trade. I certainly don’t feel any affinity for them just because their toy’s have 2 wheels as well.

Honestly **** ’em; the couple of times they might decide to be civil, doesn’t undo the constant noise, antisocial behaviour and real risk of harm they pose to people, every bloody summer…

The fact he was wearing a Balaclava shows that he knows damn well he shouldn’t be there.

The strangeness seems to be that you seem to have encountered the .000001% of masked up moto-scrotes who are in anyway concerned for their fellow humans. He may be new to the ‘culture’ and not quite able to summon the attitude yet.

The ones I’ve encountered would have just shoved her into the canal without batting an eyelid.

I come across motorbikers fairly regularly on the canal towpath out by Broxburn (the particularly scallywaggy ones use it to access some oil shale mine slag heaps to tear about). They are pretty much always polite and don’t bother me individually but regardless of that it’s not really a safe place for them – they’re much bigger than other towpath users and it’s a narrow space.

I don’t have a go at them and don’t get upset about it but it’s not a great spot for it.

I don’t have a go at them and don’t get upset about it but it’s not a great spot for it.

Kind of sums up my view of experiences locally on towpath and Sustrans paths. The recent rise of the balaclava’d scrote has made it worse, (favourite episode of Traffic Cops involved one being arrested on the Nutbrook Trail) I feel a bit sorry for “proper” MXers who use them to access wasteland to ride as they have nothing legal to ride locally. There’s a parallel with mountain bikers in some ways.

But knobbing about and revving the life out of your bike on a trail used by young families and horse riders is unwise, to say the least. The Police run MX patrols for visibility but rarely catch anything apart from a coffee at the Nutbrook Coffee Shop.

Kind of sums up my view of experiences locally on towpath and Sustrans paths. The recent rise of the balaclava’d scrote has made it worse, (favourite episode of Traffic Cops involved one being arrested on the Nutbrook Trail) I feel a bit sorry for “proper” MXers who use them to access wasteland to ride as they have nothing legal to ride locally. There’s a parallel with mountain bikers in some way.

Defo this.

There used bit a hardcore MXers who basically wanted to ride off-road.  Can sort of live with them. Always have.

But round here it’s morphed into balaclava criminal riders.  And to be honest I feel like I have to watch over my should which was never a feature of the past.

I don’t like this feeling. I went into the forest to get away from urban scrotuses.

I’m coming up against more and more – sur-ron’s which are built to break the law as far as I can tell.  It’s not just the fact it’s irrational – I’ve been chased once with my partner by 4 guys on bikes clearly after my bike and also had my partner’s bike taken in front of me in a park. (We got it back. Police did a good job.)

So being kind is one thing but I’d prefer to have no interaction at all.

There are often dozens of quads around here and they’re mostly up to no good.

I don’t trust any of them and feel I’m under extra stress to watch my partner’s back whilst on a ride.

But round here it’s morphed into balaclava criminal riders.

These guys can **** right off as far as I’m concerned, and I don’t care if they want to wave at me, I will make it as awkward as I can for them when I encounter them, They’re often young scrotes who’s bike weigh only slightly less than they do, and low speed, they struggle. I will aim for them, I will stop in the middle of the canal tow path, and I will challenge them. It doesn’t make any difference to their behaviour, but I’m not going to give them an easy ride either.

I think the most amazing thing here is that you’ve come across a motorbike rider, riding somewhere they shouldn’t be who was polite about it. All the ones I’ve come across have been brain dead slobbering mouth breathers who can barely string two words together.

When we were cycling past Workington on the cycle paths (riding Hadrian’s cycle route) we noticed that several of the balaclava clad kids mx bikes and Sorons waved or said hi. Didn’t make it right and they’re almost certainly up to no good but made a change. As for confronting the ones I regularly see commuting, no chance.

It’s a bit like the not-so-few on here who ride cheeky footpaths.

agreed. This was my thought as I ruminated on this overnight.

We end up with rules and restrictions because people are arseholes

Exactly, and it’s the same point. We should be free to do what we want, so long as we don’t ruin things for anyone else. Except, we do often do that, sometimes unintentionally, so we’ve ended up with rules and restrictions to try and keep our society functioning. Which kinda sucks – that we can’t all just be nice and considerate and intelligent, but hey-ho.

See also loo-roll holders. How much human ingenuity has been invested in designing loo roll holders for public or workplace toilets, and how much productivity is lost when users have to extract it one damn sheet at a time, just because people can’t be nice and not nick a whole loo roll for themselves?

We end up with rules and restrictions because people are arseholes

I think there might actually be other reasons too…

It’s a bit like the not-so-few on here who ride cheeky footpaths.

do we ride cheeky footpaths though because we’re trying to avoid traffic stops riding our unlicensed, untaxed, uninsured motor vehicles?

Very surprised that a woman told him off, definitely not a wise move.  Will this make him change his ways?  No, he won’t bother being polite next time.  Of course he shouldn’t have been there but how many of you ride cheeky trails?  Is that only one hand I can see?

Out of interest OP, were you able to guess his age?

What do you do about them though? The police don’t have enough resources to catch criminals let alone scrotes, who are often apprentice criminals, on illegal Mixers or electric motor bikes. They can’t chase them in case they kill themselves and they will never get any witnesses to incriminate them.

On a serious note, it’s probably gone too far to make any meaningful change and really education is the only hope.

What do you do about them though? 

Mechanical sterilisation.

These scrotes on their pimped up bikes, riding the tow paths far too fast, intimidating all types of people, dogs and small children, seem to be very brave when in a group, but on its own a scally isn’t so brave. I personally am fed up with the noise, the intent to really frighten people, the ability to cause serious damage and commit theft, robbery and violence.

The latest one we had was flying down the towpath beeping his horn and expecting families, women with buggies, old people with dogs and anyone enjoying a nice summer evening stroll to jump/leap out of the way.

 but how many of you ride cheeky trails?

Don’t understand this argument, while both activities on the face of it are illegally accessing RoW that nominally we have no rights to, I think that’s about where any comparison between pedalling a pushbike along a footpath, and riding a 50cc Itchi-Fani along a canal towpath stops. If you think that these are somehow otherwise equivalent, you’re going to have to try harder than that to persuade me.

I don’t care if they’re ragging around on waste land, or an abandoned quarry or even moorland tracks – at least there fewer folks up there, anyone can see that riding a motorbike on a canal-side path is bloody stupid.

but how many of you ride cheeky trails?

Me. I even walked across a lawn at a country house a few weeks ago, instead of following the paving around the edge. ‘Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?’…

If you think that these are somehow otherwise equivalent, you’re going to have to try harder than that to persuade me.

Both are accessing rights of way they are not entitled to use. It’s either OK to do that or it isn’t. You either stand by a principle and apply it fairly or you don’t.

(I’m bored and grumpy, our access laws are not fit for purpose)

Both are accessing rights of way they are not entitled to use. It’s either OK to do that or it isn’t. You either stand by a principle and apply it fairly or you don’t.

I think there’s a difference (usually) in the way most MTBers ride ‘cheek’ … and (most) MX/Suron riders behave when riding where they’re not supposed to be. Personally, Rule#1 trumps the anachronistic RoW/access laws.

His motor cycle is no different from a chipped eBike. I ride along that bit of canal quite often and see lots of problems from inconsiderate eBikers and cyclists. The canal is busy and you need to have your best polite head on ride sensibly and be tolerant of ignorant pedestrians and loose dogs.

I have to admit to riding footpaths and I am not suposed to be there.

Just obey rule one.

Both are accessing rights of way they are not entitled to use. It’s either OK to do that or it isn’t. You either stand by a principle and apply it fairly or you don’t.

There’s a difference, one is a criminal offence (riding the motorbike), the other is a civil matter.

Don’t understand this argument,

Sense of humour failure there nickc!

“These scrotes on their pimped up bikes, riding the tow paths far too fast, intimidating all types of people, dogs and small children, seem to be very brave when in a group, but on its own a scally isn’t so brave. I personally am fed up with the noise, the intent to really frighten people, the ability to cause serious damage and commit theft, robbery and violence.

The latest one we had was flying down the towpath beeping his horn and expecting families, women with buggies, old people with dogs and anyone enjoying a nice summer evening stroll to jump/leap out of the way.”

Would it be worth contacting the Canal & River Trust?  Are there any boats moored and used as dwellings?  It sounds like really unselfish behaviour and needs to be reported to the police before anyone gets hurt.  Is there nowhere else for the scrotes to go where they won’t bother folk?  Or can some land be made available to them?

Is there nowhere else for the scrotes to go where they won’t bother folk?  Or can some land be made available to them?

If you didn’t have a field, you wouldn’t buy a cow.

Out of interest OP, were you able to guess his age?

Latex twenties at a guess.

(Typo left in)

Many years ago MX’ers were given use of a small piece of land abutting Swinley Forest.  I believe it worked well and kept them away from damaging the singletrack.  It was basically scrubland although surrounded by SSSI land.

It needs people working together and coming up with practical solutions.

The Bridgewater canal is nothing to do with the Canal and River Trust, its owned by Peel Holdings.

Ah, didn’t know that.

Basically the law covering the various sorts of illegal eBikes including the legit ones which have been chipped and motorcycles , escooters, wheel things is a mess. I have recently seen a couple of very young children ( below 5 years old) riding small e motocross bikes one accompanied by a parent and one loose on the cycle facilities in the park. These look like toys but are quite fast and riden by very small children must be unsafe for the child and anybody who gets in their way.

What are these kids going to be riding when they are 12 of 13 years old?

There is no enforcement I have noticed and with all the doggy delivery ebikes it makes life in cycle provision more exciting.