UKC

As a cyclist, these are some things which i see other cyclists doing which grind my gears.

Families out for a cycle, helmets on kids and mum/dad, but no helmet on dad/mum.
- really annoys me this!!

People out cycling with their saddle clearly to low.
- Seen this a few times, one so low the light on the post was blocked by the rear wheel.

Folk's cycling with headphones, I've done this once myself and almost crashed with a bus. Never again.

Little jimmy out cycling around the street carrying his helmet on his handlebar.
- Whats the point if mum/dad aren't going to check.

Cyclists texting/on the phone when cycling.
- Yes Really!

Feel free to add to the list

(Mods this maybe better in cycling section)

In reply to goldmember:






Make a duplicate. It will be fascinating to see how the parallel threads evolve

In reply to Blue Straggler:

aka danny macaskill threads!

In reply to goldmember:

When did cycling on pavements/without lights/over pedestrian crossings/through red lights ever become legal? I don't remember voting for any of them.

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

That's another one!

All in black (north face) headphone's in, no lights middle of the road!

In reply to goldmember:

No exaggeration, I saw this all at once a couple of years ago:
Night time, no lights, all dark clothing;
Earphones;
No helmet (fair enough it was just around town);
Jumping red light....
....in order to go the wrong way up a one-way street, on the road not the pavement....
and flicking the Vs at a car driver who reasonably and politely tooted his horn.

Cyclist looked like a well-to-do, smart lady too!

In reply to goldmember:

We have the freedom to be as stupid as we like and hope someone else picks up the pieces. Life in the UK, preferable to many other places.

In reply to goldmember:

parents and children cycling together, all wearing helmets...perched loosely on the back of their head not protecting them at all from an over the handle bars fall! (I really have to fight the urge to stop them and adjust it!) This bothers me more than anything as they THINK they are more protected than they are. If they choose no helmets, then that is an active choice and I'm ok with that, but these people have chosen protection, but through ignorance are not actually protected

In reply to goldmember:


you'll like this

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2769716/Naomi-Watts-Liev-Schre...

Agreed, tis my rant tho!

If Parents force helmets on their kids but don't wear them too is what annoys me!

In reply to malk:

GRRrrrRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In reply to goldmember:



I guess kids are more likely to fall off.



Just laugh and get over it.



Listening to audio books while cycling. Great.


Rebelling, what kid doesn't?



Why?

In reply to goldmember:

You need to stay in more, smile more, and get over yourself more ☺

JW

In reply to goldmember:

I love cycling with headphones in. Ive been doing it for 20 years without issue. I look around me regularly, do 'lifesaver looks' over my shoulder when i make a move right or left (taken from motorcycling lessons), and anticipate other road users very well in general.

I dont get what the problem is with this. Is a deaf person an accident waiting to happen on a bike? I dont think so.

In reply to The Norris:




only when they crash in to the blind man on a skateboard waving to the mute rollerblader

To OP,
anyway, I hope you feel better now that youve had your rant

In reply to ow arm:

I feel much better!

In reply to goldmember:






-The phrase "grind my gears"
-When people write "to" then they mean "too"

branching out.

Grammar police
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/people-who-highlight-minor-gramm...

In reply to goldmember:

People seeing one cyclist doing something wrong and extending the blame to all cyclists ever...

People thinking that shared blame requires punishment...

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I suppose it's highly plausible that there are some people who are dickheads who also cycle

In reply to goldmember:

My pet peeve is cyclists who pay lip service to lights. You get some who dangle those pathetic keyring lights you can get from Aldi for 50p in the hope they will be illuminated (they are not). You then get the other lot who buy really good lights but then hide them behind baskets, mudguards, bags or coats. Bonkers! I saw one student riding along holding a torch!

The ones that don't bother with lights at all deserve whatever is coming at them so I don't worry about them too much.

In reply to goldmember:

- Rear lights on other bikes that are so bright I get after-images and can't see the road.

- Front flashing lights on other bikes that are so bright I think the police are pulling me over.

In reply to goldmember:

Seeing kids cycling with helmets on, propped on the back of their heads, meaning the part of their heads they are most likely to bump if they fall off, their foreheads are not protected. It also means that they have a huge gap between their heads and the inside of the helmet so the rest of their head isn't protected either. If you're going to put a helmet on a kid, put it on them properly!

In reply to Le Chevalier Mal Fet:


Wen peepol rite 'then' wen thay meen 'when'.

In reply to RockAngel:


Agreed. Unfortunately, the smallest size available is still too big for my youngest so it flops about. I reconcile myself with the thought that something is better than nothing... and he will grow into it!

In reply to ByEek:

There are pads that you get with the helmets to stick inside it to make it fit!

In reply to goldmember:

- really annoys me this!!

Maybe you should go and look into the objective evidence about helmets then.


FYI I often wear headphones on bike rides, with a cycle app giving me brief 5 minute spoken updates on speed, distance etc. I will pause the music when I am on a road or anywhere else where my hearing benefits me. I can do this with the clicker on the headphone cable. A pair of silent headphones make sod all difference to my hearing perception of traffic noises. Also, if I am relying on my hearing to keep me from being wiped out by a bus I am doing something wrong. We now have some busses with hybrid electric drive that are almost silent when the pull out...


People who need to get over themselves?

In reply to goldmember:

Cyclists two abreast on narrow roads baulking faster vehicles overtaking.

In reply to RockAngel:

Alas this particular helmet which was actually bought for my eldest when he was a nipper didn't come with them because it has an adjustable band instead. Sadly, even on the smallest setting, it is still a bit too big.

In reply to goldmember:

In Sheffield cyclists seem to totally ignore traffic rules. While cycling was nearly taken out by another cyclist who didn't even slow for a red light. I see this often when driving. (It's how I know the anti-lock system on my brakes still works!)

In reply to goldmember:

Cyclists hobbling through the gap between a stationary bus and the pavement.

In reply to goldmember:

When I was a kid I used to ride with a helmet until out of view of the house, stash it in some bushes and go on my merry way. All to look cool, what a fud.

if people putting them selves in danger while not really endangering anyone else annoys you, maybe your on the wrong website?

maybe this is what your looking for:
http://www.connectedmoms.com/

In reply to humptydumpty:




That made me laugh...drives me mad too!

In reply to mypyrex:

In reply to goldmember:


I wouldn't do it ordinarily, but I was cycling up, a closed to cars, Blackstone Edge Road (6% average, about 12% where I was) to watch the TdF second stage. When my phone went, so I rooted it out of my pocket and answered it as I breezed past a group of other cyclists. I was quite proud to hear the words "he's just taking the piss now".

In reply to goldmember:


But oh no, this thread is incredible!! Every cyclist I've ever seen has been fantastically responsible and a shining model of good behaviour on the road - never ever going through red lights, always riding with extreme care and attention, constantly flicking through copies of the Highway Code to make sure they do nothing wrong - bless them - and they would never DREAM of going on the pavement!

And they're extremely respectful: I constantly see cyclists in floods of tears, just in case they might have somehow, somewhere, upset a car driver or pedestrian.

All power to them! Give them all Nobel prizes!

In reply to abseil:
Can someone explain to me why red light jumping by cyclists is such a massive sticking point for some people, given that motor vehicles do it almost as regularly?

It almost feels as though cyclists are being singled out and held to a higher set of standards than everyone else.

In reply to Trevers:


Do they? Really? Have you EVER been to London?

In reply to goldmember:
Today I cycled on the pavement briefly, while making progress along an otherwise deserted road and pavement as a car came up behind me, so the driver could happily get past, and the world didn't end. ()

In reply to Oceanrower:

I work in Central London, and I see motor vehicles running lights every trip to and from my office (five minute walk). I also reckon the ASL is occupied by a motor vehicle a good 25% of the time.

In reply to Trevers:

Yes another good rant.

Folk who park in cycle lanes!

In reply to goldmember:

Ah yes, I remember going through Kidderminster in the midlands - the road has a (too narrow) strip in the gutter for cyclists - but most of it was blocked by parked cars.

In reply to goldmember:

Edinburgh. Saw my first cyclists dressed all in black in the dark with invisible rear lights today.

Go guys!

In reply to digby:


They're ninjas

In reply to Trevers:

They may be. But the people about to mow them down aren't!

In reply to Oceanrower:
I've been to London. But dunno about there so much. In Sheffield however, yes, really, they do.

It's most obvious when you're waiting to turn right at the lights. Lights green, oncoming traffic. Lights turn amber, oncoming traffic. Lights turn red, a couple more nip through.

In reply to malk:



Got to be healthier than piling into the SUV.

In reply to goldmember: Cyclists who ride on the road and then when they reach a red light they move on to the pavement to bypass it and then move back on to the road again.

In reply to johncook:

I like that Sheffield police don't mind if I occasionally ride past them while on the pavement. Most of the time I don't, but there's one particular spot near The Wicker which is really hectic and the pavement seems a couple of feet wider than a single track road, you could very easily fit a car on it (probably ideal for a cycle lane to be painted on it), and if I'm down there I'll ride along keeping an eye out for people.

In reply to Trevers:



Just before reading your post, incredibly, I just posted on another thread (about breaking the law) that I once drove through 4 red lights rushing baby Abseil to hospital!

But apart from that, you definitely have 2 good points, 1. motorists run red lights too, 2. cyclists are being singled out.