and very good for visibility - once you cover it in reflective tape!
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
"What, if anything, most irritates you about other cyclists?"
(58 posts)-
Posted 14 years ago #
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"I think some people just have no road sense at all"
That was me this morning. For some reason I just kept choosing the wrong bits to filter at, and kept having a slower chap get in front due to his better anticipation. In the end I gave in, rode at his pace and tucked in behind. My brain clearly wasn't firing this morning, so might as well take advantage of someone's that is.
Mind you, I also clipped the wing mirror of a breakdown with my bag. He'd made a mad dash between a cyclist (the same one I'd followed) in the right hand lane, and me in the left, just as Queen Street is about to turn left up to Charlotte Square, then dived across into the left lane in front of me to avoid the queue of cars on the right, then got stuck on the hill cos there were roadworks necessitating everyone being in the right hand lane. I didn't want to lose momentum (being on fixed, and that bit being steep) and saw he was going nowhere, so nipped by, dropped a shoulder to avoid his mirror, but heard the bag skiff it.
Posted 14 years ago # -
What is the problem with having an empty child seat on the back?? I presume the people who use them are busy or don't want to take them on and off all the time. Besides, what business is it of mine!
Also, I'm quite new to road cycling and finding a lot of this informative stuff.
My bugbear is definitely cyclists going through red lights, I can see the look on drivers faces as they get more pissed off with us all!
Posted 14 years ago # -
Must admit I used to leave my child seat on as I could bungee some extra stuff on it.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Well I love all of my cycling brothers and sisters and as a car driver/motorcyclist/cyclist I always try to be considerate and safe.I don't mind if you trackstand (people that get annoyed by this generally can't do it but secretly wish they could) what's wrong with a little showing off? I don't care what bike you ride or how it's set up,The nursery my kids go to won't let you leave your child seat because there's not enough room. I've never noticed a problem personally with people cycling on the pavement.Red light jumping is dangerous in certain circumstances but even then I can't say it really bothers me.
I suppose riding at night with no lights would be my main bugbear as it can be really hard to see cyclists at this time of year even with lights.Also the growing trend of filming your comute and posting every little beep and hand gesture up on youtube. It's a dangerous world out there. Ride defensively get yourself seen have fun and knock those chips off yer shoulders.Posted 14 years ago # -
I'm afraid I'm one of those cyclists who films his commute. There are a few reasons, and certainly not to put EVERY beep (both horn-based and expletive-repelling) onto YouTube. If I did that then I'd have no time for anything else in life.
Part of it is simply documenting what it's like being a cyclist on the road, as well as dispelling a few myths (such as ALL cyclists run red lights and no-one else does). And some of the things documented are simply poor road/cycle facility design - so in this case it's not even pointing out someone's bad behaviour, but showing first hand (better than just photos I think) just how poorly thought out and difficult to use some things are.
A final reason is it allows me to create short videos as part of promoting my own website - the power of YouTube for advertising really. Almost all my videos have the web address at the back end of it.
Oh, and I did a review of bike lights for the Edinburgh Bike Co-Op as well...
It's true, there is a fine line between legitimate promotion/complaint/demands and a chip on the shoulder. But I think most (all?) people here are on the right side of that line?
My own personal irritation? Well I can trackstand (especially on the fixed). My annoyance at pavement cycling and RLJing is more based on the perception it breeds in others and therefore the misconception they have about me. So I'd go along with the 'no lights in the dark' thing. It's just utterly stupid if you ask me, and more than once I've realised I've forgotten my lights and so walked home, or on one occasion gone out at lunchtime and bought a new set just to get home.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Fair enough and all power to you!
Posted 14 years ago # -
I know of a guy who came last by a long way in a road race in Cumbria because he couldn't be bothered taking the kids seat off the back of his bike. A certain respect from me to him. Also diggin recombodna's chilled out hatittood
Posted 14 years ago # -
Well, I said cyclists not looking behind them was my biggest irritation, but I was wrong. It's shoaling! Grrr! Four cyclists yesterday, three of them at one junction - one came up from the right and sat a car's length in front of the white line; one came up from the left and sat most of a car's length in front of the white line, and the third also came from the left and sat just in front of me. Needless to say, when the green light came on, I put the hammer down and sped past all of them, including the third one who was slowest to move off because he was pulling a trailer with bits sticking out. The fourth sat in the usual shoaler position of next to the kerb but in front of the ASL.
Perhaps being one of those deviant bike riders, I look (or behave) too much like a motor vehicle, so cyclists feel they need to assert themselves at every stage.
Posted 14 years ago # -
That sort of shoaling behaviour annoys me too, why can they just wait behind the stop line as required by the Highway Code. Possible it is ignorance or maybe it is arrogance, most probably a mixture of both.
I am tempted to say that more training is needed... ;-)
Posted 14 years ago # -
Hey Arellcat the great thing about your story is that there were 4 cyclists at the front of a queue of traffic. One of them was even towing a trailer! Thats cool...no? Also when the light went green you put the hammer down and sped past them......what's not to love about that situation? If they all pulled up in front of you and dropped a load of tacks on the ground and said "out of our way we've come here to hamper your comute and deliberately annoy you" well then you'd be entirely justified.
Posted 14 years ago # -
I like it when people shoal me, just because I can humiliate them after the lights change... ;-)
I've started being a little deviant recently, and pulling up to the first white line (i.e. stopping before the ASL) instead of going into it. This really confuses everyone!
One of my own worst habits is that when I see a driver occuping the ASL, I can't resist but to overtake them even if it means sitting in the pedestrian crossing. When I used to commute with my other half, we sometimes used to pass one to the left and one to the right, and totally box them back. Very naughty!
Posted 14 years ago # -
A dude passed me at the lights on princes street going west this evening, tiny white flashing led on the back and the chain had probably never seen oil in its life time poor bike was screaming in pain as he rode off, worst of it was he was obviously a fit lad and looked like he had been riding for a while. a bit of routine maintenance and for goodness sake fit a red flasher they are cheaper that the bloody white ones!
Apart from torchering poor machines and white rear lights i'm generally easy about other riders even when i'm bing shoaled.
I also seem to find an irresistible urge to sit in front of cars at lights once they're in the asl. Its probably bad karma but it amuses me.
Posted 14 years ago # -
White lights on the back don't worry me as much as red on the front. I'd sooner worry that someone travelling away from me, is actually getting closer, than the reverse!
Posted 14 years ago # -
<rant>re: miggy magic - I too have a child seat, no I can't leave it at nursery as I don't pick him up, his mum does and does so sans bike... what difference does it make to you anyway? It's me that has to deal with the noisy clattering, heavy, wind resisting, drag inducing, speed slowing, cumbersome, difficult to park in cycle rack at work... not you....</rant>
· cyclists without lights on the dark cycle path
· cyclists who run red lights
· cyclists on the pavementPosted 14 years ago # -
spytfyre et al - i have long since learned my lesson about my child seat comment. I wish I put a damn ;-) emoticon in the post to indicate that i was being facetious, due to the trivial nature of my listed irritations. I'm not really a grumpy internet troll, honest.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Yer we need emoticons ;-)
Posted 14 years ago # -
I think we have to extend the emoticons to something akin to A Sense of Perspective. Nothing a cyclist does is ever going to annoy me in the way that some drivers annoy me. However, even here I would like to say that I think some drivers are getting better. There is alas no improvement in the pedestrians of gorgie and their bizarre unwillingness to distinguish between road and pavement. I am told skunkweed is to blame.
Posted 14 years ago # -
Those cheery folk who turn up for organised rides wearing trainers and football kit on an old mountain bike and after half an hour of banter vanish off up the road with the fast lot never to be seen again.
Recumbent riders who, when you've hung around for them on the uphill, leave you standing on the descent (LaidBack?).
Posted 14 years ago # -
Dinnae blame the skunkweed man...........
Posted 14 years ago # -
'...when you've hung around for them on the uphill, leave you standing on the descent (LaidBack?)'
'Dinnae blame the skunkweed man...'
Despite my Dutch connections I like doing hills both ways and don't smoke anything (except
roadies3 speed shopper bikes).Posted 14 years ago # -
Def red light jumpers, I can't do it on a motorbike with fearsome acceleration and tremendous brakes, what makes them think it's safe/sensible on a cycle??
It's selfish, pointless and potentially dangerous, I'd like to see some on the spot fines being issued for that (need an angry emoticon!)
Not to mention the damage it does to the reputation of all of us as the cagers fizz at another reckless/dangerous/illegal manouevre from a cyclist...
A bloke did it at Craiglockhart tonight as I was waiting at the lights and I made a point of shaking my head so the drivers behind could see it wasn't just them who thought he was a ****!
Posted 14 years ago # -
Why do people describe cars as "cages of metal and glass" surely that's a greenhouse? Cars have been around for over a hundred years I'm sure everybody on the planet knows what one is and what it looks like.....so why not just say........car?!
;-)Posted 14 years ago # -
I like doing hills both ways and don't smoke anything (except 3 speed shopper bikes).
He's far too modest, y'know. :-D
Why do people describe cars as "cages of metal and glass"...?
Because it succinctly describes from the cyclist's point of view both the crash protection afforded to motorists, and the pent up frustration that through judicious use of the loud pedal so many motorists seem to vent at roadworks and pedestrian crossings. D:<
Posted 14 years ago # -
Yeah I realize that but it's just one of those phrases that makes me cringe. I've been cycling in edinburgh for 25 years or so and in that time I've been hit by a car once and had quite a few close shaves ( I was a more militant urban road warrior in my teens) but the most serious crashes I ever had were caused by pedestrians running blindly into the road.
It's not just cyclists the motorists don't see I also drive a large Van and the other day a woman in a car pulled out right in front of me looking the wrong way. imanaged to stop about a foot off her drivers door. the look on the face of her passengers was priceless......I've often thought it would be a good idea to include some cycling in the driving test. After I passed my motorcycle test it really changed the way I drove a car.......for the better I hope ;-)Posted 14 years ago # -
Hmm I appreciate some people could find the name "cagers" offensive, I'm just in the habit of using it amongst long term motorcyclists. I've spent large chunks of the last twenty plus years riding motorbikes year round, including a spell as a courier and I've been knocked off properly twice, nudged a good few times and avoided cars more times than I care to remember, maybe because of the sound of the bike I've had few problems with pedestrians, maybe I've just been lucky. Why cagers? Because people treat cars like their own personal shark cage which (in their mind/subconcious) protects them from anything happening "outside". They feel safe and therefore often pay little or no attention to things that they think wont affect them. Also I sometimes feel like I'm in a cage when I'm stuck in a car in a traffic jam and wish for two wheels lol ;-)
But if the term rankles then I apologise, no harm meant :-)Back closer to topic, something that really annoys me from all road users is the habit some people have of indicating right when they are travelling straight across a roundabout... really makes me curse!! READ THE HIGHWAY CODE FHS!!!
(goes away to meditate for a bit and calm down...)Posted 14 years ago # -
'I'm just in the habit of using it amongst long term motorcyclists. I've spent large chunks of the last twenty plus years riding motorbikes year round, including a spell as a courier'
That's all good. I think I can see a City Cycling article in there(!)
Rich B did one in CC about the tribal aspects of cycling - also linked to what we call things. Of course he's another 'laid back' person. When you stop doing the same sort of biking as other people then you realise that there are 'tribes within tribes'.
This forum though is broad enough to have a dialogue.
Interesting though that the 'what irritates you most, if anything, about other cyclists?' is the second most popular thread!
Posted 14 years ago #
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