is this a nob thing to do?

Sep 04, 2005 66 Replies

I've had enough near misses in the past to be able to hold my hand up, and say I'm no better than the rest of you.

Main thing is, I overall learnt from it - my main weakness now, is if I'm out riding on the bike in a pack... you tend to get a bit carried away.

I've just gone over to something a tad more sporty too, but fortunately, it's proving to be a bit of a handful (I'm hoping a session tweaking the suspension will overcome a lot of what I'm finding with it) - net result is, I have untold amounts more respect for it, than my previous bikes - if anything, I'm slower overall on this, even though it's a lot more rapid than previous stuff that had no right to be punting along at the rate I used to manage. ;-)

Fireblade.

RRN model, in Urban Tiger scheme.

Beginning to wish I'd waited til I could afford a Fazer thou, or waited for a decent late VFR750 to turn up, tbh. :-(

You had a Fazer though, didn't you? Or are we talking a newer model or something?

(note for the ignorant, I know f*ck all about bikes, but just thought I'd pipe in anyway)

No, we're talking one with an extra 400ccs of raw power. ;-)

Had the 600 before, which was a lovely bike, but ultimately I found it a bit asthmatic at higher speeds.

Yeah I nearly ran over a retarded kid (litterally, the kid had learning difficulties), he shot out into the road chaseing a ball his brother had kicked. My dad went to see their parents and 7 days later they had cut back the trees, hedge and widened the road both sides of the t-junction. The kid was lucky, I was only traveling 40mph, I locked up all 4 wheels at one point and the rubber I left behind was there for months afterward.

You were doing 40mph past junctions with residential houses ?

So what would you class it as exactly, "Dangerous Driving" or just Without Due Care & Attention" ?

I live in the country and it was on a country road with a 60 mph speed limit.

I call it slamming the brakes on so I don't kill a child.

Also their house is up a dirt track and they had just been dropped off by the bus.

I'm so gonna go buy a straw hat and a banjo!

60mph is the NSL for single carraigeway roads without street lighting, it does not apply to country roads with abandon.

So you were just driving without regard for concealed entrances that you knew were there ?

Oh, and they were playing football a minute ago, but now they've just got off a bus. Your continuity *rocks*.

eh? Well I always thought unmarked B roads where 60mph... what is the speed limit then?

I'll take a pic of the area tomorrow, you can see where they widened it. If I wasn't driving with due care and attention I would of hit the kid.

Yes I stated he was chasseing a ball his brother had kicked (if I can be arsed to take a pic tomorrow you can see the slope, the kid couldn't of stopped). I was on my way back home from collage, the primary school bus is always around the same time I come back, give or take 5 mins so I have to be careful of a few areas where the kids linger (especially in the summer) before going indoors after the bus has dropped them off. I always consciously cover the brake when I pass them, now more than ever.

Lucky bastard missed out on some broken bones by about 2 ft and just got clear before I screeched past! I kept looking back expecting him to be holding his arm or something where I had caught him but the stupid little ass and his brother where jumping up and down pointing at the skid marks, in the middle of the road...

Its a good job he was, as he's already said, doing 40mph then....

If you left rubber you REALLY need to learn how to brake properly. I suggest a track day might be in order.

Fraser

I didn't have time to think about it really, I suppose the instant adrenaline rush made it worse! I just saw the kid and stabbed the brakes with everything I could muster, i'm just glad I didn't hit the accelerator like that poor bloke that is going to trail atm... ruined the kids families life and his.

It takes a very cool, calculated mind to be able to cadence brake when it looks like somebody's life is about to be smeared over your bonnet. Yeah, I've cadence brakes on the approach to a corner where I've screwed up, or in the ice, but under these circumstances it's only been me or the car that's been in direct danger.

I genuinely don't believe I could cadence brake in circumstances like the above, when it's "close onboard kiddie pass" material.

I ticked the ABS option when looking for a used Ka. He can cadence brake much better than I.

If you practice it, it becomes instinctive. And I don't mean cadence braking myself, I mean steady braking where the weight transfer shifts you to and fro over the maximum grip point.

But you're right, ABS solves all these questions nicely, just stomp and let it do its stuff...

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