Anything annoy you street riding?

[Carter Turk]

I found I've been riding less on the street after discovering trackdays.
The need to go for a ride is lessened.

The last 4 days though, I put about 300 miles on the 1150ES, as the Kat is wounded.
Actually I pulled the motor a week ago, wondering what to do next.
Wish I knew how to post a audio clip for all to hear the nasty sounds and where to go with it from my android phone.
Only 400 miles with new/used top end, new pistons, rings, gaskets, stator, starter clutch etc, and now this horrible noise.
Did probably 20 heat cycles, changed oil/filter 4 times, varied rpms, cooled it inbetween 20 minute blips.
Engine is just sitting there on a block of wood in the garage waiting for me to do something with it.
So relegated to the ES for my outlet.

I've enjoyed riding the ES, it's a pignoramous, but my mindset has changed toward riding on the street.
Way more low key and relaxed then in the past, but the annoyances have mounted.
So many OMG what are u doing moments in front of me, that it's almost frustrating to go for a ride and enjoy it.
Even at a more relaxed pace, with more patience then before, I find myself cursing in my helmet at the cagers in front doing whatever they do.
This is on backroads, not on the interstate, I've learned to go with the flow there.
Seems more cagers are clogging up the roads, being distracted by phones and driver aids.
Maybe the Seventies were a better time to be a street rider.
Anyone else have these moments?

 

[Steve]

Nope. Never.

And if you believe that, I have a bridge I'd like to sell. :-\\\

.

 

[Guest]

Try riding in Central Fl., where most are from somewhere else, don't know where they're going and have brought their bad habits with them. It's tough riding out there now a days, but it's still better than sitting on a couch and paying $100 bucks an hour complaining about things.

 

[GSXR7ED]

Based on my riding time from Jan 2013 in dover, Delaware and then riding in Alamogordo, New Mexico from Oct 2013, (yes, 2 different environments) I can't remember having more complaints than joyful rides.

Trent started a thread concentrating more on the negative things people do in their daily activities on the road. I suggested changing venues or simply looking at the positive side of things.

As for track days...people have always told me a track day would change my mind about regular street riding because you can go as fast as you want in controlled environment. I think street riding is good regardless of the speed limits and somewhat negligent drivers.


Ed

 

[sharpy]

"Wish I knew how to post a audio clip for all to hear the nasty sounds and where to go with it from my android phone." Youtube it then post the link into here

 

[Guest]

Try riding in Central Fl., where most are from somewhere else, don't know where they're going and have brought their bad habits with them. It's tough riding out there now a days, but it's still better than sitting on a couch and paying $100 bucks an hour complaining about things.

That's pretty much the same with me. Living on the border, we get tons of Mexicans that not only don't care how they drive, expect everybody else to drive like them. Between Mexicans and winter Texans (Canadians) it can be pure hell at times.

 

[storm 64]

My problem is with the old people driving. I had a old lady pull into my lane last night. Just because you pass a drivers test once at 16 doesn't mean you can pass it at 80! My solution is; You can get a drivers license at 16 (maybe younger for farm boys). If you cause a accident, you must retake the test. You turn 60, retake the test and then every 5 years after that. You can be 100 years old and still drive... as long as you can pass the driving test. What could the opposition be? "You failed the test Mrs. Smith but since you're 80 years old, and you passed the driving test 60 years ago, we'll still give you a drivers license" ludicrous!

 

[Burque73]

I'll bet the firs guy to roll a cart complained about how the second guy rolled his. Nothing new under the sun.

But.... I'll play along and say when I get a green light I pause for a second and look for traffic. Whether in a cage or on a bike it's just habit. The other day I started my left turn at an intersection driving my Tacoma pickup and struggled to get a good view of traffic lanes to my right. I had the green light and it should have been fine, but I habitually wanted to verify nobody ran the light and slammed into my passenger side. The driver behind me impatiently laid on his horn. That's my gripe, they blow the horn if somebody doesn't instantly react to a green light, while in the other direction the driver may not instantly react to a red light either. Heck, forget instantly, they may not react to a red light at all. Blowing through it looking at the bowl of cereal they're eating!

 

[Buffalo Bill]

Well, sure you can't ride within 50% of your bike's or your own capability on the streets and roads, but tracks days average $200 each, that adds up real quick. Plus a lot of people crash there every day, mostly just low siders by novices, but some high sides too. Just look at the bikes of the regular track riders, all scuffed up.
The streets and roads, you can find a few corners you can lean down on, but with many assorted hazards you have to trust your luck with.
Mostly you can only ride fast and enjoy the landscapes.

 

[Sandy]

That's pretty much the same with me. Living on the border, we get tons of Mexicans that not only don't care how they drive, expect everybody else to drive like them. Between Mexicans and winter Texans (Canadians) it can be pure hell at times.

Hey!!! We're good drivers up here. Maybe we're just not used to other vehicles on the road at the same time. LOL.

 

[dorkburger]

Back in my early riding days it was mainly the elderly that I had to worry about, and my closest call ever, which was probably as close as one can get and not crash, was an elderly left turner. Now its that AND cellphone using oblivious drivers....... and pedestrians.

Per Norm's retesting comment, the topic comes up time to time here, but politicians won't that with a ten foot pole.

 

[BigD_83]

I could compile a long list of things that annoy the he!! out of me, and they are all the same things whether I am in the Subaru, riding a bicycle, or on the motorcycles. Most of them involve inattentive, self-absorbed, impatient driving.


While much of the time it's not as big a deal in the car (they tend to see the car more often) or bicycle (where I have more time to react), the motorcycle cranks it up a notch as I am moving faster than they expect, so I have to be way more defensive in my approach. Just this morning, I got cut off by a left-turning rubbish mover, while wearing my bright-yellow riding jacket and helmet. There wasn't even sun behind for me to get lost in.

Like Burque said, over or inappropriate use of a horn is another one. I've actually seen young drivers roll into an unsafe situation because someone honked at them.

While we're at it, I hate that when stopped for pedestrians, traffic continues to blow by me on the right, and sometimes drivers do the same thing coming the opposite direction (see point #1)

 

[Guest]

I'll tell you one thing that drives me frickin bonkers. When a car stopped at an intersection, driveway, etc, starts to roll out into the lane before I have cleared the intersection. DON'T YOU EFFING MOVE YOU PIECE OF HUMAN GARBAGE.

 

[GS1150Pilot]

Based on my riding time from Jan 2013 in dover, Delaware and then riding in Alamogordo, New Mexico from Oct 2013, (yes, 2 different environments) I can't remember having more complaints than joyful rides.

Trent started a thread concentrating more on the negative things people do in their daily activities on the road. I suggested changing venues or simply looking at the positive side of things.

As for track days...people have always told me a track day would change my mind about regular street riding because you can go as fast as you want in controlled environment. I think street riding is good regardless of the speed limits and somewhat negligent drivers.


Ed

Great post, Ed. I agree. I don't ride for speed any longer. That's a young man's game, and I want to ride well into old age. I just enjoy getting out on a bike. I have found that I enjoy riding out of town on longer trips more than any other kind of riding.

 

[earlfor]

By far, my number 1 bitch is tail gators. It hacks me off when someone just has to get where they are going six feet sooner and glues themselves to my butt and closes a ten foot gap to make me go faster. I'm most always about ten over the limit anyhow, but you think they would pass and be on their way, Noooo,

 

[bwringer]

Phone pokers cheese me right off. One of them got me in 2011 with an incredible, never-before-seen triple double backhanded fakeout with a left turn and a twist. I collected my second broken left femur, my first busted wrist, and a broken ankle, and a demolished KLR. Apparently the flight was short but spectacular, and I can attest that the landing was a bit rough.

She didn't have a license and she was driving her Mom's car, which had the state minimum insurance. And of course, she wasn't even cited for driving without a license or for, y'know, damn near killing someone.


So anyway, yeah, I sort of take it personally. Oblivious phone pokers are absolutely everywhere, and no one except me seems to think it's a problem. Heck, even the cops around here are very commonly twiddling their electronic nipples while driving; you can really see them at night when their idiot faces are lit up from below.

Phone pokery while driving really needs to be immediately classed as an EXTREMELY serious crime, along the lines of random discharge of automatic weapons. That's essentially what you're doing -- pointing a large deadly device in a random direction.

 

[robertbarr]

By far, my number 1 bitch is tail gators.

Yep, and it's become epidemic. Years back, drivers would give me elbow room, just out of respect for my vulnerability; now, I get the same respect they'd show a plumbing truck.

 

[dorkburger]

Another peeve is erratic navigation system followers awaiting commands.
I?ve mentioned it here before, but not for a while. A girl following GPS cranked a U turn on command and took out my uncle in the process.

 

[Guest]

I'll bet the firs guy to roll a cart complained about how the second guy rolled his. Nothing new under the sun.

But.... I'll play along and say when I get a green light I pause for a second and look for traffic. Whether in a cage or on a bike it's just habit. The other day I started my left turn at an intersection driving my Tacoma pickup and struggled to get a good view of traffic lanes to my right. I had the green light and it should have been fine, but I habitually wanted to verify nobody ran the light and slammed into my passenger side. The driver behind me impatiently laid on his horn. That's my gripe, they blow the horn if somebody doesn't instantly react to a green light, while in the other direction the driver may not instantly react to a red light either. Heck, forget instantly, they may not react to a red light at all. Blowing through it looking at the bowl of cereal they're eating!

Yeah that seems to be the trend here also. Now that we finally have a no texting while driving law, people are texting while they are waiting for the green. So many will still be there through a full light change before they go. I've seen a few times already, so now it seems if you cut perfect light, there on the horn. Sometimes I just want to show them they're number 1 in my book with sign language.

 

[Guest]

I think my numer uno thing that urks me to no end, is the guy that just has to be in front of you. I'm not talking about the tailgater that has to pass and be first to wherever, i'm talking about the guy that is turning into your lane from a side street when your about a hundred feet away and there is nobody for miles behind you. Sometimes I just want to lay the pedal to the metal and shove whatever I'm driving right up their a...................