Even if the OP was cycling at 30 mph if it was under his own power it would still be legal, the assist cutting off at 15 mph does not make that your top speed.
Class as a cut up?
- Thread starter martx007
- Start date
Good input everyone. I did not have all these facts to argue even if I had of stopped for a 'chat'.
I've never hurled verbal abuse at any driver as you don't know who you're dealing with. As this guy stopped before fully turning the corner to force me to slow right down so he could say his piece, just because I raised one hand in disbelief, it may not have been wise to confront him.
I've never hurled verbal abuse at any driver as you don't know who you're dealing with. As this guy stopped before fully turning the corner to force me to slow right down so he could say his piece, just because I raised one hand in disbelief, it may not have been wise to confront him.
A sensible course of action. Unless you can be sure that you can inflict an incapacitating injury on the driver, should things turn ugly, the best policy is to meet provocation with politeness.
Speeds faster than 18mph are normal unassisted cycling speeds for fit people. I've ridden even my MTB with knobbly tyres on and no motor at faster than that in town. They are certainly not "dangerous speeds" on an open road in a dedicated lane and would actually be considered embarassingly pathetic and inept by the road bike bregade on normal terrain. So even if OP was going 20mph or 25mph it wouldn't be "wrong" for him to be cycling like that on the highway, whether he's on a bike with a motor that can assist him at lower speeds or not.
The car didn't like having to wait for him as he was likely going too fast to safely overtake and turn first - and too slow to be gone before driver had the road to himself. Pure selfish, impatient and inconsiderate bad driving on driver's part. He just clearly didn't want to have to think about another road user or give that other road user priority as he should have done in the circumstances.
Can of coke 'slipping out of hand and through car window' sounds like a great idea in those circumstances .. unfortunately that puts the cyclist in the wrong on account of likely criminal damage .. and perhaps more than a broken bike in retaliation when the driver catches up with him ! If the driver had apologized I'd feel differently - everyone makes mistakes - but his response to the OP makes me think he should hand the vid in to the police.
Looks really slow to me!
I've found that as my speed increases, the incidence of left hooking and close overtakes decreases - drivers just stay behind. I then just have to concentrate on my sixth sense indicating whether that car sat at the side road is about to pull out on me.
Thank you for your teachings. I am now truely enlightened and blessed with the knowledge that the human body is capable of propelling itself, without danger being present, to a velocity in excess of 18 mph whilst astride a bicycle. To my further astonishment, I now discover that this is possible on a bicycle equipped with the knobbliest of pneumatic tyres. An epiphany moment indeed.
In future, it would be beneficial if you could learn to de-code the information given in the post. What I was actually saying was, that if the motor assisted to well over 15 mph and the OP took video evidence of that fact to the police, he may drop himself in the pooh.
The key bit is, "motor assisting above 15 mph".
I know, I know, I know, people ride faster unassisted, I can do 60 mph down hill etc, the police are daft, they will never catch you and all that bunkum. I was simply prompting the OP to make sure he was watertight before going to the filth with his footage. As it turn out, it's all academic, because the bike seems to be a sensible one.
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As you say clearly a normal ebike
[video=youtube;w3be22f23fU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3be22f23fU[/video]
Not too fussed about people snooping for issues!
My bike if you check my gallery is a land rover vivato with a q128 350w front hub motor.
Used to have an urban glider um33 but had nothing to offer on all the hills of my commute.
I take it sticking to the thread has gone out of the window!
My bike if you check my gallery is a land rover vivato with a q128 350w front hub motor.
Used to have an urban glider um33 but had nothing to offer on all the hills of my commute.
I take it sticking to the thread has gone out of the window!
It's bit like Chinese whispers I think, the longer the thread goes on, the wider the range of subjects covered!
Speed of bike not relevant. The driver clearly rushed to get in front of cyclist and then braked hard to turn left meaning the cyclist was forced to take avoiding action (even if only brakes). I have had this happen to me on motorcyles and even in cars at far higher speeds. Driver has a duty of care to all other road users and is obviously demonstrating that he doesn't.
Fair enough - but let's face it, unplug or remove a battery on even a 2500W eBike and it's instantly and indisputably a push bike, not being capable of assisting the rider in any way. Just saying !
Plus "S-Pedelec" type bikes are in no way not sensible on the roads (which is the only place they are allowed to be riden anyway). Derestricted bikes are allowed on the roads provided they are registered - it's beaurocratic and legislative issues they are subject to and nothing to do with whether they are "sensible" or not.
Your post got misread because it could be interpreted to imply that if OP was cycling assisted at 18-20mph (which he wasn't), he'd as much as lose his basic rights not to be bullied on the roads on account of him "crossing lines" himself. In the context of the driver's actions, regardless of the provisions of the RTA as regards eBikes, that's pretty disingeunous - and I think some of the responses you got were pretty much alluding to same on account of how the post came across. Being cut up like that makes no difference whether you're travelling at 18mph+ under your own leg power or with a nudge from a pair of 'virtual legs'.
The one category of drivers who I've noticed are typically very aware of cyclists and drive sensibly are bus drivers. There's a (probably about 200m) uphill run from box junction traffic lights which merges into a narrowing road without cycle lane shortly before I have to turn right to get home. It's too far to pull out into a dominant position early and I always have to pedal like crazy to get the chance to signal and pull out safely across oncoming cars to turn without unduly interrupting the traffic flow. Most of the cars speed up as the road narrows trying to get past me first and if I dawdle pulling out it leads to all sorts of aggro.
Pulled off pretty aggressively on Kalkhoff yesterday and got up most of the hill at about 18mph with a bus trailing but lagged back to maybe 14-15mph further up the hill before signalling. Bus driver made no attempt to overtake even at that speed over that long a stretch of road. Clearly aware of the conditions ahead and allowing for my possible moves. It was such a noticeable change from the usual behaviour of car drivers it really registered how much less of a stress it is when people are considerate.
Everyone nowadays is in so much of a hurry and wanting to be "first". Sometimes a bit of a talking to is the only way to get them to think about what they're doing.
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D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
Rather than talk to them yourself, get the police to send them on one of those driver improvement courses, where they'll get a much better explanation.
You get good and bad in every type of driver. I got deliberately run into the curb by a bus driver just because he had to wait a few seconds to pass me. It was after a set of traffic lights that had a space at the front for cyclists, so I was able to filter up the cycle lane and take position at the front. My superior acceleration got me away first anyway, but with me limited to 15mph, he soon caught up, but had to wait before he could pass. I guess he thought I was in the wrong because I had jumped the queue so decided to teach me a lesson. If I had had my camera on, he would've lost his licence. He kept going until his wheels touched the curb when there was nothing coming the other way. I had to do an emergency stop and let him go once the bus started bumping my shoulder..
If it was a service bus, chances are it had several cameras running.
I believe Arriva buses, as an example, have four or five outward facing cameras and about the same number pointing at the passenger compartment.
D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
I didn't see the driver. It could've been a woman, so I might've been interested, but, assuming a bloke, definitely not. I'm 100% red-blooded.
Indeed, that probably also explains why bus drivers got praised earlier in the thread.
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