Motorbiking

OK, I think there are a lot of things that should be changed or at least sorted out on todays roads.

Mobile Phones - The amount of brain-dead morons still driving and talking on the phone is amazing me considering I thought there was a law against people using them whilst driving, has the law been forgotten about? I've been out on the bike and police have gone straight past people yacking away on their mobile phones and the police haven't even battered an eyelid, surely it must be classed as "driving without due care and attention" since a lot of their concentration is focused on their chatter, so much for the law eh?
Passengers - Yes, I can understand people chattering while they are driving in their cars when they have passengers, what I don't agree with is when the driver is spending more time looking at the passenger than actually watching the road. Yes, it does happen and way too often and should be watched out for! I've had at least 10 encounters of near misses due to people chatting to their friends instead of watching the road, wake up!
Jealous Drivers - Hmmm, there are some great drivers out there, usually drivers that are bikers have this respect to where if a bike can get past on a road the car will pull slightly over to allow the bike to get past safely. There are however some car drivers who think its a good idea to swerve across when you are about to overtake just to stop you from doing the manoeuvre. For information to the drivers that do this, it is actually "driving without consideration to other road users" and possibly could go as far as "attempted murder" to activily attempt to force a bike into a dangerous situation, I know because I helped to get one such "jealous" driver arrested in the past. Quite simply, you do silly things like that and you'll be paying the rider for a nice new bike or something with the money they get from the driver when they sue your ass!
Learner Bikers - This usually applies to scooter owners, I have seen way too many scooter "L" riders with passengers on the back. This is stupidity more than anything else, if you get caught, you could loose your licence or at least be banned for a year just because you thought it would be cool to take your mate from A to B, would it not be even more cool to wait till you could sit your full bike test and give him a backer on a proper bike?
Protection - No, I'm not talking sex aids here people, I'm refering to the clothing you should be wearing when out on scooters, bikes etc. I seen a young couple on a scooter the other day and all the lass on the back was wearing was some thin bottoms and a sleeveless thin top, granded she looked really cute, but if she wouldn't be so cute if the lack of experience that the "Learner" scooter had didn't see a danger ahead and she scraped along the road @ 30mph, yes young people, it can still take your skin to the bone at that speed if you don't wear adequate protection.
I'm not only gonna pick on the scooter riders and 125cc owners, I've seen idiots riding around on Yamaha R6's (top speed about 150-180mph if I'm not mistaking!) with little more than T-shirts and shorts, how dumb is that!
My minimum protection, obviously my helmet (by law must be worn), gloves (Kevlar padding), bike jacket (with armour), boots, jeans or leather bottoms (always leather if I plan to do more than potter from A to B).
Exhausts - There's something I can never figure about exhausts, why can cars put pretty much any sports exhaust they like onto the engine yet motorbikes aren't allowed race cans?
Something I must ask, wouldn't a bike be safer if it could be heard 400 yards away with a race can than a bike with a standard can which will only be heard when it passes a person at the last minute?
ANSWER = YES
I'm lucky as my "loud" can is actually street legal but yet loud enough to tell people I'm coming down the road which I'd say is a lot safer than a none-alarming standard can.

At the end of the day, I know the police are suppose to be easing off bikers as we've been getting harrassed for years from them, but the above things are just a handful of things that really need to be sorted out to make the roads a much safer place for the biking community.

Here's a good one for you bikers...

Going along the road minding our own business going through Blyth, we came up to some traffic lights and a police panda car was turning right, nothing wrong there... then, the police car was going straight on then started slowing down and moved to the right, we obviously were going straight on and were positioning to undertake incase he was finally going to signal to go right, at this moment he decided to turn left without indication and most importantly of all he didn't even bother looking before moving, as he got round the corner he eventually looked in his mirror at which point I stared at him and shook my head to state "Yes, you were a complete brain dead police officer weren't you!".

The thing that bugs me most is these police car drivers are suppose to take advanced driving tests or at least learn better driving techniques and to be honest, most learners drive better than that idiot.

Anyone else got a cool "close call" story they'd like to tell us all about then please email me with the story and I'll get it up on here asap. :o)

So many car drivers keep saying the same sh*t about bikers being the maniacs on the road, these are the same drivers that have either never been on a bicycle or a motorcycle in their life. In fact in most cases the drivers are the reason bikers end up having to avoid an accident for one reason or another. Yes, there are idiot bikers out there, I don't deny that fact and they could eventually kill themselves, hopefully not to take others out with them. Before you call bikers names try getting on the back of a bike and see what we have to put up with. On a daily basis for example, I usually have to avoid bad drivers at least 5-10 times, this means either the driving examiners are slacking or getting bribed if they are letting so many bad people on the road.

THINGS THAT WILL KILL BIKERS

Yourself. If you're one of the "idiot" bikers that doesn't keep your racing on the track, then one day you will most likely kill yourself or others. Don't do it!.
Idiot Bikers. Unfortunately they exist, they are harmless if they do it on straight roads with no junctions and other traffic, but you might be a sensible rider going round the corner going head on with a idiot trying to get a little more speed around the corner by cutting it and not seeing you. Calculation : you @ 60mph + idiot @ 60mph+ = 120mph+ head on and dead most likely. FACT.
Drivers that don't ride. It is a fact that drivers that are cyclists or bikers are much more aware of riders etc. on the road because they are aware of the dangers and smaller vehicles on the road as they are usually a small vehicle themselves. Maybe before taking a driving test, more people should be made to go through their CBT or placed on a motorbike to show how dangerous it really is for us bikers on public roads.

15/07/2000 Got my first motorbike, a Yamaha TZR 125.
21/07/2000 Went through CBT (Compulsary Bike Training), was good considering I only had about 2 hours riding the night before.
Beginning of August 2000 Had my first crash, though didn't hit anything other than the road and only damaged my bike and pride a little. Soon learned my lesson though and ironically I was following procedure, if I looked in mirror rather than the glance over my right shoulder I would have been fine.
16/02/2001 Passed theory motorbike test, scoring 34/35, not bad considering only revised for 2 hours the night before!
03/04/2001 Passed full motorbike practical test. WOOHOO, got that nice letter 'A' on my driving licence now, ah the freedom of being able to ride any size bike at last! And no more blasted 'L' (learner) plates.
11/05/2001 Sold my Yamaha TZR 125 and upgraded to a Yamaha RD350LC with YPVS engine and full computer controlled powervalve system, very fast!
13/04/2002 Sold my RD350LC today as needing a 4-stroke and got my heart set on a Honda VFR400 if I can find another Ł1500-2000 quid, thats a hint to anyone local who is well of and can spare a couple of grand to set up a loan deal. ;o)
15/04/2002 Got myself a Yamaha FZR400 Genesis which requires a lot of little workings before its road ready...but as usual its a project to work on and to hopefully have a smart bike at the end.
08/05/2002 Other than requiring a sticker set of some description, the bike is officially completed today. A few people have quoted in its current naked form it looks like a Ducati apparently, probably due to it being sprayed post office red! :o)
12/07/2003 Bike ridden off by a woman driver breaking the highway code and not giving priority to traffic on the road she was emerging onto. Needless to say, this has ended my motorbiking hobby unless I can earn enough for my R6.
10/07/2006 Finally got another bike, just to get me back in the feel for bikes and to overcome idiot drivers once again, this time on a Suzuki GSF400 Bandit.
09/09/2007 Stepped up the biking ladder a little more, now I've sold the Bandit 400 to make way for my new beasty, a 2001 Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja.

	My first bike, a Yamaha TZR125.
	My second bike, a Yamaha RD350LC (YPVS).
	My third bike, a Yamaha FZR400 Genesis (Import).
	My fourth bike a Suzuki GSF400 Bandit (UK Version).
	My fifth bike a 2001 Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja.
	Freddie Ibbotson's old Yamaha FZR600 Genesis.
	Freddie Ibbotson's old Yamaha YZF600 Thundercat.
	Freddie Ibbotson's Yamaha YZF1000R1. - He decided to respray this beasty, which you can see the finished result below.
	Freddie Ibbotson's Yamaha YZF1000R1. - The resprayed version, yep got to confess it looks bloody sexy as hell now.
	Freddie Ibbotson's Yamaha YZF-R7 Mini Moto.
	Chris Crawford's GPZ500.
	Dave "Mad dog"'s XR650.
	A biker called "Billy" from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire sent in this nice picture of his R6. His biking history started out on a Kawasaki AR50 then he moved to a Yamaha TZR125 then to a Yamaha FZR600R and finally got this R6 beasty. Glad to have you aboard the bikers page Billy! :o)
	A canny pair of bikes, Macca's Kawasaki ZX6R along side Billy's Yamaha R6 (above).
	Ned from Blyth sent in this picture of his current bike...a Hyosung JF-125, apparently he's looking forward to getting his Honda VFR400 NC-30 soon. Don't forget the picture of the NC-30 Ned!!!
	A picture sent in from John Edward of his CBR600.

Anyone got a pic then email me with your name, nickname, local town/city and picture attached.

Hello to the following bikers that I know, a few I only know by first name...sorry! LOL: -

Alan "I want a bandit" Ord - Canny mate! :o)
Alan Ridley - One of my biking instructors of Art Of Motorcycling.
Alan Rycroft - One of my biking instructors of Art Of Motorcycling.
Chris "Oil man" Crawford - One of my mates.
Dave "Mad Dog" - A good computer and biker mate.
Eddie "Single Stroke" Casper - I think he got another 4-stroke but hell the name fits well. ;o)
Freddie "The Crazy Frog" Ibbotson - My best friend and person who got me hooked on bikes.
John "Bandit" - At least I think it was a bandit! Hi mate LOL.
John "Eddie The Kid" Edwards - LOL, he'll probably slap me for that name HAHA.
Karen "CBR400 Girl" - A girly biker I got in touch with down London, nice lass. :o)
Mannas "Scooter boy" - Gone up in the world and got a 125 trails.
Margaret "Shy Biking" Tyson - Girly biker of Alan Rycroft, she's a shy cute biker chick HEHE.
Matt "Ducati" Bassman - He's got a nice Ducati 750 Sport at the moment, his lass is a bigger nutter on bike than him! LOL
Nicky "TZR boy" Ord - Eventually got his Yamaha TZR125.
Owen - Had a nice thundering speed tripple, sh*t that was loud!
Paul "You can eat your dinner off my bike" Bandit - Person I bought the RD350 off and canny mate.
Peter - One of my biking instructors from Art Of Motorcycling.
Simon "The Taxi Crusher" Tully - Another mate from around here.
Tony "Wobbly Butt" Scott - He has a good reason for being called this...trust me! LMAO.

Hello to the other bikers that are visitors to the site: -

Adele & Frans Jooste - "Good day to all you bikers. We are from South Africa and our club is called Red Heart Riders. Not that we drink it. Just want to say hello. My husband and I ride a Honda VFR400 and FZR1000 Yamaha. We enjoy riding , not racing. As you say, keep the racing for the tracks. Save riding."
Gary "GEE" Webster - "Hi, just found your site keep up the good work. My biking started with a yam fsie, rd 250, gs550, then a break from bikes. I then bought a fzr600 last summer got the bug now have a yam r6 for this coming summer. I live in Suffolk (East Anglia) Happy Riding."