Road armour ?

[silverclaws]

Does anyone wear body armour when out on their bike, not just for off road, but on road especially, as it strikes me as off road is the least of a cyclists worries when sharing space with the mindless metal boxes ?

I am thinking of getting Motor cross armour myself for that slow moving rush hour traffic I have to contend with in the morning, when metal box pilots are barely awake or getting late for work, the worst time of the day I believe for two wheels.

I have been hit before, a bus forced me off the road and it hurt for weeks when I fell sideways onto the pavement luckily only bruising my elbow and tearing the leather jacket I was wearing.

I have noticed vehicles get out of the way of other vehicles when they see a possible collision iminent, but they totally ignore other road users and even when they have noticed cyclists, they often forget when they have to swerve.

So, armour for me, who else ?

 

[xerxes]

Spiked wheels, something like Boudicca's chariot might make traffic give you a wider berth.

A lot of cars seem to pass cyclists with far to little space. I think there are an awful lot of motorists on the road now that have never ridden a two wheeled vehicle and don't realise how disconcerting it is to be passed by a vehicle going 20 miles an hour faster, or much more on A-roads, only a foot away.

It did cross my mind to have a flexible pole sticking out sideways from the rear of the bike with a flourescent ribbon on it, something like those goofy reflectors you can get, but with a sharpened end that would automatically "key" anything that got too close. :twisted:

 

[weeman_mtb]

You might be on to something here, roads are getting a dangerous place.

I had a close call with the bloody "ring 'n' ride" bus this morning. The bloke just looked at me and then pulled out anyway. I think a lot of people genuinely believe you have no right to be there.

I like the spike idea, I'm thinking of carrying something hard that I can throw at these a**eholes :twisted: .

 

[silverclaws]

A pal bitd used to do it, a road racer, he got so fed up with cars coming too close, he had a screw driver for them when he caught up with them at the lights. Other times he would cycle past and swipe the aerial off of accidently knock the wing mirrors out. He carried on with that idea when he got a superbike, anyone that gave him any crap, they would lose a part of the car on the motorway.

Now I know what he did wasn't the best of ideas, but I can well understand his attitude when it is even with motorcyclists, cars hassle smaller traffic, drive too close, pass leaving no space, or even edge the car over so the cyclist hits gulleys and grids, all things which constitute offensive driving, and I have seen it, they do do it on purpose.

Me, I cant take that kind of action, as I am one of those people that gets caught every time, so to me the way forward is body armour, so if I get pitched by a car, then if I just happen to land on modern soft shelled car panels, I might leave them a souvenir to prove I was there, with little harm to myself.

But on the subject of cateranks, pedal and bars make nice marks in vehicle body panels.

Sad one should feel this way isn't it.

 

[FMJ]

Motor cross

MOTOCROSS

 

[silverclaws]

strangely, if you type motor cross into ebay search, you get motocross and motox

Anyway I got a supermoto thing

 

[JamesM]

I think a lot of people genuinely believe you have no right to be there.

You, don't have any right to be there cus you don't pay road tax!!!

I have two answers to that one:

1. Actualy I do. I pay £205 for a car that does little over 2000 miles a year.

2. I pay the same as all the other zero emisions vehicles.

 

[silverclaws]

Ah, but road tax does not pay for the roads, so a car driver has no right to tell anyone whether they should be on the road or not.

If road tax did pay for the roads, would they be in such a mess.

Road tax was meant to be a congestion charge, you pay your road tax you get your congestion, simples, stop paying your road tax, you won't get congestion.

Or another retort could be ridiculing the bugger for being a polluter and green house gas creator the very enemy of the planet.

 

[02gf74]

best body armour I have found is a beat up ex-army Land Rover with NATO tow hitch, even Mr White Van gets the f*** out of my way.

There is no es yanswer, armour will help but don't rely on it - use eyes and ears and cycle defensively.

Many a time I've felt like trashing a car but had to restrain myself as then how do I know what that driver will do next time he's seen me.

Fortunately I can commute via a cycle path so can avoid the roads.... one of the reasons I converted from a roadie to off-roadie. (My super duper top spec. Bianchi road bike is still on its original tyres even after 11 years :twisted: )