“The clown on the bike doesn't hurt anyone” says Jeremy Vine about wheelie cyclist branded a ‘bike yob’ by newspapers

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

OK I watched (part of) it expecting and wanting to feel sympathetic to the kid, but, nah, I can't help but conclude he's an annoying little scrote.  Sooner-or-later, one way or another, that was going to end badly.  To my great surprise JV is more of a cycling-partisan than I am.

 

  Only thing I can say in the kid's favour is he did his show-off twattery in the road among motorised vehicles and thus endangered himself not pedestrians.

 

True, even with kids being idiots, motorists aren't excused the obligation to look around them and take care.  But the thing is, if we had good safe intrastructure, he would doubtless be acting like an idiot among pedestrians and/or fellow cyclists, so his twattery would still be an issue.

Sad to say, I watched all of it, and even googled for more! You mention th epossibility of him "acting like an idiot among pedestrians" and yes , sure enough, one of the clips I found shows him going through a pedestrian crossing, with a shriek coming from one crosser as she leapt out of the way, others of him scattering pedestrians as he takes to the pavement, plus of course all the shots of him cycling against oncoming traffic on the right side of traffic islands, through barely-there gaps, and so it goes on. He also has previous with the police ("a hot officer was impressed by my riding..."), and of course the incident in the supermarket came after the Merc incident, so he is clearly learning nothing. I note also that he is hailed on social media as a "social influencer". Annoying little scrote sums it up nicely for me.

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

OK I watched (part of) it expecting and wanting to feel sympathetic to the kid, but, nah, I can't help but conclude he's an annoying little scrote.  Sooner-or-later, one way or another, that was going to end badly.

I agree. Only got around to watching it today. Did the wheelying kid not look before changing lanes or did he just assume that the car would give way (not a safe assumption to make, as any fule kno)? Better to ride with both wheels on the tarmac, IMO, and look before overtaking.

CXR94Di2 wrote:

The movement in his lane could of been that other knob head riders were to his right and in front. The driver didn't actively close the gap-that wasnt even there for the wheelie dick head to get through. These young lads need to take their antics off road onto a BMX track, instead of putting themselves at risk on London's roads

I initially thought that, but watching it again, the other riders are well ahead by then. Looks totally deliberate to me - look how quickly he swerved into the rider when he thumped the bonnet.

If I was driving along and heard a massive thump on the left, I would slam the brakes on and either keep a straight line or move away from the lorry I was so close to. No way would you swerve toward the noise/lorry, unless you knew exactly what to expect.

CXR94Di2 wrote:

The movement in his lane could of been that other knob head riders were to his right and in front. The driver didn't actively close the gap-that wasnt even there for the wheelie dick head to get through. These young lads need to take their antics off road onto a BMX track, instead of putting themselves at risk on London's roads

He's quite a skilled rider as I said. He's not bad on a bMX track. I expect he'd be ok on a downhill MTB track too. Lad like him need to be engaged by sports. That's what we try to do with our BMX club. It can make a difference to someone's life to get them away from gang activity and into sport.

Rick_Rude wrote:

I wonder if Vine would appreciate it if I wheelied past him on my motorbike? If I didn't hurt him it would be ok? 

Are we saying if you're skillful enough you can do what you want? My mate is pretty good at drifting cars and would never hurt anybody. Surely he can wang it around the local roundabout without fear of the police doing anything?

Have to say I've seen motorcyclists doing wheelies fairly often.  In fact, I rarely see motorcyclists riding in a considerate or fully-legal fashion.  They are _always_ speeding, not-rarely doing wheelies, and above all always making a godawful racket.  I was going to add 'riding on footpaths expecting peds to jump out of their way', but then realised that's mopeds rather than motorbikes.

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

Rick_Rude wrote:

I wonder if Vine would appreciate it if I wheelied past him on my motorbike? If I didn't hurt him it would be ok? 

Are we saying if you're skillful enough you can do what you want? My mate is pretty good at drifting cars and would never hurt anybody. Surely he can wang it around the local roundabout without fear of the police doing anything?

 

Have to say I've seen motorcyclists doing wheelies fairly often.  In fact, I rarely see motorcyclists riding in a considerate or fully-legal fashion.  They are _always_ speeding, not-rarely doing wheelies, and above all always making a godawful racket.  I was going to add 'riding on footpaths expecting peds to jump out of their way', but then realised that's mopeds rather than motorbikes.

Don't forget the mopeds and motorcycles which use cycle lanes at speed regardless of whether there are bicycles already using it.

Rick_Rude wrote:

I wonder if Vine would appreciate it if I wheelied past him on my motorbike? If I didn't hurt him it would be ok? 

Are we saying if you're skillful enough you can do what you want? My mate is pretty good at drifting cars and would never hurt anybody. Surely he can wang it around the local roundabout without fear of the police doing anything?

I think this is like saying that if a child is using a nerf gun, can I get the. 303 out?

Organon wrote:

The Merc does seem to edge in though, perhaps he isn't aware or is defensively driving but the um, unicyclist still goes for the gap.

You need to watch it again with your glasses on.  The merc doesn't move in, the lad moves out to pass the lorry, determined to keep his wheelie going and he hits the car. The merc having been hit then moves in to block his path.

If it had been me I would have closed the gap completely and forced the little shit to ride into the back of the HGV.

Notice also how they all argue to distract and then disperse once the bike is free. One even tries to pull the car's bonnet badge off.

Their parents don't give a shit about them and neither do I.

bikeman01 wrote:

Organon wrote:

The Merc does seem to edge in though, perhaps he isn't aware or is defensively driving but the um, unicyclist still goes for the gap.

You need to watch it again with your glasses on.  The merc doesn't move in, the lad moves out to pass the lorry, determined to keep his wheelie going and he hits the car. The merc having been hit then moves in to block his path.

If it had been me I would have closed the gap completely and forced the little shit to ride into the back of the HGV.

Notice also how they all argue to distract and then disperse once the bike is free. One even tries to pull the car's bonnet badge off.

Their parents don't give a shit about them and neither do I.

you'll be pleased to know that our prisons have special-category cell-blocks for people like you.

bikeman01 wrote:

Organon wrote:

The Merc does seem to edge in though, perhaps he isn't aware or is defensively driving but the um, unicyclist still goes for the gap.

You need to watch it again with your glasses on.  The merc doesn't move in, the lad moves out to pass the lorry, determined to keep his wheelie going and he hits the car. The merc having been hit then moves in to block his path.

If it had been me I would have closed the gap completely and forced the little shit to ride into the back of the HGV.

Notice also how they all argue to distract and then disperse once the bike is free. One even tries to pull the car's bonnet badge off.

Their parents don't give a shit about them and neither do I.

My vision is fine, rewatch the clip youself and see where the Merc's front wheel goes. He does close down a bit, probably thinking the 'cyclist' wouldn't be se stupid as to think there was a gap. This kid is lucky he didn't get a limb ripped off.

Organon wrote:

bikeman01 wrote:

Organon wrote:

The Merc does seem to edge in though, perhaps he isn't aware or is defensively driving but the um, unicyclist still goes for the gap.

You need to watch it again with your glasses on.  The merc doesn't move in, the lad moves out to pass the lorry, determined to keep his wheelie going and he hits the car. The merc having been hit then moves in to block his path.

If it had been me I would have closed the gap completely and forced the little shit to ride into the back of the HGV.

Notice also how they all argue to distract and then disperse once the bike is free. One even tries to pull the car's bonnet badge off.

Their parents don't give a shit about them and neither do I.

My vision is fine, rewatch the clip youself and see where the Merc's front wheel goes. He does close down a bit, probably thinking the 'cyclist' wouldn't be se stupid as to think there was a gap. This kid is lucky he didn't get a limb ripped off.

Don’t be ridiculous. The Merc kept a reasonable straight line, in the lane, at a consistent speed. Perhaps with a little more defensive driving he possibly could have avoided it, but just the same as when a car makes a fully predictable but illegal  turn across a cyclist only one person is at fault here. The kid was doing something totally stupid, went for a gap that didn’t exist, wasn’t in control of his bike and was lucky it wasn’t much worse.

It’s nonsense comparing the Merc driver, who was an innocent party, to some kids who attacked someone, and for the CPS to be going for GBH, rather than ABH or assault, there must have been something serious.

burtthebike wrote:

GBH?  Unless they actually knocked the person over, that's going to be hard to prove isn't it?

Meanwhile, drivers can deliberately knock you off and seriously injure you and not be charged with GBH, only motoring offences.  I'm totally confident that the cyclists' GBH charge will be dropped and a cycling one inserted, furious cycling perhaps?

If you reread it you will see that the GBH charge isn’t related to knocking someone over whilst cycling. It’s related to a “confontation”. Which presumably turned violent.

In some people’s minds it seams anyone on a bike can do no wrong.

Organon wrote:

bikeman01 wrote:

Organon wrote:

The Merc does seem to edge in though, perhaps he isn't aware or is defensively driving but the um, unicyclist still goes for the gap.

You need to watch it again with your glasses on.  The merc doesn't move in, the lad moves out to pass the lorry, determined to keep his wheelie going and he hits the car. The merc having been hit then moves in to block his path.

If it had been me I would have closed the gap completely and forced the little shit to ride into the back of the HGV.

Notice also how they all argue to distract and then disperse once the bike is free. One even tries to pull the car's bonnet badge off.

Their parents don't give a shit about them and neither do I.

My vision is fine, rewatch the clip youself and see where the Merc's front wheel goes. He does close down a bit, probably thinking the 'cyclist' wouldn't be se stupid as to think there was a gap. This kid is lucky he didn't get a limb ripped off.

Yep agree with you, the Merc driver knew exactly what he was doing. Drifts to the left of his lane, matches the speed of the bike to block him in, makes sure there is no gap for the bike. When the kid thumps the bonnet, driver violently swerved into the rider, trying to knock him under the lorry. Total red mist moment.

Not excusing the rider, but the actions of this driver made it a whole load worse than it could have been.

bikeman01 wrote:

Their parents don't give a shit about them and neither do I.

This is the problem.  While I don't want to find excusses for this I still I think it has to be said that the cost of living and debt is so high now that it is likely their parent(s) are too busy with work commitments to bring up their kids.  If that's not the case and their parents are simply irresponsible then it's the parents fault.

earth wrote:

bikeman01 wrote:

Their parents don't give a shit about them and neither do I.

 

This is the problem.  While I don't want to find excusses for this I still I think it has to be said that the cost of living and debt is so high now that it is likely their parent(s) are too busy with work commitments to bring up their kids.  If that's not the case and their parents are simply irresponsible then it's the parents fault.

 

So if you take a look at the videos more closely you will notice he regularly changes bikes, and is always dressed in nice clean designer gear. Little sign of poverty.

Your suggestion that because he is a yob, it is likely that he comes from a background of poverty, is worthy of Rees-Mogg. Surprised you didn't mention the colour of his skin.