Why do motorcyclists always break the speed limit?

xxyyzz

Genuine question, is there a reason why motorcyclists do not think that the 100kmh limit applies to them? I'm driving for over 20 years and the only motorbikes I see on the road are the ones who appear suddenly behind me out of nowhere and disappear off into the distance when there's even a half chance of overtaking.

XsApollo

Have you ever ridden a motorbike?

Gretas Gonna Get Ya!

Because they're rebels... they're edgy and they like to flirt with danger! :P

Or maybe they're all just a bunch of selfish ***** !? Who knows?

corner of hells

xxyyzz wrote: »

Genuine question, is there a reason why motorcyclists do not think that the 100kmh limit applies to them? I'm driving for over 20 years and the only motorbikes I see on the road are the ones who appear suddenly behind me out of nowhere and disappear off into the distance when there's even a half chance of overtaking.

You sound jealous.

nthclare

They're cooler than people in car's and quite frankly they don't give a ****...

I always pull in and let them pass, their problem if they're caught not mine.

Although it's an amazing sight to see a motorcyclist zoom off into the distance, especially on a warm summer's evening.

I'd love to do it sometime myself, seriously it would be some rush and what a story to tell the grand kid's.

Lighten up op get a motor bike and drive the ****ing ring out of it

We're here for a good time, ride on dude

Gretas Gonna Get Ya!

nthclare wrote: »

They're cooler than people in car's and quite frankly they don't give a ****...

I always pull in and let them pass, their problem if they're caught not mine.

Although it's an amazing sight to see a motorcyclist zoom off into the distance, especially on a warm summer's evening.

I'd love to do it sometime myself, seriously it would be some rush and what a story to tell the grand kid's.

Lighten up op get a motor bike and drive the ****ing ring out of it

We're here for a good time, ride on dude

wow... they'll be so impressed by their crazy grandpa! Burning rubber on 2 wheels... what an outlaw you'll be!

maestroamado

corner of hells wrote: »

You sound jealous.

I am jealous and i am old enough to have sense.
I was staying close to Jerez the weekend of the moto GP and you want to see the bikes and speed.
They reckon about 100,000 bikes converge on town for weekwnd and not much bigger than Cork or Galway.
I think speed limit only for vehicles with more than 4 wheels??

Brianmwalker

xxyyzz wrote: »

Genuine question, is there a reason why motorcyclists do not think that the 100kmh limit applies to them? I'm driving for over 20 years and the only motorbikes I see on the road are the ones who appear suddenly behind me out of nowhere and disappear off into the distance when there's even a half chance of overtaking.

Cause the slow ones don't catch up to you obviously. No different to cars really.

nthclare

Gretas Gonna Get Ya! wrote: »

wow... they'll be so impressed by their crazy grandpa! Burning rubber on 2 wheels... what an outlaw you'll be!

And I'll ramp it up every Christmas

Samuel T. Cogley

Presumably the level of fckedness doesn't change much from 100 to 140 or so on a motorbike?

McGinniesta

bike ****

John_Rambo

xxyyzz wrote: »

Genuine question, is there a reason why motorcyclists do not think that the 100kmh limit applies to them? I'm driving for over 20 years and the only motorbikes I see on the road are the ones who appear suddenly behind me out of nowhere and disappear off into the distance when there's even a half chance of overtaking.

Pay a bit more attention, check your mirrors more often and nothing "will appear out of nowhere".

Sonics2k

If, in 20 years, the only motorcycles you see are ones over taking you, that's for two reasons.

1/ You're not a very observant driver and don't notice all the motorcyles near you going a safe speed, and due to your lack of observance they decide to over take you.

2/ You're a slow as **** driver and we take advantage of your slow ass driving to over take you.

Lyle Lanley

Rarely break the speed limit myself tbh, but I know it would appear that way to car drivers. There is a massive difference in acceleration between a bike and a car, so the bike will quickly disappear into the distance even without actually going that fast.

xxyyzz

xxyyzz wrote: »

Genuine question, is there a reason why motorcyclists do not think that the 100kmh limit applies to them? I'm driving for over 20 years and the only motorbikes I see on the road are the ones who appear suddenly behind me out of nowhere and disappear off into the distance when there's even a half chance of overtaking.

We can't get caught by speed cameras head on.

Uinseann_16

Because its fun:pac:

Wanderer78

Cause it's some fcuking craic

Thelonious Monk

Pretty much everyone who drives a car breaks the speed limit too. At least motorbikes usually only kill themselves.

Wanderer78

Thelonious Monk wrote:

Pretty much everyone who drives a car breaks the speed limit too. At least motorbikes usually only kill themselves.

I intentionally do, fcuk it

SeanW

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Pretty much everyone who drives a car breaks the speed limit too. At least motorbikes usually only kill themselves.

Actually the same is true of car drivers.

https://www.rsa.ie/RSA/Road-Safety/RSA-Statistics/Deaths-injuries-on-Irish-roads/

Thespoofer

'And on a steeeel horse I ride ........cause I'm wanted, dead or alive ........'

Gooey Looey

Plenty of cars and vans break the speed limit too only you don't notice them for some reason

unhappys10

Lyle Lanley wrote: »

Rarely break the speed limit myself tbh, but I know it would appear that way to car drivers. There is a massive difference in acceleration between a bike and a car, so the bike will quickly disappear into the distance even without actually going that fast.

What?

If a car is doing 100kph how does a bike quickly disappear unless it's doing a lot more?

maestroamado

xxyyzz wrote: »

Genuine question, is there a reason why motorcyclists do not think that the 100kmh limit applies to them? I'm driving for over 20 years and the only motorbikes I see on the road are the ones who appear suddenly behind me out of nowhere and disappear off into the distance when there's even a half chance of overtaking.

I forgot to ask earlier, are you driving in Ireland?
There are hardly any bikes here..,

greenspurs

By 2014, there were 1.9 million private cars and 36,573 motorcycles in the Republic.

he total number of licensed vehicles recorded on Irish roads on 31st December 2015 was 2,570,294, of those 36,974 were motorcycles,

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-1916/1916irl/economy/tp/

The Unbearables

Sorry OP motorcyclists just have bigger cocks.

2lazytogetup

my theories:

1. The personality profile of a motorbike is more likely to be a male in his twenties than a lady in her 70s. And stats have shown young males are more likely to break speed limit than older ladies. Would be similar to a car.

2. motor bike registration plates can't be photographed by a speed camera so motor cyclists dont care

3. the police/speed cameras dont care about motorcyclists speeding as they are less dangerous to other cars than cars.

4. a motorbike engine power is powerful relevant to a car. so its so tempting for a motor cyclist to turn the throttle. similar to audi car drivers who cant help themselves drive fast.

2lazytogetup

5. its easy for a motorbike to overtake to speed. a fast car might get stuck behind a slow car with little opporutnity to overtake. A motorbike doesnt have that restriction and usually has an open road in front of them

2lazytogetup

6. they are able to skip the waiting traffic at a traffic light. And since they have quicker acceleration, they can get off much quicker than a car, ie do 0-60kmh in a couple of seconds. so it might appear they are speeding, they were just able to accelerate quicker than you from stationery lights.

TuringBot47

The Unbearables wrote: »

Sorry OP motorcyclists just have bigger cocks.

Yeah they're in their bike helmets.

Anyways, bikers keep the organ donations rolling in in wet weather.

GBX

We don't all do it. Same as car/bus/trucks on the road. There's a small percentage that does. Looks faster from a slower car that you likely drive. Also open your eyes.

thelad95

2lazytogetup wrote: »

my theories:

1. The personality profile of a motorbike is more likely to be a male in his twenties than a lady in her 70s. And stats have shown young males are more likely to break speed limit than older ladies. Would be similar to a car.

2. motor bike registration plates can't be photographed by a speed camera so motor cyclists dont care

3. the police/speed cameras dont care about motorcyclists speeding as they are less dangerous to other cars than cars.

4. a motorbike engine power is powerful relevant to a car. so its so tempting for a motor cyclist to turn the throttle. similar to audi car drivers who cant help themselves drive fast.

Gosafe vans can definitely catch motor bikes.

Police definitely care, I've seen motor bikes pulled in on a number of occasions, I have to do a lot of motorway driving for work.

I drive an Audi and can help myself for the most part

jimgoose

The Bronze kill our pride.

Dravokivich

I think for the most part it's an issue of confirmation bias. When you see someone speeding in a car/van/truck, they are just driving by you. When you see someone speeding on a motorbike, they tend to aim inbetween vehicles, so it's more noticable.

I wouldn't put that down as all bikers are speeders though. You seem to see the riskier riding and extrapolate that out to all of them.

Muahahaha

Lyle Lanley wrote: »

Rarely break the speed limit myself tbh, but I know it would appear that way to car drivers. There is a massive difference in acceleration between a bike and a car, so the bike will quickly disappear into the distance even without actually going that fast.

On a bike myself and yeah I dont speed either but I do go from 0 up to the speed limit very fast and to drivers that might look like Im speeding when Im not.

A lot of motorists dont realise the sheer acceleration power that motorbikes have compared to cars. If you want to be able to do 0-60mph in a car in under 4 seconds then you need a 150k+ sports car. With motorbikes you could have a bike that is 10 years old and only cost 5k or 6k but is still capable of accelerating at the same speed as a sports car costing multiples of its value.

The other thing about having all that acceleration power available to you is that it makes overtaking very easy. One flick of the wrist on the throttle and you're gone in an instant. Which means overtaking multiple cars in one move is a doddle. To motorists it looks dangerous but its actually not because you know the level of acceleration your machine has and what it is capable of. Once you stay within those parameters its actually safe enough to overtake 2 or 3 cars at a time.

xxyyzz

Taking yesterday as an example, I was driving at 100kmh, 3 bikes appeared behind me and then were gone by me in a split second with a ridiculous overtaking manouvre, they were easily doing 150kmh plus, one of them in a tshirt and jeans. I have very rarely been driving in traffic behind a motorbike where we are both doing 100kmh. It's just an observation that 99% of the time I see motorbikes on a 100kmh stretch of road, it's when they are going past and disappearing off into the distance. Hence the thread title.

TheBoyConor

The bragadocious swagger comments from the speed rebels are all well and good until there is an accident and people including other innocent road users end up dead or worse, left with catastrophic injuries and permanent life altering disabilities.

Will you be bragging about what an intense rush it is speeding if it is you or an unfortunate family member is left needing 24 hour care for the rest of your/their life?
Go on, answer it? Will you think it is fun then?

Bursts of intense acceleration to over take rapidly are dangerous. By doing that you are not allowing time to react to unexpected events. A car could pull out, or decide to turn right. A bottle or stone in the road, an oil patch and next thing you know you are sliding towards the undercarrage of a truck at a combined closing speed of up to 200kph.

Yeah someone else might have been in the wrong, but what good is blaming someone else when you are 6' under or paralysed from the neck down and having to be fed through a peg spending your days watching the ceiling.

The public road is not a playground for speed demons and petrol heads.

In case someone thinks I'm anti biker, this is aimed at bikers, car drivers, tractor, truck drivers in equal measure.

Gooey Looey

xxyyzz wrote: »

Taking yesterday as an example, I was driving at 100kmh, 3 bikes appeared behind me and then were gone by me in a split second with a ridiculous overtaking manouvre, they were easily doing 150kmh plus, one of them in a tshirt and jeans. I have very rarely been driving in traffic behind a motorbike where we are both doing 100kmh. It's just an observation that 99% of the time I see motorbikes on a 100kmh stretch of road, it's when they are going past and disappearing off into the distance. Hence the thread title.

No cars or vans overtook you yesterday then so?

theoneeyedman

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Pretty much everyone who drives a car breaks the speed limit too. At least motorbikes usually only kill themselves.

I found out years ago, and it still holds true, years later, that every biker will tell you exactly how fast their bike can go, down to the last MPH. This isn't the case with car drivers

CrankyHaus

For the most part bikes are more sinned against than sinning; endangered by other vehicles moving into their path.

The odd one I see pulling manouvres against traffic that I'd think twice about attempting in a Main-Battle-Tank. But it's their life, their organs to donate.

kowloon

If I spend four hours polishing all the chrome I expect to go slow enough for everyone to see how pretty I am.

TheBoyConor

true enough, motorcyclists are a convenient source of organs for transplant. Except brains, obviously.

Tenzor07

Because they can... When you can buy a used motorcycle for around €10k that can accelerate like a Formula 1 car then it's all too easy to break the speed limits in a couple of seconds.

We've a low number of people using bikes around town for commuting etc. We do seem to have a lot of weekend warriors who dress up as power rangers at the weekends on bikes that you'd see in the Isle of Man TT, and they drive them like they were in that race also...

I'd be less concerned about them than the numbers of lads racing around on MX bikes in the council estates all over the country, terrorising locals, dealing drugs, robberies, the lot and the Gards have a no pursuit policy in place...

Paddygreen

They are all Valentino Rossi until they go splat.

Canis Lupus

Because there's no number plate on the front and unless it's a hand held by a garda we can yolo along over the speed limit with no fear of cameras facing us.

xxyyzz

Gooey Looey wrote: »

No cars or vans overtook you yesterday then so?

Not that I can recall and certainly not at close on 100mph

Pedro K

xxyyzz wrote: »

Genuine question, is there a reason why motorcyclists do not think that the 100kmh limit applies to them? I'm driving for over 20 years and the only motorbikes I see on the road are the ones who appear suddenly behind me out of nowhere and disappear off into the distance when there's even a half chance of overtaking.

If you're driving at the speed limit, and a motorcyclist is ten miles behind you driving at the same speed, you'll never see them will you? Then of course the only ones you see are the ones who break the speed limit.

Of course, I suspect there's some hyperbole on your part.

ahnowbrowncow

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Bursts of intense acceleration to over take rapidly are dangerous. By doing that you are not allowing time to react to unexpected events. A car could pull out, or decide to turn right.

That's how you are supposed to overtake, do you suggest people accelerate slowly while overtaking?

Too many drivers merge slowly, pull out from junctions slowly, overtake slowly etc. They're the real dangerous drivers.

TuringBot47

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

That's how you are supposed to overtake, do you suggest people accelerate slowly while overtaking?

On a motorway where you have your own lane and are overtaking someone at the speed limit?
yes.

Potential-Monke

Ah you get the lads speeding alright, but I reckon it's the same ratio of cars/vans speeding. My father drove bikes, and my 3 brothers, one of which is still with an MCC. Some of those bikes are scary fast, and far more affordable than cars of similar speeds/acceleration. Yesterday, I was cruising along at the speed limit with some type of Yamaha cruiser behind me. He kept to the speed limit most of the way, and only overtook me when there was a fine straight stretch. But I respect bikers, so when I got to that stretch, I stayed to the left in silent indication of 'off you go if you want', and he did, but didn't take off into the distance. He overtook, and just kept on at the same speed ahead of me. I prefer that, because an open road in front for a biker is a safer road imo.

Likewise, I've seen the lads fly past me as a ferocious speed, and the sound is magnificent (unless it's one of those ones that sounds like a tin can is attached to the exhaust). Open your eyes, pay attention, and give them room. I find people who don't do that are the same fukkers who hog the overtaking lane on motorways doing 120 because that's that max speed and no one else should be able to overtake you.

I've been a pillion on a few bikes, and nothing scared me more than being on the back of a Hayabusa. The pilot (yes, pilot, because a normal driver won't be able to handle that power) told me to grab on and don't let go as if my life depended on it. I still haven't felt such acceleration in my life, and by jesus did I hold on for dear life. I asked him how fast he went when I eventually got off, with my legs like jelly. He said he didn't break the speed limit, but got there as quick as possible. And I do that myself in my car. For the first time, I have a car that can accelerate quite quickly, and I do tend to get to the limit as fast as it'll get me there. Not illegal as long as it's not done dangerously.

Rodin

Who wants to end up in a wheelchair?

If you're gonna crash, leave no doubt about the outcome and open up that throttle.