The Rant Thread

[agf]

Hey I agree with everything you say except the bit about elderly(40+)..not about the skills bit, but at 51, I AM NOT ELDERLY and if you dont watch out you little whippersnapper, I'll bump you with my Zimmer frame

anyone else notice the flash paint jobs motorised wheelchairs have these days... that candy apple red is wicked

you last line hits the nail, its true the skills that drivers must attain before hitting the road are pretty weak. I was fortunate I drove with my father basically as his driver for twelve months in any/every road condition, and it gave me fantastic experience. I then picked skills being a young hoon after getting my ticket. But they were not taught/learnt in a controlled way.
When I went back for my bike licence a few years back it opened my eyes to how driving has really changed, and it is a great pity that even a refresher is never on offer or it should be mandated at maybe 5/10/20 years of driving to just keep eveyone aware of changes in laws. It would be a means of evaluating habits that have evolved that need to change. There is so much benefit to be had for a re-think in the licencing system
good post Kris

 

[Kazza]

Seriously Kris, 40+ is elderly?

Not winning any votes with me for that one.... :rant:

Maybe I'll read the rest of your post once I've recovered from my hip replacement, put my false teeth back in and picked up my pension.

:Flip:

 

[Kriswithak]

Sorry that was a bit harsh of me, I should have used 'older' rather then elderly.

My grandfather does have a cherry apple red mobility scooter, he wouldn't tell me who does the paintwork

I've commented to friends/family that it would be great to have a retesting/refresher course maybe every 10 years, but people get indignant and angry....
I mean lets be honest rules of the road change, and while its funny to laugh at L/P platers who fail the computer tests (which is pretty sad, they are easy) I've seen older people do it too (when trying to get their license back).

Everyone wants their cake and to eat it too. Unfortunately no one wants to invest in the future. The government is particularly bad at this. Help fund driver education and reduce the road toll? Why would you bother when you can just victimise ALL young drivers, so that older people can shake their heads and blame young people for everything....

Young people do deserve to be victimised, but because they vote greens who don't represent them at all, not for any other reason.

If parents were held responsible for their children's road behaviour under the age of 18 it would be a very different situation, with far less people just giving their kids a car and letting them do whatever they want.

 

[agf]

.
If parents were held responsible for their children's road behaviour under the age of 18 it would be a very different situation, with far less people just giving their kids a car and letting them do whatever they want.

I agree with you Kris,....
Its not just driving behaviours that Parents need to be held responsible for.
My partner is a teacher and there are so many things that governments, society do-gooders etc are expecting that teachers can just take on instead of parents.
And sadly in these days of "productivity improvements" unions will agree to the call for paltry pay rises and be forced to agree to take on more than the teaching of fundamental subjects. I dont disagree with some things being a part of a kids schooling, but lets fund it realistically.


So many parents today will not take responsibility for their kids actions, remember that guy Cory in the white sunglasses and hoodie who basically trashed a house and did't give a damn about the cost to his family or his self esteem. What a douche! but did his parents ever take a stand with him?? probably not, where did he learn "to lack respect" Sure HIS parents should have been responsible for his actions, but by example; he, Cory should have had a fundamental knowledge of right/wrong.
The same applies to using the road, its there for all of us, its not a game. Parents need to be instilling in their offspring, a responsibility to themselves and all of the others that share the road.
A little bit of courtesy wouldn't go astray either!


I'll get of my high horse now and go back to work,
.. thanks for reading so far

 

[dxh24]

Not a bad idea, but the Strom's frame is a little narrow for a 4.

Then again, it would have the look of the old Honda CBX 6 :rockon:

Toss a KX500 engine (2stroke) in there and have some fun! :rockon:

 

[dxh24]

Harley riders don't wave to me :cheer:
Hell sports bike riders don't half as much as they used to when I was on my gixxer.

There's a quote that goes something along the lines of...

Those who would give up Essential Liberty
to purchase a little Temporary Safety,
deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Sums up my thoughts on the matter quite well really

As for cops booking bikes in a blitz, it sucks, it happens but nowhere did you specify it was the same cop doing the blitz as was doing the lane splitting. It's like that video the other day with the cop busting another off duty cop for speeding. Some are pricks and some are just doing a job they've been told to...

On one hand you claim they should introduce more laws to limit the ways you and other people in your community ride their bikes .. on another you're unhappy that other restrictive laws stop you from doing something other members of the community see as unessential and dangerous? Not exactly innocent when we're all aware that doing so is essentially illegal.

I'm not exactly innocent myself ... :ban:

As for the guy on the pushbike, he's clearly just a dick :rockon:

Heck, when i'm on my Versys people have no idea what it is so they assume it's a scooter i think and i get some half waves and ****ed heads wondering "what the hell is that?"
I just smile and wave

 

[Kriswithak]

Its a must to wave to gixxer riders, after all so many are in shorts, thongs and a singlet you might not ever see them again :O

But schools are a great example. Parents don't want teachers to have ANY power. Parents also don't want to actually teach all that important parental stuff that actually means school is a useful activity for their children, ie respect, diligence, concentration, appreciation of others, and a general sense of responsibility.

Then when the useless little brats are failing, abusing teachers and generally growing up to be dole bludging criminals the parents want to blame everyone else....

Suddenly the expectation is that teachers are meant to be the role of police, councilor, educator, parent and role model, without the ability to actually punish the students, show and enforce consequences for actions or even interact with kids properly for fear of being sued.

The prime example is quite regularly you hear in the papers about how some parent has had their child thrown out of multiple schools for violence, attacking teachers, bullying and general criminal behaviour.
Suddenly its the system failing this poor child, bs bs bs.

The papers should be printing that useless parents = deranged/criminal kids and the parents should be forced to do home schooling and see how they find their own child.

People just don't seem to realise that being a 'good parent' isn't providing the kid with whatever they want and being the happiest nicest parent/'friend' in the world.
That's bad parenting and setting your child up to fail in life.

 

[agf]

Kris, you are spot on with your take on this.
The whole parenting thing is hard work( still is even tho my boy is 21 now)
I think he respects me, he certainly doesn't dis me. We are friends too, but I am still his father he is still the son. Its the same with me and my dad


Ooccasionally you hear( well I do coz the missus tells me) about deadbeat parents and through it all their kid/s, somehow, defy all odds and they are brilliant. more testament to the kid I guess.
You just hope they don't get dragged down by the parental mire.

 

[Kazza]

Older or even middle aged sounds better.

Elderly means a 80+ pensioner. You're 24 that means you're only 16 years away from being elderly :rof:

I'll forgive ya

 

[Wolfman]

Here is an interesting rant....

Yesterday, i went for a ride, a great ride, only punctuated by 2 things that both annoyed, and, or confused me, at the same time!!!

First thing was a errant 4WD driver who nearly ruined my day, and possibly the guy riding behind me as well...

Was riding on a particularly twisty road, and not at massive speed, actually on the speed limit, or maybe even just under the speed limit, when i came around a blind corner, only to find a Stationary 4WD parked at a 45 degree angle in the middle of the road, about 20 metres out of the blind corner....got my attention real quick, effectively emergency braked, stopped, waited for the idiot to move off, and get out of my way and rode off....we have it on High Def video...so i will post that later...

This annoyed and confused me....annoying cause the stuipdity of this persons driving could of got me very badly hurt...AGAIN! Talk about flashbacks! (Had a guy put me in hospital doing almost exactly the same thing 2 years ago...almost to the day!). Am confused, cause i cannot fathom why this car was stationary where it was...it was clearly the WRONG place to stop for ANYTHING!



The second thing is a bit more inlvolved...

On my way home from the ride, I was sitting at a set of traffic lights, waiting to turn right, in the right hand turning lane, when the guy i was riding with pulled up next to me, and said, dont look now, but there is a cop in the lane next to you, checking you out very attentively!

Anyway, eventually the lights went green for the lane that the police car was sitting in, and the police car drove off...the lights then went green for us to turn right, and away we went....

We did comment when we got home, that the Police officer must of checked our rego details, and been happy that we were registered, and insured...so left us alone....as we were clearly obeying all traffic rules at the time of the police car seeing us, both our bikes were clearly well looked after to look at, etc, etc...so i put it to the back of my mind...

Anyway, last night at about 8.30pm, i am sitting in my shed with Mikey, watching TV, and shooting the $hit...as you do, when the shed door rattled...i thought it was one of the 5 Dancers who were having a rehearsal in my back yard, wanting to get a drink or something....but no, it was a Police Officer, asking for me!

Apparently his computer was down at the time of seeing us on the road, and he could not check our rego on the spot, so he took down our rego plate numbers, and obviously checked them when his PC was back up, or something...

When he checked my Rego details, it said my bike was Orange, and my bike is clearly black!

So i think he thought that something dodgy was up and that i had a plate from another bike, on my bike...

The Police Officer told me that he thought that the last digit on my rego disc was an 8 that had been turned into a 0. So he even went to the house of the guy who owned the bike with the same rego as me, but ending with an 8, rather than a zero, like mine....incidentally, apparently this was a black bike! LOL!

This was just before the Police Officer came to my house to suss me out!

Once he established that the bike he was looking at in my shed, was the one he had seen on the road, he asked me why it was black...i said cause my orange tank had a big dent in it, and needed to replaced, at which time i replaced it with a black tank, but never bothered to change the clour of my bike on the registration documentation...i then showed the Police Officer the Orange Tank, which i still have! At this point he chilled out!

Not before he had asked me lots of questions about why there was so many bike parts hanging in the shed, why i had so many tools, why i had so many bike jackets...he basically gave me the third degree, and was in my shed for a good 30 minutes before leaving..,..

The Police officer went over my black bike with a fine tooth comb, but must of been satisfied that all was ok....cause he just told me to change the colour at the Motor Registration Department....

Moral of the story is...if you change the colour of your bike, tell the Motor Registration department!

Also, i feel a bit violated, i was doing nothing wrong, but upon arrival of the Officer, i was given a good 10 drilling as if i was up to no good...which i was not...

I think he though for a moment i was running a chop shop or something, or was running multiple number plates, and had multiple jackets, and helmets to help disguise my identity in event of a chase...

LOL!

I have heaps of jackets, and bike clothes hanging up, cause i have my winter, summer, commuting, and track gear hanging up, plus my missus's riding gear, my ex's riding gear, and my sons riding gear in the shed!

I have so many helmets for the same reason....2 of my own, my sons, my missus's, a couple of broken, or outdated ones, etc...

I have tools, cause i like to work on my bikes myself!

I feel like i was being branded guilty by association...ie, i ride a bike!

It is Motorcycle Blitz Month in SA, and Police are using any excuse to pull people over, and check them out, etc....i think this one went a bit far with his enthusiasm, and not so discreet insinuations....

It freaked out my Missus, it freaked out the 5 dancers in my back yard, who all work for me, and it freaked me out!

Oh, apart from asking me to change the colour of my bike with the Rego department, which i did this morning, when i went to pick up my personalised plate for the TRX, the police officer ended up having a friendly chat about his Son's FZ8....then left....leaving me a bit bemused!

End of Rant!

 

[Humperdinkel]

Maybe I'll read the rest of your post once I've recovered from my hip replacement, put my false teeth back in and picked up my pension.

:Flip:

:rof: :rof: Sad thing is , She aint kidding :BLAA: :ban:

 

[dxh24]

Man Wolf, that would piss me off pretty good, I might have said fine impound it if your so sure it's stolen, then when i filed a report and got the VIN checked for identity, he'd get a nice chewing out from superiors. Then again it isn't riding season here any more... if i were in a bit warmer and "southern hemisphere" climate i probably would have been upset to not have my bike lol :thumbup:
When he asked you about all the parts, did you should him your article in the bike mag?

 

[Kriswithak]

Is that even legal Wolfman?
I mean I think you did the right thing by allowing him in and being really polite, but whether he had the right to be there in the first place let alone intrude and treat you in this way...

Even if he was 'just trying to do the right thing' its this kind of discrimination and victimisation that our society frowns upon in all other aspects and yet we still live in times when state/govt sanctioned discrimination based on generalisations is rampant.

 

[ChevyFazer]

That's crazy wolf I know you were way more polite then I would have been! I woulda slaked the door in his face saying come back with a warrant porky

 

[Wolfman]

Is that even legal Wolfman?
I mean I think you did the right thing by allowing him in and being really polite, but whether he had the right to be there in the first place let alone intrude and treat you in this way...

Even if he was 'just trying to do the right thing' its this kind of discrimination and victimisation that our society frowns upon in all other aspects and yet we still live in times when state/govt sanctioned discrimination based on generalisations is rampant.

Well if i spoke out, and made him grumpy, he would of been more suspicious, no matter how misfounded his suspicion was! Then he would of either been a real nasty bugger, i reckon...the law is on his side, and the Police have stated that their "blitz" would be far reaching....

My Missus had technically given him permission to come into my shed, by saying it was ok for him to walk around the back to the shed...

But the grilling was uncalled for, especially after it had been established that i had made a minor error of judgement re not changing the colour of my bike with the Motor Registration department!

But your right about state/govt sanctioned discrimination based on generalisations...this kind of behaviour from our police is becoming more common place in SA, and not just with bikes....

Man Wolf, that would piss me off pretty good, I might have said fine impound it if your so sure it's stolen, then when i filed a report and got the VIN checked for identity, he'd get a nice chewing out from superiors. Then again it isn't riding season here any more... if i were in a bit warmer and "southern hemisphere" climate i probably would have been upset to not have my bike lol :thumbup:
When he asked you about all the parts, did you should him your article in the bike mag?

I told him about the buike mag article, his response was, "Why because it's fast", to which i replied "No, it's only a 600, it aint that fast, it was in there because it is a beautifully built bike", he shut up on that subject straight away....cause it's pretty obvious the bike is in immaculate condition...

That's crazy wolf I know you were way more polite then I would have been! I woulda slaked the door in his face saying come back with a warrant porky

As i said before, i knew if i told the truth, then i had nothing to worry about, as i had basically done nothing wrong!

But it toopk him a whle to realise i was as innocent, and as honest as i was making out to be with my responses....

If he took it any further, i could of shoewn himn all my carefully filed insurance, registration, and cost spreadsheets i have for my bikes....

:thumbup:

 

[Kriswithak]

Should have mentioned to him "Innocent till proven guilty".

The whole "fast" vehicle thing is such a lame misnomer as well... WHAT vehicle can't break even Australia's highest speed limits? A tractor? A mobility scooter? Pushbike?
Most learner legal bikes can probably do 140 with ease, and you would be hard pressed to find a car that can't do similar unless its very very old.

You really wonder whether the Australian police are using American advertising to attract new officers "Join the police, get a gun, bully innocent citizens, and ignore scary criminals"

Oh wait I think its MEANT to be "Join the police, protect society, ignore innocent citizens, and bully scary criminals" and by ignore I mean not harass.

Not trying to police bash here, but its disappointing....

 

[Disco]

Be warned people, well Brisvegans.

There is a nasty case of Tonsilitus going round right now. Both of us at my house have got it.

Have not felt this sick for years

 

[Wolfman]

Be warned people, well Brisvegans.

There is a nasty case of Tonsilitus going round right now. Both of us at my house have got it.

Have not felt this sick for years

Well that sucks! Tummy bug going round Adelaide....

Get well soon.

:thumbup:

 

[ozzieboy]

Well if i spoke out, and made him grumpy, he would of been more suspicious, no matter how misfounded his suspicion was! Then he would of either been a real nasty bugger, i reckon...the law is on his side, and the Police have stated that their "blitz" would be far reaching....

My Missus had technically given him permission to come into my shed, by saying it was ok for him to walk around the back to the shed...

But the grilling was uncalled for, especially after it had been established that i had made a minor error of judgement re not changing the colour of my bike with the Motor Registration department!

But your right about state/govt sanctioned discrimination based on generalisations...this kind of behaviour from our police is becoming more common place in SA, and not just with bikes....



I told him about the buike mag article, his response was, "Why because it's fast", to which i replied "No, it's only a 600, it aint that fast, it was in there because it is a beautifully built bike", he shut up on that subject straight away....cause it's pretty obvious the bike is in immaculate condition...



As i said before, i knew if i told the truth, then i had nothing to worry about, as i had basically done nothing wrong!

But it toopk him a whle to realise i was as innocent, and as honest as i was making out to be with my responses....

If he took it any further, i could of shoewn himn all my carefully filed insurance, registration, and cost spreadsheets i have for my bikes....

:thumbup:

Don't worry too much dude. I'm sure the few cops I've had occasion to speak to before and since feel worse than you. Like the cop who stares at me whilst directing traffic when some lights were out(I was actually going to applaud him doing something useful on my way past). Giving me daggers. I'm just sitting there like everyone else listening to my music. I take off faster than the cars, but only to 30km/h, as the speed is limited to 40 due to road works, and I need to change lanes....still giving me daggers....So up with the visor, and ask him wtf he looking at, and mention there might be an extra appendage on his forehead. He gets on his radio to have his mate down the road gawp me out as well...I watch it unfold...the listening to the radio, the head coming up, and the searching look for the guy in the minority group (me)....so I made it easy for him to spot me...clutch in, and bang it off the limiter for a few seconds...lol. As I go past him, visor up...can you see me now (reference to the same cranial disorder as his mate).

Or the cop driving the truck full of hay for the cop horses who failed to give way to me on a roundabout....lay on the horn, and at the earliest opportunity, get beside him, and gesture that he also seems to have a cranial disorder.

Or the car load of cops doing 20km/h under the 50km/h limit on King Willy road. I move over into his left mirror with my indicator flashing...for 6 flashes of the indicator later I move over into the next lane, and speed up to 50 to go past...one flash indicator lane change from the bacon wagon. I lay on the horn, and they swerve back over, and I ride past, letting them know that if they have the extra cranial appendage removed , they may be able to see better. They then sit on my backside, for the next five city blocks trying to intimidate me...at my first red light light, I up my visor and let them know in no uncertain terms, that if they don't get off my @$$ I'll make them shoot me to save their lives. (Remember, I'm the one here not doing anything wrong...even going out of my way to be seen).

Every time I've had a cop dangerously ducking and weaving a cop car through traffic at ridiculous speeds, to catch me, and tell me they think I may have been speeding, I ask them if that was worth endangering peoples lives to tell me. The standard reply is to tell me they are trained to drive fast. My response is to offer them to prove it at Mallala, the local track, and further sweeten the deal, by telling them if they can beat me, I'll stand on my head in a bucket of 5h1t eating Smiths crips.....no takers yet..I reckon they may be full of crap about their abilities. So chances are I am better than them, I will do less damage, as my bike is lighter by far, there is less chance that I will hit something, as my bike is only a third as wide, I have bigger brakes, and I buy tyres that only last me 4-6weeks so I have incredible grip, so maybe I should be speeding...lol.

Or the cop that accused me of doing a red light....right up until I pointed to the Go Pro on the tank and asked if he really wanted to try it on...licence check ,and off they went....try that crud on someone else :Flip:

Don't worry dude:thumbup: I'm onto it.

 

[Kriswithak]

Yea it sucks man, at least you have the balls to call them on it though