RustyKnight In: Newton Aycliffe
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Too far for me Vinnie but just read about it this aft. Not sure how MCN see a mass ride as 'reclaiming' a country! I just pity the bikers who'll have to tolerate all the s**t once everyone's gone home again.
RustyKnight In: Newton Aycliffe
Posts: 2462
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Ian,
The coppers in North Wales seem to have an anti bike culture and they're targeting bikers for roadside inspections etc. MCN think they can ride in with a few thousand bikers as a protest for a day and the police will suddenly reverse their tactics. I think it will probably end up putting more fuel on the fire and make things worse for the bikers who live there. When the roads become congested and extra police drafted in to cope with the chaos they're hardly going to be sympathetic to the 'cause' especially with thousands of car drivers on their side that weekend. Only my opinion of course.
cheers rk, that explains it, i frequent wales regulally, and to be honest have never had any problem, never been stopped,and found the local, pubs , camp sites really friendly......and personally, i feel lincolnshire police are worse imo
As far as the likely outcome is concerned, I think RK is right in suggesting it could all go a bit wrong. When I've spoken to N Wales bobbies privately, I've got the impression that it's all driven from the top downwards and they have their own opinions of Mr Chief Constable Brunstrom. He's retiring very soon, so in my opinion it might be best to wait and see what attitude the new man (or woman) takes. Also any chief con has to be a politician too, and has to be seen to be doing something after his officers have scraped the remains of yet another dead biker off the A5. Sad, but it happens.
I think the police will have a field day. How many idiots will go on this protest ride with postage stamp number plates and bot for road use cans.
There is a reason why I don't ride in wales. Plastic fantastics who ONLY ride in wales Balla to be precise. you go out for a pleasant ride with a few friends and all of a sudden you have a pack of plastics behind you. Then three of then over take and pull into your braking space. They do this because they think that because they have colour co-ordinated leathers they can bully others off the road. If they had a little bit of patience, most people will let them pas when it tis safe to do so.
Most of our Sunday rides are in mid Wales (Powys) being less than 20 miles from the border, and we have never had any police hassle. Ridden north a few times too, and have still seen no 'spot checks' on bikers anywhere. I keep reading reports on/in various sites/papers, but am still unsure about what is meant to be going on. . . . I'll have to ask a few of the visitors to our local Borders Classic Bike Show next month to see if they are aware of any excessive police stops.
While I remember. If anyone is coming to the Borders Classic Bike Show in Cleobury Mortimer next month, pm me and I can sort out a good ride out with great veiws of Shropshire countryside.
It is back to the old topic of how you are perceived buy the police. Not many classic bikes are stopped unless the bobby wants to have a better look at a classic. But a high powered sports bike ridden by a person with color matched leathers dark visor small plate and loud can is more than likely attract the attention of Mr Plod.
RustyKnight In: Newton Aycliffe
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It seems to me that MCN report regularly on anti-biking individuals, laws, etc and some with good grounds but to try and improve the general populations image of bikers in Wales by flooding it with thousands of bikers supposedly fighting for their rights will do nothing but cause the population there to look on and sympathise with what the police have to 'deal with'. I don't ride in Wales and have no experience of their culture so have no interest in joining a 'protest' just because others are doing it. Surely if there is a genuine anti-bike culture the best way forward is to gather as much evidence as possible and present it to the police publicly to get some dialogue started, not to gather en mass and shout look how many of us there are!! MCN are a tuppence ha'penny biker rag not a pro biking movement. I also read an article today in the 'problem' page from someone struggling to pull wheelies and he was advised in response how to do it. What a set of w**kers who are supposedly representing the motorcyclists image!
RustyKnight In: Newton Aycliffe
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To be honest Pagan i've only read three copies in 3 months and I was quite surprised at what a load of s**te it is. The editing team/reporters genuinely think they can sway the public in our favour whilst showing pictures of speeding bikes with nitrous tanks, burn outs, doughnuts and wheelies. I used to read it 20 odd years ago as a young chav and thought it was great but now i'm hopefully a bit wiser I can see they're a group of money spinning immature pricks with no interest in motorcycling in the true sense of the word. If anyone anti-biker gets themselves a copy there's more than enough info in there to confirm their thoughts completely that all bikers are aggressive law breaking toss pots
couldnt agree more with Mr Rusty and Paganprince.
The current Mrs Pond lives up there (for a while at least)and in my opinion,the area has some of the best biking roads in the country.I've only ever seen a couple of cops there,let alone be hassled by them so why stir up a hornets nest,especially in the company of said colour co-ordinated tw@s who only get the bike out if the sun shines?