Am i classed as a Moped? Or invisible?

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Just an observation really

As a lifelong pillion passager on a motorike (and a sometime rider of one) I have often noted how EVERY biker will nod to every other biker when out on their bikes - except to mopeds, whether the moped riders don't nod and the bikers then ignore them or whether 'peds are beneath notice, I am not sure

BUT now I am cycling regularly - to work and back every day and longer bike rides at weekends i have a sneaky suspicion that I am regarded as a 'moped'!!!!!

It is either that or cyclists are not so friendly!!!
I can smile, nod or even say hello to fellow cyclists and rarely get an acknowledgement - except for the guy who sometimes over takes me in the mornings with a cheery hello - no one else even nods!!!! Is it just wiltshire? Do you have to pass a test? Do you have sectret codes. or clothes?

Please Help me see what I'm doing wrong
 

Mike!

Guru
Location
Suffolk
That's how it usually is i'm afraid. Motorbikes nod, pushbikes don't..... miserable lot!
 

Fat Lass

New Member
Having been a biker in the past I always nodded to another biker be they on a Moped or otherwise.

As a cyclist I do say hello to fellow cyclists, sometimes they get a smile or if I'm going uphill a friendly grimace! :blush:
 

adds21

Rider of bikes
Location
North Somerset
Mike! said:
That's how it usually is i'm afraid. Motorbikes nod, pushbikes don't..... miserable lot!

Being a rider of both, I keep accidentally nodding to motorbikes when on the pushbike. They must think I'm mad.

(what makes it worse that I used to drive a motor home, a Beetle, and an old style Mini, all of whom wave/nod at each other, so I often get confused as to who I should be waving at... My current tactic is to wave at everyone, all the time. Seems to work, or at least, people stay out of my way :blush:).

On a more serious note, I always find the number of "hello's" I get from cyclists is inversely proportional to the size of the road.
 
C

chillyuk

Guest
I rode motorcycles most of my life, ie, some 50 years on and off. I always acknowledged other bikers, and even scooter riders...proper scooters that is, Lambretta and Vespa. I don't acknowledge these god awful Chinese heaps of shite and the idiots who ride them.
 
Location
Midlands
I think it rather depends on how many other cyclists there are about - for example riding along the Elberad in Germany it was packed and the vast majority of Germans did not do the greeting bit (some did when it was obvious that I was a foreigner) - however in Lithuania where there were almost no cyclists the few I saw not only nodded but stopped to talk

I find out in the country in the UK pretty much everyone I pass will nod or wave (apart from the occasional roadie to whom I just count as a scalp - hate it when those fast beasties wheelsuck me - I am a slow portly geezer so in fact I take it as bit of a compliment - and then burn past without a word)

In town there are enough people on bikes that it is a bit of a chore and you run the risk of looking a bit sycophantic if you wave at everyone
 

yello

Guest
It's just different. Motorbikers do, cyclists don't (as a rule). I wouldn't read anything more into it than that.
 

Mycroft

New Member
"cyclists don't" ????

are you mad?

I wave at all the cyclists I see ;)

[old hippy] its about the wheels man, its about the wheels

and the open road

[/old hippy]

and when the roadies don't wave speak or nod back, they get about 10 minutes of "what a stuck up prick"

but you know I keep waving and gradually they wave back, yeah for the small victories eh?

a few roadies passed me on sunday (loaded tourer, they actually struggled!) and I could have given chase.. i couldda, but I knew there was a bugger of a hill around 2 bends later, so I didn't, but they said hello :biggrin: and the sun was out and its about the wheels maan, it really is!
 

Rebel Ian

Well-Known Member
Location
Berkshire
I ride bicycles and a motorbike and I always nod at other bikers and say hi to other cyclists. I'd say I get back 7 out of every 10 nods from bikers and 3 out of 10 hello's from cyclists!
 

yello

Guest
Mycroft said:
"cyclists don't" ????

If you're going to quote please do it properly. I also said "as a rule" which implies exceptions. Sure, some do but in my experience the vast majority don't. As opposed to motorcyclists where it is common place.

My (UK) experience is of London and the south-east up to 3 years ago. I suspect that the upsurge in cycling since then has meant a decrease in the percentage of cyclists acknowledging each other.

I'm sure in rural England - with it's gentle country lanes, cricket on the green and halves of warm mild - that it's a different story though and cyclists still stop to swap their life stories.;)
 
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