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[Scalyback]

Adrian? Adam?



Sorry guys, mixed you two up!

[tobyker]

I find it very strange that having my headlight on did nothing to stop the white van spinning round the adverse camber bend who wiped me out and broke several of my ribs and most of my foot in 2002. Fortunately I was on a Divvy not an RE so no real damage was done. But perhaps a high viz top would have helped.

[JohnL]

I don't ride with my headlights on during good visibility, or deck myself out in Hi-viz clothing.

I keep to the speed limits - especially in built up areas. I think the speed and acceleration of modern bikes can catch out some car drivers who commit to a turn without accurately assessing the speed of the oncoming motorcyclist who they don't perceive as a threat as they would a bus or lorry.

Chugging along on an Enfield gives us more time to react and drivers more time to see us.

I've also noticed since newer cars have super-bright always-on daytime running lights, that drivers don't turn their headlights on when it gets dark, and seem oblivious to the fact they are driving around with no rear lights on!

Ride defensively and assume you're invisible to other road users!

John

[papasmurf]

JohnL, I was "chugging along" on my Royal Oilfield three months ago and I would not be here at all but for the fact I was wearing a bright yellow reflective coat as issued to road workers in the winter.
(Cue McAlpine's fusiliers)



It made a car driver driving out in front of me from a blind gateway stop in time for me to take avoiding action, I was too close to brake.
It was only after that little incident I found out you can scrape the right and left hand footrests in quick succession at 50mph on 19" Continental knobbly tyres.

[Beezabryan]

McAlpines Fusiliers !
Memories of my nomadic years from 1960 to .... many years later. Worked for one of the firms mentioned and they now pay me a small pension.
There are many more verses each relevant to a specific job, none of which I can now remember. do so wish I'd written them down at the time. Thinking about it I did for one job but where is the bit of paper now?

[papasmurf]

McAlpine's Fusiliers
•(Dominic Behan)
(Spoken:)
'Twas in the year of 'thirty-nine
When the sky was full of lead
When Hitler was heading for Poland
And Paddy, for Holyhead
Come all you pincher laddies
And you long-distance men
Don't ever work for McAlpine
For Wimpey, or John Laing
You'll stand behind a mixer
And your skin is turned to tan
And they'll say, Good on you, Paddy
With your boat-fare in your hand
The craic was good in Cricklewood
And they wouldn't leave the Crown
With glasses flying and Biddy's crying
'Cause Paddy was going to town
Oh mother dear, I'm over here
And I'm never coming back
What keeps me here is the reek o' beer
The ladies and the craic
I come from county Kerry
The land of eggs and bacon
And if you think I'll eat your fish 'n' chips
Oh dear then you're mistaken

Sung

As down the glen came McAlpine's men
With their shovels slung behind them
'Twas in the pub they drank the sub
And out in the spike you'll find them
They sweated blood and they washed down mud
With pints and quarts of beer
And now we're on the road again
With McAlpine's fusiliers

I stripped to the skin with the Darky Finn
Way down on the Isle of Grain
With the Horseface Toole I knew the rule
No money if you stopped for rain
McAlpine's god is a well-filled hod
Your shoulders cut to bits and seared
And woe to he went to look for tea
With McAlpine's fusiliers

I remember the day that the Bear O'Shea
Fell into a concrete stairs
What the Horseface said when he saw him dead
It wasn't what the rich call prayers
I'm a navvy short, was the one retort
That reached unto my ears
When the going is rough you must be tough
With McAlpine's fusiliers

I've worked till the sweat it has had me beat
With Russian, Czech, and Pole
On shuttering jams up in the hydro-dams
Or underneath the Thames in a hole
I've grafted hard and I've got my cards
And many a ganger's fist across my ears
If you pride your life don't join, by Christ!
With McAlpine's fusiliers

(as sung by The Dubliners)

Tune: The Jackets Green

[Beezabryan]

We sang -
When down the glen came McAlpines men
Their spanners shone like lances
Less than half o' them were time served men
And the rest were f******g chancers

[papasmurf]

Beezabryan, that little ditty is why I have just fitted and set up a motorised satellite dish myself. I could not find a "tradesman" to do it.

[Nettshubby]

Presto, as an aside, the way I read the ruling on the strobe lights for cycles is, although the lights themselves are not illegal, they should not be the only scource of light. There should also be a normal light as well. In other words the strobe is in addition to the normal lighting. And how many cycles are thus equipped? Yes, virtually none! This should ne pointed out at point of sale. Rant over too!

[jefrs]

Front lamps of a vehicle including push bike must be white and permanently on, it must not flash unless it is an emergency vehicle.
Likewise the tail lights must be red and also not flash.
The only lamps allowed to flash are the indicators and they have to be amber (not yellow).
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989 ... tents/made
The police don't mind flashing pedal-cycle lamps because at least they have lights. Police priority is protect life, protect property, uphold the law, in that order.

Interestingly, a (push) bicycle _must_ be lit at night, and it does not matter whether it is on the road or on the pavement (footpath/sidewalk). [mutter, number of times I've nearly collected an unlit bike as a bonnet mascot].

I ride bicycles too, only I need the lights to see where I'm going, strobing things give me a headache.
btw I'm licensed for bikes, cars and lorries and had to take what amounts to advanced test every few years due to nature of goods carried.
Imo any lorry driver who doesn't know there's a bike up his inside is a complete idiot.

The first daylight running lights (DRL) on a car were probably the Volvo 240 and shone through over 270° arc, around the corners of the car and visible from any direction. Intended purpose be seen. Swedish idea, copied in Finland no doubt (and the same again in swedish). Not 100% but their 'lights always on' rule doesn't mean the main headlamp.
But, but but they've changed the design of DRL so that they emit pencil beams forwards. Imo these LED things are useless because they dazzle and far better to use fogs instead because they are wide, low and flat so they can't dazzle (original purpose is to cut dazzle in fog after all), unlike DRL and Xenon (HID) headlamps which are fantastically bright for night. Plus most fogs can easily be adapted as DRL.