Need to vent ...

[Sp!ke]

Bit of a weird one this!

Minding my own business on the Hayabusa, riding back from work this evening- it’s pissing down and I'm gingerly picking my way through the London traffic.

I see this guy ahead, standing in the middle of the road waiting to cross. He sees me and I back off giving him time to cross - he waits. So I reapply a little gas and trundle towards him doing about 10mph all the while keeping an eye on him (he's still looking straight at me). I get about 50cm from him and whilst still staring at me, he jumped straight out into my path. I braked hard, stalling the engine and came to a halt with his feet under the overhang of the front wheel and nosecone millimeters from his body.

Almost before I had stopped, this guy punches me hard, square on the front of the visor, squashing my nose in the process. Sidestand down, I step away from the bike ready to beat the absolute cr@p out of this guy. Then he starts saying that as a pedestrian, he had right of way and it was my fault and stuff before then trying to egg me on into getting into a punch up.

Something I have learnt over the years is to never let the red mist cloud your judgment so I stopped for a moment and thought. Why did this guy deliberately do this? Why did he then hit me? Indeed, was he trying to knock me off the bike? Was it perhaps so it appeared that I did run into him or did he really want to pick a fight with someone covered in amour & wearing Kevlar knuckledusters? And then I thought this doesn’t make any sense... I looked around and there was like a hundred witnesses and I suddenly got a strange feeling like this was all planned and so far, this guy was successfully leading me into his wicked little trap - Some kind of injury claim or assault claim or something. Certainly a strange realisation that flooring this guy might have serious implications for me and as a biker, it’s going to be a troublesome job proving my innocence.

You know what? I walked away, got back on the bike and rode home, furious with myself for not hospitalising this jerk but somehow I just know that in the circumstances I think I did the right thing.

Still pi$$ed off mind - especially as I've noticed he has caused a deep scratch on my new (£60) tinted visor.

What would you lot have done?

 

[BaldGuy]

Spike you are one cool cookie my friend.... I would have taken his legs away... but like you where would that of got you.... Its such a shame that there are dickheads like this around that go out of their way to ruin peoples days.....
Have a beer and put some music on loud...

 

[GrahamC230K]

Sounds like you kept your cool, in the circumstance probably best.

 

[Steve_Perry]

Something definitely feels odd about that situation. Under the circumstances you took the best course of action although I can imagine how the experience would leave you fuming.

Could it be he had a mate waiting in the wings so that when you were fully embroiled in fisticuffs the accomplice would simply steal your bike?

Well done for walking away, many others would have fallen into the trap and thumped the idiot.

S.

 

[grasmere]

what you did was spot on Spike, well done for that moment of realisation.

Re the visor, look out for him and get him next time

 

[Howard]

Well done for keeping cool Sp!ke..

Had it been me, a swift head butt from the helmet would have settled things .... but probably got me into trouble i find it very heard to keep cool when confronted with such provokation

Nice one mate !

 

[Sp!ke]

Well done for keeping cool Sp!ke..

Had it been me, a swift head butt from the helmet would have settled things .... but probably got me into trouble i find it very heard to keep cool when confronted with such provokation

Far better to remove helmet and then swing it at them mate ...but not when it's a very very expensive Arai!

 

[mobeyone]

think a 9 iron would have met his head rather quickly...
but glad to hear that you walked away, lots of people out there trying to make a buck out of this type of thing.

 

[Bugblatter]

Trust your instinct. It told you that something was not right about this situation and served you well. You then used your intellect to process what your instinct told you. You did the right thing.

 

[esox]

Far better to remove helmet and then swing it at them mate ...but not when it's a very very expensive Arai!

Spike,i have seen this done--altercation scenario/stand-off,biker ostensibly removing helmet from head,in one swift movement raises helmet and forcibly brings it down on the aggressors bonce.
It had a highly affective and satisfying result......

 

[Will]

Gotta agree Spike, that was good judgement.

Sometimes in these situations you can easily end up acting first, then thinking later

Doesn't seem right at all to me, definately a motive somewhere there.

And yes, I have seen/heard about the kind of damage bike gear can do in these dangerous situations

Will

 

[Sp!ke]

Spike,i have seen this done--altercation scenario/stand-off,biker ostensibly removing helmet from head,in one swift movement raises helmet and forcibly brings it down on the aggressors bonce.
It had a highly affective and satisfying result......

Yep, I know...but is it worth ruining a £450 Arai?

Actually, if someone leaves their helmet on, its very easy to disorientate them just by repeatedly slapping the sides of the helmet. Five or six hard slaps and most people will go down albeit briefly. If you have an old helmet kicking around and a game volunteer, try it sometime. Besides which, a helmet presents a good point of leverage and is easy to hold. If you control someones head, you control their body too.

Anyway, I digress, I'm feeling slightly better about the situation now. Almost certain that there was a hidden agenda involved.

 

[C240Sport97]

maybe he was trying to steal your bike?

 

[GordonTarling]

When all is said and done, he had no guarantee whatsoever that you were able to stop before you hit him. If he did it deliberately, he was taking a big chance on being able to walk away. I figure he was either on another planet or a total d**khead. Whatever, you kept your cool and did the right thing!

 

[Madferrit]

I'm amazed how you managed to keep your cool... but out of curiosity.. how old did this person look? i'm just hoping its not some form of "happy-slapping" which has taken a new turn.

Well done for keeping your sanity!

 

[Sp!ke]

I'm amazed how you managed to keep your cool... but out of curiosity.. how old did this person look? i'm just hoping its not some form of "happy-slapping" which has taken a new turn.

Well done for keeping your sanity!

He was probably late 30's or early 40's so I doubt it was a happy slapping type scenario.

Did some research on it and apparently MCN reported a while ago that a number of bikes were stolen using very similar tactics. You get involved in a dispute and then a 3rd party walks up to the bike (which you've left the keys in) and rides off with it...

Sounds like I made the right choice.

 

[fuzzer]

roadkill would ahve made a satisfying bump bump if you were in your car


Nah , you did the right thing Maybe just get some pepper spray for future friends assisting you on your way

 

[Pietre]

Well done on restraining yourself. Just think of all the effort that would have been required to remove his dead skin from the stitching for the carbon fibre on your gloves (they make great knuckle dusters). Hope you see him when you are a pedestrian, then you can help him to check the brakes on a nice big red London bus using the same distance he gave you to stop in.

 

[SportsCoupeRich]

rest assured his knuckles hurt from hitting your visor!

 

[SportsCoupeRich]

in fact it may be worth alerting the police to see if they can identify anyone who has had to go to the doctors/A&E for a hand x ray....i'm sure they would of done this scheme before...

long shot tho!