London: Dinky 125cc vs ungainly CB1300

[gorillaonabik...]

Have a little courtesy scooter while my little CB1300 is being MOT'd. While incredible fun, it is without doubt, the most dangerous means of transport in London since the smoking section of the Hindenburg.

I've had an insane amount of sh!t over the last couple of days. Everything from people seeing me and still pulling out through to a cyclist without lights at night wearing dark clothes shouting because I hadn't seen him. Bizarrely, I had seen him but the huge coach turning in front of me meant I wasn't going to try to make progress. Frankly, nothing made sense about his incoherent rant except he wanted to shout. However, I don't get any of this on the CB.

It's not speed as I'm much quicker on the little scoot in Central London but the big bike makes my journey a joy. From my scoot experience, I now see that drivers sort of respect it and don't fuck with it. 'Presence' saves lives. I think.

Unless I'm talking horseshit. Is 'presence' a real thing? Does it make a difference? I'm thinking about buying my next used bike and 'presence' has now gone up the priority list.

What do you think?
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FZR400 (blown engine), ZXR750 (blown engine), ZX6R (accident), CBR600 which had engine issues after which I learned to change gear..., CBR900, CBR924 (stolen), CB600, CB1300 (everything blew up), BMW K1300GT (written off, hit from rear while stationary), Bandit 1250 for a couple of months, Triumph Sprint ST 1050 (nicked) and somewhere in there, I wrote off a Ducati 748 at Cadwell.

[hellkat]

Does it have a shouty exhaust?

Some of those peds have a shouty exhaust that is unexpected, and being a strong advocate for the LOUD PIPES brigade I am occasionally surprised at the racket something is making, only to discover when it arrives, that it's a scooter.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Pete.]

[Rogerborg]

CB500.

Didn't actually read the OP post, I'm just interpolating.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[kramdra]

Presence exists but the bike is irrelevant. Its how you ride it, which may be significantly different. I'm guessing you are hesitant or expecting people not to see you on the smaller bike, so they do not consider any risk of pulling out.

I have presence. If anyone pulls out on me they will be getting 200kg of accelerating bike through the drivers window. I do not have many issues of people pulling out.

[hellkat]

Back to the original question, about presence:

Yeah, I reckon it is a thing, and it does make a difference.

I tend to ride more assertively when I am tarted up to the eyeballs (Urban Warrior Princess) than when I am just someone who could be anybody's mum or nan.

It makes me "claim my space in the lane" better as well, and I filter much more confidently through heavy traffic.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[stevo as b4]

Presence you say?

Well in that case maybe your next bike needs to be a big tall Charley and thingy tractor with huge aux spotlights like an alien cyclopse?

[talkToTheHat]

Quite often i make better progress through traffic with massive e45 boxes on each side than with subtle e21 boxes. I suspect this is becasue oblivios drivers are oblivious and i give them room, and observeant drivers suddenly see a wide bike and not a pencil thin bike and give me space when previously they wouldn't but i would not have risked the gap, particularly on long hatched areas with the occaisonal island.

Bash guards with make pedestrians step back when leaning into road ar traffic lights in preparation to run across. Led strpis on bash guards accentuate the effect. Particularly if combined with shoutier exhaust. Muffs do not have this effect.

High vis makes a small proportion of those that see you super aggressive.

Screen, extra lights and all that stuff can make a bike look visually bigger. Tall screen is nice in winter and sat on the motorway. I took my screen off for a few days last week and was so fucking cold.

A pillion passenger makes your bike visually bigger, but the handling penalty and extra twattishness from a minority of drivers that see you and have the cognitive function to drive and simultaneously figure your sexlife is better than theirs makes it not worth it unless takkng the pillion somehow confers additional benefits.

None of this has any effect if your ride is a scooter
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Bandit. does. everything.

[someotherguy]

[Rogerborg]

[someotherguy]

What's the point of these bashguards? Keeping your hands out of the draught a bit? Stopping you snapping the levers if you drop it? Something more?

[Rogerborg]

[talkToTheHat]

[Undinist]

So you need to make your bike fat and decorate it with protuberances. Er...why? Because it makes you more important? And you think carrying a pillion makes you extra special? What planet are you from? You just need to learn how to ride. Take some lessons from the pizza boys and stop holding everyone up.
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Current bike: K1100RS. Previous: CD200, GSX250, GT550, VFR750, K100LT, K1100LT, R1100GS, R1150GS, ZZR1100, Hayabusa, RSV Mille, MV F4 750S, R1, ZX-10, KTM Adventure 950S

[Sable]

[hellkat]

[TheDonUK]

It is a thing, treated with respect for the most part on the GSXR-750 / R1 / ZX6R, But on the C90 not so much. (Unless it is someone who appreciates how awesome the C90 is)

Riding around a couple of months in South America though in comparison we are given a huge amount of respect on the roads in the UK / Europe.

The Argentines are absolute cunts on the road, overtake with millimetres to spare even when there is more room available and tailgate. The Chileans are fairly good drivers, probably on the same level as the French, slightly better than us but not as good as the Germans.
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[Current Bikes - GSXR-750 K5 & C90-97 ] [Previous Bikes: Runner 125, YBR 125, GS500, Bandit 600, Hornet 600, ZX6R-99, C90-99, R1-99, XT600E-04, GSXR-750 K4, CRF250L '16]