Riding in Dublin

[insomniac]

Hello
I have just come back from a little trip over the water to Ireland.
I took the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin then went over to the west coast, Galway.
This was my first long trip on the bike and I thought I'd share a couple of things I noticed whilst riding over there.

Firstly the ferry, easy enough, but bring a towel or something to put on your seat to stop the colours from the straps rubbing into your seat and paintwork. It took me ages to rub it out (I think the straps and padding they had were brand new and the yellow die rubbed into my saddle and also on the paint work).

Secondly and I find the most disturbing, the Dublin taxi drivers hate bikers. I had 3 deliberately try to block me and one even tried knocking me off (I know this because he was looking at me whilst driving the car towards me, he only stopped when I put the stand down and offered to remove his head), if you are in front of them they try to get as close as they can to your rear end. All this was on the trip out from the ferry through Dublin to Galway.
The trip back was a little better but again the taxi drivers just ignored bikers and drove as close as they could to the back end.

The rest of Ireland was the usual standard of driving that you get here, you know "sorry mate I didn't see you"

I am not trying to put anyone off here, I love Ireland and will go over there again on the bike in a heart beat, just watch out for those taxi drivers. You'll know them they are the ones trying to park their taxi on your saddle.
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Most people seem to put in when they've past what so here goes.
CBT: 16/09/12; Theory: 20/02/13 MOD1:20/05/13 MOD2:29/05/13
Suzuki Marauder GZ125; Suzuki Intruder VL800

[Poseidon]

My old man lives in Dublin, so I've ridden over there many times (and fell off their once). Never had an issue with any vehicle, taxi or otherwise when on the bike. The whole of Dublin drive with an almost italian mentality of "they'll get out of my way", so once your used to that you're set. In fact, I doubt I'd say it's any worse than riding around London.

Out in the country they either never learnt to drive (but are not letting that stop them) or else they're pissed as farts... Often it's both
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1977 Honda CG125
2002 Ducati Monster S4 (currently restoring)

[barrkel]

The thing that annoyed me most about riding around my native country, after having learned to ride in the UK, was the road signage and markings.

In the UK, it appears that the "default" is to permit, and things are restricted / forbidden based on incidents, accidents or considered decisions.

Whereas in Ireland, it appears that a rule-based mentality is applied, regardless of the actual road situation and how people drive.

The result is roads that go on for miles with 50kph speed limit (because there are driveways that lead onto the road) or solid white line (because there isn't a mile of visibility for a safe overtake by a slow vehicle).

This in turn leads to contempt of the law by drivers, who no longer respect solid white lines or speed limits where the conditions appear to warrant a higher speed.

It is a bit similar to Italy. Solid white lines pretty much had to be ignored on a bike to make any progress at all.

However enforcement of the rules is correspondingly relaxed, so it's not a total loss.
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Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ