neversaydie Posted March 1, 2011 Posted March 1, 2011 I dont think I've ever been so angry! Just left work last night around 10.15, dark/drizzling rain/wet road, road bends around to the left, noticed a child on the offside pavement (about 11-12 I reckon) knelt down on one knee looking directly across the road. As I moved around the bend, the nearside pavement come more into view to reveal another youngster on the nearside pavement down on one knee looking across the road at his mate. By now I was around 30 feet away. Eased off (only travelling at around 30 anyway) and applied a touch of brake as not sure what to expect. 20 feet away, both of em pulled hard at the same time as if pulling a rope/cord/line tight across the road in front of me. Shit. Cant go up the kerb as the kid is in the way, if I carry on what have they pulled across in fornt of me, what if it jams the front wheel and I go over the top, what if it cuts across my chest/throat, is there anything there at all? In a millisecond, I decided to bale out and put the bike down, only doing about 20-25 now, slid into the kerb with my helmet, bike carried on further down the road. Knees and hand hurt, got up after around 10 seconds or so, kids gone, not a trace in either direction. As both were wearing T shirts, I reckon they were from one of the houses adjacent. Called 999 for police and medics, no witnesses, they're going back today to talk to one of the locals who came out to me as she reckons she knew the kids. Even if someone owns up, they are minors and get off scot free, I cant claim for damages of em without pursuing a civil action, and I suspect the police wont have much enthusiasm for this sort of "minor" offence as it will be hard to achieve a "positive outcome". Effective use of diminishing resources etc. Got a crime number, informed insurance. Any advice greatly appreciated
Moderator DirtyDT Posted March 1, 2011 Moderator Posted March 1, 2011 Not a good start to the week. I would keep the pressure on the police and not just dismiss it. You could have been seriously hurt, or worse! I would also talk to the woman who may know who the kids are and try and get as much information as possible. Imbeciles but it is possible that their parent(s) would me gobsmacked at what they are getting up to.
Moderator Airhead Posted March 1, 2011 Moderator Posted March 1, 2011 to make thins worse they might just have been pretending to have a rope, its been on u tube for ages now...little shits
LiamDTR Posted March 1, 2011 Posted March 1, 2011 It's best that you did bail. Had you assumed they had nothing you could possibly be in a much worse state, Just glad you're okay! I would pursue it personally even if it did mean taking civil action. Worse case scenario is that their parents would have to pay, I for one believe you should be allowed a few hours with them, a car battery with a set of jump leads attached and them standing in water + the money to repair the bike, money as compensation and a nice big fat juvenile sentence for both of the little pricks! I hope you get this sorted with the correct route of justice (So to speak). I'd personally contact a Citizens Advice Bureau before doing much more than chatting with the insurance company and police. Unfortunately they would probably end up with a police caution if this woman does know who they were and you were to not proceed BUT if you do proceed maybe their parents will have to foot the damages and I don't think any parent would let their child get away with that!! Fingers crossed that you recover quickly and get this resolved!! Ps. Next time go all captain picard on them! RAMMING SPEED!!
nayruf Posted March 1, 2011 Posted March 1, 2011 If you had of took the rope/wire and they were holding it you might of pulled their arms off
Moderator mervin Posted March 1, 2011 Moderator Posted March 1, 2011 next time aim forvthe little buggers they will soon move
barkwindjammer Posted March 1, 2011 Posted March 1, 2011 Put it down to experience, kids cant be prosecuted, parents cant be held liable for any loss or cost, I cant believe that kids are still doing 'the old Indian rope trick' in 2011, we used to do this as kids and that was in the 70's , why arent kids this age out shagging and getting pissed ?, haven't we moved on ?, I blame the parents
oldtimer Posted March 1, 2011 Posted March 1, 2011 I cant believe that kids are still doing 'the old Indian rope trick' in 2011, we used to do this as kids and that was in the 70's , i hold my hands up we use to do it in the 50s jim. did not think kids would still be doing it.
LiamDTR Posted March 1, 2011 Posted March 1, 2011 Could this be you in 2 weeks time... And rightly so!!! Ps. this guy is my f%$&^ng hero!
Paulwhite Posted March 1, 2011 Posted March 1, 2011 If you had of took the rope/wire and they were holding it you might of pulled their arms off thats what i would of done! the worst that would happen is you drag them across the road ...for a little bit....give them a taste of gravel rash.... glad to hear ur ok and not seriously hurt though.(just ur pride ) whats the damage to the bike? im assuming it fell on its left side. i might be able to help u out with a few bits and bobs like indicators and other bits.(depends what iv got left lyin around in the shed)
up.yours Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 i had it done to me when i was in the car,i dropped it a gear sped up sounded the horn and shit the little bastards up big style. you have to put it down to expieriance , a prank gone wrong, yea at your expence i know. just think how shit the little bastards probably felt when you came off.
Ttaskmaster Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 I'm a heartless bastard and would have done my best to crash into one of them. The other one would have told all his mates and they'd never do it again. Little fuckers deserved to get hurt/killed doing that. I don't mind people being stupid when it's just themselves that get hurt, but when they hurt/kill other people with their stupidity, all bets are off.
Gas up - Let's Go! Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 I've been thinking about this, two kids one either side of the road, asume they realy did have a rope. So a bike is what ? 200Kg ?? and traveling at speed, dunno what the momentum would have been and I'm not sure of the calculations, but I'm pretty sure 2 kids would weight less than the bike, rider and combined velocity of the bike. Is it something like Mommentum = Mass x Velocity, so at 30MPH = 48Km/h or 48,000 meters per hour or 13.3 Meters per second. So your mommentum would have been 2660Kg-m/s (200 x 13.3) theirs would have been Zero! In order to stop you dead, they would need to excert a force equal and opposite to you, 2660Kg to stop you, or the weight of a Landrover Discovery ! Given that thier effort was pulling the rope tight, their effort was not opposing yours, so the reality is they probably had about 10Kg?? of force opposing you. Think about it, if you and a mate were to put 2 gallos of water in a bucket and put a rope through it, do you think you could pull on the rope and lift the water up ? IF there had been a rope, and IF id wasn't raised enough to clear your screen (and it takes a fair bit of effort to pull a rope taught over 20feet), It couln't have stopped the bike. In fact I think the kids would be following the bike down the street, or at least the palms of their hands would.. Certainly you would have come off the bike, but because of your own reaction rather than what they did, and no worse than you are now ?? So, this is easy after the fact, and I think I'd have probably acted the same as you, looked for the soft option. But worth thinking about if anyone comes across this again ? and if you were to hit the rope closer to one person than the other then you are tipping the odds in your favour even more as the oink closest to you would get the full force of your mommentum. ** there will be other factors involved in the physics, I'm just trying to demonstrate the forces involved, and I'm no Physicist!
up.yours Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 you left the what iff factor out,, what iff the rope wrapped around the front wheel, iff thier was a rope that is..
Gas up - Let's Go! Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 you left the what iff factor out,, what iff the rope wrapped around the front wheel, iff thier was a rope that is.. I was just trying to break it down into some calculatable options, yep a rope around the wheel would have hurt. But the palms of the oinks would still suffer some serious burns. There are lots of what-if factors, angle of the bike, the rop hitting your neck, the pressure the rope applies (depending on the diameter etc) to whatever it hits before the other forces are taken into account etc etc. It's all academic now, and easy to talk about afterwards, the fact remains you react how you react, you don't start doing calculations in your head !! more like "Oh sh1t, brake, brake, fall off with style" .....
Gas up - Let's Go! Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 Ah, the conclusion is correct, but I might have made some errors in my workings....
barkwindjammer Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 I've been thinking about this, two kids one either side of the road, asume they realy did have a rope. So a bike is what ? 200Kg ?? and traveling at speed, dunno what the momentum would have been and I'm not sure of the calculations, but I'm pretty sure 2 kids would weight less than the bike, rider and combined velocity of the bike. Is it something like Mommentum = Mass x Velocity, so at 30MPH = 48Km/h or 48,000 meters per hour or 13.3 Meters per second. So your mommentum would have been 2660Kg-m/s (200 x 13.3) theirs would have been Zero! In order to stop you dead, they would need to excert a force equal and opposite to you, 2660Kg to stop you, or the weight of a Landrover Discovery ! Given that thier effort was pulling the rope tight, their effort was not opposing yours, so the reality is they probably had about 10Kg?? of force opposing you. Think about it, if you and a mate were to put 2 gallos of water in a bucket and put a rope through it, do you think you could pull on the rope and lift the water up ? IF there had been a rope, and IF id wasn't raised enough to clear your screen (and it takes a fair bit of effort to pull a rope taught over 20feet), It couln't have stopped the bike. In fact I think the kids would be following the bike down the street, or at least the palms of their hands would.. Certainly you would have come off the bike, but because of your own reaction rather than what they did, and no worse than you are now ?? So, this is easy after the fact, and I think I'd have probably acted the same as you, looked for the soft option. But worth thinking about if anyone comes across this again ? and if you were to hit the rope closer to one person than the other then you are tipping the odds in your favour even more as the oink closest to you would get the full force of your mommentum. ** there will be other factors involved in the physics, I'm just trying to demonstrate the forces involved, and I'm no Physicist! Darren you old stoner !
xv535 Posted March 4, 2011 Posted March 4, 2011 I think your decision to drop the bike was the correct one given the circumstances. Even at 30 mpg you don't have a lot of time to make a decision. Also the fact that it was 10:15 pm means it was dark which makes it much tougher to see the little assholes. I have never heard of kids doing that, so if I had been in your shoes I probably would not have reacted as quickly as you did. You didn't say how much damage was done to your bike. If you can ID the kids I would pass the info onto the insurance company and let them go after the kids parents. Hopefully the cops will talk to the parents and the parents will beat the shit out of the kids. I agree that there is little the courts can do to the kids if they are juveniles. We have the same problem here...the little bastards are not held accountable. However, things may be changing in BC. Three years ago 2 juveniles set fire to a building doing hundreds of thousands of dollars damage but were let off because they were 17 yrs old. The insurance company appealed the court decision all the way to the Supreme Court of BC and .... the court ruled they could go after the parents who the court said had a responsibility to provide proper supervision and moral direction to their children. Perhaps some sanity will work its way back into the legal systems of our countries. Anyway, I'm glad you weren't hurt. Rocky
neversaydie Posted March 4, 2011 Author Posted March 4, 2011 Thanks Rocky/Paul. Only got a broken thumb, sore shoulder, rest was gravel rash. Apolgies for not replying sooner, my 2 posts yesterday dont seem to have made through the ether. Hopefully, this one will Paul W, I checked the bike over and it looks far better than I feared, thanks. Yep tipped over on the left, but engine guard did a great job, not a mark on any chrome or paintwork, front fender trim took the brunt at the front so no damage there either. At the back, the saddlebag saved any damage, and I had that repaired yesterday at the local cobblers. The mirror is shagged, and footrest bent and I cant see any fork/steering misalignments. Going to check all bolts etc tomorrow for security. Gas Up, dead right, dark night/raining, shit, brake, bail, no time for the calculator. Out of pocket no doubt, as I reckon I will replace the scratched fender trim and engine guard cos i was looking to move the bike on and get a Virago 750 sometime in the next few weeks. Any "what to look for "tips on that would be welcome. I dont expect to hear again from the "Community Support Unit" (police)so I expect the culprits will be off scott free and all costs will have to be borne by me However, I will not let anything like this from stop me enjoying what I want to do, or alter my life in any way
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