W@#%ers that sit on your back wheel...
Discussion
This came up in a cycling etiquette thread the other week and I was fairly ambivalent about the issue but no longer.
Riding home last night, stopped at lights at the bottom of the cycle path home (Clyne valley - ex railway line so pitch black and not wide). Chap pulls up alongside on shiny expensive trek with head to pukka kit. Lights change, I'm ready so I'm off, get up to speed quite quickly (I'm on a self built 1980 BSA single speed, rucksack, audio book on mp3) but I do tend go quite hard. Sure enough I can see my own shadow fairly soon and trek guy is sat behind me. It's a long gentle uphill gradient and I'm on a 48:18 so can only go so fast. I stay left, expecting the guy to pass, and he stays behind me. After a couple of hard miles he's still just sat there but occasionally moves right. I see a stick/twig in the road, think that if I weave right he may be right on my arse so I go over it. f
king thing goes straight up my back wheel, rips off a 5 day old set of roadracer 2s, wraps itself around RR2 struts, chain etc so I have to stop and eyes justs sails past.
If that prick was half about he'd have passed me ages ago assuming his legs could cash the cheques his kit was writing. As it is, another expensive (in terms of constant replacement) mudguards must be bought, I got fking soaked this morning due to no rear guard and I view etiquette slightly differently.
fk you, fk your team kit and I hope your stty, shop bought racer gets visited by carbon munching weevils in the night.
Thank you. I feel better now.
Riding home last night, stopped at lights at the bottom of the cycle path home (Clyne valley - ex railway line so pitch black and not wide). Chap pulls up alongside on shiny expensive trek with head to pukka kit. Lights change, I'm ready so I'm off, get up to speed quite quickly (I'm on a self built 1980 BSA single speed, rucksack, audio book on mp3) but I do tend go quite hard. Sure enough I can see my own shadow fairly soon and trek guy is sat behind me. It's a long gentle uphill gradient and I'm on a 48:18 so can only go so fast. I stay left, expecting the guy to pass, and he stays behind me. After a couple of hard miles he's still just sat there but occasionally moves right. I see a stick/twig in the road, think that if I weave right he may be right on my arse so I go over it. f
king thing goes straight up my back wheel, rips off a 5 day old set of roadracer 2s, wraps itself around RR2 struts, chain etc so I have to stop and eyes justs sails past. If that prick was half about he'd have passed me ages ago assuming his legs could cash the cheques his kit was writing. As it is, another expensive (in terms of constant replacement) mudguards must be bought, I got f
king soaked this morning due to no rear guard and I view etiquette slightly differently. f
k you, fk your team kit and I hope your stty, shop bought racer gets visited by carbon munching weevils in the night. Thank you. I feel better now.
Im the same OP, pretty ambivalent but then when the spring kicks in you get all the fair weathers who cant ride and like a tug along. Quite happy for a mate to slipstream as I know their ability but not a stranger , especially as I have tried to start a convo with some and they just blank you while sitting on your wheel!! Miserable cnts
If I ever catch up with someone who is evenly matched I strike up a convo and take it in turns to fight the wind, or I just cane it past or hold right back if Im feeling unsociable
On the funnier side of a coin coming down a slight hill, I braked to a stop. My mate behind swerved to avoid me, careered down a 10 metre embankment hit a ditch, went over his handlebars into a stream. He comes storming up , socking wet, mud and branches in his hair, right in my face and goes "WHY DID YOU SUDDENLY STOP. I just looked up and pointed at the traffic light that was on red, we both cracked up.
If I ever catch up with someone who is evenly matched I strike up a convo and take it in turns to fight the wind, or I just cane it past or hold right back if Im feeling unsociable
On the funnier side of a coin coming down a slight hill, I braked to a stop. My mate behind swerved to avoid me, careered down a 10 metre embankment hit a ditch, went over his handlebars into a stream. He comes storming up , socking wet, mud and branches in his hair, right in my face and goes "WHY DID YOU SUDDENLY STOP. I just looked up and pointed at the traffic light that was on red, we both cracked up.
Assuming you are referring to Swansea, that cycle path is horrendous at the moment, recently I encountered six fallen trees on it thanks to the winds we've been having. Shame he did not stop and check you were ok, I think most people would. Lesson to be learnt I suppose, hog the middle unless you're sure they are going to pass. At least you didn't come off looking at the positives :-)
okgo said:
Ride hard enough to drop the pretenders or deal with it. I'd swerve a stick, if you take his front wheel with you then that is his problem, a good lesson in half wheeling 
Yup to be fair you're probably right (the latter bit). Still think it's a wker's game catching up and just sitting there, esp when you look like you should have a Jag with a bike on the roof following you everywhere and you're sat behind a sweaty bloke on a homemade bike in sportsdirect's finest, carrying his shoes and sandwich box on his back...Webby39 said:
Assuming you are referring to Swansea, that cycle path is horrendous at the moment, recently I encountered six fallen trees on it thanks to the winds we've been having. Shame he did not stop and check you were ok, I think most people would. Lesson to be learnt I suppose, hog the middle unless you're sure they are going to pass. At least you didn't come off looking at the positives :-)
Yes, lots of trees down recently, ducked under one a few weeks ago, forgot about rucksack. Twang. Ouch. On my commute, when I have caught people and tried to do a turn on the front, they have almost invariably absolutely nailed it past me, then proceeded to drop back down to their previous pace. So it's a tough call.
Some people do deploy anti-wheelsucker countermeasures, though, in the form of a rear light attached to their backpack which has the power of A MILLION CANDLES.
Some people do deploy anti-wheelsucker countermeasures, though, in the form of a rear light attached to their backpack which has the power of A MILLION CANDLES.
okgo said:
Ride hard enough to drop the pretenders or deal with it. I'd swerve a stick, if you take his front wheel with you then that is his problem, a good lesson in half wheeling
Last time I did that my wheelsucking friend buzzed my rear mech with his front tyre and bent the hanger. He came off worse though having skidding along a gravely road on his shoulder. budgie smuggler said:
okgo said:
Ride hard enough to drop the pretenders or deal with it. I'd swerve a stick, if you take his front wheel with you then that is his problem, a good lesson in half wheeling
Last time I did that my wheelsucking friend buzzed my rear mech with his front tyre and bent the hanger. He came off worse though having skidding along a gravely road on his shoulder. 
okgo said:
Ride hard enough to drop the pretenders or deal with it. I'd swerve a stick, if you take his front wheel with you then that is his problem, a good lesson in half wheeling
+1Digga said:
Try a nice, forcefull tail-whip off a root or rise in the trail.
A tail-whip: http://youtu.be/DJ--YYv531A?t=34s
Not a tail-whip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHnGQPsIyhw
I find it good fun to be fair. Overtake somebody, they begin to suck wheel, proceed to drop them while trying to look like your out for a casual spin.
I had a group of three jump onto my back wheel after a junction. Ended up killing myself and holding over 300w for a log stretch of road to try and get rid of them. This was after 40 odd miles and I failed to drop them but good fun nonetheless. They ended up thanking me after I turned off, so not all bad.
I had a group of three jump onto my back wheel after a junction. Ended up killing myself and holding over 300w for a log stretch of road to try and get rid of them. This was after 40 odd miles and I failed to drop them but good fun nonetheless. They ended up thanking me after I turned off, so not all bad.
There are quite a lot of wheel suckers around my area (Thames Valley/Chilterns), I don't mind as long as they say hi and behave - I would prefer them to stay behind me rather than take a turn as they can do less damage as a draft.....!
I did have a guy wheelsucking a little while ago, coming up to a roundabout I took a wide arc and didn't really shed any speed, he wasn't paying attention had to turn sharply, was going too fast and went down like he had been shot!
Personally I would only draft someone I know and trust, and even then I have seen it go a bit wrong!
As for the bike snobbery who cares? If someone can afford a decent bike then good on them - as long as they are out in the saddle and are behaving themselves who cares if they can carry a 20 mph average or pootle along at 12mph......
I did have a guy wheelsucking a little while ago, coming up to a roundabout I took a wide arc and didn't really shed any speed, he wasn't paying attention had to turn sharply, was going too fast and went down like he had been shot!
Personally I would only draft someone I know and trust, and even then I have seen it go a bit wrong!
As for the bike snobbery who cares? If someone can afford a decent bike then good on them - as long as they are out in the saddle and are behaving themselves who cares if they can carry a 20 mph average or pootle along at 12mph......
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