Just back from a good meet up at Borough Market with the London Biker forum bunch. Great turn out, lots of bikes (only half in photo above), of all shapes, sizes and ages. Good friendly banter, but cut a little short due to rain. Can’t believe I’ve not made it before as I only work 5 mins around corner.
At last, it looks like we might be getting over this long winter that has dragged on far too long. First ride into work of the year without thermals on, heated gloves off and shades on!
To be fair, yesterday was also fairly warm, didn’t really need heated gloves on, but I left them on the lowest setting. I must be turning into a nesh Southern pansy. 🙂 Could be time to swap to my summer gloves.
The bike desperately needs a nice wash and polish, however, I’m still waiting for the damage and insurance claim to be resolved. At least the other insurance company is starting to get their act together. Just had a visit from their engineer to assess the damage and push the claim forwards a bit. Fingers crossed it will be all sorted soon. However it’s looking likely it will be written off, but I have been advised to buy back the bike cheap and repair it myself on the cheap.
There were long delays on my commute home today. I ask you, who brings a yacht up the Thames into central London and gets Tower Bridge to make an unscheduled opening at rush hour?! It wasn’t even a posh or expensive looking yacht, nor very fast!
That said, sat on Tower Bridge on a warm Spring afternoon, Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs, Dome to my right, and to my left I can see the Shard, HMS Belfast, City Hall, Tower of London, St Pauls, the nearly complete ‘Walky-Talky’ building, and in the distance, BT Tower, the Eye and Big Ben. London is a mental place to live and work in, crazy, busy, total bedlam, but there are moments when you stop and take in all amazing history and breathtaking sights. Over 15 million people each year, travelling from around the world to visit London, the city I call home.
Eeek! Just got repair quote to get bike all sorted. Come to just over £1600! Mostly a replacement front cowling. They did however factor in a new Givi top box as it was scratched. Sure a lot of it is just fixing cosmetic damage and not essential to run the bike, but the claim is to return the bike to its previous condition.
However at that price, I suspect the insurance will want to write off the bike… Not what I need. 🙁
The other night on the way home from work I had an off. Thankfully at very low speed and just a slight clip, so no injuries or serious damage.
I was approaching a red light junction with two lanes to turn right. The first of these had two stationary cars, the second was clear. So I took the second clear lane and prepared to pull up at lights. However a car on the left suddenly pulls out into the second lane, causing me to swerve, just touching his car and come off.
Bike now has some cosmetic damage, cracked and scuffed faring and a crumpled bust belly pan. Indicator was bashed in, but thankfully has a rubber mount, so just clipped in. Bike still rides fine, just looks a mess.
However, the other party was very reluctant to exchange insurance details. Firstly, he promptly moved his car around the corner away from the traffic, then insisted he wasn’t to blame and as there was no damage to his car, there was no need to pass on his details. What a wanker. In the end, it wasn’t until I started calling the police did he dig out his insurance details. He did eventually concede he changed lanes without indicating and ‘just didn’t see me’ – didn’t check his blind spot. He has a big scuff mark in the dirt on his door, where I clipped him (which I photographed)
Insurance claim is under way, just hoping the other chap doesn’t spout some bullshit to his insurance firm and leave me to fight this one out. Going to try put off any repairs and costs from the insurance until blame has been assigned, I don’t want to be left out of pocket if the other chap is an arse.
This morning on my way into work I had a rather close shave, that could have so easily have turned out badly. I was going round the block just South of London Bridge to negotiate the one way system on Bermondsey Street. Picture me, stationary at a T-junction ready to pull out and turn left, looking right, waiting for a clear gap in the traffic. Also to my right, is a zebra crossing with some vehicles just pulling away as some pedestrians finish crossing.
A scooter comes along, indicates to turn left into the road I’m on, but as he turns, all of a sudden a cyclist comes bombing along on the inside and slams into the side of the scooter, sending him flying towards me! Thankfully the scooter rider manages to remain up right and came to a halt inches from me. The cyclist? Checks he’s OK, apologies, said he didn’t see him indicating, then zooms off.
Obviously, the cyclist was at fault for undertaking. The scooter probably should have done a left shoulder life saver as he pulled away from the pedestrian crossing and about to turn left. As for me, I’m not what I could have done. I couldn’t have pulled out to avoid the scooter, I would have gone into other traffic behind the scooter. What would you have done?