I rode my Honda Hornet over to Stratford-Upon-Avon today in the company of a friend on his Honda SP2. A great ride, in great weather.
What made it really great though, the icing on the cake if you like, was the parking at the end. Huh, the parking?
Yup! A superbly well laid out, large, free, motorcycle park, bang in the centre of town, with clearly marked bays, each fitted with a ground anchor to which your security chain or D-ring can be fitted. The park is cleverly laid out to use land that would otherwise probably remain idle, being long and serpentine between a car park and road. It's even planted with shrubs, and doesn't look an eye sore.
10/10 to Stratford. I wish every town would follow your lead.
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Nice one.
Pity more towns and cities din't adopt the same attitude. They are forever trying to encourage alternatives to car use but don't do anything to make it practicle or attractive. Trying to find somewhere to leave that most vulnerable of vehicles, the bicycle, is even more of a nightmare. You generally end up risking the wrath of a householder by chaining it to his railings.
In fairness though, I have never paid to park the motorbcycle, despite leaving it dumped on the pavement and ignoring any parking restrictions. Probably because wardens can't figure out where to put the ticket.
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I can spell practical, honest!
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"In fairness though, I have never paid to park the motorbcycle, despite leaving it dumped on the pavement and ignoring any parking restrictions. Probably because wardens can't figure out where to put the ticket."
They can in London.
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As you like it, then? and all's well that ends well.
Relevant for me since our local m/c action group is lobbying for our vast shopping malls to provide proper bike parking. I will quote your example, particularly since where I live cheap small bikes and scooters from China are proliferating and safe managed parking is becoming an issue.
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With Stratford the subject, I just new there'd been at least one wordplay before long! ;-)
Good luck with the lobbying, G. Next time I'm in Stratford, I'll take some digital photos for you. In fact, you just gave me an excuse for another ride out!
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Thumbs up for East Yorkshire as well.
Free bike parking at Bridlington harbour (nice and central) with big steel pipe to fasten bikes to. Beverly recently installed bike bays with steel posts.
Thumbs down to North Yorkshire who charge for bike parking and ban bikes from their traditional parking places.
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Free bike parking in North Yorkshire's Richmond, but one bay has a permanent witches cauldron installed with flowers growing in it. And another bike bay seems to be a semi-permanent parking place for the stonemason's van as refurbishment of the church tower proceeds.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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As a Stratford council taxpayer even though I am currently fighting off mosquitoes on the River Niger, I can assure SjB that the bike park in Stratford followed a lot of hassle and harassment of bikers by the local council and police who didn't want tourists upset by groups of bikers parking (legally) next to the theatre and riverside gardens.
The town may appear to be bike-friendlier now but it is not particularly car-friendly. The car park charges are 24-hours,, 7 days a week, and rigidly enforced which comes as a surprise to many an innocent visitor. The best thing about Stratford is the partial by-pass under construction on the south side.
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What is it about Stratford-u-A & bike(r)s? The road from Junction 15 of the M40 to Alcester through Stratford (A46? - where I was yesterday) is lined with signs saying 'think bike' & 'is it worth scaring yourself to death' etc.
Never seen that before.
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We had the annual Bulldog Bash a couple of weeeks ago.Every year there are accidents and fatalities,the local authorities tried to improve driver awareness.
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I'm all in favour of bike awareness campaigns, but after driving south on the M1 during the aftermath of the British MotoGP and being overtaken, undertaken and everywhichwaytaken by what must have been in the region of five thousand bikes, I was cursing anything with less than four wheels to high heaven. What is it that makes many bikers think blasting through a 3ft gap between two cars travelling at 70mph is acceptable? I actually had my wing mirror brushed by a jacket sleeve as a fireblade rider went past doing well over the ton and sliced up a number of cars ahead by weaving across all three lanes. You also see this every day on normal roads, with bikers overtaking long rows of traffic by driving completely on the opposite carriageway and slotting themselves into the gap between cars and the curb. I remember those adverts stating that you should give a bike the same distance you'd give a car when overtaking - sound advice and I always do, but when a biker removes that possibility from you through sheer arrogance and places you in the wrong then it's nothing short of infuriating.
I know the agruments usually go 'but it's always the lairy few that give bikers a bad name' but in this case it was more like the lairy few thousand, and I don't recall a single bike that held its position instead of hacking through gaps barely big enough and slashing people's 'safe distances' down to nothing in the process'..
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>>and I don't recall a single bike that held its position instead of hacking through gaps barely big enoug
To be brutally fair to them (and I pretty much agree with everything you write), you wouldn't have seen the ones who didn't go through tiny gaps, as they're at the back of the queue...
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That's a very good point sir, and well put.
*climbs down off soapbox* :)
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As a biker whose ride-out group sits down at the local Starbucks to plan every ride before proceeding (who is the leader, who is the sweeper etc), and whose riding activities are given over in some considerable (and rewarding) part to teaching riding safety, that is unacceptable.
Wherever I ride I find Harley riders, while looking like wild men, are usually the most considerate and disciplined. It's the plastic fantastics with small dick syndrome who cause the problems.
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>>ride-out group
Horses for courses & all that, but... the whole joy to me of riding a bike (bicycle, that is!) is solitariness & silence. I can (I suppose) imagine swapping the silence for a throaty roar & a pretty bike. But the idea of doing it in a crowd with other people I find rather strange. Perhaps you can explain, G? Motive power to me = independance. If I wanted to go round your island in a crowd, I'd do it on a bus where I could talk & drink with the rest of the party!
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Just a quick one for MM since you asked. Security - we are foreigners in a country where being bike-napped is a possibility, or having an accident in a remote area with perhaps primitive facilities would be a major problem for a lone rider. Friendship -- diverse people with a common interest -- I have made more friends in the 7 years since I resumed motorcycling than I made in 20 before that. Social life -- we have several bars that cater to bikers, Weekends are a blast, serious BBQ's and good local bands playing PROPER music (!) Visits to clubs in other towns and reciprocal events. These are all especially true of primarily Harley riding clubs and groups, who seem to form closer bonds with each other. ....oh and of course there's something about those big Hogs that means our lovely local pulchritude is hanging out with us. That's it.
Islands actually :+) We've got 7,107 of the blighters.
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I'm all in favour of bike awareness campaigns, but after driving south on the M1 during the aftermath of the British MotoGP and being overtaken, undertaken and everywhichwaytaken by what must have been in the region of five thousand bikes, I was cursing anything with less than four wheels to high heaven. What is it that makes many bikers think blasting through a 3ft gap between two cars travelling at 70mph is acceptable? I actually had my wing mirror brushed by a jacket sleeve as a fireblade rider went past doing well over the ton and sliced up a number of cars ahead by weaving across all three lanes>> I know the agruments usually go 'but it's always the lairy few that give bikers a bad name' but in this case it was more like the lairy few thousand, and I don't recall a single bike that held its position instead of hacking through gaps barely big enough and slashing people's 'safe distances' down to nothing in the process'..
Interesting how peoples' prerceptions vary. I was also driving down the M1 that day. The traffic was pretty heavy, nose to tail, no point in changing lanes. I was in the outside lane, keeping well to the right to allow the bikes room to go through. I do not recall one single instance of a bike blasting through narrow gaps at 70 mph. There may have been about half a dozen instances of less than careful riding, but on the whole neither I or SWMBO felt in the slightest bit intimidated. I travelled from Northampton to the M25 so saw a fair chunk of the journey.
Five thousand bikes? How did you mange to count them given the number of times you were "cut-up"?
By the way I'm not a biker. haven't ridden since I sold the Lamretta in 1967. :))
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Perceptions do indeed vary - I had a mare of a time on that journey and felt that I needed eyes in the back of my head for the entire trip. I spent a lot of the time in the middle lane due to the same traffic, and had bikes flashing past on each side, pften at the same time.
Five thousand bikes? How did you mange to count them given the number of times you were "cut-up"?
Didn't exactly count them. There were almost 90,000 spectators there on that way, the vast majority of whom will have ridden. Out of those, it's probably a fair guess that at least a third will have been heading back south from straight after the event. I joined at J21 heading southbound about 30min after the event finished and was on the motorway as far down as St Albans. Given that the traffic was moving very slowly for a fair percentage of this trip, especially in the approach to J10 at Luton, there were times when I was passed by bikes in blocks of between 10 to about 50 riders in a minute, not to mention all of the single riders. Maybe five thousand was an overstatement but we are still talking in the thousands.
I don't want to sound anti-bike, quite the opposite, but I have lost and almost lost friends in bike related accidents often due to carelessness on the part of the riders and a feeling that their smaller size allows them to get away with more. As such I have no tolerance whatsoever for psycho bikers who tarnish the good name of the many responsible ones out there whilst putting themselves and others at risk.
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David,
"The town may appear to be bike-friendlier now but it is not particularly car-friendly. The car park charges are 24-hours,, 7 days a week, and rigidly enforced which comes as a surprise to many an innocent visitor. "
A good summation of the parking situation in Stratford and I confirm your point as to the enforcement.
Regards
Vericn
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