[Closed] Power rangers lookalikes on motorbikes

Why are the woods full of overweight middleaged men on DH bikes and full body armour being a pain to all other users of the trails? Driving obnoxiously on the way there and back in their audis beeping at cyclists who dare get in their way on the roads

Motorcycling has become a middleaged middle-class mens hobby[i]

Damn you TJ, sneaky edit. I was just about to quote you and suggest it was a Fruedian slip.

Strangely never met any middle aged men on DH bikes in the woods, but a lot of middle aged seem to frequent the local woods without any freinds or Audis.

Why do they take up parking spaces? Is it because they're [i]parked[/i]? I'll admit, that is a proper scandal when they do that, and no mistake.

Have to admit I read that MCN article as I buy it every now and then and couldnt make head not tail of it or decide what the point was if indeed there was one.
The power rangers only come out at easter gone again by october so I wouldnt worry too much about them

[b]The power rangers only come out at easter gone again by october so I wouldnt worry too much about them[/b]

So just a very expensive part time posing hobby then

yes exactly

I got power rangered up last week. I went far too fast too. 😯

Do you also get offended at trail centres when you see fat middle aged men on the latest full suspension bikes with all the gear and no idea?

or maybe you get really piss** when you see a few walkers with the audacity to be wearing a pair of walking boots and a walking stick out for a gentle stroll but only when the weather is good and never in the rain because they dont want to get there new gore tex boots dirty.

Maybe they are not hardcore enough for you? Maybe they are out just enjoying themselves?

Very selfish if you ask me.

Never had a power ranger suit but I rode motorcycles at speeds to make your hair curl

Nearly put the power ranger suit on today but decided it was too hot and put jeans, fluorescent green t-shirt and plain black leather jacket on instead. You can't stereotype me, no sir.

Still sweated my nuts off and rode at speeds which kept my hair curly.

I only wear my power ranger gear now when I'm doing a track day so not very many days in the year and very rare that I do any when the winter arrives. Not hardcore enough 😉

Next time though I will put them in a bag and strap it to the back of the bike and wear my jeans and maybe even just a white t shirt if it's hot.

I must also remember not to stop for a breakfast on the way as I dont want to take up someone's space.

Why is it every weekend we are subjected to over weight middle aged men in leather, riding motorbikes, all dressed as Power Rangers, but without the image, either riding fast and dangerously on roads, chasing each other, or either taking up parking spaces at a cafe stop, pigging themselves out on cakes or pies, all dreesed in the customary white t shirt, boots and leather power ranger outfit.

Loving that Gixxer 'fighter.

Moi? Middle aged? I guess. Fat? No, cycling sees to that. Ride a motorcycle way in excess of the speed limits on a regular basis? Yep. Power ranger get-up? I have a one piece suit (though in black), but generally no. Noisy race cans? Yes, but it's an Italian V Twin so it's the law. P*ss off (certain) STW types with my riding? I hope so 🙂

I know a few middle aged blokes with a bit of a belly who wear leather when they are out on bikes. Let me tell you they dont hang around and are excellent riders. They wear leathers because there is a risk each time you go out on the bike. Doesnt matter if it's an off at 30 mph or 160 mph, sliding on the tarmac still hurts.

I have also seen guys with no gear in just jeans and a jacket that to be fair shouldnt be on the road.

You can go on and on....I wont even mention those on cycles on my commute that look like TDF riders in tight fitting team colours and to be fair could do with losing a bit of weight.

I'm not sure of the point of the first post? Is he saying that he is against middle aged fat men who wear leather or people parking and taking up his space in parking areas? or maybe because they eat pies and he thinks they should all be 12 stone with a six pack eating rice cakes?

Maybe god forbid someone might be offended when he's on his bike wearing tight fitting lycra showing his legs and wearing a stupid looking helmet when he should really know better and not be enjoying himself.

Two wheels good.

160bhp, 0.0000002 hampster power, it's all good.

I'm sorry but that Street Fighter is as tragically 80's as Rick Astley in a Puff Ball skirt.

[img] [/img]

Everything else is a bit...meh.

I used to love dressing up as a blue power ranger and ragging my Gixxer with my power ranger friends. I now love dressing as a mountain biker and playing in the woods.

Hopefully I'll now live a little longer, but why should I grow up...:)

On a side note.

If I try and read a bike mag now then all I see are bikes that are slightly faster & slightly lighter than my K2 Gixxer6. Since 2000 ish the handling on bikes has been as good as most people can expoit so I feel most newer is stuff is just keeping up with the Joneses.

Does the same apply to mountain bikes?

Pretty much, yeh 😉

Maybe 2010 would be a better example for mountain bikes. How much more 'performance' can us normal joes use?

[i]I'm sorry but that Street Fighter is as tragically 80's as Rick Astley in a Puff Ball skirt.[/i]

Err.... No!
That frame and engine is from an 1100K I reckon. So '89 at the earliest. Possibly an L/M so later.
Usd forks, over 4.5" wheels, etc. not until 90's.
Not that the rolling stock on that bike is anything like that old!
Not sure on the turbo. Possibly Rayjay? That could be 80's but looks smaller and more compact.

I think that bike looks ace...... takes me back to the 90's 🙂

Guilty of everything, even occasionally of being a self righteous car user. (only if the bmw is left at home though)

This is just another one of those posts about jealousy......

My toys are......

1. Italian motorbike. I wear full race Italain leathers and both knee sliders are worn and there are no chicken strips on the tyres!
2. British built full suspension bike

My transport.....

1. Swedish estate car
2. Italian hatcback, remapped with enough torque to need the LSD fitted

Oh and I am 42, but then again I have worked hard ot get all my things so stop moaning about other peoples hobbies/toys!

each to their own.

The one above was ridden by a scruffy skinny bloke in his thirties wearing jeans and a nylon MA1 flying jacket.

The power rangers only come out at easter gone again by october so I wouldnt worry too much about them

Just like 90% of the mountain bikers you see at trail centres then?

If its any consolation most of the real bikers sneer at the power rangers as well - most of the power rangers are all the gear no idea - can't ride their bikes for toffee

'Real bikers' 😆

You mean old mean with oil slicks outside their house?

i don't have a problem with power rangers as long as they take their one-upmanship, testosterone and ego to the track where it belongs.

I live in a rural area blessed with some lovely driving roads. Every Saturday, I'm woken by the sound of unsilenced bikes racing through the village.

Aside from excessive noise, they're not generally a nuisance. Motorcyclists seem to be more aware of traffic than car drivers so the best thing is to allow them plenty of space. I've certainly never had reason to have an altercation with one.

I don't have a problem with power rangers as long as they take their one-upmanship, testosterone and ego to the track where it belongs.

Looks for analogy with weekend warriors and trail centres.... 😉

they are often scraping them off the road near my parents house, either that of being airlifted 100yds from the road in the middle of a corn field (how do they fly that far!)

I think i fit in with the power ranger description, except i am thirty or there abouts, i dont have a beer belly (my team boss wont let me), and on the road i ride respectfully (on track im a lunatic!). I save my adrenalin for race day.
My road bike is a 1989 Kawasaki ZXR which is loud, but so is my neighbours Subaru, my one piece suit is nice and comfy to wear and should help me out should some knob in an Audi change lanes suddenly in front of me.
I love riding my Intense through the woods at least once a week, and i ride it through London occasionally- doing battle with the traffic and disapproving pedestrians is a right laugh!

Unfortunately a large proportion of powerrangers only get their bikes on the road for the w/e and get carried away with the throttle, which is so easy to do - I mean given your own ferrari (and the wealth to pay for it!), and a nice country NSL road, you'd be tempted too, wouldnt you?!
Possibly given more time on the bikes, their attitude might change a little. I dunno, but its something I come to expect when spring comes around, very similar to MTBs at a trail centre.

I have to admit, getting a few speeding tickets and section 59 in my time has taught me a lesson - dont go out at weekends on the usual roads and ride like a loon! So maybe police crackdowns do work.

Possibly given more time on the bikes, their attitude might change a little. I dunno, but its something I come to expect when spring comes around, very similar to MTBs at a trail centre.

If its any consolation most of the real bikers sneer at the power rangers as well

And this is the problem. Sneering.

I ride bikes. A bike is something with 2 wheels. I don't give a rats ass weather it has an engine or not, and I never, EVER 'sneer' at anyone who's riding something different, but I've been on the end of it (for riding a scooter)

There's so many bickering factions of people on bikes, and most can't see that it's all the same thing, the same way of life, the same outlook. Roadies sneer at MTBers sneer at fixies sneer at BMX sneer at tourers sneer at sportsbike riders sneer at Harley riders sneer at MXers sneer at touring bikes.

And so it goes. Then when one group is put under pressure for whatever reason, instead of everyone coming together, everyone sneers again.

United we stand....

I have to admit, getting a few speeding tickets and section 59 in my time has taught me a lesson - dont go out at weekends on the usual roads and ride like a loon! So maybe police crackdowns do work

Very true- one of the reasons i save my speeding for trackdays (much more fun for going balls out), its about £150 or there abouts to do one- so say four a year is achievable for most people. Isnt it?

Road riding is also great fun, but at sensible speeds- i mean your own sense of self preservation should kick in! Some people though think that because you have a fast bike you should go mad everywhere and if you dont youre not a real man.
Its not just bikes- i know plenty of people with cars that think the same.
And we mountain bikers are no different really, are we?

Ever hit the Tarmac at 90mph+? I have. And I'm still here to tell the tale. In fact I got up and walked away from the pile of expensive wreckage that was my Gixxer. I learnt two things:

Dressing like a power ranger saves your life. Riding like an utter and complete bell-end doesn't

Binners - you can have decent protective gear that is not a race replica suit

The thing with MTBing is that you can go balls out as fast as you can on XC and your life's not really in danger. That's one of the things I like about it in fact.

My leathers were plain black. But I was guilty of race replica Arai helmet and daft garish motocross boots, coupled with far-from-subtle ear-splittingly loud, tuned-to-buggery Japanese sports missile. I rode al the time though. Never bothered with a car license til into my thirties

Don't get the problem here. Bikes are a (admittedly dangerous) hoot! And you wear whatever will most likey save you from damage when the inevitable happens. What's the problem?

Shorts and a t-shirt are far better at reducing casualty rates than leathers. I go really, really slow in shorts.

Not a power ranger than Binners. power rangers are teh ones in multicoloured race rep outfits.

Cool! I can put my indigent persecution complex away then 😉

The thing with MTBing is that you can go balls out as fast as you can on XC and your life's not really in danger. That's one of the things I like about it in fact.

Not quite true, i vividly remember a friend of mine who went face first into a metal fence post as a result of highsiding out of a fast corner. His crash lid smashed into 3 pieces, and he had to have extensive surgery to realign his nose and mouth. His crash helmet saved his life. And the fact that the paramedics were miracle workers.

This was 15 years ago and he was on an RTS 3. Imagine the speeds we reach on todays machinery, and im talking about XC bikes. And the trails themselves have moved on so much to be so much more technical than back then!
You can still die on a bicycle. In fact you can still die doing just about anything!

I said not 'really' in danger meaning mostly it's not. Of course you can smash yourself up quite badly but the risks are not on the same scale as doing the equivalent on a motorbike.

True- i guess if the finger of doom points at you it dosent really matter what youre doing!

So- whatever you enjoy doing, smile alot and keep doing it!

I think i fit in with the power ranger description.........my one piece suit is nice and comfy to wear and should help me out should some knob in an Audi change lanes suddenly in front of me.

One piece suits are also important for hiding 'stains' after moments like this..

Sweet baby jesus and the orphans! 😯

i guess if the finger of doom points at you it dosent really matter what youre doing!

I do like to try and hide from the finger of doom as much as possible tho 🙂

Fantastic woody

One piece suits are also important for hiding 'stains' after moments like this..

On that subject, here is my main memory of this years TT:

"I don't think I've ever seen anything like that!"

Well thanks to some awful camera work, neither have we.

Well thanks to some awful camera work, neither have we.

Cameraman probably worried about a chunk of Kawasaki flying through the air, and hitting him on the noggin.

That's no excuse.

That's no excuse.

Someone appears to have sand in their vagina this afternoon.

And it's not me.. I was being silly and joking about... you don't seem to have spotted it..?

Pah! That's not nearly a crash. This is nearly a crash...

And it's not me.. I was being silly and joking about... you don't seem to have spotted it..?

That's no excuse.

Reminds me of the classic picture of Wayne Gardner

[img] [/img]

YOIKES!!! 😯 Though god only knows how anyone kept those V4 2 stroke 500's pointing in vaguely the right direction. Balls like water melons!

Pah! That's not nearly a crash. This is nearly a crash...

Dammit! I need to know if he got back on now!

Not forgetting Biaggi's wheelie

This ones not a bad save either:

D'is threads turned into a relative video crash emporium init.

I've one of these fellas (currently in Brescia) and I've never been shunted nor spilled down the road despite riding around Florence/Rome/Perugia. I've a screen on mine though and once a pigeon hit it at 40k's, that was quite a shock I can tell ya's. It has, to be fair, been knocked off it's stand on more than one occasion by errant car drivers in tight city streets mind.

[img] [/img]

D'is threads turned into a relative video crash emporium init.

Really? I don't see any crashes?

Bikebouy - If youve ridden a scooter around an Italian city then you are a braver man than I sir

D'is threads turned into a relative video crash emporium init.

at least it hasn't turned into a thread all about TJ. yet....

at least it hasn't turned into a thread all about TJ. yet....

You had to tempt fate didn't you?

I've (we've) spent some very happy times riding around Tuscany, Florence being the best city for that kinda thing. Romes a bit of a nightmare, but you see there are so so many scooters around that the chances of getting hit by a car are small compared to getting hit by another scooterist..
They really are the best things for seeing the place(s) MrsBouy loves it too.. (ahh how romantic) If you keep off the dual carriageways it's fine, really. Cobbled streets in the rain are interesting but nothing to get fussed over.
And there are "sportsbike owners" over there too, loads of them, not all of them wear leathers, most wear t-shirts and jeans and a lid.

You should try it.

Exactly
One piece suits are also important for hiding 'stains' after moments like this..

How the hell did he not crash? Actually, how the hell did he not hit the barrier?

You can get your knee down at legal speeds too, in fact this bloke got his elbow down!
I think this was from a Performance Bikes photoshoot...

Bikebouy - If youve ridden a scooter around an Italian city then you are a braver man than I sir

Italy is fine. You have 2 choices: Go slow and keep out of the way, or go flat out.

Me and Mrs PP both rode motorbikes to Italy a few years ago, over the Alps, down past Milan to Bologna and Florence. Even the cities aren't too bad. It's mote like fast ballet than anything else and nobody seems to get road rage like in the UK. 🙂

2 years around Emilia Romagna on an SV1000 and we both survived to tell the tell. Plenty of flipflopped gsxr riders out there willing to really push it to try and not let the overdressed inghilese past on his thumper.

rossi - Id be more impressed if he had the bike leant over a decent amount

Agreed - he's barely onto the chicken strips at that angle and if you have to hook you're knee over the seat......... 🙄

Here's someone at the 'real' limit and managing to keep both feet on the pegs
[img] http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/photogallerys/633814459257787000valentino-rossi-catalunya-03.jp g" target="_blank">http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/photogallerys/633814459257787000valentino-rossi-catalunya-03.jp g"/> [/img]

now thats the real rossi

No. this is the real rossi

[img] [/img]