dcswan

No matter where you go in this world, why do motorists love to honk their horn when they're behind you? I'm stationed in South Korea (almost time to come home thank God) and it happens here too. Just today after work, myself and a co-worker went out on a ride. We're going up a hill, to the right side of the road as feasibly possible. There was a sidewalk, but this portion did not have the bike lane section and there were a fair amount of people walking. This car comes up behind and just blares the horn. Scared the you know what out of both of us. Even though I've come to expect it and can hear the vehicles behind me, just the out of the blue horn blaring still startles anyone. So this guy gets around us, for a bit. We get to the top of the hill and the fun begins with the ride down I caught up to the guy and managed to stay with him for about a block before getting to the intersection. Got to the intersection and even though I knew I'd have to wait anyway myself, couldn't resist doing the motion and yelling "HONK HONK" Not sure if the window was open or not, had hoped it was! LOL Just wanted to get my little dig back without taking it to extreme either. I hate that fine line of not being annoying, while trying to get a point across to them as well.

BarracksSi

Nice..

A good followup would've been opening their window with a U-lock, of course , but simply catching up to him probably made him nervous enough anyway.

stapfam

There is a difference- I hope- between a quick tap on the horn when 50 ft back from a bike and a blast when they are right behind you. But to be honest- My quick tap to a cyclist to warn him I am coming does not always work. Then they deserve a noisier reminder that they are not the only ones on the road. Doesn't happen often but I do wish that cyclists would realise they do not make good mascots on the front of cars- and trucks- and buses.

CB HI

My favorite back at them, for guys that like to startle cyclist, is to ride up to the drivers side while they are stopped. If the window is up, slap it with an open hand right next to the drivers ear. If the window is down, yell in the drivers ear - something like “HELLO, seems honking and your close pass did not save you any time”.

The last guy that participated in such an exchange, had just taken a sip of something. When I slapped the window, he jumped clear out of his seat and the junk in his mouth dribbled out.

dit

No wonder cagers hate bicyclists.

Most of the time I can hear a car coming up behind me but at least a couple of times on every ride a car is able to "sneak up" on me. I wished every car would honk when they were a couple of hundred feet behind me.

10 Wheels

Get a mirror.

BarracksSi

True, but to take that even further, I'd like to see either an alternate, "friendly" horn sound or a widely-understood horn tap that's meant to convey giving notice instead of irritation or hate.

I use my horn, but never to a cyclist (my car's kinda loud anyway ) -- it's usually to wake someone up from their texting, to keep them from pulling out from a parking space with no room to go, etc.

BarracksSi

+1. I can see farther than I can hear.

spinnaker

I like when they honk right behind you, then stomp on the accelerator to pass. Almost as if to say "I am faster than you"!

Another favorite is when they go blasting by you only to make a right hand turn (a left in some parts of the world) right in front of you.

Luddite

I *hate* being honked at. Scares the crap out of me, sometimes makes me almost wipe out which in turn makes me angry and earns the offending cager ye olde one finger salute.

DieselDan

HTFU and get used to it.

DataJunkie

My headphones deaden the noise.

dcswan

There is a difference between a quick tap of the horn. Those ones I don't mind. It's the ones when they are right behind you, even though they could see you for quite some distance before hand, as if you need to know by the use of a horn when they are only 50' or so behind you. Also when there is plenty of room to pass because no other cars are coming from the other direction. Is the yellow line a wall or some type of deadly electrifying device? Not ALL cyclist need a "nosier reminder" that we're not the only ones on the road. Yes, we don't make a good hood ornament, but we also don't make a good oil pan liner either when the horn blows, we wipe out, then the vehicle ends up running over us. My take is, not all motorists/bicyclists are idiots. There are just those few who need to repeat that grade.

Panthers007

What I can't stand is the drivers who are yapping away on their cell-phones - and know they can't pay strict attention to the road as they yibble away on their phones. So, to fix this distraction - they rely on their car-horns to let everyone know to get out of their way. That they are much to busy talking to bother steering their car and respond intelligently to changing road conditions around them!

BEEP! BEEP! OW-OOOGA!

"Road-Stars" are nifty 6-inch, 4-pronged sharp welded metal. When dropped - one of their sharp points will be pointing up. Blows a wheel right off a rim on a car... Theoretically.

DX-MAN

I don't need anybody tooting at me to let me know they're there; I know they're there before they hit the horn, anyway. The horn blasters get at least one of the four languages of profanity I learned.

I'm not blocking traffic, I'M PART OF IT, so STFU!

Cyclaholic

If you can hear the honking then your ipod isn't turned up loud enough.

BarracksSi

If it's a solid yellow line, yeah, they can't pass. Dashed lines are OK, though. Of course, you remember this anyway.

knobster

Had this happen to me and my wife today. We were riding up a hill and this car stayed behind us until we went over the top, then went around. As they were passing, they blasted their horn for a good 5 seconds as they passed. Old people. About 500 yards up the road was a stop sign and they got stuck waiting for traffic. I quickly caught up and tapped on their window. Guy rolls down his window and I asked why he felt the need to blast us with his horn. He started spouting the usual crap of if not lawful for me to be riding my bike on the road.

Across the intersection there was what looked like a wreck that had already been cleaned up, but the police officer was still there. I told the guy about the law in Oregon regarding bicycles and how I have all the rights to the road as he did. He kept telling me I shouldn't be on the road. I then told him, OK, let's go have a talk with the police officer over there and we'll just find out who's right, because I know I am. We quickly sped off. Police officer asked me what all that was about so we had a little talk which he confirmed what I already knew.

One thing I wish was that we all would have to re-test each time our licenses expired on the changes in the driving law since the last time we renewed. This guy probably got his license back in the 40's when it probably wasn't legal to ride a bike on the road.

BarracksSi

Oh, it was legal. Not sure what cyclists had to wear, though, since they had monkey masks by '63:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQgAMkMmsfg

dcswan

Thanks for the good laugh, I needed that!! LOL

CB HI

Yes, the guy hates cyclist, but guess what, he hated cyclist before I gave him a touch of payback. And even though our commutes to work overlap, he will not be foolish enough to harass me again.

spinnaker

That is disturbing!


So old Slim is too lazy to carry his own lunch and too lazy to pedal his own bike!

What is with the guy running? Can't he threaten someone else for a ride the way Slim does?

Here is another tip that may have not been in the video. DON"T WEAR MONKEY MASKS WHILE RIDING!

BarracksSi

"Slim knew that his big sack would be hard to handle..."

Heh... here's the metal remix if you haven't clicked on it yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha44n...eature=related