Locals are revolting...

JohnnyBoxer

JohnnyBoxer

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I was in Helmsley yesterday, saw this billboard headline and so I followed up the story last night, via Google

http://www.gazetteherald.co.uk/news...idents_forced_out_by_motorcycle_noise/?ref=mr

Seems like Helmsley's residents are leaving town at weekends, to escape the noise and reckless riding caused by Bikers, in and around the quaint town's roads:comfort

I thought there were less and less bikes visiting nowadays, never had any anti bike sentiments myself:D
 
Unfortunately the report a week ago saying 11 bikers have been killed this year already does not help our cause. North Yorkshire police will be out in their mobile speed camera vans
 
I bet most of the complainers are incomers to the area too!
 
To be honest, I have some sympathy for the locals.

It's easy for us, as bikers, to scratch our heads and wonder what the fuss is all about, but for some folk the constant wail of a Blade on full chat coming into the village will over time drive them feckin' nuts.

We collectively don't always help ourselves - and yes .. if we (they :)) piss the locals off enough, all it will do is bring in complaints to the council / police and you'll see more and more speed checks and camera vans.

There's a couple of venues here in Kent that are big big meeting points on a Wednesday night, and one of them is slowly getting well out of hand. Youtube videos of burnouts, 200m wheelies up the main drag ... so when the cops eventually make it a regular default tasking on a Wednesday night, the bikers will moan and complain, argue that they're getting targeted and will generally think that they're being hard done by :nenau

Pissing in yer own bed me thinks .... :beerjug:
 
Giles said:
To be honest, I have some sympathy for the locals.

It's easy for us, as bikers, to scratch our heads and wonder what the fuss is all about, but for some folk the constant wail of a Blade on full chat coming into the village will over time drive them feckin' nuts.

We collectively don't always help ourselves - and yes .. if we (they :)) piss the locals off enough, all it will do is bring in complaints to the council / police and you'll see more and more speed checks and camera vans.

There's a couple of venues here in Kent that are big big meeting points on a Wednesday night, and one of them is slowly getting well out of hand. Youtube videos of burnouts, 200m wheelies up the main drag ... so when the cops eventually make it a regular default tasking on a Wednesday night, the bikers will moan and complain, argue that they're getting targeted and will generally think that they're being hard done by :nenau

Pissing in yer own bed me thinks .... :beerjug:
Click to expand...

i have got to agree with you.
 
Giles said:
To be honest, I have some sympathy for the locals.

It's easy for us, as bikers, to scratch our heads and wonder what the fuss is all about, but for some folk the constant wail of a Blade on full chat coming into the village will over time drive them feckin' nuts.

We collectively don't always help ourselves - and yes .. if we (they :)) piss the locals off enough, all it will do is bring in complaints to the council / police and you'll see more and more speed checks and camera vans.

There's a couple of venues here in Kent that are big big meeting points on a Wednesday night, and one of them is slowly getting well out of hand. Youtube videos of burnouts, 200m wheelies up the main drag ... so when the cops eventually make it a regular default tasking on a Wednesday night, the bikers will moan and complain, argue that they're getting targeted and will generally think that they're being hard done by :nenau

Pissing in yer own bed me thinks .... :beerjug:
Click to expand...

Bang on target:thumb

The Biker Brotherhood... is at times.................its own worst enemy:rolleyes:
 
Even though I ride a bike myself I find loud exhausts and lack of consideration for others aggravating and believe it to be destructive to the image of motorcycling. Whilst the guys on sportsbikes with the baffle out of the can are a big part of it large capacity cruisers with something akin to open pipes are just as bad.

Still the "loud pipes save lives" sector do at least make me laugh so it's not all bad.
 
Fly under the radar .... it's the best way ... :thumb
 
At a rough guess I would estimate that the amount of bikes visiting Helmsley on a sunny Sunday is about 30% less than it was 8-14 yrs ago and the amount of bikes visiting Helmsley on a not so sunny Sunday is most probabley down by half.

North Yorkshire is a massive area and as for been plagued by bikers,I can spend a good 3-4 hrs bimbling Round the roads and lanes within a 20ml radius of Helmsley on a lovely sunny Sunday and barely see another bike.

I'd agree there are 2 roads that lead in and out of Helmsley where a small minority of riders do get a bit leary at times and I do understand the frustration of some of the locals,on the other hand I bet there's not a business in Helmsley that would wish to see the end of visiting bikes.

Even the council charge bikes to park (although I've never paid myself and have never had a ticket)

Steve
 
Giles said:
Fly under the radar .... it's the best way ... :thumb
Click to expand...

Absobloodylutely. :thumb

I did a round trip of around 1000mls with an ex police rider mate of mine from Sutton Colfield who wanted to but had done very little riding in Yorkshire and Cumbria.

The only time we could both arrange to go was earlier on this month,I had reservations due to school holidays and how busy everywhere would be at this time of year.

With a little careful planning we spent 3 days and did just under 1000mls riding some of the most stunning roads through the N/Yorks Moors,the Dales and the Lakes.There was the inevitable occasional hold up but generally we rode on traffic free roads made very good progress for 90% of the time and didn't upset anyone.

As Giles rightly says stay under the radar it's not always that established biking roads that give the best days riding.

Steve
 
Never have seen the appeal with Helmsley...and the so called TT:rolleyes:
Same with Hawes....yep passed through both a handful of times...now go out ma way to avoid em.....much better..(and quieter :rob) out there...:thumb

Don't blame the residents fer kicking off...bet ther sick as fek...
 
I bet the complainant doesn't have a business in Helmsley that is reliant on the trade the bikers bring in.

On another note how many on this forum keep their silencers standard?

When me and my pals enter a village riding standard 12GSA's it sounds like German bombers are coming since BMW decided to fit the exhaust flap, the slower you go the deeper the tone, people have already turned round to see what's coming!
Personally I tend to leave the bike as standard as possible, then when it's goes wrong its not my fault.
 
enabb said:
Never have seen the appeal with Helmsley...and the so called TT:rolleyes:
Same with Hawes....yep passed through both a handful of times...now go out ma way to avoid em.....much better..(and quieter :rob) out there...:thumb

Don't blame the residents fer kicking off...bet ther sick as fek...
Click to expand...

The B1257 Stokesley TTnroad is nice, but not the best road in Yorkshire.

Hawes is different because the Buttertubs pass, Ribblehead, Sedburgh and Buckden roads are all beautiful roads. I'd go as far as saying that Hawes - Ribblehead - Settle is my favourite biking road in England. I rarely stop in Hawes though....
 
No real context around her moan , it says 'those living around the area' but only one person is having a moan going off this story. The other person quoted appreciates the trade from bike riders. 2 people.

This place is by no means a full on biker hotspot.

Ya cant please everybody and someone is always ready to have a moan! Might be time of the month for Jeanette Blackburn, more likely the menopause.
 
ive been around helmsley on bikes for 31 years, having only ever lived a few short miles from the place, i have spent a lot of time there, and in my opinion, most of the locals and tourists like to see the bikes and many come over with there children for a chat about bikes, the local shops pubs and eateries welcome the bikers, and i guess they make a fair bit of money from bikers over the summer. the annual mag farmyard party must bring 10s of thousands of pounds to duncombe park and the helmsley area. and i am sure the petrol garage does well out of bikers too.

i have only ever seen bikers riding into helmsley itself, sensibly,
ive never ever seen anyone doing burn outs or 200 mile an hour wheelies, or video recording any dangerous or noisy antics,

helmsley on a weekend is a busy popular bustling yorkshire market town, its like this because of visitors, its going to be noisy due to all of the extra traffic,
not just because, of bikes.

some people have got nothing better to do than look for the bad in different groups of people, just because they dont have the same interests,
it doesnt matter if you are a honest hard working, biker, caravaner, dog walker, fisherman, or rambler, someone somewhere will always try to look for fault or try to cause trouble for groups,

helmsley is a pleasant place visited by pleasant bikers.
 
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