Motorcylces and their Riders

[nattydread]

I wondered if bikers in NZ are perceived as second class citzens as they are, apparently, in this country?

There have been a few articles in MCN, recently, quoting various MP's saying that bikers were worse than hoody youths and Mr "Big Gob" Clarkson on Top Gear saying bikers deserved to be "...shot in the face..." .. The big petrol companies refusing to serve bikers unless they remove their helmets.. all examples of tarring one minority group with the biggest brush you can lay your mitts on..

i hope the kiwis aren't guilty of that..

Biking seems popular here, and there doesnt seem to be the disrespect for them here as there was in the UK.

The biking population isnt being helped in the UK at the moment with the dawn of those damn scooter things that every 16 yr old boy seems to miraculously be able to afford, which hasnt taken off here yet.

As for the helmet thing, its no wonder they want people to take off their crash helmets before serving them, with the amount of armed robberies that take place with people wearing them to hide their identity. Thats just a sad sign of the times!

Jeremy Clarkson... now there's a man who deserves to be "...shot in the face..." if ever there was one!

[moggy]

[quote:19d9a86a6d="Taffy"]
As for the helmet thing, its no wonder they want people to take off their crash helmets before serving them, with the amount of armed robberies that take place with people wearing them to hide their identity. Thats just a sad sign of the times!
[/quote:19d9a86a6d]

Can you back that statement up with any statistics taffy? It is exactly that sort of urban myth that gives us bikers with a bad name. When asked by one garage to remove my lid I asked on what grounds, was given that reason. I asked if that garage had ever been robbed my someone on a motorcyle. He said no. So I said he had no grounds for assuming I was more likely than a car driver to rob the place, in fact if the place had ever been robbed, then statistically I was less of a threat than a car driver.

Steady now Moggy!!

I said people wearing motorcycle helmets to cover their identity, I didnt say bikers! And as it happens, I can give you an example of a petrol station near where I used to live suffered an armed robbery with people in motorcycle helmets, although it wasnt clear whether they were bikers or not as they ran off and no vehicle was seen.

I myself used to have a bike and my brother is currently a biker. I have no quarms at all about taking off a helmet for security purposes, and wouldn't argue otherwise. After all, whats the difference between a bike helmet and a balaclava if used maliciously? Has no reflection on bikers whatsoever.

It's like carrying a knife on to an plane, just cos you wouldnt use it for harm, you'd understand if a security guard asked you to remove it, wouldn't you?

[nattydread]

I can just about get round the idea of asking bikers to remove their helmets before they enter the kiosk to pay ...

my problem is petrol pump attendants refusing to activate the pump to dispense petrol until a biker has removed his/her helmet..

Yes, thats a little overboard, I agree! That really is suggesting that bikers are thieves.

[skybluearmy]

Whats a petrol pump attendant :icon_wink:

[moggy]

[quote:2d72f11cdf="Taffy"]Steady now Moggy!!

I said people wearing motorcycle helmets to cover their identity, I didnt say bikers! [/quote:2d72f11cdf]

OK, sorry I misunderstood, thought it was aimed at bikers. Sure anyone getting out of a car wearing a helmet should be thought of as odd.

The thing is that it is only bikers that are asked to remove their head coverings. I would doubt very much that a muslim woman would be asked, or a teenager with a cap and a hooded top masking his face. I did once take it off on request, to reveal a winter face mask underneath hiding more of my face than my helmet does, I wasn't asked to remove that.

[nattydread]

[quote:918a7632ea="skybluearmy"]Whats a petrol pump attendant :icon_wink:[/quote:918a7632ea]


what does pedantic mean????

I have to agree with moggy on this one.

When we lived in London my husband and I used to ride our bikes into work each day. One day after filling up with petrol he was asked to remove his helmet! If you have ever been in London during commuting hours and seen the amount of bikers, you would think this strange too!

I'm not terrible keen on Jeremy Clarkson anyway, but what an awful thing to say!

How can you not like bikers, bikes are so cool. Some of the nicest people I know are bikers. The rough image they used to have just isn't true anymore. I was a legal secretary and quite a few of the solicitors had sports bikes. I really don't think it is a class thing anymore.

We spoke to some bike shops in Auckland but will probably not find out how bikers in general are treated until we move there.