Motor Bike Courier Ride in London

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Author: LowDownBum1

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No one should ride like this or attempt to copy! Your going to just have to trust me after 1000miles a week for 5 years at faster speeds than I dare do on this day with a large camera on my shoulder you are unimaginably good and trust no car. Even a few days off work would show in your riding and require slowing down to compensate. Your reaction times get less and les until you no longer react and become completely predictive. At any one time predicting 5 things each vehicle could physically do without warning no matter how illegal or unlikely and making sure the physics of your relative speed and distance make no more than glancing blows possible. If your quite close to a vehicle and he swerves into you the impact is quite low and if you swerve equally you will simply stay upright be shoved hard across the road.. If you over take whilst vehicles are coming the other way the one thing you can guarantee is that the vehicle your over taking will not turn right or u turn.. Some times with a huge amount of experience what looks dangerous is in fact not at all. this trip was done at least 3- 5 times a day for many years and the total mileage added up to be about the equivalent to 25years for the average rider miles at the end of this my no claims bonus was still intact. It all occered back in 1994 and happy to say I am now reformed car driver that always looks out for bikes! If you a biker my frirst and key advice is not to try to ride like this. Secondly we bikers are the first to complain if a car driver makes a move without looking or indicating unyet often we are the worse culprits. Don't think because your on a bike no other bike will ever overtake and always look and indicate when overtaking or filtering past traffic. If nothing else you will have a easyer insurance claim if your indicating correctly when a dick head turns right without looking! I no longer ride bikes but wish all bikers luck and safe ride!

Comments

nice video. i do this job in london on a push bike. i bet it was alot more dangerous back then though.

the-sensible-comment...........its-not-just-riding-skills---------it's-knowing-the-road-your-on-too

you'd-be-getting-in-my-way...courier-since-16----now--50

Despatched 85-91 for Worlds End couriers then 10 years in Brisbane loved it

hope you all good

very trusting and breaking the law, fair play

despatched from 84 to 95 ish,lot off memories some good some bad,never had aan accident in 5000000 miles,hard to believe,got chased once on the western ave.4 black guys in a bmw,did there best to run me off the road,got shot once in coulsdon when working,foiled a security van robbery,bike was on police 5 with shaw taylor.cx500,two gs650gt"s,gt750,gave up bikes for years afterwards ,then got a Suzuki gs 850,which I still have.despatch riders developed a sixth sense and learnt quickly how to read the road,still got it,pop up town now and again for nostalgia rides lol.work as a carpenter now.

those leans tho

Someone sent me this link, It brought back a load of memories. I was a courier on and off for 15 years in London from the early 70's and rode like that a lot lol. If only we had had cameras back then :sigh: It was dangerous, but I took home anywhere between 3 and 10 times what my friends were earning in regular jobs. For instance I was on £31 per week as an engineer in the early 70's, at the end of my first month as a courier was earning £150. But went thorough a bike every 6 months and had quite a few broken bones. I am 60 now and still ride an FJ1200 at :cough: sensible speeds. The money now in couriering rubbish.

Just watched your video again and posted it to an old mate of mine who now lives in Australia. We used to ride like this all the time when we worked as despatch riders. He got out of it before me. I ended up doing it from June 1990 to November 1998. After a break to go travelling I had to come back and get on a bike again in 2000. Walked away from a biggie in Berkley Sq and gave it up. I live!
Great bit of footage though mate. I've only got a few old photos! I bet you have as many story's as I've got!
I started off on a GPZ550, Then CX500, a short lived VF750 (wrote that off in Wood St crossing London Wall) and A Revere. Did a bit for Courier Systems on a Beemer but they weigh a ton. Lost a stone in a week riding for them lol!
Worked at GLH for 6 months and London & City Carriage for nearly 8 years.

Thanks for posting such an exhilarating ride, very enjoyable to watch. I absolutely understand your warning about not trying this myself, and it has all the more resonance because you've already been there yourself.

cx 500 and 250 super dream , 650 Honda shaftey with alexander moore , use plot on clarkern well green , Happy daze RIDE FREE , and as BSH use to say RIDE TO WORK RIDE TO LIVE

ian 86 greyhound 90 t is good fun , but put up with non believers , loved my 3 years , went back and a 2 or 4 monts then had to stop , good buzz YER BUT

Wow! That is some amazing riding skill. I bet it's hard for you to just take a cruise, with that kind of riding. You're good.

I had a great time dispaching in London from 87 to 91 whith old CX500, GT550, CB750C for CATS, Centaure dispach, First Courrier or CDS ! Maybe you know them ? Thank you for your video.

Oh my gosh, this has brought back so many memories from those crazy courier days! I still have a CX, a 1981 CX500E. Thankyou for sharing :-)

I miss that job. 10-12 hour days and always a grin on my face when I got home.

i haven,t driven a cx500 since couriering in 1989 but you can tell the sound immediately..even after all these years..lol....great fun but ultra dangerous.

I find this shocking and unbelievable. A sunny spring day in London; who would have thought it.

lots of unsafe moments mate but don't get me wrong