Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Wow I'm actually amazed this thread is still going tbh. And some of you dudes and dudets need to relax more seriously.

Gulpstella I once did that into the back of a free lander in my old man's auto, twice, in stopped traffic :whistle: needless to say I looked like a tw@t.

My local garage introduced a "helmet off" policy last year, so I asked politely why, especially as I was wearing an open flip front at the time they asked me to take it off.

The answer was that it had nothing to do with CCTV but that I might drive away without paying.

I did (politely again) thank them for regarding me as a potential criminal and also pointed out that if I did want to, I bet I could get my helmet back on and ride off before they had even got out of the shop, let alone across the forecourt.

They sheepishly admitted that they wouldn't even try, they were just following company policy regarding helmets. Which is not their fault and why I have no beef with the staff and still go there. Although to be honest I usually ride a couple of miles further to my local Asda Self Serve but only because it's usually 2 or 3 pence cheaper :laugh:

I can't say I have really had a problem with helmets on/off or sitting on bikes and don't get wound up by it.

BUT

I do get peed off with people "just following policy" when it's stupid, ill thought out and un-necessary. That attitude in others led to me having a nervous breakdown just over two years ago and I have no time for it anymore. :woohoo: :blink: :silly: :S :woohoo:

Life's too short to be tied up following someones paranoid, health and safety or security fantasies. As manager, auditor and H&S bod I was the one supposed to be creating them and implementing them and just saw how they crippled the business and hobbled hard working staff with forms and bureaucracy.

Riders of the forum, rise up! Shake of the chains of petty officialdom in this nation of shop keepers! I call for civil disobedience and direct action to fill up in whatever style of clothing and position you wish! Use your mobile phone on the forecourt and question when you are "just doing your job".

But seriously, I see these rules as a symptom of our nanny state or passing the buck. No-one takes responsibility for their own action. It's always someone elses decision or fault, someone else has to pay off the debts or look after their old parents.

I know I've gone off topic and I'm not getting at anyone in particular but this sort of petty rulemaking is behind a lot of our daily annoyances.

[video]http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMBZDwf9dok[/video]

strimstrum wrote:I have just read the 5 pages of this thread and think that some of you could do with getting out more.

I joined the ABR forum to get away from the back biting of the UKGSER site but I can see that it is gradually taking over here - it's not nice reading through pages of grown men/women sniping at each other.

I often sit on my bike to fill up - who cares if I want to set myself alight - and, wait for it...... I more than often ride without gloves (GASP !!!) I rode around the world last year without wearing gloves, I rode to the Iraq border and back last year without gloves and frequently filled up whilst sat on my bike with my helmet on.

Does it really matter to anyone else ? No, because I have choice.

If nobody had any opinions or if we all had the same one it'd be a pretty boring and futile existence!

rob

What annoys me about the "helmet off" rules is when they let me have fuel without removing my helmet, but then ask me to remove it when I enter the shop with money in my hand to pay them! It´s a bit obvious I´m not trying to do a runner!!!

knobblywobbly wrote:What annoys me about the "helmet off" rules is when they let me have fuel without removing my helmet, but then ask me to remove it when I enter the shop with money in my hand to pay them! It´s a bit obvious I´m not trying to do a runner!!!

Yeah but, have you seen those vids on that telly thing where peeps with crash helmets on suddeny produce a shotgun from under the coat and rob them senseless, thats main reason for their helmet off policy me thinks....

Here, here. Sometimes I think people deliberately post things just to stoke the fire a bit...Get back to your work, ya lazy gits. I posted about 4am today and got no replies. Not one. Zip. Zilch. Til 9.05am when 8 came all at once. I thought these people are turning up at work, logging on and going "just check my emails...oooh, there's some from ABR. Must reply." Any amount of skiving is justified in my opinion, so long as you don't get caught. It ups the hourly rate for the time we actually do work...and I bet you don't wait til break to visit the chod bin, either. Take one in company time, there's a good chap! Fair play to you all!! Happy riding.

cozmo1589 wrote:LOL You lot! I knew if I lit the touch paper it would all go off - whooooosh !!!! Who gives a crap whether you have helmet on, helmet off, on bike, off bike, on side stand, on centre stand, spill petrol or not

B) LOL

Given the number of people that have died from filling up whilst sat on a bike, if that's classed as too dangerous for us, then the petrol stations better start confiscating our keys so we can't ride off the forecourt! And if your worried about somebody driving into you on a forecourt and not being able to get out the way, FFS don't stop at the side of the road, and don't forget to dismount and use the sidestand at the next set of red traffic lights!