Up To No Good.

[velocipede6295]

I went out on my Forza for a fairly local ride yesterday of about 35 miles and stopped about 1pm for a rest and a drink, and a sit down on a bench in a nice garden area on Blackburn Rd, Edenfield, a village in Lancashire. I parked my scooter across from the garden area and after about 15 mins went back to my bike to continue my ride. I was getting my helmet out of my topbox when I heard a 2 stroke revving, looked up and saw 3 bikes approaching me. One was a two stroke motorcycle scrambler, and the other 2 were electric bikes or electric motorcycles with no number plates. The riders were dressed all in black, no crash helmets but had black balaclavas obscuring their faces and heads. They slowed right down as they approached me and my scooter and the took a very keen interest in me / my Forza, before eventually riding off. I was concerned they may return and confront me re my scooter, so I quickly got my helmet on and rode off. I did not see them again
It's not the first time I have seen such illegal riders, but it was the way they slowed right down to take such a keen interest in me and my Forza that concerned me.
I am almost 74 yrs old, and I did feel somewhat vulnerable. It is not an uncommon scenario these days to see such people / bikes on the road. I have been considering what I would do if actually confronted in a similar situation.

[Andym]

Crikey, glad you are OK.

First thing I'd do is avoid this Edenfield place. What you describe is exactly the lawless phone snatcher scum that will be interested in a Forza. This is why I do not go inside the Leeds Ring Road or M25.

If the place is somewhere you need to go take to Faceache and see if anyone else wants to join in. We got the worst of the local ones moved on by repeatedly tracking his illegal activities and tagging West Yorkshire Police. With threats of vigilante action and egg accumulating on their face they actually did something. Took over a year though.

Up to you what you do if confronted by them. Best advice is probably to just give them the bike. Maybe hit the kill switch and get the key fob out of range. Personally, and I'm younger that you I probably would try to murder the first ****** I could lay my hands on and end up stabbed and jailed, but that's not reccomended. If moving I would use their own tactics, keep moving no matter what and head for either a motorway* or a police station you know is manned. Don't ride home, you don't want them to know where you live.

*motorways have CCTV. Ride along one with a gang of helmetless chav scum and plod might actually put down his diversity and inclusivity manual and do his job. Inside the ghettos forget it, plod isn't getting stabbed then sacked for trying to stop them trashing their own area.

What a **** hole this country has become ☹

Andy

[MrGrumpy]

Nasty...you hear about such things in London and other big cities, and there has been a plague of nuisance yoof riding off road bikes and other things up here in Teesside, but it sounds surprising that you encountered trouble in what sounds like a decent place. They may have been after scoots, but would need an extra person to ride it. They are also fond of mobile phones. No number plates - no policing, so obviously they are confident of not getting caught. Its amazing the effort that goes into anti-speeding these days, but there seems to be simply no other policing whatsoever! I should report the incident to the police - not that they will do anything, but if they get similar reports this might prompt them to do something - in Teesside, the nuisance biker problem did eventually prompt the police to mount some sort of crackdown.

[horobags]

little shits want a good kicking.

[Data]

I'm with you horobags! I'll get my boots!!

[Sylar]

This is my area of riding i have sat on that bench, I get my petrol in Edenfield as they are usually cheaper,so i ride over Holcombe hill and Grane road and Edgworth is a regular short run for me. As for the nasties, I will be eighty in August, in the sixties we sometimes had "disputes" with people, one item i carry under my seat is a Bootlace threaded through a wheel nut. Very effective against most attacks including knives, and can quickly be dismantled so " What weapon Officer"?. Just needs a bit of practice to use .

[Dave Weller]

In the 60's I had a Harry. ''Ok who's next'' after he flattens the first one, worked every time and got respect from SE London gangs.