Clarkson's hatred of motorcycles

Brudus

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With the incident with the cool board, and other times, Jeremy has shown he has a severe hatred for motorcycles. Anyone know why?
 
I think he mentioned that groups of bikers like to ride outside his house on weekends and that he doesn't like the high pitched noise of their engines or something like that. but I'm sure his "hatred" of motorcycles and motorcyclists is older than that.
 
I believe he once stated, "have you ever fallen out of a car?".

I agree with him. Bikes are silly. I don't like them.
 
Because they're driven by power rangers, they cause men to dress up in leather and go out with each other, the drivers drink orange juice in bars, people behind you can see your butt, they have annoying engines and they fall over. His words, not mine :D

That said, I have no desire to get on a two-wheeled death trap either.
 
Here is a great post written to another sportscar forum detailing the reasons why Clarkson hates bikes.

If you're too lazy to read the whole post. Here is a great summary of why he hates motorcycles:

Jeremy Clarkson hates bikes because they scare they hell out of him, and he?s too proud to admit his fear.

Jeremy Clarkson said:
?The first time I ever rode a bike was at Silverstone in the mid-nineties?and I did 100 yards and fell off it. Well, I didn?t fall- I rode into a metal railing that I couldn?t see because the sun was setting right in front of me. And that really hurt- I mean properly hurt. So I thought ?Sorry, I?m not really interested in this at all. I?ve spent 20 years in a car; never fallen off once. So I?ll go back to cars?


For a more detailed history:
As we all know Jeremy Clarkson is a very respected and talented journalist who is one of three hosts of the British automotive show, Top Gear. As a host on top gear, he?s expressed his opinions without any sugar coating. He?s insulted Americans, Europeans, Japanese, women, etc. But one group of people who he should love, bikers, makes Clarkson steam at the ears. I?ve seen two episodes where Clarkson puts bikes against cars. The first of which is an old one, in which a 996 Carrera 4 driven by Jason Plato beats a Yamaha R1 driven by Niall Mackenzie around Thruxton. The Porsche wins by a landslide, and it makes the biker and bike look like a fool in the process. At the time, I didn?t think anything of it. Alright, cars have more grip than bikes. What?s the big deal?

He later pitted an Ariel Atom against a Honda CBR600RR. Once again, the car embarrassed the bike. As usual, Clarkson didn?t add the advantages of bikes: he just panned them as second rate forms of travel. At this point, I was convinced bikes were much slower than cars around tracks. Later on, I saw a couple of videos done by Fifth Gear. The first of which had a Ducati 999 (not the R or S version, mind you) beat a Lamborghini Gallardo around a track. I found this odd, because according to what I saw with Jeremy Clarkson and his tests, the Gallardo should?ve wiped the floor clean with the 999. Next, Tiff drives a Mosler around a track against the same 999. Naturally, the race bred Mosler beats the 999, but only by a narrow margin. Later on, I saw a Suzuki GSX-R1000 fall to a race ready Westfield XRT4. But again, it was a narrow, narrow margin. What?s even more interesting is that the bike could?ve gone more than a second quicker if the suspension had been adjusted to the rider?s specifications. Now, the people on fifth gear make a big fuss about how vehicles should come from the factory already set and such, but the fact of the matter is that the suspension has to be adjusted from rider to rider. Either way, I found it odd that an R1 was destroyed by a 280hp 911, while a 500hp Gallardo gets beat by a bike that has more weight and less horsepower than an R1. Something is fishy about that.

Jeremy Clarkson hates bikes, and he makes that fact apparent by embarrassing, insulting and destroying them on his show and others. He probably went as far as to rig a few heads up races just to prove his point. But why? Why does he hate bikes? He loves everything mechanical, from steam ships to commercial jet liners to super cars to space craft. So why single out bikes? This question was on the mind of many, and it was answered in an interview he had this month with BIKE magazine. The title read ?Why Clarkson Hates Bikes?. Naturally, I bought the magazine and ran through directly to the article. What I read was a text book case of a man hating something because he fears it.

BIKE magazine asks him, flat-out, ?why do you hate bikes?? You could see through this man the second you read his first sentence. First off, he claimed he doesn?t like the sound. He said that modern superbikes are too high pitched and grating. Now, at the end of this article, his co-hosts are interviewed as well. Both James May and Richard Hammond say he?s full of it. He loves the sound of anything mechanical, including formula 1 cars and high pitched four bangers. So his claim to not liking the sound is probably a lie. The second reason he gave was the fact that he couldn?t like bikes because his co-hosts did. Now, this is just plain crap. I?m not going to hate ice cream just because my best friend loves it, even if it did piss them off.

He goes on mocking bikes and bikers in typical Jeremy Clarkson fashion. He states that he was never around bikes as a kid, and he just never had an interest in them. Later on, however, an interesting confession comes out.

?The first time I ever rode a bike was at Silverstone in the mid-nineties?and I did 100 yards and fell off it. Well, I didn?t fall- I rode into a metal railing that I couldn?t see because the sun was setting right in front of me. And that really hurt- I mean properly hurt. So I thought ?Sorry, I?m not really interested in this at all. I?ve spent 20 years in a car; never fallen off once. So I?ll go back to cars?

-Jeremy Clarkson

Bingo! He?s afraid to get on a bike because he had a bad experience, and he won?t admit his fear. He hides it by blasting bikes and portraying them as inferior to cars and just about anything else. As just about anyone can tell you, once you ride a bike, you want to do it over and over and over again. You become hooked. However, if your first experience is a mess like Clarkson?s, then you?ll never get on the back of one ever again for fear of crashing.

What?s even more interesting is that he mentions he doesn?t like the look of bikes. He thinks they?re not aesthetically pleasing. Too many parts sticking out. This brings us back to his hatred and fear of anything mechanical. You see, motorcycle design has been based around the engine for the past hundred years or so. The engine is the heart and soul, so designers like to incorporate its mechanical beauty into the design. But Jeremy Clarkson doesn?t like engines, and if he doesn?t like engines, he?s not going to like bikes. He wants clean lines and sheet metal to cover up to ?ugly bits?.

So there you have it. I think Jeremy Clarkson hates bikes because they scare they hell out of him, and he?s too proud to admit his fear. Perhaps this personality trait is the cause for his hatred of America or the French. Maybe he?s jealous? Either way, I hope you all understand the reason Jeremy Clarkson has such strong opinions. I think he?s hiding emotions in which he doesn?t want to bring to light. He?s damn good at covering them up, though.

Alright, so here are the videos I mentioned, from the first to the last:

996 vs. R1 (isn't it odd how the R1 can catch up on the straight away with what seems to be a 1.5 second disadvantage, but then can't out accelerate the 911 after the chicane?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXQTzxepYjg

CBR-600RR vs. Ariel Atom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtDsAGd7uj8

Lamborghini Gallardo vs. 999

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP_zP0pPdTk

Mosler MT900 vs. 999

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCHtEQVOXxk

Westfield XTR4 vs. GSX-R1000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdjIG10D6kE

So there you have it ladies and gentleman. Clarkson hates bikes because he had a bad, first-time experience and basically decided to not pick himself up because he doesn't want to fall again. And that says something about this guy, don't you think?
 
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With the incident with the cool board, and other times, Jeremy has shown he has a severe hatred for motorcycles. Anyone know why?

They look like power rangers and they are always driving past his house all weekend making noise and annoying him.
 
Because it's entertaining to dislike bikes ;)
 
They look like power rangers and they are always driving past his house all weekend making noise and annoying him.

Every school morning I am waken up by a yobbo on his moped going past my house. Fourty billion revs going "eeeeaaaaeeeaaaaarrrnnnnnnn". I once got up early, heard the guy comming, looked out of my room, saw him, walked into the next room, then he came past the windows there, walked into the next room, he passed that one too.

I really hate the sound of a moped going like that, slow, silly, ugly, noisy.

And other than that, they're death traps, I might have gotten that from my father, he's worked with emergency treathment at a couple of hospitals, when someone crashes in a car, they get worried. When someone crashes on a bike, on the other hand, they get really worried, and get extra blood from the blood bank.

Hitting a bump with a car at 70mph will never cause you to go off the road and crash on a straight road, it might lead to that with a bike.

Why bother using two wheels, needing to dress up in leather, using a helmet, when you can sit in comfort in a superior vehicle with four wheels, with music (you can get that on big bikes, but those make you look REALLY stupid) and in somewhat safety.

I love cars, hate bikes. Even though I'd love a simple 125cc crosser at our cabin. But for the roads, no way.
 
In hospitals bikers are commonly known as organ donors for their frequent and bloody crashes.
Its worst in the continent where a lot of people have those horrible vespas which churn out filth and smoke and makes so much horrible noise.
 
Why bother using two wheels, needing to dress up in leather, using a helmet, when you can sit in comfort in a superior vehicle with four wheels, with music (you can get that on big bikes, but those make you look REALLY stupid) and in somewhat safety.


That's simple. Because for between $10,000 and $15,000, you can get more performance than almost any car.

The insurance is fairly cheap, you can put on an ipod under your helmet, you experience more of the world around you (for better or worse), and as many fighter pilots have said, it is the closest experience you can get to flying a fighter jet while still on the ground.

Also better gas mileage, you can park almost anywhere, lots of other reasons.

Anyway, it's pointless to try and change the minds of people who don't like bikes. I'm just stating the reasons why I like them.
 
Yes, but you still have to dress in leather, if it's a sports bike, it looks like you're squatting, and if it's a cruiser, well, I do like them a bit, but not too much.
 
I can remember an episode of Clarkson's Motorworld when he rides a bike on the Monte Carlo Grand Prix Circuit during the GP weekend. I think the night the track got closed. He rides it till the tunnel where he gets of the bike because he says he can't ride a bike and therefor can't do a quick lap of the circuit or something, so he has tried I guess. Probably with a huuuge amount of prejudices. I think that was sometime before 1995. So on second thought it could also be before the Silverstone 'incident'.
 
Oh, I forgot to agree with whoever said that he hates them for more entertainment. It's just like the rest of them, their natural prejudices amplified to make it funnier.
 
I think bikes are pretty impressive machines. But I know that I would crash one followed by a quick death if I ever got the chance to ride one. I would pussy it about because I'd be apprehensive, then I'd get the courage to give it some throttle and make friends with a tree.
 
That's simple. Because for between $10,000 and $15,000, you can get more performance than almost any car.

The insurance is fairly cheap
Sure, the insurance for the vehicle may be cheap, but I can imagine the insurance for yourself will go up a notch when you say you drive a bike to work every day.

you can put on an ipod under your helmet
Why not just but a shotgun in your mouth and get it over with? Bikers that have no audiovisual image of the traffic around them is ridiculusly dangerous. The helmets already reduce some of your side vision, why would anyone want to make it worse by going deaf?
 
Yes, but you still have to dress in leather, if it's a sports bike, it looks like you're squatting, and if it's a cruiser, well, I do like them a bit, but not too much.

yes, fair point for some yes, but kind of a stupid one. Yes, some people may find bikers a bit funny looking, but think about cars, it's even worse.

A 20 year old driving a Jaguar or a Bentley will look like a spoiled brat. Wouldn't want that. Any man Driving an SLK will look like gay. Wouldn't want that either. If you drive a big, huge 4x4, you certainly will look like a bloody selfish bastard, "look at me in my monster truck". AND if your over 35, it's a disaster. You can't drive performance cars, it's midlife crisis. You can't drive convertibles, you will look like an idiot. You an MPV, you are just waiting to die. And it goes on, and on, and on, and, and on.

Now you might think I love bikes more than cars, but no. I haven't got a bike, I have never had a bike. Not a moped, not a scooter. Nor do I have a license to drive one. I love cars more than just about anything, but I still can't understand the bashing of bikers without any good reason and so far I have yet to hear one. I just hate it when people try to make excuses to hate something. If you don't like it, then you just don't like it. That's it. Just like I don't like coffee. No reason why, I just don't.
 
Because he's fat and too clumsy to drive one? ;-)
 
If I remember right he briefly rode a Harley in his latest DVD. He blew it up soon after. (A Harley on fire is a beautiful sight! :D )

I guess you could say people like them for the same reasons we all like supercars. You don't get one to just get from here to there, you get one for the fun of it. Being on one is a really cool feeling. You're not constrianed by doors and windows. The whole rebel spirit thing comes into play too. As long as their not sport bikes or Harleys I like them. :)
 
I admit that I do like bikes, but just as I don't like all cars I don't like all bikes. I am partial to cruisers, although I don't much like Harleys. My ideal bike is this BMW R 1200 C, although they were recently discontinued. I like the looks, it's a big comfortable bike for long cruises but it's also nimble enough for mountain roads.

http://img380.imageshack.**/img380/3927/yrbmwr1200c05hh7.jpg
 
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