Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Decline in bike courier standards?

[Rally]

What's happened to all the mad bike couriers? There was a time when I would be over/under taken on several occasions on my journey into work. These days they are all sensible and sedate. Is it like Darwin Theory in practice? Have all the bad boys been killed off under trucks & busses? Survival of the non-fastest?

theres a racers thread out there somewhere titled

"Decline in trackday rider standards?"







sorry, i'll get my coat.

[BDG]

There's actually a lot less bike couriers around then there used to be, and lots of them in London are now either eastern Europeans or South Americans. They tend to be good workers but spend an awfull lot of time asking for directions or getting lost for a while. Maybe they just don't have the same loony spirit that used to abound back in 1980 when i first started in London.

At one time we had nearly 20 bikes and just 2 vans at my place in Manchester. I doubt if there are more than 20 bike couriers in the whole of Manchester now.

A lot of the lads are now using vans as they are cheaper to run and they tend to be a bit warmer and dryer. After a few years of doing 50,000 to 80,000 miles a year in all weathers it makes a big difference.

Also biking has become more of a leisure activity. In the early 80's there were loads of people in their early 20's or even teenagers who rode bikes and took up despatching. insurance was a lot cheaper in the days of the old Norwich Union rider policy and no loading for courier work either.

the price of bikes, insurance and the general age of riders means that the young (often daft) recruits are no longer there. We NEVER EVER get anyone asking for a despatch riding job under the age of 35 now, and generally they are over 40.

The courier market has also changed, less documents with email, faxs etc.

We now move lots more boxes and stuff that can't be sent down the line. The humble bike courier has evolved into 'White Van Man'

[Edited on 29-3-2005 by BDG]

[doogalman]

I was a bike courier for 9 years (rain, snow, and sometimes sun) . I was allways a bit of a nutter in town. Survived with no broken bones. Even now when i go to london i find myself slipping back into looney mode. Have even had my wife ask me why we are going around lines of traffic to reach the traffic lights (even when in the car). OOOpps.
Sort of miss the adrenalin rush. Allways loved the drag blasts up tottenham court rd with the front row, full of nutter couriers at each set of traffic lights. Took a brave pedestrian to dare cross the road.
Some highlights;
Remember highsideing a vt500 on the lambeth rd,
Ripping the side open of a citroen van on new bridge rd.
telling a bike escort copper he had a bald rear tyre (stupid move),
Eyeing the totty in summer,
hitting pedestrians who decided to make a dash for it,
350,000 miles out of my cx500 Engine then sold to go in another despatch bike.
the impossible deadlines (great buzz when you defied all to do it with seconds to spare0

Yes i had some good times
Doogalman

[FiscusFish]

Originally posted by doogalman

Yes i had some good times
Doogalman

But we tend to forget the 5 o'clock Friday nights in the peeing rain and freezing cold where the bar-steward of a controller gives you that solo to the middle of nowhere (and the wrong way from home), after leaving you twiddling your thumbs all day.... Or the snotty receptionists (when you were even allowed in the building) telling you not to drip water on the carpet.... Or.... Or... Or.....

Still, when you got a two or three wait and returns to say Brighton, on a sunny summers afternoon, made it worth while (I think...). Being paid to ride a motorbike quickly on days like those was a dream....

Best of times and worst of times.