Become a Member: Get Ad-Free Access to 3,000+ Reviews, Guides, & More

Top 10 motorcyclist complaints

Put a smile on your dial complaints

You would think that being free to ride the roads on a powerful motorcycle would be enough to keep anyone happy, yet a lot of motorcyclists seem to be have constant complaints.

We complain about a host of things from cyclists to politicians, police, other riders and the weather. Oh, how we complain about the weather!

Some of our complaints are legitimate.

After all, it’s 100% true that every cager is out to get us, police hate us, politicians want to legislate us out of existence and all mothers-in-law think their daughters should never have married a biker.

Some of our complaints are spurious.

For example, there is no point complaining about how quickly our rear tyres wear out if we don’t inflate them correctly and we do frequent burn-outs for our mates.

Here is our list of top 10 complaints we hear from riders … and from our own mouths!

  1. Riders who start their engines and rev them while they’re putting on their jacket, helmet, gloves etc … It’s irritating, the exhaust fumes get in our coffee and it’s pointless. After all, a modern EFI bike needs virtually no warming up.
  2. Caravans that don’t pull over in the lay-overs. They clog our highways as they crawl along oblivious to other traffic. Thankfully motorcycles can pass a long caravan rig fairly quickly, but that doesn’t stop us complaining about them.
  3. Riders who show off with wheelies in a pack. It’s dangerous and it’s embarrassing when they come off. It also attracts police attention.
  4. Trucks that decide to pass each other in the only section with a passing lane. Sometimes it takes them the whole passing lane to get past and then you’re back to double white lines!
  5. Roadworks speed limits where there is clearly no roadworks going on or the workers are having a lunch break. And usually there is a police car somewhere just waiting to book the errant rider.Roadworks complaints
  6. Pillion seats that offer less support and comfort than a budgie perch in a cage. What’s the point of pillion seats and foot pegs on a sports bike anyway. They only add weight and in most states cost more in registration than a solo bike.
  7. Small fuel tanks. They may look great, but what’s the point when you can only ride as far as the next service station before you have to fuel up again.
  8. Expensive pieces of plastic to replace the bits that broke when the bike fell off its stand. It’s a ripoff perpetrated by every motorcycle manufacturer. Why don’t they design bikes with some break-proof bits or at least protection from low-speed drops?
  9. Bad and expensive coffee at your favourite cafe. We already pay a fortune for our bikes and gear, we don’t want to pay $5 for a burnt coffee in some far-flung country cafe.
  10. Riders that whinge all the time about the weather, road conditions, slow traffic … Don’t you just hate that most of all!
  • What is your biggest gripe, complaint or whinge? Leave your comments below.

  1. Seriously?
    Was this a survey?
    Was it done in Nothcote/Brighton, or some place like that?
    Or…
    Is it taking the piss?

    1. Hi mick,
      Seriously? No, not seriously?
      Was this a survey? Yep, we surveyed ourselves over a couple of beers!
      Where was it done? Secret locations.
      Is it taking the piss? Absolutely!
      Thought you might enjoy a bit of a laugh.
      Put a smile on your dial!
      Cheers,
      Mark

  2. One of my biggest gripes are the scooter riders that can’t be bothered to find a proper parking space and park front-end in between two marked out, occupied motorcycle bays leaving no room to get on the bike without pushing it out into the road first. Grrr….

  3. You know when you put on your helmet, wriggle the gloves over your sleeves, sit on the bike, clutch in, side stand up, start bike, and you realised that you forgot to put your ear plugs in,…… I hate that.

    1. Idiot car drivers that don’t realise lane filtering IS legal in NSW and do their level best to not let you through.

  4. Pedestrians.

    Cyclists

    Car drivers.

    Taxi drivers.

    Courier drivers.

    Police.

    Governments, and their obligatory corporations, and road authorities.

    Motorcycle lobby groups, whom claim my representation, without my authority. ( You’d think in this democratic society, that we live in it would my choice)

    Bully boy truckies. (Red Star transport and logistics know all about this one)

    And last but not least, Triumph Australia, and the totally shitfull, time-frame, on parts and tools.
    3 and a half months waiting for a swing-arm adjustment tool (what did they do fit flippers to it and make it swim here) 5 weeks for belt drive. Not good enough.

    smiling cause its nearly time to hit the road on our next touring adventure.

    Ride free Ride safe.

    And in true GOB fashion.
    Bahefenhumbug, to all.

    LOL 🙂

  5. Rolling Speed humps you know those things Mamil ride especially on all the really good twisty hilly bits, I suppose it makes them feel cool when they over take a motorcyclist wearing protective gear they pay a fortune for while doing the speed limit

    People who think that Can Am owners only started riding yesterday personally anyone that trashes others for their choice of bike

  6. Rolling Speed humps you know those things Mamil ride especially on all the really good twisty hilly bits, I suppose it makes them feel cool when they over take a motorcyclist wearing protective gear they pay a fortune for; while doing the speed limit

    People who think that Can Am owners only started riding yesterday!, personally anyone that trashes others for their choice of bike

  7. Motorway roadworks: 40kph for five kilometres, not a worker in sight until the last ten metres where you’ll find a couple of blokes poking the ground with a stick. And the Poms whine about their 80kph motorway roadworks speed limit!

  8. Speeding fines erhg!
    Why does a 5 tonne 4×4 on high lifts a bull bar with fishing rod holders cop the same fine for doing 60 in a school zone as a motorcycle?

  9. Speed limits. Absolutely despise them. Disgrace to the human race I say. Whatever happened to discretion, riding to the conditions & letting the momentum flow & getting the very most out of our roads, tyres & sublime machinery. It never happened in road rules world. Never. We aren’t deemed cluey enough for that.
    Just wanna evenly crack that throttle & let it sing.

  10. The biggest gripe will be ‘if we get too old to get on the bike’ So,ride heaps & be able to have gripes about all the above silly shit,with a laugh 😛

    1. While we are at it…Coat hangers..yeah that’s right…I am sick of them getting tangled up with everything when I try to get them out or put them back on the hanger. Completely shits me….nearly to tears. True gripe. That’s it..I’m going for a ride.

  11. “If an emergency vehicle is coming towards you and is sounding an alarm or showing flashing red or blue lights, you must move out its path as soon as you can do so safely.”

    as soon as you can do so safely

    Not when it’s just behind you.
    Funny thing is it’s always the slow drivers who don’t get off the road as soon as they see the ambulance.

  12. I’ll complain about complaint no:4 . I ride and don’t complain that much but I also drive trucks to hear some softcock complain about trucks holding them up on passing lanes pisses me !! Don’t trucks have a right to progrees in the traffic ? We all have to share the shit highways so get over it.

    1. I’ll complain about the complaint about complaint no:4. I drive trucks & I’m sick of seeing two trucks driving along nose to tail like two dogs sniffing each others bottoms & leaving no room between them.

      1. Maybe that’s because many truckers are closet homosexuals who find it hard not to get up the rear of whatever is in front.

  13. Squids, Daredevils on two wheels and reckless cagers, I have to pay a lot of money on insurance because of these morons.

    1. You’re just jealous, toughen up. Not everyone rides as slow as you.
      If your riding was as good as you think you wouldn’t need insurance. 🙂

  14. Young ladies at bus stops with their face buried in a phone.come on your supposed to be looking at me ride past looking cool as fk

    Cars with all their windows up , aircon cranking, oblivious to the world outside
    Toughen the fk up and open your windows pussies .

    Riders on flash bm adventure bikes looking down at me because I have some dirt on my tyres.

    Yes I have some personal issues that I need to deal with

  15. Most probably the annoying this is people talking about their “chicken strips”. “Ohh man, you don’t even lean, do you even know how to ride?”

    It’s basically a wank factor. I commute daily, and have almost zero strips – I don’t go around going “I’m so cool, look at that”. You get new riders so fixated on wanting to “lose their strips”, they simply forget that riding on the street isn’t the place for maximum lean.

  16. One complaint I have is the minority of lunatics who attend group rides. I had one overtake me – on a green Victory Cross Country Tour – as we came up on a blind corner, with double lines. He, his bike and his pillion – I wonder what she makes of him – were almost wiped out by an oncoming car, just before they cut in front of me. The resulting debris would have bounced back at me and stuffed my day too!

  17. Dangerous white paint on road.
    They’ve had non-slip white paint for over 40 years, so why don’t they use it?

  18. I’ll complain about numbers 1 and 8. Not all of us ride efi computer bikes ya wanker. Just coz you have an auto choke doesn’t negate the laws of physics. You do know your engine is made of various different metals and alloys which all expand at different rates as they warm don’t you? Warming the engine is not just about getting the fuel/air mix right for combustion chamber temp. Your bike will last longer if you warm it up.

    As for number 8, that all comes down to what bike you ride. Many bikes have crash bars and/or can handle a drop. Do ADV bikes cost thousands if you knock it over? The only bikes that have this problem are fully faired race reps. If you chose to buy one of these you chose to take the risk so don’t fucking complain ya whingey little soft cock.

  19. INVOLUNTARY SPEEDING…
    when i start out off to work i am conscious of the speed limit and trying my hardest to stick at 80km’s with the rest of the morning traffic, only to find myself overtaking everything on the road (in a safe manner) and looking down at the digital display flashing a cheeky 165kph

    maybe i just hate morning traffic

  20. “Top 10 complaints”???

    Who the fuck got asked, all the whining Harley riders that braap from cafe to cafe?

    Most of these “top 10” are wanker complaints!

Comments are closed.