Almost crashed today

[Tortuga_imp]

Roundabouts suck. They are stupid. Unfortunately they are catching on in some areas of the USA where the residents appear to feel they are "gentrified" because Europeans use them.

They are off camber. All fuel, coolant, and oil sloshes out of any vehicle with a leak and creates the kind of hazard that almost got you.

What's more, a good percentage of the drivers seem to want to show off their exceptional cornering skills and turn the whole thing into a race. So if you try to ride slowly to be cautious, some a**hole behind you is trying to crawl up your exhaust pipe.

I heard about these issues from other British riders decades ago and now, having a couple of these abominations in my neighborhood, I see what they were harping about.

Red, you are on the money with most of those observations. Roundabouts are normally (as 'mine' was) next to a truck stop, fuel station and other stupid places to conjoined the two.

As a result, fat greasy truck drivers overfill their trucks, and fat lazy car drivers do the same. Most cars in Britain are now running on diesel, so we have all manner of potential spills.

Roundabouts near filling stations can be a frickin death trap.

HOWEVER, in the right places, away from the trucks and knobbers, roundabouts provide a superb place to hone your cornering skills, as many 'roundabout surfers' will profess.

Go to any decently smooth one in the UK on a summer evening and watch scores of bikers dragging knees in endless loops or err, loopiness?

Wow. Heavy pucker factor with that one. Glad to see you came through cleanly.

Ha, yes thanks!

I'm not sure Mrs. T will be congratulating me so heartily when it comes to laundry day!