Top Gear on Cycling: Well, what did you expect?

Interesting article. Any which actually back up what you say?

Their 'ride around London' may have been a bit pathetic, but it was still more than the MPs who are supposed to be debating cycling safety have managed.....

Top Gear's conclusion on cycling, as far as I saw it:

"Cyclists are smelly, self-righteous, law-breaking, lazy w*nkers (and cycling is f*cking dangerous) so why would you want to be one?"

There was just a tiny fraction of reason at the end, as a pretence of balance, which most non-cyclists would (I suspect) have either missed or ignored.

Top Gear and the BBC just did a great big sh*t on cycling in Britain. I hope Boardman's reputation survives this.

I think the red/green video should go viral on YouTube. It was entertaining, and it does apply to some people. A light hearted joke, and likely fitting of the original brief to create an awareness video.

I actually quite liked the fact that it made an effort not to pander to the common media image of a cyclists Vs motorist road war. That's the real lazy path that too many TV programmes and news items take.

The humour wasn't the best the show has done, but nothing I'd take offence at. Though "Christ on a bike" was funny.

And the end point was a good one. In London, the belief that "cyclists cause congestion" seems to have become the new "you don't pay road tax" for a certain type of driver.

I know it was supposed to be a bit of standard top gear poking fun stuff but I really can't see where the humour was. Surely humour lies in the unexpected - this was just the usual blah that my brother in law comes out with every time I see him. Maybe it was executed slightly better but it was the same stuff - no expectations were confounded and no thoughts were provoked. This was nothing. This was just "Where are my pants?" (apologies to anyone who hasn't seen the Lego Movie).

Nobody takes Clarkson seriously, he is a comic.

Red/Green funny.
Seeing crushed bicycles not funny.
Anything that reinforces prejudice is bad. Some nutters out there watching this sort of stuff could take it as licence to put fellow road users at risk.
I have complained to the BBC.

I thought the strongest message was the attitude of TFL Bus drivers, although it was a pity they didn't encounter any left turning HGVs or buses in the video. I did chortle at the Lance Armstrong, Hitler and Christ gags though.

Same bloody script every week (that is why I stopped watching it ages ago). It isn't even funny anymore. Very tired format. About time to retire Clarkson & Co.

I once made the mistake of going on BBC's Watchdog to pass comment on 'dangerously assembled bikes'. Never again. Almost everything I said was edited out. The stuff that was left, to suit the storyline, was gimmicky nonsense spliced together from the bits where they got me to wear a cowboy style holster with tools in it (I refused to wear the hat). I suspect Chris Boardman has had similar treatment. When stuff like this is put together, most of it is left on the cutting room floor.... well, the digital equivalent of that

If the only thing that came out of last night's Top Gear was that anyone (cyclist, moped, motorbike, car, bus, hgv) running a red light got blown up, I would be a happy cyclist.

Armstrong poster was also very funny.

It it just me that finds the BBCs classification of Top Gear as 'factual', farcical ?

I though most of it was light hearted & tongue in cheek, and typical of TG. But the pile of food dropped from a height to simulate "a cyclist after an accident" was in pretty poor taste.

My fear when I heard Boardman was involved in this was a hatchet job on him.

He has been putting his head over the parapet on behalf of cyclists and grabbing peoples attention, even non or "anti" cyclists have started to agree with his points. Many people starting championing him as our man for cycling and terms like Cycling Czar get banded around.

The BBC then completely ignore his more recent comments about cycling safety and his points about helmets not being in the top ten things to improve cycling safety.

A week later he's doing a piece with one of the BBC's biggest dickheads and hatchet merchants.

I'd be very wary of a campaign to discredit him, so the "petrolheads*" can laugh and sneer at the bloke we've put up on a pedestal. Make him look stupid on one point and make a huge, public deal out of it and then you can undermine everything else he says, whether it makes good sense or not.

Raging paranoia perhaps? But you'll have to forgive me for having zero faith or trust in the BBC and as Joseph Heller taught us, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.

*I can not fathom why anybody other than awkward, tube sock abusing, spotty virgins label themselves as petrolheads.

I watched this through clenched teeth up to the point where Clarkson had a jet engine strapped to his bike and looked like a mutant cross between Mr Toad and Muttley the dog. It then went on to have Hitler and Jesus on bikes and I just switched off. It was pointless puerile bollocks and a totally wasted opportunity.

It just make me think even more why does anyone want to live or work in London

Chris Boardman did himself and British Cycling a great dis-service by pandering to these idiots. Did he really think that a TV programme whose total audience is aimed at everything that is "Car related" would honestly show an even & balanced review of cars and cycling? With hindsight would he do it again having seen the end product, I think not. Maybe the "Cycle Show" can do the same type of review but from the cyclist's view? Somehow I don't think they would be as biased, or insulting to car drivers as Top Gear was to cyclists and cycling. I am sorry, but I found it very offensive and maybe a TV company that watched it will come up with something more balanced across both areas of motor vehicle driving & cycling.

Sadly comments on cycling friendly forums won't achieve much. I don't think taking to twitter, facebook or any other social media will help either and will probably fan the flames of the "Them agaisnt us" or "two tribes" mentality.

No idea of it actually will work but the only rational thing I can think of is to write to the BBC. If it annoys you enough to post on a forum etc and you mean it, spend an extra 5 mins and write a calm, objective letter to Auntie.

https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/complaints/forms/?reset=#anchor

So how many people had "work harder - get a car!" shouted at them on their commute today?

a quick check of #topgear will reveal the immense hurt and sympathy that the public feels. Oppressed minorities rock

I agree: don't complain. TG is set up to get a certain number of complaints, it's what they do. BBC simply replies "well, it's been going for ten years now, you knew exactly what you were watching, what did you expect?" The best response is silence.

Also - don't worry about your licence fee having gone towards it: TG is one of the most profitable shows they make (up with Doctor Who and Strictly), it's shown in over 100 countries.

What I should have said before is that it's a missed opportunity to use TG and Clarkson's broad reach to change the perception of drivers who see cyclists as an inconvenience. The last film almost did it. The fact that all the roads they went on seemed to be empty might have been a subtle hint (next time you drive in London, look at all these cars, wouldn't it be better if they weren't here!) - but it was too subtle in my view.

Complaining to the BBC is the ultimate sign that you require a sense of humour transplant.

It was pretty obvious to me that the parts with Boardman et al were pretty scripted...there was no genuine outrage just the poor acting of people who aren't actors. Boardman looked like he was hiding smiles for most of those segments.

Red and Green - genuine issue. The others were largely the stock TG jokes that most people know are meant in a joke way (those that don't are the idiots who believe foreigners are taking all our jobs and can't be helped anyway).

Frankly the best thing of the whole piece was the Lance Armstrong poster.

RE complaining, if we're honest most of the jokes were funny (Lance poster) but there were some in poor taste - especially with mangled bikes.

Personally I have complained not because the jokes were poor but because Top Gear is a popular show and their VT will influence driver behaviour to the detriment of vulnerable cyclists.

Why should I have people leaning out their windows shouting 'GET A JOB GET A CAR' in my face, just because the BBC thinks it is funny?

I’m not a great fan of TG, it passed it’s sell by date a few years ago, and the cycling thing was just lame

However, buried in the crap were a few salient points (in sort of order)

1. The conditions of the roads are serious issue for cyclist, especially as the woefully inadequate infrastructure and convention tends to force less confident riders into the worst part of the carriageway – of course they went off on a toilet tangent with a unfunny joke about various creams etc

2. Hi Viz Gear didn’t make any difference to behaviour of other drivers, the bus drivers had seen the cyclists but pulled out anyway

3. They did point out that increased cycling will reduce congestion and benefit everyone

4. Pedestrians are not tuned into cyclists and often step out without warning, and yes it is because they rely on traffic noise as a warning.

5. Possibly the most important point, that lots of drivers can be courteous and leave plenty of space (especially if you are filming with at least two camera crews on motorcycles just in front of you). BUT and it’s a large one, this only lasts as long as you don’t impinge on their perceived right to get from A to B without the slightest hold up. This has created the environment where buses indicate and pull out in one manoeuvre, cars pull into cycle lanes to try and force their way into traffic queues, when the carriageway narrows the amount of space they leave reduces, all with the thought that they have no choice.

Such a missed opportunity, I’m sure a decent motoring show could have put this across in a light hearted way..unfortunately TG is a stale imitation of that, and is only kept going as it is a money spinner for the BBC