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

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

I don't know why people are suggesting this was a "missed opportunity". It's Top Gear, what do you really expect? It's for people who really like cars or really like the entertainment/sense of humour that TG offers. It's not there to promote cycling or road safety, much as some here might like it to.

I'm no fan of Top Gear, but I watched the cycling piece, and I'm trying to grasp a few positives.

1. It showed normal guys on bikes, hinting that it's possible to ride a bike even if you're middle aged and inexperienced. A lot of people are intimidated by the fast boys, just like going to the gym for the first time and feeling like you've just entered the set of some body building film.

2. It showed a decent shop with a friendly shop assistant, who treated them well. Again, something that will encourage peeps to go to their LBS.

3. The actual cycling looked pretty safe, and far more accurate than the relentless portrayal of death and injury cycling horror documentary footage so prevalent elsewhere.

4. Chris Boarman came across as polite, patient and rational, which must give power to his political elbow.

5. The point that cyclists ease congestion may well have been grasped by a fair number of petrolheads, who may not have thought of cyclists as an advantage before.

6. As cycling becomes ever more popular, pieces like this will subliminally hasten peoples' desire to disassociate themselves from any anti-cycling sentiment.

No matter how bizarre the piece, I think on balance that cycling comes out the winner.

Having pondered the piece, it did make some good points.

- I commute in Liverpool where there is no where near the traffic of London, but when I have ridden there I was shocked at the attitude of cyclists (yes, some self-righteousness shock horror) and I was terrified of the buses (there was some pretty aggressive gesticulation), exactly as portrayed.
- Cyclists not obeying the law winds me up never mind car drivers.
- The bits about riding toys and not being able to afford a car really made me laugh.
- There was a message to be more considerate and that road design is wholly outdated.

I actually thought the segment suffered from not being deliberately offensive enough though!
We all suffer at the hands of some terrible drivers and this wasn't acknowledged. I followed the reaction on twitter and far too many people failed to see the points aimed at drivers. Too often people tweeted how they loved the anti-cycling piece and that Clarkson had got one over on the cyclists.
We might feel challenged when there is criticism aimed at us and had the film taking the p!ss out of car drivers more, the twitter masses would also have had more food for thought.

Finally (if anyone is still reading this!) I was initially aghast at the mangled bikes, which I thought was offensive to families of those who have been killed. I'm still abit uncomfortable with this but it did reinforce the fact that accidents are serious and cyclists fragile. Maybe that isn't a bad thing.

Didn't actually see it as in general I cant abide the BBC.

But I will never understand how motorists seem to be so blind to their own red-light jumping habits. Many cyclists seem to have absorbed this selective blindness and will join in with self-flagellating complaints about cyclists exclusively. In my view the complaints about cyclists RLJing have a major element of 'projection'.

I can only assume that drivers think it doesn't 'count' if you do it shortly after the lights change. But, especially when combined with Boris shortening the pedestrian phase, it is a kind of theft, stealing time from the pedestrians who have learned to hang back, taking such RLJing entirely for granted.

I'd be fine with a crackdown on RLJing as long is were applied equally to all road users.

You've got a typo. The catch line for the first video was 'Work harder. Get a car', was it not?

TG is earning the Beeb (and Clarkson) millions and they will put out whatever they think sells. The bad-toothed, fat, ugly baboon man (AKA Clarkson) probably has editorial control anyway so his schoolboy humour will prevail. Boardman is no idiot so I am sure he knew what was coming.

Best to shrug and move on. The more we protest the more the baboon man will see it as proof of the lack of SOH of cyclists.

I watch TG as I can't abide "Call the Midwife" and I need some Sunday evening sofa fodder. A small amount is faintly amusing and the car technology can be interesting (e.g. the Maclaren P1). I fast forward the inane bits the baboon man is in. It long ago became tired, boring and formulaic and the Beeb, the baboon man and co are lazy and arrogant about their audience. It needs a major revamp soon and if I were running the Beeb I would sell all their rights to it now for a very large lump sum - but that will never happen.

Funniest thing I've seen in ages. Loved the lance Armstrong poster - 'cyclists are untrustworthy'. That'd make a great jersey. It's supposed to be entertainment. I was entertained. Job done.

I thought it was alright. It illustrated that the vast majority of car drivers are fine. It showed how awful the roads are and how dangerous large vehicles behave. I think the last message showing a nice empty road with a cyclist and a car driver co-existing and a positive message about giving us an inch so they could have a mile will have more impact on drivers than any public safety commercial. I'm sure I got a bit more width today riding in than usual!