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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Motorbike at 5:15am

64 replies

sunshineandsparkles · 02/05/2017 18:53

Motorbike in the street revs for exactly 6 minutes every morning, before pulling off at 5:21am every morning.

I don't get back to sleep after this, it wakes my 8yo ds and it's making us very very tired and grumpy.

The end of the street is terraces so its impossible to work out which house the owner lives in.

Would anyone else be annoyed at this and please tell me we can do something about it?! It's starting to drive me crazy!!

OP posts:
Dishwashersaurous · 02/05/2017 22:38

Most people with jobs commutes etc are up by half six

edwinbear · 02/05/2017 22:42

DH leaves the house at 5.15am, when I worked in the City I then got up when he left, to get me and the DC up and out for 6.30am. None of us wanted to be up and about in the middle of the night, but our jobs started early. We didn't get home until gone 7pm but weren't falling asleep. I'm sure it's annoying, but I don't think there is much you can do about it.

TypicallyEnglishMustard · 02/05/2017 23:01

Crikey, I would reckon most working people are up by then, especially if commuting or have an early start time. Most of my colleagues and I would be up marking books before work by then, and I feel stressed if I'm not up by 5:30 at the latest.

alltouchedout · 02/05/2017 23:05

Really English?

Chicoletta · 02/05/2017 23:10

We have motorbikes that drove around quiet residential streets here at 2 or 3am. Does my head in but I've no idea where they live etc.

PatriciaHolm · 02/05/2017 23:15

5.30am? I've never in my life got up for work that early, and neither has DH. I'm sure plenty do, but it's certainly not most.

Can you catch him coming home one day? Put a polite note on the bike?

PrimalLass · 02/05/2017 23:20

I'd be annoyed too, but if someone needs to get to work and that's their transport then there's not much you can do.

I don't find that very reasonable. You can't just wake other people up by making a racket at 5.30am.

PrimalLass · 02/05/2017 23:21

Crikey, I would reckon most working people are up by then

No, not really.

sunshineandsparkles · 02/05/2017 23:25

I would normally get up after 7am to go to work. My 8yo ds is now going to bed at 6pm to deal with it.

I've only been home once or twice in the afternoon to hear him return and by the time it clicked, it was too late.

Don't think earplugs would stop the bed vibrating. I'm not exaggerating.

OP posts:
TypicallyEnglishMustard · 02/05/2017 23:28

Fair enough, must just be my friends/family then. Mostly teachers, nurses and military. Tbf, I've always been an early bird, and would feel like I was rushing around if I waited until 7 or something, and I do know a lot of farmers, which would account for a fair whack!

NoBetterName · 02/05/2017 23:36

Our neighbour has a huge 4 x 4 monstrosity with a V8 engine which he drives up and down the road several times per day (and night) making everything shake.

Tbh, I'd prefer the bike.

scottishdiem · 02/05/2017 23:37

Can you see the motorbike on the street when its parked? You can leave a very very polite note begging them to walk their bike to the end of the street before starting it up?

chastenedButStillSmiling · 02/05/2017 23:38

sugar in the petrol tank? (not really!)

SylvesterMcM0nkeyMcBean · 02/05/2017 23:39

I have an early morning motorbike revver in my street too, and when I get to work my office is across the car park from a Harley Davidson garage - FML.

sunshineandsparkles · 02/05/2017 23:41

He parks in the alley of the terraces. I suppose a note would be possible, but scary! And not enforceable in any way.

OP posts:
LornaD40 · 02/05/2017 23:41

We've got exactly the same - up about 5:30 revving bike in the street, and at night a yapping dog. Although the dog is worse!

sunshineandsparkles · 02/05/2017 23:42

Are you my neighbour?! Next door's dog yaps for about 22 hours a day.

OP posts:
NoBetterName · 02/05/2017 23:46

begging them to walk their bike to the end of the street before starting it up?

do you have any idea a motorbike weighs if it's anything bigger than a 125cc? Mine each weigh between a quarter and a fifth of a tonne. No way I'm pushing that weight to the end of the road (and impossible to do uphill).

(Not that I work early in the morning disclaimer, but I do ride for the Blood Bikes and if I'm on duty may sometimes need to leave for an emergency delivery in the middle of the night).

scottishdiem · 02/05/2017 23:54

do you have any idea a motorbike weighs

No but I used to push my old and somewhat suspect Micra along the street when it was being temperamental. I suppose of its one of those heavily leaden goldwing type things and always has a full tank it could be heavier.

Smeaton · 02/05/2017 23:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NoBetterName · 03/05/2017 00:00

The wet weight (with fluids and fuel) of a Gold Wing will weigh close to half a tonne Hmm.

Mine are fairly standard medium weight under 1000 cc bikes.

Not everyone lives on a flat (or downhill) street within a short distance of a main road. Would you expect someone to push that weight up a steep hill for example?

MitzyLeFrouf · 03/05/2017 00:01

It would fuck me right off!

Six minutes of motorbike engine revving is a bloody long time, especially when it's at the crack of dawn. I'm not sure what you can do though apart from pray his bike gets nicked.

sunshineandsparkles · 03/05/2017 00:08

Blood bike emergency and six minutes of revving every single day are two very different things. You are a star!

OP posts:
NoBetterName · 03/05/2017 00:20

I guess it is different, but it does make me wonder what the neighbours might think if they are woken in the early hours Blush. Pushing the bike to the main road realty isn't an option, but I do get frustrated when people assume it's as easy to push a motorbike around as it is a push bike.

Snotgobbler99 · 03/05/2017 01:10

Biker with over 40 years riding experience.

As people have said, some bikes need 'warming up' (mainly 2 strokes and some older design 4 strokes). However, warming up doesn't necessarily require a lot of revving; once a bike has actually started and the revs settled down, you should be able to leave it idling steadily, with fairly little noise, to warm up. That means you may get a few seconds of revving, a minute absolute maximum, but not 6 minutes worth.

What you may have as a neighbour is what's technically termed as an "anti-social wanker".
These come in three sorts;

  1. Young blokes who aren't old enough for a full license or can't afford a car. These tend to have bikes with fairly small engines. They're usually very colourful, spiky looking, motocross type bikes from Yamaha/Suzuki/Honda or scooters which make a relatively high pitched roar. They tend to dress in hoodies with trakkiie bottoms. They don't actually go very fast but they're designed to make 'youths' feel good about themselves. The owner will often remove baffles from the exhaust to make the bike louder (but which, ironically, only makes them go slower). The advantage with these bikers is that once they pass their test, they'll get a car and your noise problem will disappear overnight - until their little brother buys one.
  2. The next sort of really loud bike tend to be Harley-Davidsons. The owners of these tend to be middle aged men; often those whose mother's wouldn't let them have a motorbike when they were teenagers and they're making up for it now. Harley-Davidsons owners are living an ad-man's dream. The bikes are big, flashy custom styled bike, often with high handle bars and 'slash-cut' exhausts which make a HUGELY loud, low pitched, blat- blat, blat-blat noise.
  3. The last owner type is the racer wannabe. His bike is low and sleek looking often with garish colours. It can be any recognised Japanese brand but they aspire to an Italian Ducati or Aprilia. The biker will usually have garish, head to foot leathers. Unlike the first two types, although these bikes are loud, they shouldn't need to be revved hard once they've been started - in fact it's not very good for them, they overheat easily. Again these bikers will often have special go-faster loud exhausts which aren't street legal.

If your neighbour isn't one of the above three types, he's probably just dim. A middle of the road, non-posey, type bike shouldn't actually make much noise. Mine is 1100cc and does 140mph, but you wouldn't notice it from other traffic noise. OK, if I revved it like an idiot, it'd be noisy - but it would harm my bike, so I just wouldn't do it. And nor would most other bikers because bikes cost a lot of money. Nowadays, middle of the road bikes come with quiet exhausts, like most cars. It's only inconsiderate twunts of the above three types, that make alterations to their bikes which make a lot of noise. These alterations are often illegal.

Have a good look at the bike, make a note of the brand and, if possible, the model and how many cc's. Once you've identified it, you'll have a better idea if the exhausts are illegal and can report to police with some hope of getting it stopped. If it's a run of the mill bike, tell him that he can warm it up without revving its nuts off!

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