to be so irritated by cyclists doing wheelies?

[Gigglinghysterically]

And is doing wheelies in the road now a national pastime? It seems that on so many roads there are groups of young teenage lads (never seen a girl doing it) doing wheelies, deliberately slowing traffic and also 'circling' on busy crossroads.

One evening recently we were going out and there were about 14-15 teens cycling down a high street, doing wheelies and throwing yellow reflective strips at pedestrians.

On Friday a bus had to stop quickly when one of the lads cycling 3 abreast in front of it, deliberately slowing down and speeding up, fell off his bike. My heart was in my mouth but the bus managed not to hit him. Cyclist then got back on and .....did a wheelie in front of bus virtually straight away.

I can see wheelies are exciting (my DH now practices them in the patio ) but I wish they would do them in special areas in parks rather than causing havoc on the roads.

Round here its wheelies on bloody mopeds rather than bicycles.

Just as dangerous - I really can't see why they think it is a good idea. It will cause a serious accident at some point.

Oh God they do it on my road as well and it's infuriating. Of course if someone hits the buggers it's the driver at fault even though they're doing wheelies galore down the street and intimidating pedestrians and harrassing drivers. Ugh.

Yes, they are bloody irritating. But groups of teenage boys often are.

No, girls don't do it. Mind you, don't generally see teenage girls of that age hanging around on bikes full stop.

It’s bloody dangerous but I find it oddly mesmerising.

We get all over our town, also eggs and stones thrown at windscreens. There is not enough police to stop it and parents do not seem to know where their teenagers are. Some around here are as young as 10.

Some of them I've observed are literally controlling the traffic behind them deliberately. In one small local town centre they ride on the pavements past the coffee shop and charity shop doing their blooming wheelies. They scare the elderly and just find it funny.
Their parents surely can't know they do this?

It's such a problem in our village. We've got a group of lads doing it, and they are intimidating and nasty. Our local FB group is full of posts about them targeting people - one was a young mum with a baby in a pram and they were circling her as she walked down the pavement to the village. And on a couple of occasions, when someone has remonstrated with them, they've followed that person home and watched from outside. The police have been informed and say that they know who these lads are, but until they actually do anything their hands are tied.

I’ve recently moved from London to Warwickshire. As well as the wheelies (up and down the high street so cars can’t pass) so many cyclists use pavements. Grown ups too. Just come flying towards or behind you and expect you to jump out the way. The roads aren’t particularly busy (although they may be avoiding the wheelie kids) and pavements are narrow. It’s so weird!

I think it's a thing teenage boys have done since bicycles were invented. They'll grow out of it. Or have an accident. Whichever comes first.

I was a girl who did wheelies.

But I know what you mean. I wasn't part of a gang who did it. I just cycled around an awful lot, mostly on my own, and never in the way of traffic like described.

Shame it takes a fatality or an incident from them, to stop it.

I’ve just had 3 teenage lads come flying down the centre of traffic, front wheels in the air. Rush hour traffic too! Absolute idiots. If they don’t end up dead, they’re at least gonna end up scratching some poor sods car when they lose control.

Doing wheelies isn't the point, slowing down traffic and being a nuisance is. If they weren't doing wheelies, it would be something else. If you're in SE London, I've possibly seen those lads, as witnessed the same cocky stupidity!

There's no cure for idiocy, but hope that they grow out of it.

I really wouldn't class kids messing around on bikes as 'cyclists'.

They are not cyclists, just children on bikes indulging unfortunately in stupid behaviour on public roads/pavements.

I agree with PP, they are not cyclists, they are silly little boys showing off in front of their mates.

But I know what you mean. I wasn't part of a gang who did it. I just cycled around an awful lot, mostly on my own, and never in the way of traffic like described.

I always wonder where the girls are. Have they been discouraged from mucking about on bikes in the evening by their parents, or are they staying inside because they find the boy gangs intimidating?

Or is it as simple as a question of bike frame weight? A lot of teenage boys can manually lug about a cheap steel framed bike from street corner to street corner as a leisure activity in itself! Doing that just for the sake of doing occasional wheelies for attention is no problem at all, but a petite teenage girl would find it much more cumbersome. If she's going out with a bike, she needs to be actually using it the whole way. If any of her friends in the group are walking, she might as well leave her bike at home too, rather than put up with wheeling it along.

There's a trend near where my mum lives for teenage boys to cycle on the roads (no helmets) do wheelies and then sometimes veer in front of cars forcing them to suddenly stop suddenly. Incredibly dangerous and there have obviously been accidents.

They've all got parents, presumably. Their parents must see them leaving the house without a helmet, probably in dark clothing.

Same in our area, recent thing too. It's causing mayhem they are even doing it on the dual carrigeway.

It's such a shame that they don't put their skills to positive use. If they put their minds to it some of these kids could be the next Danny MacAskill.

We have it in SW London too. Including the slowing buses down by doing wheelies in front of them. I can't bear to watch. And also worry that any accident might involve innocent bystanders. No police ever to be seen, of course. I last saw some PCSOs on the beat about 5 years ago.

The thing that really bother me the most is how invisible these kids are, dressed in black head to foot and doing this in the dark - even with ubiquitous street lighting I haven't been able to see them until the last minute.

I can't help but feel that these are kids with nothing to live for. Sooner or later they will get killed by a motorist who simply won't see them. But they may well feel they could get knifed at any minute so who cares.

They aren’t cyclists. They are silly teenage boys doing what many teenage boys have always done - take risks and generally do stupid shit because they think they are death proof at that age.

When I was a teenager some of the boys used to hold on to the back of cars on skateboards. Doing wheelies and not holding onto handlebars was also a thing.

This really drives me mad. They do it in busy car parks by me too.

The day after my step dad got knocked down and killed, a lad at the school on the road I live on did this and swerved in front of my car. I don’t know how I missed him.
The head teacher saw it and came running out to find him. He had been expelled from my daughter’s school so she knew his name and eventually he came back. He tried to deny it, and I must admit I eventually swore at him. I wasn’t proud of that but my emotions were very high.

I feel very sorry for the poor drivers who will end up killing these idiots because of their lunacy.

I can't help but feel that these are kids with nothing to live for. Sooner or later they will get killed by a motorist who simply won't see them. But they may well feel they could get knifed at any minute so who cares.

I think it's probably the opposite actually, that they feel invincible and never really think that the worst could actually happen.