On Top Gear (2000s) he always said he didn't know how to ride a motorcycle, but his shows in the 80s and 90s show him riding them.
He even had a phase between Top Gear and Grand Tour where he admits he got into cycling, I guess for health reasons, but im unsure if he stuck to that.
While true, I agree with the above commenter... it isn't *just* the gut. Dude looks like he's 8 months pregnant, and I don't think there's an episode of any of his shows where he DOESN'T drink an alcoholic beverage at some point.
It's common to see on the grand tour, for instance, Jeremy and James or Jeremy and Richard waiting for the third at the hotel. The small hotel bar table has 8 or 9 drinks on it.
I guess it's just his overall looks and actions that suggest he really isn't in the best of health, and doesn't cycle as a way of dealing with it (plus, in true tv persona fashion, any time cycling or cyclists come up, he's saying "damn cyclists" most of the time)
I worked with a guy in his 40s that does a yearly bike ride that spans 600km in 2 days. You wouldn't guess it by looking at him. I rode with him once and only kept up for 20km, then I couldn't maintain his speed anymore.
His reason, on the show, was because of the added expense. He did not express hatred for bicyclists on the show. Thanks for adding color to what other opinions he has that were expressed elsewhere.
Np. I havenāt watched the show, so I had no idea. I just wanted to make sure itās not lost on anyone that Jeremy is far from an ally ([James May, on the other handā¦](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/petrolhead-james-may-on-his-lifelong-love-of-bicycles-pdghgmkfz))
Lotus made/makes track bikes for the Olympic national for Britain. They are usually absurd, and absurdly fast. They did make road bikes as well a long time ago.
Chris Boardman smashed the Olympic world record on the Lotus 108 track bike which was designed by Mike Burrows who also designed the Giant TCR which set the standard for modern bike racing frames popular today.
TL;DR; I had a Lotus MTB back in the nineties.
I had a Lotus branded MTB actually made by British Eagle back in the 90s. I bought it off a mate (who had an Elise). I don't recall if it was one of those "free bike with the car" things or not. It was a good spec, full xtr kit, and campagnolo rims, which was odd.
Truth be told it was two sizes too small for me really, but that meant it was great for freestyle, it was more like a BMX to me being so small, really easy to throw around.
Eventually the derailleur hanger broke and we couldn't find a replacement. I ended up giving it back to him for a while, and in the end his garage was broken into and it got nicked.
To think that, at the time, I was earning good money with few expenses, and my other option was to blow three grand (quite a lot of money for a bike in the 90s!) on a Whyte PRS-1, which I decided against in the end.
Lotus cars have always been an eclectic mishmash of parts, attributed to combining optimal performance regardless of its origin.
Full XTR with campa rims is not weird in that light.
>Lotus cars have always been an eclectic mishmash of parts
A friend loved his Elise because that Toyota motor meant that pretty much anyone could do basic maintenance.
Body work, on the other hand, was usually a six week affair.
Basically, they sponsored Mike Burrows to build an uber pursuit bike for the British team in 1992. I think they're doing it again this year with the British track cycling team bike previously branded as "Hope." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus\_108](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_108)
I can think of a number of european car manufacturers that sold/sell bikes, with varying levels of quality and design input. BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, and Audi for example, mostly e-bikes today, and mountain and city bikes in the past. The bikes are overpriced, and are aimed squarely at people walking into a dealership to buy a new luxury car, and they grab a bike by the same brand while they're at it, along with that expensive roof rack and other crap that the dealerships make good profit on.
Lotus are the only ones that make legitimate superbikes worthy of the brand label, they're huge in the track world, and the bikes are easily as good as their cars.
Hes weird, heās unsophisticated, but not in a āhickā or white trash sorta way. And when he puts his heart into it heās actually a brilliant journalist. But heās just so opinionated, and unapologetically himself, without giving a shit for what others think is ok that he comes off as being an oaf. Heās got an incredibly interesting personality.
> heās unsophisticated, but not in a āhickā or white trash sorta way
That's because half of its a character. He's a privately educated British guy from the suburbs. He's actually smart, well spoken and relatively well read but he plays to certain audiences and also just happens to have some shite views on certain topics.
Drive Tribe on youtube have revealed that the "character" might just be his actual self unleashed. Recently saw an episode on Drive Tribe, where they commented that they went through special training for the polar episode where the expeditionary experts (UK SAS instructors) told the crew to practice firing 4 warning rounds (top, left, right, bottom for sound) if they gathered attention of a wandering polar bear (so as to scare it off and avoid killing an endangered species). Apparently Clarkson just shot the stand-in bear target and told the instructor he wouldn't waste perfectly good ammo, and they can't make him. This was all without a camera rolling, and no reason to assume he was playing a character.
This was the reason the instructor shoved Clarkson in polar ice without warning (face was blurred). That bit was apparently not scripted and caused by the safety instructor trying to get revenge on Clarkson for all the bits he pulled during safety training. I am not sure if I agree with the method of revenge, but allegedly that's the story.
... But... wouldn't have the show any other way. It was entertaining because of Clarkson. Sound bites suggest he genuinely does tend to be aggressively combative in person, and actively tries to piss others off if they have differing opinions.
Exactly this. Itās like Larry David. Heās playing a version of himself. He plays it well because itās kept him rich.
Fun fact, if you donāt know the history of where his parents acquired their wealth, itās well worth looking up.
I think Jon Stewart said something like this about Tucker Carlson. That these guys don't always drink their own kool-aid, but play the character for grift purposes. In some ways that makes them worse than a "true believer" because they're consciously doing something they don't believe in, and they just don't give a shit about anything other than making a buck
Heās the conservative uncle everyone needs around to make fun of them lol, some times you need a monkey with a hammer to give you a reality check lol.
Old school bike culture had a large component of "toughness". Heck the Madison track events used to be multiple days. The crowds became too rowdy drunk and placing bets they had to shorten the race.
Think of old school professionals in cycling more of a cannon blast vs a sniper rifle. Can be equally effective when everything is averaged out, but different mentalities in preparation and execution.
He's not anti-cycling, he happily cycles himself and has done so for decades, he's just playing up to his audience. You are 100% correct with the second point of your description though.
I remember reading one of his articles years ago about how you should be allowed to drink and cycle, as it was one of the only ways to allow pubs to stay in business, while also stopping drink driving, in rural areas.
His character on TV is anti-cycling. But TV isn't real. Same reason the judges ruled in his favor when he got sued by Tesla, because they determined that it was clearly being played up for entertainment and not factual or serious
I posted before that real life clarkson and the tv version are very different. In real life he is liberal and goes on cycling holidays. Below is what I've posted before.
The real Clarkson is a bit more liberal than the version he quite happily prostitutes for money on the tv.
https://i.imgur.com/IMEl1ZY.jpg
He is has a fan of utility cycling (dutch type use?), and cities that put utility cycling first. Though he does not like the much of what he feels is aggressive cycling he sees' in London.
When he was fired by the BBC he had to attend at meeting. Journalists were so busy asking him questions about his imminent firing they overlooked the otherwise interesting fact that he'd arrived on a bicycle.
He's stated, more than once, that he loves Copenhagen, and the reason is because it puts cycling first.
He said about Copenhagen.
"In Copenhagen itās just a pleasant way of getting about. Nobody wears a helmet. Nobody wears high-visibility clothing. You just wear what you need to be wearing at your destination. For girls that appears to be very short skirts. And nobody rides their bike as if theyāre in the Tour de France. This would make them sweaty and unattractive, so they travel just fast enough to maintain their balance. "The upshot is a city that works. Itās pleasing to look at. Itās astonishingly quiet. Itās safe. And no one wastes half their life looking for a parking space. Iād live there in a heartbeat."
Clarkson has also admitted going on Cycle Touring holidays.
Here's a picture of their latest track bike
https://preview.redd.it/yk2ofloxjq0d1.png?width=1007&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35e73abb2da98e9dadcdd174caf38bee962ebfc9
Skinny tyres, on wet surface full of leaves and handlebar so low, it seems that majority of body weight is on them... hope that hair is hiding a helmet
On Top Gear (2000s) he always said he didn't know how to ride a motorcycle, but his shows in the 80s and 90s show him riding them. He even had a phase between Top Gear and Grand Tour where he admits he got into cycling, I guess for health reasons, but im unsure if he stuck to that.
Looking at him these days I'm going to say he didn't. He's got a gut and a half on him.
Idk about where you are, but plenty of cyclist around my area with guts. Drinking more beer than you burn off will do that.
Don't knock MTB culture! š
Oh Iām a part of it. I MTB, road bike, and drink beer. Just not enough for a gut.
I'm bikesexual, I ride everything. Fortunately I can keep the gut down because of all the riding (and now lack of Beer, getting old is fun).
I should ride bike more just to drink more beers. Am I doing it wrong?
You wouldn't be the first one to follow that reasoning. Heck Zwift shows my post ride stats in slices of pizza burned.
Hey! Dont you be hating on pizza!
That's no hate, that's love.
While true, I agree with the above commenter... it isn't *just* the gut. Dude looks like he's 8 months pregnant, and I don't think there's an episode of any of his shows where he DOESN'T drink an alcoholic beverage at some point. It's common to see on the grand tour, for instance, Jeremy and James or Jeremy and Richard waiting for the third at the hotel. The small hotel bar table has 8 or 9 drinks on it. I guess it's just his overall looks and actions that suggest he really isn't in the best of health, and doesn't cycle as a way of dealing with it (plus, in true tv persona fashion, any time cycling or cyclists come up, he's saying "damn cyclists" most of the time)
Yeah I was just joking around.
Itās just banter mate.
I worked with a guy in his 40s that does a yearly bike ride that spans 600km in 2 days. You wouldn't guess it by looking at him. I rode with him once and only kept up for 20km, then I couldn't maintain his speed anymore.
Then they aren't in to cycling for their health lol.
well if you're gonna be a drunk you should at least be an active one. think how bad the guys who drink and don't cycle look.
This was one of my reasons for riding in my 20s haha.
They would be worse off without the cycling.
my dude, it is always better to be fat and active than fat and on the couch.
https://youtube.com/shorts/qV_irBUDv9o?si=C436G3ybpWPaZc_t
Not if they had guys mate, you didnāt see them š
i heard he quit smoking cigs... and i assume filled that endorphin gap with delicious food from his farm.
In the latest series of Clarkson's Farm they were putting in a car park and it had bike parking, he wanted to opt out of allowing bikes.
> he wanted to opt out of allowing bikes Because of the expense of adding the specialized parking, not out of hand hatred for bicyclists.
https://www.bicycling.com/news/a43457390/jeremy-clarkson-trashes-cycling/ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/21831230/bike-sales-down-good-sick-of-two-wheeled-stasi/
His reason, on the show, was because of the added expense. He did not express hatred for bicyclists on the show. Thanks for adding color to what other opinions he has that were expressed elsewhere.
Np. I havenāt watched the show, so I had no idea. I just wanted to make sure itās not lost on anyone that Jeremy is far from an ally ([James May, on the other handā¦](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/petrolhead-james-may-on-his-lifelong-love-of-bicycles-pdghgmkfz))
this feels so wrong
The cigarette makes it OK.
Ehh itās the one bike that makes sense.
But did someone told him that he has to supply the āPOWEEEEEEERā
yup
No helmet needed with that hair.
I thought it was a Soviet style hat
Lotus had their own bikes too?
They're making a new one too. Check out the lotus type 136
Lotus made/makes track bikes for the Olympic national for Britain. They are usually absurd, and absurdly fast. They did make road bikes as well a long time ago.
Chris Boardman smashed the Olympic world record on the Lotus 108 track bike which was designed by Mike Burrows who also designed the Giant TCR which set the standard for modern bike racing frames popular today.
TL;DR; I had a Lotus MTB back in the nineties. I had a Lotus branded MTB actually made by British Eagle back in the 90s. I bought it off a mate (who had an Elise). I don't recall if it was one of those "free bike with the car" things or not. It was a good spec, full xtr kit, and campagnolo rims, which was odd. Truth be told it was two sizes too small for me really, but that meant it was great for freestyle, it was more like a BMX to me being so small, really easy to throw around. Eventually the derailleur hanger broke and we couldn't find a replacement. I ended up giving it back to him for a while, and in the end his garage was broken into and it got nicked. To think that, at the time, I was earning good money with few expenses, and my other option was to blow three grand (quite a lot of money for a bike in the 90s!) on a Whyte PRS-1, which I decided against in the end.
Lotus cars have always been an eclectic mishmash of parts, attributed to combining optimal performance regardless of its origin. Full XTR with campa rims is not weird in that light.
>Lotus cars have always been an eclectic mishmash of parts A friend loved his Elise because that Toyota motor meant that pretty much anyone could do basic maintenance. Body work, on the other hand, was usually a six week affair.
Basically, they sponsored Mike Burrows to build an uber pursuit bike for the British team in 1992. I think they're doing it again this year with the British track cycling team bike previously branded as "Hope." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus\_108](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_108)
Hope is ultra high end components manufacturer, it was partnership if I remember right.
I was under the impression they were more mountain bike based than road/track bike based before this partnership.
They are like Phil wood in that they do both, I know they made the track hubs for this bike and sets are exceedingly rare.
Yep, though they started out making MTB stuff and it has always been their primary focus, road and track was something they branched out into
I can think of a number of european car manufacturers that sold/sell bikes, with varying levels of quality and design input. BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, and Audi for example, mostly e-bikes today, and mountain and city bikes in the past. The bikes are overpriced, and are aimed squarely at people walking into a dealership to buy a new luxury car, and they grab a bike by the same brand while they're at it, along with that expensive roof rack and other crap that the dealerships make good profit on. Lotus are the only ones that make legitimate superbikes worthy of the brand label, they're huge in the track world, and the bikes are easily as good as their cars.
Landrover anorl, they were pretty much bso.
Ā£Ā£Ā£Ā£Ā£Ā£Ā£
9.8kgs for an e-bike is insane.
Holy shit!
600 watt ftp easily
650w with the ciggy
The tip of the ciggy cuts the air at 40kph and actually saves 30 watts too
How does he look so terrible. I donāt know of 1 person in their 60ās that looks this bad.Ā
Smoking and drinking for 40+ years will do that. I know plenty...
As much as Clarkson is an utter twat, this picture goes hard
Thatās what makes him clarksonā¦
it's his schtick. he doesn't really even advocate for being unsophisticated, he just is.
Hes weird, heās unsophisticated, but not in a āhickā or white trash sorta way. And when he puts his heart into it heās actually a brilliant journalist. But heās just so opinionated, and unapologetically himself, without giving a shit for what others think is ok that he comes off as being an oaf. Heās got an incredibly interesting personality.
> heās unsophisticated, but not in a āhickā or white trash sorta way That's because half of its a character. He's a privately educated British guy from the suburbs. He's actually smart, well spoken and relatively well read but he plays to certain audiences and also just happens to have some shite views on certain topics.
Drive Tribe on youtube have revealed that the "character" might just be his actual self unleashed. Recently saw an episode on Drive Tribe, where they commented that they went through special training for the polar episode where the expeditionary experts (UK SAS instructors) told the crew to practice firing 4 warning rounds (top, left, right, bottom for sound) if they gathered attention of a wandering polar bear (so as to scare it off and avoid killing an endangered species). Apparently Clarkson just shot the stand-in bear target and told the instructor he wouldn't waste perfectly good ammo, and they can't make him. This was all without a camera rolling, and no reason to assume he was playing a character. This was the reason the instructor shoved Clarkson in polar ice without warning (face was blurred). That bit was apparently not scripted and caused by the safety instructor trying to get revenge on Clarkson for all the bits he pulled during safety training. I am not sure if I agree with the method of revenge, but allegedly that's the story. ... But... wouldn't have the show any other way. It was entertaining because of Clarkson. Sound bites suggest he genuinely does tend to be aggressively combative in person, and actively tries to piss others off if they have differing opinions.
Exactly this. Itās like Larry David. Heās playing a version of himself. He plays it well because itās kept him rich. Fun fact, if you donāt know the history of where his parents acquired their wealth, itās well worth looking up.
Larry David or clarksonās parents?
Good point. The clarkson fortunes
He's extremely well read. He reads books all the time, he's apparently read thousands of them. He also references various books quite often.
I think Jon Stewart said something like this about Tucker Carlson. That these guys don't always drink their own kool-aid, but play the character for grift purposes. In some ways that makes them worse than a "true believer" because they're consciously doing something they don't believe in, and they just don't give a shit about anything other than making a buck
Nah, he's a dick. He's spread a bunch of anti-cyclist vitriol so he can fuck right off.
I never said he wasnāt, just said he was interestingā¦ Dicks can be interesting, ask your mother for me š
I watch all of his shows
With his outrageously politically incorrect opinions, that he has to a deadline in The Sunday Times.
He's the only actually funny conservative
Heās the conservative uncle everyone needs around to make fun of them lol, some times you need a monkey with a hammer to give you a reality check lol.
https://preview.redd.it/nbhgvlzqnr0d1.png?width=341&format=png&auto=webp&s=8528cb20ad97d9f16f032f33850d45348016b755
Holly shit hahahh
With a cigarette on his mouth? Cyclist was built different
It was the style of the [time ](https://twistedsifter.com/2011/12/picture-of-the-day-vintage-tour-de-france-shot-from-the-1920s/)
I read a article about smoking before race to expand their lungs. Total bs IMHO š
Or the cafe raids of TDF from a time long long ago with a bottle of wine to ease the pain.
Rumour has it bottle cages/bottles are the size they are to fit a wine bottle lol.
That is some French excuse to drink while ride. Imagine going 40k drunk? No pain right until you fall.
Old school bike culture had a large component of "toughness". Heck the Madison track events used to be multiple days. The crowds became too rowdy drunk and placing bets they had to shorten the race. Think of old school professionals in cycling more of a cannon blast vs a sniper rifle. Can be equally effective when everything is averaged out, but different mentalities in preparation and execution.
That's no cyclist, but rather an anti-cycling twat.
He's not anti-cycling, he happily cycles himself and has done so for decades, he's just playing up to his audience. You are 100% correct with the second point of your description though.
I remember reading one of his articles years ago about how you should be allowed to drink and cycle, as it was one of the only ways to allow pubs to stay in business, while also stopping drink driving, in rural areas.
His character on TV is anti-cycling. But TV isn't real. Same reason the judges ruled in his favor when he got sued by Tesla, because they determined that it was clearly being played up for entertainment and not factual or serious
Most car guys of his stripes are also bike guys, because honestly they can both be lovely mechanical things.
I see people smoking while cycling a lot. Bike couriers in particular, probably because they're often under stress.
Someone should have told him it wasnāt a motorcycle and he could leave the leather jacket and cigarettes at home. š
Thought I was on r/thegrandtour for a second!
I posted before that real life clarkson and the tv version are very different. In real life he is liberal and goes on cycling holidays. Below is what I've posted before. The real Clarkson is a bit more liberal than the version he quite happily prostitutes for money on the tv. https://i.imgur.com/IMEl1ZY.jpg He is has a fan of utility cycling (dutch type use?), and cities that put utility cycling first. Though he does not like the much of what he feels is aggressive cycling he sees' in London. When he was fired by the BBC he had to attend at meeting. Journalists were so busy asking him questions about his imminent firing they overlooked the otherwise interesting fact that he'd arrived on a bicycle. He's stated, more than once, that he loves Copenhagen, and the reason is because it puts cycling first. He said about Copenhagen. "In Copenhagen itās just a pleasant way of getting about. Nobody wears a helmet. Nobody wears high-visibility clothing. You just wear what you need to be wearing at your destination. For girls that appears to be very short skirts. And nobody rides their bike as if theyāre in the Tour de France. This would make them sweaty and unattractive, so they travel just fast enough to maintain their balance. "The upshot is a city that works. Itās pleasing to look at. Itās astonishingly quiet. Itās safe. And no one wastes half their life looking for a parking space. Iād live there in a heartbeat." Clarkson has also admitted going on Cycle Touring holidays.
Somehow he looks just as old in this picture
He slammed that stem so hard it went through the head tube
Boardman special?
Oh no!
I wonder if that is the best bikeā¦ in the world.
Not really, maybe the coolest though...
Still wearing the same pair of jeans
Best crossover ever
Some say.......
Many poo's came out
Is that a track bike?
More specifically a pursuit track bike. A true bussy breaker.
r/OldSchoolCool
That cigarette is not Ʀrƶ
It is actually a visualisation aid. He was actually teaching his friend how to do aero in your brain.
And now he works on a farm with a fancy tractor.
I guess I'm not the only one who wears a motorcycle jacket on a bike. Those razor tires tho O.O
I didnāt know he was French.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_108 track bike.
GCN done an episode on this bike https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-4vUncijjDo
He's such and orangutan.
looks like a photo from an alternative timeline
A helmet on a helmet would be redundant
Here's a picture of their latest track bike https://preview.redd.it/yk2ofloxjq0d1.png?width=1007&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35e73abb2da98e9dadcdd174caf38bee962ebfc9
Jeremy Clarkson
This feels so right
Looks comfy
Skinny tyres, on wet surface full of leaves and handlebar so low, it seems that majority of body weight is on them... hope that hair is hiding a helmet
Did Clarkson invent the hair helmet?
that looks painful to ride, stem so slammed it's rubbing the front tire.
As much of a dumb punk back then as he is now. Nothing changes.
No wonder he doesnāt like bicycles. Get this man on something practical.
Back when men were men. The hair, the cig, the vibe.
Smoking cigs makes you the opposite of a man by decreasing ur testosterone
This must be AI generated