Recent comments

It always makes me jump hearing about allowing left turns at red lights and other law by-passes like this. It's a free pass for tragedies, all undercover of "it's done elsewhere without a problem".
Well, people behave differently elsewhere where cycling is much more accepted than here!

I'm a cyclist, not a motorist, but we're on the road, respect the rules, and have them enforced for cyclists as well. Full stop. And that includes rising as a whole group a behaving ourselves too, not just claiming we should be able to do so and so...

Here's the latest European take on road safety - perhaps Jane King should take particular note of the final sentence:

The European Commission’s strategic Communication on Road Safety 2011-2020 should translate into detailed measures and common targets to be set out in a Fourth EU Road Safety Action Program by the end of 2011, claims Dieter-Lebrecht Koch’s (EPP, DE) in his draft on an own-initiative report presented yesterday to the Members of the Transport Committee.

“35,000 people killed and 1.5 million severely injured road users in 2009 are still a horrible high blood toll paid on European roads calling for further firm action,” Koch said. While approving the Commission’s target of halving road deaths in the current decade, he reaffirms EP’s call for setting a long-term aim of preventing all road deaths (‘Vision Zero’). Supplementary intermediate targets should be added such as reducing the number of children killed by 60 per cent and reducing the number of critically injured road users by 40 per cent by 2020, Koch urged.

The rapporteur stressed the need for comparable data collection throughout the EU in order to develop a system of harmonised European statistics and analyses on the causes of accidents. Additionally, every Member State should be required to draw up national road safety plans based on harmonised guidelines. Such an integrated multi-level approach asks for the creation of the office of a European Road Safety Coordinator, he believes.

Besides infrastructure improvements and enhanced training for rescue teams, Koch asks for special attention to be paid to vulnerable road-users such as cyclists and pedestrians and insists on life-long learning even for experienced drivers to adapt to new technical car and road features.

It's her parents fault.. they should have called her Jo!

It's her parents fault.. they should have called her Jo!

As always, COMMON SENSE should prevail in these cases.
The USA allow right turns at red lights (equivalent to our left turn) and have no problems.

If a cyclist wants to go up the inside of a big truck, or bus, when that vehicle is indicating to turn left, then they must be absolutely clear in their own mind that they will be visible when it matters.

Yes, it's up to other road users to ensure it is safe to maneuver but it is more important for those road users not to put themselves (and others) in danger!!

Same situation in many towns. Developers even put cycling parking in places where councils say you shouldn't cycle. They'd be crucified for putting car parks in places you can't drive to, so why not for bike parking?

Do you still have them?

sounds like a great idea

Q-factor is not that big a deal. People would gain more by setting up their cleats correctly (presuming they ride clipped in).

Weight difference isn't terribly significant, the triple is about 250g (8oz) heavier than the compact. When not in a real hurry or on lumpy terrain I spend a lot of time on the 39T middle ring so I'd be very reluctant to give that up.

Another thought: if the rear mech is capable of handling 34T cassette (as per Deore 9-speed) you could run 50/36 or 46/36 and have a good range of low gears without losing out at the top end thanks to 11T at the other extreme. So why do they still sell chainsets with the larger jump in ratios of 50/34? Perhaps there's a good reason but I haven't heard it yet.

The general rule of thumb is that the less you pay for the flight, the more you should pay for your bike box

Easyjet are generally okay, i've heard a few horror stories on flights going to busy rides but off peak they normally do alright. Better than RyanAir, whose bike policy last time i looked was, 'we'll take some money off you for carrying your bike but we don't guarantee to carry your bike'. erm, thanks.

tips: get a good bike box. you can hire one from www.comtat.co.uk for £5 a day and there's other places to hire them too. if you use a semi-solid box, or a case, remove anything that might get knocked off. the rear mech is a classic example, best to undo the bolt and ziptie it to the frame. wheels can get bent too, so protect them as much as you can. technically your luggage is insured with limited liability (about £1k) on any flight, but don't rely on a speedy resolution if anything gets bent. make sure you have travel insurance that covers your bike.

This reads like one of those emails you get from Nigeria... ...

you'll be telling us that it has downtube shifters next.

(talking of which i have a 7 speed set going begging if anyone wants 'em..)