Recent comments

Been through all the pics I took at Eurobike Vorsprung and I can't see anything like that, there are high end carbon framed trekking/leisure bikes - just stuck a picture of the Peugeot Moov'it in the Touring bikes gallery, although I'd have to say it isn't a touring bike (might amend the name of that gallery then). It does have both a sporty look and a more upgright postion - but that's achieved by fitting flat bars and and adjustable stem and while there was a fair bit of tyre clearance there's no mudguard mounts. Lapierre had something similar the Shaper 900 and so did Trek although there's was a more heavy duty looking affair.

That's what I tell myself on my steel bike ......as I watch someone on a carbon bike disappear ahead of me on a killer climb

Spot on Vorsprung. There are so few bikes that take wider tyres and those that exist are heavy, unsexy things. Even dedicated winter bikes don't usually take 28mm's AND guards.

Essentially I want a fast, pretty bike that won't break my back nor spray it with road poo.

I can thoroughly recommend David Hembrow's blog.

David has a lot to say about how the Dutch have created the safest environment for cyclists and it's by providing an extensive high quality segregated integrated cycle network, so that cyclists rarely need to use the roads. Compare that with our UK experience of a hotch-potch of mostly pathetic 'facilities', which are poorly 'designed' [if designed is the correct term]; go nowhere; are often sub-standard and commonly dangerous to use.

David's blog shows that the excuse of 'not enough room', is bogus using side by side comparison of comparable areas in the UK with Holland. If Holland can, so can we, if we have the will.

Carlton, you're right but there is a difference between being seen and safe and going too far - you have to see things from a stressed driver's pov and it's not a rational debate at that moment, it's a reactionary split-second where we risk coming off worst. justice etc is too late then. If you use one of those really bright, pulsing lights it can be a distraction / wind up to drivers sat behind you at lights - i mean those 1 watt+ rear lights, they are seriously eye-burning when at eye level. drivers are a lot more keen to get in front of you as soon as they can after sitting behind one of those.. On an unlit country road they are great for being noticed at a distance - less so in close / slower city traffic.
of course we need to be noticed and i dont excuse the rationale of this, but a visible helmet camera, a big road tax logo or a super bright strobing light are the kind of things that can be seen as 'confrontational' by some and do wind up some drivers - it's wrong but it's those split-second moments of pent up aggression that result in us being cut up. that's the point i'm trying to make. starting the debate is right, it needs to be had, but maybe the roads are not the best place for it.

i'm not one for apologising for my presence and i do ride assertively, but i also know that there are ways of avoiding stressing out the traffic-jam bound any more than they often already are. reflectives and constant lights, or smaller flashers, are just as effective and i find i get less stress on the roads when using them. just from my experience of daily slow, inside-the-m25 riding anyway. a lot will depend on where you ride - Tony i can see your point in traffic like that.

anyway my original point here is that we need a more cover-all campaign to get behind as an industry, as a body of people with rights and with the growing public interest in cycling. Roadpeace seems the closest? maybe as a more recent-years commuter i've missed it before, but have we ever all really got behind roadpeace as a charity / campaign that doesn't pitch any group against another, one that simply highlights the danger of the roads and the need for attention, care and common courtesy? if we put all our attention on the various aspects into looking at the bigger picture, maybe we can get somewhere. it's a simpler message that appeals to people to respect others over thoughts on tax, regisrattion plates etc..

so did anyone buy one today?

(i had a look but thought better of it, no rear pockets, not my colour and not in my size...)

I'm with you there tim - I don't particularly want to annoy drivers, but if that is a by product of not being squashed by them I'll just have to live with it.

Recently Bath Council have spent a lot of money on traffic calming and constructing a new bus lane on the first part of my route in to work - at certain points it funnel drivers who've just been unleashed from the slow moving roads of downtown Bath in to a couple of choke points, just when they really want to put their foot down on the drive out of Bath. The road looks like a dual carriageway, but isn't the limit is 30mph. It really is the most ill thought out piece of traffic management* I've ever had the misfortune to ride through and it will kill a cyclist sooner or later. After nearly being squished on too many occasions last week - including twice being physically knocked sideways by the back wash from speeding lorries passing centimetres from my side - i fitted a big old Cateye back light and I turned it on during the day - result a massive drop in the near miss squish count. I further reason that if some bugger does knock me off they will have some explaining to do as to why they didn't see me.

*Ironically just past the last lethal choke point there's one of those signs that flash your speed at you and tell you to slow down - everyone slows down for that, dunno why they just couldn't have put in a series of them all the way up the hill… (oh did I mention these are all drivers speed up a very long hill, I on the other hand and very much not speeding up it) maybe that would have been too much like joined up thinking or something.

Annoying drivers is a good thing? Why so confrontational Carlton? What do you think of drivers who annoy you - and then revel in the fact? It's this kind of cycling-fascism that puts the rest of us in the gutter.

Overly-bright strobing rear lights are a problem? They annoy drivers? Good. You've been noticed, then.

Of course, iPayRoadTax is a very small part of the overall picture, but Every Little Helps.

Defo needs a pair of those bonkers 35mm bars from Deda to finish it.

They may not let in water in a bucket, but they sure don't keep your hands dry when it's raining on a ride of any decent length. To say they are 'waterproof' is wrong - they are possibly more 'water-resistant' than others...overall, I found they were a bit disappointing for the money.