Ballsy Riding

Ralph McTell must figure in there somewhere.

@jackcycles And making it much worse is when you import the reckless ideology of billionaires from overseas... My vote for who has wrought more misery on the streets of London than anyone in the history of UK politics is for Boudica, the Queen of the Iceni. Although those behind "Roads For Prosperity" might be up there, had that succeeded. (For the opposite I'll go with Sir Joseph William Bazalgette - I know he doesn't really qualify in the "politics" part though but it's not just socialists who appreciate a sewer) Anyone else any other ideas?

@This Wreckage haven't we done this before? You're quite correct about the last part - "in the days of steam shovels we all walked 5 miles to the factory and back every day..." Leaving aside some difficulties with people's self-reported reasons why they don't do things they don't do (sometimes they've simply never thought about it and make stuff up)... ... and assuming we're not simply happily unhappy with the status quo... ... we could ask "what needs to be true" for change and "how do we make that true?" Kids think what most other kids (or the cool kids) do is cool. What's that? It's the stuff the adults they know and respect do. Plus of course what they're being sold... So why don't adults cycle (and indeed why aren't the adults happy to let their kids cycle on their own)? For the answer to that (not necessarily the only / best answer, but just the one we can get to from here): is there anywhere in Europe where a large proportion of adults cycle sometimes (and indeed also a very large proportion of children)? What makes that possible?

@wtjs Even more interesting! Frames built by Five Land Bikes near Livingston. Impressive website, tempted to have them modify my Merlin titanium for disc brakes, but it's 25 years old. Maybe the over-locknuts wheel widths are too small. Not the sort of business I was expecting to find in the UK! Good luck to them - we need UK manufacturing.

@Rendel Harris so it can happen! Maybe I’ll start using it after all…

In the case of the particular nutter in question, I'm afraid long experience of him under his many different aliases (I think he's been banned under fourteen different names thus far, and those are just the ones I can remember) has demonstrated that he doesn't go away if ignored, indeed if anything he tends to increase his postings, starts to behave as if he is some sort of respected figure on the site and, most tiresomely, draws in other nutters of the same kidney (Martin 73, thisismyusername et al). The only thing that gets rid of him is a ban; site admin are aware of his presence and will ban him when he inevitably steps over the line once again. Until then, I'm afraid it's my personal opinion that his racist, xenophobic alt-far-right filth and lies should not be allowed to go unchallenged. I know others subscribe to the "ignore him and he'll go away" school of thought, and I respect your opinion, but I don't agree.

@jaymack "what’s AI going to do to people’s ability to think when it ‘relieves’ us of the need to exert some brain power to solve a problem or make a decision?" I feel that this is already underway. Ironically, in an era where most people have a device in their pocket that gives them access to previously unavailable levels of information, the levels of disinformation are truly shocking. At the core of this, is an apparent lack of critical thinking skills - just as having a calculator doesn't provide basic mathematics skills, having information at your disposal doesn't provide the skills necessary to distill that information. AI is just an acceleration of that process

Well! Here's cause for thought. I have been on here less recently because of various technical factors on the site and because of the nutters and people holding them here by responding to them. However, I have to look occasionally to find out about cyclist killers and the largely joke suspended penalties. I don't spend much time on the latest 36" wheel or new BB and shoe cleat type trends, or the £12,000 carbon bikes with £4000 wavy profile carbon wheels. I had decided on a Fairlight Secan for next year, but this admirable bike requires much study. This is why we need the site.

@cy.cotic great thanks for letting me know

@jackcycles Gosh. Sadiq Khan occupies so much room in your head there's little room for anything else. How sad.