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forum
To go pro or no pro?
Just a question on why people do or don't wear cameras, where they place the camera and has the use or lack of helped or hindered?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
Latest Forum Topics
Latest Comments
- Geordiepeddeler 4 hours 37 min ago
Cycling infrastructure does not force drivers to break the law, drivers are the reason they break the law, no one else.
- chrisonabike 4 hours 50 min ago
Ah but taking pictures of things to defy the man (avoid a fine) is righteous. Taking pictures of people to grass on them to the cops (perhaps...
- ktache 6 hours 40 min ago
But getting paid for it is the very definition of professional....
- ktache 6 hours 49 min ago
Never had a Shimano QR fail on me. They just work. And the top end ones look good too....
- Backladder 7 hours 35 min ago
If you're only looking at the guy in front of you then you're going to crash whatever brakes you have, you need to look beyond them to anticipate...
- jaysa 8 hours 43 sec ago
As a woman, this works great for me! My chain broke once, and a kind guy stopped with a chain breaker and sorted it all out for me. We stopped at a...
- andystow 8 hours 52 min ago
Same. I also have gone through a bunch of their tyres, and only the extralight disappointed (torn sidewall) but the standards are fantastic....
- chrisonabike 10 hours 49 min ago
Indeed - but it's no more inconsistent than our current road design - very often UK high streets are "for shopping" and also a busy through route....
- mike the bike 12 hours 20 min ago
If you ask the world's leading economic commentators how many people have been rescued from abject poverty by capitalism the average answer would...
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18 comments
I've got a K Edge bar mount for my GoPro and got some good footage of myself and friends tackling some classic climbs (Alpe d'Huez etc). I can just turn it off/on whenever I want to get some video.
A job change meant a more 'busy road' commute and I invested in a Fly6 (seat post mount) and a Drift Stealth 2 (helmet mount). I get the odd bit of bad driving footage, but it's primarily to provide evidence if I get taken out. Not sure any motorist clocks that I'm filming. The only thing about cameras is you could get paranoid that the day you don't have them is the day you get knocked off. Outside of commuting I'd only use them if I was out on my own and probably only the Fly6 as it doubles as a good daytime 'be seen' light.
I have an EE Action Cam (cheap go pro same mounts) which is on my handlebars and started off to record my rides with mates for a laugh.
As with you I was too lazy to charge it and deal with removing it from the bike etc. so then got a capture cam that basically clips to bag straps etc. both decent bits of kit.
Then because I wanted to record my friends pain face when I slaughtered them on a hill (yeah get me) I found this bad biy:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oregon-Scientific-ATC-Chameleon-Camera/dp/B009ODD736
About half that price on ebay. Permanently attached to my helmet so that it's as simple as putting the helmet on...
I don't think people pay enough attention to spot cameras however they are mounted unless you're traffic droid. I use a GoPro handlebar mounted on my commute,recorded some quite scary close passes/maneuvers it's more an insurance policy so that there's footage if something were to happen. But keeping battery topped up, lens clear (a stupendously close pass followed by 2 secs later parking on the left mostly obscured by spot of water kicked up by front wheel just as it happened) etc it's just another thing to forget or go wrong
Hi @dog_film,
I use a Contour Roam 3 on my helmet and a rear-facing one on my rear rack when commuting. I don't publish the video - well, only very occasionally - but I have used it to make a complaint to Lothian buses about one of the drivers quite deliberately trying to squeeze me off the road (their letter said that the driver was being sent for re-training) and to compain to a local pizza restaurant about one of their drivers. 99% of the time the SD cards are just formatted when close to full.
I find that I get significantly less hassle when I have the cameras on me and the bike then when I don't, even when they're switched off. I'm considering getting Go-Pros (Hero 5 Session) front and rear for the road bike for that very reason, but the advantage of the helmet mount is that it takes what you're looking at, which can help with context.
The 'Close Pass' initiative office in Edinburgh has specifically asked cyclists to submit footage - another reason for them.
I'm a bit surprised at comments like P3t3's - I have many more notable incidents when I don't have the cameras on me than when I do, and after riding in London for 12 years (in the good old days before there was *any* infrastructure) I'm much more relaxed in my definitions of poor driver behaviour than most of my Edinburgh cycling peers.
The 3 manouvers I seem to be subjected to most around here are left hooks, last-second close passes before pedestrian refuges and last second passes just before a red traffic light.
Some people also need reminding who has right of way on roundabouts.
I have tried a camera mounted on the bars, but mine is a cheap one with hopeless battery life, so doesn't even last my usual commute to work - I'm in the market for a better one, but can't decide as there are so many options.
Rear facing Go Pro on the bike on special club rides and when riding solo. I rarely have it recording when solo but i think the mere presence of the grey box under the saddle puts people off dodgy passes.
No front facing camera as i like to think i am more in control of situations i can see and anticipate.
That's a great idea.
I think wearing the go pro on the head sometimes makes them think twice?
You do tend to not bother unless your actually, physically hit now. My skin is rhino thick.
I presume the Fly cameras are great?
I've got Cycliq Fly12 and a Fly6 (front and rear) and have only had to use the footage a couple of times.
I mainly use them to avoid feeling the need to respond to aggression on the road. If I get harrassed, then I can just continue and feel smug that I've got them captured on video to report to police if necessary. Most of the time, I've calmed down and not bothered to submit the evidence unless it's particularly egregious.
I appreciate the replies.
I guess I was really looking to support, confirm or alley my use of a camera when riding. It has become just like putting on my helmet before riding out. Ever ridden out without your helmet, remember how weird that feels?
Riding in Leicester appears way more dangerous than elsewhere in the country.
Punishment passes, bottles thrown at, spat on and a total lack of respect shown to cyclists. Doesn't matter the age of the driver either. I've had young and old enough to know better, all behaving disgracefully.
Any confrontation with drivers here in 99% of cases ends in violence.
Knocked off my bike with serious results, at least once a year.
Near misses at least two on every ride.
I've had a driver at a red light deliberately drive into my rear tyre. Revved engines, close passes, trapped foot under car who buckled my rear wheel. Drove off.
Knocked off sustaining cracked ribs, dislocated shoulder and £250 damage to bike. Driver fled the scene.
Drivers crossing white line to scare me, twice.
Every row of traffic in rush hour full of people on phones. Driving on phones at least 3-5 on every ride.
Yes I've thought of quitting but you know it's like a drug. You think "why should I" sadly I believe this decision may be made for me?
I don't want to be just another statistic, newspaper headline and gravestone but with the lack of police interest? Last time I reported a driver who shouted and veared their car deliberately towards me, apparently I was "in the middle of the road" the two police women on the front desk were more interested in my GoPro. Gave me a piece of paper to fill in and asked if I could burn the footage to disc and bring it back.
I subscribed to Police Stop who forward the footage to the relevant police area for them to act on. It went to the Specials, not traffic.
So yes my faith in anything seriously being done by the police in Leicester is sadly lacking.
A friend suggested if they gave a bounty, £5 per car with the driver using their phone on camera? I would only have to work 4 hours a day covering three main roads at rush hour.
The penalties for killing cyclists in this country are no deterrent. In a nutshell if you want to kill someone in this country and pretty much get away with it? Do it with a car.
Goodness me! It sounds like you are having a dreadful time riding your bike. If it was that bad I wouldn't bother riding!
Might There be a bit of a "but" in all this though...?
Have you ever considered that something about your persona might be encouraging some of these problems? People don't respond well to righteousness or automatic defensiveness. Some of what you describe is clearly unavoidable (e.g oncoming driver being a twat) but others examples sound like they could be a result of people winding each other up. You won't be able to change the quality of driving in Leicester but there are things you can do to make it a smoother experience, however they are all related to you.
I know I'm raising the spectre of "victim blaming" here, you certainly should be able to ride unmolested. But the comments are based on my own experience. I've found that the only approach that works for me is to ignore anything that could annoy me and try to ride "cool". By and large it seems that drivers respond well to this and I don't have problems.
Having a go-pro on your bars isn't going to solve any of your problems, motorists will not notice, so it isn't going to be a deterrent. In the videos on YouTube whenever the cyclist says the magic words "you're on camera" to a motorist it doesn't seem to make them behave better in any way.
I'm so obsessed with battery life on all my gadgets, if I had a camera I probably wouldn't have it on when I got squished anyway! I hate close passing and won't let any vehicle get away without shouting at them but I think a camera is too much
Bought one a few years ago, bar mounted, haven't used it in a year almost. the police are so no bothered I can't be fragged with it, i'll be seriosuly considering citizens arrest and lawful reasonable force to defend myself from now on. it appears the only avenue in reality.
I emailed road.cc a while ago asking them to publish an article about whether cameras were useful, do they help with prosecutions erm. I.e. a proper journalistic article, spoken to lawyers, the police etc.
I look forward to reading this article .
Get one. If you get run over with no camera footage you're screwed.
Nope.
I don't see them as a normal thing to need to do.
I don't like close passes, but all the other stuff the go pro-ers capture doesn't seem to happen to me.
I've a cycliq12 on my handlebars. You're right, the police (Thames Valley) for me aren't the slightest bit interested, but I also get to record things like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjNHzB-jRdY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRdLQvS9fGk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSTxbkWASXQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaVb0j2Y5jk
I also find that some companies take footage of bad driving really, seriously. Not all, and certainly not bus companies, but anyone with a dedicated fleet management team And taxi licensing teams in local councils ....
It was as to incidents with drivers.
Only when literally knocked off or serious road infractions.
Yes the police do see very put out if you do present them with evidence.
Helped or hindered what exactly?
I don't use a camera, no point - I'd just have endless hours of footage of me struggling!
There's also very little point filming any incidents with other road users as the police do SFA about it.