Aussie bike shops face $1.1 million fine in fixie clampdown

"For bicycles with cantilever brakes—a safety device is fitted to prevent the stirrup cable from touching the tyre."

What this when its at home then? dont think ive ever seen anything that would satisfy this law, apart from a front reflector baracket off the fork crown maybe.

Stato - yep a front reflector bracket fits the bill. To be honest, anyone riding a brakeless fixie on the road needs their head examining. I'm not sure about the front brake only bikes.

But what if the Aussie dealers are pitching bikes at track riders? Does this mean when you buy a track bike it has to have brakes as well?

rules is rules, the Australian nanny state is an embarrassment and shameful to all that was good in its past.

No - the regulations are full of loopholes wide enough to steer a chopped-down riser-barred fixie through.

Exemptions include: track specific, custom built, folding, tandems, recumbents, children's and secondhand bikes.

Apparently the UK has the same regulations: bikes must have front and back hand operated brakes WHEN SOLD, but can be ridden with a rear brake controlled by pedal rotation.

The 'stirrup' thing is because if the brake cable snaps, the canti brakes spring apart pulling the stirrup down (cable joining the two canti brakes) onto the tyre, which can suddenly bring the front tyre to a halt (esp if its an off road mtb tyre).

probably a fear of the media publicity it might generate should a fixie end up under a truck and the parents causing a storm. but western societies are becoming nanny states dictating they know better......

It's almost as if Australia would rather nobody cycled, given the amount of rules and legislation they have regarding the area.

I wish people would keep whinging about a Nanny State every time these things come out. As has already been discussed the loopholes in the standard allow brakeless fixies for trak use, which basically means such bikes will have signs/stickers on them saying "Track Use Only" in big red scary letters. These stickers will be taken off and the bikes ridden however the owners damn well please. I remmeber seeing such stickers on bikes in london when i was there 12 months ago, has it made any difference? Of course not!

Of course the road rules also require "at least one funcioning brake", i'm not sure if a brakeless fixie satisfies this.

Australian Nanny State?! That makes me laugh!

Australia is one of those places where the rules may look tight but in practice things are wayyyy looser than here. For example you don't need an annual vehicle check in Melbourne, you just wait until a cop takes the time to stop and put a sticker on your bomb, which, as you can imagine, happens... pretty much never.

As for riding in Melbourne it's a fraking full on experience. Nothing quite like being at the lights on a massive urban gird with wiiiide roads surrounded by men in V8 who believe that 30mph actually means it's ok to drive at 50. Plus the 'hook turn'. Look that one up! If you think riding in London is hard, well.... it's busier but a lot less dangerous. Ended up doing 90% of my riding on the (rather good) bike path network.

A classic example of some d*ck head with nothing much to do and probably some pressure from an outraged state representative whose limo got cut up by a fixie on the way to work.

A

alotronic - yep I've been to Melbourne and learned the (in)famous hook turn. It takes some getting used to. I've driven there, never ridden there so I'll have to take your word for the risk factors. One way to compare would be to evaluate accident statistics I suppose.

I ride a brakeless fixie just for getting about and to go from my car to work because I can't park too close as it's in a crappy area.

Pretty much I know when a dangerous area is like if there are side roads and I slow down. Sure I might not then get my PB on a given road each day but it's still a fuck load quicker than walking!

I quite like the simplicity though and I think I'm a better road user having ridden one for a while

So a penny farthing would be out of the question then ...

Fashion and haters aside, no disc brakes in Aus either then huh?

Living in Aus I have absolutely NO problem with the 'nanny state' approach to cycling - certainly a lot safer to cycle here than the UK. And here in Perth the commitment from government for provision for cycling infrastructure is considerable compared to the UK - over 700k's of cycle way and a few hundred kilometres of car free cycle paths. I can sit on 30+ kph all 8k's to the city car free without any traffic lights or road crossings to slow me down. But then we work with the Department of Transport for better facilities - not fight every decision they make in our interest (we don't whine because we have to wear a helmet).

With many of the million new bikes sold in Aus every year being bought by 'mums' for their teenage kid's birthday or at christmas time I endorse the enforcement of the rules.

and before the flames start with the the ol' 'fat Aussie' chestnut and cyclehelmets.org BS..

OECD stats show -
Aussie adults with a BMI above 30 is 21.7%
UK adults with BMI above 30 is 24%
http://stats.oecd.org/health/

Lets have a look at some of the other stats on the OECD site...
Life Expectancy -
Australia is ranked 3rd
UK is ranked 18th
http://stats.oecd.org/health/

How about heart disease?
Australia 110.9 deaths per 100,000 people
UK 122 deaths per 100,000 people
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_hea_dis_dea-health-heart-disease-d...

And while the nonsense stats from the cyclehelmets.org and their 'selective' use of data show drops in cycling numbers, lets look at at cycling patterns in Perth WA (as it is touted as an example of how cycling helmet laws caused a drop in cycling).

The Department of Transport data (an edited 'version' of which is used on cyclehelmets.org) on cycling numbers since 1998 shows a 450% INCREASE in the number of cyclists.
http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/cycling/20051.asp

Of course the Department's data collection methods and full stats are available on that site, unlike cyclehelmets.org's 'dead' links and 'edited' excel spreadsheets supposedly from the Department of Transport.

Long Live the Nanny State!!

Wow, sounds great over there. Maybe one day you'll have cycle usage on a par with the Netherlands or Denmark where they are all forced to wear lids too… oh hold on

chances are we will get closer than the UK ever will =P

edit: we are not 'forced' to wear helmets any more than we are 'forced' to not speed in our cars...
also we are conditioned from early childhood to wear a hat because of the sun (in school 'not hat no play' rules apply) so wearing a helmet is quite natural for us...
And I fail to see any relationship between cycling numbers and helmet laws... and the stats back that up.

no, the Dutch don't seem to see any relationship either

no helmet laws in the UK and not many cyclists either... but then don't let logic get in the way of your vanity whine

edit: I'm ready to admit it may not be vanity... perhaps you're just 'fighting the man'

Err, actually the average percentage of passenger journeys by bicycle in Australian capital cities is 1.3% compared to over 2% in London.

That, BTW, is a decline since 2001, when it was 1.4%.

Even in Melbourne, which is by far the biggest cycling city, it is only 1.6%. Sydney is a pathetic .8%.

But don't let facts get in the way of the right of every Australian to an utterly misguided sense of superiority, blessedly preserved by blind insularity.

and can you back your claims up with stats? I doubt it...
give me "misguided sense of superiority, blessedly preserved by blind insularity" over constant whining over the simple act of wearing a helmet... bleat on - it is your national pastime

*the only reason I post about this issue is because I am sick of the constant 'soft racism' about cycling in Aus... so there ya go.. a serve back at ya

edit: I guess you are quoting cyclehelmets.org with yr claims... well read my post above about what a load of BS their stats are

Melbourne riding was like a race with loads of riders commuting it was great but all had helmets as it is the law.

Didn't Oz see a decline in cyclists with helmet use becoming law?

I guess we can frown but there are many idiot cyclists who can crash into a elderly walker killing them or losing control and killing themselves.

Nothing will stop 100% but 2 brakes is fine by us roadies!

that's a myth perpetuated by the likes of cyclehelmets.org to support their cause, the reality of cycling numbers in West Oz is better reflected in the stats published by the DoT (see above)

nobody mentioned helmets until you did, since it's not what this story is about. why do you keep going on about them?

italiafirenze wrote: "It's almost as if Australia would rather nobody cycled, given the amount of rules and legislation they have regarding the area."

I assume he was posting about helmets... what other 'rules and legislation' would he be discussing when having a go at Aussie cycling?

Helmet laws in Oz being such a fun topic in the UK (ya can have a laugh at how fat Aussies are at the same time as backing your anti helmet cause - if you believe the BS stats)

certainly if you've got a particular bee in your bonnet, that's the assumption you'd make...

you might want to take a quick look at the modal share stats in this article:

http://chartingtransport.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/urban-density-and-publ...

it might all be lies, of course. but the author doesn't seem to have any particular axe to grind. i don't know if he wears a helmet on his bike, or even if he rides one

off topic (or more off topic I guess): does that moustache have any relationship to Godwin's Law?

here's the paper it relates to, if anyone's interested

Perth's down as 1.2% modal share for cycling on the data from 2000-2006. assuming the total level of journeys hasn't changed the 2010 stats from blundershot's post suggest it's upped it's share to about double that, so top marks to Perth for pulling their fingers out. That's better than London. It's hardly Assen though.

http://www.theonion.com/personalities/herbert-kornfeld,1019/

Dave, thanks for spending the time to read and interpret the figures.

So if there's no relationship between helmet laws and bicycle use, and those countries with the highest levels of cycling don't have helmet laws why are you so keen to tell us that we should be forced to wear helmets seeing as it'll make damn all difference?

Oh and not wearing a helmet in these parts is not 'fighting the man' cos 'the man' doesn't believe in helmet laws either.

I am vain though.

Tony, I can't see where I suggested you should wear a helmet

So basically your point would seem to boil down to:

"Australia is better than the UK ya boo!" – It might well be, I've never been there;

Nanny knows best - especially if nanny is an Aussie;

Brit cyclists spend all our time whingeing about helmets laws (surely you're falling for a cultural stereotype there… what was that about soft racism?);

And when we're not banging on about how we don't want to wear lids (which we don't have to anyway) we're chuntering on about how fat Aussies are – you're the first person to mention that on this site – all the Australians I know are skinny as rakes;

Finally all we talk about are Australian helmet laws - can't find much mention of them in these parts either though.

hmmm...

Actually I am Australian, but of course you just made an assumption without any facts.

Second, the stats I quoted came from the Cycling Resource Centre, part of the Australian Bicycle Council which is charged with implementing the National Cycling Strategy - and what a fine job they appear to be doing.

Any more holes you want to keep digging into ???

yeah right LMFAO

"Second, the stats I quoted came from the Cycling Resource Centre, part of the Australian Bicycle Council which is charged with implementing the National Cycling Strategy - and what a fine job they appear to be doing."

Yes they seem to be doing a fine job on the east coast of Australia...

Now can you point to where the data is located that you refer to? The only data I can find on their website seems to confirm the data presented by myself and Dave.

Do you make a habit of questioning other people without any evidence or contrary facts, or is it just something you practise occasionally ?

Here's the link - it's under Cycling Data.

http://www.cyclingresourcecentre.org.au/15/Cycling_data

You're welcome.

Projecting a little there Chris? Too many gins at the shopping mall? Maybe living the colonial dream has frazzled your mind (it does get hot out there in the empire)...

Those stats of yours confirm what I have been posting. Thanks.

And those posts of yours seem to confirm what I thought about Australians, and it had nothing to do with them being fat (which is something I have never associated with them until now).

I mean, just because you are Australian doesn't mean you have to defend everything that your Government imposes on you. I certainly wouldn't be defending my Government if they imposed yet more unnecessary restrictions on me and my life.

Are you sure you found the right ones this time - you needed a little help there, what with it being listed under the heading Cycling Data. Tricky stuff, I can see why you were confused.

So we agree that cycling decreased in Australia over a five year period and is considerably lower than London as a mode of transport.

I'm glad it's all been cleared up at last.

I don't know what you have been smoking there in the mall mate... but it doesn't show that at all... Perhaps you should read all of my comments, links and what was posted by Dave...

What it does does show is that YOU really don't need a helmet - you have nothing of value to protect

I'm not quite sure what the Australian argument is about. The UK and Australia have a similar level of cycling - about 1% of all journeys are made by bike. Perth has the highest level of cycling of Australia's major cities, Sydney the lowest. London is above average for the UK.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my visit to Melbourne in October. I'll take in the UCI World Champs in Geelong, participate in the Around the Bay in a Day ride, and check out the many new cycle paths which appear to have been created since I last visited 10 years ago.