Live blog: ONS shopping basket 2018: GoPros in, pork pies out, Kwiatkowski wins Tirreno, Thomas 3rd, Brenton Jones’ rad helmet design + much more

If I had purchased my special products division 650 back in '96, rather than obtaining it under a warranty replacement, I would apparently have received a signed picture of the fine Nottingham artisan that welded her. The 750 of that year won Barry Clarke another British xc cup, as I recall.

Yay! https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/26466698.speed-camera-catching-drivers-25mph-oxfordshire/

The fall of Raleigh happened long before this week. Just because somebody bought the name does not mean they were the same bikes. And if you care about the name so much, noone says it won't be purchased by another inverstor as Accell Group is liquidated!

@Destroyer666 I totally see your point. The good news is there are indeed BBs which use industry-standard bearings. Take Neco, for example - they offer exactly what you want. Maybe the bearings in the set are not perfect, but you can replace them with SKFs later.

@chrisonabike I was just reading that myself, it seems a bizarre kneejerk reaction before poor Finlay's cause of death has even been fully investigated. What does Mr.Hansen think has been going on, have the manufacturers had the means to make safer, more robust helmets that are just as light and well ventilated but haven't bothered releasing them? Or does he want the peleton racing in motorcycle helmets, because that's the only way there's going to be a chance of meaningful protection in 100 kmh crashes?

I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work: AFAICS anti-social consequences are inherent in the business model. Models which seem to work better: advertising (Santander cycles), using bikes to make using another service which is more profitable (or less unprofitable) easier (Dutch OV Fiets). After that it's "local authority subsidises it" and then you're down to "flogging customer data"...

Back in the day square taper bb's rolled on bearings that were considerably larger than inside these Maxhit ones. The ball bearings in these fully serviceable models cost a couple of euros. Don't get me wrong, they had their issues, like poor sealing. But those days, servicing bearings was the norm. The current state seems to be something of an attempt at non-serviceability, where efforts made at making products that you DO NOT have to service are accompanied with products that you CANNOT service. And those two things are mixed in different ways. For example with this Maxhit bearing you pay a crazy amount of money for supposed durability - that you are nonetheless expected to service once a year. And once these bearings wear enough, there is no way to service them anymore - no cups, cones, ball bearings to replace, unlike with the old bb's (sure, it was not THAT easy even with them to e.g. find just cups in bike shop). I guess my point is that while I applaud e.g. Enduro for making "bike specific" bearings, I nonetheless long for products that are just easy to service - that is the key to durability. And that does not have to mean it costs a lot. To prove my point: There is absolutely no reason why Shimano could not manufacture it's ubiquitous 20eur BB-MT501 with easily replaceable industrial standard 6805 bearings (where SKF quality bearings cost about 20eur), for the same cost they manufacture the BB in it's current form. They just chose not to. And I would choose that over crazy expensive bb's with marketing schpiel and small print regarding warranty any day.

He's wildly over the top / backwards about what is a risk to the hard-pressed motorist and local places: those are "other motorists" and "mass motoring" respectively. He's almost right though in that many places - even in the UK - are gradually realising that a great way to save themselves money, improve their places and aid their chances of hitting targets on health, obesity, climate etc. is indeed to slow down motorists, restrict parking and deter (not prevent...) much *private motor* travel.

RIP. According to the president of the Cyclistes Professionnels Associes the first thing they need to look at is ... helmets? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/articles/czxqqlpnx98o Of course this could make perfect sense for a professional sport, perhaps standards haven't kept pace etc. It's certainly a rarefied extremely fast and hazard-rich environment, compared with my experience of normally <20mph utility-and-leisure cycling. But since the main factor seems to have been an uninvolved vehicle on the course this does sound like a convergence with the standard "cycling safety" narrative? ("Can't fix anything else, so what we *can* do is...")

@jaymack Praxis bottom brackets have Enduro steel bearings fitted through most of the range.