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Live blog: Video – cat fires bow and arrow while cycling, London Assembly Member wants motorcyclists to be allowed on Cycle Superhighways + more

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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.
Re. Pro-car campaigner slams “hidden agenda” to “slow down motorists, restrict parking, and deter travel” this is just another right-wing conspiracy loon spouting off their usual rubbish. Why give him publicity? Like the sad people who walk through our town centres ranting on about anything and anyone they're best ignored.
Been a cyclist since I was 5 (63 soon), but I can't support this kind of behaviour. Just dumping bikes like this isn't on. Lime should have been made to provide enough designated pick up points before they were allowed to operate the scheme.
It is easier to trace fatalities and match them with the news story. In 2018 for instance, the only reported death where a "cyclist" was the other party, was the death of Sakhine Cikan, who was killed by someone riding an illegally modified machine. I have done a bit of research for other years and found similar. Injuries are going to be harder.
It's quite important if it's an illegal motorbike, you could claim against the MIB for damages etc. How will you (or the MIB) know if it's not recorded properly.
I agree that all steps should be taken to avoid death or serious injury in sport. However, things can go wrong. Neck injuries in rugby, cardiac arrest in football, high speed crashes on descents in cycling etc. I don't know whether this was a case of a driver disobeying instructions and barriers etc, or something in the stage organisation got missed ; after all, ensuring that a longish cycling stage remains traffic free must be an absolute logistical nightmare. The main thing to take away is that whenever a tragic death etc occurs, it always leads to improvements in organisation, equipment etc to reduce the chances of a repeat. Examples are Casartelli's death in the TDF in 1995 playing a part in making cycling helmets mandatory, collisions and injuries caused by vehicles pulling out in front of amateur time triallers led to the making front lights compulsory in recent years. I do hope that any failings identified in this case will be acted on so that Tarling's tragic death was not a total waste of a young life.
7 thoughts on “Live blog: Video – cat fires bow and arrow while cycling, London Assembly Member wants motorcyclists to be allowed on Cycle Superhighways + more”
Box Hill one way?
Box Hill one way?
Downhill I hope! Who needs all that huffing and puffing and nasty uphill pedalling on a bank holiday!
pockstone wrote:
Nope. Uphill only according to CW:
For 2018, the road will be one-way – with no vehicles allowed to descend the Zig Zag towards Old London Road – from Friday March 30 until Monday April 2.
http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/box-hill-goes-one-way-easter-last-years-trial-deemed-success-373853#shV2QuR8gkWVzrVT.99
As it happens, motorcyclists
As it happens, motorcyclists can already use much of the cycle superhighways in London due to their poor design.
Where it is just blue paint on the road, it has no legal standing, as described by the copper in the tragic case of Brian Dorling. He summarised that they were nothing more than a “blue strip of paint”: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/mother-watches-in-horror-as-cctv-of-her-daughters-boris-bike-death-is-played-to-court-8883576.html
Driving on the cycle superhighways only contrevenes road rules when there is an unbroken line dividing the road and the carriageway – where it forms a ‘compulsary’ cycle lane. It is also legal to drive on cycle lanes where your path is obstructed if they are made up of a broken line*.
But it’s not like Kurten to not know his stuff is it..?
*I’m sure someone with greater technical knowledge and a zeal for pedantry will pull me up on this, but I’ve described some of the essence of faults that the cycle lanes have.
As someone who rides bikes
As someone who rides bikes both motorised and not, that is a monumentaly stupid idea. How about opening all the bus lanes to motorbikes. That will help much more than having some prat on a 1200GS mixing with cyclists. Those lanes are designed for bicycles and as such would be totaly unsutable to motorbikes, as anyone who has been anywhere near a diliveroo rider will atest.
“improve safety for
“improve safety for motorcycles if they could use Cycle Superhighways at less busy times of the day outside rush hours, when there are hardly any bicycles on them, and they lie dormant and empty.”
Dormant and empty; just like his head. Who could have imagined a UKIPer being uninformed, ignorant and stupid?
So if he’s suggesting that
So if he’s suggesting that motorcyclists use the cycle lanes at less busy times of day, then surely the ‘normal’ lanes will also be less busy, so motorcyclists will be in less danger anyway.
Have I missed something here?
grumpyoldcyclist wrote:
Idiot says idiotic thing