Alpkit Glider road bike frame bag

@chrisonabike I think you missed the bit of the story that claimed people couldn't access a bike mechanic, regardless of price, due to there being a big shortfall in the profession. Which clearly doesn't make sense given what you and I have both written.

@jackcycles "If I can do it anyone can because I am useless at all manual jobs." Well, presumably some people would prefer not to spend their time on something they can get others to do cheaply * so they can spend it elsewhere eg. opining online... * Another Schrödinger effect: bike maintenance is simultaneously too expensive ("20 quid to pump the tyres up?!") and not expensive enough (given what the hourly rates for bike mechanics seem to be / cheapness of many parts).

@Rendel Harris alas from the variety of opinions posted even here much may be explained by "cock-up" before invoking corporate conspiracy. That is: ignorance of risk - "it only does 9mph!" - and ignorance of the laws that applied here - "private land". And perhaps immediate reflexive backside-covering? Throw in police maybe not quite up to ideal standard and the law applying the highest possible evidential standards / reasonable doubt and here we are. Doesn't mean there wasn't also some deliberate management deception ("let's not have any more trouble / negative publicity") of course. (And a H&S examination of them: what risk assessments existed around use of the vehicles, what training / monitoring / event recording and feedback was in place etc?) All that and I'm not sure we even need to invoke motornormativity - which certainly applies in many cases. RIP.

What a load of rubbish. There are too many bike mechanics around as attested by the fact that many of them have shut down over the past couple of years as they can't make a living due to having no pricing power. People who claim they can't cycle because they don't have access to a mechanic are making stuff up... Likely means they couldn't be arsed to buy a tyre pump or some other nonsense. A 2 minute YouTube tutorial teaches anyone how to change a tyre, inner tube, brake pads, chain etc... If I can do it anyone can because I am useless at all manual jobs. Perhaps there is a shortage of people willing to work on e-motorbikes, but that's a whole different story separate from cycling.

Unknown rear hub motor and you've given it an 8 out of 10? What's the availability of spare parts going to be like in the future? How long is the frame set warranty? The Geo looks a bit weird, the chain stays look very long. Maybe people should save up and buy the entry level Cube with a proven mid drive Bosch motor instead.

@eburtthebike full details of the judgement are online in a document called: Ruling-on-submissions-of-no-case-R-v-Davies-for-publication It doesn't make for great reading. Something about inconsistencies in the expert witness evidence and police case, but also a very odd comment that no jury would likely have experience of driving at 9mph for periods of time, nor of driving a golf buggy, so would have to rely on the expert evidence. I am not convinced about this argument at all. There is also the mention of an oncoming Biffa waste vehicle that distracted the golf buggy driver. In my opinion, and this is conjecture, I think the golf buggy driver was distracted, waving at his mate in the bin wagon coming towards him, then turned left into the side road without properly looking where he was going - because this road he was turning into is one-way, so he wouldn't expect anything to be coming out of it - nor did he expect a stationary cyclist just as he turned in. It was a turn he would have done many, many, times, being close to the main site depot. I can imagine the way they drive these golf buggies (which are speed limited to 9mph) is foot to the floor all the time, driving on the limiter, to make as much progress as possible. But yeah, cycle helmets :/ There's also a clue as to why the cyclist might have stopped here - a broken glass was found at the scene. Again, conjecture, but I suspect the cyclist noticed a glass on the ground and had stopped to pick it up.

@Bungle_52 Thanks for the extra information, I was wondering why the report made it sound as though the trial judge had found him not guilty. That sounds very dodgy on the part of Centre Parcs' staff, someone was (as it transpired) fatally wounded and they thought there was no need to include the police on the emergency call and cleared away all the evidence? Shocking failure to follow proper procedure and highly suspicious to boot.

@Rome73 No, 28mph is correct, Class 3 ebike, legally allowed in most states without licence or insurance, a mate of mine who works in Washington DC commutes on one. Some states have age restrictions of 16 or 17 and some mandate helmets for Class 3 riders. Throttle must cut out at 20mph so pedalling is required for the top speed.

I actually got to chat with an officer (metropolitan police) just a few weeks ago about reporting near misses. He was chatty so told me loads as he used to work on the road safety unit in London. Unfortunately I didn’t make notes or record the conversation - but he may have stopped talking at that point. Anyway, no surprise, it’s all to do with resources. I.e. there are none - it’s been stripped to the bone. As we were chatting illegal e-motorbikes were zipping past. What about those? I asked. Unless they are committing another offence - like going through a red light or stealing a phone we are told to ignore them. Otherwise, in London, we would never get further than 10 meters from the station before having to return to file a report. Other ‘horror stories’ he told me were things like the RSU having 6 officers to cover the whole of London! These are the officers who check for illegal private vehicles (no tax, insurance etc) Although he did say that ANPR does a lot of checking and prosecution. But only if they can find the legal owner, I pointed out. A real officer could make an arrest.

The details of the reasons the judge gave for directing the jury that there was no case to answer are two links out from the BBC article. I tried to post the link yesterday but it's still awaiting moderation. First click on the second link in the BBC article of the 16th Feb labelled "Buggy driver cleared after judge heard from expert", then click on the link lablelled "directed jurors to find him not guilty" which is near the top of the article. A quick summary as far as I can tell: the police were not called straight away because staff didn't think they needed to be involved. When the police finally arrived the two vehicles had been cleared from the scene and it was raining heavily thus a lot of evidence was lost. PC Knight took over the case from the acting PS who started the investigation. A reconstruction was arranged but the judge felt the the camera used to record this was placed incorrectly. Parts of PC Knight's testimony were successfully challenged by the defence. A sorry story from start to finish but not entirely the fault of the police.