Bicycle dealers in Australia selling fixed gear bikes, as much a part of bike culture there as elsewhere in the world, are now being threatened with fines of up to $1.1 million if they do not comply with consumer safety standards, including the provision of both front and rear brakes.
In a July 2010 bulletin, government trading standards body the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) warns that some bikes being sold by retailers could contravene consumer safety legislation and legal safety requirements.
"Having no brakes or only a front brake can cause the rider to lose control and be propelled over the handlebars to the ground," the ACCC said in its bulletin.
"Whether this occurs in mixed road traffic or elsewhere, the rider can suffer serious head injuries, broken bones and/or lacerations and bruises,” it continued.
"Pedestrians and other bike riders are also at risk of serious injury or death if someone riding a fixed-gear bike loses control and collides with them," the ACCC added.
The ACCC is now calling on members of the public to let it know of bike shops selling bicycles that contravene safety standards, such as those without bells or reflectors as well as brakes.
According to the section governing brakes of the Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 1927:1988 Pedal bicycles— Safety Requirements:
- At least two brakes are fitted, one on the front wheel and the other on the back.
- Hand brakes are accessible to a rider in the normal riding position.
- The right lever connects to the front brake and the left lever to the rear brake.
- Brake friction pads are securely attached to the backing plate or holder and, when applied, touch only the wheel rim.
- For bicycles with cantilever brakes—a safety device is fitted to prevent the stirrup cable from touching the tyre.
- For children’s bicycles (with a wheel base of 640–765 mm)—a back-pedal brake is fitted.
Last year, we reported how police in Germany had confiscated fixed gear bikes that did not comply with the legal requirement to have two brakes.
In the UK, The Pedal Cycles Construction and Use Regulations 1983 require pedal cycles "with a saddle height over 635mm to have two independent braking systems, with one acting on the front wheel(s) and one on the rear".
One common interpretation of this is that having a front brake and a fixed rear wheel satisfes this requirement.
45 thoughts on “Aussie bike shops face $1.1 million fine in fixie clampdown”
“For bicycles with cantilever
“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
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?
OldRidgeback wrote:
But what
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.
rules is rules, the
rules is rules, the Australian nanny state is an embarrassment and shameful to all that was good in its past.
surreyxc wrote:rules is
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…… X(
The ‘stirrup’ thing is
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).
It’s almost as if Australia
It’s almost as if Australia would rather nobody cycled, given the amount of rules and legislation they have regarding the area.
italiafirenze wrote:It’s
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I wish people would keep
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
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
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
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
So a penny farthing would be out of the question then …
Quote:Brake friction pads are
Fashion and haters aside, no disc brakes in Aus either then huh?
Wow, sounds great over there.
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
tony_farrelly wrote:Wow,
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no, the Dutch don’t seem to
no, the Dutch don’t seem to see any relationship either 😕
tony_farrelly wrote:no, the
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blundershot
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.
Melbourne riding was like a
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!
Fish_n_Chips wrote:…Didn’t
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abudhabichris wrote:Err,
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-public-transport-mode-share/
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 😀
here’s the paper it relates
here’s the paper it relates to, if anyone’s interested
Perth’s down as 1.2% modal
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.
So if there’s no relationship
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.
So basically your point would
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.
I’m not quite sure what the
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.
Projecting a little there
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blundershot wrote:Those stats
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
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.
abudhabiChris wrote:
Are you
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hmmm…
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Tony, I can’t see where I
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off topic (or more off topic
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blundershot wrote:off topic
http://www.theonion.com/personalities/herbert-kornfeld,1019/
and can you back your claims
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blundershot wrote:I guess you
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
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blundershot wrote:I assume he
certainly if you’ve got a particular bee in your bonnet, that’s the assumption you’d make…
blundershot wrote:and can you
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 ???
“Second, the stats I quoted
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abudhabiChris wrote:
Actually
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Do you make a habit of
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.
and before the flames start
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Dave, thanks for spending the
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