Live blog: Olympic track champ Kristina Vogel airlifted to hospital after serious crash, big news on the way for Greater Manchester cyclists + more
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Tue, Jun 26, 2018 14:33
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Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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Latest Comments
Pub bike 26 minutes ago
@imajez Brake adjusters mainly deal with pad wear whilst gear adjusters fine tune shifting during set-up and after fitting a new inner cable. Brake outer housing is spiral-wound and compressible giving compliance at the lever and the false impression that the inner cable somehow stretches whereas the metal strands in gear outer housing are laid axially and as such the outer housing doesn't easily compress over time keeping shifting precise. I find that a previously well-adjusted rear derailleur system that needs adjustment likely needs a new inner cable.
OkCarl 52 minutes ago
I ride expensive bikes wearing expensive helmets, my bike equipped with an expensive bike computer, fitness watch and cell phone. I carry my debit card. I worry. You would expect anyone living in Chicago to worry about bike jacking. Yet, for some strange reason. The Chicago land criminal community has not caught on to bike jacking. They like retail break ins and ATM smash ups.
chrisonabike 1 hour ago
@mattw "footpaths" Hmm... true this is an underappreciated resource and indeed in danger. But I think this is very location dependent. If we're taking in urban locations, are you talking alleys - narrow almost always no room for expansion? Or "footways" - also often not ample and we're back to "fighting over scraps" with pedestrians or even forced-conflict with "shared use"? In the countryside - perhaps? If what goes in NL applies more generally (and why wouldn't it - they're humans too) more people may be prepared to travel on bikes there than UK opinion holds. ("people depend on their cars... nobody cycles or walks ... the non-existent footway beside the A-road!"). Although that may depend on "cyclists and walkers get the direct route" which isn't always how we do it...
imajez 1 hour ago
@james-o Cable brakes and gear shifters have have barrel adjusters to deal with the inevitable cable stretch, that most certainly occurs over time.
chrisonabike 1 hour ago
@mattw I believe this is exactly the kind of thing that The Ranty Highwayman and Robert Weetman worked on for Manchester City Council. Fixing it for pedestrians *ought* to be uncontroversial. It *ought* to be a path that actually "works" to move forward for the UK. I believe Chris Boardman had success in Manchester with an approach which largely emphasised this (plus buses). BUT... I do wonder if this leaves us stuck at pretty much the status quo - because it reinforces the current "either walking, or driving" split. First we'd get "can't have cycling infra because cycling gets in the way of cars and threatens pedestrians". Then most people simply won't walk far (especially if eg. carrying shopping). Which leads to "we still really need cars!" even for very local trips. Which then kills off active travel again, because cars take up too much space and suppress active travel.
imajez 1 hour ago
@Geoff H, electronic shifting, like disc brakes and tubeless tyres is more reliable and less faff. A spare battery in with my tools, means I never have to worry about a flat battery. Only time I've ever used it was to lend to a mate just in case. The only two times I've had a torn tubeless tyres I was able to slowly and safely stop. It would have been a disaster with an instantly flat tube and loss of control when surrounded by cars or speeding downhill off road. In dozen years of using tubeless, I have had as many tubeless flats as I have had with tubes in that time. Except I've only used tubes for a few weeks in all that time. Plus and this is the really, really important thing, my ride is way more comfortable. I also have way more grip and more speed due to being able to use the correct tyre pressure - doing so with tubes would be constant pinch flatting. So a win, win, win win situation. Never been covered in sealant either. Which only happens if riding with too high a tyre pressure.
Terry Hutt 2 hours ago
@quiff I think all human generated text should have the disclaimer "I am human and can make mistakes. Please double-check responses."
imajez 2 hours ago
@jaymack I've seen a LOT of issues with old fashioned mechanical gear shifting/cables in my time. Modern electronic stuff is a lot les faff/more reliable. Personally I went electronic shifting with my new CX/gravel bike after the shifter cable self destructed inside my brifters on my older bike several times, the last two with zero warning. A nightmare to sort out. Astonishingly and thankfully, all three times it happened outside home, rather than the usual middle of nowhere I tend to cycle. Another nightmare with internal cables on my full sus ended up with me buying a wireless rear shifter out of frustration. Much better ergonomics of the shifter too. I hate cables in general, they stretch, get sticky, snap, fray, outers kink..etc. One of the best things about [hydraulic] disc brakes is the absence of flakey cables. My most recent nightmare with cables was swapping to a new dropper. An ostensibly simple 5 min job turned into a nightmare which involved buying a new lever for bars and a lot of challenging cable wrangling inside frame even after BB removal. Speaking as someone who is comfortable and quite competent at fixing bikes, cables can get in the bin. Badly designed internal cable routing can get in the bin, set on fire and dropped in acid.
Terry Hutt 2 hours ago
Tempted until I saw the price.
quiff 3 hours ago
@mdavidford Nah, only a human could have written this, whatever it means: "Cycling is inherently about people, so I think stuff created by AI shouldn’t mix it, or sports in general."
13 thoughts on “Live blog: Olympic track champ Kristina Vogel airlifted to hospital after serious crash, big news on the way for Greater Manchester cyclists + more”
Interesting development in
Interesting development in Melbourne. Are the Aussies finally waking up to the disaster of their anti-cycling policies of the past thirty years?
burtthebike wrote:
All those drivers who look like they’re either really upset or have hayfever… Seems to me that if Australian drivers didn’t seem so keen to run down cyclists (in every sense of the expression) then their authorities wouldn’t have seen the need to put this experimental (for Oz) roundabout layout in.
burtthebike wrote:
Nope, you only have to listen to the old ‘they don’t pay reggo’ bollocks from the fat knacker first interviewed. They still hate cycling, it gets in the way and the perception is that it’s all about the head down lycra wanker when many people just want to get from A-B without being killed/injured/harassed and also to be able to cycle without plod wasting time unlawfully penalising them for not wearing a plastic hat. That is one of the clearest signs of an anti cycling nation. I’m proud to say that I’m part of a campaign group trying to help and put pressure on australian government to get the unlawful helmet rule abolished.
Until that happens and police focus on stopping and arresting those that kill and maim nothing meaningful will change as per the load of bullshit ‘infra’.
That’ll be a “fixed”, not a
That’ll be a “fixed”, not a “fixie”
dreamlx10 wrote:
Also, given the distance, he’s covered far more than just the Fred Whitton route. Chapeau!
dreamlx10 wrote:
Except where people use the term ‘fixie’, which is to say a lot of the time.
To call it cyclist priority
To call it cyclist priority is slightly misleading; that implies cyclists have somehow been given priority over other traffic on the roundabout. Instead, it’s taken cyclists off the roundabout and given them a circumferential lane which has priority over the main carriageway where the two intersect. Cyclists choosing to remain on the main carriageway (I don’t know the law regarding mandatory cycle lanes in Melbourne?) do not have priority! In fact, it’s a “Dutch style” roundabout. I think we might even have one or two somewhere in the UK.
Quote:
The word “impact” is surely being used negatively in this context but they’re looking the wrong way down the telescope. Surely any business would see it as a chance to sell stuff to the thousands of cycling fans hanging around for a day or a long weekend. Use your imagination folks, isn’t that why you’re considered as entrepreneurs and “business people”? Otherwise you might as well give up and get a job in a supermarket.
With regards to the
With regards to the Harrowgate business impact assessment, I’d hope that they have enough time to start collecting data about footfall and conversion rates.
It will probably drive business to catering outlets (restaurants and cafes for example), but if you run something that is unlikely to attract inwards trade (a launderette or a pet shop for example) then you might well be worried about business impacts.
If the council had a clear picture of spending patterns over the course of the year, then they could look at what impacts an event of this type has and perhaps compensate those businesses that lose out (a reduction in business rates for example?). Without this research it’s all meaningless.
Don’t bother cycling anywhere
Don’t bother cycling anywhere around Harrogate, the roads are shocking. Been out that way today, think I’ve vibration white finger now.
The country roads are shit and the urban roads are beyond shit. You get these roads full of £1m houses and the roads look someone lifted them from Syria. Now wonder everyone drives Rangepigs.
Yorkshire wallet wrote:
There may be a correlation between £1 million+ houses and bad roads, I had a bone shaking ride through Alderley Edge this morning.
Apparently it’s an area where huge 4 x 4s are compulsory.
It’s likely that the Range
It’s likely that the Range Rovers have caused the potholes.
I don’t think it’s anywhere near as big a problem as Yorkshire Wallet claims. Maybe you rode Penny Pot Lane? That one has a less than perfect surface, but it is shown as Rough Road on an OS map.
Harrogate is an events
Harrogate is an events/visitor/tourism town. Don’t be surprised if it puts on events. It can’t always be the Eurovision Song Contest.
The moaning about road closures was bound to start – I’m surprised it’s taken them this long. But, as at the TDF, the World Champs will be overwhelmingly supported by local people.
Businesses in town massively overestimate how many people arrive there by car. Just stop complaining, look for the opportunities, and it will be a big success.