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Live blog: Tory MP accepts constituent’s bike ride invitation after THAT tweet, bigger HGVs for London? + more
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Tue, Aug 21, 2018 13:50
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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
OnYerBike 58 minutes ago
@danhopgood The problem is that under the current legislation, there is nothing to enforce at or before the point of sale - it is perfectly legal to buy/sell/own an electric motorbike, and use it on private land (with the landowner's permission). It's only using them on public roads (without registration etc.) that is illegal, and so currently that is the only option for enforcement.
danhopgood 2 hours ago
The law seems pretty clear already: https://bikeservicesuk.com/ebikes-and-the-law/?srsltid=AfmBOoqSUKFkKQn3GXXTnyelhu6D87z0ogZda7q01qJ5bvvZ3_A-xjWc As far as I'm concerned it is an enforcement issue. But that enforcement is best done at source, before sale. That's not happening. It means the folks at the bottom - scratching a living being delivery riders - are at risk of their livelihood being confiscated and crushed. The government seem quite happy for all this to carry on. THose delivery riders could and should have driving licences, and ride licensed, taxed, insured and MoT'd e-mopeds. And shut down any delivery company that allows use of illegal vehicles to drive up its profits.
MaxiMinimalist 2 hours ago
Tacks grow on paved roads during the Spanish winter.
mdavidford 2 hours ago
@ravenbait Wait - you're suggesting people should read their own comments when writing them? Next you'll be insisting they read other people's comments before replying to them! Madness!!
ravenbait 2 hours ago
@tomlew You really need to work on your communication. You said, "And generally you can’t take any bike into most closed indoor spaces anyway." Any bike. Not "E-bikes that might catch fire." Then you told me, "Wait until a fire breaks out in your house." So the implication is that any bike might catch fire. If that's not what you meant, then perhaps consider whether what you write (all any reader has to go on) is what you mean, because if what you mean isn't what you write, then you might as well not bother.
Backladder 2 hours ago
@Sbloke All my bikes fold around the hinge in the head tube, I don't think I've ever seen a working bike that doesn't do this.
eburtthebike 2 hours ago
Thank you CUK for taking on this silly, knee-jerk decision, apparently based on nothing more than rumours and guesswork. Still, given the way our railways have been run since privatisation, that's about par for the course, or even above average. The fact that Merseyrail are unable to justify their decision speaks volumes.
eburtthebike 3 hours ago
"Thinnest bike lane in the UK?" August 27th: I thought it was April 1st. B&H council, hang your heads in shame. It isn't the cycle lane that's “Impressively dumb”. Still, it's good that they've kept all that nice wide cross-hatching in the centre of the road and the dedicated right turn lane: can't make the drivers too safe and cyclists don't count.
tomlew 3 hours ago
@ravenbait No, I did not say "any bike can catch fire". I said "you can’t take any bike into most closed indoor spaces". I did not say a word about the reasons for this.
the little onion 3 hours ago
There's no such thing as road tacks!!! They were abolished in the 1930s. I think you mean vehicle excise tacks.
13 thoughts on “Live blog: Tory MP accepts constituent’s bike ride invitation after THAT tweet, bigger HGVs for London? + more”
So flexible articulated
So flexible articulated lorries? I’m sure they won’t have any blind spots at all. If we’re lucky, they’ll put a yellow “cyclists don’t go anywhere near this vehicle” sticker on the back.
That Rock Bar is quite simply the most pointless thing I’ve seen in ages. Couldn’t you just drink the same weight of water and carry the weight in your stomach? Wear a backpack? Reduce tyre pressure?
As has been demonstrated time
As has been demonstrated time and again, TfL is run by a bunch of idiots who are not fit for purpose.
zanf wrote:
Or are benefiting from a powerful transport lobby, which is not benefiting the people they represent.
Breathing in all those fumes must be affecting decisions they’re making.
You couldn’t make it up
As has been demonstrated time
[removed as double posted for some reason]
zanf wrote:
Can’t be repeated often enough!
That rock bar looks like a
That rock bar looks like a liability. Handling would go to pieces.
Just as an aside, I was in
Just as an aside, I was in Cornwall for a week long break with the family a couple of weeks ago. There were plenty of people on the beaches we went to. In fact, Cornwall is chock-a-block with tourists right now and the beaches are crowded. Of note is that many were doing active sports and as you can probably guess, surfing is uppermost amongst those.
There were quite a few cyclists. But although we took our bikes, we hardly used them. Keen cyclists though we are, the thought of riding some of those twistry and narrow country roads along which the locals race in their cars didn’t seem very appealing.
Is it usual for the riders on
Is it usual for the riders on a LCC Protest ride to ignore pedestrian crossings?
Bowks wrote:
I’m desperately hoping there was a police officer out of sight waving them through. Otherwise this footage looks pretty awful for cyclists – those pedestrians were completely ignored!
Oooh, I’ve got some stories
Oooh, I’ve got some stories for Cycling UK 🙂 Got a letter this week from the Met, they won’t be investigating the taxi that hit me then made off… Even though I caught up, stopped him and took pictures, etc. As I was calling the police because he was refusing to give details, he tried to beat a hasty retreat and smashed into the taxi behind him. That karma cheered me right up. He gave his details to the other taxi driver, but still refused to give me his details.
The rock bar isn’t a very
The rock bar isn’t a very smart idea. Placing extra weight on the bars won’t help high speed handling. I discovered this the hard way on a descent on my heavily laden bike while cycling in the Picos in Spain. Luckily the shimmy I experienced was a lazy fishtail type rather than a bar slapper.
It hasn’t been well thought through. Its designer appears to have no understanding of the importance of correct weight distribution on a bicycle and how this affects handling. Don’t buy one. Use saddlebags with the weight low down or use a diver’s weight belt instead.
That Rock Bar looks just the
That Rock Bar looks just the thing for balancing the weight of my daughter’s rear-mounted bike seat and making the bike a bit less wheelie-prone when I’m wheeling it around.
I got left-hooked by a Tesco
I got left-hooked by a Tesco delivery lorry earlier this year.
Police response was to be that because he didn’t hit me, even though I might have had to slow down a bit to avoid a collision, they weren’t going to take any action.
Tesco were initially sympathetic, but rapidly descended into various excuses of inability to view the video footage, despite various attempts to post it for them, and then just stopped replying all together!
Anyone from Road.cc want to post it for me?