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Live blog: Vuelta highlights, jobless Aqua Blue riders make best of it by going on epic bikepacking adventure + more
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Thu, Sep 06, 2018 14:41
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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
wtjs 13 hours ago
@FionaJJ These officers deployed next-level stupidity, and it must be difficult for the police to find people this dim. It doesn't even need rolling-roads or whatever, just a reputable bike computer on a quickly changed mount for the difficult cases where a proper EAPC has been modded, although you would need to look hard in Lancashire to find a police officer who knows how to make a pedal cycle go. Most illegal electric motorbikes are immediately obvious, not least because the crim is wearing a face mask. I saw an obvious one tonight coming out of Garstang Sainsbury's, not pedalling but without a face mask because everybody knows that the police only come into the town to hide away in the police station 200 yards away.
bikeman01 14 hours ago
Gustav Gullholm.. that's not a good look mate
mdavidford 16 hours ago
@Chris RideFar I think what you meant to say was "REMOVE this and put it on PODCAST CC".
jaymack 18 hours ago
As Mary Whitehouse never said - one doesn't have to read the article if one doesn't want to read about an off-road bicycle.
Rendel Harris 18 hours ago
@FionaJJ In London they're allowed to stop on single and double yellows to deliver packages or empty pillar boxes; in practice they take this as carte blanche to park wherever and whenever they want, such as this chap on the Brixton Road who pulled into the bus/cycle/motorcycle lane without indicating, as I approached at 20mph, to park on a red route, response to a remonstrance, "I suppose you never get post delivered do ya?"
FionaJJ 19 hours ago
@Rendel Harris We have a pavement parking ban, but around here at least, royal mail vans are already exempt, subject to certain caveats, such as allowing at least 1.5m, and only being stopped to do their work.
FionaJJ 19 hours ago
It was already embarrassing for the police that they made such a mess of their attempt to determine whether a bike was legal or not, but I had assumed it was a group of well intentioned, but under-trained officers acting on their own initiative, having spotted something they thought looked not quite right. I'm now discovering this was a planned activity, something sufficiently organised to have been given a name - Operation FRISLEN, designed specifically to identify and remove illegal e-bikes and scooters. It's apparent that the officers were sent out without adequate training, never mind the kind of equipment that should be used for this sort of work. I'm not saying they always need specialist equipment to spot all illegal bikes, but at least if they'd been given a demonstration with that equipment, they'd have realised why their approach was not going to end well.
Geoff Ingram 21 hours ago
Have put drop bars on a 2001 B1 mtb, a 2007 stumpy hardtail and a 2010 stumpy full suss. In all cases fairly basic conversións leaving gearing and wheels broadly the same and concentrating on correct positioning of bars and fit. Oddly, with all 3 I was happy with the result when recently done, but after a few months found that the extra speed on easy trails was more than offset by the lack of ability (probably mine) on tougher routes and finally preferred flat bar with slammed and inverted stem as best overall compromise. Good fun playing around, though.
mark1a 21 hours ago
The photos in this review look they are for a different bag?
mattw 22 hours ago
This is a strange reactionary knee jerk overall. But what is this "are essentially motorbikes in disguise" waffle? "One letter claimed that high-powered electric ‘e-bikes’ were “essentially motorbikes” in disguise, with many being used without lights, helmets, or any hi-vis clothing." Surely, they simply ARE motorbikes?
16 thoughts on “Live blog: Vuelta highlights, jobless Aqua Blue riders make best of it by going on epic bikepacking adventure + more”
So that’s where the sheffield
So that’s where the sheffield ofo bikes end up!
Well done Daniel, even if the
Well done Daniel, even if the perp seemed a rather sad person. I’m sure the police will learn the lesson and equip all officers with a decent bike to catch criminals on foot.
burtthebike wrote:
Yeah, felt a twinge of sympathy for him there.
Re. Tavistock Place. All that
Re. Tavistock Place. All that fuss (how long in consultation?!?) and looking at the map it’s about 50 inches long.
The taxi lobby in london have too much power.
StoopidUserName wrote:
it’s part of a very significant cycle corridor. It’s been a cycle lane for years, maybe 10 years – I’ve been using it for at least seven years. I use it a lot more now that they’ve replaced the previous kerbs separating the lanes. This is a good result.
What they need to do now is resurface Tottenham Court Road, which is pit-holed to fuck.
I love these professionals
I love these professionals doing their bike tour just for the hell of it. I wonder how many accountants lose their job but then go off and do some double-entry bookkeeping together for a couple weeks, just because.
So dark shoes aren’t even
So dark shoes aren’t even acceptable now. Get Sir Chris Boardman on the case.
Organon wrote:
They have form for bringing this shit up for motorcyclists on their FB page too, they never apply this to car drivers, bunch of victim blaming cretins. HC needs to be changed ASAP, lighting regs need changing too. Get rid of reflector requirements and static and/or british Standard lights because that’s so ridiculously out of date.
If you can’t see any person or vehicle on the road during the day or at night by your own headlights then you’re travelling too fast, driving distracted or not competent mentally or physically to be allowed on the road other than by foot
So, ignore your own rules to victim blame, wankpuffins
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
As you no longer drive a car, thought you might be interested to see this from a drivers point of view.
Please note that as a driver, I don’t want to see you at the range of my headlights, I want to see you at the greatest distance possible even if that is 1/2 a mile away so that I can adjust speed, take road position and generally plan well ahead for your presence. Even to the extent of protecting you from other traffic.
As for dark shoes? In this video, pretty much the only visibility of the peds is motion of their light coloured trainers.
Mungecrundle wrote:
You have so much to learn about safe driving and what the statement in the HC means. You can’t even grasp that driving faster because you can see stuff further means shortened thinking time, massively increased braking time and more incidents.
Congratulations on proving how much you know about safety, the sqaure root of nowt.
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Who said anything about driving faster? I think I was explicit in stating that I want to see vulnerable road users at the earliest possible moment exactly so I can plan for their safety.
Probably best that you have given up the car. Not only are your driving skills rusty but your powers of critical thinking are also on the wane.
Anyway, winter is coming (in Sean Bean accent) so another season to test out your theory and maybe as the nights draw in you will be able to regale us with a few more anecdotes of incidents where drivers claim not to have seen you.
I’m finding that dog really
I’m finding that dog really annoying today. Look at its grin, and its puffed-up stance. Little git.
It’s gonna be a long Friday… roll on the weekend.
davel wrote:
Grumpy today, are we?
davel wrote:
Haters gonna hate.
Much better now. Chris bless
Looking at the vid, Munge has
Looking at the vid, Munge has a point. Once the light starts to fail why stack the odds outside your favour? You can make your point that drivers SHOULD see you in your ninja gear and maybe they should but the reality is they need a helping hand. God knows what sort of people are out there.
I had eye surgery the other day and whilst I was walking back to the car (wife drove!) with a patch on one eye and the other blurred to hell, I said to her “I bet there’s people out there with worse sight than me at the moment”. I bet there are. Don’t become a pair of shoes you see at the last moment. Maybe you can’t get Rapha in hi-viz but whatever.
Flashing xmas tree posse in tha house!