“You’ll get ten tickets a day doing this”: Motorbike rider in cycle lane almost sweeps oncoming cyclist and close passes Jeremy Vine; Cyclists hail Stuttgart’s rack railway with bike trailer; Fancy a role in a Danny Boyle movie? + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Rapha makes redundancies as US office closes in "realigning" of business due to "current market dynamics"
Rapha has closed its US office and made staff redundant as part of a sudden “realigning” due to “current market dynamics” and to “better reflect our strategic priorities”.
Fancy a role in a Danny Boyle movie? Cyclists needed for starring in sequel to 28 Days Later
First of all, if you haven’t seen 28 Days Later, I’d suggest get around to it (it made for a pretty bleak and affecting pandemic watch a couple years ago). And secondly, if you’re a cyclist and always wanted to be in the movies, well, here’s your chance.
In the original flick released in 2002, a then-unknown Cillian Murphy played the role of a bicycle courier who wakes up from a coma to a post-apocalyptic UK, which has been ravaged by a virus that turns victims into bloodthirsty aggressors.
Now after two decades, several big-name roles and an Oscar for a little-known movie called Oppenheimer, Murphy is set to reprise his role in the the sequel directed by Boyle (who also has a couple of Oscars now), which is called 28 Years Later and is written by author of the original Alex Garland (who’s now made a few good movies himself — Ex Machina and Annihilation would be my recommendations).
The sequel is set to start shooting in summer this year (as unlikely as a summer sounds right now), and calls have been put out to ‘urgently’ fill hundreds of extra roles, including “ultra marathon runners; serious cyclists and triathletes”. The shooting locations are believed to include the area around Rothbury as well as Holy Island – and up to Berwick – while Newcastle and Gateshead are set to be in on the action too. You can sign up here.
“This is as near-perfection as you could get”: Cyclists fall in love with Stuttgart’s rack railway with a trailer for carrying bikes uphill
Now that’s the way to do it! This video posted on Twitter shows a rack railway network, also called the Zacke from Stuttgart which features a bike trailer where you can load them up and let the train do the job of getting you uphill from the valleys to the mountain. Pretty sweet, I’d say!
Public transport and cycling are complementary modes of transport. They reinforce each other and together offer people a very attractive and sustainable alternative to driving.
In Stuttgart 🇩🇪 they understand!
📽 by @ConstantinVer pic.twitter.com/vVc2zyX4DJ
— De Filmende Fietser (@FilmendeFietser) April 25, 2024
“Public transport and cycling are complementary modes of transport. They reinforce each other and together offer people a very attractive and sustainable alternative to driving,” wrote the Utrecht-based cyclist and activist.
Upon a little digging, it turns out that the network, connecting Stuttgart South and Degerloch, was started in 1884, and has had a proposition for transporting bikes this way ever since trialling the trailer in front of the coach all the way back in 1982.
And just two years ago, new railcars were introduced in the Zacke, the ZT 4.2 replacing the ZT 4 after more than 40 years of service, and with the update, the trailer now has more than double capacity for 20 bikes and 1 cargo bike.
Of course, cyclists have showered love on the nifty rail. “I’m a simple man. I see the Zacke, I press like!” wrote one Twitter user, while another person said: “This is as near perfection as you could get.”
I’m a big sucker for modal sharing instrumentations of public transport and cycling, so yes, you can firmly put me in the camp of loving this too.
A-Levels, angry sportive riders, and forgetting your gloves at Paris-Roubaix: A beginner’s guide to racing in Europe and the fight to become a pro cyclist
Last week, 18-year-old Patrick Casey finished third at the Eroica Juniors stage race, just two weeks after a blister-filled Paris-Roubaix debut. The Red Bull-backed prospect chats to road.cc about his unusual path to racing in Europe and his pro dreams
Auction for bike shop stock worth £500,000, including Shimano, Specialized, Trek, Cannondale and Campagnolo products
Bargain hunters have until Tuesday to pick through the remaining stock of major bike shop Life Cycles, worth £500,000, which has gone to auction after LC Leeds Bike Shop Ltd went into liquidation.
That looks good neither for the rim, nor the tyre bead...
I admittedly haven’t caught up on the tubeless trend so far yet and one of the primary reasons is the amount of shenanigans involved, as opposed to the swift, efficient change of tube (although no shade to tubeless, I fully intend to try them on in the coming weeks before any of you start attacking me). Unfortunately, videos like this one, coming from Specialized titled “a hack to unseat your tubeless tires” perhaps aren’t the best to convince someone to jump on the tubeless train…
Anyone fancy a Pinarello Dogma F 2022 owned by Tom Pidcock, MBE? (It's probably not going to make you a world-class descender)
I’m not too sure but £8.5k for a Dogma F owned by Pidcock doesn’t sound too bad? So if you’re the same size and statue as the former MTB and cyclocross champion, and are looking for a high-end race-bike, here’s your cue to splash the cash…
£69 million worth of bikes stolen in London in the last five years, reveals Freedom of Information request
The value of bikes stolen in the capital has rocketed in the last five years and now stands at £13.5 million in 12 months – up 30% over five years.
Thieves have taken £69 million high end bicycles since 2019, with the average value of each rising from £534 up to £833 last year.
Research by amateur cycling podcast Gel on Your Cornflakes shows the actual number of thefts has declined by almost 20% over the last half decade, but the detection rate has remained consistently bad at just 1% of thefts resulting in at least a caution or charge.
Figures from the Metropolitan Police uncovered in a Freedom of Information response show that in 2019 £10.3m of bikes were stolen in 20,127 thefts and by 2023 £13.5m bikes were stolen in 16,180 thefts.
The boroughs with the worst record for theft were led by Hackney, with 1,412, Tower Hamlets, with 1,282, Westminster with 1,171, Hammersmith and Fulham, with 1,055 and Camden with 1,024.
The year of the Lockdown in 2020, when cycling underwent an unprecedented boom with demand for bikes rocketing, proved to be a blip in the overall trend, with £19m worth of bikes stolen in 23,856 incidents.
The figures reflect thefts only, and do not include robberies where there has been violence or the threat of violence. Separate recent research showed there were more than 750 bike robberies in London in 2023 – more than 2 each day.
Umm, Zoe Bäckstedt has also caught on to the Giro TT helmet
20-year-old Isaac del Toro bags seventh win of the season at the first stage of the Tour of Asturias
Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates) s’adjuge la première étape du Tour des Asturies ! Le Mexicain (20 ans) décroche son deuxième bouquet de la saison et son équipe totalise déjà 27 victoires. C’est même un doublé pour UAE avec Rafal Majka 2e à 1’01”. #LaVueltinapic.twitter.com/lLZ1Iisg33
— Le Gruppetto (@LeGruppetto) April 26, 2024
Police threaten "regular patrols" and £50 fines in crackdown on cyclists in pedestrian area
The issue of town centre cycling bans and authorities cracking down on people for doing so has been thrust back into the spotlight, police in Wiltshire stating that they will be patrolling an “area regularly” and residents should report wrongdoing as part of a crackdown on cycling in pedestrian areas.
> Police threaten “regular patrols” and £50 fines in crackdown on cyclists in pedestrian area
“You’ll get ten tickets a day doing this”: Motorbike rider in cycle lane almost sweeps oncoming cyclist and close passes Jeremy Vine
Just another day in London, eh?
It’s a bit embarrassing that incidents of motorbike riders using the cycle lanes at abnormally high speeds has become so normalised that it might not even seem crazy to some people anymore, but this video — shared by BBC and Channel 5 presenter Jeremy Vine — will have your heart in your mouth from the way the other cyclist going in the opposite direction had to swerve to avoid being launched into the air by the dangerous motorcyclist.
This happened today in the cycle lane in Hammersmith.
Because there are only 175km of segregated cycle lanes out of 15,000km of London road, cyclists don’t appreciate people like MJ18 ULT deciding to use them as a cut-through.
Mate — you’ll get ten tickets a day doing this. pic.twitter.com/0K4VbPJW7K— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) April 25, 2024
The incident is from the King Street cycle lane in Hammersmith. Vine wrote: “Because there are only 175km of segregated cycle lanes out of 15,000km of London road, cyclists don’t appreciate people like MJ18 ULT deciding to use them as a cut-through. Mate — you’ll get ten tickets a day doing this.”
And cue some awe-inspiring questions on Twitter, mainly along the lines of: “But… but… that’s a bike too?!”, and when Vine replied to one tweet pointing the obvious, that that’s a motorised bike, then cue some more questions such as: “Should electric bikes also not be allowed then?!”
Just another day on Twitter, eh?
This continues the long trend of all other road users trying to stake their claim on the UK’s cycle lanes, and in turn ending up putting the lives of cyclists’ in danger. In fact, just a year ago, we featured a close pass on our Near Miss of the Day series where a motorcyclist in Birmingham came zooming into the bike lane from the other direction and forced the cyclist to dangerously swerve out of the cycle path and into the main road.
“I’ve seen a few motorbikes in the cycle lane, The traffic is quite bad in the area, so quite frequently instead of waiting, people would come across the opposite side,” the cyclist told road.cc. “But this one just shot into it towards me from the other side of the road.”
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Latest Comments
@mdavidford And bicycle polo. Why isn't there more coverage of bicycle polo on here?
As per usual. Rapha Core jersey looks a bargain. And it is, but only if you are size medium, small and extra small. So, no bargains for normal sized people.
Given the first item on today's blog, that doesn't sound encouraging.
"consideration is a two-way street" Perhaps it could be made one-way and use the other half for a cycle route?
I recently had 2 weeks cycling in France. My first ride back in the UK was commuting to work; on return I said, of all the great things about French cycling (eg amazing climbs and descents, views, quieter roads, considerate drivers (mostly), cafe stops etc), if there was only one thing I could pick out then it would be the vastly better road surfaces; makes such a difference. I was on one French road with UK standard tarmac (ie potholed and bumpy) and there were temporary signs by the side of the road saying 'Chaussee Deformee'; probably resurfaced by now. Even their bike paths are silky smooth.
Please remove this story and replace it with one about ROAD cycling as this is ROAD CC. Stop filling out content with irrelevant stories.
Richard Standing said: “Or maybe the cyclists should find a safer mode of transport…” The memories come flooding back- the day when Blackpool Police wrote on Twitter the thoughts of the whole of Lancashire Constabulary: 'If cyclists don't like the conditions on the roads, they should find an alternative mode of transport'. This was later deleted, but LC has remained true to the sentiment to this day and is also resolute in its determination to protect offending drivers at all costs. HN21 VXB's driver has now exceeded his year without MOT and 2 years without VED, and I've now discovered where he lives- it's half a mile from Garstang Police Station where NPT stalwart PC Mike Duff works at writing letters asserting that he mustn't be told of any more 'alleged offences' because he doesn't have time to deal with them.
@eburtthebike I like the cockwomble telling you that the roads were safe for bicycles in 1826. So all you have to do to be safe is to go back in time about forty years before the pedal cycle was invented and you won't have any problems!
@Smoggysteve For me one of the plus points of cycling is in the particular: getting the local knowledge, finding the better route ... ... but I think most of the population are less inclined to "magical mystery tour" (with the possibility of the odd bad trip) and more "just getting from A to B safely". Even when just "out travelling". I haven't done much cycling round Lincolnshire and what I did was mostly about the south. I do know that even trying to get between neighbouring towns there - what a not-unfit person might contemplate as a "journey for transport" - could involve a Hobson's choice of thundering traffic or the poorly maintained alternatives (or going a very long way round). I don't think that's necessarily inevitable (see Dutch countryside and "just don't let the motor vehicles drive over everything"). But I suspect (for several reasons, but especially the "low population density" one) Lincolnshire will be among the last places any transport revolution reaches, if it ever does.
29 thoughts on ““You’ll get ten tickets a day doing this”: Motorbike rider in cycle lane almost sweeps oncoming cyclist and close passes Jeremy Vine; Cyclists hail Stuttgart’s rack railway with bike trailer; Fancy a role in a Danny Boyle movie? + more on the live blog”
Looks more like a tram, than
Looks more like a tram, than a train.
And more of a leader than a
And more of a leader than a trailer.
Looks more useful on balance
Looks more useful on balance than the bike escalator (Trampe bicycle lift, Norway). Bit slow, that…
That Trondheim lift is pretty
That Trondheim lift is pretty cool, tbh. It is very niche, going up a killer short hill to a residential area.
Don’t try this at home
Don’t try this at home
(scoots up side of mixer lorry)
Yikes. That said, if you can
Yikes. That said, if you can see there is no gap in front of the truck and you have an escape route you think you can access in time, this might not be as bad as it looks. I wouldn’t do it, not with a cement mixer.
I see it everyday. Today, a
I see it everyday. Today, a cyclist going along C4, in London, and then across Tower bridge same route as me. Every red light jumped swerving between cars at junctions then up the inside of a moving double decker on Tower bridge. I reached my turn off at the same time as him, so he gained zero time for all of that. You do that everyday, you have a significant chance of coming a croppper one day. No point in taking the risk
Re 28 days later. You can
Re 28 days later. You can sign up here???
Shake wrote:
https://www.castingcollective.co.uk/artistes/urgent-casting-calls#northeast
“with lean strong physiques”
“with lean strong physiques”
More body shaming !
> videos like this one,
> videos like this one, coming from Specialized titled “a hack to unseat your tubeless tires” perhaps aren’t the best to convince someone to jump on the tubeless train…
Tubeless is just new tech to learn. Have you decided to stop learning?
As for the vid, tubeless tyres which have been in place a long time, because they don’t easily go flat and they ride nicely and get left on, can end up somewhat glued in place by sealant.
Also, if the rim is weak
Also, if the rim is weak enough that you are able to damage the rim with a force you can withstand with your grip then either your surname is Bjornson, Hall or Hooper or you are going to damage the rim as soon as you try and ride the bike.
Miller wrote:
Certainly not. But I can choose not to learn about things that I don’t need or want to.
At the moment tubeless tyres fall into that category. So far clincher tyres and inner tubes work for me and I cannot see any problems that going tubeless would solve. I’d rather use my valuable time responding to comments on road.cc.
For me, and I do both, it all
For me, and I do both, it all depends when and where you are going to spend the time.
Yes I can change a set of tyres on my 26 inch MTBs in an hour, talced, lined up, the lot. Means I can swap to my ice spikes whenever needed, or onto my full summers if ever the conditions warrant. But then there’s the putting in the spare tube at the side of the path, and because of a strange tube tape combination thing last summer, when I get to the shed at work when I want to be going home. And the occasional evening patching my latex tubes. Then there’s the inability to find the source of the flat, putting in the spare tube while hoping for the best, and sometimes not getting it.
Now my 27.5+ takes an entire evening and better to leave the full weekend, just I case, the tape can fail a bit, or something ain’t right. Swilling the sealant every so often. But the joy of pulling out a thorn, or multples at hedge cutting season, and watching a few bubbles of sealent and continuing to ride. Each one a tubed ride ruiner. Changing the tyres and finding massive thorns you were completely unaware of. In five years of riding, not a flat, not even needing a pump when out. Even when I got a sharks tooth flint causing a hole that required an anchovy, in the wet, cold and dark. Pleased to use. Yes the taping is awful, and breaking the seal between bead and rim can be a nightmare. But I’m happy.
I will not convert my 26 setups to hobo tubeless, but for my low pressure Ultimate Commuter, couldn’t be better.
That’s a scooter, not a
That’s a scooter, not a motorbike in the cycle lane. There is a difference. Riders of twist and go scooters do tend to have lower riding standards.
I’m pretty sure it would be
I’m pretty sure it would be classified as a motorbike under UK law (requiring at least an A1 licence). But we don’t agree with “collective responsibility” round these parts, so the actions of one motorbike rider don’t reflect on any others.
That said, the registration plate MJ18 ULT is linked to a red Honda CRF which this vehicle clearly isn’t, so we can add false plates and in all liklihood a raft of other offences (rider almost certainly not insured, possibly unlicenced, possibly stolen vehicle, possibly using stolen vehicle to commit further crimes etc.)
As soon as I saw the video, I
As soon as I saw the video, I thought; unlicensed rider, stolen bike with stolen plates; that sort of criminal wouldn’t give a second thought about committing traffic offences, given how many young thugs use similar scooters to commit crimes of theft and violence.
The other day I captured a
The other day I captured a black Audi (what else?), reg EN16VEY, not breaking any specific law but driving erratically enough to make me suspicious. It doesn’t appear to be a valid reg. But I couldn’t find any way to report this. Suggestions?
. . wrote:
Looks valid to me although on a black Mercedes C Class. Last V5 issued 25th April (2 days ago) so maybe plate was being transferred.
This kind of scooter is a
This kind of scooter is a motorbike, unless the engine is less than 50cc in which case it is classed as a moped.
I suspect that riders of motorbikes with manual clutches think they have higher riding standards, but the reality in London is that there isn’t any difference. I’ve been cut up and close-passed by motorbikes of all types. I’ve seen motorbikes of all kinds riding on pavements. And riding in cycle lanes.
Motorbikes with manual clutches are able (and occasionally) do that thing where they pull in their clutch and go to the rev limit to scare people. Like using the horn but less obviously an offence, but likely still is. You can try this on a motorbike with an automatic (e.g. centrifugal) clutch, but the effect won’t be the same.
Old Ridgeback has ridden a
Old Ridgeback has ridden a variety of 2 wheeled vehicles in their time. It’s just a subtle comment on the differences between mopeds and m/cs.
Most commonly, motorcyclists
Most commonly, motorcyclists blip the throttle when changing down a gear, not to scare anyone. It’s a good habit because smoother down-changes reduce the risk of rear wheel skids.
Less commonly, a motorcyclist might blip the throttle instead of using the horn. Their hand is already on the throttle while riding, whereas some horns are badly placed and take a moment to locate.
Pub bike wrote:
As a former motorcyclist, including a year (many years ago) as a motorcycle courier, and current many thousands of miles a year cyclist in London, in my experience there is a vast difference between the skill levels, courtesy and care for cyclists of moped riders and motorcyclists. Moped riders tend to be young, inexperienced and risk taking, whereas motorcycle riders tend to be older and more careful, if only to protect their expensive machines. Of course there are exceptions – I had a proper row with a bellend on a Fireblade just this week who thought it was ok to undertake me at 40mph in a 20 zone (caught up with him at the next lights) – but on the whole I’d say as a cyclist there are ten dangerous incidents with moped riders for every one with a motorcyclist. This ratio is of course skewed by the number of ‘ped riders who are doing food deiveries.
For a truly terrifying horror
For a truly terrifying horror film about cyclists, maybe Boyle should make 28 Years Later about dying cycling retailers who are gutted and gruesomely reanimated by Mike Ashley.
MattKelland wrote:
BRAAAANDS!
Jeremy Vine incident, London:
Jeremy Vine incident, London:
MJ18 ULT
✓ Taxed Vehicle MJ18ULT is Taxed
Tax due: 1 September 2024
✓ MOT Vehicle MJ18ULT has a valid MOT certificate
Expires: 7 May 2024
Vehicle Details
Vehicle make
HONDA
Date of first registration
May 2018
Year of manufacture
2018
Cylinder capacity
250 cc
CO₂ emissions
0 g/km
Fuel type
PETROL
Euro status
Not available
Real Driving Emissions (RDE)
Not available
Vehicle status
Taxed
Vehicle colour
RED
Vehicle type approval
L3
Wheelplan
2 WHEEL
Revenue weight
Not available
Date of last V5C (logbook) issued
28 September 2022
Just this week I’d wondered
Just this week I’d wondered where this was going and had intended to ask if anyone had seen anything pop up about it, but forgot. Hoping the driver has preemptively taken themselves off the road permantly.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/28/the-what-ifs-crush-you-parents-suffer-as-wimbledon-school-crash-investigation-makes-slow-progress
ktache wrote:
It beggars belief that after a major safety failure, the driver isn’t automatically prevented from driving until they can demonstrate that they can do so safely. I can’t think of other areas where a potentially deadly incident doesn’t have mitigations put into place until the facts are determined.
hawkinspeter wrote:
Probably there are some counterexamples (Health and Safety haven’t taken over the asylum yet). However it should make people take notice, if only … we saw driving as a more significant / consequential operation than putting on a pair of shoes and walking somewhere, or cooking.
Or: thousands of people are directly affected by road deaths each year. Each experiences tragedy more or less intensely. But also – some of them have to drive – and this would be asking millions of people who drive or currently rely on motor vehicles to (potentially) accept restrictions.
It’s going to be tough ask.
Finally those in charge can be happy to ignore / go against the feelings of portions of the population, but not usually a large majority. And not if they don’t see some substantial benefits for themselves / their pals or – for the odd ideologue – their chosen causes.