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  • News
Amanda Holden Big Ride to Work charity cycle (Heart Radio)
Amanda Holden Big Ride to Work charity cycle (Heart Radio) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

“I found a crack in the market and filled it”: Bum Butter cycling chamois cream enjoys “dream” spike in sales… after Amanda Holden gave brand a shout-out ahead of charity cycle; Shimano ‘crankgate’ rumbles on + more on the live blog

Another day, another live blog… Dan Alexander will be doing your updates today, in between sulking about how dark and cold it’s getting and longing for those summer rides back
  • by Dan Alexander
Thu, Oct 10, 2024 08:21
36

SUMMARY

  • Crank inspections back in the spotlight as cyclists despair at Shimano's approach... but not everyone has sympathy for bike shop "banned" from inspection programme
  • BBC admits 15,000mph tailwind error...before we all go KOM-hunting
  • Kasper Asgreen joins EF Education-EasyPost
  • Cav and Wiggo to ride Gran Fondo Hincapie to raise money for US hurricane relief
  • RideLondon "hiatus" for 2025 due to opening of "car use-encouraging" tunnel, suggests FOI request, after London's walking and cycling commissioner objected to closure of new tunnel for cycling event as "absolute no"
  • Zoe Bäckstedt defends Simac Tour lead without any teammates
  • Works to treat "increasingly severe rainfall" flooding on Bath's Two Tunnels path to begin this week
  • Mark Cavendish set to race for final time as a professional in November at Tour de France Singapore Criterium, organisers ASO confirm
  • Excuse me?
  • George Hill doesn't hold back in his latest opinion piece... Boris Johnson, Tadej Pogačar and Taylor Swift are the same person, apparently... the problem with calling all cyclists 'Cyclists'
  • The Netherlands win European Bike Mechanics Championship
  • "Unfair" Cycle to Work scheme "problems" need to be addressed, admits government minister
  • "I found a crack in the market and filled it": Bum Butter cycling chamois cream enjoys "dream" spike in sales... after Amanda Holden gave brand a shout-out ahead of charity cycle
Amanda Holden Big Ride to Work charity cycle (Heart Radio)
Amanda Holden Big Ride to Work charity cycle (Heart Radio) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
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10 October 2024, 08:21

Crank inspections back in the spotlight as cyclists despair at Shimano's approach... but not everyone has sympathy for bike shop "banned" from inspection programme

You might have seen, crank inspections and Shimano are back in the news. That’s because yesterday we shared this piece on a Lake District-based bike shop that claimed in an online video that it had been “banned” by the components giant due to failing 100% of them.

Investigating Shimano’s snapping cranksets Sept 2023
Investigating Shimano’s snapping cranksets Sept 2023 (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
Investigating Shimano’s snapping cranksets Sept 2023
Investigating Shimano’s snapping cranksets Sept 2023 (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

> “Banned” bike shop claims Shimano won’t let it inspect Hollowtech cranksets as part of “inspection and replacement” programme due to failing 100% of them

Very YouTube-friendly language of course, the “ban” relating to Mapdec Cycle Works no longer being paid the £35 Shimano is giving bike shops for each time they look at customers’ cranks as part of the “inspection and replacement” programme. Why? Well, Mapdec believes it is due to its ‘fail rate’, or at least its ‘not pass rate’ being 100 per cent (the bike shop refusing to pass any and sending them all back to Shimano for a second opinion).

Some added context to all this is that a few days before Shimano’s UK distributor Madison got in touch to reveal the news, Mapdec had uploaded another video, in which owner and founder Paul Vousden said: “We don’t bother inspecting them, we just ship them back, it seems to be the industry norm on all the bike and mechanic forums that we follow, they all just say just ship them back, get a new set.”

2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken Crank delamination 8
2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken Crank delamination 8 (Image Credit: road.cc reader)
2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken Crank delamination 8
2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken Crank delamination 8 (Image Credit: road.cc reader)

It’s this additional detail that left some reacting to our story with little sympathy for the bike shop, even if many accept the moral argument to Mapdec’s stance — and almost all believe Shimano should have simply ordered a full recall last September and replaced everyone’s cranks, not just asked customers to keep riding and get a mechanic to inspect them when they suspect something has gone wrong.

john_smith: “Doesn’t Shimano issue instructions on how the inspections are supposed to be done and what constitutes a pass or fail? If Shimano pays shops to do given checks in a given way and fail/pass the parts in accordance with given criteria, then a shopkeeper can hardly complain if he gets ‘banned’ for doing something different (which I presume is what is happening here).”

2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken Crank delamination 6
2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken Crank delamination 6 (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken Crank delamination 6
2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken Crank delamination 6 (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

That sentiment was echoed by other comments too. Yes, Shimano does issue instructions, a summarised version of the scintillating 36-page dealer’s manual in the original story. 

From Mapdec’s perspective, Vousden admitted they do inspect them properly, filling in the form, doing all the checks, cleaning the cranks, and taking the photos required. But, they won’t ‘pass’ any…

> Investigating Shimano’s snapping cranksets: What happened, unanswered questions and an engineer’s report

“It asks us, inspection passed or failed?” he continued. “There’s no in between. It’s a pass or a fail, so our policy has always been if it’s clearly failed, it’s obvious, it’s a fail. But we would never write the word ‘pass’, we would always write something like ‘customer reports creaking, customer not happy with the pass, unsure, please check’. So we thought that we’d send them off to Shimano and Shimano would then offer a second opinion.

“Our policy was always we don’t want to be the one that says this is a pass, we always thought that, even though Shimano gave a liability release, that liability release in our mind wasn’t strong enough. Also we had customers coming up to us and saying: ‘Well how do I know it’s safe?’ They’d come back the week later and say: ‘Can you inspect it again it’s still creaking? I’m not convinced this is not going to fail… I want a new one, I’m just going to keep coming back every week until you fail it’.

2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken crank delamination 3
2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken crank delamination 3 (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken crank delamination 3
2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken crank delamination 3 (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

“I’ve always always put our customers first and I’ve never thought I’m going to be on the side of Shimano here.”

And while some comments under our piece have little sympathy for the “ban” considering the context of what was claimed previously, it’s fair to say the underlying feeling is that all this would have been avoided if Shimano had simply ordered a full recall last year…

NickSprink: “I watched the vid when Mapdec released it, and I completely agree with their approach. They are not materials engineers, they don’t have the ultrasound and X-ray equipment to establish this sort of issue (like the airline industry uses). A visual inspection and listening for ‘creaks’ cannot be sufficient. If I had one of the cranks listed, I would expect a full replacement.  Anything else I would consider a fob off, and be very disillusioned.”

EK Spinner:  “[Quoting the story] mechanics are required to undertake a process of inspecting and cleaning. The recall of last September is for 11-speed Hollowtech II road cranksets that were produced between 1 June 2012 and 30 June 2019, and covers the model numbers: Ultegra FC-6800 and FC-R8000, and Dura-Ace FC-9000, FC-R9100, and FC-R9100-P.”

 “That should be the end of the process for the bike shop, the next line should be ‘Once a relevant crankset has been identified, bike shops are asked to return the chainset to Shimano’.”

> “It’s a bit of a mess”: A solicitor’s take on Shimano crankgate on our latest Podcast

Legin: “You may agree or disagree with the approach of Shimano to this issue. However this Bike Shop publicised that they were not following the process that they were taking the money for.”

Mr Anderson: “The clear and important issue is that, a crank may pass one inspection, but that does not guarantee that crank is defect free, it can still fail sometime in the future. As the video pointed out, the shareholder had this very experience. Mapdec is putting the customer first. All cranks should be shipped back to Shimano for them to inspect, and issue a warranty they are safe to use.”

2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken crank delamination 1
2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken crank delamination 1 (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken crank delamination 1
2023 Shimano Ultegra Broken crank delamination 1 (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

If only there was a way this whole inspection programme could have been avoided… 

10 October 2024, 08:21

BBC admits 15,000mph tailwind error...before we all go KOM-hunting

You might have got a shock opening your weather app this morning…

BBC wind error
BBC wind error (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
BBC wind error
BBC wind error (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

Unfortunately for anyone looking to bag a few wind-assisted KOMs, the BBC quickly addressed the data fault, and confirmed very earnestly that the 404°C temperatures forecast in Hottingham (sorry, that’s Nottingham) are not legit.

“Don’t be alarmed folks — Hurricane Milton hasn’t made it to us here in the UK! There’s been a data glitch between our suppliers and the app/online. Folk are working to solve the issue,” weather presenter Matt Taylor confirmed on social media, before the BBC Weather press office confirmed the fault in a slightly more serious statement…

10 October 2024, 08:21

Kasper Asgreen joins EF Education-EasyPost

Kasper Asgreen 2024 Paris-Roubaix (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
SWpix (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
Kasper Asgreen 2024 Paris-Roubaix (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
SWpix (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

EF Education Easy-Post have beefed up their classics line-up, adding Kasper Asgreen to the ranks for next season. The Dane hasn’t enjoyed a vintage 2024 but hopes to be revitalised by a move to “really cool” EF after seven seasons with Soudal Quick-Step, during which he won the Tour of Flanders, E3 Saxo Bank Classic, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and a stage of the Tour de France.

Kasper Asgreen wins 2023 Tour de France stage 18 (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
SWpix (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
Kasper Asgreen wins 2023 Tour de France stage 18 (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
SWpix (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

“The main reason for me to come to this team is the way that the guys race,” Asgreen said of the move. “You can see that there’s always a plan to try to win. Even if the race is not perfectly suited to them, the guys won’t just sit in the bunch, waiting for the other teams to take charge. That really attracted me. On this team, we’re going to do everything that we can to make races develop the way we want them to develop. That is really, really cool. For me, it’s the main thing: I like the team’s approach to racing.”

A statement signing for EF who lost their former classics headliner Alberto Bettiol to Astana in August.

10 October 2024, 08:21

Cav and Wiggo to ride Gran Fondo Hincapie to raise money for US hurricane relief

Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish at Track Worlds 2016 (copyright Charlie Forgham-Bailey, SWpix.com).jpg
Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish at Track Worlds 2016 (copyright Charlie Forgham-Bailey, SWpix.com) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish at Track Worlds 2016 (copyright Charlie Forgham-Bailey, SWpix.com).jpg
Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish at Track Worlds 2016 (copyright Charlie Forgham-Bailey, SWpix.com) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

Knights of the Realm Sir Mark Cavendish and Sir Bradley Wiggins are to ride the Gran Fondo Hincapie next weekend to raise money for the US hurricane relief efforts. Jan Ullrich is also expected to be on the startline, Rich Hincapie (president of Hincapie Events) explaining how they went from likely cancelling the sportive to using it for good…

” I realised that we could use the Gran Fondo to draw attention to the massive devastation in our area and turn the whole thing into a huge fundraising effort,” he said. “While we understand that many counties are in need, we want to focus on our neighbours in Polk County who have partnered with us and supported our Gran Fondo event for thirteen years. We want to rally the global cycling community and really make a difference in Polk County. Our goal is to raise one million dollars.”

10 October 2024, 08:21

RideLondon "hiatus" for 2025 due to opening of "car use-encouraging" tunnel, suggests FOI request, after London's walking and cycling commissioner objected to closure of new tunnel for cycling event as "absolute no"

RideLondon-Essex route 2024 with impact of Silvertown Tunnel opening (London Marathon Events)
RideLondon-Essex route 2024 with impact of Silvertown Tunnel opening (London Marathon Events) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
RideLondon-Essex route 2024 with impact of Silvertown Tunnel opening (London Marathon Events)
RideLondon-Essex route 2024 with impact of Silvertown Tunnel opening (London Marathon Events) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

> RideLondon “hiatus” for 2025 due to opening of “car use-encouraging” tunnel, suggests FOI request, after London’s walking and cycling commissioner objected to closure of new tunnel for cycling event as “absolute no”

10 October 2024, 08:21

Zoe Bäckstedt defends Simac Tour lead without any teammates

 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by CANYON//SRAM Racing&Generation (@wmncycling)

 At 20 years of age, Zoe Bäckstedt is leading the Simac Tour, a Women’s WorldTour stage race in the Netherlands, heading a classy field including world champ Lotte Kopecky, Lorena Wiebes, Elisa Balsamo, Elisa Longo Borghini and a whole host of established experienced pros.

Today’s third stage, won by Wiebes, saw Bäckstedt maintain her race lead, a feat made even more impressive when you consider this is the extent of her Canyon//SRAM Racing team at the event…

🚴‍♀️En nog helemaal alleen over. Blessures en ziekte decimeerden de ploeg van leidster @Backstedt_Zoe @WMNcycling. Kan ze stand houden vandaag.#SLT2024 pic.twitter.com/BCKXh7H0Uq

— Simac Ladies Tour (@ladiestour) October 10, 2024

Yep, in a bizarre turn of events, all four of her teammates have abandoned, a grim mix of illness, injuries and crashes leaving Bäckstedt leading a one-woman charge against the WorldTour peloton.

Soraya Paladin and Maike van der Duin are out through illness, while fellow Brit Alex Morrice was unable to finish yesterday’s stage. Then there’s Chloé Dygert who broke her nose after walking into a door… 

It all means Bäckstedt has three more days to defend the jersey alone, two flat stages followed by a punchy circuit in Arnhem on Sunday. 

10 October 2024, 08:21

Works to treat "increasingly severe rainfall" flooding on Bath's Two Tunnels path to begin this week

Great to see the Two Tunnels route will reopen in the near future https://t.co/RJW9axEh3R

— Laura Laker (@laura_laker) October 10, 2024

The BBC has reported that Bath & North East Somerset Council is to install a pump at the entrance to the Devonshire Tunnel in Bath with the aim of diverting flood waters.

Flooded by “increasingly severe rainfall”, the eight weeks of work is being carried out on behalf of Sustrans, with the hope that the popular active travel route will be flood-proof afterwards.

“The original Victorian drainage in the Devonshire Tunnel has not been able to withstand the increasingly severe rainfall we have experienced in recent years,” Councillor Paul Roper said. “These essential works to install a pump will future-proof the route and ensure that it can remain open throughout future weather events. This is an important route for both commuting and pleasure and we apologise for the inconvenience while the works are carried out, however this is a long-term fix that needs to be done.”

10 October 2024, 08:21

Mark Cavendish set to race for final time as a professional in November at Tour de France Singapore Criterium, organisers ASO confirm

Mark Cavendish Tour de France 2024
Mark Cavendish Tour de France 2024 (Image Credit: ASO/Billy Ceusters)
Mark Cavendish Tour de France 2024
Mark Cavendish Tour de France 2024 (Image Credit: ASO/Billy Ceusters)

> Mark Cavendish set to race for final time as a professional in November at Tour de France Singapore Criterium, organisers ASO confirm

10 October 2024, 08:21

Excuse me?

This gem from St. Louis remains the king of scary bike lanes. pic.twitter.com/YGTJVksG5y

— Peter Flax (@Pflax1) October 9, 2024

10 October 2024, 08:21

George Hill doesn't hold back in his latest opinion piece... Boris Johnson, Tadej Pogačar and Taylor Swift are the same person, apparently... the problem with calling all cyclists 'Cyclists'

Boris Johnson, Tadej Pogacar, Taylor Swift, Mike Graham and Howard Cox
Boris Johnson, Tadej Pogacar, Taylor Swift, Mike Graham and Howard Cox (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
Boris Johnson, Tadej Pogacar, Taylor Swift, Mike Graham and Howard Cox
Boris Johnson, Tadej Pogacar, Taylor Swift, Mike Graham and Howard Cox (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

> Boris Johnson, Tadej Pogačar and Taylor Swift are the same person, apparently… the problem with calling all cyclists ‘Cyclists’

10 October 2024, 08:21

The Netherlands win European Bike Mechanics Championship

The Netherlands win Shimano's European Bike Mechanics Championship (Shimano)
The Netherlands win Shimano's European Bike Mechanics Championship (Shimano) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
The Netherlands win Shimano's European Bike Mechanics Championship (Shimano)
The Netherlands win Shimano's European Bike Mechanics Championship (Shimano) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

Jelmer Bijvang, Berend Bervoets and Kevin Smit have been crowned European Bike Mechanics Championship winners, representing the Netherlands. The Shimano-organised competition saw the participants “demonstrating their technical prowess, clear communication and teamwork, their ability to quickly identify and fix complex mechanic issues”. Italy were second and Germany third. According, to Shimano the tests included:

  • ‘Drivetrain Setup’: (Installing a SHIMANO CUES front crank, choosing and installing a cassette that is compatible for the CUES drivetrain; fine-tuning the front and rear derailleurs using E-TUBE PROJECT Cyclist to customize SHIMANO ULTEGRA Di2 shift buttons)
  • ‘Wheel maintenance’: (Servicing a freehub, replacing the freehub body and performing a brake bleed)
  • ‘Hub Gear Maintenance’: (Disassembling, cleaning and reassembling SHIMANO NEXUS internal hub gear)

 No word yet on if the tiebreaker round in case of a draw would have been full crank inspection…

10 October 2024, 08:21

"Unfair" Cycle to Work scheme "problems" need to be addressed, admits government minister

Cyclists in London
Cyclists in London (Image Credit: Tomek Baginski on Unsplash)
Cyclists in London
Cyclists in London (Image Credit: Tomek Baginski on Unsplash)

> “Unfair” Cycle to Work scheme “problems” need to be addressed, admits government minister

10 October 2024, 08:21

"I found a crack in the market and filled it": Bum Butter cycling chamois cream enjoys "dream" spike in sales... after Amanda Holden gave brand a shout-out ahead of charity cycle

The Sun's coverage of Amanda Holden charity ride
The Sun's coverage of Amanda Holden charity ride (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
The Sun's coverage of Amanda Holden charity ride
The Sun's coverage of Amanda Holden charity ride (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

“It all started when I woke up to a text telling me ‘Hey mate, you are all over Amanda Holden’s bum’… complete with some screen shots from The Sun online. Blimey!”

Bum Butter owner Charlie Hobbs has had quite the week, his chamois cream business being catapulted to fame by some comments Amanda Holden made ahead of her charity cycle this week.

Charlie explained: “Then my wife passed me her phone with a Good Morning Britain TV interview with Amanda and Bum Butter. Then the story was picked up by countless news outlets ‘Amanda Holden smothers herself in Bum Butter’… and just like that Bum Butter is now a household brand name.”

In an entertaining blog piece on Bum Butter’s website, Charlie asks how does the “mega turbo publicity benefit a small niche business”?

“This is dream marketing, this is off the scale, this is what every small business wishes for… or is it? It is. Website traffic is up, and sales are up. But it was very short lived. ‘Today’s news is tomorrows fish n chip paper’ is an old saying from when old newspapers where used to wrap your fish n chips… and it is very true. I rode the Holden wave and it is now fading away. The chart below clearly illustrates ‘Holden’s Spike’, and you can see what seems to be a sales tail, in grey.”

Bum Butter sales after Amanda Holden shout-out
Bum Butter sales after Amanda Holden shout-out (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
Bum Butter sales after Amanda Holden shout-out
Bum Butter sales after Amanda Holden shout-out (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

“This got me thinking…. How much would it costs for TV news, celebrity endorsement, and a double page story in The Sun? How much would this publicity cost if you were to buy it? I don’t know, but it could be £100-£300k. That is a guess. What was it worth to Bum Butter? A very welcome surge in sales…  and hopefully a nice step up in brand awareness that will help in the longer term. Just so you know. This publicity was not requested, paid for, or even known about until it happened.”

Amanda Holden charity ride
Amanda Holden charity ride (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
Amanda Holden charity ride
Amanda Holden charity ride (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

And in an amusing twist, Charlie’s on Heart this morning talking to Holden about the product… “Whoop whoop…. The Bum Butter media rollercoaster ride is back on. This time next year Rodney…”

Presumably Cycliq or other camera brands won’t be getting the same treatment…

Amanda Holden says camera cyclists are 'asking for trouble' on BGT (via Britain's Got Talent, YouTube)
Amanda Holden says camera cyclists are 'asking for trouble' on BGT (via Britain's Got Talent, YouTube) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)
Amanda Holden says camera cyclists are 'asking for trouble' on BGT (via Britain's Got Talent, YouTube)
Amanda Holden says camera cyclists are 'asking for trouble' on BGT (via Britain's Got Talent, YouTube) (Image Credit: Farrelly Atkinson)

> Britain’s Got Terrible Cycling Takes: Amanda Holden says cyclists with cameras are “asking for trouble”

10 October 2024, 08:21

Near Miss of the Day 918: No further action taken for "pretty scary" close pass on cyclist

Near Miss of the Day 918: No further action taken for "pretty scary" close pass on cyclist

Police force suggests cyclist could have moved into his left, despite seemingly conflicting advice in Highway Code

10 October 2024, 08:21

Happy Bottom Bum Butter Anti-Chafing Cream

Happy Bottom Bum Butter Anti-Chafing Cream

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  • Amanda Holden, Bum Butter, cycling live blog, live blog, road.cc live blog, Shimano, shimano crank failure, Shimano crank recall
Dan Alexander
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Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too. Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he’s not working you’ll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he’ll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he’s a bit strange like that.  

36 Comments

36 thoughts on ““I found a crack in the market and filled it”: Bum Butter cycling chamois cream enjoys “dream” spike in sales… after Amanda Holden gave brand a shout-out ahead of charity cycle; Shimano ‘crankgate’ rumbles on + more on the live blog”

  1. hawkinspeter
    October 10, 2024 at 8:50 am
    0

    I trust Shimano’s cranks as

    I trust Shimano’s cranks as much as I trust BBC weather showing hurricane winds this morning in Bristol.

    Log In or Register to post comments
    • NotNigel
      October 10, 2024 at 9:03 am
      0

      Tis a mere breeze..

      Tis a mere breeze..

      Log In or Register to post comments
    • brooksby
      October 10, 2024 at 9:04 am
      0

      Given the actual hurricane in

      Given the actual hurricane in Florida, it seems suspicious that the BBC app (which, incidentally, has never been very reliable after they dumped the Met Office and went with a different provider, IMO) is now warning of hurricanes here…

      They’d never admit it, but who else thinks they got hacked?

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      • hawkinspeter
        October 10, 2024 at 9:16 am
        0

        brooksby wrote:

        Given the actual hurricane in Florida, it seems suspicious that the BBC app (which, incidentally, has never been very reliable after they dumped the Met Office and went with a different provider, IMO) is now warning of hurricanes here…

        They’d never admit it, but who else thinks they got hacked?

        — brooksby

        They’re just part of the Big Wind conspiracy

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        • brooksby
          October 10, 2024 at 9:22 am
          0

          https://www.theguardian.com

          https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/07/marjorie-taylor-greene-hurricane-helene

          Far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is facing condemnation following several conspiratorial comments amid the devastation of Hurricane Helene that seemed to suggest she believed the US government can control the weather.

          In a post last week shared with her 1.2 million X followers, the US House representative from Georgia wrote: “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

           

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          • chrisonabike
            October 10, 2024 at 9:36 am
            0

            Presumably the members of the

            Presumably the members of the US government all grew up playing D&D?

            https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2050-control-weather

            ..and the reason they shut down Wilhelm Reich’s efforts in this regard was to maintain their monopoly?  (Fortunately resulting in a good song at least).

          • hawkinspeter
            October 10, 2024 at 10:01 am
            0

            chrisonabike wrote:

            Presumably the members of the US government all grew up playing D&D?

            https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2050-control-weather

            ..and the reason they shut down Wilhelm Reich’s efforts in this regard was to maintain their monopoly?  (Fortunately resulting in a good song at least).

            — chrisonabike

            Wilhelm Reich had some interesting ideas which annoyed quite a few people. He’s the classic example of book burning in the U.S.A.

            He met up with Einstein and even left Einstein with one of his orgone accumulator machines, but after some investigation, he must have decided that Reich was a bit of a crank and refused to take his calls afterwards.

          • chrisonabike
            October 10, 2024 at 11:14 am
            0

            Well… he was a crank, and

            Well… he was a crank, and on inspection was (by the standards of the day even) cracked!  (Although his personal magnetism was clearly remarkable – seems to be hard to bottle that though).

            I think today people would be more concerned about his “coercive control” than the “quack doctor” aspects and promotion of orgasm (and anti-authoritarian stance) which seemed to have triggered the US authorities.

          • brooksby
            October 10, 2024 at 10:52 am
            0

            chrisonabike wrote:

            Presumably the members of the US government all grew up playing D&D?

            https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2050-control-weather

            ..and the reason they shut down Wilhelm Reich’s efforts in this regard was to maintain their monopoly?  (Fortunately resulting in a good song at least).

            — chrisonabike

            I suspect that Taylor-Greene is more likely to be one of the people who were saying that D&D players were all Satanists or something…

          • hawkinspeter
            October 10, 2024 at 11:17 am
            0

            brooksby wrote:

            I suspect that Taylor-Greene is more likely to be one of the people who were saying that D&D players were all Satanists or something…

            — brooksby

            And yet her initials are the same as Magic The Gathering?

            She’s probably busy trying to escape oversight by the Gazpacho Police (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/gazpacho-police/). Presumably they watch over the stock market.

          • brooksby
            October 10, 2024 at 2:32 pm
            0

            hawkinspeter wrote:

            I suspect that Taylor-Greene is more likely to be one of the people who were saying that D&D players were all Satanists or something…

            — hawkinspeter

            And yet her initials are the same as Magic The Gathering?

            She’s probably busy trying to escape oversight by the Gazpacho Police (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/gazpacho-police/). Presumably they watch over the stock market.

            — brooksby

            And don’t forget trying to keep out of range of the Jewish Space Lasers

            https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/marjorie-taylor-greene-qanon-wildfires-space-laser-rothschild-execute.html

          • wtjs
            October 10, 2024 at 9:54 am
            0

            Greene is going all out in a

            Greene is going all out in a desperate attempt to make Trump look sane by comparison

        • chrisonabike
          October 10, 2024 at 9:23 am
          0

          ?

          ?

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          • hawkinspeter
            October 10, 2024 at 9:31 am
            0

            chrisonabike wrote:
            ?

            ?

            — chrisonabike

      • Simon E
        October 10, 2024 at 7:55 pm
        0

        I’d rather rely on the Met

        I’d rather rely on the Met Office, I’ve not been impressed with BBC weather info since parting company with them. Forecast for St George’s:

        https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/forecast/gcnhwrck8

        Naturally there is an app and I like their Youtube channel. Though it feels like they occasionally exaggerate the intensity or the area covered by extreme weather warnings; I am tempted to think that it’s a legacy of the 1987 Great Storm, famously downplayed by Michael Fish on BBC TV beforehand, though there’s a good Met Office article about that:

        https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/weather/case-studies/great-storm

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    • NickSprink
      October 10, 2024 at 9:56 am
      0

      Has BBC weather ever been

      Has BBC weather ever been acurate?  I can’t remember a time when it was.  Gave up years ago.  Met Office not great, but far better than the BBC.

      Log In or Register to post comments
      • Steve K
        October 10, 2024 at 10:11 am
        0

        NickSprink wrote:

        Has BBC weather ever been acurate?  I can’t remember a time when it was.  Gave up years ago.  Met Office not great, but far better than the BBC.

        — NickSprink

        They were, of course, one and the same thing until 2018.

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      • Rendel Harris
        October 10, 2024 at 10:15 am
        0

        NickSprink wrote:

        Has BBC weather ever been acurate?  I can’t remember a time when it was.  Gave up years ago.  Met Office not great, but far better than the BBC.

        — NickSprink

        It used to be more accurate up to 2018 because it got its forecasting information from the Met Office. When it gave the contract out to Meteogroup, now owned by a private American company concerned with global forecasts, it was patently obvious that the quality was going to be lower than a dedicated expert UK government agency. It’s interesting that the BBC still uses the Met Office forecasts for the shipping forecast, which would appear to be a tacit admission that Met Office forecasts are still the gold standard for when it really matters.

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        • mark1a
          October 10, 2024 at 10:36 am
          0

          Rendel Harris wrote:

          Has BBC weather ever been acurate?  I can’t remember a time when it was.  Gave up years ago.  Met Office not great, but far better than the BBC.

          — Rendel Harris

          It used to be more accurate up to 2018 because it got its forecasting information from the Met Office. When it gave the contract out to Meteogroup, now owned by a private American company concerned with global forecasts, it was patently obvious that the quality was going to be lower than a dedicated expert UK government agency. It’s interesting that the BBC still uses the Met Office forecasts for the shipping forecast, which would appear to be a tacit admission that Met Office forecasts are still the gold standard for when it really matters.

          — NickSprink

          I believe the BBC were legally obliged to open the contract for tender, in order to provide the best “value”

           

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          • Backladder
            October 10, 2024 at 10:46 am
            0

            mark1a wrote:

            I believe the BBC were legally obliged to open the contract for tender, in order to provide the best “value”

            — mark1a

            I don’t doubt that you are correct but what is the value of an incorrect forecast?

          • mark1a
            October 10, 2024 at 11:10 am
            0

            Backladder wrote:

            I believe the BBC were legally obliged to open the contract for tender, in order to provide the best “value”

            — Backladder

            I don’t doubt that you are correct but what is the value of an incorrect forecast?

            — mark1a

            I completely agree, hence my use of inverted commas in “value”

          • Rendel Harris
            October 10, 2024 at 10:55 am
            0

            mark1a wrote:

            I believe the BBC were legally obliged to open the contract for tender, in order to provide the best “value”

            — mark1a

            The AliExpress economic model, yes it’s a pile of crap but you can’t deny that it’s amazing value…

          • mark1a
            October 10, 2024 at 11:14 am
            0

            Rendel Harris wrote:

            I believe the BBC were legally obliged to open the contract for tender, in order to provide the best “value”

            — Rendel Harris

            The AliExpress economic model, yes it’s a pile of crap but you can’t deny that it’s amazing value…

            — mark1a

            I would much rather my licence tax fee was spent on the weather, and other things that don’t necessarily represent economic value in the textbook sense, i.e. things that the private sector won’t, don’t or can’t do, than some of the other crap they somehow manage to fund.

          • stonojnr
            October 10, 2024 at 11:40 am
            0

            And yet Metcheck is far more
            And yet Metcheck is far more accurate than the BBC and often more accurate than the MetOffice too, and always my go to site for planning bike rides.

          • Hirsute
            October 10, 2024 at 12:20 pm
            0

            Assessment of reporting

            Assessment of reporting accuracy

            BBC Weather isn’t as accurate as you expect – all the top apps ranked by experts

          • HoarseMann
            October 10, 2024 at 6:23 pm
            0

            stonojnr wrote:

            And yet Metcheck is far more accurate than the BBC and often more accurate than the MetOffice too, and always my go to site for planning bike rides.

            — stonojnr

            +1 for Metcheck, especially their cycling specific weather forecast. 

          • brooksby
            October 10, 2024 at 2:11 pm
            0

            Rendel Harris wrote:

            I believe the BBC were legally obliged to open the contract for tender, in order to provide the best “value”

            — Rendel Harris

            The AliExpress economic model, yes it’s a pile of crap but you can’t deny that it’s amazing value…

            — mark1a

            I think that the Aliexpress/Shein/Temu model is also “Find a picture of someone’s original design on the internet, copy it and sell it much much cheaper, then shrug if the original designer complains”

          • Miller
            October 10, 2024 at 1:10 pm
            0

            mark1a wrote:

            I believe the BBC were legally obliged to open the contract for tender, in order to provide the best “value”

            — mark1a

            I’m sure you’re correct about this. Public tendering follows strict rules. There are technical and commercial questions for bidders to answer. The answer scoring regime is published. Met Office may have ended up with a better quality score than Meteogroup but a higher price so the Met office overall score would not have been the winning one.

        • lesterama
          October 10, 2024 at 11:20 am
          0

          Trouble is, the Met Office is

          Trouble is, the Met Office is nowadays run as a for-profit entity. I used to buy data from them, until they placed more and more restrictions on its use and I found I could get the exact same data elsewhere for less than half the price.

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  2. mitsky
    October 10, 2024 at 12:21 pm
    0

    “Murderer who drove stolen

    “Murderer who drove stolen car into cyclist jailed”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg3v882ppno

    Another case where loss of libido and taste buds might be a good deterrent.

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  3. Hirsute
    October 10, 2024 at 12:23 pm
    0

    Was cycling on some side

    Was cycling on some side streets yesterday, came round a bend to find some bloke standing in the middle of the road with his back to me, staring at his phone.

    Me: Great place to stand mate

    Him: I’m working

    Me: Don’t you follow safe working practices then?

    Me: Don’t you do a risk assessment which determines your working practices ?

     

    His mate was standing on the pavement level with him – didn’t stand around the bend.

    No Hi Viz either ! Practically invisible !!

     

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  4. EddyBerckx
    October 10, 2024 at 12:43 pm
    0

    I remember Amanda Holden

    I remember Amanda Holden laughing uncontrollably with glee at a Britains got talent contentant’s “comedy” rant at cyclists – the usual bingo stuff.

    Wonder how she’ll react if she gets a 10th of the hate normal cyclists do on her 250 mile ride? Hate that’s shes contributed to.

     

    Log In or Register to post comments
  5. GMBasix
    October 10, 2024 at 2:21 pm
    0

    Was this ninja ambulance even

    Was this ninja ambulance even wearing hi-viz or a helmet?

    Sometimes they bring it on themselves.

    Log In or Register to post comments
    • lesterama
      October 10, 2024 at 6:09 pm
      0

      FFS, headline calls it a near

      FFS, headline calls it a near miss.

      Log In or Register to post comments
  6. brooksby
    October 10, 2024 at 2:29 pm
    0

    Water pump to solve tunnel

    Water pump to solve tunnel flooding on cycle route

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz7j8nvxvr4o

    Works to resolve flooding on a well-travelled cycle route have begun this week.

    Bath & North East Somerset Council is installing a pump at the entrance to the Devonshire Tunnel in Bath, which forms part of the Two Tunnels path.

    The pump will divert flood water uphill to bypass the original Victorian cast iron pipework, which was once used to drain water away from the railway line.

    The work is being carried out on behalf of the cycling charity Sustrans, who own and manage the route, and is expected to take eight weeks to complete.

    Log In or Register to post comments
  7. Steve K
    October 10, 2024 at 2:35 pm
    0

    Apropos nothing, really, I

    Apropos nothing, really, I just saw this on twitter and thought it worth sharing. Obviously from the US – we don’t have jay walking here – but it would be good to see this sort of attitude to drivers’ responsibilities from the judiciary more generally.

    https://x.com/PeterNorton12/status/1844371092665950270

     

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Latest Comments

HoarseMann 24 seconds ago

@mctrials23 totally agree, I think the problem is perhaps finding a police officer these days with a basic grasp of maths - or at least the authority to deploy it without being bestowed with the title of "trained forensic specialist".

in: Police say “Operation SNAP has become so successful” as they continue not to investigate close passes without being able to measure passing distances
quiff 6 minutes ago

"The net result of this confusion was police forces in Wales no longer issuing warning letters to drivers who dangerously overtake cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders, despite there being no formal policy change." That is one result, but my understanding is that it's wider than this - they were getting so many submissions that they are no longer taking action on *any* offence where the action would be a warning letter. So, for example, zig-zag line offences, where South Wales Police previously acted on OpSnap reports, are now NFAd. That begs a further question though - if you've already had a warning letter for an offence, a repeat offence should potentially result in a fine or prosecution. Are they checking each report to see if the reported driver has previously had a warning, or just NFA-ing all offences of a particular type? Any thoughts, wjts?!

in: Police say “Operation SNAP has become so successful” as they continue not to investigate close passes without being able to measure passing distances
Rendel Harris 7 minutes ago

The leader's team would get on the front and block the roads through Montmartre and completely kill the spectacle. Let's face it, the last stage has always been meaningless apart from the sprint, now it's meaningless apart from a superb and thrilling triple lap of Montmartre followed by a sprint. Neutralising GC helped that spectacle - imagine if Tadej had needed to go back and help bring Del Toro up. The roads are too narrow to allow for really fair racing, if we want the wonder of the Montmartre loop then GC neutralisation is the price we have to pay, and one well worth paying in my view.

in: The Tour de France’s Montmartre experiment is the best thing to happen to cycling for years – but please, ASO, make it count for the GC next time; “It’s too hard to answer!” Pogačar and Evenepoel baffled by climate change question + more on the live blog
Surreyrider 10 minutes ago

@mdavidford Exactly this.

in: Police say “Operation SNAP has become so successful” as they continue not to investigate close passes without being able to measure passing distances
Nuclear Dan 28 minutes ago

The big thing that the technical analysis missed out is positioning on the bike. Modern riders do aero work on their road bike and have much better discipline on holding position than even riders 10 years ago. I think Dan Bingham summed it up, his team rode with an old POC helmet with a massive peak whereas Sky had a little stub tail Cask helmet the idea being that it was less sensitive to head position. Bingham said that the long tail helmet was about 15W faster. “How hard would you train to get 15w more power, is it harder than training yourself to live with that helmet?” Pantani is standing up on the pedals, bare head, shirt open, rocking and rolling everywhere with his position, vs someone who is sat on the seat in a quasi time trial position. The 90’s riders were rank amateurs compared with those today, so it’s not a massive surprise that 30 years of progress can beat EPO.

in: Is the Tour de France becoming too fast?
mctrials23 34 minutes ago

@HoarseMann Oh I can assure you that plenty of passes can be proved with absolute certainty to have been illegal purely from generous guesses on the size of cars and the size of lanes. Lets say you drive a 2m wide car that takes up 2/3rd of a lane in a video. Someone with a basic grasp of maths would be able to tell you that you couldn't overtake a cyclist without moving into the opposite lane even if the cyclist was 0cm wide and somehow riding on the very edge of the road where it meets the pavement. Someone with a basic understanding of maths would be able to tell you that unless the car was 1.5m or less wide on a 3m wide road, its impossible to overtake by staying on your side of the road with 1.5m space even if the cyclist took up 0 space. They simply don't want to do anything about it. Its got absolutely nothing to do with holding up in court because that wouldn't be an issue in a huge number of cases and they know it. No one in their right mind would go to court to contest it.

in: Police say “Operation SNAP has become so successful” as they continue not to investigate close passes without being able to measure passing distances
mdavidford 50 minutes ago

That's... not right. The prosecution has to* prove beyond reasonable doubt that the offence was committed, but not that every single detail of statements made by their witnesses is accurate. And HoarseMann is correct that it doesn't mean the same as "with absolute certainty", otherwise it would be "beyond *all* doubt". [* More accurately, should have to. In practice, when it comes to offences against cyclists, the system often does seem to demand that it's proven beyond unreasonable doubt as well, but that's not what the standard is supposed to be, or what's applied to other offences. ]

in: Police say “Operation SNAP has become so successful” as they continue not to investigate close passes without being able to measure passing distances
the little onion 56 minutes ago

has anyone else seen this story from the BBC - basically, a cyclist in West Yorkshire reported a close pass, and the police went through their footage and the cyclist ended up paying a £1,200 fine for dangerous cycling for squeezing in the gap between a parked car and an oncoming car. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cd9w2l2wqvdo I'm a believer in fairness, proportionality and so on, so there are several key things here: -that is a terrible piece of cycling, posing a danger to themselves, and some small danger to the driver because the cyclist could have ended up smashing through the windscreen -there is absolutely NO WAY that any driver in West Yorkshire has been fined £1,200 for a close pass on a cyclist, even if they took it all the way to court and had to pay costs etc. -there is a strong "man bites dog" element to this story. Drivers endangering cyclists is mundane and everyday, not worthy of being reported in the BBC. Cyclists endangering drivers is the unusual exception, which then gets reported. P.S. as a measure of the standard of driving which endangers cyclists but DOESN'T get prosecuted by West Yorkshire police, they decided that this close pass/undertake wasn't a crime: https://vimeo.com/1079291114/f8d5ab5f41

in: The Tour de France’s Montmartre experiment is the best thing to happen to cycling for years – but please, ASO, make it count for the GC next time; “It’s too hard to answer!” Pogačar and Evenepoel baffled by climate change question + more on the live blog
Paul J 1 hour ago

Completely agree. Neutralising GC half way through a stage is just utterly absurd. What are they thinking? Imagine if Del Toro had not made it back on in time, what would have happened then? He'd have lost the white jersey *because* of ASOs dumb decision to try protect the starting GC standings. Either the GC standings are frozen at the gun (still requiring them to finish) or they should be taken at the end of the stage.

in: The Tour de France’s Montmartre experiment is the best thing to happen to cycling for years – but please, ASO, make it count for the GC next time; “It’s too hard to answer!” Pogačar and Evenepoel baffled by climate change question + more on the live blog
Miller 1 hour ago

I'm fine with GC being taken far from the line. Those who want to race can, and by God they did, and those who want to kick back and enjoy the last hour of the Tour waving to fans can do that, and by God they earned it.

in: The Tour de France’s Montmartre experiment is the best thing to happen to cycling for years – but please, ASO, make it count for the GC next time; “It’s too hard to answer!” Pogačar and Evenepoel baffled by climate change question + more on the live blog

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1. The Tour de France’s Montmartre experiment is the best thing to happen to cycling for years – but please, ASO, make it count for the GC next time; “It’s too hard to answer!” Pogačar and Evenepoel baffled by climate change question + more on the live blog

2. Police say “Operation SNAP has become so successful” as they continue not to investigate close passes without being able to measure passing distances

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