Commuter diaries – Cycle Karma

This review is now over two weeks old and still has photos for a completely different bag. Anyone reading this who is in the market for a high-end transport solution that requires minimal disassembly (admittedly not me, I have a Buxumbox Ventoux) and makes a cursory glance at this review will immediately rule it out based on the images. A real shame as it looks like a decent bag otherwise, the review gives it a 9/10, but nobody prepared to pay this price will look twice based on the photos.

"confusion rife amongst the public and even the police about the differences between compliant e-bikes (EAPCs) and pedal assist bikes" And indeed this journalist. An EAPC is, surely a 'pedal assist bike'. A 'bike' can be a bicycle or motor bike. So an e-bike can, equally, be either. A Surron is an electric motorbike. But an illegally modified EAPC could be classed as either as an illegal EAPC (eg. with higher cut-off - such as an american import or an aftermarket kit) or an illegal motor bike (eg. with throttle control). And a modified EAPC isn't necessarily illegal (eg. a bigger battery).

In Berlin in the 1980's there was an investigation into the high death rate on the cities cycle paths. The deaths occured at junctions and the most dangerous cycle paths were those seperated from the road, with death rates of 4 to 12 times worse than having no cycle path at all (the principle cause was visibility). This study cause a major redesign of cycle paths. Looking at the video of the cycle path it appears that the people who designed it have never heard of the Berlin study. The councillor is correct, the cycle path is dangerous and needs to be changed before a cyclist is killed.

It’s a shame the reviewer didn’t offer a deeper analysis about why it felt sluggish and slow to turn into high speed corners. The geo could be to blame—with the sky high stack height and long chainstays—although it appears to be in line with accepted endurance geometry these days.

@ChrisA serious...

Really interesting review

There I was, trying to be serious! I was trying to differentiate between soft footpaths & gravel or surfaced tracks. And no, I have never ridden wearing headphones/buds. I did try ear buds once when walking the dog & didn't like the loss of awareness. For the pedants; I don't have a moral problem with riding on isolated 'surfaced' footpaths nor have I ever encountered any problems with other users when riding on said footpaths.

Is that riding with The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Grateful Dead on the headphones?

" ... noticeably easier to pedal." Really? How noticeable? I've seen a thing at point of sale in a major bike shop near Kingston which had two identical chainsets connected to two different bottom brackets, inviting the customer to try spinning each one and go "ooh, this one spins much longer when there's no grease in it or load on it, it must be better", but from what I've read, the real-world difference between tuned ceramic and out-of-the box decent steel is about one watt, at best?

@imajez Most people would have walked, but we take your point. I've never had a problem with riding on stoned tracks, designated as footpaths, but I'm not ripping up the surface on downhill footpaths. 0:-)