Commuter diaries – seen in the city

My first road bike was a Raleigh, too. A 1976 Raleigh Record. I dragged it out of the shed a few years ago and got it working again. 14kg it weighed! A 52/42 crank and a 14-28 five speed 'cluster' at the back made hills pretty hard work...

@Destroyer666 Campag cranks use replaceable standard cartridge bearings, pressed onto the axles. They're a slightly unusual size but you can find them easily enough on bearing specialist sites or elsewhere.

More use of compulsory purchase is needed. Active travel route providers need the same kind of financial and legal power that Highways England and analogous bodies have. On the other side to the jam factory, by the junction in Histon, the busway path narrows as it goes past the bus stop and housing. It is the kind of pinch point where enforcement of the limit is most likely.

Yes. Local users of the maintenance track have said such things. Continuing to say them to decision makers is likely to encourage better decisions.

A bit late to this article but I can sadly confirm what they found, since my daughter started riding out more on her own in the last year. The amount of comments shouted at her on most solo rides is thoroughly depressing. And it is all men/boys. I am glad it doesn't stop her going out, but what goes through their brains to think it is OK to harass her? It's beyond me, but I guess some of us seem revel in our ignorance.

@Mr Blackbird I read "Netherlands" first. But then I realized a hole in the road eliminated that possibility. The bastards seem to repair them before they appear!

@Bungle_52 And obviously the cyclist was obstructing the lorry's movement. Do you realize how much CO2 it takes to re-accelerate that lorry?!

Believe it or not, Raleigh was a major cultural icon in the USA also - at least for serious cyclists of my age. My first geared bike was a Robin Hood three-speed. I longed for a Chopper, but it was never to be. Then, in 1970, my father bought himself a Raleigh Gran Sports. It was third in line of the racing bikes in the US catalog. Luckily for me, my father discovered that he was afraid of cars. So in 1974, when I was 13, he gave that bike to me. I became obsessed. It had 531 tubing. It was chrome. I was in love. I eventually ended up road racing from the late 1978-1982. Then I moved to NYC to be a junior "executive" (a YUPPIE). I left that bike with my parents in the suburbs where it would be safe and bought a series of NYC-safe bikes - two of which were stolen. That bike had legs. I eventually started riding it again in the 2000s once I was in the suburbs. Eventually it sat and rusted. Finally in 2017 I started a restoration project to resurrect it into a city bike. It took two years to complete. That bike is still with me today. My faithful Raleigh. When I ride it, I am in love.

@Rendel Harris I watched him at the world champs in Glasgow and he was never going to win but he still kept going around waving to fans and has always been a top pro who appreciates the fans.

Absolutely. And cycle ball (Radball). One for fixie fans. Oh, sorry, that should be on cycleball.cc ...