road.cc live blog: abominable bus driving and more
Bringing you all today’s news from the site and beyond
Thu, Dec 07, 2017 12:40
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £2.49. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
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.
19 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
Benthic 47 minutes ago
Politicians wont go on national media to complain about the scourge of cars and vans parked all over pavements though.
chrisonabike 1 hour ago
@Rendel Harris There are several issues converging in cycle infra "debates" in the UK, the fundamental one being we don't recognise cycling as a transport mode. So even where space is found cycle lanes are ignored by drivers (and are built in a way that makes this inevitable). Cycle paths - the better solution in many places - are currently ignored by pedestrians in the UK. Partly out of unfamiliarity, partly due to demand (fighting over scraps), mostly due to low numbers of cyclists. The difficult "truth" is that - like walking in the road is made undesirable by the implicit threat (and actual complaints from) drivers - something similar is likely required for cycle paths to work. The flip side is the "carrot" of more space for pedestrians and not having to share (because it becomes easier - so "natural" - to use your "own" space). A virtuous circle can develop of many current pedestrians and some drivers choosing to cycle, making more space for those on foot. Lots of this elsewhere has ultimately been fixed at the level of "network" rather than "per street" eg. looking at wider areas (maybe a whole town). And doing "wild" things like taking entire lanes from motor traffic, perhaps making some routes one-way only etc. But which some posters here have pointed out may well come with things unpopular with all like *more* road building to create a ring to divert through traffic around a place. Which may precipitate further development around that, necessitating an outer outer ring...
chrisonabike 1 hour ago
@Rendel Harris yep - while "obstructing the highway" is a crime (now a more serious one thanks to protest, and somehow is very rarely applied to motor vehicles on the cycle path / footway...) pedestrians are allowed to "share the road" most places. But just try exercising your right! We don't suggest that cars and trains share space obviously. (Don't start with "bus lanes"...) Neither motorists nor pedestrians want cyclists "in their space" and point at the other space. Or maybe "cycle lanes", which aren't liked by most current cyclists and won't be used by "might be" cyclists, aside from being ignored by drivers. So then it becomes "fighting over scraps" - as usually it's pedestrians who have to compromise. "Streets too narrow" to take from motoring - although very often there are at least 3 lanes-worth of space, once you notice the parking.
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
@georgeupstairs@yahoo.co.uk Goodness knows I like a bit of pedantry but describing it as a 4% difference is quite correct, as is (almost) describing it as a 25% difference, one is an absolute difference and one is a relative difference. No error. Your sums actually aren't quite right because 24% is 20% higher than 20%, not 25%.
cardch 2 hours ago
@Steelisreel that’s a bit harsh. Plenty of UK companies get frames made in Asia to their spec, that’s about the only way that is economical, and they are pretty up front about it. But the company is UK based, has a small workshop in the South East (attached to a very good cafe), and employs actual people.
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
@Mmitb Pedestrians already have their own segregated infrastructure to use, they're called pavements. And if you try and take even a couple of feet away from them to put in a cycle lane, listen for the complaints.
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
@stulemanski Or to put it in less pejorative terms rather than trying to make active travel activists sound like spoiled children, they are upset about the fact that a golden opportunity to introduce more than a kilometre of completely off-road cycle track through the heart of London has been missed, an opportunity that could easily have been taken up on a 25 m wide highway. It may be "really easy to avoid with minimal inconvenience" for you, and it is for me to be fair, but cycle infrastructure isn't primarily designed for fast, experienced and confident cyclists but to encourage those with less confidence and experience to take up cycling; a cycle lane down Oxford Street would have served this cohort very well. So the objections, whether you agree with them or not, are well-founded, not mere petulance because "pedestrians have been given something and they've not".
Pub bike 11 hours ago
All the side streets where I live are blocked by cars parked on either side of the road so that they are too narrow to cycle in if there is a car or van coming the other way. It makes it really difficult and dangerous to cycle on my local roads. I used to cycle to the shops but now I walk because I could no longer face the regular unyielding motorists when I was already in sections too narrow for them to enter. How is this any different to Lime bikes blocking street corners?
chrisonabike 13 hours ago
@Sniffer well apparently he's a keen motorcyclist, so perhaps he's projecting...
Sniffer 15 hours ago
Surprised this review didn't mention the Magicshine EVO 1300. It was reviewed very favourably on this site a while back and is much the same concept. I have been using it on my commuter for the last year or so.
19 thoughts on “road.cc live blog: abominable bus driving and more”
I’d love to know what (if
I’d love to know what (if anything!) was going through that bus driver’s mind as they approached a red light with a bike stopped in front of them… Glad the rider wasn’t injured
brooksby wrote:
I would imagine it was complete surprise – to find one of these damned cyclists not jumping a red light – after all don’t they all jump red lights all of the time!
That Fuji bike isnt ‘totalled
That Fuji bike isnt ‘totalled’.
totalled means completely written off. In the picture, the frame is completely fine as are the forks, the front wheel, BB, Cranks/crank set and shifters.
All she would need is a new rear wheel, cassette, rear derailleur, new chain and the bikes ready to go again as soon as you’ve tubed and tyre’d up.
I estimate the damage is going to cost at least £200-300 to repair but the bike is in no way a complete write off. It just needs nursing back to health.
However… If TFL want to pay for a new bike then thats also very a very welcome outcome.
RoubaixCube wrote:
Bloody hell! You’ve got good eyesight.
don simon wrote:
Just zoom in, the frame doesnt look bent up or mangled at all.
Another thing to consider is the angle of the impact. The bus almost hit it dead on and not from an angle. The bike looks at an angle in the picture is because the bus pushed it there when it came to a stop. There wouldnt of been barely ANY stress to the frame or rear triangle as the pressure was on the back wheel and the backwheel obviously collapsed from it. The frame didnt hit the ground or get dragged under the busses wheels either so its not crushed.
Bike is still fully salvagable and serviceable once its been repaired. Unless the bike has been in several other potentially serious accidents/collisions before that we dont know about. Im saying is the frame still looks pretty much good to go from the picture.
—
You all dont need to agree, but this is just my own opinion based on my observation.
RoubaixCube wrote:
The main issue in all your observations is that you aren’t liable when it all goes wrong. Presume a shop (which will have to fill out a warranty form for TFL’s insurance) says the frame is fine and then something does go wrong, the shop is fully liable.
Also, given most shops don’t have a scanner to confirm the frames integrity it is a write off
RoubaixCube]
And yet you seemed so sure in your first post. I’m just glad that you’re not a bike mechanic.
don simon wrote:
I still am pretty sure actually. I think the bike is OK apart from the mangled wheel
RoubaixCube wrote:
My arse.
I would say that the cassette, rear derailleur & chain will have a better chance of being ok than the frame.
Biggest surprise for me is that the seat looks ok, if that had been my bike I think I’d have made a mess of it…
RoubaixCube wrote:
If the cost of repair is greater than the value of the item then it’s a write off.
*I don’t know the value of this bike though
Oh yes, no stresses will have
Oh yes, no stresses will have been passed through to the rear triangle (at minimum) at all.
1961BikiE wrote:
I was rear ended by a car which turned into a hit and run, the rear wheel, a 36 spoke Open pro/Dura Ace was completely pringled so the forces were pretty significant. Bike frame has being going strong with no alignment issues, or any other physical signs or out of place feelings in the 6 years since. Massive carbon seatstays IMO were the saving grace, that and the effect the tyre and wheel itself has at taking out some of the forces. People in the twatter thread were saying it would be on the axle/dropouts but actually it’d be a lot on the spokes/tyre/rim as they deform. You’d be surprised how much can be put on a well built wheel, I croggied a friend whilst fully loaded on a 32 hole OP/Ultegra, total all up weight on the bike was 190kg, not even a murmour.
It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if the frame was useable but for most they simply wouldn’t trust it even if it was and rightly so.
Why the polic were not called is anyone’s guess as a criminal offence has being committed.
Rear hub could have easily
Rear hub could have easily knocked rear triangles out of true.
Is it relevant that the
Is it relevant that the Twitterer’s freind (the cyclist) is a doctor?
simonmb wrote:
Absolutely. It means that if DM picks up the story, it can lead on heroic member of our beloved Nhs surviving terror attacks by (insert derogatory label based on bus driver’s origins here). Or bloody cyclist holding up traffic gets just desserts. Either works at Fail Towers.
Looks like the wheel’s been
Looks like the wheel’s been twisted enough for it to be touching the seat stays and the rear mech looks like it’s touching the ground.
I’d want a new frame, rear wheel, rear mech, chain, brake disk and reflector at the very least.
And a P45 for the driver!
LastBoyScout wrote:
It’ll buff out.
Exactly the same happened to
Exactly the same happened to me at London Bridge, with less damage. Bus driver just looked at me and shrugged. Amazing.
drosco wrote:
Did TFL or the bus company pay for the damages?