Live blog: Kangaroo takes out cyclist, rider turns bike into boat to clear plastic waste from London waterways, and more

One instinctively knows when something is right...

@IanGlasgow it seems that geography - like weather - isn't necessarily a major barrier to cycling. "Culture" is a thing, but I'm not sure it's always so important for change. Counter examples: there's growing amounts of cycling in some decidedly hilly places in Switzerland and Norway - and both have winter. Seville has summer heat and I'm not aware it had much cycling culture before a cycle *network* was built. There's cycling now... I do think there are two key parts to increasing cycling modal share (which isn't a goal itself for most people but I think inevitably emerges as part of the answer to "we need nicer places, more resilient urban transport" etc.) One part is that "mixing with lots of (fast) motor traffic" is a complete blocker for many people (and unpleasant for all). The other part is that cycling a journey has to be not just attractive but also attractive relative to driving it. In Bristol's case I wonder if it's partly that the convenience of parking and driving in the centre have been lowered (because some relatively "narrow streets" and lots of other drivers, leading to congestion / competition)? They have also done a lot of work on making *networks* of routes, some on completely separate infra (they're building new even now). Even if the quality of the cycle infra overall is very variable. * Edinburgh has hills - indeed a mini mountain - but very many "journeys" are on flattish or only gradually sloping routes. Bristol's gradients are noticeably sharper and there just seem to be more ups and downs on any route I took (excepting the former railway path).

Yeah, but what do I need mudguards for on the turbo?

There are a few other caveats with buying stolen, er, I mean 'used', from FaceBay, etc. that didn't get a mention.

@oceandweller That Cervelo has absolutely no clearance for mudguards either.

@60somethingcyclist ...and the reason that they're so arrogant? It's because they know the Old Bill won't come running for this. They've never taken bike theft seriously. Best thing is to make it as difficult as possible for them; I double lock my bike now.

The V2X had better vibrate the handlebars stronger than the questionable road quality around here for us to even feel it!

It's even worse than that. There are no lamp brackets for battery powered lights supplied by Halfords. I don't think you could easily fit a dynamo as an alternative.

"You scream and shout, but they just chuckle, brandish the angle grinder, get on the bikes and cycle off"

So the "buy a lower end bike" section is "acquire a Tour de France bike for less by buying...a bike that isn't used in the Tour de France..."