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Live blog: N Yorks campaigner calls for infrastructure not prestige events, Addison Lee plans to put driverless cabs in London by 2021, sneak peek at the new Pinarello gravel bike + more
All today’s news from the site and beyond as we start a new week
Mon, Oct 22, 2018 14:19
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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.
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Latest Comments
Simon14 59 minutes ago
Canyon’s tech bike of the future close passes etc. I’m thinking this from a few years ago could be scaled down, electrics powered off the di2 etc, gas from co2 , triggered by your Garmin radar? https://youtube.com/shorts/W7OSeqyjaxQ?is=nM5cgzNCMXcSKfDZ
chrisonabike 1 hour ago
@Aluminium can this argument isn't entirely spurious, what with over a century of literally rebuilding places / relative position of accommodation and amenities around motor vehicles. OTOH IIRC the majority of driven journeys are still of cyclable distance (although perhaps people are currently driving many such per day). Certainly cycle hangers are available as quick fixes in the home / work side (and / or Sheffield stands). They lack security though and are susceptible to motor vehicles driving into them. However to compete with the car in your garage * or in the multistory car park we ultimately need a rules change to encourage *suitable* cycle storage built in to new build, and ultimately decent cycle parking garages at transit hubs / in town (ideally manned). For existing housing provision perhaps something like the Dutch "bike parking 'shop' " eg. Conversion of existing property into a cycle garage? (Bicycle Dutch has a couple of good articles / videos on this topic, search "home bicycle parking") * who actually uses their garage to store mirror vehicles...?
StevenCrook 1 hour ago
There's something about a BMW. Last year I'd finished a climb and had pulled up onto the verge of a narrow lane a some way before a tight bend. Was just about to have a drink, take a photograph of the view when a shiny metallic blue BMW shot round the bend at about 60mph. If I'd not stopped I'd have been at the apex of the bend and smeared across the bonnet of the car. I've had some near misses but that one was really unnerving...
james-o 2 hours ago
Maybe I'll just go out on my MTB and ride in the woods. Thanks for reminding me of the future chaos you think the roads will be, Canyon - great message.
Accessibility for all 2 hours ago
@Rob Hart widening the carriageway increases driver confidence and consequently, driver speeds. Which makes the road more dangerous for all.
belugabob 2 hours ago
oh, there are totally predictable, unfortunately. I predict that they will kill 5 people, today, in the UK
Aluminium can 8 hours ago
Presumably there is some ideal city where everything is within cycling distance but there's also lots of space to store bikes. Hmm. I wonder if some of those car spots that occupy the same space as 10 bikes (or more) could be utilised?
chrisonabike 10 hours ago
If you're cycling in the UK. But just be careful about picking up discarded perfume bottles, watch who you drink tea with, don't cycle near Russian warships etc.
GravelIsNothingNew 11 hours ago
Vittoria Corsa NeXT are the answer for anyone who actually isn’t pro. Still better than Conti GP5000’s, more durable, better ride feel and better price. …the best way to not pay too much? Buy something else.
john1967 12 hours ago
I'm am more at threat from dangerous drivers than I am from russian snipers
24 thoughts on “Live blog: N Yorks campaigner calls for infrastructure not prestige events, Addison Lee plans to put driverless cabs in London by 2021, sneak peek at the new Pinarello gravel bike + more”
I do hope both Alex Dowsett
I do hope both Alex Dowsett and Chris Boardman have a punch up to decide this, it’s the only real way to find out who’s most right*
*that and graphs obvs. Everyone knows a graph always wins a debate.
I think we’re beyond graphs.
I think we’re beyond graphs. After St Sir Chris Lord Boardman’s latest vanquishing of the most recent addition to the Order of the Helmets, nothing less than a tapestry will do.
Just how small is the number Alex can count to, or are we really expected to believe that he hears multiple hundreds of stories per day. Also, loads of my friends tell me of the good times they have when pissed, countless stories. Should we make alcohol consumption mandatory?
I say this as someone who had a positive experience of a collision and a helmet, I still don’t think it needs to be compulsory…
Chris Boardman and Superman
Chris Boardman and Superman once had such a heated arguments about helmets that they bet that the loser would wear their underpants on the outside.
Cycling into Manchester (from
Cycling into Manchester (from the North West – Liverpool Street) is a joke at the moment. Roadworks on other nearby roads is forcing too much traffic into too small a volume of roads and the traffic lights at some junctions are just pointless as people just drive through them. Some cyclists too, sure, but absolutely shitloads of cars.
Chris Boardman was banned
Chris Boardman was banned from participating in time trails after the judge sentenced time to life imprisonment.
So if driverless cars a made
So if driverless cars a made to brake if there is an obstruction ahead then surely the safest place to cycle would be in front of one?
Ratfink wrote:
Only if the tech “sees” the cyclist, and that is the nub of the problem with driverless car in a nutshell.
usedtobefaster wrote:
Would take my chances with the tech versus the average Addison Lee driver!
gonedownhill wrote:
Good point …
usedtobefaster wrote:
And in the case or Mercedes cars, whether it chooses to prioritise people inside the car or outside of it.
When Chris Boardman crosses
When Chris Boardman crosses the road, the cars look both ways.
hawkinspeter wrote:
Chris Boardman doesn’t cross the road. The opposite pavement comes to him.
davel wrote:
I was going to ask “why does Chris Boardman cross the road?”, but no-one questions Chris Boardman’s intentions.
hawkinspeter wrote:
There is no ‘Chris Boardman’s intentions’; there is only ‘Chris Boardman does’ and ‘Chris Boardman does not’.
davel wrote:
I heard that Chris Boardman sleeps with a nightlight on – not because he’s afraid of the dark, but because the dark is afraid of him.
.. hang on a min.. the
.. hang on a min.. the ‘Grevil gravel bike’… all I can think of is G G G Granville the G G G Grevil G G G Gravel bike…
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… WTF… is that Alex Dowsett, he’s getting everywhere today!
Dowsett vs Boardman sums up
Dowsett vs Boardman sums up the helmet debate; one uses myths, rumours and apocryphal stories, the other uses facts, research and data. ‘Nuff said.
Except perhaps from “shut up Alex until you have the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”
The scary thing is that many
The scary thing is that many are saying, we don’t want compulsion but compulsion via the back door by encouraging people to wear them, all the whilst utterly ignoring the stats both for professional racing types, amateur racers and the ‘others’, also ignoring that head injuries sans helmets riding a bike is massively less than walking, driving and most other activities.
Or maybe types like Dowsett think the 1.3million annually reported head injuries (A figure accepted by the head injury orgs in the UK) are totally false, the c.160,000 hospital admittances from such are also false OR that they are all cyclists?
Given that the official figures are c.3100 serious cyclists injured (and the majority caused by errent motorists) maybe he thinks somehow this number are all head injuries and that somehow even if they were this is a much bigger issue than 160,000 that are admitted to hospital.
As I’ve said elsewhere when you have a ratio greater than 1000:1 if just comparing the admittances alone to 50% of all (seriously) injured cyclists being to the head, to then only promote helmets for people on bikes is not only ludicrous, it’s ignorant of basic stats, ignorant of studies that show the effects of helmet wearing.
It’s insideous creep, sickening and a slippery slope of only making matters worse as we have seen in the UK, in France, in US, in Canada, in Australia, in NZ, basically any country you want to pick that has seen significant increases in helmet wearing or compulsion. Time and again this has been shown to be true.
So we get compulsary helmet wearing and if you don’t, then what, NSW levels of fines that the police only focus on instead of killer drivers, and from that more injuries and deaths of cyclists who are then forced off the roads, more victim blaming by police, government, judges and cycling organisations?
DOWSETT YOU IGNORANT UNEDUCATED CUNT, YOUR WAY MAKES CYCLING MORE DANGEROUS AND PUTS ME AT MORE RISK, GO FUCK YOURSELF!
If I headbutt something then
If I headbutt something then I’d want to be wearing a helmet – I’d stand with Dowsett.
Thing is, I’d rather not headbutt anything at all – Boardman for PM!
2Loose wrote:
For ‘headbutting’, I hear you.
But most definitions of ‘headbutt’ don’t include drivers rear-ending, t-boning or left-hooking you, and helmets are a weird fixation in relation to such situations.
And I’d also rather not head
And I’d also rather not head but anything regardless of my mode of transport or activity.
Dowsett knew the reaction his tweet would get and was just being an attention whore.
The real debate here is how
The real debate here is how has Still Open All Hours ran for as long as Open All Hours? By eck they didn’t make much telly in them days.
Organon wrote:
That’s a tricky one.
Do we go by the time period or the number of series? The original ran from 1973 to 1985 although 1973 was just the pilot episode, so we might want to consider 1976 to 1985. Still Open All Hours has been running since 2013, so that’s just 5 years. If we go by series, then the original only had 4 series and the new one has just started its 5th series.
I can see the arguments carrying on for a long time.