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Live blog: Specialist bike shop Ubyk reportedly ceases trading – but has it found a buyer? Team Sky sacrifice aero gains for festive spirit; County Down cycle lane cleared by ‘bloke with shovel’ + more
In today’s cheesy festive pro promo vid of the day, Team Sky are apparently ‘cold’ in Mallorca, so the wagon stepped in to give them something festive to warm up…
Thu, Dec 20, 2018 15:19
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Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn’t especially like cake.
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mdavidford 51 minutes ago
Road.cc staff all ride like Pogačar? Sounds dubious to me.
mitsky 1 hour ago
@Rome73 I assume You don't have video evidence. As it would be worth submitting to the DVSA to let them know that driver's eyesight is poor enough to have their licence revoked.
tomlew 1 hour ago
@Rendel Harris If only you'd read my previous comment more carefully... I clearly justified my position by appealing to the concept of a public good. The TdF isn't one, so why are you demanding to decide how the investor should spend their money? That is exactly the middle ground you're talking about — leaving control in the hands of the owners when the goods in question are not indispensable, while retaining control over essential ones. BTW, monopoly? I imagine there are hundreds of other public events in most UK towns. Are you going to hire an army of public officers and introduce price regulation for rock concerts as well?
Rendel Harris 2 hours ago
@tomlew Yes, there's absolutely no middle ground between disgracefully exploitative overcharging and giving things away for free, is there? Just sit back and accept whatever private companies want to charge once they have achieved a monopoly of something and be happy, marvellous. Don't complain or ask for fair pricing because that would be "spending someone else's money". It's worked so well with water and power and fuel and rent, hasn't it?
tomlew 2 hours ago
@Rendel Harris So where's my new bike? I feel I deserve it, so I guess you owe me one now. It's always so easy to spend somebody else's money, isn't it?
Rendel Harris 3 hours ago
@tomlew Ah, good old "market forces", the excuse for price gouging everywhere. Just because you can get away with charging stupid prices doesn't mean you should or that it's right to do so.
tfg62 3 hours ago
I bought mine more than 4 years ago and have used it many times, flying all over Europe - exclusively with BA. The baggage handlers have given them a good thumping. We've had the frame itself dented significantly and pierced (one assumes - and Ed from Buxumbox confirms - this is hard to do on the shell cage!) The sides are dented, as expected, and were pierced on one occasion. We witnessed a baggage handler at Tenerife airport lift and throw our boxes onto the conveyor belt single handed. It bounced off the edge of the belt at least once. One of the boxes also started to behave like a shopping trolley so I have replaced the front wheels (now a new design) and I was told that this is due to the box being dropped onto them. The bikes have - up to now - always survived this handling. Does anyone have any tips on how to dissuade a single baggage handler do this? Do you overestimate the weight so that they might be inclined to get two baggage handler to move them? They are certainly great for quick disassembly and re-assembly, albeit a pain to get a taxi for. A Mercedes Vito with the rear seats down or removed, a Renault Scenic likewise. Two (with two small cases) also fit inside a Dacia Jogger with the rear seats down - perhaps we should have a database...?
Rome73 5 hours ago
I know many a mechanic who feels fear every time one of her branded cycles is presented for a service. They are astoundingly bad quality; cheap components, shoddily put together, difficult to adjust and usually not worth it. The Pendleton e-bikes are exceptionally cr@p. Why do people put their names to such rubbish?
tomlew 6 hours ago
@Rendel Harris Market forces, probably. But I'm no expert. I realize some of us here love cycling, but what would make forfeiting extra income excusable? And even if the tickets were cheaper, how would you prevent extra demand so that people prevented from participating would not complain about being treated unfairly? Why don't we simply acknowledge TdF is not a public good, it is just another commercial event. With a bit of luck you can probably survive without it.
ChrisA 13 hours ago
@slownomad From the DVSA/DoT Guidance Notes that your link refers to: "To be classified as an EAPC under the EAPC regulations[footnote 1], the cycle must:" etc. . It then goes on to say: "If an EAPC does not comply with the regulations, it is treated as a motor vehicle under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and the Road Traffic Act 1988" So no, it does not say that the only EAPC is a legal EAPC. As you say bike may refer to pedal cycles or motorbikes. E-bike logically follows the same usage and includes EAPCs. "Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle" is a technical description. The EAPC Regulations 1983 allow for some EAPCs to be treated in law as pedal cycles. The Guidance Notes finish with a disclaimer: "This guidance is a summary of DfT’s understanding of what the law requires." etc.. & finishes with "You are therefore advised to consult the relevant legislation and, if necessary, seek independent advice." So even the DVSA & DoT don't actually know what it all means.
19 thoughts on “Live blog: Specialist bike shop Ubyk reportedly ceases trading – but has it found a buyer? Team Sky sacrifice aero gains for festive spirit; County Down cycle lane cleared by ‘bloke with shovel’ + more”
Well done Terry, is there
Well done Terry, is there some sort of award road.cc could give him?
Had something similar last year, with overgrowing foliage blocking the local paths, so I got the battery powered hedge trimmer out and sorted it myself, didn’t even bother wasting my time asking the council.
burtthebike wrote:
The cordless Hedge Trimmer is the tool of power for those in a similar position, you can do so much in so little time with them and they re about as safe as they possibly can be to use… weve kept a 7.4km long greenway clear for over five years using two of them !
scrapper wrote:
Nice one.
I’m kind of hoping that you use two of them yourself – one in each hand, swinging your arms in great circles whilst letting out a rampaging war cry against foliage.
HawkinsPeter wrote:
The cordless Hedge Trimmer is the tool of power for those in a similar position, you can do so much in so little time with them and they re about as safe as they possibly can be to use… weve kept a 7.4km long greenway clear for over five years using two of them !
— scrapper Nice one. I’m kind of hoping that you use two of them yourself – one in each hand, swinging your arms in great circles whilst letting out a rampaging war cry against foliage.— burtthebike
Juggling them surely?
Whilst rending the air with screams against the austerity that means the councils don’t have the resources to trim a hedge anymore.
burtthebike wrote:
Technically, it only counts as juggling if you use less hands than objects, so for two hedge trimmers you’d have to use one hand (which to be fair is quite feasible – ex-juggler here).
HawkinsPeter wrote:
Sorry, but that picture would only count if it was a squirrel juggling the shears or the man juggling sharpened squirrels.
burtthebike wrote:
Tough crowd!
HawkinsPeter wrote:
Oh no it’s not!
CygnusX1 wrote:
Is this some kind of joke to you?
HawkinsPeter wrote:
All a bit soft really that, a real man juggles chain saws in a ring of fire
burtthebike wrote:
Please send that man my road.cc socks, which I am going to win of course.
Elf and Safety gone mad,
Elf and Safety gone mad, innit?
If its not safe for a council worker to walk along with a broom then surely it is not safe as a cycle lane / pedestrian footway either. Ciouncil effectively admitting that the infrastructure they built is not fit for purpose.
Or if its safe enough for pedestrians and cyclists surely a bloke with a hand cart and broom or even a snazzy little pavement sweeper EV could manage to negotiate it without dying a gruesome death?.
Astonishingly, are not liable
Astonishingly, councils/authorities are not liable for “accretions” on the highway, and councils hide behind this to avoid keeping roads clean.
(Section 41(1) of the Highways Act 1980).
I wonder if tory Cllr Susan
I wonder if tory Cllr Susan Webb also considers the billions spent on building more roads to encourage more people to drive everwhere “vanity projects”? Or is that particular epithet only applicable to schemes to get people out of their cars.
^^ forget the ring of fire,
^^ forget the ring of fire, real men wear a neckerchief and no shirt ^^
Ubyk saga on STW. Long read
Ubyk saga on STW. Long read but the new owner appears to discuss the situation in more detail.
hopster wrote:
Aside from the shittyness of losing money to a fraudulent company, that’s an amusing thread in the typical STW competition for stupid prize and other internet stalking (for the wrong person, obvs) wankery.. Hat off to the new owner, even after the demands that he pays out for the previous owner’s shenanigans, and suppliers stepping in.
Head down TTing kills. Not a
Head down TTing kills. Not a great advert really. Plus, his helmet with the head down is so un-aero that he is being overtaken by a lovely lady on her shopping bike! Pahhh!
The old Ubyk owners seen like
The old Ubyk owners seen like scam artists after reading stw. New owner seems daft wanting to use a name with much bad will associated.