Live blog: Leave v Remain poll: Leave the Lycra or remain in it? Brompton boss clarifies Mamil comments; Vogel inspiration; (Very) off piste cross country skier; What has the EU ever done for you? NewPirelli tyre +more
SUMMARY
Live blog: Brompton boss clarifies Mamil comments
Yesterday we reported on comments made by Will Butler-Adams, the head of Brompton Bicycles, regarding Mamils and why there’s such enmity between motorists and cyclists.
The Telegraph had it down as a ‘rant about middle-aged men in Lycra’ but it sounds more like Butler-Adams was ranting about the need to normalise cycling.
He says he was actually crediting Mamils with ‘bringing cycling back to life’ after it ‘died’ in the Fifties.
Somehow this seems to have been taken out of context. I said that cycling as a mode of transport died in the 50’s & MAMILS drove its rediscovery but if we want mass cycling in our cities we need to normalise it, with great infrastructure & mass participation. pic.twitter.com/ssaK7S222g
— Will Butler-Adams (@Will_Brompton) February 28, 2019
London cycling commissioner responds to predecessor's criticism
Yesterday we reported on Andrew Gilligan’s accusation that Sadiq Khan is presiding over the construction of a “fake cycle network”.
He said that in many areas the mayor is doing little more than adding Quietway signs to roads and claiming them as new routes.
We’ve just added the response from the current London cycling commissioner, Will Norman. You can read the story here.
Sticky side down
Great save from Jack Carlin over at the World Champs in Poland:
well held @jack_carlin97 pic.twitter.com/cR7vKPt9HO
— Callum Skinner (@CallumSkinner) March 1, 2019
Great Britain pipped by Australia in both men's and women's team pursuit at Track World Championships
New world record for the Aussie men’s team.
Laura Kenny won't be riding the omnium
After Great Britain took silver in the team pursuit, Laura Kenny said she wasn’t performing to her usual standards (see below).
A bit more on that.
Cross country skiing doping investigation uncovers links to cyclists
Austria’s National Anti-Doping Agency has been working alongside police for the last few months on Operation Aderlass.
It’s been pretty high profile in the world of cross-crounty skiing.
Video of Austrian police walking in on Nordic skier Max Hauke WHILE HE WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A BLOOD TRANSFUSIONhttps://t.co/1kUCPH1Mn7 pic.twitter.com/eOVethtfVY
— Neal Rogers (@nealrogers) February 28, 2019
It’s being reported that blood bags have been seized and that 50-60 athletes have been linked to the doctor involved – some of them cyclists.
Pirelli launch the Scorpion range of mountain bike tyres
Two years after launching their range of road tyres and a year after going road tubeless, Pirelli have finally hit the trails. There’s a tyre for hard terrain, soft terrain and a rear only option too. They’re available in the UK from March 2019, head over to off.road.cc for the full report.
Review of the Cinturato Velo tubeless is here and of the Pirelli P Zero silver road tyre here.
EU has agreed to change Road Infrastructure Safety Management directive to include safety of cyclists and pedestrians
While this might not apply to us by the end of the month, it’s good to hear the EU has agreed to have the needs of cyclists represented in the revision process of the Road Infrastructure Safety Management Directive, which the European Cyclist’s Federation said was previously car-centric. The ECF gave presentations for the European Commission and Members of the European Parliament and reached out to representatives of the Member States highlighting the importance of providing adequate infrastructure to all road users, including cyclists and pedestrians. They also prepared a set of amendments when the first legislative proposals were published.
Thanks in part to lobbying by the ECF, new changes to the RISM include:
– Member States shall take the needs of cyclists (as well as pedestrians and motorcyclists) into account in the implementation of all safety procedures defined in the Directive.
– The European Commission shall provide guidance on quality requirements regarding vulnerable road users. Those guidelines shall be developed in close cooperation with Member State experts. The ECF considers this a key element to make sure EU funding is not spent on infrastructure projects that are unsafe for cyclists or that create new barriers for cycling.
– Member States shall ensure that the training curricula for road safety auditors includes aspects related to cyclists and cycling infrastructure.
– Cycling traffic and cycling infrastructure are on the indicative list of data to be collected in the new procedure of network-wide road assessment. This should form a solid basis for more evidence-based policies.
Leave V Remain Poll: Leave the Lycra or Remain a MAMIL* and proud
Normalising cycling’s image as a mode of transport in the UK is a hot topic at the moment – the furore about Brompton boss, Will Butler Adams’, comments on Lycra and his clarification of them below is proof of that. It’s also reflected in the row over between former London Cycling Commissioner Andrew Gilligan and his successor over the substance of Sadiq Khan’s vaunted cycling infrastructure improvements in his term as mayor.
One thing we can all agree on though, Lycra the sight of cyclist’s in Lycra (particularly if they’re middle aged) does seem to get some people’s goat. So in our usual spirit of Friday Leave V Remain mutual love tolerance and respect we’re asking if you’d be prepared to do your bit to normalise the image of cycling by leaving the Lycra on your next urban adventure or will you remain a MAMIL/MAWIL (or some variety thereof) and proud? The poll is live – have your say!
If you need some inspiration...
For @KristinaVogel to be so positive after going through something so horrendous is nothing sort of incredible
More on her interview with @Chrishoy https://t.co/o62H0peRB2 pic.twitter.com/Rdn2nFlpWk
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) March 1, 2019
Watch Chris Hoy’s interview with Kristina Vogel. Hoy called her “an incredible human being”, and Vogel recently said her passion for cycling “still burns” despite her paralysis. Link to Hoy’s full length feature on the BBC here.
Motorist who claimed he was blinded by sun jailed for three years for killing cyclist
Why the hell would you choose to drive?
There must be a cyclist holding up all the traffic pic.twitter.com/i0Ilt1Acu4
— Jorgy (@Jorgy1967Tiger) February 27, 2019
Less cyclists holding up traffic on the way home pic.twitter.com/dzleZ9pVF2
— Jorgy (@Jorgy1967Tiger) February 27, 2019
Alex Dowsett crashes out on UAE Tour stage 6
#UAETOUR Unfortunately, @alexdowsett could not finish today’s stage 6 due to a crash. He was taken from the parcours to the hospital for examination. First diagnosis besides abrasions and bruises: fracture of the thumb. Get well soon, mate!
— Team KATUSHA ALPECIN (@katushacycling) March 1, 2019
Despite a fractured thumb, it seems like the Katusha-Alecin rider had a fairly lucky escape.
Near Miss of the Day 261: Oncoming driver forced to slam brakes on
Yeah, probably not really the right time to overtake judging by the smoking tyres of the fella going the other way.
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Latest Comments
AI is cancel culture Anyone who thinks it’s good has no talent and wants to be homogenised into a world of bland sameness.
@chrisonabike also a lot easier to wrap up when the 'hurty words' are telling people to burn down hotels hosting asylum seekers and then people go and do exactly that.
"The spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said the force was unable to comment on this recent spate of reported bikejackings because “they are not linked, given they are in different areas”." Because crims on mopeds _definitely_ can't travel to different areas of the city, very easily?
@Pub bike I run nokons on the Good Bike, very little compression on the outers, both xtr brake and gears. For the several years I will keep the well lubricated quality nokons inners I will have to adjust to take the little slack out of the rear a few times, just to make the shifts crisp. Ceramic brakes so pad wear is negligible, the rear will need more adjustment over time than the front, presumably as it's a much longer cable run. Nokons cables on the rohloff on the Ultimate Commuter, have had to take some slack out, mainly out of the getting lower gear cable, I'm guessing as I often trying to find the non existent lower gear on the hard climb.
@imajez Brake adjusters mainly deal with pad wear whilst gear adjusters fine tune shifting during set-up and after fitting a new inner cable. Brake outer housing is spiral-wound and compressible giving compliance at the lever and the false impression that the inner cable somehow stretches whereas the metal strands in gear outer housing are laid axially and as such the outer housing doesn't easily compress over time keeping shifting precise. I find that a previously well-adjusted rear derailleur system that needs adjustment likely needs a new inner cable.
I ride expensive bikes wearing expensive helmets, my bike equipped with an expensive bike computer, fitness watch and cell phone. I carry my debit card. I worry. You would expect anyone living in Chicago to worry about bike jacking. Yet, for some strange reason. The Chicago land criminal community has not caught on to bike jacking. They like retail break ins and ATM smash ups.
@mattw "footpaths" Hmm... true this is an underappreciated resource and indeed in danger. But I think this is very location dependent. If we're taking in urban locations, are you talking alleys - narrow almost always no room for expansion? Or "footways" - also often not ample and we're back to "fighting over scraps" with pedestrians or even forced-conflict with "shared use"? In the countryside - perhaps? If what goes in NL applies more generally (and why wouldn't it - they're humans too) more people may be prepared to travel on bikes there than UK opinion holds. ("people depend on their cars... nobody cycles or walks ... the non-existent footway beside the A-road!"). Although that may depend on "cyclists and walkers get the direct route" which isn't always how we do it...
@james-o Cable brakes and gear shifters have have barrel adjusters to deal with the inevitable cable stretch, that most certainly occurs over time.
@mattw I believe this is exactly the kind of thing that The Ranty Highwayman and Robert Weetman worked on for Manchester City Council. Fixing it for pedestrians *ought* to be uncontroversial. It *ought* to be a path that actually "works" to move forward for the UK. I believe Chris Boardman had success in Manchester with an approach which largely emphasised this (plus buses). BUT... I do wonder if this leaves us stuck at pretty much the status quo - because it reinforces the current "either walking, or driving" split. First we'd get "can't have cycling infra because cycling gets in the way of cars and threatens pedestrians". Then most people simply won't walk far (especially if eg. carrying shopping). Which leads to "we still really need cars!" even for very local trips. Which then kills off active travel again, because cars take up too much space and suppress active travel.
10 thoughts on “Live blog: Leave v Remain poll: Leave the Lycra or remain in it? Brompton boss clarifies Mamil comments; Vogel inspiration; (Very) off piste cross country skier; What has the EU ever done for you? NewPirelli tyre +more”
Can’t argue with that.
Can’t argue with that.
Typical newspaper trying to
Typical newspaper trying to make controversy where there is none.
Typical newspaper trying to
Typical newspaper trying to make controversy where there is none.
Typical newspaper trying to
Typical newspaper trying to make controversy where there is none.
He needed to clarify his
He needed to clarify his comments because it came across that a person who sells bikes was criticising people who buy bikes. Not a good look.
Miller wrote:
He’s been in the industry for years – always incredibly positive about cycling. So is it him that’s in the wrong or the journalist looking for something to exploit….
I know what I’d bet on.
I’ll take Will B-A’s word for
I’ll take Will B-A’s word for it – there’s no way I’m signing up to The Torygraph to read the full hatchet job…sorry, article. Before I read that explanation from him, I did think it might just be his ‘Gerald Ratner moment’.
“He says he was actually
“He says he was actually crediting Mamils with ‘bringing cycling back to life’ after it ‘died’ in the Fifties.”
This is how I read it from the quotes in road.cc but the headline said the opposite. I shall take my Brompton off the bonfire as soon as I get home. Hope no one has lit it 😛
StoopidUserName wrote:
That was how I’d read it too as I couldn’t quite tally the headline with the actual comment, so just assumed there must have been more in the paywalled Torygraph article, but seemingly not
Worthy of Rita Skeeter I’d
Worthy of Rita Skeeter I’d say!