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Live blog: Hop it, bike share – POGO STICK start-up enters urban mobility market; Third time lucky? Ian To in new LEJOG record attempt; Amsterdam moped riders protest against cycle lane ban; Another new MacAskill video; + more

All today's news from the site and beyond...
04 June 2019, 18:50
Ian To LEJOG record attempt (picture via Plejog on Twitter).jpg
Third time lucky? Ian To targets Land’s End-John O’Groats record again

Wiltshire ultracyclist Ian To will be having a fresh crack at the Land’s End to John O’Groats record in the coming weeks – and after two previous failed attempts, will be hoping it’s third time lucky.

No precise date has been set for his latest crack at the record – or rather, records, because he has no fewer than four in his sights.

Those are:

LEJOG Guinness World Record – 44 hours, 4 minutes and 20 seconds

(set 2001)

LEJOG Road Records Association Record – 43 hours, 25 minutes and 13 seconds (2018)

1000 Miles – 55 hours and 59 minutes (2001)

24 Hour Record – 507 miles (2018).

The Swindon Wheelers member is waiting for conditions to be just right – a weather forecast of dry, not to hot unlike last summer’s heatwave, and a decent enough tailwind to put that RRA record within reach would be ideal.

A crowdfunding page has been set up for the effort and is currently just over hallway past the £3,500 target.

We wish him all the best.

04 June 2019, 17:33
Hop it, hire bikes – POGO STICKS start-up enters the urban mobility market

Bike-share firms apparently have a new rival in the urban mobility market – with a Swedish start-up set to launch pogo stick hire operations in San Francisco and London.

According to a report – admittedly, one that is rather sceptical in tone – on SFist.com, Cangoroo plans to launch first in Malmo and Stockholm this summer, before going international.

The company’s CEO Adam Mikkelsen, who is adamant the company isn’t a hoax, says that "the existing players [in the micro-mobility market] are very generic when it comes to brand loyalty and making a statement."

We’re not sure what he’s on about, either.

Apparently, the business is owned by ODD Company, which may give a bit more insight into what’s going on – it’s a branding and communications agency that has previous in headline-grabbing stunts.

Spoof or straight up, it does strike us though that it’s a shame that the name Jump – the Uber-owned electric bike and scooter hire business that had its London launch last week – was already taken.

04 June 2019, 12:43
Amsterdam moped riders protest after being banned from cycle lanes

Moped riders in Amsterdam have been out protesting against a new law that forces them out of cycle lanes and also makes it compulsory for them to wear helmets, reports The Guardian.

According to the Guardian, nearly 50,000 people have backed a petition which says that making people on mopeds ride alongside faster-moving motor traffic will cause more collisions, while consultation on the new law received an unprecedented number of comments.

Despite a €95 fine, many are ignoring the law, with one woman riding her moped in a cycle lane saying: “It hasn’t been properly thought through.

“It’s very unclear when we are allowed on the bike lane and where we aren’t, and there are certain junctions where there’s just not enough space on the road. I find it absolutely terrifying.”

Amsterdam’s bicycle mayor, Katelijne Boerma, commented: “If there’s a lack of space – which is the case for cyclists – then people start behaving badly and the bike lanes and a lot of pavements in the centre for pedestrians have a kind of ‘surviving the jungle’ attitude.

“We all need to work on our fietsfatsoen, which is an old-fashioned word for courtesy. The taxi driver blames the cyclist, the tram driver blames the car driver … but at the end of the day traffic is all of us.”

04 June 2019, 11:55
Another new Danny MacAskill video just landed

The street trials ace from Skye has been spoiling us recently - this latest one is a collaboration with Adidas Outdoor.

04 June 2019, 11:51
Drawing Pins (picture copyright Tass Whitby).PNG
"Hundreds" of drawing pins thrown from moving BMW into cyclists' path - then car occupants film aftermath

Nasty incident in Worcestershire at the weekend. Lots of riders punctured, but none injured, thankfully.

Read the story here.

04 June 2019, 09:54
Hunt updates gravel wheels range

Hunt has been busy updating its gravel wheels range with wider rims to support big tyres, and tougher freehub bodies.

Hunt 650B Adventre Sport 2019 - 1

The Mason X Hunt 650B Adventure Sport Disc wheelset (£319) has an updated rim with a 25mm internal width. It was 20mm previously. The external width is 29mm and the rim depth is 19mm.

It is made from 6066-T6 aluminium alloy which has a higher impact resistance than 6061. Hunt says that the rim is suited to tyre widths from 35-50mm.

Mason X Hunt H 650B Adventure Sport Disc Ceramik hub - 1

The rear wheel uses the new 4 Season Disc FastEngage hub, 4x1 pawl arrangement, resulting in an engagement angle of 10° following coasting and, like the other wheels below, features Hunt's new H_Ceramik freehub body reinforcement coating which is also found on the Hunt 30 Carbon Dynamo Disc wheel that Dave Atkinson reviewed for us earlier in the year. This makes the surface of the alloy extremely hard so there's no need for a steel insert to stop the sprockets biting into the metal. It does an excellent job.

Hunt 4 Season Gravel Disc X-Wide - 1

The Hunt 4 Season Gravel Disc X-Wide wheelset (£329) uses the same H_Ceramik freehub body coating and the same rim profile but it's a 700c size.

Hunt 650B Adventure Carbon Disc 2019 - 1

The 650B Adventure Carbon Disc wheelset (£899) has a unidirectional T24/30 rim (with 3K weave reinforced spoke holes) with a 24mm internal width and a 30mm external width. It's 22mm deep.

This one features the new 4 Season Disc RapidEngage hub, with the 3x2 pawl arrangement resulting in an engagement angle of 5°. It also has the H_Ceramik coating on the freehub body too.

The wheels are easily adapted to different axle standards with push fit end caps.

www.huntbikewheels.com

04 June 2019, 09:20
Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome on Tour de France podium (via YouTube)
Froome or Thomas? Wiggins looks ahead to Tour de France

Sir Bradley Wiggins has been looking ahead to next month's Tour de France on his Eurosport podcast - and particularly, what the dynamic might be between the Team Ineos pairing of four-time winner Chris Froome and defending champion Geraint Thomas.

He says that Thomas would work for Froome if he needed to - but repeatedly said that he hopes the Welshman is in the same form he was last year when he clinched the yellow jersey.

No prizes for guessing who the Wiggins household hopes will do better out of ythe pair.

 

04 June 2019, 09:02
Lime-E bike in Ealing (copyright Simon MacMichael)
Dockless hire bike reportedly damages car after falling in it - so who is liable?

An interesting piece over on Guardian Money at the weekend. A Lime docklesss hire bike reportedly fell onto a parked car, causing £900 damage, but the company is refusing to compensate the vehicle's owner, and says it is the responsibility of whoever last hired the bike.

However, it won't reveal the identity of that person unless it is forced to od so under a subpoena - read the full story here.

The other issue that occurs to us is, if you do hire one of their bikes and leave it well away from parked cars and later get a £900 bill because someone else (without hiring it) moved it or even deliberately damaged the car with the bike, how would you feel?

 

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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19 comments

Avatar
Dr_Lex | 5 years ago
2 likes

Pogo sticks? As a long-time reader of 2000AD, I’m holding out for BOING (R)

Avatar
brooksby replied to Dr_Lex | 5 years ago
1 like

Dr_Lex wrote:

Pogo sticks? As a long-time reader of 2000AD, I’m holding out for BOING (R)

The people in the pogo sticks picture appear to be wearing cycling helmets.  Given that (AIUI) you're supposed to replace such a helmet if you fall off/hit it, you're going to buying an awful lot of cycling helmets if you decide to commute by pogo stick... 

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
0 likes

So did they park right next to the cycle and not consider the outcome if it toppled over (in the wind) or was accidentally knocked by a psser by, or was the cycle parked up after the owner left their motor?

Seems to me that if the former then it's down to the car owner, who would park right next to such, but it's difficult for them to prove either way so that could be a sticking point. And with all due respect £900 for that dent is laughable nonsense, a silver wing are ten a penny, you could get a decent s/h one and get it fitted for half that, getting it sorted by a decent local body company would be less still.

That's all taking the incident on face value that the bike 'fell over' in the first instance, looks like the wing is made of fag papers to make such a dent!

Avatar
squidgy replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
1 like
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

So did they park right next to the cycle and not consider the outcome if it toppled over (in the wind) or was accidentally knocked by a psser by, or was the cycle parked up after the owner left their motor?

Seems to me that if the former then it's down to the car owner, who would park right next to such, but it's difficult for them to prove either way so that could be a sticking point. And with all due respect £900 for that dent is laughable nonsense, a silver wing are ten a penny, you could get a decent s/h one and get it fitted for half that, getting it sorted by a decent local body company would be less still.

That's all taking the incident on face value that the bike 'fell over' in the first instance, looks like the wing is made of fag papers to make such a dent!

A Paintless Dent Repairer will probably have that fixed for 25-30% of the quoted price.

Avatar
kingleo | 5 years ago
0 likes

Was the car made of papier-mache?

Avatar
Hirsute | 5 years ago
0 likes

Who is responsible for the bike once the hire period is over?

How long (in seconds) should the last hirer wait to ensure the bike will not topple over?

What duty of care is there to avoid placing it where someone might bump into the bike?

What duty of care is there not to bump into the bike ?

 

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
0 likes

On the one hand, I agree with Fluffy and Brooksby about the injustice of rich capitalist car owners leaving expensive vehicles lying around.

On the other hand, there's the expectation of people not damaging property.

Personally, I think that corporations should be held responsible for their waste - especially if they have their brand name all over it. Tescos should be charged for recovering their trolleys out of canals and McDonalds should have to pay for collecting all their empty wrappers etc.

Avatar
brooksby | 5 years ago
0 likes

Personally, I'm just a bit sick of public bike racks and footpaths and other areas being 'littered' with these dockless hire-bikes  *

Completely agree with Fluffy Kitten's comment above about "Why does a child owe you such a degree of care as to avoid ever stumbling into your stupidly-expensive-yet-fragile thing that you've left in a public place?" - if you're that worried about it, rent somewhere private to store it.

 

 

*Yes, I'm aware of the irony** that we have to put up with public areas being 'littered' with people's private motor vehicles.

 

 

**Is it irony?  I can never get my head around that, whatever Alanis M may say...

Avatar
fixedwhip | 5 years ago
2 likes

I live in Copenhagen, where mopeds are allowed in the bike lane, and it is extremely annoying. They do drive slowly (around 20-25 km/h), which means that they are not a danger due to their speed, but this means that you will end up spending a long time behind them, due to them being a bit wider so overtaking is harder. As a result, you end up with a face full of exhaust fumes. Another issue is that they act like people on bikes, doing things like turning right on red lights (illegal for everyone, but some people do it anyway). The majority of the time they have number plates, so they can go on the road, but they choose not to. You wouldn't behave like that in a car, so why should it change on any other mode of transport? I'd be thrilled if they were banned from bike lanes, because they certainly aren't bikes!

Avatar
burtthebike | 5 years ago
2 likes

"...nearly 50,000 people have backed a petition which says that making people on mopeds ride alongside faster-moving motor traffic will cause more collisions,..."

Just like cyclists having to ride alongside faster moving mopeds.....

Does anyone have a good used irony meter?  Mine just broke.

Avatar
EddyBerckx | 5 years ago
0 likes

Ultimately these damn things litter the pavements of London and a lot are on their sides - I dont believe the users would leave them like that tbh...I do believe they get accidentally and deliberately knocked over however. Lime is at fault here, unless they can prove the previous user did it

Avatar
robthehungrymonkey | 5 years ago
0 likes

I don't really see why Lime should pay? 

I wouldn't expect a baseball bat manufacturer to pay for damage caused. Or anything else. I've never had a car that hasn't been damaged in some way when i've left it parked somewhere.

I can kind of see why people are annoyed about the bikes being left on the street, but that's another subject and it doesn't reallly bother me much (there are far more ugly things already littering our streets).

 

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to robthehungrymonkey | 5 years ago
2 likes

robthehungrymonkey wrote:

I don't really see why Lime should pay? 

I wouldn't expect a baseball bat manufacturer to pay for damage caused. Or anything else. I've never had a car that hasn't been damaged in some way when i've left it parked somewhere.

I can kind of see why people are annoyed about the bikes being left on the street, but that's another subject and it doesn't reallly bother me much (there are far more ugly things already littering our streets).

I wouldn't expect a baseball bat manufacturer to not sell their bats, but to hire them out to anyone and then complain when bad-uns use them to beat people up.

If Lime are happy for their bikes to be left anywhere, then why shouldn't they be held responsible for any damages caused by their business model? Lime remain the legal owner of their bikes and thus should be the first port of call for anyone seeking redress.

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
2 likes

I'd expect Lime to bear full responsibility for its lacksadaisical attitude to littering the streets with its bikes. If Lime want to recoup their costs from the previous hirer, then that's their business (and they'll probably need CCTV evidence if it goes to court).

It's unreasonable to expect a member of the public to recoup costs against an unknown hirer - if Lime want to plaster their name all over a bike that they own, then they should be held accountable for any damage that it causes.

I think the car owner should just take Lime to court and recoup their costs that way.

Avatar
Kendalred | 5 years ago
2 likes

Dockless bike - interesting. I suppose there's nothing to stop you saying you left the bike well away from the road and parked cars, so somebody else must have moved it. Then again most city and town centres are extensively covered with CCTV - the issue is would those who 'own' the CCTV footage be expected to release it for something that is not really a criminal matter?

Plus - even if you have left it next to a parked car - should you be liable if the thing is unstable?

This could run for some time. Plus - £900 for damaged caused by a falling bike? Yeah, right!

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to Kendalred | 5 years ago
1 like

The dockless bike case is confusing to me.  I can't actually decide what I think about it.

 

(What is meant by 'falling'?  Toppling over?  Falling usually implies dropping from a height.  Did someone drop it out of a window!)

 

For one thing, if something (i.e. the car) can suffer such expensive damage so easily, just from something toppling over next to it, surely you shouldn't be leaving that thing unattended in a public area?

 

But one could say the bike-hire company are creating a problem by leaving potential weapons/hazards lying around improperly-secured in public areas, I guess.  If someone left glass bottles in the street, maybe they could be held liable if someone hits someone with one?

 

But if I shove someone's parked car against someone else's parked car (or a locked-up bike!), causing damage, is the owner of the first car legally liable?  What if I set fire to it and it explodes, damaging everything else in the vicinity, eh?

 

I can't work out the general principle involved.

 

(And can we sue manufacturers or sellers of drawing pins?)

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to FluffyKittenofTindalos | 5 years ago
0 likes

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

The dockless bike case is confusing to me.  I can't actually decide what I think about it.

 

(What is meant by 'falling'?  Toppling over?  Falling usually implies dropping from a height.  Did someone drop it out of a window!)

 

For one thing, if something (i.e. the car) can suffer such expensive damage so easily, just from something toppling over next to it, surely you shouldn't be leaving that thing unattended in a public area?

 

But one could say the bike-hire company are creating a problem by leaving potential weapons/hazards lying around improperly-secured in public areas, I guess.  If someone left glass bottles in the street, maybe they could be held liable if someone hits someone with one?

 

But if I shove someone's parked car against someone else's parked car (or a locked-up bike!), causing damage, is the owner of the first car legally liable?  What if I set fire to it and it explodes, damaging everything else in the vicinity, eh?

 

I can't work out the general principle involved.

 

(And can we sue manufacturers or sellers of drawing pins?)

As I see it, there's two issues:

The person who "causes" the damage through an action (e.g. shoving a parked car against another) should be the person held responsible if it looks like an intentional action.

The owner of the vehicle that is "causing" the damage can be held responsible if they were negligent (e.g. not applying the hand-brake or fitting sub-standard bike stands).

As Lime are not disclosing the identity of the previous hirer (which I think is correct as they have not been issued any sub-peona to do so and they need to respect their customers' privacy), then they should be held responsible for the damage. If they have no wish to be held responsible, then they should stop putting their company's name all over the vehicles.

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
3 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

The dockless bike case is confusing to me.  I can't actually decide what I think about it.

 

(What is meant by 'falling'?  Toppling over?  Falling usually implies dropping from a height.  Did someone drop it out of a window!)

 

For one thing, if something (i.e. the car) can suffer such expensive damage so easily, just from something toppling over next to it, surely you shouldn't be leaving that thing unattended in a public area?

 

But one could say the bike-hire company are creating a problem by leaving potential weapons/hazards lying around improperly-secured in public areas, I guess.  If someone left glass bottles in the street, maybe they could be held liable if someone hits someone with one?

 

But if I shove someone's parked car against someone else's parked car (or a locked-up bike!), causing damage, is the owner of the first car legally liable?  What if I set fire to it and it explodes, damaging everything else in the vicinity, eh?

 

I can't work out the general principle involved.

 

(And can we sue manufacturers or sellers of drawing pins?)

As I see it, there's two issues:

The person who "causes" the damage through an action (e.g. shoving a parked car against another) should be the person held responsible if it looks like an intentional action.

The owner of the vehicle that is "causing" the damage can be held responsible if they were negligent (e.g. not applying the hand-brake or fitting sub-standard bike stands).

As Lime are not disclosing the identity of the previous hirer (which I think is correct as they have not been issued any sub-peona to do so and they need to respect their customers' privacy), then they should be held responsible for the damage. If they have no wish to be held responsible, then they should stop putting their company's name all over the vehicles.

 

I guess,and I do think there is a parallel with, say, pubs leaving beer glasses around that someone might misuse as a weapon.

 

  But the second issue does seem quite subjective.  What is considered 'negligent' is going to depend on the general 'norms' and what every body else does.  I think the source of my confusion is that there seem to be different rules applied to leaving cars in the street than other objects.

 

I dimly remember an episode of Judge Judy a long, long, time ago, where the owner of an expensive car sued a low-income single-parent becuase her child scratched the car's paintwork while skateboarding past it.  Judy ruled in favour of the expensive car-owner.  It irked me because I just thought "why did you leave such a delicate expensive item there in the first place?'  Why does a child owe you such a degree of care as to avoid ever stumbling into your stupidly-expensive-yet-fragile thing that you've left in a public place?

Avatar
Capt Sisko replied to Kendalred | 5 years ago
0 likes

Kendalred wrote:

......................... Plus - £900 for damaged caused by a falling bike? Yeah, right!

That isn't unsuprising to me.  A car scraped and put a small hole in the front bumber of my Insignia last year. The bill to the insurance company was about £850, plus two weeks car hire. However my Insignia is relatively new and as been pointed out the damaged car isn't in its first flush of youth. BUT the driver is still entiled to have the damaged repaired.

Going back to the articlenews the Guardian report seeing several Lime bikes knocked over:-

"Two weeks ago, no fewer than five Lime bikes left outside the Guardian HQ were lying on their sides. They reportedly have a sensor that relays this information back to the company."

And furthermore offer opion from a law firm: -

"    Consumer expert Jonathan Silverman, a senior consultant with the London law firm Laytons, says it is an interesting case.

“The company appears to be relying on the fact that it has launched an education programme to persuade users how to park these bikes, but I’m not sure how much evidence there is for that – particularly here in London,” he says. “If it were to go to court, the reader could argue that the company had failed in its duty of care to the wider public. For a claim to succeed, I think you’d have to show that these bikes are defective. I can say, from personal experience, they are somewhat top-heavy and prone to falling. There is plenty of evidence online of them falling over, and it is worth trying a claim,” he adds.    "

A heavy battery on a rack sounds just the recipe for a top heavy bike, particularly when parked. Maybe Lime do have a case to answer for if it can be shown that the bike are too easy to knock over.

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