Welcome to FriYAY’s Live Blog with Liam Cahill (AM) and Simon MacMichael (PM)
- News
The Downfall of eBikes; WTF of the Day – Send your clips in; Bespoked handbuilt bike show postponed; Froome: Portal “is completely irreplaceable”; World’s priciest bidon (probably); & more
SUMMARY
HOW MUCH?!?


We come across some pretty hopeful prices on eBay for old tat, but this one takes the crown.
Ok, so it might be vintage and significant in the history of cycling (I wouldn’t know, I wasn’t around in 1985), but £443.83 for a used cycling bottle. Really?
If you really want to buy it, you can do so here.
Bora-Hansgohe say there's "no elevated risk for our riders" during Coronavirus outbreak
Statement: We trust the health authorities of the individual countries and will act according to their guidelines. Thus, we assume there is no elevated risk for our riders or staff competing in the upcoming races. We are evaluating this changeable situation as it progresses. pic.twitter.com/7lSxwt16Z7
— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) March 5, 2020
One team bucking the current trend of teams pulling out of races is German World Tour team Bora-Hansgrohe.
The team of Peter Sagan will be taking to the start line of Paris-Nice with the extra rider afforded to them after a number of big teams dropped out.
Mountain Mayhem venue Marston Lodge tease 24hr race
On Tuesday off-road.cc brought you the news that the first UK cycling race had been cancelled due to Coronavirus as the organisers struggled to take out cancellation insurance. Today, our eagle eyed Jo Burt spots an Instagram post from the race venue Marston Lodge teasing a 24-hour race on the same weekend – who’s keen?
CCC Team withdraws from Paris-Nice as well as Italian races due to coronavirus concerns
Following the postponement of Strade Bianche, CCC Team has withdrawn from Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico because of the coronavirus situation.
CCC’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Max Testa said: “Cycling is a unique sport with teams travelling from town to town on a daily basis at stage races, staying in different hotels every night, and coming into contact with the general public in a largely uncontrolled environment.
“The health of riders, staff, and the general public is the priority and with many unknowns around what protocols can viably be put in place at stage races, we believe our withdrawal is the right decision.
“At this point in the season, instances of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTI) and fever are high and it is inevitable that riders and staff will fall ill during the races. Without a detailed quarantine plan, and rapid testing protocol and delivery of results, teams are actively putting riders and staff at risk of exposure, transmission, and quarantine.
“We also need to think about the risk of quarantine for our riders and staff when they return to their home countries from these races. For these reasons, we have decided to withdraw from Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico.”
CCC Team President, Jim Ochowicz: “It was not a simple decision to withdraw from Paris-Nice, or Tirreno-Adriatico, which we expect to be officially cancelled in the wake of the cancellation of Strade Bianche.
“We are acting in the best interests of our riders and staff, and taking responsibly to reduce the risk of transmission at these stage races. The situation with COVID-19 is changing rapidly and we will continue to monitor the evolving situation and adjust our race calendar accordingly.
“We wish to express our ongoing support for both the ASO and RCS, however, we stand disappointed with the lack of direction by the UCI at this critical moment in the sport as all men’s and women’s teams have been left to fend for themselves.”
Teams allowed to field an extra rider at Paris-Nice
With Ineos, Astana, Mitchelton-Scott, CCC and UAE Team Emirates all sitting out Paris-Nice due to coronavirus concerns, organisers ASO have said that remaining teams will be allowed to field eight riders instead of seven.
Two teams from the UCI Pro Teams category – B&B Hotels-Vital Concept and Circus-Wanty Gobert – have also been invited to the race.
Stages launch power meter for gravel groupsets


Wondering how you were going to do your gravel intervals (grintervals)?
Well, Stages is now offering their G3 power meter on Shimano GRX left-hand cranks for $349.
If you’re based in the US then you can send your existing crank in for a factory fitting from $299. That makes this a reasonably cheap upgrade for your gravel bike.
Chris Froome: Portal "is completely irreplaceable"
The four-time Tour de France winner paid tribute to Nicolas Portal, the Team Ineos DS who passed away on Wednesday.
Portal had been in the DS role for all of Froome’s TdF wins and Froome says that ‘it’s hard to imagine where to go from here”.
Team Ineos decided yesterday to suspend their race programme until the Volta a Catalunya later this month. This is in part due to the shock of losing Portal and in part due to the ongoing confusion caused by the coronavirus.
Italian races now officially cancelled
Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-Sanremo, Giro di Siclia, Trofeo Binda and the Settimana Coppi e Bartali all scrapped in last 24 hours. No pro racing in Italy until the Tour of the Alps 20-24 April. Organisers hope to run all these races some point later this year
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) March 6, 2020
Following several days of rumours, some rather big races due to take place in Italy during March have been cancelled.
The organisers, RCS, have announced that Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan Sanremo will not take place, though they hope to run the race at a later date.
Also cancelled is the Coppi e Bartali, leaving a gap in the race calendar for many pros.
Bespoked postponed until October


The handbuilt bike show that always delivers some of the most interesting, wackiest and beautiful designs has set a new date later in the year due to coronavirus.
It’s the latest in an increasingly long line of trade shows to be cancelled after Sea Otter Classic was cancelled last night.
The new date for the show is October 16th – 18th with all presold entry tickets being carried forward to the new dates. Anyone seeking a refund can contact Ticket Line customer services
Video - Bombtrack Beyond Jnr. The Analog Kids
The Bombtrack Beyond Junior is ripe for some family bikepacking, the 24″ wheeled adventure bike is purpose-built for little people and specced so they can keep up with mum, dad and the siblings. The latest Bombtrack video will inspire some summer trips for sure, read more on off-road.cc
Jumbo-Visma pull out of Paris Nice
Based on medical advice Team Jumbo-Visma will withdraw from Paris-Nice.
— Team Jumbo-Visma cycling (@JumboVismaRoad) March 6, 2020
Another team to put rider and staff safety first is Jumbo-Visma who, having announced that they wouldn’t be starting the Italian races, have now also pulled their team from Paris Nice.
Plan A ❌ Plan B ❌ Plan C ? 🤷🏼♂️
I want to thank my team for this brave decision. Health and family comes first! https://t.co/a7nurrcyNX— Wout van Aert (@WoutvanAert) March 6, 2020
The riders seem to be supportive of the decision, despite it being an early-season target with a lot of work gone into preparing for the race.
tough choices in crazy times. a huge amount of work went into this race as the first major goal of the year but the team has put rider welfare first. (hopefully) plenty more races to come. I’m glad they can think long term gains when I sometimes struggle to see past my nose. https://t.co/dbE2UzNszA
— George Bennett? (@georgenbennett) March 6, 2020
WTF of the day...
Well, we’ve thought of a new feature. First there was Near Miss of the Day, now we present to you WTF of the Day!
What happened here? Answers in the comments below. Socks for the funniest answer. Go.
WTF of the day - Send us your videos
We know that loads of you have cameras on your bike so if it happens to capture something mind-boggling then send it in for WTFotD.
It’ll be a bit like You’ve Been Framed, but we won’t give you £250, or coverage on ITV primetime.
We will be sending out T-shirts to the best contributors though.
You can email it through to info@road.cc
The Downfall of eBikes
It seems that Adolf has turned his ire towards eBikes.
This clip from the film Downfall has been re-subtitled for many amusing scenarios over the years and now it’s the turn of those dastardly motorised bicycles that people are using.
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Latest Comments
The bus driver cannot slow down and stop behind the cyclist, and yet she has plenty of time for an argument.
No, I only have experience with cotton Corsas. A 300 tpi Challenge is only slightly less supple than those.
@chrisonabike Someone should check on wtjs… Not sure what CoaB is implying here- is it that I have a secret Aston Martin, or that my stories about HN21 VXB and BF64 TGE can't have been properly presented to the Kickass Enforcers at DVLA, the body which, in real life, makes Border Force look like the Swiss Railways. I don't have any vehicle on the road at present, for the simple reason that I know that the vindictive b******s at LancsFilth would be out to nail me if they could. Apologists for DVLA should know that it's impossible to report a vehicle to them if you don't have the location where it 'lives', and I first reported BF64 TGE to them in May 2022, because I accidentally do know where it lives. It will soon achieve the landmark '5 years without VED' so they haven't exactly leapt into action. It was reported to DVLA by my MP a year ago, so it's encouraging to know that MPs are fobbed-off with complete bollocks from ministers just like the rest of us. There are loads more of them around here: I haven't seen PO64 AUR for a year but that will soon achieve a prizewinning 10 years without VED. DVLA already knows about these millions of vehicles on the road without VED, because many of them keep getting MOT and are easily identifiable from DVLA's own database anyway- such as HY66 ZZB, which I last saw about 3 months ago. Or, a recent discovery where I also know the address, MM10 EOG. I haven't reported that to DVLA, because I know the reports go straight in the bin along with all the others marked 'can't be bothered', and it's only 3 years without VED which would entitle you to a Good Citizenship Medal in Lancashire
@chrisonabike I wonder if like when HMRC has to make cuts the first thing it does is lose compliance officers that the DVLA is the same, and without sufficient compliance officers all they can do is pursue a small number of high profile cases to get headlines like this one regardless of the actual individual merit of each case? In the BBC article the last line is "He was among 1,451 people across England and Wales to be convicted last week of failing to insure their vehicles.". Given that there are 43 million+ registered vehicles in the UK this seems to be an incredibly small number ie 0.0033% considering how often cars without tax and/or MOT I find when looking up a registration on the DVLA reg check website.
For an indication of how we arrived at such driving behaviour - and the appeasement thereof - you just need to look at the Aug 4th edition of the Daily Mail (which I have to fetch for an elderly person who should know better) - the front page banner and full page story on page 11 defies belief, with respect to the entitlement and total lack of responsibility involved. On second thoughts, don't go looking for it, as it will just spoil your day.
I couldn't say ... but hopefully some other road.cc posters will be along to explain.
@hawkinspeter - nice try I'm not that easily fooled, there's no light sabre.
@andystow I guess it's good that you can wear these mid-bike without necessarily having to wear them at the end when it gets dark?
I generally ride mid-bike anyway. I guess they're no good for anyone adopting the superman position or riding on the studs of their bmx though.
@chrisonabike I would have thought that the owner of the car would have been able to afford a DB5 rather than a DB6. Cost of Aston Martin crisis? PS: I wonder why the DVLA is going after cars that aren't being used on the roads when there seem to thousands cases of untaxed uninsured un-MOTed vehicles actually being used on the roads. Also as a "historic vehicle" this car is exempt from MOT - until the engine is changed to electric - and is zero rated for vehicle tax so there's no revenue to be collected. Seems like they have their priorities wrong. Or they are just going after people who will make the headlines to make examples?
29 thoughts on “The Downfall of eBikes; WTF of the Day – Send your clips in; Bespoked handbuilt bike show postponed; Froome: Portal “is completely irreplaceable”; World’s priciest bidon (probably); & more”
£443.83 water bottle; don’t
£443.83 water bottle; don’t forget the postage “Shipping: £51.18 Standard
to anywhere in the world, arrives in 1-3 weeks.”
I wonder if they’ve got two to make a matching pair?
If you look at it as art /
If you look at it as art / art esoterica rather than cycling esoterica then it starts to make a lot more sense (potentially) given the slightly mad prices that even a limited edition print signed by *someone other than the artist* can go for… example:
Limited Edition Print: Lithograph
Size: 11×8 in | 28×20 cm
Edition: From the edition of 1000
Estate Signed: Signed By the Executor of Haring Estate, Julia Gruen
$3,900 New Listing
Haring was iconic in the mid
Haring was iconic in the mid to late 80s. Think Banksy or Shepard Fairey (OBEY). Depends on how many survive, that could be unique and therefore collectable. His stuff was everywhere for a time – album covers, ads, caps, t-shirts.
It’s going to get a bit
It’s going to get a bit scratched in my bottle cage.
Danny’s gone electric
Danny’s gone electric!
https://singletrackworld.com/2020/03/what-the-heck-danny-macaskill-rides-the-new-santa-cruz-e-mtb/
Well lets hope that we have
Well lets hope that we have great weather this coming Spring so that we can all get out there every weekend – because let’s face it there won’t be any bike racing to watch on TV!
I’ve watched the WTF a few
I’ve watched the WTF a few times. My first instinct was that the rider dived in front of the car deliberately, but it’s clearly *not* that. You can see that the front wheel stops dead to the obvious surprise of the rider so I can only conclude that something breaks – a spoke pinging into the brake disc and getting caught in the caliper would do it.
I’m thinking some actual
I’m thinking some actual evidence of the incredibly dangerous nature of disc brakes.
We were warned.
In respect of the ‘WTF
In respect of the ‘WTF happened here?’… looks like the protagonist got his foot stuck in between the forks and the tyre.
Reminds me of the time I rode straight into the back of a stationary car at some lights which had just gone green, in my attempt to maintain an average speed.
foot brake: i’ve done that on
foot brake: i’ve done that on a folding bike on the way back from the co-op with beers in a carrier bag on the handlebar. my foot slipped between the wheel and the downtube and stopped me dead. the result was much like the above but with added beer and broken glass, and a bent fork 😀
PRSboy wrote:
You know what, I was actually looking for a foot caught in the wheel and didn’t see it, but on reflection you’re right, his right leg gets caught up between wheel and top tube.
Did he? I thought he lost
Did he? I thought he lost balance trying to avoid the wing mirror and then caught the car wheel with the foot going onto the floor?
Might be a bit 50-50 on both I suppose.
A pair of socks as a prize?
A pair of socks as a prize? That is a bit mean; you would get 250 quid off Harry Hill for that.
‘Kin tyre kickers. Serves him
‘Kin tyre kickers. Serves him right.
‘WTF happened here?’
‘WTF happened here?’
new technology developed by “man who pays road tax” ensures cyclists stop dead at red lights, literally!
Smidsy
Smidsy
An XR stunt that he hopes
An XR stunt that he hopes will catch on.
Re. Wtf, Just need to wait
Re. Wtf, Just need to wait for the VAR decision on any infringement
WTF Happened Here…
WTF Happened Here…
Jedi driver.
On a selfish note, this means
On a selfish note, this means I’ll finally be able to go to Bespoked this year – normally clashes with family holiday.
Elliott’s bicycle-flying
Elliott’s bicycle-flying skills have really deteriorated since ET went home.
(It’s based on the cyclist in the video wearing a hoodie, as the boy did in the film, but if you have to explain it…)
WTF
WTF
So that’s what he meant when he reminded me to unclip at a junction…
WTF: Can’t quite see the face
WTF: Can’t quite see the face underneath the hood but I’m ruling out Danny Macaskill.
What happened here? That
What happened here? That blonde woman is HOT! Also – kind = first to go to the guy’s aid 😉
WTF: “I thought this bike was
WTF: “I thought this bike was a bloody Evade!”
WTF: Running into the back of
WTF: Running into the back of one of those invisible cyclists.
WTF: Honest… I only had 2
WTF: Honest… I only had 2 beers.
WTF – looked to me like he
WTF – looked to me like he got his jacket/something else caught on the wing mirror of the car.
WTF : See a penny pick it up
WTF : See a penny pick it up and all day long you’ll have good…..bollocks