Fancy some singlespeed fixie action German style? No not Fixie inc (we’ll check them out later) – here’s some Bergamonts that caught the eye. Not sure about pedalling the pink and white number down Peckham High Street but there’s also this classy looking flat bar version or a tougher looking urban effect black and green number – I’ll try to nip back later and get a shot of that baby in focus… 
Something altogether more radical on the technical front – at least in the sense that it’s come back into fashion again – is belt drive, in the form of these two new belt driven Treks. Apart from being different and probably silent, not sure exactly what the great benefit there is of powering your bike with a plastic belt. Unless this is very special plastic, which I’m sure Trek will tell us it is, there is no way that a belt is as efficient at transferring your power to the back wheel. Even without the belt drive the new Trek District is an eye-catching bike. Sporty looking semi-discs look great but this isn’t a performance machine – and I wouldn’t fancy catching one of those urban crosswinds that blast out of sideroads. The clock is nice, maybe it’s for timing your run into work – and the chainguard makes a lot of sense. It’s weird, but I like it. 
Slightly less weird is the ’09 version of the Soho which combines belt drive with a rear hub – and still gives you somewhere to carry your coffee. 
Street classicism from Salsa (try saying that with a mouthful of würst in a bun), the Casseroll has been around for a while, but I haven’t spotted one before with a chainguard – could be I wasn’t looking hard enough. If the Trek and the Salsa are anything to go by Chainguards could be something a mini-trend on ‘performance’ commuters – Mike Burrows will feel vindicated and so he should – not everyone wants to ride around town fast with one trouser leg rolled up or your jeans tucked into your socks (hurts my knee eventually). As ever with Salsa, nice detailing around the dropouts. 
Street bikes are go…
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I see quite a few MAAP items out in the Surrey Hills. The new shop has a cafe and they're from Melbourne so the coffee should be good: I'm looking forward to visiting.
@chrisonabike Mercedes was acceptable, but the second one (old Toyota people carrier/ex-taxi) was a prosecutable offence.
I wasn't saying that nor talking about people who say that. I said it was silly to claim that wearing a helmet indicates acceptance of dangerous driving and poor infrastructure. I choose to wear a helmet; I also regularly report dangerous driving to the police and correspond with councils and road authorities about ways infrastructure could be improved for cyclists. I rather doubt I'm the only helmet wearer who does so.
@JamieT (a pedant writes) she's a London Assembly member, not an MP.
@Rendel Harris ".....but the claim that wearing one is somehow to be accepting dangerous driving and poor infrastructure is silly." Not that silly. Demanding that cyclists wear a helmet is seen by many people as 'the answer' to cycling safety, so there's no need to put in infrastructure. The difference between infrastructure and helmets is that infrastructure works. Helmets are a distraction from what really works, and the more time we spend talking about them, the less time we spend on things that do work. Helmets should be consigned to the dustbin of history as a failed experiment, and we should cease even mentioning them.
@Mr Blackbird Hats off to George Hall My hat's not coming off- despite this touch of cycleway-washing, Hall still bears the Mark of Cain, until he repudiates his party altogether
Perhaps an article showing a) what is available in the uk as cargo bikes and) comments from real life scenarios from those already using bikes or cargo bikes as one gentleman has done in the comments. Perhaps road.cc could follow up with this. Even the London Assembly member said not every business should use cargo bikes but suggested a more nuanced approach suitable for certain trades or companies....