Video: Mini-BMX antics – a very small bike on some very big ramps

@Sredlums Here's a little collage of some of this year's Tour bikes. I think if you look really hard you can see a bit of colour here and there…

@Sredlums Here's a little collage of some of this year's Tour bikes. I think if you look really hard you can see a bit of colour here and there…

@Type17 thanks for that

@Didsbury Yes, almost identical - bikes with throttles, >250w motors, assistance past 25km/h / 15.5mph are illegal electric motorbikes, not EAPCs/Pedelecs. I think that the only difference here is that private e-scooters, limited to 20km/h (and other limitations like weight, power, etc), are legal in the RoI for 16+ year-old riders, but enforcement is almost non-existent and illegal e-bikes and scooters are as common as legal versions. I asked a guy with an e-scooter which had full suspension and looked very fast/heavy what its actual maximum speed was, and he admitted that it could do 75km/h / 46mph.

@Type17 Is the Irish legislation on electric motor bikes and scooters etc. actually the same as in the UK?

The problem with capel street is food delivery people on electric motorbikes flying down it. I work near it and walk there frequently and it's a big problem. As for Wiggins, how was his jiffy bag? Still waiting for him to have his say. Also wondering how his charity that paid for his event went tits up.

What's also evident, but somehow hardly ever mentioned, is how much more boring road bikes have become. Black, matte frames, black rims, black parts and components. Give me a nicely colored bike with silver parts any day.

We buy more and more stuff these days; bigger items are becoming cheaper, bikes have more features, are more desirable, it's easier to get around it's easier to sell stuff and the inevitable result is that there's more theft. I've been wrestling with this situation for somewhile and I've come to the conclusion that the answer to the question - should police be protecting the increasing amount of private property that people have - and I'm not sure that the answer is yes. I think we would be better off as a cycling community with our own independent cycling recovery team. it might work in conjunction with the police but you know it doesn't have to take away from police time too much. You might object to the fact that it's not a level playing field with other road vehicles which maybe do have police resources thrown at them. But equally, a stolen car is a lot more dangerous than a stolen bicycle, and it's a lot easier to sell the latter than it is the former.

@mdavidford - bring back the edit function, at last something upon which we can all agree!

@mdavidford "laxtivist" Hmm... slacktivist? "I disapprove of what you say but I will sometimes defend 'till the next coffee and cake opportunity your right to say it"?