“It’s been mummified!”: Have you ever seen a cassette like this? Bike shop has to fully degrease “just to get it back on”… after customer didn’t want it replaced; Vittoria Bussi targets Hour Record again; DnB On The Bike is back + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"It will be the most challenging hour of my career": Vittoria Bussi will try to beat her own Hour Record
[📷: Tania Marquez]
The UCI has this morning announced that Vittoria Bussi is having another go at the Hour Record and will attempt to beat her own record on 9 May at the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes, Mexico.
Bussi already holds the women’s Hour Record having set a distance of 50.267km back in 2023, and also held the record between September 2018 and September 2021. Her last effort saw the Italian become the first woman to break the 50km barrier and she is looking to better that distance once again next weekend.
Her trip to Mexico is also expected to see her attempt to break the women’s 4km individual pursuit world record too, a record currently held by Great Britain’s Anna Morris. Bussi’s cycling career has taken a somewhat unconventional journey, the 38-year-old mathematician a former middle-distance track runner who only took up cycling aged 27.
“I am over the moon thinking that I will have the chance to attempt to break the UCI Hour Record presented by Tissot again in my life,” she said, we’re assuming with a little addition from the UCI’s comms team to shoehorn the sponsor in… or maybe Vittoria’s just very commercially aware? “I can say that I started my real cycling career with this record, so it will be the perfect dream to finish it with another record,” she continued.
“To me, this record has meant much more than just a sport performance, it actually helped me in the darkest period of my life, so I am deeply and sincerely grateful to all the people who supported me during all these years, as an athlete but most of all as a person.
“It will be the most challenging hour of my career as it has been prepared together with the individual pursuit, my other very different love. I think it would be a beautiful historical moment for women’s cycling to be able to hold both the records at the same time, so I am honoured to try.”
Bussi’s 2018 distance was bettered by British rider Jos Lowden in 2021 before Ellen van Dijk claimed the record a year later. Bussi reclaimed it in 2023, setting the current record of 50.267km, a distance she hopes to beat next Friday.
Tibor Del Grosso asks for a science lesson after slippery Tour of Turkey stage, with crashes aplenty on roads "insane in the wet"
Yesterday’s Tour of Turkey stage wasn’t much fun, the downpours making for dangerous descents and sketchy scenes. Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Tibor Del Grosso (whose Twitter bio is quite funny… ‘with a capital D’… that’s it) taking to the social media site afterwards to ask for a quick science lesson.
“Does anyone know the science behind grip on asphalt? How is the Turkish tarmac so much more slippery? In the dry it already doesn’t feel grippy but today it was insane in the wet. Like driving on ice, never took a descent so slow and still be sliding around in every corner.”
Anyone?
Don't worry, Tibor... today's Tour of Turkey stage cancelled
Following on from the last post quickly, the Tour of Turkey’s organisers have cancelled today’s stage five. A statement shared this morning said:
Due to rain, wet road conditions, and the increased risk of crashes, the commissaires panel held a meeting with team and rider representatives and decided to give a neutral start at 10.40.
It was also decided to neutralise the race up to the sprint at 71.2km. However, as the rain intensified, and with rider safety the top priority, particularly considering the potential risks in the upcoming downhill sections, the decision was made to cancel the stage.
The 60th presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey will continue tomorrow (May 2) with stage six.
A bank holiday DnB bonanza: Dom Whiting is returning to Bristol this weekend
Dom Whiting is taking his cycling DnB party back to Bristol this weekend, starting from Bristol City’s Ashton Gate stadium on Sunday at 2pm.
He said: “I can’t wait to get everybody out for this one, specifically with it being in Bristol as it’s always such a class and important ride showcasing so many different and unique aspects in its very own way.
“As always, anyone and any mode of transport (rollerskates, skateboards, scooters, runners etc) are welcome and you can of course bring your own speaker by simply hooking up to our online livestream wherever you are in the crowd.”
Expect more scenes like these…
Thoughts?
"No wonder Jeremy Vine is hanging up his helmet cam – the rage we cyclists face is off the scale"
In yesterday’s edition of the Guardian, journalist and pro-cycling voice Peter Walker penned an opinion piece on Jeremy Vine stopping uploading his cycling videos to social media.
Walker asked a question I’m sure many of us have had knocking about our brains for a while… “Why does sharing the road with bikes cause so many drivers to lose their cool?” He suggested: “It’s partly ignorance, but politicians don’t help.”
You can read the full piece here, but Walker concluded:
“No one becomes a saint when they start pedalling, and my long-held idea is that the very same people who zoom through a red light on a bike will also speed in a car, recline their seat as the meals are served on a plane or push past to get the last seat on a train. They are multi-modal nitwits.
“But as Vine, and to a lesser extent myself, have found out, it is only when someone’s legs straddle a crossbar that they are somehow defined by their transport, and logic, reason and courtesy disappear. I’m not a ‘cyclist’. I just sometimes ride a bike. How hard is that to understand?”
"Ludicrous adversarial clickbait": BBC asks, "Is public sympathy for cyclists wearing thin?" – as around-the-world cyclist Mark Beaumont claims Jeremy Vine's bike videos "encourage division"
How much?! Cameron Wurf's fastest Ironman bike split in history powered by 200g of carbs an hour
Former Ineos Grenadiers rider Cameron Wurf wasn’t hanging around in his latest Ironman, breaking the record for the fastest bike leg in history, averaging 46.2km/h for the full 112-mile (180km) leg at Ironman Texas last weekend.
Wurf, who ended up in 8th around 16 minutes down on winner Kristian Blummenfelt after “blowing up like a cheap watch” during his 2:50 marathon run, spoke to thefeedme about the nutrition involved in that monster bike leg.
Just the 900g of carbs, around 200 per hour and 28 gels to get him through it… “You need a fair bit of fuel,” he laughed. Watch the video in the Insta post above for the full breakdown…
Innovative bike security solutions: from underground storage to high-tech tracking
> Innovative bike security solutions: from underground storage to high-tech tracking
Route maps for Lloyds Tour of Britain Women announced
Full route maps for the four stages at the women’s Tour of Britain have been revealed this afternoon. The race gets underway from Forestry England Dalby in North Yorkshire on Thursday 5 June, the opening stage finishing in Redcar on the Tees Valley Coast.
Stage two will take the riders 114km from Hartlepool to the now-famous ascent of Saltburn Bank, the climb having been used regularly at recent years’ national championships.
Stage three heads north, starting and finishing in Kelso, before stage four features laps of a circuit in Glasgow.
Commenting on the announcement, Jonathan Day, the managing director of British Cycling events said: “With the fantastic, world-class line-up of teams that will be racing and the varied terrain across the four stages, fans can look forward to some great action every day, and a very worthy champion being crowned in Glasgow.”
Hunt revamps Aerodynamicist wheel range to offer "class-leading aerodynamic performance-to-weight metrics with wide road tyres"
Record-breaking Kidical Mass sees more than 500 people call for more cycle lanes in Brighton
Lovely time at #KidicalMass Brighton & Hove today! Perfect weather! Thanks @bricycles.org.uk, @cyclinguk.bsky.social, Brighton Multicultural Womens Cycle Club, et al! #cargobikes #familycycling
— Brighton Shark Bike (@btnsharkbike.bsky.social) 27 April 2025 at 16:43
As an antidote to the negativity of the BBC Scotland story, here’s further evidence of a community of families and children that just want safe and accessible routes to cycle more journeys…
There was a record turnout at Brighton’s Kidical Mass last weekend, more than 500 children and adults taking part in the family-friendly bike ride calling for safer cycling routes.
Iliana Koutsou from Bricycles told the Brighton Journal: “New cycle lanes open up the option of cycling for many new people. We need more cycle lanes beyond the city centre so everyone who wants to can get around by bicycle.”
Two days earlier, in London, Critical Mass made headlines when hundreds cycled through Silvertown Tunnel in a “mass trespass” protesting the controversial tunnel. There is no route for cyclists, meaning two-wheeled journeys have to be made via a long detour or by catching a “greenwashing” shuttle bus that drives you and your bike through.
"Sainsbury's only thinks about car drivers": Supermarket slammed for closing cycle access during works, diverting cyclists onto narrow footway or "fast and busy" dual carriageway
Racing round-up: Michael Matthews wins Eschborn-Frankfurt, while Lorenzo Fortunato takes Romandie stage
Just a quick shout to today’s racing. No stage in Turkey because of the rain, but Michael Matthews was quickest at Eschborn-Frankfurt, the Aussie rider continuing his consistent run and finally bagging that first win of the season after six top-15s already this year, including at Milan-San Remo, Flanders, Amstel and Liège–Bastogne–Liège.
In Switzerland, Lorenzo Fortunato won stage two on a day that blew to pieces across the early climbs. The Brits atop GC, Matthew Brennan and Sam Watson, as expected, dropped down the standings as the climbers asserted their control on the race. Expect more of that over the next few days.
"It's been mummified!": Have you ever seen a cassette like this? Bike shop has to fully degrease "just to get it back on"... after customer didn't want it replaced
Have you ever seen a cassette that looks like something a pirate might be slightly disappointed to dig out of the sand? Well, here you go…
hike2climb shared these pics over on Reddit, explaining how a customer came into the bike shop they work at “for a spoke install” and left with this “mummified” cassette back on their bike after not wanting it replaced.
As the customer “just wanted the work done as fast as possible”, there was no persuading them that this cassette (and presumably some other parts in that drivetrain) might be best replaced, for everyone’s safety and sanity.
“Had to fully degrease this cassette to even get it to go back on,” the bike mechanic explained. I can almost hear what that chain would have sounded like from here.
Such was the state of it, the mechanic had to ask what their lubing routine was (as much out of sheer mind-expanding curiosity than anything practical)… and apparently received the reply: “Just regular”.
The top two comments couldn’t decide whether just regular meant some sort of novel sand-based lube or regular 10/40 engine oil. Peanut butter and super glue also got a suggestion.
Maybe this was the back end of the bike we saw on the live blog the other week, the one with a chainring so spectacularly worn that the owner said they might have to hang it on the wall like a trophy.
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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"?
@IanGlasgow They can make a pass look faster, but they never make things look closer than they are If it was as simple as that, some would say you could be right, but it isn't and you're not. I have the advantage that I noticed the effect that 'wide angle makes passes look closer' and performed the experiments. It does. The fallacy in your argument arises from equating 'closeness of a pass' to 'making things look closer', when they are clearly not the same thing. The relevant thought experiment is to imagine a balloon inflated between the cyclist and the vehicle of the close passing b*****d at the moment of peak closeness. To a first approximation, the whole of that balloon is at the same distance from the lens. Then ask yourself 'does the reduced field of view image make the balloon look bigger than on the increased field of view image (which we're calling 'wide-angle')?' The answer is yes. Bigger balloon = less-close pass. QED. Conclusion: Wide-angle makes passes look closer!
There are reply chains on the main road.cc site - they haven't worked on the offroad.cc and ebiketips subsites or the forum since the same ill-fated migration that killed the edit functionality.
https://upride.cc/incident/4148vz_travellerschoicecoach_closepass/ As a special bonus, to compensate for the mistake I made with the Sainsbury's 44-tonner above, here is the Travellers Choice attack on a pedestrian crossing. This is relevant because I am part way through the FoI process, asking LancsFilth what they actually did about the offence - this was before they invented the Lancashire Dodge, which is to ignore all reports about offences against cyclists. They actually agreed at the time to take action on this one, but at the Internal Review stage of the FoI process last week they refused to say what the action was, just as they did 3 years ago. The story continues...
I see the comment section has gotten worse again, first no editing, now no reply chains. What's next, pay by the word? @Rendel Harris "allow all demonstrations and counter demonstrations to take place without any policing?" All? No. But most could get away fine with a dozen or so shaperones, the fact the Met deploy vast swarms in riot gear and call in extra support from across the country(and if you ever want to maintain your illusions about the police, stay out of any forums or groupchats involving said bussed-in coppers, the level of gleeful anticipation they display at the prospect of being able to engage in violent thuggery against "crusties" and "stop oil nonces" is legitimately depressing even to someone who already has a low opinion of the profession) so they can have 10 officers to arrest every sign-holding pensioner has nothing to do with necessity or public order and everything to do with the fact the modern British police are an entire workforce of little Cartmans demanding you Respect Their Authoritah. It's a show of force intended to discourage protest in the first place. At least, protest of certain kinds - funnily enough they never seem to need half the coppers in the country to police farmers or cabbies blocking up the roads, and their response to fascist marches and rallies seems to be downright proportional unless there's a leftwing counter-protest planned...
https://upride.cc/incident/yn67mvj_sainsburys44tonner_closepass/ I mistakenly copied in the date from the file. I keep them in a text file with the date at the end of the line, but I should have excluded it
31 thoughts on ““It’s been mummified!”: Have you ever seen a cassette like this? Bike shop has to fully degrease “just to get it back on”… after customer didn’t want it replaced; Vittoria Bussi targets Hour Record again; DnB On The Bike is back + more on the live blog”
Another gem from the BBC.
Another gem from the BBC. Tomorrow BBC Scotland will be reporting on “Are there fewer unicorns about than there used to be?” and “Why don’t we see the Loch Ness monster so often these days?” I’ve noticed this a lot recently, there is a trend to say “I used to support cyclists but they’ve got ridiculous” – it’s the new “I’m not racist but…”.
See also “Climate change is a
See also “Climate change is a terrible thing, but I wish people would stop trying to do something about it…”
In more important news, though – who’s broken the comment functionality?
mdavidford wrote:
Wait – isn’t that government policy (especially since Trump has declared it’s fake news)?
And Tony Blair has appeared again saying opposing it as we have is pointless – apparently because it conflicts with personal richness / business growth. Or at least that the political folks have been utterly unable to come up with a convincing rationale for people using and having a bit less (despite his lot coming up with much wilder tales…)
I would compare ‘I’m not a
I would compare ‘I’m not a racist but…’ to ‘I’m also a cyclist but..’
Can you phone in and ask “is
Can you phone in and ask “is patience with drivers (yes, all of them) wearing thin?”
Lime bikes keep breaking
Lime bikes keep breaking Londoners’ legs
https://www.londoncentric.media/p/lime-bikes-keep-breaking-londoners
Missed this story at the time but I noticed in Private Eye that it’s been nominated for the Paul Foot Award.
Alternative phrasing, “Some
Alternative phrasing, “Some Londoners break their legs falling off Lime bikes”.
If you read the article, it’s
If you read the article, it’s a bit more complicated with an injury that is consistent with a motorbike incident.
Hirsute wrote:
I did read the article and yes it seems there may be a problem with the design but it just amused me that the bikes were being blamed without any mention in the headline of the fact that the primary cause was people crashing them. If it was motorcycles, I doubt we’d see a headline reading “Motorbikes keep breaking Londoners’ legs”.
Rendel Harris wrote:
If it were a popular hire company allegedly not maintaining the motorbikes properly, I reckon we would.
lesterama wrote:
Okay I’m going to play the cynic but the “allegedly” is quite important there, probably the majority of Lime bike riders I see are inattentive and often riding above a speed suitable for the traffic or pedestrian conditions. Are the brakes badly maintained or are the people who crashed just looking for excuses?
(No great advocate for Lime by the way, I hate the way they are dumped everywhere and as per above, their are riders are often pretty selfish and irresponsible – I’ve had two mates this year who had to shell out for expensive repairs after being hit on their own bikes by Lime riders who just remounted and rode off.)
Except the article (or the
Except the article (or the bit I can read before I get paywalled) doesn’t major on the maintenance issue – it’s focused on the frame design.
Exactly. The issue to me
Exactly. The issue to me seems to be the brakes failing. The design of the bike – well it has to be thick and chunky to hold a massive battery. Most ebikes look like this.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Well, in the case of the main person featured the cause of the accident was the Lime Bike (brakes failing) and the severity of the injury was down to the Lime Bike (design flaw). If there was a specific model of motorbike that had specific failings or design features that increased the risk of broken legs, then I think that would be highlighted in an article about it.
Steve K wrote:
The inferences draw from those assertions could be questioned (especially the second) on the evidence the article presents.
Not saying it is untrue or that there may not be one or more issues. Just that the article doesn’t make much of a case for this. AFAIKS article is basically “I’ve heard a couple of people say that Lime bike brakes fail, and at least one person has ended up in hospital with serious injuries after crashing a Lime bike. Oh and (some) doctors say they’re noticing more (possibly Lime) bike-crash-related injuries”.
The “but severe injuries though” – is that specifically due to these bikes? Are they more so than what you would find if you looked at “enough general public riding bikes”? It could be that “making casual hire bike use more common puts up injury rate” (vs. e.g. what would be expected from more regular cyclists). And/or that heavier EAPCs do increase rates or severity of injuries.
There is freely available mass data from e.g. NL available if people want to check…
Journalists of course can publish what they want, including rumour or “man bites dog” salient but rare news. And news isn’t a forensic report … but since this design of bike is not uncommon one would perhaps expect the journalists to do a quick “why haven’t we heard about this before” given that heavy EAPCs with a step through design are not new. Or at least note this and suggest what might be specific to the Lime situation which could be why they are specifically an issue?
Steve K wrote:
As I said, I’m playing the cynic here but what evidence is there apart from the rider’s own claim that the brakes failed? If we are (rightly) cynical about drivers claiming that the sun was in their eyes or whatever, should we apply the same cynicism to a cyclist’s excuses? I don’t ride Lime bikes so I don’t know what the brakes are like but they look pretty robust, did both of them fail simultaneously in this instance? If they did, why isn’t the rider suing the company for damages? As for the supposed design flaw, they are heavy bikes with a battery on the downtube and whilst that may quite possibly exacerbate leg injuries in some crash circumstances I would imagine many other heavy ebikes – especially cargo bikes – might do the same.
Hirsute wrote:
Well … firstly I’d say the lead line should be “Rash of brake issues with Lime bikes possibly leading to severe crashes”, no? The article says the proximate cause is issues with braking. That *is* serious and a story worth digging into!
I think the focus on the “leg-breaking” part of the story needs a bit more … leg-work … by the journalists. Are the medical staff really saying “now we have lots of casual bike users / people using bikes that aren’t their own, people with injuries related to crashing bikes are more salient to us” ?
That’s not the only step-through bike design (indeed – this design is very common in Europe). Not even the only step-through ebike design (so heavy / chunkier frame). So … if it’s a “thing” it should show up in some data on this elsewhere?
Their switch to cheaper tyres
Their switch to cheaper tyres certainly put me off using them (plus the number that I see that seem to be in a poor state).
“Londoners keep breaking
“Londoners keep breaking (other) Londoners’ legs (and you ain’t seen nothing, right?)” 😉
Gunked-up cassette: maybe the
Gunked-up cassette: maybe the guy rode Zonhoven and didn’t have time to clean up afterwards.
‘Why are you riding in the
‘Why are you riding in the road when there’s a perfectly good cycle path?’….
It’s not much good, even without the tree.
bensynnock wrote:
The positioning of the give way line on the side road is nice and ambiguous too.
Baffling. It doesn’t look
Baffling. It doesn’t look new… So is that “but we can’t cut down our lovely old street trees” or did they keep the road but CP from people’s gardens?
If it is new then a great example of how to maximise sellable house plots, despite (presumably) not being allowed to get rid of absolutely every tree…
Anyway – it’s all standard UK rubbish as a) shared use and b) not continuous footway at junction.
If this location actually has lots of motor vehicle movements / > 20mph speeds then:
a) Why? Reduce motor vehicle numbers and speeds already if it’s a “residential street”
b) It should have proper separate cycle path and footway – and it that is indeed a minor side-street that should have an “entry construction” and continous footway / cycle path.
If it’s not actually busy / it has a 20mph limit already then it shouldn’t need a separate cycle path – but they should reduce street width / add greenery and chicanes to reinforce that this space is for people (walking, cycling, kids playing…), not just for driving.
The tree just appeared out of
The tree just appeared out of nowhere.
Looks like it may “need more
Looks like it may “need more situational awareness” in the future when someone drives into it accessing that paved “garden”.
The floor signage suggests it
The floor signage suggests it might be intended as pedestrians only on the approach to the side road? Is that to mitigate the risk of tree?!
quiff wrote:
The path is dual use, for trick cyclists standing on their saddle and handlebars, and for people doing headstands.
“Study proves Chelsea
“Study proves Chelsea tractors’ deadly risk to other road users“
Figured people would like this.
(Though it does contain the usual incorrect “hit by car” language, as usual.)
In an ideal world a safety
In an ideal world a safety conscious government might legislate so that such high bonnet lines are not allowed. Fat chance.
Those Lime bikes that keep
Those Lime bikes that are breaking people’s legs may be working for the Mafia and going after those who failed to pay extortion fees.
mitsky wrote:
Do you think it’s the “cycling mafia” – specifically the “down with those e-bike cheaters” faction?