“A disrespectful cyclist ruins a hard-working motorist’s day by having the audacity to simply exist”; Police reunite stolen bike with owner after a decade; Remco & Reusser crowned European TT champs; Do this to keep your bike safe? + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
"Totally legally acquired bicycle" or genius tip to put thieves off? Check out this bike with bizarre "uglification" spray paint and gaffer taped bars
We’re going international to kick the live blog off today, heading over to Colorado in the US where one slightly confused rider spotted this interesting creation at a bike rack in Boulder.
As they explained, the city has a major bike theft problem so the first assumption was that it’s the creation of someone who desperately wants to make a bike less identifiable as quickly as possible, hence the spray-painting and the patchy finish. That’s before we even get to the gaffer taped handlebars…
“Awesome spray paint job, made sure to get the saddle, tyres, brake tracks, and bags,” they explained. “Unique bar tape solution as well. Before anyone asks, the police do not care and never have. There are chop shops littering the pedestrian underpasses across the city and the typical result of police intervention is ‘we can’t prove ownership, so we won’t do anything’. I feel bad for whoever this was swiped from — this was obviously someone’s serious commuter with the panniers and extra bottle cage.”
Some in the comments suggested there could be another solution — the bike the ride of someone deliberately hoping to make it as unappealing as possible for thieves in the hope of keeping it safe. Now — as much as I love having a beater to nip to the shops on that won’t keep me up at night for too long if it gets stolen one day — surely this takes it too far?
Would someone that committed to keeping their bike safe really then go and spray paint all over their groupset, brakes, braking surfaces and other questionable places? Is the original bar tape really so appealing that a bike thief just wouldn’t be able to resist pinching it on the way past?
As much as I back the ‘there’s something in making your bike look undesirable’ theory, I’m not sure this is an example of it. It looks far more likely a quickly vandalised attempt at hiding its original identity, but I’d be happy to be proved wrong.
The comments section thinks it has identified it as a Cannondale ST600, a “banging aluminium touring bike back in the day”. We’ll leave the deliberate ‘uglification’ theories to others…
“How do you know? My dad tried to make his bike extra ugly by sticking tape all over to prevent it from getting stolen. Although the bar tape is weird.”
“Used to be de rigueur for bike couriers to cosmetically enshitify their bikes to this point to make them less attractive to thieves. Much like triathletes coat their bikes in bodily fluids and gu to keep anyone from touching them.”
“Yeah, I strongly considered doing a shitty paint job on a bike to make it look cheaper so it didn’t get stolen. Luckily, crime has dropped considerably where I live and I no longer think like that. And a shitty paint job would mean a properly masked rattle can job, not whatever this is.”
“The haphazard paint on the wheels and tyres stands out to me — I would hope anyone serious enough to put racks and panniers on their bike would know that gunking up the brake tracks with spray paint is a bad idea.”
Get your thoughts in the comments… any pictures of your own uglified bikes will get bonus points…
Is a new Specialized road bike on the way? Roval unveils brand new 1,131g Alpinist CLX III wheels and integrated cockpit
No rest for the wickedly aero — European Championships TT titles up for grabs
Just three days after the hardest World Championships road races in years, the European TT champions for the next 12 months will be decided. Now there’s a decent chance we won’t see either the men’s or women’s jersey on display at all next season, as newly crowned world champions Remco Evenepoel and Marlen Reusser are both on the startline here as pre-race favourites and neither would ditch their rainbow bands for a mere European champ’s jersey.
Both the men’s and women’s TTs are 24km, so on the shorter end for a major championship, and end with a punchy one-kilometre climb at five per cent into Étoile-sur-Rhône. Yep, everyone who raced in Rwanda at the weekend has upped sticks and arrived in France just a couple of days later for their next target. Is the schedule too tight? Some have expressed concerns, but here we are, both time trials on the way this afternoon. It’ll be interesting to see how those who raced in Rwanda fare versus those who skipped the brutally demanding worlds.
Britain has a decent chance of at least one medal, Josh Tarling and Ethan Hayter part of a stacked startlist that includes Evenepoel (of course), Filippo Ganna, Stefan Küng and many more of Europe’s best TT riders. Reusser starts as heavy favourite in the women’s race, Anna Henderson flying the flag for Britain and hoping for a medal. There are also the junior men and U23 races to follow, although there’s no British representation in any of those.
We’ll keep you updated with all the action on the live blog…
Cycling alone from the UK to China: 10,000 km in 90 days
Thought we’d give this a blog shout-out this morning…
"Reunited after a decade": Police track down original owner of "cherished graduation gift" bike that was stolen back in 2015
Officers from Adur and Worthing Police’s neighbourhood policing team managed to reunite an owner with their bike that was stolen 10 years ago. The Pendleton Classic was found in Goring on Monday by a local resident who reported it to the police and “kindly stored in a garage for safekeeping until officers arrived”.
The force then matched the serial number to a report of a purple Pendleton which was stolen in Brighton back in 2015.
“The original owner — now living in Wales — was contacted and absolutely thrilled,” the force explained on Facebook. “The bike was a cherished graduation gift from her family, and she never imagined she’d see it again. Plans are now underway to reunite the bike back to its rightful owner. Moments like these remind us how small acts of kindness and a bit of detective work can make a huge difference.”
Legendary cycling photographer Cor Vos dies aged 77
Some sad news out of the Netherlands this morning, where AD has confirmed the passing of legendary sports photographer Cor Vos. An ever-present at cycling’s biggest races for decades, his own shots and those of his photo agency a regular sight in just about every cycling publication, including this one.
Until 2010, Vos continued to shoot the Tour de France from the back of a motorcycle, the Dutch press explaining how aged 77 he fell ill yesterday morning and later died in hospital. AD reports Vos had planned to retire next year and “take a long trip with his wife, Carla, who is also a photographer for the AD newspaper”.
The news has sparked tributes from across the cycling world, Team Picnic PostNL saying they are “deeply saddened” by the news and calling the photographer and his wife “an institution not only in Dutch cycling but in the sport as a whole”.
“We feel fortunate to have worked with them and their photography agency for over 15 years. From our early days — long hair included! — to capturing some of our most important moments such as our first Grand Tour stage win, GC success, Monument and World titles, training camps and beyond, Cor was there. His work has showcased our journey perfectly.
“Cor will be truly missed by everyone at Team Picnic PostNL. We send our sincerest condolences to his wife Carla, his family, friends, and loved ones at this difficult time.”
— Team Picnic PostNL (@picnicpostnl) October 1, 2025
French ultra-endurance cyclist imprisoned in Russia for 'illegally crossing' border during cycling world record attempt reportedly detained for another month
A reply to yesterday's sign + Lime "respect the red" adverts spotted
If you missed yesterday’s blog the context to this next post is that cyclists in London have spotted a few of these homemade signs placed at traffic lights.
Now without wanting to kick off the great sign war of 2025, some creativity from Rendel Harris has produced a reply…
Anyway, it’s a decent opportunity to share this post showing Lime’s new (we think) advert telling users to “respect the red” and that “running a red light on a bike is dangerous” and against the law. Presumably how this works now is Ford sticks a load of billboards up telling people to keep off their phone while driving?
Might have been posted already but I saw this today in East Finchley 🍋🟩🚦
byu/RepairOk441 inlondoncycling
Marlen Reusser dominates European Championships time trial
What a week for Marlen Reusser! 🌈
The TT World Champion crowns her first outing in the rainbow jersey with the European title 👏 pic.twitter.com/0VE4Xi2ofp
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) October 1, 2025
No worlds hangover for Marlen Reusser the world champion adding a European title to her week’s work, the fourth of her career. Nobody got close, the Swiss TT queen putting almost a minute into the entire field over the 24km course in a dominant display. As we suggested earlier, that European champ’s jersey won’t get an outing over the rainbow bands, but the Movistar powerhouse won’t care one bit.
Uno-X Mobility completed the podium with their Norwegian duo Mie Bjørndal Ottestad and Katrine Aalerud, the battle for the medals extremely tight and just nine seconds separating second to fifth. Bad luck for the Dutch, Mischa Bredewold and Lieke Nooijen fourth and fifth.
Britain’s only representative Anna Henderson could only manage seventh, missing the podium by 16 seconds. The men’s event is just getting started now, so let’s see if Remco Evenepoel can make it two from two for the world champions.
How much commuter mud, sealant and gunk has this poor Henry the Hoover seen over the years?
US delivery company DoorDash wants autonomous robots with 20mph top speed to use bike lanes
Another normal day across the pond…
> US delivery company DoorDash wants autonomous robots with 20mph top speed to use bike lanes
Remco Evenepoel adds European Championship TT to world title
It’s 2/2 for the world champions, Remco Evenepoel a whopping 43 seconds quicker than Filippo Ganna to complete the set, the Belgian now simultaneously the world, Olympic and European time trial champion.
Evenepoel takes European TT title 🇪🇺👏
Remco Evenepoel claims yet another time trial victory, finishing more than 40 seconds clear of Filippo Ganna 😮 pic.twitter.com/TfghA3Rpvb
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) October 1, 2025
The biggest surprise of the day was who took third, Danish UCI Continental rider Niklas Larsen pipping British pair Ethan Hayter and Josh Tarling to the final spot on the podium. The Dane was less than a second faster than Hayter, while the gap to Tarling was two seconds. Talk about fine margins.
"A disrespectful cyclist ruins a hard-working motorist's day by having the audacity to simply exist"
One party in the following video is accused of having “no respect” for the other, take a guess and see if you can predict that one…
A disrespectful cyclist ruins a hard-working motorists day by having the audacity to simply exist. pic.twitter.com/TLvFr2dyEj
— Yeah But Cyclists (@but_cyclists) October 1, 2025
The clip was originally uploaded to TikTok by a user called hamadel_n, although we couldn’t find it when heading over there to look for it, so this is the Twitter version instead. ‘Yeah But Cyclists’ — a page dedicated to showing the very worst things cyclists get up to on the roads (and experts in sarcasm) — shared it and summed it up as: “A disrespectful cyclist ruins a hard-working motorists day by having the audacity to simply exist.”
While you can’t hear what was said as the van driver passed, you can probably give it a pretty good guess. Naturally, as inevitably always seems to happen next, the aggrieved van driver being held up and enraged by the mere presence of a person using a bicycle gets stopped at the next set of traffic lights…
Showing a remarkable ability to rise above it, the rider then somehow manages to halt the frothing from inside the van and the interaction ends with a surreally cheerful, “We’re off now, bye!”
In between, the complaints from inside the van included calling the cyclist “rude” and accusing him of having “no respect”. There’s your answer to the who (apparently) wasn’t showing any respect question…
“You’re riding like that, this time of the morning, no respect […] big queues behind you, not using the pavement.”
A few people in the replies have suggested the only thing the rider did wrong was apologise, even if it did seem to change the attitude of the interaction (although not before the raging from inside the van claimed the cyclist had ruined his day and seeing cyclists “ruins my day every day”… It’s a hard life).
“Thanks for the apology though… we’re off now, bye…”
“Have a good day…”
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Latest Comments
@chrisonabike I think you missed the bit of the story that claimed people couldn't access a bike mechanic, regardless of price, due to there being a big shortfall in the profession. Which clearly doesn't make sense given what you and I have both written.
@jackcycles "If I can do it anyone can because I am useless at all manual jobs." Well, presumably some people would prefer not to spend their time on something they can get others to do cheaply * so they can spend it elsewhere eg. opining online... * Another Schrödinger effect: bike maintenance is simultaneously too expensive ("20 quid to pump the tyres up?!") and not expensive enough (given what the hourly rates for bike mechanics seem to be / cheapness of many parts).
@Rendel Harris alas from the variety of opinions posted even here much may be explained by "cock-up" before invoking corporate conspiracy. That is: ignorance of risk - "it only does 9mph!" - and ignorance of the laws that applied here - "private land". And perhaps immediate reflexive backside-covering? Throw in police maybe not quite up to ideal standard and the law applying the highest possible evidential standards / reasonable doubt and here we are. Doesn't mean there wasn't also some deliberate management deception ("let's not have any more trouble / negative publicity") of course. (And a H&S examination of them: what risk assessments existed around use of the vehicles, what training / monitoring / event recording and feedback was in place etc?) All that and I'm not sure we even need to invoke motornormativity - which certainly applies in many cases. RIP.
What a load of rubbish. There are too many bike mechanics around as attested by the fact that many of them have shut down over the past couple of years as they can't make a living due to having no pricing power. People who claim they can't cycle because they don't have access to a mechanic are making stuff up... Likely means they couldn't be arsed to buy a tyre pump or some other nonsense. A 2 minute YouTube tutorial teaches anyone how to change a tyre, inner tube, brake pads, chain etc... If I can do it anyone can because I am useless at all manual jobs. Perhaps there is a shortage of people willing to work on e-motorbikes, but that's a whole different story separate from cycling.
Unknown rear hub motor and you've given it an 8 out of 10? What's the availability of spare parts going to be like in the future? How long is the frame set warranty? The Geo looks a bit weird, the chain stays look very long. Maybe people should save up and buy the entry level Cube with a proven mid drive Bosch motor instead.
@eburtthebike full details of the judgement are online in a document called: Ruling-on-submissions-of-no-case-R-v-Davies-for-publication It doesn't make for great reading. Something about inconsistencies in the expert witness evidence and police case, but also a very odd comment that no jury would likely have experience of driving at 9mph for periods of time, nor of driving a golf buggy, so would have to rely on the expert evidence. I am not convinced about this argument at all. There is also the mention of an oncoming Biffa waste vehicle that distracted the golf buggy driver. In my opinion, and this is conjecture, I think the golf buggy driver was distracted, waving at his mate in the bin wagon coming towards him, then turned left into the side road without properly looking where he was going - because this road he was turning into is one-way, so he wouldn't expect anything to be coming out of it - nor did he expect a stationary cyclist just as he turned in. It was a turn he would have done many, many, times, being close to the main site depot. I can imagine the way they drive these golf buggies (which are speed limited to 9mph) is foot to the floor all the time, driving on the limiter, to make as much progress as possible. But yeah, cycle helmets :/ There's also a clue as to why the cyclist might have stopped here - a broken glass was found at the scene. Again, conjecture, but I suspect the cyclist noticed a glass on the ground and had stopped to pick it up.
@Bungle_52 Thanks for the extra information, I was wondering why the report made it sound as though the trial judge had found him not guilty. That sounds very dodgy on the part of Centre Parcs' staff, someone was (as it transpired) fatally wounded and they thought there was no need to include the police on the emergency call and cleared away all the evidence? Shocking failure to follow proper procedure and highly suspicious to boot.
@Rome73 No, 28mph is correct, Class 3 ebike, legally allowed in most states without licence or insurance, a mate of mine who works in Washington DC commutes on one. Some states have age restrictions of 16 or 17 and some mandate helmets for Class 3 riders. Throttle must cut out at 20mph so pedalling is required for the top speed.
I actually got to chat with an officer (metropolitan police) just a few weeks ago about reporting near misses. He was chatty so told me loads as he used to work on the road safety unit in London. Unfortunately I didn’t make notes or record the conversation - but he may have stopped talking at that point. Anyway, no surprise, it’s all to do with resources. I.e. there are none - it’s been stripped to the bone. As we were chatting illegal e-motorbikes were zipping past. What about those? I asked. Unless they are committing another offence - like going through a red light or stealing a phone we are told to ignore them. Otherwise, in London, we would never get further than 10 meters from the station before having to return to file a report. Other ‘horror stories’ he told me were things like the RSU having 6 officers to cover the whole of London! These are the officers who check for illegal private vehicles (no tax, insurance etc) Although he did say that ANPR does a lot of checking and prosecution. But only if they can find the legal owner, I pointed out. A real officer could make an arrest.
The details of the reasons the judge gave for directing the jury that there was no case to answer are two links out from the BBC article. I tried to post the link yesterday but it's still awaiting moderation. First click on the second link in the BBC article of the 16th Feb labelled "Buggy driver cleared after judge heard from expert", then click on the link lablelled "directed jurors to find him not guilty" which is near the top of the article. A quick summary as far as I can tell: the police were not called straight away because staff didn't think they needed to be involved. When the police finally arrived the two vehicles had been cleared from the scene and it was raining heavily thus a lot of evidence was lost. PC Knight took over the case from the acting PS who started the investigation. A reconstruction was arranged but the judge felt the the camera used to record this was placed incorrectly. Parts of PC Knight's testimony were successfully challenged by the defence. A sorry story from start to finish but not entirely the fault of the police.
18 thoughts on ““A disrespectful cyclist ruins a hard-working motorist’s day by having the audacity to simply exist”; Police reunite stolen bike with owner after a decade; Remco & Reusser crowned European TT champs; Do this to keep your bike safe? + more on the live blog”
What bike? I don’t see a bike
What bike? I don’t see a bike? Must be very well camouflaged.
Someone did that for me many
Someone did that for me many years ago when I left a bike overnight chained next to a wall. Returned next day to find someone had tagged the wall and included my bike. So it was well camouflaged exactly there.
It wasn’t a bad bike so I was pissed off … until someone pointed out that they’d done me a favour by making it less attractive. Glass half full. Although it was a while before the paint on the saddle came off, gradually transferring onto me the whole time.
Was watching BBC News this
Was watching BBC News this morning and London news segment mentioned this but can’t find it on their website, so from LBC:
“Sadiq Khan hails Ulez success as London under limit for toxic pollutant for first time“
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/sadiq-khan-ulez-london-5HjdDhw_2/
The BBC mentioned that Brixton Rd and Euston Rd were still above the limit.
How is that *not* on the main
How is that *not* on the main BBC news page? It’s unequivocal good news isn’t it?
panda wrote:
Ah, but (checks list of arguments from objectors *) surely that’s only because the pollution has increased on main routes where the poor people we’ve suddenly decided to care about live? Like traffic, it can’t just disappear (is this right?)
* Former London major candidates, Keir Starmer (“Driving’s in my blood” / “Labour is the only party on the side of drivers” cough… ). Then in general Welsh Conservatives, Reform, and in fact most politicians in the UK…
It’s very good news. And as a
It’s very good news. And as a London resident, it’s something I’ve noticed in recent years. I’ve lived in London for three decades and would from time to time have to use an asthma inhaler. But in the last few years, I’ve been able to give this up. I did briefly have to resport to one when I had Covid 19 the first time. but not since.
Every time I ride up to
Every time I ride up to Crystal Palace these days I’m amazed at how clean the air is and how much clearer the view over London, it’s marvellous.
Its finally on the BBC
Its finally on the BBC website.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c75q9d2pqyeo
Best line:
“City Hall’s Conservatives have been approached for comment.“
I wouldn’t go quite as far as
I wouldn’t go quite as far as that with the uglification, but I see the point of it and wouldn’t criticise the owner for doing so.
Having an idle moment this
Having an idle moment this morning I created a riposte to the “Cyclists you can tell red from green” posters of yesterday:
While I can appreciate the
While I can appreciate the stolen bike/make it un-attractive to theives theories…
I’m wondering if the grey spray paint is actually that reflective spray that Volvo sold a few years ago for bikes making them more visible at night.
(Volvo got a lot of flack for victim blaming.)
They’ve done well to paint
They’ve done well to paint the brifters, too. As far too many of us have found, they’re often the most nickable parts on a bike.
Sustrans has been rebranded:
.
On his way to China, David
On his way to China, David shan’t cross the Russian border illegally because Sofiane already shares his 15-sq.m. prison cell with two other inmates.
The “disrespectful cyclist”
The “disrespectful cyclist” story seems a bit familiar…maybe because you covered it on the live blog two-and-a-bit months ago?
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-23-july-2025-315093
I knew I’d seen that before.
I knew I’d seen that before.
I was thinking, im sure id
I was thinking, im sure id seen that one here before, seemed a bit late in the year for groundhog day
Seemingly the scrote kept the
Seemingly the scrote kept the Pendleton in good nick.