Police mic-drop reply to those (including Sajid Javid) claiming five-year-old cyclist shouldn't be on the road; Custom bicycle builder creates... 'the bike-plane'; Bernal nips to the shops (on his Dogma) + more on the live blog
It's the end of another week on the live blog, with Dan Alexander once again in charge of your updates this Friday...
Viral video debated on Jeremy Vine show (screenshot Twitter video/ @azb2019)
11 November 2022, 10:00
Police mic-drop reply to those (including Sajid Javid) claiming five-year-old cyclist shouldn't be on the road
With the views on the video now up to 2.5 million, roughly equivalent to the number of people who live in Leeds and Northern Ireland combined, and replies nearing 9,000, Durham Roads and Armed Policing Unit's Twitter admin stepped forward to deliver a thread for Sajid Javid, Baroness Foster, Susan Hall and the many others who have a problem with a child riding a bicycle on a road...
It's the last chance for Belgium's 'golden generation' in Qatar this World Cup...although I'm sure we've been saying that for at least two major tournaments...
Maybe they just need a rainbow generation led by world champ Remco?
Anyway, that's enough football chat for one live blog. We'll catch you on Monday. Have a great weekend everyone!
Le Col has teamed up with double Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton on a new collection. The kit design apparently mirrors the Le Col ambassador's tattoos, with a snakeskin-style pattern influenced by Pendleton's life on and off the bike.
The collection includes a long and short-sleeved version, available in black and navy and black respectively. Unsurprisingly the collection includes both women's and men's fits, and there are also additional accessories such as socks, caps and snoods.
11 November 2022, 14:01
London bike crime: 1% of thieves identified and thefts rise in a quarter of boroughs
Lawtons Law Firm UK went over Metropolitan Police data and found that in the last year just one in every 100 London bike thefts resulted in a formal sanction. Their analysis also showed that a quarter of boroughs have seen a rise, and the South West is the worst affected part of the capital.
EK Spinner asked an interesting question in the comments about that bike-plane...
"Why the aero TT position? He is inside a faring, is that really the best position for power delivery?"
I'd love to give you a serious explainer answer EK, but I don't have one... the question did prompt a few replies from a couple of you willing to give it some thought...
Personal favourite... hawkinspeter reckons it's quite simple... "It's an AEROplane, not an UPRIGHTplane." That's the level we aspire to here on the live blog!
Patrick9-32: "Power to weight would seem to be key for takeoff but it (to my completely without aeronautical training brain) seems for sustained flight the aerodynamics of the vehicle are going to be the biggest factor. As such, why not a recumbent position to reduce the frontal area of the greenhouse by like 50%?"
Rendel Harris: "Like you, I've no idea how much advantage that would confer aerodynamically but a recumbent position reduces the power output for the same effort by around 20%, so it would have to be quite a big one."
Patrick9-32: "Also, with the massive advancements of bicycle motors to the point where they can put out sustained power far above any human over the last few years it would be very cool to have one of these incredible planes flying for hours at a time with electric assistance with the pilot in relative comfort (i.e. not bleeding from the eyeballs with exertion.)"
Thanks to Rendel for sharing this Wiki page of something similar — the Gossamer Albatross — which successfully completed a crossing of the English Channel back in 1979... while sean1 shared this vid of a human-powered plane Southampton University built in the 60s...
Comprando lo del almuerzo hoy en la tienda del barrio, la Veci dice que ya piensa en vender su negocio porque los precios se le han elevado y no la puede mantener. Que cagada 😑 pic.twitter.com/WiNXuF9uFm
Can't lie we were expecting the caption to be something a bit more jovial, maybe even a cracking egg pun to scramble our brains... instead, Google Translate offered this: "Buying lunch today at the neighbourhood store, Veci says that she is already thinking of selling her business because the prices have risen and she cannot support it 😑"
11 November 2022, 08:44
Custom bicycle builder creates... 'the bike-plane'... and it even gets off the runway
Is it a bird? No. Is it a plane? Kind of. Is it a Lycra-clad man smashing 400w in a greenhouse with wings? YES!
We'd have liked to see how one 'lands' the bike-plane... I would suggest almost certainly somewhat abruptly once your legs turn to jelly and you can taste blood. We wonder if Ryanair will sit up and take notice?
'What if we charge passengers to pedal themselves to Alicante? We could bill them extra for clipless pedals, a sweat towel and energy gels. Genius.'
The design is one of Jarrett Carter's, or JRat Customs as he's known online, and is just one of his eye-catching stable of bikes, bike-planes and e-bikes...
Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.
While it is somewhat hearthening to see the many Chief Wiggum apologists out in force today (makes a change from the virulent, angry posts), I can only assume that none of you have had the misfortune of having your houses burgled.
If you do, let me know what you think of the police response, and if you think their time might be better spent on the beat rather than patrolling Twitter for imagined thought crimes.
AlsoSomniloquismreplied to Rendel Harris |1 year ago
10 likes
Any news on why, when Rakia has all bit admitted he is the main PBU in his take on Traffic Police on Twitter AND this he is still here two day later spewing his vile takes.
Oh well time for another sabbatical from this site until the mods clear the trash.
No, just specific posters who are banned then come back again under a new username.
There are only 2 people who constantly seek to cause disruption on the site.
There are a few one post wonders whose sole aim is to denigrate cyclists.
No grOg, just people who have been banned in the past for posting racist shite. Although weren't you also posting racist shite once as well so I can see why you have kinship with him, or should that be klanship.
Please tell me it's true and that you have decided it is a lost cause trying to share the benefit of your self-proclaimed immense intellect with the uneducated masses on here. Personally I am still waiting for you to stop with the snide comments about others and actually present a cogent, well constructed argument that would indicate that intellectual heft was as real as it was self-proclaimed.
Do your job, or resign and let someone competent take over.
That is all.
[/quote]
I'm pleased to see that breathing through a hole in the side of your neck is still working for you. What's the anticipated lifespan of this incarnation? It must be about time for the mods to sprinkle salt on you again.
I give my dog some banana about an hour after her breakfast. As soon as she has finished it she wants a real rough and tumble play fight, don't know why. I don't give her all the banana, just a little bit from my breakfast of porridge with banana and blueberries. Sometimes I have toast with Roses lime marmalade instead, but usually I just have porridge. Sometimes I have a bowl of muesli before I go to bed to help me sleep. I've only recently found out the guy in the Milk Tray adverts played the part for over twenty years. Also shoelaces were invented in Egypt. I think.
I give my dog some banana about an hour after her breakfast. As soon as she has finished it she wants a real rough and tumble play fight, don't know why. I don't give her all the banana, just a little bit from my breakfast of porridge with banana and blueberries. Sometimes I have toast with Roses lime marmalade instead, but usually I just have porridge. Sometimes I have a bowl of muesli before I go to bed to help me sleep. I've only recently found out the guy in the Milk Tray adverts played the part for over twenty years. Also shoelaces were invented in Egypt. I think.
For some reason I couldn't help reading this in the voice of the monologue from Blur's Parklife.
Norfolk and Suffolk, we have a combined county road and armed police team (NSRAPT) its done to save money because the traffic cars have the secure weapons lockers in the boot for the trained officers who wield them and naturally respond to armed incidents, so simpler and to save money not to have a special set of tactical vehicles, or them stored in normal police cars.
Armed response are relatively rarely needed, but need lots of practice in rapid deployment, so they normally work as part of traffic to keep up driving skills and save on training costs for high speed driving...
If any Sheffield bike shops want to host us so we can allow people to use our close pass mat to calibrate people’s cameras send us a DM. A still of what 1.5m looks like is extremely useful for comparison to “too close”.
Not heard of this approach before or the ability to send a still.
Power to weight would seem to be key for takeoff but it (to my completely without aeronautical training brain) seems for sustained flight the aerodynamics of the vehicle are going to be the biggest factor. As such, why not a recumbent position to reduce the frontal area of the greenhouse by like 50%?
As such, why not a recumbent position to reduce the frontal area of the greenhouse by like 50%?
Like you, I've no idea how much advantage that would confer aerodynamically but a recumbent position reduces the power output for the same effort by around 20%, so it would have to be quite a big one.