“Drivers throw tantrum as engineers make it harder for them to injure others”: New Dutch-style ‘cycling roundabout’ goes down well… as locals tell critics to “take the blinkers off” to see it’s “the most straightforward thing” + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Will these cut-price power meter pedals make pricier rivals obsolete? Magene launches P715 dual-sided pedals with +/-1% claimed accuracy
"Put an AirTag on your bike": Family tracks down stolen bike within a few hours
We love a stolen bike story that has a happy ending, Gareth Bourne reporting his family’s electric bike was nabbed outside Beckenham Spa swimming pool on Friday night. Thanks to a hidden AirTag they got the location, tracked the thief down, got the police involved and had their bike back that night.
“They also took the helmets and high-vis jackets attached to it. Who steals a kids bike helmet? It was caught on CCTV, but staff couldn’t get there in time. When I picked up Emma and Eila I reminded them it had an AirTag, and they immediately turned to the fight for justice… Eila was shouting get the baddies! get the baddies!!
(they found it far too exciting…)
“A (within the speed limit) chase around SE London led us to an encounter with a thief riding our bike (he got away down a path) and then onto a dodgy looking house a few miles away. We got some snacks, staked it out, and waited for the police… a few hours later they responded, and retrieved our bike.”
Gang who robbed Mark Cavendish at knifepoint ordered to repay £750,000 for stolen watches
A quick break from blogging to write up this, your usual updates will be resuming shortly…
> Gang who robbed Mark Cavendish at knifepoint ordered to repay £750,000 for stolen watches
Primož Roglič crashes during Giro TT recon
It’s TT day at the Giro, the second and final one of this year’s race. It’s 28.6km, so quite long for a time trial in the year of 2025 (fans who remember Grand Tour TTs of decades past are allowed to roll their eyes at the suggestion 28km is ‘long’).
Tappa 🔟 | Stage 🔟 – TUDOR ITT
🔻 Lucca
🏁 Pisa
📏 28,6 KM
🏳️ 13:15#GirodItalia | @ENIT_italia pic.twitter.com/6EmH8vPgbO— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 20, 2025
The big news from Lucca this morning is that Primož Roglič has crashed during his recon, images on social media showing the Slovenian slipping out on a bend, but thankfully quickly up on his feet and able to ride away, apparently unscathed. Josh Tarling is the bookies’ favourite to take the stage, Edoardo Affini, Wout van Aert and Ethan Hayter the likeliest of the non-GC riders. Juan Ayuso and Roglič are also expected to go well, but time will tell how much of an impact that crash is going to have.
#Roglic pic.twitter.com/ivKcLHP0lm
— Stefano Bernardini (@cioncetti) May 20, 2025
Dual-sided power meter pedals with +/-1% claimed accuracy for... £399?!
More on these now.
We shared a link earlier, Chinese cycling tech brand Magene having quietly launched a set of power meter pedals at an eye-catching price point, coming in at £399 for dual-sided power measurement claimed to be accurate to +/-1%.
That’s the same price as Favero’s Assioma UNO pedals that only measure power from one side, and Magene’s P715 will also come ready to go for Look Keo or Shimano SPD-SL cleats out the box.
Some thoughts from you guys…
Boleslaw Zaras: “Thermal correction and calibration consistency is the key. I doubt they are as good an Assioma. But as a travel option they will be ok, provided the accuracy is as advertised.”
Wait does anyone else have a ‘travel’ power meter?
Osobel Soto: “It’s great that there are more power meter options on the market.”
Tom Abbott: “Bought one of their P505 power meters and it’s been very good so far. Fraction of the price.”
And a personal favourite from Facebook…
Tim Tomlins: “Power meters. What a waste of time. Just feel the muscle burn. The hotter it is, the harder you are working. So much unnecessary tech nowadays. The body is the engine!”
Someone was having a good Monday…
No second stage win for Josh Tarling as Dan Hoole claims the Giro TT hotseat
We’re going early, and apologies to James Shaw, James Knox, Max Poole, Tom Pidcock, Simon Yates and Adam Yates, but there won’t be a British winner today. Josh Tarling, the stage two TT winner, was the heavy pre-race favourite with the bookies this morning but could only set the second fastest time, seven seconds slower than current leader Dan Hoole.
Hoole told the TV cameras he’s doing a rain dance, the heavy precipitation likely to come at some point in Pisa this afternoon a forecast that would be very favourable to him, having set his time in the dry as one of the earliest starters.
Tarling found himself held up by an apologetic Mikkel Frølich Honoré, although the couple of seconds lost was unlikely to have been decisive for why the Ineos Grenadiers powerhouse could not better Hoole’s time.
Josh Tarling is not hanging about! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/UhCwkWRy7Y
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) May 20, 2025
Jay Vine suffered misfortune too, the UAE Team Emirates rider puncturing, only to still finish just 37 seconds back. Wout van Aert didn’t trouble the top of the leaderboard either and said there were “no excuses”, others just went faster, perhaps (even if he wouldn’t say it) not helped by his monster stage-winning effort on Sunday afternoon.
Plenty of the TT specialists have been and gone, so Hoole’s looking good as things stand. If it starts to rain he may just be able to start to dream. The GC riders will be on the way soon…
"It's never been just a job": Legendary UK mountain bike brand and retailer Stif Mountain Bikes to close after 41 years
Tulip bike lane wands... the colourful new cycle lane innovation flowering in London
Sussex Gardens in Westminster is getting “a joyful new look – thanks to recycled plastic, inspired design, and a bold vision for safer cycling”.
They’re trialling a new way to make London’s cycle lanes “safer, greener, and more beautiful”, with newly appointed Lord Mayor of Westminster, Paul Dimoldenberg, to this weekend officially open London’s first ever tulip cycle lane.
The tulips are designed by award-winning architects Pitman Tozer, the flexible tulip-shaped wands made with recycled plastic collected by Westminster City Council.
Cllr Max Sullivan, Cabinet Member for Streets said: “We’re delighted Sussex Gardens is the first street in the world to have these delightful tulip cycle wands, designed by Luke Tozer. They make you smile and make the street safer for cycling. What’s not to love? We look forward to seeing more tulip cycle wands blossoming on Westminster streets and hopefully around the world.”
The Lord Mayor of Westminster Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg said: “Cycling is a fantastic way to travel and an easy way to see the sights in our city. Thank you to Pitman Tozer Architects for inviting me to unveil the first one in London. These new Tulip Cycle Wands add a pop of colour along Sussex Gardens, and I hope they bring a smile to cyclists for many years to come.”
Dan Hoole takes surprise Giro d'Italia stage win as GC favourites complete TT in torrential dowpour
Dan Hoole telling the TV cameras he was doing a rain dance about two hours ago aged superbly for the Dutchman, the clip above showing the hideous conditions that greeted the GC favourites by the time they got onto the course. By that time Hoole and the rest of the early starters were done for the day and had set their times in the dry.
We’ve already covered Josh Tarling, Jay Vine and Wout van Aert’s rides in an earlier update, but the short story is that the stage leaderboard barely changed in the final hour, the GC favourites unable to get near the rest once the roads turned into a swimming pool.
Some minor sketchy moments aside, thankfully there were no major crashes of note to any of the big favourites, Primož Roglič’s recon spill aside. Isaac del Torro remains in pink, but his advantage has been cut to 25 seconds by teammate Juan Ayuso, while Antonio Tiberi, Simon Yates and Roglič are all within 1:20 of the Mexican rider now too, Roglič enjoying one of the better days of the GC contenders.
However, when it came to the stage win, the truth is that little would have changed even if everyone had the same conditions, Hoole’s time multiple minutes quicker than many of those battling it out for the maglia rosa.
Asked if he was surprised he’d beaten Tarling, Hoole admitted: “To be honest, yes […] it’s crazy, I can’t understand it yet.” A rider on few people’s radars this morning, but some ride from the Dutch national TT champ.
"Drivers throw tantrum as engineers make it harder for them to injure others": New Dutch-style 'cycling roundabout' goes down well... as locals tell critics to "take the blinkers off" to see it's "the most straightforward thing"
Hertfordshire County Council has uploaded a video tutorial ahead of a new Dutch-style ‘cycling roundabout’ opening in Hemel Hempstead next month, the roundabout designed to boost safety by prioritising vulnerable road users such as cyclists and pedestrians and keeping their journey through the junction separate to other traffic.
It’s like Dutch-style roundabouts we’ve seen built elsewhere in the country, such as the one below in Chichester, and links to other cycle routes to allow those on bikes to cross the approach, navigate and ride away from the junction entirely on dedicated cycling infrastructure.
Mark Doran, executive director of growth and environment at the council, said they were delighted the project is approaching completion time and has faith locals will work it out fairly quickly, adding that “Hemel residents are no strangers to an innovative roundabout” and are familiar with the town’s six-route Magic Roundabout already.
The project has been funded by Active Travel England, so any comments about wasting council funds should be ignored from the outset, but the tutorial has prompted the usual discussion on Facebook. However, unlike many schemes, some of the Hemel residents at least were keen for the comments not to just descend into the usual complaining and anti-cycling bingo.
One person commented: “The most straightforward thing ever, once you have used it and took the blinkers off. They work great, in fact we could learn a lot more from the Netherlands approach to traffic etc.”
Another added: “I don’t see the problem here — basically give way to pedestrians and cyclists. So long as drivers approach with caution and wait for a gap everyone will be fine.”
Someone from Sheffield who “heard the same ‘accident waiting to happen’ comments” before it was installed reported theirs was “working fine”.
Of course, there were also plenty of the usual comments when anything to do with keeping cyclists safe appears on Facebook… I couldn’t be bothered to sub the first comment, so ignore the errors…
“Why on earth would you put a Dutch style roundabout in an industrial area with the volume of commercial vehicles on that road??? If anything you want people and cyclists kept well away from the Lorry’s. What an utter waste of Decorum borough councils money.”
1. As we established, it’s not the council’s money. 2. That second sentence sounds awfully like… the entire point of the roundabout… 3. If sentence two is true then maybe you’ve got an answer to sentence one.
Another comment was this classic: “Maybe they can make a video about how traffic lights work for cyclists, before getting too technical.”
And another: “Cycles work great in Dutch towns where they are transport and the bikes are pedalled upright with the rider looking around them. In the UK cyclist put on their lycra and race around like demented Speedy Gonzales.”
It was all summed up by one of the most-liked comments, perhaps proving there was as much sense as hysteria in this comments section… “Drivers throw tantrum as engineers make it harder for them to injure others”.
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Latest Comments
The defence may well have argued that, and the magistrate may have accepted it, but that's not what the law says. It says that you have only driven without reasonable consideration for others if someone is inconvenienced. But the offence is committed if you drive without due care and attention, OR without reasonable consideration for other person. You have done the first if the driving falls below what would be expected of a careful and competent driver, regardless of whether anyone was inconvenienced. And CPS guidance specifically cites driving too close to another vehicle as an example.
Some years ago (before there was a cycle lane) I used to commute on Sidmouth St. But only because I worked on the London Road campus, from anywhere else there are better alternatives. As a cycle route it runs from between two busy roads, neither of which are exactly cycle friendly. So it's hardly surprising that no cyclists use it.
The officer's comments unfortunately reflect the reality of UK law. While the Highway Code guidance indeed refers to 1.5m, that is not anywhere in the law. And the criteria in law for proving a charge of careless driving does in fact rest on whether the rider is being "inconvenienced", as the discovered several years ago when the Met prosecuted a taxi driver who nearly hit me when cutting into my lane from the left near Marylebone. The prosecution lawyer was a barely competent newbie who fumbled over his words. The court computer was barely capable of playing the video footage, which kept freezing and crashing. The cabbie had an highly assertive defence lawyer who immediately seized on this point, and argued to the magistraite that I clearly hadn't been "inconvenienced" because I had not stopped or swerved, and had carried on my journey. Never mind that didn't have time to do either of those things, or that I was centimetres from being hit - the magistraite acquitted him on those grounds. That is unfortunately the outrageous reality of actually prosecuting a close pass incident. I know it's popular to blame the police and the CPS for not prosecuting enough close passes ... but the fact is the law is inadequate, and if the driver has a good lawyer then they can likely get off most close pass prosecutions.
Let's not forget the protruding "side" mirror...
HTML rules are clearly only partially implemented
please can we have the ability to use bold and italics for emphasis back as well?
As a Reading resident and cyclist, I can say I cannot think of a single occasion when I have seen a cyclist using the Sidmouth St cycle lane, nor can I think of any reason I'd use it myself. It doesn't connect to any other useful cycle routes. I don't rejoice that some of it is going back to motor traffic but I can see why the council is proposing to do that. Reading could really do with a cycleway to cross the town centre west to east and east to west but I'm not holding my breath on that.
Giant are one of the most trustworthy brands out there when it comes to manufacturing components given that they actually own their own production facilities. None of that matters though when it comes to road hookless, I and most other people won't touch it with a barge pole. We're surely at a stage now where it's toxic amongst consumers and it's only a matter of time before the UCI ban it for racing.
Filling the road with one person per car is using the road space more efficiently, amazing, I never realised that.
I bought a Giant Defy recently and immediately sold off the hookless wheels at a pretty big loss and won't ever do that again. I'm not buying hookless for road ever. Giant in particular has very short list of what tires they test with their rims so it's way too restrictive even if I was going to ride hookless wheels. Which I won't. Very short sighted by Giant.
29 thoughts on ““Drivers throw tantrum as engineers make it harder for them to injure others”: New Dutch-style ‘cycling roundabout’ goes down well… as locals tell critics to “take the blinkers off” to see it’s “the most straightforward thing” + more on the live blog”
Biggest question that
Biggest question that roundabout video raises is, where do you get those magic pedals that disappear when you put your feet on them? And are they the ultimate weight-saving upgrade?
And why does everyone
And why does everyone narrating a video sound like the automated announcements at stations?
(Can the tech-bros not implement a text reader with a “Eurotrash translation filter” – some may remember this show from times past where dubbing was done in glorious regional accents or alternatively in a banal tone which was a great counterpoint to the bizarre or sexual things being said?)
chrisonabike wrote:
My son watches a lot of Youtube videos – those ones that analyse anime or movies – and for a long time I thought they were all from the same person. After a while I realised that it was just different people who were all using the same AI voice…
With regards to the dutch
With regards to the dutch style roundabout, Every time we see new improved infrastructure that aims to help improve safety, we always get the drivers or some other groups spitting feathers about how it will create problems etc etc. Usually totally unfounded nonsense that reads like a Daily Mail bingo sheet. I just wish the people who introduce these projects finally had the balls to stand up and say ‘STFU! Its happening, live with it’. Stop trying to please these ultra conservative twunts who will piss and moan at anything thats not designed to allow them to drive as fast as they can .
In their defence, they are
In their defence, they are shit drivers and can barely handle getting around the current road systems without crashing and probably rely on everyone else to compensate for their shite driving. Its really just an admission that they are dangerous and shouldn’t be on the roads but that admission has become so normalised that people don’t see any issue with it.
Nothing to do with cycling.
Nothing to do with cycling.
But… You just know that this would have been reported differently had she been on a bike rather than a horse. People are generally sympathetic to giving space to horsists.
Horse rider ‘lucky to walk away’ after truck spooks horse
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn4qz8xyjqwo
I heard a piece on 5Live
I heard a piece on 5Live where horse riders were telling their tales about inconsiderate (or worse) driving.
I was pleased that cycling wasn’t dragged into that.
I guess what I meant was when
I guess what I meant was when equestrians are complaining on mainstream media about close passes (or worse) then everyone supports them and says how motorists all need to slow down and give the equestrians lots of space.
When it’s cyclists, the general consensus seems to be to get them off the roads.
HarrogateSpa wrote:
There was a quite reasonable joint campaign between CyclingUK and the BHS on passing horses safely – https://road.cc/content/feature/how-pass-horse-riders-safely-your-bike-253099
My bike hasn’t thrown me off
My bike hasn’t thrown me off and bolted, recently!
brooksby wrote:
That may or may not be true but I know that inconsiderate and dangerous passes are a real worry for horse-riders. Lots of riders wear helmet cams these days for the same reason that cyclists do.
Arrest after bike shop
Arrest after bike shop burgled twice in same night
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgmj87evmlwo
The roundabout looks good.
The roundabout looks good.
When we get to the point that Dutch-style roundabouts are just what we do, not something unusual, we will have won.
Same comments as last time.
Same comments as last time. I welcome their ambition (a whole roundabout – that is quite serious, for the UK).
BUT … while Streetview shows improvements over the last decade (from “nothing” apparently) some of what they’ve got marked in the maps in the video as “existing cycle infra” is in fact … blue signs on former footways.
I’m not a local and only had a very quick streetview safari, and it’s possible they’ve slightly expanded these from what looks like some earlier versions which seem to be maybe a metre wide in places?
In addition, even counting this as cycle infra there are a lot of “missing links” here (I’ve marked on map – I checked a couple on Streetview and this seems to be the case). We need networks of routes, not sections, or even a few branches.
What are connections to e.g. the centre of the place or the stations like (doesn’t look good).
If they’re contemplating a serious expansion of the place and are serious about less driving they need a major improvement in existing network. Are they going to get a good quality network (or any) planned for the new areas ahead of the new developments going in? (If they don’t the retrofit is going to be deliver the same 1% cycling or whatever as before).
Have a like just for
Have a like just for “streetview safari”.
Also – same as before – if it
Also – same as before – if it is particularly busy with HGVs AND is planned to be a significant mobility route – the “safe” option is full grade-separation. Which, granted, is probably an order of magnitude or more expensive…
I think they’d be better upgrading their “shared use” and patching all those missing links though – never mind making sure that an actual network is built serving the new development!
There’s a Magic Roundabout in
There’s a Magic Roundabout in Hemel Hempstead.
Drivers can conquer that … but need an infomercial to show them how to stop at a zebra crossing or give way line.
Oldfatgit wrote:
Well that’s easy – you just go with the Flo.
Just whatever you do don’t
Just whatever you do don’t follow Brian, he goes at a snail’s pace.
The video has a mix of the
The video has a mix of the good advice e.g. “motor traffic give way to cyclists / pedestrians”…
… a UK standard perspective
… a UK standard perspective as cyclists as drivers of smaller cars: stop behind the line and wait for pedestrians to cross! (Note a cameo by a no doubt shocked wheelywheelygood here!)
After a while – maybe a generation or so, if we achieve mass cycling – I hope we’ll realise that cyclists aren’t in fact like car drivers in that pedestrians can safely and conveniently cross cycle paths less formally…
…and the bad of drivers
…and the bad of drivers ignoring the crossings (unless there is someone actually crossing) and rolling up to the give way line with other motor traffic – which leads to longer vehicles blocking the crossings.
Yes – I know the video presumably meant to suggest that the driver had slowed and checked that no cyclists or pedestrians were visible. But the sight lines appear good so you don’t “have to” do this. Also note that in the real thing some “professional drivers” have been trained / are just more courteous than this. Example: check the lorry driver at the left in this video – although they do eventually decide to nose their way (slowly) through.
Quote:
You see? A clear advantage to joining the Freemasons!
brooksby wrote:
The reason Freemasons roll up their trouser leg is that they pre-date cycle clips
GMBasix wrote:
So is that apron thing basically bibshorts?
Come to think of it, “grips”, “tokens” and “landmarks” do have a bit of the feel of “sock height” and “monuments”. Is the Craft the old version of the Rules?Were the Velominati behind it all along?
Hertfordshire County Council
Hertfordshire County Council has uploaded a video tutorial ahead of a new Dutch-style ‘cycling roundabout’ opening in Hemel Hempstead
Video is good- pity the drivers won’t be. It’s the duty of local cyclists to video when drivers just bully their way through and, as usual, don’t give way to cyclists and pedestrians- remember the universally ignored Rules H1, H2 and H3? The video can then be submitted to OpSnap (and put on here) and be universally ignored by the police, with or without (probably without, as the police will bin the report immediately without troubling the driver) the ‘I didn’t see him because dark/ light, rainy/dry’ etc. etc
Another example of the non
Another example of the non-existent war on the motorist…
“CCTV captures car hitting another in death crash
… Dale Grove, 30, of Alfred Street, Penydarren, Merthyr Tydfil, was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving.“
(And of course, not forgetting the usual incorrect language about the car hitting another…)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/ckg779lz1yxo
Pretty confident that in the
Pretty confident that in the mind of the average lad those tulips are basically begging to be run over.
Probably doing more harm than good, replace them with proper bollards when they’re gone
Paraphrasing the words
Mangling the words ascribed to Kemal Ataturk: “I don’t order you to fight the cars, I order you to die under their bonnets. In the time it takes you to die, other proper bollards can come and take your places”.