Flippin’ clip-in nightmare: Bike fitter’s disbelief at client’s upside down AND backwards cleats; Fixed-gear epic Festive 500…in one England-crossing ride; ‘But cyclists’ Christmas special; 2022 in cycling; Mechanical mishap poll + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Battle of the cleats (POLL)
There can only be one winner… one ultimate cleat mishap — get voting for your favourite (maybe favourite’s the wrong word)…
Best heart rate monitors 2022 | 6 of the best
And for all the info…
> Best heart rate monitors 2023 — optimise your training with useful fitness data
Fixed-gear Festive 500... in one England-crossing epic ride
Chapeau…
With checkpoints such as Partridge Lane & Pear Tree Close in Bedford, Turtledove Close in Coventry, Goose Green in Leighton Buzzard, Pipers Close in St Albans and Drummer Street in Cambridge, Joseph Kendrick made this fixed-gear Festive 500-completing spin as 12 Days of Christmasy as possible…
“I have no words for this right now. Will do a debrief soon. I need to dry off, warm up and get myself on the next train to London!” he told his Strava followers after finishing the epic more than 31 hours after he rolled out on Boxing Day.
> Aussie cyclist knocks off Rapha Festive 500 in one go – by riding 1,369 laps of a velodrome
'But cyclists' Christmas special
It’s those pesky red light-jumping cyclists at it again…
CAR ploughs into two residential houses on Roundhay Grove in #Leeds this morning. The ongoing incident saw emergency services scramble to the scene at 9:30am after a car left the road on ice crashing through three gardens and into the houses. https://t.co/POxPzwkDi2 pic.twitter.com/lZ3i6xV16I
— YappApp (@YappAppLtd) December 27, 2022
From Highway Code changes to Active Travel England – the big cycling campaigning stories of 2022
As a turbulent year in politics nears its end, Simon has taken a look back at some of the highlights for active travel, as well as Grant Shapps going spectacularly off-brief…
> From Highway Code changes to Active Travel England – the big cycling campaigning stories of 2022
Greater Manchester Police removed Uber Eats cyclist from busy motorway on Christmas Eve
An Uber Eats delivery cyclist was “safely removed” from the M602 in Salford on Christmas Eve, Greater Manchester Police’s traffic unit has revealed. The force joked on Twitter that the takeaway might “be a little cold but at least it will get there in one piece now”.
The rider was seen making his way down the M602! Safely removed from the motorway by #RPTF patrols TOR issued. To the person who ordered their takeaway… it might be a little cold but at least it will get there in one piece now 🤦 @NWmwaypolice pic.twitter.com/aXiu1EyUnw
— GMP Traffic (@gmptraffic) December 24, 2022
Uber Eats commented on the incident: “The safety of our customers, couriers and the general public is a top priority for Uber Eats. We expect couriers to adhere to all applicable laws and regulations, including the Highway Code and we have measures in place to help ensure couriers use appropriate vehicles.”
The year in review...
Naughty Drivers, a year in review.
Clearly there’s an issue with distracted drivers in London!
I’Il see you all in 2023✌️@roadcc @MetCycleCops @MikeyCycling @theJeremyVine pic.twitter.com/hEsNghHqXT— Naughty Drivers (@NaughtyDrivers) December 26, 2022
How to overcome World Cup heartbreak? Ride 658 kilometres at the Cape Epic
Spanish newspaper Marca reports national team boss Luis Enrique is to fill the void left by World Cup disappointment by tackling the Cape Epic, a seven-stage 658km off-road event with 15,775m of climbing.
The former Barcelona manager visited the MMR factory this Christmas alongside ahead of riding the brand’s full suspension Kenta SL model, also used by the MMR Factory Racing Team, at the South African event.
Giant postpones payments to suppliers due to falling demand, rising inventory levels, and market "headwinds"
Flippin' clip-in nightmare: Bike fitter's disbelief at client's upside down AND backwards cleats
“Yeah not sure what’s going on, having a few problems with my pedals…….”
“Hmmmm, yep, that’s not meant to go like that…………”
Sometimes I don’t know quite what to say to a client. These are cleats are upside-down and back-to-front. They worked MUCH better in the correct orientation. Oh, MTB cleats on road shoes too. pic.twitter.com/cUzWG96DVN
— scherrit (@scherritk) December 26, 2022
Scherrit went on to point out obviously it’s fine to use MTB cleats on road shoes, just so long as you use the pontoon adaptors… oh, and fit them the right way up and around…
Twitter was helpful as ever…
Ozzie pedals?
— scherrit (@scherritk) December 27, 2022
Good job they didn’t fit them inside the shoe!! 😂
— James Bikelover (@Mad_1nventor) December 27, 2022
Or maybe this guy was the rider?
> Two backwards cycling world records broken by Aussie
Anyway, we love a cleat mishap here on the live blog. Remember this?
> Can it be real? Mechanic shares double cleat horror set-up
How to burn someone without producing any emissions
yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com https://t.co/V8geeVvEvg
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 28, 2022
As Greta Thunberg appears in our new celebrities who cycle listicle, we thought it was only right to finish today’s road.cc live blog with this brutal exchange, being touted as a late front-runner for tweet of the year.
We admit that we needed to google who the recipient of Thunberg’s lethal reply was; and while we’re still not entirely sure, cyclists and all other sensible road users alike can unite in thanking Andrew Tate for keeping his other 32 gaz-guzzling vehicles off the roads, as numerous people pointed out in the replies…
28 December 2022, 09:10
28 December 2022, 09:10
28 December 2022, 09:10
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Latest Comments
"All that's required is an to roads policing" - that's a big all... Although no doubt the "idiots just keep coming" aspect does apply: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9lel2wz93o "Man charged after car crashes through bowling alley" - luckily they only skittled over skittles.
Almost any change to roads and streets is accompanied by a period of heightened danger, and in the UK "look out for cyclists" will need to be learned... practically. And over the time it takes for cyclists to become a regular feature. OTOH once (if...) good designs are in and frequent enough such that drivers encounter them AND the cyclists on them regularly (another big if) I don't think they should be much more difficult than a footway to deal with. These things are all over NL - don't have the collision stats but they should. (NL isn't perfect but collecting info on the safety of designs to feed back into better designs as required is part of the "sustainable safety" philosophy - if they're really a killer I think they'd be altering these.)
I'm in the happy position of agreeing with everybody here! I've never considered a bike with a stand, yet I'm impressed by the ingenuity and adaptability of this axle. I tow a Yak Bob with a Robert Axle, employing my El Cheapo Vitus gravel bike and I just have to be very careful where I stop. Hedges are generally a dead loss, and I seek walls, telegraph poles and signposts and generally lean the widest part of the Bob against it. One very awkward task is removing the two steel pins which lock the trailer arms onto the special mounting slots on the Robert axle, and when you have one out, the sodding weight in the trailer can twist the whole caboodle and bend the Bob fitting before you can get the other out and unhitch. I doubt if a stand would help with that. You can imagine that this combo is a real pain when you have to get it over the bridge at railway stations, and it nearly resulted in Merseyrail nearly parting me and the trailer on the platform from the bike on the train. It's a long story for another time. Another axle example recently featured on here, with a 12mm front axle bearing the Herculean weight limit of a monster American front rack.
This has nothing to do with the type of bike - it's the type of behaviour that's the problem. Banning the sale of such bikes will not curtail the behaviour. They'll just find another type of vehicle and continue to drive dangerously as there's such a lack of enforcement. I'd sooner see them ban the bally. But really, all that's required is an improvement to roads policing.
The EAPC Bill is welcome, but full of holes. What's to stop an overpowered but temporarily limited e-bike being sold and subsequently delimited? This is often a trivial process.
@KiwiMike Yeah, in my over four decades of riding all over Europe I've never 'been for a ride in the countryside'. That must be it. Or, and I know this is a wild concept, you just accept that I just voiced my personal experiences and never missed a kickstand, like I wrote. Anyway, what's the big horror of laying your bike on its side for the very few occasions where there is nothing to lean your bike against?
They may have looked, but did they see?
Ds2025: where they are going wrong is that they are crushing the motorbike rather than the person sat on top of it. If they did the latter this issue would be solved in less than 24 hours.
I came this way today with the car boot sale in operation. There was a marshal at the entrance, who stopped a car turning right across the cycleway as I was approaching. So that certainly works. I think it necessary for the marshal to be there, I couldn't say if the driver would have turned if he hadn't been there but you always have to suspect the worst. Unfortunately there is no marshal at the exit, and there was certainly a car stopped across the cycleway as I was approaching it. But he pulled onto the road before I reached it, and the following car stayed off the cycleway as I went through. Ideally there should have been a marshal there too. On the whole, though, it's a really high standard piece of infrastructure. Just a pity it doesn't extend a bit further.
“absolute carnage” So right! Just look at the bodies piled up, blood running in the gutters and injured people limping away. It's a bit of a problem with a road, delaying some people for minutes at a time: it isn't carnage, let alone 'absolute carnage'. Anyone who exaggerates so ridiculously really shouldn't be allowed to comment in public, unless they want to demonstrate their idiocy to all and sundry.
22 thoughts on “Flippin’ clip-in nightmare: Bike fitter’s disbelief at client’s upside down AND backwards cleats; Fixed-gear epic Festive 500…in one England-crossing ride; ‘But cyclists’ Christmas special; 2022 in cycling; Mechanical mishap poll + more on the live blog”
The double cleats, while
The double cleats, while horrific, at least serve a purpose and you can kinda see why the owner did that. The upside-down and back-to-front cleats on the other hand must be from pure ignorance.
The cleats are horrific but
The cleats are horrific but not sure bike shop guy is right about the pontoon adaptors as the shoes are already drilled for both SPD and SPD-SL. Suspect these are very old shoes that did have glued rubber bumpers around the sides that have peeled off. Doesn’t quite explain the upside down and back to front though…
Yeah so it’s nerdy, it’s Twixtmas, not much else to do!
Rendel Harris wrote:
I used to have a pair of Shimano shoes that had both sets of holes and a flat bottom. They looked similar to the ones above. They were my first pair and I thought it was just normal.
Same – I still have some
Same – I still have some shimano road shoes with both cleat fixing options in my box of bits
I have a far more shameful
I have a far more shameful story: when I got my first pair I was so ignorant I didn’t realise there were different sorts so I bought SPD-SL pedals by mail order (it was that long ago!) and SPD shoes from the LBS, I had to do a walk of shame back and ask to exchange them and explain why. They were very kind but still my most embarrassing moment in a bike shop (and I’ve had a few!).
I’m sure you are not alone
I’m sure you are not alone there. Given how interchangable Shimano products are (e.g. 105 and Dura ace being fully interchangeable) and the similarities of the names, I would have done the exact same if it weren’t for a friend explaining what to get.
Rendel Harris wrote:
I bought a road bike 11 years ago not having owned one since the mid 1960s.
It was from Halfords and I collected the bike as it was and rode off. After struggling for a few hundred yards I took it back to complain that the brake levers were loose and they had forgotten to fit the shifters onto the down tube.
Re the “car” (not driver!)
Re the “car” (not driver!) that crashed into the house in Roundhay Grove, Leeds.
I know that street well, as it is on my patch. It’s a quiet, narrow, residential street, although it does lead to some wider, faster roads. Somehow I don’t think that this is a considerate driver, driving at normal speeds, only to be undone by pesky ice.
Edit: IIRC, also a 20mph speed limit. Clearly those walls are very fragile if a car travelling at under 20mph can do that much damage…..
Audi S3, prat mobile. Say no
Audi S3, prat mobile. Say no more. Only ever driven by dickheads who ‘think’ they can drive.
0-60 in 4.3 seconds.
0-60 in 4.3 seconds.
Prat mobile as you say.
Says over 3 gardens and hit
Says over 3 gardens and hit another car. How fast was the driver going to ‘achieve’ all he did ?
Roundhay Grove – car left
Roundhay Grove – car left road on ice? Driver left senses on snow, more like.
Still at least they weren’t doing something risky and selfishly tying up the emergency services, like going cycling…
A year in review… Naughty
A year in review… Naughty drivers.
They are addicts.
I can’t tell what is wrong
I can’t tell what is wrong with either of the cleat set ups, but then I do ride 3 bikes with these.
Those things really are
Those things really are archaic and useless. Explains a lot really.
Surprised you haven’t
Surprised you haven’t mentioned your shoehorn.
BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP wrote:
I’ll give you archaic but they are definitely not useless. Full marks for the clever dig though.
With pedals it’s what works
With pedals it’s what works for you. And with three bikes with that set up it must really work for you.
I always wanted double or even triple beartraps back in the day, I thought they looked good.
Single cage platforms were pants, I added Power Grips to keep my foot planted. Then I discovered the DMR V12.
Yeah, I originally bought
Yeah, I originally bought them many years ago because of the looks and found they give great grip and support to my size 12’s so I’ve used them ever since. The only downside is the damage they’ve done to my leg when walking the bike a couple of times.
My Carrera came with generic DMRs which seemed pretty good but my favourate strapless clips didn’t fit so I didn’t keep them on for long. I imagine the proper versions would be great.
Does plasticiser cause benign
Does plasticiser cause benign tumours?
I would use the cycle lane,
I would use the cycle lane, but I couldn’t keep out of the door zone.
Although earlier I did use a
Although earlier I did use a shared pathway near bushy park, then some trail through the park. Quite pleasant not to be in the traffic.
And I discovered indoor bike racks at sigma sports for customers – should have asked if you could leave your bike and pop to town.