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It doesn’t really sound like victim blaming to me, sounds like good advice. As good you may be on your bike there are idiots around and in this case his safety gear (especially the airbag) probably saved his life. And if people want to debate the effectiveness of motorbike leathers, helmets and spine supporting airbags then that’s upto them.
Yes, PPE is a good idea when you can’t otherwise deal with the danger presented in a situation, but personally I’d’ve thought that focussing on not driving too fast for the conditions would be of more benefit. If the motorcyclist was instead a cyclist (with or without a helmet), then would it be acceptable to state that motorcycle PPE would have saved their life (assuming they got killed)?
So what would you recommend the police say? go on have a ball, ride around in shorts and T-shirt and ignore the fact that some people drive like tools and you’ll be toast if they get you.
When you leave your bike somewhere do you lock it up? is that victim blaming? would you just leave your bike out unlocked because of the principle of not wanting to be cowed by victim blaming?
Are safety features on cars victim blaming?
If I had 80 hp on my bike and the ability to go 100+ mph with little effort I’d happily wear a load of PPE, as it is it’s rather unreasonable for a cyyclist
I would expect them to be highlighting the dangers of driving too fast and should be warning motorists about how selfish and inconsiderate it is to drive at excessive speed.
PPE has its place and is very much recommended for motorbikes (dress for the slide, not the ride) but it shouldn’t be the main focus when there is clearly very dangerous driving happening. It’d make more sense to highlight PPE when a motorcyclist misjudges a corner and goes over a wall or similar.
Locking bikes up is a simple deterrent, but it mainly prevents opportunistic thieves – determined thieves can cut through most locks in seconds with a suitable tool. It’d be nice if police could focus lots of resources on preventing/catching bike thievery, but realistically bikes are just property and can be replaced so I wouldn’t expect police to prioritise that over more serious crime. As such, it makes sense for police to do bike-marking and advise people to always use locks (though I do think that honey-bike schemes can be effective).
The thing is that drivers don’t usually set out to maim, injure and kill so it makes a lot of sense to teach drivers about the dangers that they are bringing to other road users. That’s what’s getting missed out by focussing on PPE.
There must be some demand a grinder that mounts to a crank somehowFound this contraption, but the website has expired so I doubt there was too much demand for it. Personally, I don’t want coffee grinds stuck in my gears or chain oil in my coffee, so I’d rather keep them separate.
Sorry mate, but you’re doing your commute all wrong.The train section should drop you at a deserted station in the Grampians/mid Wales.
You should then push your bike through mud/snow for 30 miles to a (unoccupied) bothy miraculously well-stocked with firewood, kale and fine single malt.
Coffee will be taken care of by having with you a) an Aeropress, b) a well tarnished and slightly bent Bialetti espresso jug, and c) a flimsy contraption to suspend a Rapha sock over your enamel tin mug with which you will filter your single estate grown Peruvian coffee (roasted with aforementioned firewood and freshly ground with the Spong grinder you took with you.)
Another 30 miles of carrying your bike, and you and your fellow commuters (two gnarled and bearded blokes and one lissom young woman) will arrive for work refreshed and caffeined up ready for the working day ahead.
Otherwise… try Greggs.
Spong grinder: https://www.home-barista.com/grinders/spong-coffee-mills-grinder-for-23rd-century-t16165.html
(Sloppy)
Sriracha wrote:
So what are kids doing out and about at 4:30am in the first place? Maybe if the causes of dysfunctional families were addressed these things would not be happening.They were 17, so not really “kids”.
A quick list of causes for dysfunctional families: alcohol, drugs, poverty, illness, deprived areas, homelessness, lack of affordable housing…
DrG82 wrote:
It doesn’t really sound like victim blaming to me, sounds like good advice. As good you may be on your bike there are idiots around and in this case his safety gear (especially the airbag) probably saved his life. And if people want to debate the effectiveness of motorbike leathers, helmets and spine supporting airbags then that’s upto them.Yes, PPE is a good idea when you can’t otherwise deal with the danger presented in a situation, but personally I’d’ve thought that focussing on not driving too fast for the conditions would be of more benefit. If the motorcyclist was instead a cyclist (with or without a helmet), then would it be acceptable to state that motorcycle PPE would have saved their life (assuming they got killed)?
…and just found this which
…and just found this which is a much better way of dealing with bike thieves:
Unsuspecting teenagers cut through a £5.99 Halfords lock on Richard’s bike, which was fitted with a £25 tracker, outside McDonald’s in Commercial Road, Portsmouth, on Friday evening.Engineer Richard had only put the cheap bike there eight hours before the 17-year-old boys struck – taking Richard’s bait bike on a ride to Stamshaw, through Buckland and stopping at North End.
But they were dumbstruck when dad-of-one Richard, 34, arrived in his car at around 4.30am and challenged two boys on bikes – one of which was his – and a lad sitting in an open doorway.
Nothing like a bit of casual
Nothing like a bit of casual victim blaming!
I can’t help but think that if the driver had hit a cyclist, it would have been just a fine and no prison sentence.
Tricky one. I’d have a good
Tricky one. I’d have a good look at the derailleur and jockey wheels and check that the derailleur plate isn’t upside down and that the chain is threaded correctly through them. Also, check that the cassette is done up nice and tight (somewhere around 40Nm if memory serves) and doesn’t have any movement.
If I were buying one now, I’d
If I were buying one now, I’d probably go for the Elite – I don’t think that was around when I was looking for one. Klean Kanteen does have the advantage of lots of different options – colour, size, lids etc.
This is the lid that I use: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Klean-Kanteen-Unisexs-Black-Medium/dp/B01KM5VMGI
I’ve got a couple of Klean
I’ve got a couple of Klean Kanteens that fit the bill. They’re double walled, vaccuum insulated, stainless steel and should fit your requirements. To be honest, I’ve never really bothered using them on the bike for hot drinks, but they should be fine for that (I tend to use them on holiday in hot countries for keeping some cold water handy in a rucksack). You can get different lids for them including a typical hot drink supping lid though I tend to use the loop lid (definitely no leaking) and drink from the base metal.
Here’s one of the models that I’ve got (not cheap though): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Klean-Kanteen-Unisexs-Vacuum-Insulated/dp/B01GFQ04DK
Awavey wrote:
I always remember being told by a grizzled old cyclist if you think you need to sonic clean your chain, actually you’ve left it too late to clean it already.So I just de-grease,wipe excess muck off it and replace as a consumable as neededI don’t bother anymore, simply not worth it.Same here. Plus, my commuter, which is the bike that sees all the crud, is fitted with Veloce; a new 10-speed chain only costs £11. I used to faff around rotating chains at 1,500km, but life’s too short.
Ironically, I only used mine on brand new unused chains.
I like the avatar change form squirrel pool to lego squirrel.Thanks. It might not last too long as it’s a bit small and I didn’t want to crop the owner from it.
As well as different environments, young people tend to have a more flexible mindset as they haven’t yet decided what they think is right or that they are not so invested in a particular ideology. This means that they are more receptive to new ideas and can see the advantages rather than just reacting with fear things changing.You are so right. Children are our hope for a better future.
I’ve long thought that education should be a much higher priority in society (and not necessarily just the exam-passing rubbish that seems to be in vogue).
We should aim to provide as many alternate viewpoints as possible to kids
FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:
But why do the young have different ideas from the old? Because they experienced different conditions when growing up. And the conditions will have changed because of countless millions of individual and collective acts that weren’t based on consensus and weren’t always 100% peaceful and accepted by all. I’m not talking about getting into physical fights with people or setting off bombs or dropping bricks off motorway bridges or anything (though in the past that was sometimes part of it, it’s not really my point). Just seems to me that ultimately change happens because people just push ahead and do things to change reality rather than trying to persuade everyone to fully agree to them. Then you have to trust people will come to accept or even welcome the new conditions. So arguing to persuade every obstreperous or dim individual is not critical. (Right now those pushing to start a war with Iran aren’t relying on persuading everyone through theoretical arguments and rhetorical techniques – they are just hoping everyone will feel obliged to support it once they change the circumstances and get it started)Disagreements don’t always get resolved by implied violence. Sometimes it’s just a matter of old ideas dying off with the older population, but I don’t think that’s the case with cyclist hatred as it seems to cross age groups.
The thing is that it actually benefits most people to have a larger number of cyclists on the roads and so motorists and cyclists should have their goals aligned – quality transport options that get you from A to B quickly and safely. The problem is that there’s a lot of money made in keeping people in their cars, so we end up with biased media *cough*BBC*cough* and a lot of people eager to have an out-group to blame for all their repressed rage from sitting in traffic queues.
I think education is going to be more effective in getting people to realise that cyclists are not actually a curse upon the roads though there’s always some people that just don’t like to hear facts.
As well as different environments, young people tend to have a more flexible mindset as they haven’t yet decided what they think is right or that they are not so invested in a particular ideology. This means that they are more receptive to new ideas and can see the advantages rather than just reacting with fear things changing.
I’m not sure that a war with Iran is in the same kind of ballpark as that’s far more likely to be influenced by huge amounts of money and the possibility of owning large oil reserves.
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