Forum Replies Created
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Imma leave this here
Imma leave this here
Robert Hardy wrote:
Currently Nottingham too, an acceptable compromise, electric cars may not pay fuel tax, but those of us who live in terraced properties currently typically pay between 50 and 80 pence a kWh to charge our cars at charging stations, whether local authority or commercially provided, a cost very similar or greater to the price we would pay if we were running an internal combustion engined vehicle (my Zoe does between 3.8 and 4.2 miles per kW hour depending on ambient temperature, my previous diesel averaged 11.5 miles per litre). As a cyclist I would much prefer to share my road space with modest electric vehicles, most adult cyclists also drive a car so making it easier for people to make the switch is a compromise worth putting up with a little pavement inconvenience. I rarely charge from home, I think 3 times in the six months I have owned the car, but the protector I use 15mm upstand and 90 mm wide makes the cable both obvious and considerably less a trip hazard. We live in a crowded country where a measure of tolerance for the less than perfectly personally convenient is the necessary grease for a happy life.As a non-driving cyclist, I also much prefer electric vehicles, even the car-shaped ones and don’t mind a bit of compromise to get people to switch.
However, putting obstructions over the pavements isn’t a very workable system if we have a sizable percentage of people doing so. Where I live, there’s a lot of old mining terraced housing, so the pavements would presumably have a lot of cables draped across them, though I expect that a lot of people don’t get to park near their house anyway. I don’t mind stepping over cable protectors, but the issue is with older folk that may be partially sited or less steady on their feet and of course there’s people using wheelchairs or pushing their kids around in prams etc.
I think we should be making an effort to keep pavements clear of obstructions, but I would also consider that parking on pavements should also be prohibited.
I suspect that the eventual “solution” would be that big shops pay for and install charging stations as that almost guarantees extra footfall as drivers wait for their car to be charged up.
It does seem that good
It does seem that good visibility is key to being popular for commuting in traffic. That would explain why the sit-up-and-beg style commuter bikes are popular amongst the filthy casual commuters.
I like the idea of recumbents
I like the idea of recumbents, but they do strike me as less convenient (though much faster) than a traditional safety bicycle. There’s also the problem with not feeling safe in traffic.
But then how do service providers maintain the footway?We run servcies such as gas, water, electricity everywhere.
Never mind the back street angle-grinder wielders cutting trenches through all our paving slabs.
I might ask BicycleDutch if he can do a survey of this. I doubt that anyone has this sorted.
I can anticipate issues with water getting into the channels and freezing which will mean that they won’t last very long. That also raises the question of safety issues if/when the electric cable gets damaged.
The only decent solution is to have the cables properly sunken and sealed under the pavement i.e. proper kerbside charging infrastructure.
That doesn’t seem workable to
That doesn’t seem workable to me. If you do trip over it, how do you contact the owner – surely there should be some contact information if the council is claiming that it’s not responsible for it? Also, what happens if you damage it? (Oops, I dropped the rubber handled axe that I was carrying straight onto the cable coming out of it)
If people are allowed to keep a cable and protector on the pavement, then does that mean that people are also allowed to remove them if they are becoming a nuisance?
A positive news story regarding 20mph limits. Child survives being hit by car in 20mph zone.Apologies if this has been on before.
Transport Secretary Ken Skates – that sounds like nominative determinism to me.
Meanwhile on Anglesey the greys are invading: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cnl4nrl5qlro
as our man of the spot, hawkinspeter, we need a regular digest of gammon tears about this. Unless you’re saying Bristol is a grown up city and Bournemouth is full of man-children.I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people complaining here too
Rich_cb wrote:
A *blanket* 20mph limit? Careful lad, that’s fighting talk round these parts.‘Where possible’ though.
A lot of Bristol is congested enough that the limit is irrelevant during the day.
Anyhow, I’ve got my blanket ready
MattKelland wrote:
You’re not wrong: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/jacob-rees-mogg-chased-university-9251367%5B/quote%5D[quote=hawkinspeter]That doesn’t look like Bristol to me. I’m pretty sure Rees-Mogg would be hounded out of the city if he ever dared to set foot in Bristol.
Close – that’s Cardiff
She had to run to a Bristol hospital from where ever that is north Somerset.That’s more like it.
Here in Bristol we’re often bewildered by the way that people in surrounding areas such as North Somerset seem to keep voting Tory. Our Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset (not that Avon exists) would have stayed Tory if it wasn’t for Bristolians.
Brenda is going to be furious. She already had to run once to the hospital as her bus was cancelled – she’ll have to run even more now !(Brenda standing in a pothole to demonstrate the state of local roads).
That doesn’t look like Bristol to me. I’m pretty sure Rees-Mogg would be hounded out of the city if he ever dared to set foot in Bristol.
Sounds odd to me – I’d doubt
Sounds odd to me – I’d doubt that the plastic rim strip would cause a puncture. I’d guess it’s more likely to be some fragment of metal or glass that’s somehow got in.
As I’m on here, I think I’ll share my unfortunate fettling episode this morning. I figured I’d put some air in the rear tyre and check that the sealant level and then lower my saddle about 5mm to see what kind of difference that makes (after seeing that article about bike fitting).
So, happily removed the valve core and shoved in the sealant syringe and found that it was virtually dry, so put in 40ml and inflated it and saw that a previous puncture opened up again, so I left it with the puncture in the 6 o’clock position in the hope that it would seal again.
Meanwhile, I figured I’d check the front wheel sealant level. Removed the valve core and annoyingly, the plastic extension piece (I’m running 60mm deep rims and MilkIt valves that have a rubber seal on the bit inside the tyre) got stuck in the valve. No problem – just unseat one side of the tyre and get to the bottom of the valve and push out the plastic bit. Reseated the tyre and inflated no problem.
Meanwhile, my rear tyre had leaked out almost all the new sealant that I’d put in, so removed the valve core again and this time, the plastic extension piece got stuck. Swore a bit and then did the same thing as with the front – reseated, refilled and reinflated. Put the wheel back on the bike and that’s when I noticed that the freewheel hub was completely knackered – unless you want a rear wheel freewheeling both directions.
Luckily, I’ve got my previous rear wheel still lying around and waiting for me to replace a spoke that I’ve never got around to. So, took off the freehub and moved it onto my current rear wheel (they’re both made by Prime, so I was confident that it would fit). Put the wheel back on and then realised that the puncture just wasn’t sealing, so after failing to find a pack of anchovies that must be around somewhere, I thought screw-it and just put a new tyre on instead.
(I did lower my saddle a bit – I’ll try it out tomorrow)
That reminds me of a cycle lane in Bristol along Clarence Rd (https://maps.app.goo.gl/wMYjd5nDDQ5Fvhie7). They orignally had concrete lumps to protect the lane and then decided to remove them due to the number of cars getting stuck on them.
https://road.cc/content/news/169709-bristol-bike-lane-bollards-be-replaced-within-weeks
I just had a quick look at
I just had a quick look at Token’s website and they list i-ride.co.uk as their UK distributor, so I went there and found these ones in stock: https://www.i-ride.co.uk/products/components/braking/rim-brake-pads/tk345s-all-weather-brake-pads-for-wide-carbon-rims-hg/?sku=TK-BZZ345S-TK
They’re the “wide” ones, whatever that means.