Chris Boardman’s TdF Prologue winning bike up for grabs on ebay

Clearly driver training and the driving test need to change to meet modern time poor driving conditions. I suggest the following need to be added to the practical test : 1) Undertaking on pavements. 2) Close passing cyclists or horses at 50mph. 3) Threading between bollards to park on pavements near fast food outlets. 4) Steering with the knees while using a mobile phone and eating a burger or sushi, depending on the area. 5) Fighting with cyclists at roundabouts. For the advanced driving test the fighting will be with Hell's Angels or gangs of Mods. 6) Handbrake turns. 7) Driving at speed after all night parties. 8) Selecting the wrong gear and smashing into somebody's living room. The theory test could be scrapped to make way for these practical additions.

The headline states the article will "weigh up the pros and cons" but doesn't really provide any argument for keeping the limit. Or maybe it's to "weigh up the pros (of lowering the limit) and cons (of keeping the limit)"? Beyond having a different limit for either/or women's races/smaller riders, which I can see a strong argument for, I don't really see the point of just lowering the absolute limit. What will it achieve? We'll end up with aero bikes at the new limit but instead of costing £10-15k, it'll be £15-20k and we'll still hear more complaining about everything in the bike industry being so expensive. Sure, no one's forced to buy the TdF bike, but it does anchor the price ceiling, which will have an effect on every other model. There's a focus in the article on companies being able to make lightweight bikes again, or for pros to race on them. Well, they already exist for those that want them. And the pros? We might have a few years of bike choice, but we'll still end up with everyone using the aero bike at the new weight limit but with lots of expensive R&D and new materials that need to be paid for. Especially lightweight bikes don't have a right to exist. A 7kg bike from 20 years ago is the same weight as a 7kg bike today. I think what's more interesting is the suggestion of scaling the weight limit with rider weight. That feels fairer. But could it remove an advantage that a bigger sprinter might have over their colleagues, for example? We could end up with just the same style of rider across a whole race. It also feels like it doesnt make much sense to just map the men's limit onto the women's field. But then if it's an arbitrary limit, does that matter either?

FFS France always seemed like a safe place to ride a bike, outside Paris that is. Can't see the Department number in the photo - hire cars traditionally have been registered in Oise (60) and many still are, though not all. Does make you wonder if it was a Brit on holiday. Only road rage driver I've experienced in Spain was in a hire car, and that was relatively benign - brake check and windscreen wiper / fluid squirt.

Good idea! It's still here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vgC4HnpW8Ns?is=yBeUq91LrYRbA9-C FF to 2:30 sorry I never got around to editing it down. May still be set to private due to the police 'investigation' but you can view it with the link. Bus one is here, again FF to 2:00: https://youtu.be/_AEHH4kl5Rs?is=wfwc4gZVW2UFp1x7

@Smoggysteve I ran the numbers (because I'm a geek like that) and with a 5mph difference in speed, the car driver would need to see approximately 120 meters of clear road ahead before considering an overtaking manoeuvre of a 15mph cyclist in a 20 zone, and that doesn't account for the delay in the car accelerating from speed-matching to overtaking at the limit. If the cyclist was actually doing nearer 17mph (because the instructor was exaggerating the "slowness" of the cyclist) then the car would require more than 200 meters of clear road before attempting to overtake. Those kind of gaps aren't rare, but they're certainly not all that common either. Uncommon enough that overtaking should NOT be first instinct for the driver in that situation, but would be obvious if a suitable opportunity is missed.

Daniel Smith demonstrates the overwhelming motonormativity in society, and his attitude stinks. He's probably capable of teaching people to pass their test, otherwise he'd be out of business, but he doesn't teach people to be tolerant of other road users, which in turn generates contempt and the likelihood of drivers translating that into driving dangerously around cyclists. Nothing demonstrates his appalling attitude better than the fact he chose to post this embarrassingly awful video himself, as if he thinks it shows his teaching skills.

There is a 20mph road, not that far from me, which has dashed line cycle lanes on either side and road humps with gaps in them. If the drivers swerve into the bike lane then then they can avoid the road humps. It is often used by Driving schools to teach drivers and I always see driving instructors actively teaching learner drivers to swerve in an out of the bike lane. When I used to commute along it I had to remonstrate with drivers a few times for blindly doing this and swerving into my path when was using the lane.

@Jakrayan Sounds like a good one for near miss of the day if you still have the video. I reckon even in Gloucestershire that would have resulted in a NIP but you never can tell nowadays.

Just get rid of all the rules on weight and shape. Why not? Seriously though, either: a) we want the sport to be about human performance: in which case we should rigorously standardise the equipment (far more than we do now!") b) or we don't: in which case, what is the point in letting the bike makers continuously nibble away at the rules decade after decade, and have this slow drift in equipment standards? Just be done with it and get rid of all the rules in one go.

@mitsky I can answer the first question. 1. Complete indifference. Its cars innit? Anyway, its probably a cyclists fault that there is traffic. Cyclists are held to a completely different set of rules and standards to cars despite cars being far worse in basically every area. Most people drive cars. Most people don't ride bikes on our roads. Until that changes, attitudes won't change.