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Tandem hearse blues as funeral home struggles to fulfil late cyclist’s wish for “final ride” to burial spot with friends; Shocking video shows Aussie cyclist run over by lorry driver cutting across bike lane; London bike theft map + more on the live blog

Welcome to the Tuesday live blog, Adwitiya’s your host with all the cycling news, views and more
03 December 2024, 13:07
Tandem Hearse (Trike Funerals Hearse on Facebook)
Late cyclist’s wish for a “final ride” to burial spot with friends thrown into jeopardy as funeral home struggles to find a tandem hearse

A funeral company in Birmingham is appealing for a tandem hearse, a special bicycle with a coffin rack, so that a late man’s wish to go on a “final four-mile ride” with his four friends to the spot where he’ll be buried can be fulfilled.

A Natural Undertaking, a Birmingham-based company that offers bespoke funerals, said that it has looked across the length and breath of the country in search of the special bike.

The BBC reports that Kerri Deeley, an undertaker at the company, had found a company that could supply a tandem hearse in October, when she first met the man to discuss his funeral. However, after he died, the tandem hearse has unfortunately gone out of service needing repairs.

“I’ve literally tried the length and breadth of Britain to try and locate another one,” she told BBC Radio WM, adding that they were hoping that the public can help them with any leads.

Tandem Hearse (Motorcycle Funerals Limited)

The company often works with people who are terminally ill and want to plan a unique funeral. Ms Deeley said they had organised fancy dress and biker-themed memorials - and even one event where the deceased person asked to be dressed as a clown.

“It’s a nice memory to have for the family. They’ve done what they can to make their loved one's final journey how they want it to be,” she said. “It’s such a fulfilling job. When we get into the cars afterwards, we look at ourselves and think: 'We did that, we made that wish come true’.”

Live blog readers, if you know anyone with a tandem hearse who’s gracious enough to lend it to the funeral house and help a cyclist ride one last time with his mates, get in touch with A Natural Undertaking.

03 December 2024, 17:05
The Wahoo ELEMNT ACE — Bigger, but is it better?

03 December 2024, 15:49
Soudal Quick-Step issues update on Remco Evenepoel’s condition after his training ride "dooring" collision
Remco Evenepoel snapped bike (X/Glenn Verlaecke)

Fractures to rib, right shoulder blade and his right hand… that doesn’t sound very good.

Read the full story: > Remco Evenepoel taken to hospital after 'colliding with swinging door of postal truck' while training

03 December 2024, 14:56
Is Tadej Pogačar already reconning Milan-San Remo?
03 December 2024, 14:02
Dangerous bus driver banned from driving for a year after hitting 13-year-old cyclist "into the road" before fleeing the scene
03 December 2024, 12:23
“No comment” from Colnago about the leaked photos of “Y1 RS”, Tadej Pogačar's new aero race bike
2025 new Colnago Weight Weenies @ome rodriguez

After lots of speculation and split reaction (“even uglier than a Bianchi Oltre” was one sentiment), Italian brand Colnago has shared its official position on the leaks with road.cc, and it’s a “no comment”.

> "Even uglier than a Bianchi Oltre" — leaked images rumoured to be unreleased Colnago aero bike split opinion

We caught wind of the leaked Y1 RS after grainy images that look to have been taken in a studio surfaced, showing what appears to potentially serve as UAE Team Emirates and Tadej Pogačar's upcoming aero race bike, while Colnago also teased the design on its Instagram page.

UAE Team Emirates currently use the Colnago V4RS as their do-it-all bike, but the Y1RS could be the Italian brand’s new aero-specific bike. Colnago has generally shied away from the full-blooded aero road bike in recent years, its last attempt at the genre coming in 2016 with the Colnago Concept. 

03 December 2024, 10:35
Australian lorry driver clips cyclist
“It shouldn’t be a death-defying fiasco to get around”: Shocking video shows cyclist run over by corner-cutting lorry driver despite being on bike lane, weeks after Sky News Australia called for “all bikes to be banned from roads”

Australia — The land which brought all of us Mad Max, does seem to have quite a bit of fury on its roads…

A shocking dashcam footage from a driver shared on Reddit shows an “insane close call”where the rider was “lucky to escape death”, at an intersection which cyclists have described as the “worst in Melbourne” where “lines don’t mean anything”.

In the video, the cyclist can be seen cycling slowly onto the bike lane, but then a lorry driver decides to cut him off and the rider is forced to move aside to give way. But even as the cyclist hugs the pavement, the driver apparently completely misjudges the corner, and proceeds to trample the rider’s bike and injure him as well, even mounting the pavement.

From DashCamOwnersAustralia... always assume the worst around trucks
byu/ruinawish inmelbournecycling

The footage was captioned: “This was at corner of Docklands Hwy and Lorimer St, Melbourne VIC on 26/11/2024. The trailer truck drove over bicycle and lucky the cyclist wasn’t injured. I horned the truck at the next intersection and he looked at me and drove off when the light turned green. I drove back to the scene and police took a statement and this video.”

Australian news Network 10 reported that “the 58-year-old cyclist was taken to hospital with minor injuries”.

> Aussie police sergeant warns cyclists to “stay off” busy roads and “don’t put yourself in harm’s way”, as Sky News asks “Are cyclists annoying us?” – a month after two riders seriously injured in deliberate hit-and-runs

The post, initially made on r/melbournecyclists and then cross-posted to r/melbourne (by a brave soul, might I add), has garnered loads of reactions from people. If you’ve got any idea of how popular cycling discourse is shaped in Australia, I assume you’d probably know the inclination of the comments on the latter subreddit, but most cyclists were empathetic towards the rider in the video, some even dispirited with the drivers.

“Hope he loses his license and gets charged. I am sick of these f***heads on the road. That poor guy would have been so frightened. I was almost killed by a truck and immediately went out and bought a dashcam. It shouldn’t be a death defying fiasco to get around this city. Good on you for trying and for caring.”

“Dashed white line, truck driver must give way to vehicles already in the lane, plus must give way to a bike in a bike lane. The bike is already there, so fail to give way not to mention leaving the scene of an accident.”

“F*** poor bugger, minding his own business and then that happens. Hoping for a speedy recovery and no lasting damage.”

“That’s a hit and run. That driver needs to be charged as such. That could’ve easily ended that cyclists or pedestrians life. It could’ve ended my life.”

> “The truck driver actually tried to kill me”: Lachlan Morton forced to “bail off the side of the road” as lorry driver “kept going directly at me” and “didn’t move his truck one inch” during monster ‘Lap of Australia’ effort

Another person shared an account of similar incident that happened to them, writing: “This happened to me but I got cut off by the cab of the truck and I fell and wend under. Landed on my back and saw the trucks rear wheel coming and I rolled out from underneath just in time. The bike got taken down the street with the truck. Only then did he stop when he felt the bike go under. So lucky.”

Meanwhile, this intersection has already come under scrutiny from the Victorian Transport Association, who in 2017 called on authorities to rethink the plan to create an on-road bicycle path on Lorimer Street in Port Melbourne.

VTA CEO Peter Anderson said: “While we fully support infrastructure that encourages commuters onto bikes and away from cars, the last place we should be putting a shared path is on the only gazetted freight route servicing the south side of the Port of Melbourne.

“It’s an irresponsible recipe for disaster to encourage cycling on a road so intensively used by heavy vehicles, and is the precise opposite of what we recommended in early consultations.

“For planners to have included an on-road cycling path on Lorimer Street in the draft framework defies logic.”

> “What kind of disturbed, inhumane individuals do that?”: Double hit-and-run suspects were “laughing” after mowing down Melbourne cyclist

This news comes just a couple weeks after Sky News Australia’s notorious segment about cyclists, in which a panel of ill-informed presenters called for “all bikes to be banned from all roads forever” — after a “crazy near miss” on Main South Road in Adelaide, involving two car drivers, a lorry driver, and a cyclist on a recumbent tricycle.

Co-host Caroline Marcus, exhibiting his accurate knowledge and research about recumbent bikes, said: “What the hell was that person thinking riding… it looks like a kid’s toy, these trikes.”

Meanwhile, Kel Richards claimed: “Not some, ban all bikes from all roads, forever – simple solution. It’s the only intelligent solution… You can never have bicycles mixing with steel traffic, it can never be safe. But they think they’re so morally good, because they’re saving the planet remember, and they’re safe because they’re in Lycra.”

Not to be a dark cloud of pessimism on a Tuesday morning, but with media spouting non-sense like this, it doesn’t fill me with much hope for cycling in Australia…

03 December 2024, 11:23
Remco Evenepoel becomes a victim of dooring from a postal truck driver during training ride in Belgium
Remco Evenepoel, stage two, 2024 Tour of Britain (Will Palmer/SWpix.com)

Pictures from Belgium show Soudal-Quick Step rider and Paris Olympic double champion being treated by paramedics and helped towards an ambulance.

> Remco Evenepoel taken to hospital after 'colliding with swinging door of postal truck' while training

03 December 2024, 10:57
London bike thefts — mapped
London bike theft map

This one’s for the very niche intersection of cartophiles and cyclists… or just cyclists trying to figure out how to keep their bikes safe.

The interactive map, put together by The London Spy, can be filtered by total bike theft volumes or as rate compared to cycling in census, with the latter serving as a good indicator of the risk of having your bike stolen in the area. Perhaps, a bit too topical after last evening’s news…

> "Theft has become legal": Police close stolen bike case a day after it was taken from outside Scotland Yard HQ, despite CCTV cameras and tracker showing location

You can check out the map by clicking here.

Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after graduating with a masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Wales, and also likes to writes about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.

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17 comments

Avatar
brooksby | 1 week ago
1 like

Plans have been unveiled for a new £4,500,000 cycle lane that will cross the City of London.

The route will stretch from Aldgate Square in the east to Blackfriars in the west – roughly the furthest points apart from where the London Wall once stood.

https://metro.co.uk/2024/12/03/map-shows-route-4-500-000-planned-new-cyc...

Avatar
HoarseMann | 1 week ago
4 likes

Driver disqualified for knocking cyclist off bike by 'passing too closely'...

https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/news/thames-valley/news/2024/november...

 

Avatar
Simon Withers replied to HoarseMann | 1 week ago
6 likes

So, passing too close would now seem to mean, well, actually hitting a cyclist and breaking their arm.

I'm not sure the verb 'pass' is accurate in that case. I could be wrong but I think the correct verb could possibly be 'hit'.

And the more I think about it, well, I think I may just be correct. But who knows, I've read 1984 (or Nineteen Eighty-Four) so I may be entirely wrong...

 

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wtjs replied to Simon Withers | 1 week ago
4 likes

Yes! Nineteen Eighty-Four is where the police learn to construct their publicity releases and other statements: our thoughts and prayers are with...we have taken action...etc

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Bungle_52 replied to HoarseMann | 1 week ago
4 likes

Quote:

"Investigating officer PC Mark Exley said: “Dennis Amoah was driving in an inconsiderate way which caused serious harm to another person."

"Inconsiderate" not dangerous then! Well it was a cyclist and we all know killing a cycist is considered "careless" so may be "inconsiderate" for injuring one is about right.

Avatar
kingleo | 1 week ago
6 likes

I built up an old classic type general purpose bike so I could leave it outside the shops and nobody would steal it - so what happened? lots of people told me what a fantastic bike it is, and when I was on the train at Twickenham somebody tried to steal it!

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Bill H | 1 week ago
1 like

Richard Ballantine had a bicycle hearse back in 2013 (cue 'where does the time go?' comments). As I recall it was just a trailer with some decoration.

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chrisonabike | 1 week ago
2 likes

A tandem hearse sounds like either it would be massive, or severely underpowered, or both?

Not a tandem hearse but (for anyone else wondering about such a service) a Google shows you can get what is a heavy-duty cargo trike for hearse hire.

Or even one of these trailers (as reviewed in the sister site eBikeTips)?  Cargo capacity of 200kg should have you covered for almost everyone?  Other less fancy but still heavy duty ones are available e.g. Surly do one if you can get it.

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ktache replied to chrisonabike | 1 week ago
1 like

I was thinking of a Surly Bill hooked up to any standard tandem.

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nogs | 1 week ago
0 likes

Even the Archers are getting on the speeding cyclists theme...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0025kl2

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wtjs replied to nogs | 1 week ago
1 like

Apparently, cyclists (well, e-bikers) are not exempt from speed limits in Borsetshire. Dan Archer and Walter Gabriel were not heard or mentioned in this episode

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Karlt replied to wtjs | 1 week ago
3 likes

To be fair, characters in a drama are by definition unreliable information sources.

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levestane replied to Karlt | 1 week ago
2 likes

Karlt wrote:

To be fair, characters in a drama are by definition unreliable information sources.

... but probably more reliable than a lot of actual characters!  1

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Kapelmuur replied to wtjs | 1 week ago
1 like

wtjs wrote:

Apparently, cyclists (well, e-bikers) are not exempt from speed limits in Borsetshire. Dan Archer and Walter Gabriel were not heard or mentioned in this episode

Nor was Pru Forrest.

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mdavidford replied to nogs | 1 week ago
1 like

Hey - No Archers spoilers please!

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brooksby | 1 week ago
7 likes

That's really scary - I'm not sure what else the cyclist could have done, and they were very lucky.

The truck driver approached from behind and overtook them, so nobody can claim 'undertaking'.  If they claim they didn't see the cyclist then they ought to have their licence taken away (do Australians have driving licences?).

And if the worse had happened, you just know that the focus of the Australian media would have been simply on whether he was wearing a helmet.

I would love to know whether the Australian police actually followed this up, and what happened next.

 

And, the first couple of Insta comments…surprise

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to brooksby | 1 week ago
9 likes

brooksby wrote:

That's really scary - I'm not sure what else the cyclist could have done, and they were very lucky.

Absolutely not a victim blaming – the blame lies 100% with the driver of the truck – but I've been stuck in that position too many times in London, stopping and hoping that the back end of the truck won't get me; now as soon as I recognise that the idiot either hasn't seen me or has seen me but just doesn't care I'm straight onto the pavement. On one occasion when the kerb was too high to bunnyhop and it was too late (fast moving truck) to unclip I just threw myself sideways onto the pavement; got a few grazes and bruises but better than ending up like someone I used to know who got caught in that very position with their leg pulled into the wheel and being effectively degloved from knee to ankle, necessitating many, many years of painful surgeries and a permanent disability. Of course it's easy to be wise from behind a keyboard and again, it's absolutely not the cyclist's fault that they got hit, that's just my way of dealing with it these days.

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