Joe Biden gifts Boris Johnson a Union Jack roadster...but not everyone's impressed; "This sort of infrastructure is a game changer": Riders pleasantly surprised by CS4; Get the Prince of Wheels an Allen key; BBC news report by bike + more on the live blog

Rich_cb wrote:

SigNa Sports have bought Wiggle.

Signa Sports not being the same as Sigma Sport. Just read something about this deal. Does Wiggle really have 10,000 staff? Times say so.

Wiggle also have overseas subsidury companies, e.g. Australia.  So that might be why the headcount is high.

Online sporting goods retailer Signa Sports United, owned by Austrian investor Rene Benko, has agreed to list on the New York Stock Exchange through a merger with a blank check company, in a deal valuing the firm at $3.2 billion, a person close to the matter said.

The deal will raise $645 million in proceeds for Signa Sports United, made up of $345 million from special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Yucaipa Acquisition (YAC.N) and another $300 million from investors through private investment in public equity (PIPE), the person added.

Signa, the global no.1 pure play online sporting goods retailer, will use part of the proceeds to buy Britain-based bicycle goods store Wiggle, which has annual sales of about $500 million, the person said.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/signa-sports-agrees-spa...

nniff wrote:

'The southern end of CS7, particularly southbound, is still a disgrace.  I'm not surprised they've stopped using the term 'Cycle Superhighway'.  It many places it is downright dangerous with designed-in material hazards for cyclists. The covid-era wands and floating bus stops are an improvement in some places but make it worse in others.

Agreed. Saw a guy knocked off (very fortunately just cuts and bruises) a couple of weeks back in Balham by a fast-turning car going through a gap in the wands to access a carpark. Nowhere near enough protection. As you can see from where his bike finished, it was about 50cms off being a tragedy.

The size of that wankpanzer.

That's awful. Look at the size of that vehicle... I think it's an act of aggression just to choose a vehicle like that where the rear view mirror is higher than a child's head. 

notMyRealName wrote:

That's awful. Look at the size of that vehicle... I think it's an act of aggression just to choose a vehicle like that where the rear view mirror is higher than a child's head. 

don't you mean wing door mirror?

I wasn't so lucky three weeks ago - taken out by a right hook in Colliers Wood - someone diving though a small gap in southbound traffic. Straight over the bonnet into St George's A&E for 9 hours.  Bike is stuffed and, insurance or not, it's going to be a real battle.  Today's quiz - how many manufacturers of bespoke stainless steel bikes can you name?  I need a new one.

I've got:

Jaegher, Saffron, Passoni, Hartley, and Condor in the UK/EU.  Not sure if Starley are still there.  There are more in the USA but not really practical..

Wishing you a swift recovery and insurance resolution. Some good makers here - I've heard especially good things of O'Rourke.

https://road.cc/content/feature/great-custom-handbuilt-frames-194774

So, engage the services of a claims management company (spawn of the devil they are) and have them procure you a temporary pair of wheels until you are restored to the position you were in before the assault.

nniff wrote:

I wasn't so lucky three weeks ago - taken out by a right hook in Colliers Wood - someone diving though a small gap in southbound traffic. Straight over the bonnet into St George's A&E for 9 hours.  Bike is stuffed and, insurance or not, it's going to be a real battle.  Today's quiz - how many manufacturers of bespoke stainless steel bikes can you name?  I need a new one.

I've got:

Jaegher, Saffron, Passoni, Hartley, and Condor in the UK/EU.  Not sure if Starley are still there.  There are more in the USA but not really practical..

Bloody hell.  Hope you're ok now.

Varonha (superb workmanship), Geoff Roberts (but may have retired during lockdown), lots of others - check out the Bespoked exhibitors: plenty of other UK builders.

I think Nomia could do with some cycle training. 

More observations to the rear needed at critical points in the ride.  And I'd be happier if she took a more prominent position at times:

• around half a minute in, in the fast-forward bit;
• around 1'50" approaching the shops on a bend, with end-on parked cars, a car overtaking (with minimal space, on a bend), and pedestrians with a dog and pushchair emerging into the carriageway round the back of cars... that's precisely where you would be well advised to be in primary position;
• in the next scene, she is so close to the kerb her hand appears to be overhanging the footway, with a car overtaking her within the lane against an oncoming vehicle to the back of a queue - she's not aware, of course, because she's not looking.

I suspect she's so scared that she's gripping the bars tightly, not daring to look back, not daring to take the space she needs.

Maybe cut her some slack? I think this could be a first for Auntie, normalising cycling by incorporating it into their regular day job. I find people respond better when you praise what's good rather than seek out where to criticise them.

Sriracha wrote:

Maybe cut her some slack? I think this could be a first for Auntie, normalising cycling by incorporating it into their regular day job. I find people respond better when you praise what's good rather than seek out where to criticise them.

I think you make a very good point there.

We can do a praise sandwich approach:  congratulate them for the effort (which you've done); feedback on how they can do better by improving a well-meaning but unskilled performance (done); round off with a positive close. I don't think we cut slack where safety is concerned - it's important to identify flaws wherever possible, while still acknowledging the effoprt and progress.

I congratulate the Beeb on making use of an appropriate means of transport and encourage them to develop the skills of their reporters. I think you've done a great job in highlighting the message we want to give to them.

Nope. With most of the roads closed and traffic travelling at appropriate speeds, it actually doesn't matter what position she takes --- *this* is why we campaign for segregated infrastructure. 

Please consider that saying she needs cycle training to ride on a closed road in a small town in Cornwall is exactly the kind of exclusionary gatekeeping that deters more women from getting on bikes. Also consider that if she was "in the middle of the road" there would be people (not so much on this website) criticising her for that as well.

Let's just congratulate the BBC for choosing an appropriate vehicle (well, two if you count the camera person as well), and move on.

notMyRealName wrote:

Nope.

Yup.

(Condescending!)

There will not be segregated infrasdtructure everywhere any time soon.  Meanwhile, we have to train cyclists to deal with what's there.  Hence NSCT.

notMyRealName wrote:

Let's just congratulate the BBC for choosing an appropriate vehicle (well, two if you count the camera person as well), and move on.

Yes, but no.  See my separate reply; but basically, if the Beeb is going to protray an example, it should be a competent one.  Great! they got on bikes.... now here's how they could do it better and demonstrate that cyclists can make themselves prominent and safer on the roads.

notMyRealName wrote:

Please consider that saying she needs cycle training to ride on a closed road in a small town in Cornwall is exactly the kind of exclusionary gatekeeping that deters more women from getting on bikes. Also consider that if she was "in the middle of the road" there would be people (not so much on this website) criticising her for that as well.

I have considered it.  And I disagree with what your saying.

I don't disagree that she shouldn't need training to ride on a closed road, but that wasn't one - it was quite busy in the clips shown, and adult cycle training exists to help people feel safer.  It is largely a fear of traffic that deters women from cycling, and training can improve that.

If she was "in the middle of the road" and people criticised her, it's a chance to make the message that she is as entitled to be there as the drivers are; and by doing so, she helps to normalise it.  What she actually did is normalise the marginalisation on the road of women on bikes; and cycle training would help her, the BBC and us.

Albeit it does unintentionally show the classic MGIF/NMOTD overtake by the BMW at 1:54 (you know the kind of thing that only happens because angry YouTubers deliberately provoke for more view clicks apparently)

But the BMW doesnt attempt to cross the centre line gives less than 1.5metres room for sure, theres no way the copper standing on the pavement would be as happy standing in that gap admiring the scenery and it's all just so the BMW can join a queue of traffic and slam on the brakes straight away after overtaking, oh and does the classic quick block the cyclist from passing me again dive to the kerb move as well.

That's the stuff we are talking about when we say close passing puts people off cycling and why it's a big issue and why it will never show up in however many stats people dig up on how 'safe' cycling is, because it didnt result in a trip in an ambulance or any broken bones, but I can assure you the cameraman (whose pass didnt look much better) and Nomia experienced it in a way that makes them less likely to want to ride again in traffic.

Presumably with such a funky number plate means it's a diplomatic car or something.

Awavey wrote:

But the BMW doesnt attempt to cross the centre line gives less than 1.5metres room for sure, theres no way the copper standing on the pavement would be as happy standing in that gap...
... but I can assure you the cameraman (whose pass didnt look much better) and Nomia experienced it in a way that makes them less likely to want to ride again in traffic.

Exactly - so the more Auntie gets on her bike and experiences stuff like this first hand the more likely it is to get some attention from that great organ. Can't wait for the first NMOTD direct from the BBC.

Oh yes, the BMW, and the police out in droves, but I saw none licking their pencil. Warship squandered a target too.

Astonishing!  The BBC has two cycling events in three months, what with the Woman's Hour feature.  Doesn't exactly spell the end of their ban on cycling, but it is the tiniest crack.

I was going to criticise the piece for having a car following her, but in one shot you can glimpse the handlebars of the following bike.

It seems the camera man was cycling and filming at the same time. I might be wrong though. I think the Sigma Cafe stops with Stephenson did it better and safer with the camera man in the bucket of a E-cargo bike. 

Just a minor detail, I'm pretty sure they're both on e-bikes so those 'savage ramps' would not have been a bother. Curiously, the BBC website is currently serving a 500 internal server error as I try to check their video.

Good to see the bicycle being used here.

Anna Holligan has been reporting for the BBC via Cargo bike for a while (in the Netherlands obvs!).  Hopefully more BBC reporters will follow.....

https://youtu.be/fQ6RLa4T3Fk

Global Nomad wrote:

have been loving the CS4 segregated lane for some time on my occasional rides out that way...it really is a fantastic piece of work...only one slight awkward bit for the unfamiliar when it crosses to the other side of the road as you get towards Southwark Park.

Someday all cycle lans will be built this way

Three times I've taken friends down it to show it off and had to shout at them to come back as they've carried on down the lefthand side, could do with some lampost signage as well as the on-road stuff. But other than that it's just incredible, easily the best piece of cycling infra I've ever experienced in this country, I often leave home fifteen minutes earlier than strictly necessary just to use it as a long way round to town.