Clip-in carnage: Tricky transition troubles triathletes; New year, same bad driving caught on camera by Jeremy Vine (+ cop defends not using 'murder strip'); Aero wizard Dan Bigham joins Ineos; Marvellous memes + more on the live blog

Bike stand at Bodmin Jail (on the Camel Trail). I think it's over the old grave pit.

IanMK wrote:

Bike stand at Bodmin Jail (on the Camel Trail). I think it's over the old grave pit.

Aww wow, look at all the sharp edges to scrape your paint on

We're spoiled as cyclists

IanMSpencer wrote:

I guess BikeSnob NYC is not local, otherwise he would have made at least a passing reference to the joy that is fitting mudguards to a road bike.

Planning to fit a pair of mudguards at the weekend, will probably involve a drill and a hacksaw. I'm expecting 3+ hours for what should be a half hour job.

Fitting new mudguards to a bike must be the worst job going. 18months ago I bought a set of SKS Longboards for my Genesis Gravel bike. For some inexplicable reason the mounting points at the front are halfway up the inside of the fork legs. That positioning of the mounting points meant the stays had to be cut to different lengths. The next issue was the front rubber flap was too low so I had to drill out the bridge rivets and re-rivet it further back. The result of that little exercise was the stays had to be cut again and the angle of them meant the ends had to be bent to fit through the top bracket of the mudguard.

I hope the mudguards never need replacing. I'd sooner strip the whole drive train down and clean it any day of the week.

Regarding the mounting points halfway up the fork, I wonder whether (by design or accident) it makes it safer. If something jams under the mudguard and it all starts to rotate towards the fork crown, the mudguard should lift away from the tyre and hopefully release the object. But it is a pain to fit, in my case the lower stay was only just long enough.

As to the flap being too low, I thought that was the whole point? Stops the crop spraying onto the chainrings and thence into the entire drive train. Might save having to strip it down and clean so often

I'm not sure about the possible safety aspect. I'll let you test that one. I rely on on the stays pulling out of the clips before I go over the handlebar.

Yes, the flap should be lower than normal mudguards but on the first fit it was nearly on the floor hence the refit. It is very effective at keeping the shoes and shins cleaner but could be longer at the top. I find that at anything over, around, 15mph I get covered in the spray off the top of the front wheel.

Upvote for the stupid 3T stem though. There will be a barely used 100mm one listing on Ebay as soon as I can be @rsed if Dan needs one for another of his stable!

Will probably come up with a better sales pitch when I do list - "as used by road.cc editor" has a nice ring to it!

I think it rains in NYC too...

brooksby wrote:

I think it rains in NYC too...

Tender, tough, too tragic to be true...

Intereresting one as the arrow is telling cyclists to take to the pavement, but there isn't a sign to say it is a shared use path?

I think the sign on the road should be translated as wanting cyclists to please just F off out of the roadway...  They don't actually want them to carry on riding anywhere else.

Even better coming the other way is the wand added at the start of the full bike lane, on a bend, where drivers have been encouraged to drive in the cycle lane as they have gone for minimal road markings so there is no centre line. The bent and battered plastic posts (with the 10cm cycle lane sign on the wand being the only hint of a changing roadscape) testifies to the number of people who have had a suprise.

And how many people do you know have broken their hip riding up a dropped kerb at the wrong angle?

you're mistaken, the sign is directing cyclists to pop into the first house on the left.

Presumably some nice coffee and cake will be waiting.

If space is at a premium I guess it's sensible to think of a less-than-perfect solution. I agree it seems to be a shared use footway uphill, and a cycle lane downhill.

I doubt the cycle lane is 2m, or even 1.5m, and the physical protection is minimal. Orcas and wands would be better than just orcas.

In general I'd prefer to have a protected cycle track when I'm going uphill.

The principle is great, the execution is appalling.

There is a 40mph post which is due to be removed as the road is residential, has a number of large properties like Sunset Senior Living and a golf club and is the scene of regular accidents at a junction further up. I suspect that the design criteria for the revised layout with reduced lane widths is 30mph. It's an ex-trunk road, obsolete after the M40 was built but the 40mph remained.

Unfortunately, they run the cycle lane on the pavement across the heavily used flat and care home entrances. In two months they have not put any markings on the pavement, so it is unclear how they expect the cyclists to interact traffic at those junctions; I suspect they think cyclists will give way - I have news for them on that score. It then passes in front of a bus stop before dropping onto the road again. Then there is bin day...

So they could have put in a dropped kerb on the roundabout at a more acute angle, making a desirable escape from the pinch point, widening the pavement where the 40mph sign is currently.

For about a month, they didn't have the Orcas and it was great. Then they put them in right down to the island - I live off to the right at the roundabout going downhill so I want to exit the cycle lane at about 20-25mph to merge with the traffic, can't do it with orcas.

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

A story from 6-7 years ago in the Express? Finally stopped talking about Diana's death then?

Just a pause: normal service will be resumed soon and it'll be on the front page on Friday, latest.

Now just think how much less effective this sage advice would be if all cyclists wore identically coloured official issue high visibility tabards. The thinner rearmost cyclist would disappear against "fatty in front" thus putting them at significant risk from law abiding drivers taking important phone calls and drinking their coffee.

How about if cyclists rode side by side? Larger one on the outside of course.

But then they would be contravening "road safety expert" Nick Freeman's version of the highway code where cyclists must ride in single file, with any other approach being "totally illegal".

Garage at Large wrote:

Agree with other commenters on the God-awful cycle lane in the Vine clip - this kind of "infrastructure" is worse than having none at all. The other thing I note about the clip is that Vine is riding ahead of his child. At first this might seem odd, but it does tie in with my sage advice of having the fatter cyclist ride in front of the thin one, so that the thin cyclist is always visible. So full marks to Jeremy on that one.

Oh look..... more wonderful fat shaming "joking" from Nigel, add that to racism and mysoginy.