Cycling UK Forum

On a different note (but still on YouTube)...

How about a new EV for £6000?

jimlews wrote: ↑30 Mar 2024, 5:38pm I'll post the following without comment...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-66866327

But as there are at least 20x less fires in BEVs than ICE cars, for every 100 ICE cars that get replaced by BEVs there will be 19 less fires. The fires may need handling differently but there will be a lot fewer of them relative to the number of them.



(Edited to add that it is a video from Richard at Electric Classic Cars about battery safety & to change the link.)

I don't know about elsewhere but locally (& beyond) I've found very few reasonably broad footpaths that don't have recent mountain bike tyre tracks. I must admit that I have become more "flexible" in my old age & will use decent tracks without gates or stiles that aren't bridleways. On occasion I'll even lift my bike over a gate.

There is a footpath I used to use when I first started riding an MTB in the 1980s when I thought less about the designation of the path & whether I was "allowed" to ride on it. It is an old miners track on the east side of Winter Hill.

I eventually decided to largely avoid riding on footpaths.

Looking at Strava segments recently I noticed that there are 4000 people recorded as riding down that path & 2000 recorded as riding up. A quick look through some of the data shows rides going back to at least 2012.
There are other segments locally on public footpath routes also with 1000+ records.

It does rather make a mockery of the distinction between footpaths & other rights of way with regards to riding a bike on them.

Here is another recent article more specifically about passports.

When do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68675348

People with older passports are getting caught out by the 10 year rule. If you are travelling to Europe it is best to make sure your passport is valid for EU travel (& possibly other destinations too).

Are you affected by the 10-year rule?

• Check if your passport was issued before September 2018
• Has it passed its 10-year anniversary? Even if it has several months left to run, it is invalid for travel to all EU countries with the exception of Ireland as well as Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Switzerland
• If you are going to these countries you must have a passport issued less than 10 years before your departure date
• If your passport is invalid you can try to book an emergency appointment online at your nearest passport office which offers a one-day and a one-week fast track service
• Otherwise passports can be renewed online by HM Passport Office or by using a paper application from certain Post Offices
• It can take up to three weeks to renew a passport from the UK

(From article linked below)

BBC News - Passport rules: 'Escorted through the airport like a criminal'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68677938

Well that was a new (positive) one for me.

Yesterday, I was on the return trip from Chester, heading for Wigan (& then cycle home from there). I tried to get a bike reservation for the 1627 Avanti from Warrington Bank Quay to Wigan before I left Chester, but there were none available so I could only get one for the 1714. It isn't uncommon for that to happen and there is usually space anyway on the earlier one .

Today was different. There were 2 other people with bikes waiting to get on at Warrington for the 1627 but platform staff said they would get me on if there was a spare space as I was only travelling 1 stop (they are usually good like that, at least at Wigan & Warrington). It turned out that there were already 2 bikes aboard.

The saving grace was that the driver (who is usually at the same end of the train as the bikes when it is heading north, unless the train is the "wrong way round", AKA "reverse formation") said she was happy for me to stand with my bike in the compartment for the 10 minutes journey between Warrington & Wigan. I was very grateful.

My "trick" for lifting a bike onto a hook is to tip it onto its back wheel, hold the handlebars with both hands and use one thigh against back of the saddle to raise the bike up while using your hands to steer the front wheel onto the hook. Most of the lifting is then done with leg muscles.

Also, if you are bothered about scratching the front wheel on the hook take a piece of old cloth* with you & wrap that round the hook before putting your bike on it. (*such as a 3rd life J cloth that has already been retired from kitchen duties & reaching the end of its life for bike cleaning )

You can always got the other way & do away with the 2nd fork leg instead!

(Lefty Oliver Gravel fork)

As done by Cannondale

Nearholmer wrote: ↑14 Mar 2024, 8:35pm

That's about battery energy storage capacity. The question was about "increasing amounts of energy will be required to travel a given distance", a completely different property.

Precisely. With hints that it is a “runaway” phenomenon.

Nearly all of those very old EVs will be 1st Generation Nissan Leafs (Leaves?) with their complete lack of battery thermal management. I was listening to The Fully Charged Podcast of 1st March with Matt Clevely, who's garage is probably one of the leading EV repairers.he was explaining about the damage the early Leaf cells could do on rapid charging due to cell heat expansion damaging cells & even the battery casing.

It may be a bit heavy for a cycling tent for 2 but I had an email with an offer from Joe Brown/ The Climbers Shop on the aforementioned tent at £495 (rrp £900). That seems like a reasonable deal for a bombproof tent so I thought I would post here.

https://www.climbers-shop.com//camping/ ... __11113203

Note that it says "These tents were purchased from Terra Nova in October 2023 and are 2022 vintage so have the standard nylon ripstop inner rather than the PFC free nylon as used in 2023 models."

A very quick search shows a couple of other online stores with a similar deal, so you may want to check for the same caveat. Most seemed to be charging substantially more.

Reviving a rather old topic...

A post on Twitter today made me aware of an interactive map showing the location of OS Benchmarks. The OS have a freely downloadable database which I presume this makes use of.

https://interactivemaps.uk/os-benchmark-archive

Richard Fairhurst wrote: ↑6 Feb 2024, 8:49am Double-tap instead of long press should do it (and feels slightly snappier!).

Thanks. That works. It used to just zoom in the map. But I rarely use that method if zooming maps, unless pinching doesn't work or causes problems.

I've found a slight problem with route creation using the web version on a smartphone (Android). Unless I'm missing something, It is no longer possible to extend the route once you have 2 points by doing a long press as that now brings up the new "Add a marker". The only way I've found is to tap just before the end to open the dialog with "Add a via point" & then drag the end towards where you want to go which is more convoluted.

The mobile page doesn't appear to have the "Add at..." option, that the desktop version has in the left panel, where you can specify a named place to add to the route which could be a, partial, alternative. Adding "Extend route to here instead" as an option would be better.

It might be useful to be able to add a marker at an already created via point, either as well as or instead of it.

I went for a final play in the snow on my bike yesterday before the main thaw started today. I rode to the top of Rivington Pike for the first time in ages (&, possibly, the first time in snow).

The ride with some photos is on Strava here - https://strava.app.link/mXN7koQewGb

No sign of more wintery weather in the forecast into the start of February so I'll take the studded tyres off the wheels they're on for now.

United Utilities seem to be confident that they can make the face of Rough Crag safe allowing the road closure to be reversed - https://www.unitedutilities.com/my-loca ... ough-crag/

I don't know if it is openly viewable, but there is a Facebook group called Keep Thirlmere Open & their latest update also mention there is now a separate footpath open round the crag - https://m.facebook.com/groups/617475240 ... 879789599/