Cycling UK Forum

johncharles wrote:

paulah wrote:

johncharles wrote: Can you please explain why you quote from the highway cade, or are you the only one who has read it.

Can you please explain why you feel the need to roll your eyes at a perfectly civil post.

I just don't see why you had to quote part of the highway code, the rolling eyes is just my reaction to this.

it is as though you feel the need to try and educate me even though you know nothing about me.

I was making a general remark in reply to reohn2s post aimed generally at anyone who might be reading it.

AndyK wrote:I see the forum server is sticking defiantly to Summer Time...

Go to the user control panel and then board preferences and turn the summer time off.

johncharles wrote: Can you please explain why you quote from the highway cade, or are you the only one who has read it.

Can you please explain why you feel the need to roll your eyes at a perfectly civil post.

reohn2 wrote:

johncharles wrote:5 ft , you have got to be joking, Why do you need that amount between you and motorists.

So your happy being passed at 50mph with 1ft to spare(or maybe less)? I think its you who must be joking !

Not only that but also to leave enough room if the cyclist swerves.


Highway code rule 213

Motorcyclists and cyclists may suddenly need to avoid uneven road surfaces and obstacles such as drain covers or oily, wet or icy patches on the road. Give them plenty of room and pay particular attention to any sudden change of direction they may have to make.

The real question to me is why use a saddlebag? The panniers can offer far more space, a broad base to carry a laptop on, and I can just dump them one-handed in place on the rack. What advantages does a saddlebag offer apart form saving weight not having a rack (which is a negligible saving anyway when you've got a laptop that you can hardly carry out of the office).

plowmar wrote:Why didn't they, or do not they who need to just start an hour early or later as the season dictates?. Without any need for changing the clocks.

That's what I can never understand. I spent a year as an english language assistant at a school in Germany and we started at about 7:45 and nowadays I work flextime and usually start just after 8am.

The sun's supposed to be at it's high point at noon, instead of changing that, get up earlier. How difficult can that be?

thirdcrank wrote:

paulah wrote:Bike tools, tyre levers, spanner, inner tube, latex gloves, cable ties, 4 AA batteries, 4 AAA batteries, glasses, tissues, clothes, towel (lightweight microbfibre), food supplies, fruit juice, waterproof jacket, helmet cover and visor, purse, keys, mobile, occassionally biscuits for team, sometimes waterproof trousers, sometimes a book. Then on the way home I often stop off at the supermarket.

Saddlebag? Maybe not.

There is nothing on that list that would not be swallowed up by a Camper Longflap without even folding the flap out, so long as the book wasn't an encyclopaedia picked to prove a point. A lot of it, such as the tools and batteries would fit in a side pocket, so long as they were not something like a wheel jig, picked to prove another point. Purse, specs, mobile, other side pocket. Obviously, supermarket shopping is a different thing altogether - I bought a trailer for that when I decided a set of Super C panniers was inadequate.
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At 24 litres and 1 litre less than my ortlieb front rollers (used on the rear rack), this would all fit into the camper but..

When I stop at the supermarket I often have to leave the top of the ortlieb front rollers unrolled, adding , at my estimate, at least another 40% to the luggage space. I wouldn't want to take a trailer to work just for popping into the shops on the way back. Apart from the extra weight, the thought of negotiating one round all the potholes, post-earthquake like road surfaces and the obstacle course at the start and end of the cyclepath near work is enough to give me nightmares.

And the extra width on the rack provides a stable support for things like carrying a huge laptop or newly bought tyres or other things that I might get delivered to work.

niggle wrote:Of course there is a concern that those car drivers who currently give us six feet will feel its OK to pass closer, but IMO that is a minor issue compared with getting those that are currently giving us less than three feet to give us at least that much: what do people think?

They set speed limits to 20 in residential areas in the expectation that it'll keep most motorists below 30 - to get a driver to keep below 30, tell him to do 20. By the same logic, if we want 3 feet as a minumum, we'll have to ask for more. Asking for 3 feet will simply result in many drivers think that must be more than enough for safety and will overtake more closely.

essexman wrote:On a commute i might need, office stuff, laptops, waterproofs, tools, wipes, spare clothes etc. I also might want to get shopping etc cos its mid week. Basically for a commute you want a car boot without the car.

Bike tools, tyre levers, spanner, inner tube, latex gloves, cable ties, 4 AA batteries, 4 AAA batteries, glasses, tissues, clothes, towel (lightweight microbfibre), food supplies, fruit juice, waterproof jacket, helmet cover and visor, purse, keys, mobile, occassionally biscuits for team, sometimes waterproof trousers, sometimes a book. Then on the way home I often stop off at the supermarket.

Saddlebag? Maybe not.

Mick F wrote:Most users ever online was 377 on 14:21 Mon 02 Jul, 2007
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Has someone been wheeling the server past any traffic lights recently? There's a set locally that makes my cycle computer say I've been cycling at 96mph or thereabouts.

Alan D wrote:. She openly admits that she is frightened of the traffic and so hugs the kerb. To try and offer a measure of protection, I will normally cycle 5 - 10ft behind and offset to the right by about 18inches, although I wonder if this puts her at greater risk from anyone that does attempt to overtake and then cuts in early? Thoughts anyone?

The biggest risk to a cyclist from motorists is a driver pulling out of a side road in front of them. The highway code illustrates the field of vision of a driver waiting a side road and this clearly shows that the further out from the kerb someone is, the sooner they'll be seen.

The second biggest risk is a driver cutting in too soon when overtaking.

I always cringe when I see parents cycling behind their children.

I wonder if this is anything to do with having less driving experience? When I started cycling to work I found I was actually far more traffic aware and able to judge what motorists were going to do than when I used to cycle regularly, the difference being that I have now been driving for several years.

Women drive on average 8000 miles a year, men do 12,000. But that's just averages - every bus or train I go on has mostly female passengers so many are hardly driving at all.

Phil_Lee wrote:Can't work for tandemists though, since apparently you can't have a two seat invalid carriage

Anyone read that article in cycle recently by a couple who have an upright/semi-recumbant tandem combination? The wife couldn't walk far, stand for long periods or use an upright bike but they were touring all over Europe on this thing. The lawmakers in this country though are robbing people like them of their independence.

Christmas. pah. I've just been in the local co-op and they had packs of lindt mini easter eggs.

When I'm out at the weekends I only have to stop and glance at the map or tighten the brakes and someone - usually a roadie or a beardie - will stop and ask if I need help.