Search found 4122 matches

by slowster
28 Mar 2024, 8:30am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Custom Storage
Replies: 15
Views: 649

Re: Custom Storage

There are a few options for hanging a bike against a wall at an angle as shown in the photograph below, which should enable the wheels to be positioned such that they were out of the way of the car. For example,

1. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Update-Horizon ... B07LF786WF

2. DIY - https://michaelperetti.com/blog-catalog ... wall-mount

3. The rack shown in the photograph is £10 at Halfords - https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-s ... 57613.html. It has no supports for the tyres, but you could make those yourself, e.g. using a wooden batten like in 2 above.

Image
by slowster
25 Mar 2024, 5:01pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: War on Our Doorstep: How do we respond?
Replies: 1875
Views: 83029

Re: War on Our Doorstep: How do we respond?

A post which breached the Forum Guidelines together with posts made in reply to it have been removed.
by slowster
25 Mar 2024, 12:09pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Huntingdon: Angry pedestrian guilty of killing cyclist
Replies: 244
Views: 15319

Re: Huntingdon: Angry pedestrian guilty of killing cyclist

mattheus wrote: 25 Mar 2024, 11:42am An unlawful act doesn't have to be a crime.
The unlawful act does have to be a crime for a charge of unlawful act manslaughter. An unlawful act would be a breach of either criminal law or civil law, but a breach of civil law would not give rise to a charge of unlawful act manslaughter. There is a separate offence of gross negligence manslaughter, but as the term suggests it applies to unlawful acts of negligence that are so egregious that they reach a level of criminal cupability.

This website explains in detail, and cites relevant case law (R v Franklin) - https://www.lawteacher.net/lectures/cri ... slaughter/
by slowster
24 Mar 2024, 11:24pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Huntingdon: Angry pedestrian guilty of killing cyclist
Replies: 244
Views: 15319

Re: Huntingdon: Angry pedestrian guilty of killing cyclist

Reading between the lines, I presume the unlawful act alleged was common assault. Before directing the jury to consider the question of whether the force used by the defendent was reasonable and thus a defence to a charge of common assault, the judge should presumably have directed the jury to consider first whether what happened was indeed common assault. If it was not common assault, then there could be no conviction for manslaughter.

However, the defence solicitors' comments about a failure to identify the correct test at the beginning of the trial seems to suggest that this is about more than the judge's directions at the end of the trial. Presumably the prosecution did make the case during the trial why the defendent's actions did indeed constitute common assault, and likewise the defence presumably made the case why the defendent was not guilty of common assault.
by slowster
24 Mar 2024, 10:41pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Anyone ordered anything from Decathlon lately?
Replies: 13
Views: 821

Re: Anyone ordered anything from Decathlon lately?

Thread moved to 'Does anyone know...?'.
by slowster
24 Mar 2024, 10:56am
Forum: Using the Forum - request help : report difficulties
Topic: Adding photos
Replies: 13
Views: 400

Re: Adding photos

Thread moved to 'Using the forum'.
by slowster
20 Mar 2024, 11:10pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Filthy bridleway
Replies: 61
Views: 2740

Re: Filthy bridleway

drossall wrote: 20 Mar 2024, 10:50pm There has to be some respect for property rights as well as respect for the public's rights of way. The whole system generally collapses if anyone tries to claim one set of rights to the exclusion of others.
If Benny Rothman had taken that view, it is unlikely that the public would have even the limited rights of way it does today.

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by slowster
20 Mar 2024, 3:38pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: ...a safe way to turn a bike over
Replies: 34
Views: 1609

Re: ...a safe way to turn a bike over

backnotes wrote: 19 Mar 2024, 2:44pm I'm doing a risk assessment for an activity that involves volunteers
For a business the most expensive element of the control measures is the labour, and the most cost effective way to reduce the risk as low as reasonably practical is usually to buy suitable lifting equipment etc. to eliminate or reduce the degree of manual handling.

For an organisation that cannot afford such equipment, but which has free or very cheap labour, such as a charity with volunteers, I would aim to reduce the risk as low as reasonably practical by best utilising the free labour.

For example, two people standing either side of a bike should be able to lift the front wheel up high enough to make it easy enough for a third person to see a number on the underside of the bottom bracket. That person reads out the frame number and a fourth person writes it down (the third person is likely to need a rag and torch to wipe the bottom bracket and see the number clearly).

Various additional control measures should/may be included, such as positioning the rear wheel against a chock of some kind to stop the tendency of the bike to roll backwards when the front is lifted.

Consider carefully the physical condition and strength of the volunteers. Not all may be strong enough to lift a bike even as one of two lifters. Similarly repeatedly bending/crouching down is stressful, and it may only be appropriate for someone to do so a limited number of times. Therefore it might be that the best option is for the two strongest to do the bike lifting, and the other two to take turns at reading the numbers and at writing them down. Even with rotation, you probably should consider having a maximum number of bikes you will do in any one session.

Rather than formulating and writing the risk assessment and then presenting it to the volunteers, it is better to develop it with the volunteers. Thus:

- You and they together try out one or more methods, such as the one I have detailed above, to determine and agree upon a safe working method.
- Decide what bikes you will not attempt to do. Some bikes are very heavy and/or will be much more difficult to lift/manhandle, e.g. cargo bikes, some ebikes, tandems, trikes. Your volunteer lifters will not have scales to determine the weight of bikes presented to them, so they will need to use their own judgement on the day, and you need them to exercise caution and err on the side of safety in deciding what bikes to accept.

Involving the volunteers in developing and writing the risk assessment and the safe working method helps ensure that your RA is realistic and practical, and it also helps to get buy in from the volunteers. If you impose something on them that they think is impractical or unnecessary, it is more likely that they will not follow the safe working method. If volunteers have been closely involved in developing the risk assessment and the safe working method, they are both more likely to follow it themselves and to insist that others do (in the jargon = 'safety culture').

I've said above that you need to take into account the physical condition and strength of the volunteers. You will need to ask them if they have any health conditions or infirmities which would affect their ability to lift the bikes. Ask them also if they would prefer only to read or write down the numbers (some might not be happy disclosing medical conditions, but would say that they just want to do the reading/writing).

Go along to at least the first public session to see if it all goes as envisaged. You and the volunteers are likely to need to review the risk assessment during/after the first session.
by slowster
19 Mar 2024, 12:41pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Headset on Claud Butler Dalesman
Replies: 41
Views: 1284

Re: Headset on Claud Butler Dalesman

531colin wrote: 19 Mar 2024, 12:34pm I can only see photos of it fully assembled with steerer extender in place ……?
Click on the re-oriented photograph in Jdsk's post, then click on the newly opened image to zoom in. What looks to me like the slot is visible under the brake cable hanger.
by slowster
19 Mar 2024, 12:25pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Headset on Claud Butler Dalesman
Replies: 41
Views: 1284

Re: Headset on Claud Butler Dalesman

Judging by the photograph provided by the OP on the first page, the compression wedge is the type with a slot, the gap of which narrows as the wedge is pressed down on the bearing. The slot is visible in the photograph, and the gap looks large enough that I would try to loosen the wedge by using the blade of a flat screwdriver or similar to prise apart further the two sides of the slot.
by slowster
16 Mar 2024, 8:01pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Bike recommendation or considerations
Replies: 35
Views: 963

Re: Bike recommendation or considerations

TheWho wrote: 16 Mar 2024, 11:35am mainly off road routes through countryside, some bog/hill riding, some gravel, some mud, moorland, fields, woodland. I don't want to do fast or downhills. I'd like the option to go out in snow in winter in the future if I really get into it. I'm recovering from a health condition so I'd very much like an e-bike to take some of the strain as I build up my fitness.
Reading between the lines of the above, especially my emboldening, your subsequent reference to "e-mtb with fat tires", and looking at the 'e-bikes' you have mentioned, you seem to want a fat tyred (>3") electric bike for difficult off-road terrain.

I suspect that the reality is that the 'e-bikes' you have identified will be too heavy to use without using the maximum assist level virtually continuously off-road, and they would probably be awful to ride - even on roads - without using the assistance. As has already been noted, most of them are illegal mopeds/motorbikes, which may not be used on roads or anywhere the public has access, such as bridleways.

Fat bikes, i.e. MTBs with 4" to 6" tyres, are used by some MTBers to ride off-road on the sort of terrain you have listed where the wide tyres are useful due to the absence of tracks or very rough terrain, but they are a very small niche of MTBing, and I am not aware of the manufacturers of fat bikes making electrically assisted versions.

If you want a bike that will enable you to ride over almost any terrain, you probably need to reset your expectations.

Have you investigated what bikes/ebikes people use who are already riding where you want to ride?

All bikes are a compromise. The trick is to choose one that is the best compromise for you, and that might not be the type of bike that you initially imagine yourself riding.
by slowster
15 Mar 2024, 8:02pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Headset on Claud Butler Dalesman
Replies: 41
Views: 1284

Re: Headset on Claud Butler Dalesman

Rob D wrote: 15 Mar 2024, 7:09pm I dont think there's a long bolt, unless it's further down. Just a cap to keep dirt and water out
Check that there IS a long bolt before doing anything else. It is conceivably possible that a long bolt has not been used or has been removed. If so we need to know in order to be able to advise you.
by slowster
14 Mar 2024, 9:19pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: XT shadow rd not keeping chain tension
Replies: 4
Views: 407

Re: XT shadow rd not keeping chain tension

Does the clutch need servicing?

by slowster
14 Mar 2024, 9:01pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Dangerous mudguards
Replies: 37
Views: 3538

Re: Dangerous mudguards

Last year when setting off from a dropped kerb and making a sharp 90 degree left turn onto the road at very low speed, I hit the front mudguard with the tip of my right shoe. Because I continued to turn the handlebars left to make the turn, the right hand stay was pulled out of the SKS Secuclip by the pressure of my shoe against the side of the mudguard. I stopped almost immediately at that point, and the vibrating movement of the loose stay as the mudguard sprang back into position caused the stay to go between two spokes. No harm was done, but it brought home to me how even just a few millimetres of toe overlap can cause problems when making sharp turns at such a low speed.

I think if a stay is not a firm secure fit in an SKS Secuclip, that can be improved by removing the stay from the Secuclip and pulling the two sides apart (not at the ends, but close to where the stay is inserted into the Secuclip), which should make the stay a tighter fit in the Secuclip.