Cycling UK Forum

I'm in the model railway forum for BRM magazine
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/

To answer an earlier question about the pictures that I posted, the pub is completely scratch built. It's case is made out of Daler card from Hobbycraft, covered in brick paper.
The terrace of Victorian houses are kits from Freestone Models of Witney. Also card kits, and a much superior finish compared with Metcalfe Models.

My long term project is working on my model railway. I am currently building a town scene of Victorian terrace houses.
Here are photos of what I have just completed and now I'm doing a few more houses.
And, yes, 'The Prince Albert' is loosely inspired by 'The Queen Vic'.
When it comes to populating the bar interior, I'm torn between that comic scene in 'Only fools & Horses' where Del Boy falls down...
Or Dirty Den giving Angie her 'Christmas Present'?

If it works for you, then why change it?
However, the answer is always 'YES!'
What's the question?

Hello all.
This report is submitted on behalf of a workmate, who has had his bike stolen:

Dawes Metropolis stolen in November 2019 from the Cheltenham Telephone Exchange and recently seen ridden in the local area.
Charcoal grey in colour with black mudguards.
The rear rack has been removed and the securing clip on the bottom tube that secures the frame when unfolded is broken, although it still works.
If seen, please report to Cheltenham Police Station. Also, please let me know if spotted and I'll pass the message on.
Here is a standard image of what the bike looks like (except the colour is different).
Apparently, there were not many of them sold, so it should be quite rare.
Thanks all.

In my younger days I used to drop down a gear, hit the brake pedal fiercely and quickly follow it with the accelerator. Now I just take pressure off the accelerator to drop speed by about 10-20mph, hold for a few seconds and then return to normal speed while reciting my mantra "If you can't match your spacing to my speed, then I'll match my speed to your spacing". Repeat with increasing duration hold as required.
Sometimes it works, often it does not. I think that the motorists who do this are just completely unaware of what they are doing. That's how they drive.
Fitting rear firing Exocet next week

Here's the reply that I had from the Officer who took my statement, I have just sent him another e-mail asking if there's any news yet.

Many thanks for your time today. As spoken I shall arrange for a notice of intended prosecution to be sent out to the registered keeper of the vehicle with the aim of tracking down the driver, so that that suitable words of advice can be passed across, as well as giving them the opportunity to see the footage from your perspective.



Dash Cams and Helmet Cams are becoming increasingly popular and reports of this nature are more common. The main benefit to having a camera is for your safety and should a collision ever take place, then the evidence captured on a camera is extremely useful, as sometimes there may not be any witnesses.



In circumstances like this one, whilst we may not be looking to take the matter to court, this gives us the opportunity to speak to and educate drivers, in the hope that they can change their driving to avoid a collision happening in the future.

We are more than happy to receive reports, and will review each on its own merit, it may be in some cases that we decide not to take any action. All we ask is that common sense is applied and in some cases a lapse of concentration, or a minor error, may be just that, and not always worthy of a report to the police.



I shall ensure you are updated once the driver has been spoken to.

I'll give +1 for the Park Tool book, but if it can be found, 'The Bike Book' by Haynes is also worth a look at; although for my bikes, I prefer the 1995 reprint to the most recent.

I had one last week, caused the driver coming the other way to swerve into the raised road edge. This driver added insult to injury by giving a one-fingered salute.
Well phone-call and video clip to Thames Valley Police. Got a call back by a most understanding Officer who asked what my expectations were. I explained that I wanted someone to talk to this driver, make him understand how I felt at being put at risk.
He said that they would send this driver a 'Notice of Intended Prosecution', but it would really come down to just a talking to about his dangerous driving.
I'm happy with that

Hello all, sorry for keeping you all in suspense. It's been a stressy week (studying for an exam) then I got login problems with this forum. But its all fine now.
Well this is what I have prepared. As I have said, this really needs well thought out and informed consideration, so not for the other site I mentioned. Here goes.....

On my daily commute, I have come across a situation which is guaranteed to cause confusion and I am not sure if it is even covered at all in the Highway Code. I have yet to find an effective way of tackling the problem.

My route along the A40 includes a length of dual-carriageway to the east of Andoversford, at the time I travel it is always busy with traffic.

Just before the end of the dual carriageway, heading westbound, the road surface of the inside lane (lane 1) is badly broken up across the entire width of the lane for about 20m and pitted with numerous deep holes. I would describe the surface as being more like a moonscape than a road.
To hit this section at a normal road speed will cause the car to bump about violently. Possible damage to the suspension or even a loss of steering control are a real concern; so driving over this section is not an option, making it necessary to pull out into lane 2. This spot is also a slight brow of ridge (see picture)

The problem is that of avoiding this stretch in the face of other traffic. The problem is compounded by it having been single-carriageway since Burford and if there’s a slow vehicle, then a long caravan of frustrated, twitchy motorists builds up. Suffice to say that it’s here everyone goes into racing driver mode as they race to get in front of each other before the road reverts to single carriageway. Exceeding the national speed limit here is commonplace.

Now if the hazard was a broken-down vehicle blocking the lane, then the need would be clearly visible to all and we would all know how to behave. However, because of what it is, the hazard is not clearly visible and I think that my intentions are mis-understood as an attempt to block traffic from overtaking me. So far, I have had one van driver appear behind at an excessive speed, swerve past on my nearside and reward me with an obscene hand gesture as he shot into the distance ahead.

As I have said, the road is busy so it is rarely empty. Also, waiting for faster traffic to pass me before reaching this spot rarely happens. The best I can hope for is to stay behind a slower vehicle and then choose my moment to overtake, if faster traffic permits. Recently, I have started to use my hazard flasher to draw attention to the hazard, this has so far been a successful approach.
Yes, I have reported this spot to the Council, three times in the last year and still nothing has been done about it!
Any suggestions on how I can best negotiate this hazard?

https://www.instantstreetview.com/@51.8 ... -11.69p,1z

Hello,
Today I went in search of the IAM members forum and found that its not there anymore. It looks like its been closed.
I have a question that I wish to post on the subject of driving technique and I need a 'good quality' forum for an intelligent and informed answer.
So I took a look at the RAC forum and a quick look at some recent postings there, showed me that I'm best to avoid that site.

So, are there any IAM members here? Can anyone recommend a suitable driving forum? Could I post my question here and get an informed answer?
Thanks, Alan

Thanks for the comments everyone. I shall be registering as soon as it opens and then just have to wait and see. Family connection is buying a house in London soon, so I'm hoping to blag a space on their floor for the night, although don't fancy coming into town carrying a sleeping bag . Even if I don't get on the 100km'er, it will still be good to do the free ride round London.

I was thoroughly entranced by the broadcasting coverage of the Ride London events and have decided that I want to enter the ballot for the 100 in 2017. I have done 100km before, although a bit unfit at the moment. My last long event was last years Dunwich Dynamo. Has anyone done the ride London 100 and can they offer any advice? I'd also like to take part in the Saturday free ride and am thinking of turning it into a w/e in London, Taking the train in and spending the night on a friends floor.
Thanks

Alan

Don't worry folks, I'm working on a cycling version whilst enjoying this nice cup of tea. Happy Christmas!

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....
A bottle of Courvoisier.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....
Two schooners of sherry and a bottle of Courvoisier.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....
Three shots of Red Eye, Two schooners of sherry and a bottle of Courvoisier.

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....
Four measures of Baileys, Three shots of Red Eye, Two schooners of sherry and a bottle of Courvoisier.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....
Five Advocaats...
Four measures of Baileys, Three shots of Red Eye, Two schooners of sherry and a bottle of Courvoisier.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....
Six Hobgoblins.
Five Advocaats...
Four measures of Baileys, Three shots of Red Eye, Two schooners of sherry and a bottle of Courvoisier.

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....
Seven Speyside Whiskies, Six Hobgoblins.
Five Advocaats...
Four measures of Baileys, Three shots of Red Eye, Two schooners of sherry and a bottle of Courvoisier.

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....
Eight Grand Marniers, Seven Speyside Whiskies, Six Hobgoblins.
Five Advocaats...
Four measures of Baileys, Three shots of Red Eye, Two schooners of sherry and a bottle of Courvoisier.

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....
Nine Bloody Mary's, Eight Grand Marniers, Seven Speyside Whiskies, Six Hobgoblins.
Five Advocaats...
Four measures of Baileys, Three shots of Red Eye, Two schooners of sherry and a bottle of Courvoisier.

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....
Ten shots of Ouzo, Nine Bloody Mary's, Eight Grand Marniers, Seven Speyside Whiskies, Six Hobgoblins.
Five Advocaats...
Four measures of Baileys, Three shots of Red Eye, Two schooners of sherry and a bottle of Courvoisier.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....
Eleven Martini's, ten shots of Ouzo, Nine Bloody Mary's, Eight Grand Marniers, Seven Speyside Whiskies, Six Hobgoblins.
Five Advocaats...
Four measures of Baileys, Three shots of Red Eye, Two schooners of sherry and a bottle of Courvoisier.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me.....
A case of Prosecco, Eleven Martini's, ten shots of Ouzo, Nine Bloody Mary's, Eight Grand Marniers, Seven Speyside Whiskies, Six Hobgoblins.
Five Advocaats...
Four measures of Baileys, Three shots of Red Eye, Two schooners of sherry and a bottle of Courvoisier.

Cheers! Hic!

I found this very video clip on another site and it contains a lot of discussion specific to what happened:
http://road.cc/content/news/172152-vide ... perhighway

They make interesting reading, so do peruse them.

I'm not going to comment on immediate events, as they have been very well commented on, but I note that the driver made no attempt to get out of the car, preferring to utter her rather lame excuse out of the window, whilst keeping her car in the lane instead of parking up. From this I suspect that the attitude of the driver may well have been that a cyclist does not matter - so just drive on. In such an instance, there would have been a legal requirement on the driver to give insurance details etc. I'm betting that did not happen. Also, since someone suffered physical injury, shouldn't the Police have been called?

I also wonder if a motorist in their car views what is outside and around them with the same sense of 'being real' as a cyclist or pedestrian would? Sorry if i'm not saying that accurately, hope you know what I mean.

If that was me in that situation, I probably would not have moved from where I fell. The car had stopped, no immediate danger of being run over by another vehicle in an adjacient lane, there are other people around to provide support, so stay put and don't move until an ambulance arrives. Besides which, being sprawled across the road (or possibly across the bonnet) would create in the driver a sense of the seriousness of what they have done. Whereas getting up and walking across to the kerb may well reinforce the view that, "they got up and walked off, that's OK so don't give it a moments thought". Besides which, the cyclist may have been more seriously injured than was apparent and a Hospital visit would be a reasonable precaution.

It was also interesting (not really the right word) to note that the following driver sounded their car horn. What was that about? "How dare you disturb my progress!" "Don't stop you p*****k!" I think this behavior shows the attitude that creeps into motoring, a sense of entitlement and the outrage that pours out when it is impinged upon.

Does anyone know how this incident progressed? Hope the cyclist concerned is OK.

Alan