Cycling UK Forum

I've seen this as well with Shimano S70T pads supplied with Deore V-brakes.
Also - to a much lesser extent - with Clarks CP510 Thinline ATB blocks. Which is annoying, as I liked the feel of the Clarks pads.
Again, no problem so far with kool-stop dual-compound (Haven't tried salmon yet).


However, I've noticed that the bikes we have which /don't/ have machined rims don't seem to get this problem (Comparing Clarks pads).

The OP's DRC ST19 rims are machined, AFAICT.

Has anyone seen this swarf pickup on non-machined rims ?
Or has anyone else been able to make the same comparison with machined/non-machined rims ?

I think the rule is:

ANY measurement of a bicycle, given in inches, is misleading.

Ratatouille writes:
> ...in doing so it crossed double white lines on a busy A-road, with a blind summit ahead.

What ? And you weren't turning right or even indicating right ? I'm not quite sure why you bother mentioning such a mundane event.

> If the driving instructor condoned this manoeuvre: shame on them!

I don't really expect car driving instructors to be specially careful drivers. Most people just want to pass a driving test.
Driving instructors aren't airline pilots.
My car driving instructor was particularly insisistent on my /not/ doing lifesavers when turning at a junction.

> The Highway Code is perfectly explicit on this point: Rule 129 [...]

Yes, that's the bit that says that if you're getting impatient, it's OK to do dangerous stuff.

Something along the lines of
- There is no "right to overtake", regardless of the speed of the vehicle in front.
- Overtaking requires special care and consideration, and responsibility for safety in overtaking lies with the overtaking driver.
- If impatience or other stress might affect your judgement or concentration, you /must/ stop at the earliest safe opportunity.

might be better.

But then I doubt many people look at the highway code, let alone the Roadcraft books, after passing their test, unless they have a court case coming up.
Won't stop them quoting their perception of what they think it ought to be at that moment at you.

What people get away with tends to turn, in their minds, into what is right. Like the second homes thing.
Then if confronted, they may take their behaviour to greater extremes, to prove that their behaviour really is OK.

larfingravy writes:
> You say you were doing 'about 15mph'. Your speedo can easily be inaccurate by a mph or two.

Bicycle speedo ? If it's been set up right, it'll be acurate to 0.5% or better at steady speeds.
My car speedo doesn't really work below 20mph - it behaves as if very heavily damped.
10mph isn't marked, but the mark corresponding to 10mph is where the speedo stops when the car is stopped.

Coffee writes:
> I've had two cars wait behind me while going up a blind hill on solid double whites in a year of using it, one a lady the other a young boy racer type!

Yes - that's the trouble with motorists - so unpredictable. You expect an A*s**ole, and a spotty kid in a rusty Ford Fiesta, or a skip driver, or a smart exec-type in a 7-series BMW turns out to be thoughtful and considerate.

Never have much trouble with big motorcycles (whatever I'm driving).

I find driving a bicycle far more stressful than driving a car. In a car I don't have to "drive for two" all the time in traffic (taking my attention away from the road ahead). I don't get the abuse, punitive driving, and occasional assaults, from other road users. I don't get overtaken across a double line approaching a blind summit on a narrow carriageway while indicating right. If I turn left, and there's a cyclist undertaking who I missed in my lifesaver, I'll just have a bit of gore on the nearside wing and some paperwork, instead of a trip to A&E. Cars Are Great !

Hemipode wrote:If you want true protection in a serious accident don't kid yourself that a cycle helmet will save your life - maybe this is for you (a rather good mix of carbon fibre & Kevlar)

Hmm... Doohan replica Arai Giga ? Very comfy too.

The main reason I don't wear a full face motorcycle lid (on a bicycle) is that I can't see forwards on a bicycle. The seat is 4-5 inches above my grip position, which is roughly "on the hoods", so that my face is pointing at the ground a 2-3 metres ahead of the front wheel. With a full-face lid, the front of the lid above my eyebrows stops me seeing forwards without bending my neck backwards uncomfortably.

That was after a cyclist, waiting at a pedestrian crossing, decided he'd waited long enough and pulled out (on red) across my path while I was doing about 20mph. My left pedal just clipped his front wheel. I have incidents like that regularly here in Cambridge.

Vastly better protection than bicycle helmets designed down to Mickey Mouse standards needn't be expensive. Last year Busters were doing an ACU Gold approved motocross lid for £15.

Hello.

> I am currently looking at the design of bicycle helmets, and the dangers of them and road use.

Lots of questions...

What is the problem that you are trying to solve by means of this survey ?
Do you plan to publish any summary or analysis of responses ?

Do you plan any statistical analysis of your responses ? If so, and possibly in any case,
you might find it helpful to talk to a statistician about your questionaire.

Maybe you are looking for input into the design of a high-visibility bicycle helmet.

But in that case, I don't understand the relevance of hand signals or 'the most .dangerous part of cycling on the road or of your journey'.
Interesting questions, but how do they help you solve product design problems ?


> Do you wear a helmet and why?

.. and if not, why not ?
You might get design-related answers.

> Do you wear reflective clothing and why?
.. and if not, why not ?

> What is a good feature of your helmet?

What are the good features of your helmet?
What are the bad features of your helmet?

But here, are you going to get answers that help you ?

- I would give answers related entirely to functional design and performance - someone else might give you purely aesthetic answers.

Do you need to ask whether performance is more important than aesthetics - say ?

If so, and generally, how do you tell if your responses are true reflections of respondents behaviour ?
(The statistician might help you there).

> Are they too dark to be seen in (for motorsts) and does this make them more dangerous, do they need reflective panels?

> Are they too dark to be seen in (for motorsts) ?
Almost no bicycle helments are designed for visibility.

> does this make them more dangerous ?
> do they need reflective panels ?

More dangerous than what ?
Are you trying to discover the answer by questionaire ?
What difference in risk is worthwhile ?
There's a few different kinds of retro-reflective materials out there, with different advantages and disadvantages, and quite a bit of literature, there's also standards and literature about effectiveness of hi-visibility clothing.

"Would a reflective safety feature sell more helmets ?" is interesting to a helmet manufacturer.

> What are your views on motorists?

This is a pretty open question - how does it help you ?

In Cambridge, /my/ No. 1 perceived threat, as a cyclist, is (usually blind) right-of-way violations at speed by male cyclists aged 15-20.


Respondents seeing other peoples previous answers is going to colour the answers that you get. Emailing or PMing answers probably better.

Good luck!

John.