Cycling UK Forum

The one that concerns me is the motorist who persists in overtaking despite the fact i am indicating to right ... very clearly......

Precicely that. It was a reckless overtake. I signalled my intention with no vehicles within 30 yards of me in a 30 zone on a straight single carriageway road This is the view over my shoulder back down the road I had come, from the point where I moved the the right of my lane and indicated a right turn. The nearest car was approaching me (and the camera) at a distance equivilent to the cyclist.
https://www.instantstreetview.com/@50.8 ... -11.26p,1z
This is the view in the direction of travel towards the right turn I was indicating for
https://www.instantstreetview.com/@50.8 ... -10.08p,1z
The turn is where the approaching white van is, and I was overtaken at the end of the red painted wall on the left.
With about 15 yards to go I heard the car behind accelerating hard and held my line in the road as there was no time to look behind, assess/predict their path and take avoiding action. Within 3-4 seconds the car passed me on my right (opposite carriageway) at approx 40mph.

Maybe. I can't speak for all artists but I suppose if they can do their job right then it's all down to the beholder.

No that's an artist's impression of cycling

It's a cyclist and artist who understands the suffering etched across Mr Van Der Pol's face.

I had exactly the same thing happen to me some years back. I have always ridden defensively and thought my manouevers well in advance with consideration for relative speeds of all road users, eyes and ears open etc etc. Travelling at about 15mph and approx 30 yrds from my intended right turn I looked over my shoulder and the nearest car was about 30yrds behind. It was a 30 zone so the closest it should have got to me was just as I was turning. I moved to the middle of the road and signalled right. With about 10 yards to go and with me still signalling the car came tearing past me on my right - the wrong side of the road. I had heard it accelerating but kept my line not sure which side it as going to pass.
Normally I would have said a few choice words and let of a bit of steam to a kindly ear at home but this was just too much to take. I have always ridden with the attitude that, should anything ever happen to me, anyone having to represent my case could be sure that fault lay elsewhere.
That day I saw red and followed the car and caught up about 300yrds further on and knocked on the side window. Thee driver rolled it down and the conversation went something like this
" what the *** was that all about?"
"I dont know what you are talking about"
"well that makes you a really *** driver. You thought you could save a whole heap of time by racing me to that junction yet here I am, a pain in the *** slow-coach cyclist who had caught you up in 300 yards. Well you've spoilt my day so now I am going to spoil yours."
I grabbed the keys out of the ignition and threw them into the back of her car.
My only regret was that I didn't find the nearest drain and dangle them over it waiting for an apology.

We regulary walk dogs on a local common. 3 years ago a brush fire swept across it and reduced the bramble bushes to cinders. what was revealed was hundreds of cans and bottles, whole and broken. fearing for the pets that are walked there and disgusted at the sight we spent a weekend clearing up and between the two of us 3/4 filled (as much as would allow us to drag them up a hill) 5 pallet sized rubble/agregate bags with the rubbish we found.

Dennis:
Built to my specfication by Denis Field in 1989 from 531 tubes.
Specific design features include high mounted bottle cage on the down tube so the bike can be shouldered comfortably. pump peg on rear seat stay, heavy guage down tube free of braze ons for maximum strength. Rear chainstays formed from road bike forks to allow a narrow crank axle to assist with long term knee issue.
I am riding a lot of different bikes these days, both old and new, but this still feels fast and is most definitely a better bike than I am a rider.

Good bargains to be had but you have to be snappy. And beware of thier sales prices. They fluctuate wildly day to day. For example their own brand wheel bags within one week were £8 then £24 then £14.99 (the £14.99 was the 'sale price'!
And if you have anything in your shopping basket at 11.59pm it will disappear at midnight!
Also had a bit of trouble getting them to accept that on one order their Selcof Stainless brake inners were actually galvanised (I had recieved many before that were fine). The sales team were ignorant of the difference and said the warehouse would get back to me. Nothing happened.

An excellent company to deal with. Clearly postage is not going to be overnight but in every other respect I wouldn't fail to use them.
Pre-Brexit they were the cheapest option out there for lots of top notch parts. Now they are no worse than comparable so still a viable option.
Best choice at the moment for Shimano brake cable sets and DT spokes.

Yes sorry, I see a typo too .
To clarify:
With the mech on the small chainring the cable is deflected towards the centre line of the bike (see photo taken from below). When you operate the shifter the cable pulls the mech arm and the lower pivot moves to the right. This allows the cable to slacken slightly and the movement of the mech doesn't quite match the movement of the shifter.

This bike refused to change gear cleanly. it was a standard, shop supplied machine that had not been altered since sold. The front mech was reluctant to change from the inner to the middle ring but didn't make a fuss of the middle to large change. the front mech was spot-on for angle and height above the chainring.
After a lot of head scratching I noticed that, with the chain on the inner ring, the gear cable was touching the lower inner pivot of the front mech and was deflected slightly. When the shifter was operated the mech would start to move, the pivot would move out of the way and the cable would slacken off. With the mech using part of it's movement taking up this slack it wasn't moving the chain far enough to get it onto the next chainring. Once it was there though, the offending pivot was out of the way and the next change up was hunky dorey.
The solution was to get the cable to follow a wider path as it left the bottom bracket shell. The bike had a nylon cable guide so I threaded a self tapper into the underside of it, lifting the end away so it was 2-3mm clear of the BB shell.
I hope this proves useful information for somebody. Given that the bike was as-supplied there must be other instances of this problem.

Road signs must be as short and clear as possible

But then you get one's like this:

TITCHFIELD VILLAGE ONLY TOILETS

Are we to assume

a) Titchfield village is comprised of toilets and nothing else?

b) Titchfield village will only allow visitors that are toilets?

c) The road planners have been given conflicting information and have decided to include both on the sign?

d) The residents of Tichfield village AND ONLY the residents of Titchfield village may visit these toilets.

e) Down that road is Titchfield. There are also toilets that can be used only by people with the name 'Village'

It's getting silly now so i will stop but please fire away with any other alternatives.

I am fixing bikes regularly and the count so far is two 5700 105 rears and one Ultegra rear. both 10 speed.

Robc02 I did just that with a previous commuting steed. A 5 speed single gear Sturmey with it's plastic thumb shifter by the left brake lever. The sweep was spot on.

I have today set up a Shimano 7spd SIS downtube shifters running 'bare inner' to the twin cable rear hub. not had time to fine tune but I can see how the '2mm window' fits in as the shifter needs two clicks to make the first shift and 3 clicks for the next so that middle gear is flexible enough to line up to one or the other. Engagement seems positive like this but the proof of the pud is in the chomping so I will give it a road test to be sure. Having said that I will try friction levers too as The SIS jobbies look pretty horrid.

What always amazes me is that folk don't distinguish their own riding experiences (on particular tubesets) from those of others by the loading conditions they will see; rider weight, rider power, and (especially) frame size can completely alter the way a tubeset feels and works for any given rider.

So true. There are so many people that will look for a tube set based on other people's experience. The best custom builders will offer these sets but for the discerning customer they will almost always suggest a hybrid of tubes to match the rider and their useage.

In the course of my work i have had several conversations with PC's about this issue. Some facts about the local situation:
1. Bike theft victims invariably do not know some or all of the make, model or frame number.
2. Bikes reported stolen are logged on the county police site. these sites are not interlinked.
3. Bikes reported found are not recorded by the police. they are retained where appropriate by the council. the council does not pass the details onto the police. If you report a theft of a specific machine and it is found and taken into the possession of the council the police will be none the wiser.

Maaarvelous