Cycling UK Forum

hubgearfreak wrote:

pete75 wrote:I've no wish to do it but of course it isn't all theory. I've given two examples of where this has been done in practice and there are many, many people who have set up a small business and grown it into a larger one.

i wonder about all the millions of other small businesses, really i do. do you suggest that their owners simply lazy, stupid or both?

pete75 wrote:35000 isn't a high wage these days. According to the national statistics website the average wage for my men in my age group is £29328 so mine is a little bit above the average but not by much. I'd have thought a high wage is one thats way above the average.

the average is the total of all people, divided by the number of people.
ie it includes the richard bransons etc (of whom we could all be according to your myth) so the average is artificially high because it includes some obscenely highly paid people...including the CEO of northern rock who got 1.5m in bonuses & the chairman of shell on 10m etc.

i doubt a much better example of statistics proving a false point could be found.

what's the median wage, for all workers? to dismiss women and those not in your age group as unimportant in determining your average is both ageist and sexist, or are you saying that because you're a middle aged man then you should be on a higher income?

just to put it into perspective, your income is over 3 times the minimum that millions of Britons earn, and i doubt whether they think that £5672 pa is not much, as you so easily dismiss it as being

The average is not artificially high nor artificially low it is the average no more no less..

Where did I dismiss anyone as unimportant? You said that not me. Where did I say I should be on a higher income? I merely compared it with the average for people in similar circumstances.

No I don't suggest the other owners of small businesses are lazy or stupid , once again you do.

hubgearfreak wrote:

pete75 wrote: risen to a not particularly high 35000.

that is a high wage, i'd have thought

pete75 wrote: Well rewards from from a bike shop and any other small business depend entirely on the ablity and skills of the person who starts the business.

all theory though, isn't it. until you try

I've no wish to do it but of course it isn't all theory. I've given two examples of where this has been done in practice and there are many, many people who have set up a small business and grown it into a larger one.

35000 isn't a high wage these days. According to the national statistics website the average wage for my men in my age group is £29328 so mine is a little bit above the average but not by much. I'd have thought a high wage is one thats way above the average.

Toured for years on a 10 speed without problems.
A bit more modern now I've got 18 speeds. Triple on the front and 6 on the back.

hubgearfreak wrote:

pwward wrote:I'm public sector. Very perceptive!

perceptive??, i can do better.

20-30k pa, over 5 weeks holiday, pension everyone else is jealous of?

i challenge you to open a bike (or any other) shop and retire early on the extortionate profits that UK small businesses apparently make

Yes I'm public sector too have been for 20 years. Started on a low salary have risen to a not particularly high 35000. I work in IT, Oracle DBA. I could have earned a consistently 25 - 30% higher wage in the private sector during the same period. Why I took and have stayed in the same job is the because of the decent pension. Some private sector pensions are better, many are worse. Pensions are part of the overall reward for doing the job. I could have chosen to have a higher income now and a lower one after I retire by working in the private sector.

Challenge someone to open a bike shop and make a lot of money?
Well rewards from from a bike shop and any other small business depend entirely on the ablity and skills of the person who starts the business. If they are able and ambitious it doesn't remain a small business; it grows.
With the right ability and attitude you can make a lot of money by starting a cycle shop and running it well. I live in the middle of nowhere and yet a pair of my LBS are amongst the largest in the country.I can remember Terry Wright cycles in Deeping and Rutland Cycles staring from one man bands and through good management and good customer care building themselves into large, profitable businesses.

To take an earlier point you made , if English business rates and rents are to blame for higher prices than in EUrope how does the French Decathlon chain manage to operate here paying those same rates and yet sell their goods at similar low prices to those they charge in France and Germany?

Graham wrote:

Si wrote:Aldi...i got the bib longs last year: wonderfull fit...if you happen to be about 5ft tall and weigh 20stone

Oh, oh . . . I had high hopes of replenishing my "longs" at Aldi on thursday.
. . . nearly 6ft, 73kgs, 32-inch waist, typically muscular legs . . .

Actually I never figured out how to map the "Aldi sizes" onto anything that I can relate to.

Am I going to be dissappointed ??

I got some of the bib longs last year in size X Large.
I'm 6' 2" , 46 chest, 34 waist, 34 inside leg and they're a very good fit.

CJ wrote:A low-rider rack is not stiff enough vertically to significantly affect fork flex. .

Not sure about that - the rack by itself may have some flex as do the forks but when bolted together they form one structure which will be much stiffer than the sum of it's parts. Tried it tonight - pressing down on the drops with no rack there was considerable visible flex in the forks but when I fitted the racks and did the same there was barely noticable flex.

Actually Mick I've got a trailer one of these

haven't tried it behind the bike yet!

http://www.roseversand.de/output/contro ... detail2=21

These seem to do wheelsets at v good prices and postage from Germany is 12 euros about 8 quid

Took the low rider racks off on Sunday and went for a ride. The bike seemed a lot more pleasant to ride without them and I reckon it was because the racks stop the forks from flexing as they should. The forks are 531 and designed to flex whereas racks are designed not to flex so presumably stop the forks from flexing. This made me wonder if it might be better to fasten the rack to the braze ons using metalastik bushes or something similar. Has anyone ever tried this?

I use one of these http://www.vetta.com/Product_Tool_tool.htm though mine is the earlier version without the leds. There's even a little pouch in the storage sleeve which can hold a set of Slime self adhesive patches and its got a beer bottle opener...

I think they're about 20 quid but when I got mine Rutland Cycling had them on offer for £7.99.

Looking round for a new wheel set and found these by following a link posted on this site.
http://www.roseversand.de/output/contro ... tail2=7405

I'm thinking that either this wheelset is either very poor quality or we really are being ripped off in England.

chiefsub68 wrote:

Pete 75 wrote: They are currently liable for accidents which they cause

... but they're not! If you, as a cyclist, are in a collision with a driver, and it is the driver's fault, but they (or their insurance company) deny it, then you have to take them to court.

If you are in a hospital bed for six months, or off work and lose your job, lose your house, just because they chose to drive to the corner shop to get their ciggies, then you may not even consider court action.

There has to be a balance between someone in a ton of metal at speed, and a cyclist.

Pete 75 wrote: Under strictliability they would also be liable for accidents caused by others unless they can prove otherwise which will not always be possible. This is against all the principles of natural justice.

You have just set out the situation that exists against cyclists/peds at the moment. Surely, given the disparity between the weight/speed of a car, and that of a bike or pedestrian, this is against natural justice?

The situation, as you call it, applies to all road users. You seem to have difficulty in distinguishing between legal principles governing who is to blame for an accident and the consequences of the accident. The second is addressed by the courts awarding damages if blame is proven. Of course you may have to take the diver to court to prove fault. If someone chooses not to pursue a case in court , for whatever reason, that's up to them. Oh and it's irrelevent

I've seen but one bad accident involving a cyclist and a car, in Edinburgh about 6 years ago. Cyclist came straight out of a side street at some speed into the path of a Discovery which was only about 5 feet from the junction. The driver as they say "didn't stand a chance" and hit the cyclist. It wasn't the drivers fault at all, and yet under "strict liability" you would have him held responsible?

I've had one bad accident on a bike , but didn't see it. Hit from behind by a car and got my ankle and foot knocked about a bit. Had a nice 3 week stay in hospital and 3 months off work. Everything healed up ok and it cost under a tenner to fix the bike so no real harm done. Strict liability wouldn't have helped much because the driver didn't hang about. It was after closing time and I reckon he'd had too much to drink so had every incentive not to stop.
I'd imagine a lot of "hit and run" drivers are over the limit and they know that if they didn't run they'd get a years ban or worse. They also know that they ain't likely to get caught because if the police can't be bothered with real crime like burglary then they'll be bothered even less with minor stuff like traffic offences.

By driving carefully people avoid accidents which they would otherwise cause not those caused by others. They are currently liable for accidents which they cause. Under strictliability they would also be liable for accidents caused by others unless they can prove otherwise which will not always be possible. This is against all the principles of natural justice.

It's only right and proper that where one person accuses another of causing them harm or loss that the accuser should have to prove their case.

For various reasons I'm considering fitting an 8 speed freewheel on a bike of mine. A potential drawback is that there'll be a fair length of unsupported axle on the right hand side. Would this likley lead to axle breakage? If so would making up a new spacer with a tighter fit on the axle provide enough extra strength to avoid breakage?

PW wrote:Buses have mandatory speed limiters, why not everyone else?

These are as a result of EU legislation and presumably because there are EU wide speed limits for buses and also for HGVs. It's different for cars with max speed limits being 70 in the UK, 80 odd in France , around 95 in in Italy and no limit in Germany.

I doubt if it's possible to have a speed limiting device controlled by GPS because it's not accurate enough - having an error of anything up to 20 metres. There are 30, 40,50 mph speed limit roads running alongside motorways, sometimes just a few feet away and GPS cannot reliably distinguish which limit applies in these circumstances.