Cycling UK Forum

Cowsham wrote: ↑1 Oct 2024, 9:48am
I never agreed with relying on the chimp in a car to stop as it turns into side street when a pedestrian decides it's time to step off the footpath. That's why it won't make sense to me -- I don't trust every car driver to know the rules especially when it's me that can end up in the hospital.

What could happen is that your risk tolerance could spike at the wrong moment like that argument about helmet wearing makes you take more risks that zebra crossing will make you think every driver no matter what age or condition will know the rules and if they break them they'll be in deep trouble --- but not as much trouble as you as you fight for each breath.

Sorry for the little rant but that's how I see it.

Agreed - the problem is that the tradition is the motor normativity one of junctions being part of the road and drivists having utter precedence at them, despite the various rules (new and old) about giving way to peds at junctions.

A better physical change would be to make the pavement continuous across the junction, with the part crossing the road junction thus raised into a significant speed bump. Car lovers would soon recognise that thrusting speedily around the junction bend would probably knacker their suspension and perhaps loosen a filling in their toof. The pavement would say, "I am a pavement for peds, not a road for drivists - but you can cross me carefully if there's no peds".

Add an additional redesign to make junction mouths very tight and sharp, rather than those big trumpet-mouth openings inviting a speedy "coin arund the corna" on two wheels.

Slow the drivist; turn road junctions into pavements rather than tarmac throughways.

djnotts wrote: ↑30 Sep 2024, 9:44pm ^ Cugel: "One reason that The West doesn't want to gainsay Israeli military actions and the supporting supply of weapons is the worry about the Israeli policy of "The Samson Option"." Etc....

Might get away with bilateral mutual destruction - Israel and Iran off the scene? Probably worth the risk. Have to call bullies' bluff sometime.

Have a closer read of the various analyses of The Samson Option. One version seems to contain the threat to lob nuclear bombs and missiles at not just the likes of Iran but anyone else that looks even vaguely like a threat to the continuance of the Israeli state. One hopes that's just a credible-threat part of the MAD policy that has so far prevented nuclear war breaking out. But ......

There are some thoroughly mad people running governments in the middle east (and everywhere else, of course). Many have a not-so-secret longing to be the agent that brings on The Apocalypse. After all, if one's religion predicts it, the truly faithful will be doing good to bring it about. And these days, they actually can. No help from their God needed.

Carlton green wrote: ↑1 Oct 2024, 8:01am
It is a complex issue and one which sits within other complexity. Unfortunately the fudges and bodges of our elected leaders too often result in broken communities and national disadvantage. There are historical reasons for most industrial processes and sites, and sometimes the reasons fade away leaving communities and industries unsupported. There are no easy and also good answers to such situations and, like you say, many Towns have never recovered from the loss of their particular industry.

Perhaps there are "easy and good answers" to the dilemma of how to keep up with the changes needed in skills in a world full of rapidly evolving technologies: rapidly evolving methods for re-skilling?

In terms of processes and infrastructure for rapid re-skilling, there is no technical problem. We have oodles of knowledge about how to construct and impart learning materials and processes. What we don't have is the absence of various vested interests and ideological claptraps that are a huge barrier to setting up and operating effective and evolving re-skilling facilities.

The labour force is treated as a dumb commodity, which can be exploited, wasted and thrown on a slag heap if not a perfect match to the latest need of some profit-mad exploitative industrialist or other. Profit making pollutes the whole notion of "enterprise" with a desire to concentrate large wealth via structures of vastly unfair ownership and property that promote financial mechanisms above the processes and skilled people performing them that actually produce the genuine profit of goods and services rather than bank accounts in tax-havens stuffed with money-doing-nowt.

All varieties of politician seem to be hostage to the forces of modern capitalism, unable to break free of the traditions and laws that create damaging aristocracies with no care for the elements (including human communities) they exploit to make profit at any cost .... to everyone else.

The inertia of modern capitalism seems immense; and also able to absorb and reconfigure any amount of effort to change it, to end up more or less the same vast Gordian knot of damaging practices and systems that cannot be undone.

The disquiet, disaffection and outright hostility of those damaged by capitalism is absorbed and reconfigured as populism or some other deflection that continues to support and enable the aristocracies of wealth and property, rather than doing away with the monsters. The exploited are turned on each other as the aristocrats truck their ever-increasing barrows of money to those tax-havens, with a little bit paid to the Faragoes and Toryspiv types, to keep the peasants at each others throats rather than those of the fatcats.

reohn2 wrote: ↑1 Oct 2024, 8:28am

pwa wrote: ↑30 Sep 2024, 6:04pm I think I know the Liz Truss type. A hugely over-inflated ego and self-worth coupled with mediocre ability. And an inability to accept one's own mistakes, preferring to pass them on to anyone else who is unfortunate enough to be around at the time. It's nuts really, and would just be funny if people like that weren't in positions of power.

A female BoJo and many other politicians well out of their depth,wealding far too much power for them to handle and all at the mercy of multinational business lobbyists who massage that ego for their own ends.
It's all about money,power and being in with the billionaire incrowd....

An easy dismissal - and probably true apart form the, "Its all about ....." part. It's about a lot more than that.

peetee wrote: ↑1 Oct 2024, 9:00am What has kept my interest?
The versatility of it, I guess.
There’s so much you can do with it from slow, social rides chatting with friends and newcomers to short, intense block-out-the-world-and-give-it-100% efforts. You can try to ride as far as is comfortable on road or do an off-road adventure to a remote mountain top, historic site or epic viewpoint.
Every ride is different; the route options are endless and there’s always something new to see, do or experience on the way. It will forever be a better option to staring at a gym wall or counting pool tiles.

Do you count them pool tiles as you swim up, down, up, down, wup, dowm, up ...... . I personally do find the boring nature of pool-swimming a nuisance but can't find an antidote other than thinking about stuff of no consequence whatsoever. I'd get even more bored counting them pool tiles!

If I'm lucky there are other swimmers to left and right who are better at it than me, so I can attempt to observe their styles. Unfortunately this tends to make my own style (such as it is) go all akimbo as I forget to curl a hand for the catch or stop my kick from going from dolphin to damaged-frog.

djnotts wrote: ↑30 Sep 2024, 12:28pm When the day comes - and eventually it will - that the US pulls its unwavering support, then on simple numbers Israel is in deep trouble. It's added a few 10s of millions of implacable enemies in the last 12 months alone. If not for American armaments and back up Iran would take them out right now. Israel does not have the numbers to match the million that Iran was able to sacrifice in its war with Iraq.
For now they are safe in US hands militarily and UK hands diplomatically and morally.

One reason that The West doesn't want to gainsay Israeli military actions and the supporting supply of weapons is the worry about the Israeli policy of "The Samson Option".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_Option

If Iran or some other nation was able to "take them out" as you put it, the Israeli policy seems to be that they would use their nuclear weapons in retaliation. A world without an Israel would likely mean a world full of nuclear fallout.

Would this threat-policy of The Samson Option act as a MAD-style deterrent to the likes of Iran if Israel didn't have support from the The West and could therefore lose a conventional war? Or would the two rather bring about mutual destruction rather than give in to the other? Both have large amounts of theocracy about them. Theocracies have a tendency to believe that they should proceed with the annihilation of their enemy as, "God is on our side, so we will prevail".

If nuclear bombs and missiles are actually used in significant numbers, we've all likely had-it. Such an exchange is more than likely to be enough on its own to create a nuclear winter but its also likely to see other nations join the nuclear fray.

FIN!

pwa wrote: ↑30 Sep 2024, 6:04pm I think I know the Liz Truss type. A hugely over-inflated ego and self-worth coupled with mediocre ability. And an inability to accept one's own mistakes, preferring to pass them on to anyone else who is unfortunate enough to be around at the time. It's nuts really, and would just be funny if people like that weren't in positions of power.

Perhaps an accurate description as far as it goes .... but there seems to be much more wrong with this particular instance of current Torythunk than just a bit of ego. Many of the concepts bandied about in this "leader" contest are barmpot, fruitloop or just plain crazy - at least they are if one employs a judging schema that may be going out of fashion: reason, rationality, logic and other modes examining propositions & conclusions for falsehood, contradictions and various other basic errors.

There seem to be two main views as to why this change has come about. One is that it isn't a change because the Tory party and similar have harboured fruitloopery since the year dot albeit it was often hidden or supressed by a rather less crazy variety of party members in power. The sensible ones have been thrown out of the party. The other view is that the rascals have seen how crazy talk appeals to many voters so .... they talk crazy.

Personally I feel that we humans have always been (and always will be) susceptible to all manner of highly imaginative and emotionally-driven desires-for-different. Them bluddy memes get in brains and whoops! Off we go down the latest rabbit hole. A history of human beliefs of the past (many of which are still clung to here and there - see various religious sects for examples) illustrates just how mad we can get when the more exotic memeplexes get in our ears, eyes and brains.

SO, a worst case is probably that these various political loons really do believe in the stuff they spout. And don't forget - the best way to tell lies convincingly is to first of all come to believe them yourself.

geomannie wrote: ↑30 Sep 2024, 5:18pm Studded tyres definitely make cycling on ice a lot safer. You don't get 100% of the grip you get on a dry road but it's a very significant improvement from cycling on ice.

As said above perhaps a little bit harder to fit than most "normal" tyres but not much. My main concern is that once fitted the weather invariably warms and you want to take them off. In an Ideal world you would have two sets of wheels, one kept permanently with studs.

A downside is that studded tyres are noisy. They give a marked sizzling sound, not unpleasant but quite noticeable.

Just so - although the grip of the tyres as you ride on ice gives a false sense of security about the ice so, as another poster describes, it's all too easy to put your foot down on the ice as you stop at, say, a junction then go A over T as you foot slides orf elsewhere.

One winter I put the studded Schwalbes on then left them on for about two months, as the forecasts suggested ice a risk, on & off, for weeks. Even on the non-icy days I enjoyed the rice krispy noise and the grip on green slimed roads & similar. There is a drag; and a weight to accelerate; and a weight to push up the hills .... but in practice it didn't seem to make any significant difference to leisure/fitness rides of 40 - 70 km.

But then I never time rides or do Strava-striving daft-counts of whatever the strivers count. In some ways, a longer and harder ride is quite enjoyable on a cold winter day. Mind, its nice when it stops, especially at the warm nest containing a ladywife with freshly made coffee and a hot cake.

rjb wrote: ↑30 Sep 2024, 11:30am

What do you get if you cross a kangaroo with a sheep?

A wooly jumper. I've had to dig mine out in the last couple of days. Still rummaging in my drawers for the winter shorts.

"Winter shorts"? Near an oxymoron, shirly?

Or maybe not. Here in West Wales there seems to be a tradition for wearing shorts in all weathers but especially when its 0 degrees or less with a stiff wind blowing and perhaps also the sleet. I've almost stopped when passing such a fellow, to offer my winter cycling tights .... but then I would freeze, woodena.

I've taken up swimming. The swimming pool is always just right i' the temperature. Mind, I wear a trisuit!

rareposter wrote: ↑29 Sep 2024, 5:53pm

Cugel wrote: ↑29 Sep 2024, 5:37pm If this preference is a very narrow range for you, then you'll need a close ratio cassette rather than the 11-34. The jumps in ratios of the 11-34 sprockets are all quite large.

It's a 12sp Di2 though so
11-12-13-14-15-17-19-21-24-27-30-34T

Pretty close ratios throughout.

I'm more interested in knowing what the OP used before buying this bike - it's stated as being an "old winter road bike" which could mean anything but if it had a touring chainset on there, the OP could be used to something like a 44T chainring at most so moving to a 50 or 52 will definitely come as a surprise!

Ah, I missed the 12-speed bit. Even the 11-speed Shimano 11-34 has two tooth jumps at the high end. I changed all mine to 14-34 via expensive cogs bought from SJS (the only supplier I could find) to replace the 11,13, 15 with 14, 15, 16. (And you can't use the old 15 in the new config).

So 12-speed is worth it then!

Nearholmer wrote: ↑29 Sep 2024, 2:31pm If so, big win, because more money will be going to those in greatest need.

But the application process for pension credits seems to put a great many off making a claim, as the process is long and presents as too complicated to many. The electricity bung required no application but just arrived.

Will loadsa pensioners make a successful claim to PC? We'll see, I suppose.

Biospace wrote: ↑29 Sep 2024, 2:54pm

Cugel wrote: ↑28 Sep 2024, 6:33pm A Nissan Leaf is coming to the Cugels, replacing a Mitsubishi hybrid.
...
* The Leaf has a better km/kwh consumption than the Mitsubishi (which averaged only 2.2 km/kwh over its whole life).
...

It sounds like a good decision to change from a vehicle with such terrible fuel economy and increasing the effective size of home storage. Given how large a part big batteries play in vehicle lifecycle carbon emissions and other pollution, buying a car with its battery built in the UK is surely be a positive over one built in the Far East?

Under 1.4 miles per kWh is large 4x4 towing a heavy trailer/caravan territory! The slow speeds and hilly terrain you mention is where electric traction should shine over a traditional engine, could it have been the use of heating while on your dog walks?

All the Leafs I've been in manage more than 3 miles/kWh, usually around 4 or more, I'm sure you'll find it a good choice.

Thanks Carlton green for mentioning https://hevra.org.uk/ - the chap in the video detailing Leaf cell replacement seemed to think it's a reputable source of information. Their website boasts, "We’re mechanics who drive electric".

The Mitsubishi outlander PHEV is quite a good e-car if one's journeys are short and there's a need to go about on some murky tracks, pile dogs into it and use it to cart big mucky loads of things. But its a boxy item and heavy, so not that fuel-efficient, especially in our very hilly locale, where even a short dog-walking drive into Fforest Brechfa involves 300M of climbing. The descent and regen braking gets some back but the ratio of up-energy consumed to down-energy-regenerated is probably 5:1; or 4:1 if I juggle the regen paddles like a fantastic frugal PHEVer.

I did a couple of notes of the consumption on the last few dog-walk drives (between 10 - 14 km round trip, with that 300M climbing and descent). I generally get 1.6 - 1.7 km/kwh going up, which can change to as good as 3.4 km/kwh by the time we return home putting in lots of regen braking charge.

Putting on lights, wipers, heater, demisters, heated seat etc.. reduces that dramatically, as does making slightly longer but faster (yet still very hilly) trips to and from the gym/pool via a 40 km round trip.

I'm hoping that the Leaf can do significantly better.

Carlton green wrote: ↑29 Sep 2024, 2:02pm I hope that the large battery proves reliable. Was the bigger size an active decision or just how things turned out?

We wanted a bigger battery to make the house energy storage facility as big as possible by using a car battery as well as the 30kwh house batteries. Unfortunately, only the top-end new Leaf Tekna e+ has the big battery, along with several other doodats that we didn't need or want, such as hands-free parking and a bluddy great stereo and [gewgaws].

Luckily the price difference between the top and bottom of the Leaf range isn't very much, especially in cars that are used, even the nearly new ones.

Frankly, a 40 kwh car battery seems too small for a car that's supposed to be an all-purpose car (i.e. one that can also supposedly do longer journeys). If it wasn't for the V2H facility that's primary for us, a 40kwh battery would have done, though, as we won't be doing long journeys in a car. Around 100km round trip will be our limit; and more generally just 10 - 40km per trip.

roubaixtuesday wrote: ↑29 Sep 2024, 1:31pm
So... if I have this right... ... you need a new charger to enable V2G for a leaf, correct?

And am I right in thinking that only the leaf is currently available with v2g capability in the UK?

Will probably need a new car fairly shortly*, and would definitely like v2g if possible. Currently ICE only.

* as I hate buying cars, this could easily be a couple of years!

The V2X (vehicle to various other e-things, including the grid) needs a device that can handle two way battery discharges and charges, also containing an inverter to handle any voltage changes and phase changes, if needed by the things connected together. Personally we're most interested in V2H (to home) rather than V2G, although V 2 anything is most versatile I suppose.

I imagine that some V2X cars will have a more sophisticated inverter built in, so may not need one in the wall or other external charger. But it'll depend on what the vehicle is being asked to discharge it's battery to. At present the technology is immature.

There are some other cars available in the UK that are V2X compliant but they're few and mostly seem to be large and very expensive. Nissan seem not to have put V2X into their newer e-car, the Ariya - don't know why.

**********
As we already have a set of house e-thingies (solar panel arrays, batteries, UPS and associated inverters) we're likely to use a V2X charger from the same company (Solar Edge) as there are often problems trying to string together lots of e-thingies from different manufacturers. Standards should be the same but .... .

I did read that Solar Edge have some sort of agreement or relationship with Nissan about V2X but details are hard to come by.

biker38109 wrote: ↑29 Sep 2024, 3:01pm ......one fella had a multi tool with the allan key that could screw the headset back and see me on my way. That would have been a long walk home otherwise.

My mum gave me one of those tools the other day and it has immediately become my favourite for working on the bike and keep in my bag when out to ride.

Now you have opened the large can of metal worms that contains the zillion choices of bike tools! Your cycling will fall away as you go searching and finding all sorts of strange tools, then apply them to the bike so that it can't be ridden until you find another tool to put right what the first one has put awry.

Then you run out of money, as tools are expensive. (Well, the most lust-making are). No new bike parts to tool-at!