Cycling UK Forum

Vorpal wrote:It's sad that an eminent scientist would publish such a thing.

Well as a surgeon he is just a glorified mechanic !

Username wrote:

MikeF wrote:https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/ Cycle infrastructure, pedestrian crossings, speed humps and no doubt cyclists themselves are all a problem!

Also traffic lights actually on roundabouts! Pointless and infuriating.

Actually the Hammersmith Gyratory is considerably easier to cycle round now that traffic lights have been added - I even take the feeder ride to the London Freecycle that way and we get lots of children and inexperienced cyclists.

RickH wrote:

PRL wrote:But the NOx pollution is primarily a problem in those dense urban areas. I would like to see all deliveries for London delivered to a depot on the M25 with a battery /hydrogen powered vehicle taking the day's load for a certain area.

Something like this? (BBC News Technolgy article)

Looks good - Perhaps make that a dozen depots so the vehicle has only to do a small segment.

Brucey wrote:
BTW if one spring fails whilst you are on a ride, you can simply unhook the other and carry on. Normally the boot on the V-pipe will keep the brake arms apart and if the brake rubs, it won't rub hard. The brake will still work OK too, but it obviously won't return by itself.

cheers

Thanks - I will try to remember that. I have had full-sized Vs on the mountain bike for 20 years with no problem. Wondering of mini Vs are more trouble than they are worth on a tourer.

I have TEKTRO RX-6 Mini-V Brakes on my touring bike. This morning I noticed that a front brake was binding so tried adjusting with the allen bolt but it stayed stubbornly against the rim. Then I noticed the jagged end of the spring well short of the peg it should be pressing against.
Two thoughts - annoyance at having to buy new brakes (they are only just over a year old) and concern that a spring breaking when one was out would immobilise the bike.
I have never had this happen before - cantilever springs seem to be shorter and stouter.

climo wrote:

lead-legs wrote:I use Osmand on my Motorola. The app is awesome but any phone will use more power and therefore not last as long as a Garmin.
It's not a problem for me as I have a dynamo hub. So it's really about power.

Ooh good. Do you let Osmand calculate the route for you? I tried and the route was not the best - it ignored NCN 4 coming into Bath which is a very good way to the city centre. Haven't tried it on a GPX from cycle.travel yet.
Do you use the voice turn by turn?

Osmand is usually pretty good at calculating routes in the UK ( ie it agrees with me and occasionally even comes up with a better route) OTOH in France it tried to send me down a main road so I imported a GPX as you say. I like the "route recalculating" when you have decided not to take its advice (or simply misinterpreted a turn). The voice turn-by-turn is invaluable in unfamiliar towns with cycle.travel sending you through the backstreets.

blackbike wrote:The problem of lots of cyclist deaths in London is caused by a combination of the heavy traffic and a lot of inexperienced cyclists.

Cycling in London is quite popular, not largely confined to experienced cyclists like it is in most other places these days.

When I see cyclists in inner London I am reminded of my youth when a wide range of people rode bikes as everyday transport.

I cycle in outer London a few times a year, and I don't think cycling is any more popular there than anywhere else in the country, and cyclists are quite rare.

Apparently we are 5% of the traffic in Richmond - and with quiet a range of users and types of bike.

Predictably :
"It happened as the lorry, from Orpington-based Primagrange, turned left from an industrial onto North Woolwich Road, near Silvertown West DLR station."
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/c ... 63236.html

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/cy ... 59761.html

Left turn lanes are bad news for cyclists who risk getting trapped on the inside of left turning traffic. The only way is to fully occupy a lane at the risk of being honked at. I have seen, in France, a cycle lane on the left taken straight on with left turning traffic required to give way before getting into the left-turn lane (hope that was clear).
Disconnected bits of cycle lane have to be the worst of all possible worlds.

Elizabethsdad wrote: There is a section of pavement near me that I might consider using if were legal to do so as it is an uphill section and it would get me out of the way of impatient motorists. I would want it to be a one-way path though - on route I used to cycle I tried there shared use path for the same reason but gave up on it because of bikes coming down it at speed, it was only about 4' wide.

There is a section of the A3100 south of Guildford where there is a shared use of footway on a steepish uphill section. (assuming that noone would be daft enough to cross the road twice just to cycle downhill on it.

https://goo.gl/maps/QF9XWx9dujF2

Username wrote:

karlt wrote:Recumbents would need a 0 on the end of your budget, so you're looking at the lower end of uprights.

Decathlon is an excellent place to start, but you need to establish what you want to do on the bike and thus what sort of bike you want.

Woulda thought recumbents would be cheaper, weird! Anyway Im an average bloke. I want to ride a road bike on roads. Im average in height so I would probably need a medium sized bike.

A trap there - shops will use "road bike" to mean road racing bike as opposed to track racing. For general purpose riding on roads and bike paths a hybrid would be most flexible. Being able to use paths as well as roads is helpful if you want to avoid heavy traffic.

Would have been useful here
https://goo.gl/maps/bjrxdaEvasJ2
unfortunately the local councillors decided that the parking (outside of Richmond Park) was sacrosanct which killed the idea.
(the path to the right is Sustrans NCR 4 -just about 2m wide with a deep ditch on one side and well used by pedestrians)

mjr wrote:Signed.

The so called Copenhagen right turn, aka jug handle turn, where one pulls in on the left and crosses straightover to turn right, is already widespread. Sometimes it's formal, as in some places in London, Norwich, Milton Keynes... but more often, it's ad hoc. It's not clear to me whether it's been imported by returning/arriving expats or if it's a natural reaction of people unwilling to ride out right across 2-4 faster-moving lanes to reach the right turn lane.

If we are talking about signalled junctions then the CB proposal meaning that no separate pedestrian phase is needed (pedestrians cross with parallel traffic). The 2 stage turn then becomes pretty quick as the phase to go at right angles follows immediately on the phase to get to the pull-in.

Vorpal wrote:

PRL wrote:The continental approach - as we saw in Berlin - seems to be as Chris is suggesting. This allowed cycle tracks at footway level to be continued across junctions as dotted lines.

Then it doesn't seem very well written. That wasn't clear to me.

From Roger Geffen :
"Cycling UK fully supports what British Cycling is calling for. It is not limited to left turning. They are calling for a general rule saying that any vehicle (including a pedal cycle) turning at a junction gives way to pedestrians or cyclists going straight ahead at that junction, unless there are signs or signals saying otherwise. It would make protected cycle lanes a lot easier and safer to implement, and would be beneficial in many other ways too."

Vorpal wrote:Wouldn't it make more sense to adopt the continental approach of always giving way to the right (or left, if people prefer that)?

That would have the same effect of clarifying rules, but it is consistent with other countries. Furthermore, the 'give way to the right' rule has a significant effect on traffic speeds that the the proposed 'turning traffic gives way' rule wouldn't.

The continental approach - as we saw in Berlin - seems to be as Chris is suggesting. This allowed cycle tracks at footway level to be continued across junctions as dotted lines.
Just signed this excellent petition.