Cycling UK Forum

Hmm 10 years isn't yoghurt in the sun territory in my book, and this is a B&D.

Mind you chatting with a geek friend at work they suggested using a welder to refresh it... see instructables for more ideas.

It also does better when I remember to charge it each day - but it is on the way out unless I do something. I might try plugging a fat resistor across it over a weekend to fully discahrge it, that's meant to do good things to nicad batteries, and seems less risky than taking a welder to it.

If I went for AAs I'd be looking at a set of 8 I imagine(easy to get clips to store 8AA's)
To get the power and capacity I'd need, if I think about the lights as a 7.5W draw (probably not too far off):
8*1.5V=12V, 12V/7.5W=1600mA
Looking for 90 minutes run time (to give me some leeway) that's 2600mAh cells required, and close to a FULL discharge each day). Which is close to the top end of NiMH as i understand it.
And I want to add a couple more front lamps, with narrower beams pointing further in front of me, so that will put even more load on the battery pack.

Whereas drill batteries are easily capable of pushing that kind of load for hours (laptop batteries might be interesting)

To be fair to the driver in question I think it was six of one and half a dozen of the other.

I was taking my normal route to work, which includes a long right hand bend, but the bend has a T junction (where the bend is the "straight ahead" road). A way down the road is a one lane bridge, with traffic lights, so the traffic generally queues back way past the junction (and I get to steal 5-15 minutes on all the car drivers waiting to cross the river).

Anyhow, I'm cycling along, overtaking all the stuck motorists . Not going full whack because I'm squeezing along, ducking in when anything was coming the other way. As I approach the gap (which has unusually been left by the queuing traffic) a Jag pulls out to turn right (i.e. back past me).
I swerve to go behind him.
He stops to look the other way for traffic.
I swerve further, but just don't have enough room any more.

Collision between my right foot (clipped into the pedal) and his rear bumper takes my foot out of the pedal (not in the 'correct' release direction).
I managed to stay upright though.

I stop and check that I'm still in one piece (I am), and that the pedals still work (they do). He's stopped a little way down the road, but then moves off - I'm not that fussed, it wasn't major, and it wasn't a clear fault. A couple of other motorists check that I'm OK as well (which was nice)

A couple of miles later I wave a car past as I round a blind corner and see that the road is clear for a good way, the same car overtakes me, pops his hazards on and pulls over. I pull up behind him, he gets out to check that I'm alright.
What are the odds of my first RTA being with another cyclist??
When he drove off I was hoping I'd mangled his bumper, but as he'd managed to come and find me (spotted my high vis vest along from the junction after the bridge ) I was quite pleased to see that I hadn't - not that he cared, so long as I was OK.

So - There are drivers who care!

Bob

PS - I must get round to getting decent brakes though - my rim brakes are failing horribly in this weather, and I might have been able to stop if I'd had good brakes.

CJ wrote:I think 5 or 6 miles, say half an hour each way, is about the limit for most people. This was confirmed when I put on a Doctor Bike session the other day at a big office locally. None of the bikes I saw came further than that, most only a couple of miles.

I don't know - I manage 10 miles in about 35-40 minutes (and getting faster as I get fitter)

I don't think that's excessive, but it absolutely requires a shower to be available in the office!

I think to spend longer and or ride much harder to go that much further on a twice daily basis, you need to be seriously into cycling in a way that only a tiny minority ever will be, and they're mostly already doing it. So whilst these daily feats are impressive, I don't find them inspirational.

I'm keen, but not mad - I'm getting round to the point of view that a bike is a good form of transport. When I drive the same route it's frequently slower.
End of last week (when I was tired and cruising) I overtook a line of vehicles outside my house (within about 3-400 yards) and they caught back up about 600 yards from the office.

So yes - I put ina bit of effort, but never go to the gym, and my commute is predictable - the car journey can take anywhere from 25-90 minutes...

Thanks to an office move I now qualify under A, but I don't want to. Like most people there's more to my life than cycling. So whereas I used to ride the 6 miles twice every single working day, including ice and snow, nowadays I only ride the one, two or three nice days a week. And those days I never seem to get much else done at home.

There's more to my life than commuting, so I cycle instead of driving. Don't get me started on the buses.

I'm ashamed of myself, my home made lights didn't do too well this morning, I think my old drill battery might be finally dying - it was a good workhorse*.
I might go to a cheapo store and see how cheaply I can replace it like for like, because they're good power sources, serious storage and decent power output! Else it's on to NiMH AA's I presume... (Any experience on the forums?)

On the other hand I had an excuse, why were there less fog lights on cars this morning (in the fairly heavy, freezing, fog) that there are on a clear day. Some 10% of cars didn't have any lights on, 20% had just sidelights (chocolate fire-guard territory).
I'm not the only one who noticed today, my driving colleagues said the same!

Bob


* A reconditioned drill, after 10+ years the drill started to fail, so I replaced it, but kept the old one as a one way only screwdriver etc.
When I finally dismantled it to get the battery into a portable format it was giving 5.4V (nominal 9.6V) it's managed a few months of being charged/discharged every day, but it's probably dead** now
** Dead = can't do at least two commutes (home and back to work)

PS - Homemade lights are Luxeon LEDs - pair up front at 160lmn running of 1A drivers, single rear at 140lmn on a 700mA driver. So battery needs to provide 5-32V

A, in excess of 10 miles each way
Pretty much 10 miles exactly...

B, How many times a week.
10, 5 there, 5 back

C, All Year
Yep - how else am I going to get to work?

Freezing fog this morning was interesting - less fog lights on cars than normal!

Don't be put off, just learn from other peoples misfortunes.

The people here do many more miles on a bike than most, and the stories almost never result in serious injury, just a good shouting, or a kick to a car door.

When I read it I though - that's not a go kart it's a trike, aren't go karts the things with litte engines that Lewis Hamilton started in?

Apparently not though - the other site linked above claims they are karts...

I tend to shout "Oi" at drivers if they come past at high speed and low clearance.

If I know they are coming (which I often do) then I'll leave my right hand off the handlebars and give their wing mirror a good clip. Wing mirrors are designed to take collisions like that, so they just fold back - it gives the idiot behind the wheel a good clean shock though.

I did this recently after taking off from traffic lights and being overtaken (with a queue of traffic on the other side of the road, so clearly not enough room - it was also downhill in a town, so I was up at 25mphish (of 30) pretty sharpish). Clipped the wing mirror, they guy spent the next mile or two shouting abuse and threatening to knock me off my bike.
Eventually he shot past, stopped in a bus stop, got out and stood in the orad to stop me before calling the police.

After chatting to the coppers they let him go and then told me that he was, and I quote: "an arrogant buttock-orifice" before letting me continue my commute

Hmm - I can't quote him, what he said was analogous to: "rectum opening"

I nearly got totalled by an OpenReach lorry this morning, or more accurately by his trailer...

I caught up with him several miles later, and as he was stopped at lights, had a word.
He had thought that he'd given me plenty of room, I suggested that he may have forgotten about his trailer, he apologised and we made our way onwards..

So some of them can be trying to give enough room and *still* fail...

johno wrote:My commute is just over 20 miles (round trip) depending upon which route I take from New Brighton to Huyton in Merseyside. Having to catch the ferry over the River Mersey gives me a nice break on the way!

Pretty good excuse to not cycle the whole way You'd get really wet!


DEAN:
I'm an every day cyclist - although I haven't survived a winter yet I don't see any reason I can't. Although the wind this morning was unpleasant (headwinds ;( ) it was manageable.

askeans wrote:My company had a PAYE audit by HMRC - Inspector comes in and has demanded the mileage records for the cycle to work scheme- I've said I ahven't got them and showed them the forms people have signed to promise to use it to commute like you mentioned.

He wasn't happy I now have a formal order to produce these records. I was as surprised as you - are hopefully that is clearer.

That seems insane, but hopefully I'll be prepared - I'm hoping for a GPS cycle computer so that I can log and analyse my journies anyway - How does a ream of raw nmea data sound to HMRC?

MartinC wrote:

thirdcrank wrote:suggesting it is morally OK while cyclists as a group campaign for better protection from the activities of drivers of motor vehicles is humbug.

No, this sounds like humbug to me. By and large people here aren't talking about cycling when drunk merely cycling after you've had a drink - enough probably to put you over the breathalyser limit but not make you incapable of riding sensibly.

Cycling after a pint or two creates no more risk for others than many other activities that are routine, commonplace and create no concern. So there isn't a moral dimension to it - unless this is derived from some puritanical taliban objection to alcohol in which case it's a personal thing and nothing to do with the rest of society. There is a moral dimension to driving an 800kg plus vehicle whilst under the influence because it can very easily (and routinely does) kill and maim people.

--8<--

I can't recall any post here that's 'glorified' alcohol and cycling.

I have to agree - the major issue with drink driving is that you are handling a lethal weapon. That's simply not the case with a bike - the vulnerable people you may hit are generally pedestrians, and by and large they are about the same mass as you (certainly cf+ a vehicle)

Not that I'd cycle after much to drink, but certainly I'd cycle over driving...

Yes - one way commute rather than round trip..

Hmm - I can't adjust the question - so I've added large red text!

Poll question is each way, not round trip

I've had a number of people claim that my 10mile each way commute is mad.

Interested to know how far other people commute - if you are in the "too far to cycle" or "over 20 miles category" then a distance post would be cool.

I have an advatage in that there is a shower in the office building where I work... My previous commute was 70 miles each way - too far I think!

I've just started a new job, ands just started cycle commuting.

Mentioned it to the boss, and he seems interested, so I'll try and get it set up when I'm out of probation...