Cycling UK Forum

Regardless of the level of fine I find it annoying that this person, whose carelessness caused a cyclist to get a fractured skull didn't even have to bother herself turning up in court.
Civil action for damages is of course the way to go.

Meanwhile I've given up trying to persuade my local council that a marked cycle lane within the doorzone of a line of parked cars on a downhill stretch of road is a bad idea. At least if a cyclist is injured there they can sue the council as well as the council has been well warned.

EastAnglian
I don't believe that motorcycle fatalities decreased by 98% in the year following compulsion. Many years later they are still being killed at a higher rate than cyclists.
98% was your statistic. Have you got a reference?


EDIT THis article quotes 29% and 30% figures for a USA state that re-introduced motorcycle helmets. Nothing near 98%.
(I do not accept that these reduction would translate to cycle helmets. Motorcycle speeds are far higher and motorcycle helmets give substantial protection. There are too many differences for a direct comparison)

http://www.thehistoryof.net/the-history ... lmets.html

Sorry to hear about your crash but I'm glad the result wasn't any worse.

I'm about 6ft3 and more lardy than is good for me - circa 17 stone. I don't have any racing bikes so I've not had to make the same choices as you. I am aware that I'm at the upper end of the design weight for bikes. When I recently got a tourer built up to my own spec I tried oversize 31mm diameter drop bars. The standard bars on my old bike would flex noticeably when I put any great effort into the pedals. The new bars feel reassuringly solid and with a double layer of bar tape are still comfortable. Less flex on critical alu components has to be a good idea if comfort is still acceptable

I think it is worth considering what bars and stems are used if you are bigger than average. The risk of failure may be low but it might only take one .............

I am not a lawyer. I have successfully claimed repair costs from another driver's insurance company without involving a lawyer or my insurance co.In my case there was no injuries and no dispute over liability - the other driver drove into my parked car.
I sent the driver a recorded delivery letter setting out the facts and stating that as I held him fully responsible I requested that he either meet the costs himself or pass the letter to his insurers. Thereafter I dealt with the insurance co and it was sorted to my satisfaction.
That said insurance companies are notoriously slippy so if there is either injuries involved or any possible way for the driver to claim he was not 100% at fault then a lawyer may be the best way to go.

Kirst wrote:Do you think they'd be any worse than communal shoes at bowling alleys, or communal skates at roller and ice-rinks?

I'm not fond of shared shoes but at least I've got socks between me and the last user's sweat. That wouldn't be the case with shared helmets.
So yes!

It's coming from the stated position of the current UK government which is that enforcement of a helmet law would prove difficult at present wearing rates. This suggests that if wearing rates increase we could see a helmet law in the UK.

"Roads minister David Jamieson recently told ministers of parliament that enforcement via a mandatory helmet ruling would be too tough: "Our position on compulsion has been that at current wearing rates, it would cause enforcement difficulties and could have an effect on cycling levels," Jamieson said. "But the Government will keep their policies in this as in all areas under review in the light of discussion in Parliament and elsewhere."

http://www.bike-zone.com/news.php?id=ne ... /apr19news

Prompted by the documentary thread on the LEJOG board - for anyone who hasn't seen it a film by Mike Beauchamp of his trans Canada tour is worth a look. I think it it one of the best bike touring films I've seen. He has a unique (I think) flexible arm mounting for the camera which lets him use a lot of shots of the cyclist riding as opposed to either headcam or static camera shots.

http://www.vimeo.com/3451015

fatnslow wrote:So thats the figure for deaths
why do you concentrate on the death figures
got the figures for serious injuries or even non serious injuries

Death stats are easily available. Al fatal RTAs are recorded. Unlike injury accidents there is no problem with definition. What is a serious accident? Hospital treatment? In patient treatment? Broken bone? Etc etc.

Anyway the vast majority of injuries are to parts of the body that a helmet does not protect. Why bring those stats into a helmet debate. Most people are not really interested in protection from minor cuts and bruises. They wear helmets because of two misconceptions: that on road cycling is dangerous and that helmets make it less dangerous.

Let's look at the risk of cycling. The DFT 2005 figure for UK cyclists killed was 148
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/da ... ritain2005
Taking your 1 million cyclists figure that's an annual risk of 1:6756 That is a low risk. I consider that as an experienced cyclist my risks are far lower.

Putting this in perspective other annual risks of death are
Smoking 10 cigarettes a day 1:200
All natural causes aged 40 years 1:850
All kinds of violence and poisonings 1:3300
Leukaemia 1:12000
Playing soccer 1:25000
As per - http://john-adams.co.uk/wp-content/uplo ... -paper.pdf

As far as saddles with cutouts go. It's a fashion thing. Most saddles have them so most people use them.

Puncture repair kit? It weighs little. I puncture around once a year. I've never had an injury accident. I don't have to take it on and off all the time when using the bike for short journeys. I don't need to wear a puncture repair kit on my head.

If you are doing Loch Lomond SYHA to Loch Ness SYHA in one day 110 -120 miles I think you would need to stay on road as much as possible to keep up a decent average speed.

Using the back road from Fort William and the forest track west of Loch Lochy would be fine it wouldn't slow you too much.

Between Glen Coe and Fort William the WHW is ridable (using a back road for the last few miles) but there is a big hill, the Devils Staircase, which you will spend 40 minutes pushing the bike up. The descent from there to Kinlochleven is rough and will be slow on 700x35mm tyres. The Kinlochleven to Fort William section has another big push at the start. I would,t recommend Glen Coe to Fort William on the WHW as part of the day you are talking about.

It's worth thinking about using the WHW Bridge of Orchy to Kings house. The hills are no worse than the main road and it would be a pleasant break from the traffic. It wouldn't be much slower than the main road. 30 minutes?

South of Bridge of Orchy I'd use the road. THe WHW would be too slow and the roads are in the main either wider, or narrow but twist with slower traffic speeds.

"
What taxis should do is pull OFF the road onto the drive, car-park or equivalent for elderly customers, further reducing the distance they have to walk and not causing any disruption to the road behind them: motorists or cyclists."

Fair point, though for example in Glasgow there frequently isn't any drive, car park, or anything else to get off the road. As I said traffic conditions vary, and most rules have valid exceptions. I suspect that in London where the taxi driver posting here works there may be many areas where there is no drives etc.

I appreciate that driving standards and traffic conditions must vary from place to place but I can't relate to many of the comments on this thread. I commute across most of Glasgow and rarely have any problems with deliberately bad driving. Now and then other road users make mistakes of course. I try to anticipat their mistake or at least leave myself an option so that someone else's mistake doesn't mean I'm in a collision. I try to remember that I make mistakes too.

As for the taxi driver stopping in the cycle lane? Well assuming the cyclist wasn't cut up I think he was correct. By doing this the chance of a cyclist undertaking was eliminated. The risk to the passenger was eliminated. If the lane extended for any distance in each direction what was the other option? Stopping outside the lane gives a cyclist the choice of either an unsafe undertake staying in the lane or an overtake further out in the road since the taxi is further out. So regardless of the illegality of stopping in a cycle lane with an unbroken white line I think a taxi stopping for 60 seconds or less to drop off or pick up is correct to stop at the kerb.

Ah - here we are!

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/handsup.html

"Threadless forks are generally supplied with very long steerers, intended to be cut to appropriate length for various different bike frame sizes. If you are buying a new fork, or a new frame, you can leave the steerer full length even if you ride a smaller frame. This will let you get the stem nice and high without needing any extra accessories.

On some of my own bikes, I've gone this route, and have used a separate clamp to secure the headset, rather than using the stem for that purpose. A 1 1/8 steerer is 28.6 mm. Pinch-bolt type collars are readily available in this diameter, some of them intended for seat tube use.

Using the separate collar allows you to mount the stem anywhere on the extended steerer, without any need for spacer washers, and without any need to re-adjust the headset every time you raise or lower the stem.

Threadless System without spacers

This system also eliminates the star nut. To adjust the headset, I loosen the pinch bolt in the collar, and also the pinch bolt(s) in the stem. I put the stem as far down on the steerer as it will go, sitting right on top of the collar. Leaning with as much weight as possible on top of the handlebars, I twist the bars back and forth, also wiggle them front/back to get all of the slack out of the headset. I then let go of one side of the handlebar while holding my weight on the other side, and tighten the pinch bolt in the collar to hold the headset in adjustment. Once the collar is tight, the stem may be raised to any convenient height and secured with its own pinch bolt(s.)

I do not recommend this approach for carbon fiber steerers, nor for 1" steeerers, but I've had very good results with it on metal 1 1/8" steerers. "

The star nut is not essential. I saw a web page (which I can't find now),possibly Sheldon Brown, about adjusting a threadless headset by putting bodyweight on the handlebars to take up the slack while tightening the stem bolts. I haven't tried it and it may not give the fine adjustment the star nut gives but maybe worth a try.

A drunken cyclist is on a vehicle weighing under 40 pounds travelling, usually, at less than 20 mph. He or she is extremely unlikely to cause serious injuries to anyone elses. Feel free to post any examples of third parties killed by drunk cyclists.
A drunk driver is in charge of a metal box weighing a ton travelling at anything up to 70mph, capable of killing several pedestrians or cyclists in one crash. There are many examples of this happening.
That is why the penalties for drunk driving and the procedures for dealing with it are different.