Cycling UK Forum

Can't comment on selection criteria for inclusion in article mentioned, but seems reasonable to show both the heavy shackle lock and the lighter alternative alongside the article. The choice is yours. I have just bought the Safeman, after losing a small combination lock that I regarded only as a token anti-theft device for day-rides. The 120 Gm Safeman compares with 140 Gms for longer combi lock, and 180 Gms for a thicker cable lock. My old combi lock was lighter than any of these.
If you want real security, then you will need to carry a heavy duty lock; the Safeman is more of a deterrant for the opportunist thief. The cable is thinner than most cable locks, and my inexpert guess is that the lock mechanism is unlikely to compare with the shackle lock. Despite that, I will be using the Safeman on my dayrides until I can find a lighter alternative.
Incidentally my local bike shop could not source the Safeman from their suppliers when I put in my order some months back, so I tried the internet. A caravan accessory supplier was somewhat cheaper, including P&P, than the price mentioned in "Cycle".

Hi,
another section to try is Walsall CTC who quite often start from Aldridge and venture down past Lichfield or past kingsbury waterpark.
Their runs can be viewed on line via www.chasecycling.co.uk.
maps will be o/s landranger Birmingham 129 & Derby 128
o/s also do maps centred on your choice of location-more expensive but saves map changing, so you could centre it on say north of lichfield and still get your house in as well as all your new routes.

FYI from a recent Reuters report:

Death squad kills family of bicycle thief

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - A stolen bicycle worth less than $100 led a Brazilian death squad to slaughter the presumed thief's mother, sister and five brothers, police said Thursday.


Police arrested three suspects Wednesday, at least one of whom confessed to murdering the seven people, one aged only 14, said a police investigator in Nova Iguacu, a town next to Rio de Janeiro.

"The stolen bicycle triggered the slaughter. Death squads have to maintain control over the area to be able to charge protection money from businesses, and some of the family members had already been known to be involved in petty theft and small-time drug trade," he said.

Four hooded gunmen stormed into the family's house in the early hours of Tuesday, shot the 48-year-old mother dead and took her five sons, aged 14 to 23, and daughter, 21, away in a van. Earlier, they had seized the brother who had apparently stolen the bicycle.

The alleged bicycle thief, 20, was still missing, but police believe he had been executed. Police found the bodies in four different locations.

It is common for neighborhoods on the outskirts of crime-ridden Rio de Janeiro to hire armed guards who can resort to murder to protect their clients.

Might give Brompton owners an idea?

Not everyone in favour of helmets is in favour of compulsion. Many who are strongly pro helmet are nevertheless still pro choice.

I do however take issue with the editors statement about the FFTC's helmet stance. The CTC should accept that helmets are beneficial and campaign for their (voluntary) use, not immediately become all defensive and cite negative research every time the H word is mentioned.

To go back to the original topic, I gather the BMA are coming under increasing pressure to reverse their position again. Search the news on BikeBiz for helmets:

http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/daily-news/

Many firms have a normal O1 or 02 number as well as the 0870 number. As mentioned before, many people have other phone service providers. I have two, 1) Tiscali 2) Skypeout.
The first one gives my normal incoming service (it can be used for outgoing as well), my normal outgoing service is via Skypeout (Computerised) which provides me with calls to a large part of the world for 2cents? or 1.4p per minute. However, when I use either services it costs much more for 0870 numbers. We have no choice with the CTC Head Office as they do not have their previous 01 number.

Hello.

As a CTC Councillor I’ve made enquires about this question. Circumstances are not as CTC would want them. Were in the hands of BT and their policies.

The source of the gripe is BT as far as I can ascertain not the companies who use these numbers. CTC agrees with those posting to the item on the board. Here are the circumstances as CTC sees them.

1. It is not a premium number it is a national rate number.

2. A so called “national rate” number is the only way BT will give a portable number that can be moved around to different locations. Like many CTC has a lot of services, some from outsourced providers, that change. We have been reviewing our locations for some while and it has always been in the back of our minds that one day in the foreseeable future every CTC number might have to change.

3. CTC has two choices, use this type of service, or irritate callers whenever they find a number is no longer in use.

4. CTC agrees that it is scandalous that BT will not let other phone service providers have discounts to 0845 and 0870 numbers. This is an issue that the whole telecoms world has lodged with Ofcom, but they are letting BT get away with it. It is certainly not an issue the campaigns resource of a cycling organization can fix if the rest of the industry cannot get it resolved.

5. Registered CTC campaigners are given an expenses budget. It is limited, but it is a vital part of the service that membership fees pay for. If a rep is in hardship CTC will consider each case individually but CTC are not aware that calls by campaigners to the campaigners’ helpline were an issue. CTC are confident we would hear from reps if this is the case.

6. The matter is under constant review to see what can be done.

I’m sure that this will raise further questions; I can only say that it seems the problem is not resolvable under present circumstances.


ARTHUR

Hello.

As a CTC Councillor I’ve made enquires about this question. Circumstances are not as CTC would want them. Were in the hands of BT and their policies.

The source of the gripe is BT as far as I can ascertain not the companies who use these numbers. CTC agrees with those posting to the item on the board. Here are the circumstances as CTC sees them.

1. It is not a premium number it is a national rate number.

2. A so called “national rate” number is the only way BT will give a portable number that can be moved around to different locations. Like many CTC has a lot of services, some from outsourced providers, that change. We have been reviewing our locations for some while and it has always been in the back of our minds that one day in the foreseeable future every CTC number might have to change.

3. CTC has two choices, use this type of service, or irritate callers whenever they find a number is no longer in use.

4. CTC agrees that it is scandalous that BT will not let other phone service providers have discounts to 0845 and 0870 numbers. This is an issue that the whole telecoms world has lodged with Ofcom, but they are letting BT get away with it. It is certainly not an issue the campaigns resource of a cycling organization can fix if the rest of the industry cannot get it resolved.

5. Registered CTC campaigners are given an expenses budget. It is limited, but it is a vital part of the service that membership fees pay for. If a rep is in hardship CTC will consider each case individually but CTC are not aware that calls by campaigners to the campaigners’ helpline were an issue. CTC are confident we would hear from reps if this is the case.

6. The matter is under constant review to see what can be done.

I’m sure that this will raise further questions; I can only say that it seems the problem is not resolvable under present circumstances.


ARTHUR

What do others think of CTC using 0870 telephone numbers – personally I think it is appalling to make money out of members contacting their own “not for profit” organisation. Many (most?) people now have telephone tariffs which offer free or discounted calls to ordinary geographical numbers. Non-geographical numbers are always excluded from these deals – see http://www.saynoto0870.co.uk/ for more info – and so calling CTC is costing members more than it need do.

If others feel as I do, then maybe someone with knowledge of CTC’s constitution could suggest how the matter could be raised with the CTC management.

Sorry if this is a long one but this info comes straight from an expert in reply to a "Which gps do I need for cycling" question.
.................................
"The basic requirement of a GPS system that all hill walkers have is that the unit will give you information on your current location. This will typically be in the form of an Ordnance Survey Grid reference, a Lat long or one of 100 other different types of map datum used around the world.



The good news is that all of the handheld units such as the Magellan and Garmin will do this and by spending more money, you do not gain anything in the way of improved accuracy etc you simply add more extra features.



So having said they all do the same basic job the decision really is on how many extra features you need or how many you want (usually 2 different things). The basic Garmin Etrex has most things people need, it will tell you where you are and can store 500 waypoints to help you along your route.



Simply, get the grid reference out of the unit, put finger on map and say in a loud confident voice “we are here” (always always always carry a paper map and compass of course).



The next model up is the etrex summit, add an electronic compass, a barometric altimeter and the memory storage to store 20 routes (a route is a sequential string of waypoints you have put together) and you have the summit, everything else is the same as the basic etrex.



The legend is a basic etrex but it has 8Mb of internal memory for road mapping downloads from Garmin software (the roadmap is not good enough to drive the car by, but also bear in mind there are no roundabouts up mountains… so do you need a road map?!?!?).



The vista is a combination of legend and summit.



Magellan, are more geared toward the loading of software into their units, they have 2 main series: the Sportrak and the Meridian. The Meridian uses SD memory cards to allow memory expansion so you can store more road maps (see comments above on road maps) and the Sportrak has a fixed amount of memory.



Magellan do offer topo type software which gives a very very basic osgb type map on screen (see note above about carrying a paper map), they also do software which will give very basic in car nav software, but again, do you need a unit for the hills or for the car? The money spent on converting a walking GPS to a car GPS would be better spent towards a GPS for the car, which does the job far better then a hill-walking unit converted.



Both Magellan and Garmin offer units with colour screens as you move up the range, and Garmin also offer wrist mounted units for hiking, cycling, water activities etc.

It is difficult to find a GPS receiver that works as a walking device and an in car nav device, the only real way to do it is with a pocket pc. A pocket pc will be able to run in car nav software such as tom tom navigator 3, giving auto routing, address and points of interest location with voice guided turn by turn directions.



On a pocket pc, you would also be able to buy OSGB mapping software and display your location on the pocket pc as you walk around. Limited battery life though.



Alternatively, look at a handheld unit such as the garmin Etrex for the hill walking, use this product with a paper map.



As a handheld device the etrex will be more rugged and waterproof, it will readily display speeds, grid refs and bearings etc.



Add to this a unit like a pocket pc system for the car, or a dedicated in car unit such as a Tom Tom Go.



You would then have a dedicated in car unit and a dedicated walking unit, my point is such that the individual units designed particularly for 1 job would normally be better than a unit which does both but is also a compromise on how well it does both.



The one Exception to this rule is the Garmin Quest which has all the functions of a street pilot and a handheld Garmin Etrex, its downside is that its memory will only store a maximum road map of an area the size of France. Cost about £360. "
......................................

Hope that helps, it made my mind up.
The only one suitable for cyclists ( long battery life, waterproof, lightweight) with truly trustworthy and accurate mapping of minor roads and enough memory for a long tour, is the Garmin Quest - at £360 -ish
I've decided to stick with paper maps!.

Paul.

check out the Edinburgh Cycle tourer on their website - it gets rave reviews in Cycling Plus

I saw on another topic that someone had broken the forks on their Dawes Galaxy. I too had this exciting experience this summer on a particularly steep part of hte C2C.

My bike was onlt two years old and had done just two tours.

HAS ANYONE ELSE had this happen to their Dawes?

BTW: took Dawes 6 months to replace the forks - with a nice black pair to "match" my silver bike. nice one!

I have already got cycle insurence, it costs me £1.50 each week.
It is comprehensive cover so as well as third party, I also have life insurence and injury/disability insurence. If the bike is vandalised or stolen, or if parts are removed I will be able to get compensation.
I belive that as society becomes more safety concious every cyclist will be required to have insurence. The C.T.C would be ideally placed to provide this as many cyclists are already familiar with this organisation, due to their lobbying in government and the work with sustrans.

It would be just a question of acting as an agent or go between for the cyclist requring insurence and the various insurence companys, seeking out the cheapest quotes on the internet.
Adverts for this insurence service could be placed in the C.T.C magazine, and local newspapers.

Zap2222003

erm how about this for a idea, when looking mentally consider all the road to be like a plate of tasty chocolate sponge cake and that your job is with your eyes to eat every bit of it and not just a narrow car width section of it in the middle. so if theres a obstruction you automatically move. you can tell the experienced truck/van driver from the idiot at slanted junctions because they square their vehicle up on final approach so they can see, the average idiot car driver just lines up with the road and so has to look through the rear windows or ask their passenger.

Thanks. Yes I agree it is not worth considering. I was just wondering. Thanks a lot for the info... I was implying something of a smaller scale like on a BMX bike frame because their variation in design is quite different like a few inches or so... because I ride a bmx freestyle bike... thanks....