More cycling? Less motoring? Vote now please!

Do you want more cycling?

Transfer from car to cycle, yes!
27
63%
Train/bus -> cycle, yes!
1
2%
Better less motring not more cycling
3
7%
Yes, even with TDC
5
12%
No, there is plenty already
1
2%
Not if TDC is involved
0
No votes
NIMBY!
1
2%
No
2
5%
Yes
3
7%
Don't know/no opinion (yet)
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 43

Cyril Haearn
Posts: 15215
Joined: 30 Nov 2013, 11:26am

Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

flat tyre wrote:I'm not sure how it can be a tragedy. If taking your bike by car means you can get to pleasant cycling country then why is this a tragedy?

I think more motoring just-for-fun is a tragedy. I do not drive to cycle, I make that 'sacrifice', I just cycle and walk from home, occasionally take the train (once I wanted to leave my bike at the station, found nowhere to park, so I took it on the train :?)
Motoring cyclists use energy, cause pollution, danger just like other motorists

Today is sunny so lots of motrons will be going out 'for a drive' and complaining about not finding a place to park
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120
Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott
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S2L
Posts: 105
Joined: 20 Feb 2019, 4:47pm

Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by S2L »

Cyril Haearn wrote:
flat tyre wrote:What is TDC?

Tragedy of drive-cycling


Partly culpable... I tend to drive to most Audax events which are not within cycling distance (I kind of draw a line at 20 miles to the start= 40 miles round trip). Yesterday I did drive 60 miles round trip (I did cycle 75 miles). I would have trained, but the first train to arrive there was an hour after the Audax started, so not very helpful.

From Birmngham: Trips to Wales by train are pretty much impossible, with 3 trains a day on most lines and none on sundays.
Trips to the North are eye-watering expensive... 100 pounds for a ticket Vs 20-30 quid of petrol and the convenience of not having to book a hotel room. There is also a jungle of different regulations on bikes on board from different operators.

I have at least set a rule that the distance travelled needs to be less than the ride length, which means I only tend to travel to Wales and the North for 300-600 Km events.

I have a Brompton which I use for commuting and train+bike trips. I think if the Goverment was serious about the environment, then they should invest in infrastructure, especially local infrastructure. Rail transport in Wales is probably only marginally better than it was in Tudor times (when there were no trains) and certainly worse than it was in Victorian times.
Cyril Haearn
Posts: 15215
Joined: 30 Nov 2013, 11:26am

Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

What a shame train travel is sometimes less convenient than driving
Some train journeys are much more attractive than driving, faster (to London for example), sometimes even cheaper

I am rather virtuous, I don't travel much at all :wink:
..
Better to make motoring less attractive than to make train travel more attractive I think
Last edited by Cyril Haearn on 24 Feb 2019, 8:37am, edited 1 time in total.
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120
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Oldjohnw
Posts: 7764
Joined: 16 Oct 2018, 4:23am
Location: South Warwickshire

Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by Oldjohnw »

The cyclng group I am in start most rides about 15 miles or sometimes more from where I live. I don't therefore do many group rides as I don't take the bike with the car save on holidays.
John
Cyril Haearn
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Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Cycling alone is better if one likes meeting strangers (I do)
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Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott
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Oldjohnw
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Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by Oldjohnw »

Actually, I'm a miserable old git and prefer solo cycling anyway.
John
Cyril Haearn
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Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Me too, some people think I am a MOG maybe :wink:
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NATURAL ANKLING
Posts: 13780
Joined: 24 Oct 2012, 10:43pm
Location: English Riviera

Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Cycled alone for the last 20 years.
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
reohn2
Posts: 45158
Joined: 26 Jun 2009, 8:21pm

Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by reohn2 »

flat tyre wrote:I'm not sure how it can be a tragedy. If taking your bike by car means you can get to pleasant cycling country then why is this a tragedy?

It isn't,though some think any use of a car is a tragedy :?
Last edited by reohn2 on 24 Feb 2019, 1:41pm, edited 1 time in total.
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paddler
Posts: 236
Joined: 8 Oct 2017, 9:13am
Location: Norfolk

Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by paddler »

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Hi,
paddler wrote:
RickH wrote:Top Dead Centre isn't it? The point where you adjust the tappet space on your engine, usually a few degrees before TDC. :lol:


Seem to remember using a dial gauge on my CB175 many years (decades! :shock:) ago for this - or would it have been for the timing with the points? Ugh, points!

I had a CB175 too :)
They had timing marks on crank rotor and cam for chain, so I don't think you ever needed a DTI.
A strobe would be needed pointing at the crank rotor IIRC for better timing, but just manual set up was normally ok.
I still have the manual so I might take a peek.

Yep got the manual, strobe as I tried it, was a waste of time, wet sump meant that if you ran the engine with the rotor cover off you got a eyeful of oil mist :P
Blew off my mates starfire he did not like that, he tuned the engine and it would rattle even more.
Wasn't the fact that his bike was british it was more being left behind by a smaller bike.


My first ever bike that was, couldn't believe I was born! DXD72N was the reg., funny how you remember some things but not others. Got it on Hire Purchase - valuable lesson that!
S2L
Posts: 105
Joined: 20 Feb 2019, 4:47pm

Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by S2L »

Cyril Haearn wrote:..
Better to make motoring less attractive than to make train travel more attractive I think



I disagree about making car journeys less attractive: Tax on fuel has not reduced road traffic in western Europe or in California... I suspect doubling the tax on fuel would have little effect again. You stop maintaining the roads, people will buy more SUVs... yet everybody travel from London to Birmingham and Manchester by train, because it's convenient... the challenge is to make the rest of the network attractive too
User avatar
NATURAL ANKLING
Posts: 13780
Joined: 24 Oct 2012, 10:43pm
Location: English Riviera

Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
paddler wrote:
NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Hi,
paddler wrote:
Seem to remember using a dial gauge on my CB175 many years (decades! :shock:) ago for this - or would it have been for the timing with the points? Ugh, points!

I had a CB175 too :)
They had timing marks on crank rotor and cam for chain, so I don't think you ever needed a DTI.
A strobe would be needed pointing at the crank rotor IIRC for better timing, but just manual set up was normally ok.
I still have the manual so I might take a peek.

Yep got the manual, strobe as I tried it, was a waste of time, wet sump meant that if you ran the engine with the rotor cover off you got a eyeful of oil mist :P
Blew off my mates starfire he did not like that, he tuned the engine and it would rattle even more.
Wasn't the fact that his bike was british it was more being left behind by a smaller bike.


My first ever bike that was, couldn't believe I was born! DXD72N was the reg., funny how you remember some things but not others. Got it on Hire Purchase - valuable lesson that!

Snap :oops: First and last time, my brother inlaw was guarantor and thought I was mad with the interest rate :P
GMH48J, not even sure...I do remember giving over the reg to the firm recovering it from the motorway :?
Not my first bike but first real Motor bike :)
I had a Tiger Cub after that or as well as.
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
Cyril Haearn
Posts: 15215
Joined: 30 Nov 2013, 11:26am

Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

reohn2 wrote:
flat tyre wrote:I'm not sure how it can be a tragedy. If taking your bike by car means you can get to pleasant cycling country then why is this a tragedy?

It isn't,though some think any use of a car is a tragedy :?

I think a substantial reduction in motoring is possible and desirable
I have a very small vehicle, TDC would be very inconvenient :wink:
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thelawnet
Posts: 2736
Joined: 27 Aug 2010, 12:56am

Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by thelawnet »

S2L wrote:I disagree about making car journeys less attractive: Tax on fuel has not reduced road traffic in western Europe or in California... I suspect doubling the tax on fuel would have little effect again. You stop maintaining the roads, people will buy more SUVs... yet everybody travel from London to Birmingham and Manchester by train, because it's convenient... the challenge is to make the rest of the network attractive too


Well not really. If you live in central London and want to go to Birmingham, or if you specifically want to go to central London from Manchester then you might.

Fundamentally however it's quite difficult to make the train appealing. A car has an ownership & maintenance cost, but as it's deemed essential the marginal cost of a trip tends to be rather low. I was working out the cost of a trip to Antwerp and it's quicker, easier and cheaper by car compared with train, despite the presence of the Eurostar, as I would have to walk to the station with bags, then a train, then underground across London, then a train to Brussels then another one to Antwerp, then probably a taxi to my final destination.

Rail is mostly attractive in very urbanised countries such as Japan. Once you start trying to use it to go and visit the countryside or whatever it's a very poor relation.
recumbentpanda
Posts: 286
Joined: 6 Apr 2009, 12:13pm

Re: More cycling? Less motoring?

Post by recumbentpanda »

I have visited quite a lot of countryside in Japan by train. For example, ‘Rabbit Train’ gets you from central Tokyo to Utsunomiya, and thus within taxi, bus or walking distance of much of the Kanto Plain. Further up the line and you can hike in the mountains of Nikko.
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