Petty annoyances on the road....

[Maillot Rouge]

All panniers look awful.
Mini saddle-wedge is just about tolerable but nothing else.

[Mike Sales]

All panniers look awful.
Mini saddle-wedge is just about tolerable but nothing else.

You are clearly a Velominatus.

The Rules

We are the Keepers of the Cog. In so being, we also maintain the sacred text wherein lie the simple truths of cycling etiquette known as The Rules. It is in our trust to maintain and endorse this list.

The Rules lie at the beginning of The Path to La Vie Velominatus, not at the end; learning to balance them against one another and to welcome them all into your life as a Velominatus is a never-ending struggle waged between form and function as we continue along The Path towards transcension.

Rule 29.

if you’re going to mess with Rule #29, do it in style, keep it small, tidy and only filled with the bare essentials.

[sjs]

Single panniers look awful.
Weight is all wrong....

It's weird as for several years I rode with just left pannier (tools, pump, sweater, big heavy D-lock, long cable lock - so moderately heavy for day rides). Then one day I put the other on to go shopping and shopping heavy and ride home was really weird, well off-balance when it should have been restored to more normal balance. Shows how you can get used to stuff.

Ian

I use a single (RH) pannier for commuting to work. Often pretty heavy, especially on the rare occasions I've been into the office in the last 18 months, with clothes, tools, laptop etc. Never noticed any issues with the unbalanced load. I seem to remember Brucey disapproved of single panniers on the basis of the unbalanced stresses they caused. My inadequately spoked cheapo road rear wheel has survived so far.

[mattsccm]

The Rules!
Darn Yanks!

[mattsccm]

Another thing. The local chap who tucks his trouser leg into his sock. Fair enough but then uses a clip as well! It isn't even reflective.

[SupermanVsSnowman]

Do you have any petty annoyances on the road?!!

I had three today:-

Noisy sport and scrambler motorbikes. I don't mind motorbikes esp classic ones. But these are far too noisy.

Cycling a who peal off the road your riding along just before you catch them!

Cyclists who don't acknowledge you!

Anyone else have them.

Good ride though 50miles around Yorkshire dales. Off road a bit on 25mm tyres my own PR!

Cheers James

Never heard of it. Anyway:

Sudden unexpected big bumps on the road surface which are not that visible. They are not potholes, and the road surface itself isn't broken, but it is sunken. They do my head in.

Vehicles that belch black smoke or otherwise just stink.

Crappy vehicles hitting their redline just do to 30mph. Crappy vehicles in general actually.

Pretty much most cars. I hate cars because they are slow. Have any of you been in a Vauxhall Corsa on a journey through North Wales or Cumbria? I just don't understand how a manufacturer can get so little power out of a car. The lack of power is very unnerving. At one point I thought we were gonna stall and roll backwards.

Joggers who jog on the road when there's a pavement. I could understand mobility scooters being on the road due to the problems of going up and down kerbs, but joggers don't have that issue. I would actually like some enlightenment on this, otherwise I will continue to assume they are stupid.

It starts raining but only after I have started my journey. I'd much rather it start raining before I start riding so I can put on my waterproofs while I'm still in my house and not at the roadside.

[DaveReading]

Cyclists who peal off the road your riding along just before you catch them!

Bell-ends, all of them!

[Cowsham]

Cyclists who peal off the road your riding along just before you catch them!

Bell-ends, all of them!

+1

[peetee]

Motorists sitting in queues in front of me with their foot on the brake and the indicator on (when the lane only goes that way) thereby dazzling me.
Motorists at a junction see-sawing the car back and forth on the clutch. Not having to bother with the gearstick and handbrake could save a couple of seconds but they never get away promptly!
Cyclist who ride along the pavement then hop into the road without a glance.
Motorcyclist on US style bikes who blip the throttle just so they can enjoy a noise (note that I didn’t say ‘sound’) similar to half a dozen flatulent hippos in a shipping container.

[Cowsham]

Motorcyclist on US style bikes who blip the throttle just so they can enjoy a noise (note that I didn’t say ‘sound’) similar to half a dozen flatulent hippos in a shipping container.

-- I know what that sounds like --- cycling on/off the IOM ferry with Harley's reverberating off the inside of the boat.

[Audax67]

I was never a motorcyclist but I have to admit to rather enjoying the blatter of a Harley - but then, when we lived under the flightpath from Roissy I loved the rib-rattling sound of Concorde going over too. Four Bristol Olympuses can't be wrong. What really annoys me, though, is the ear-piercing whine of a sub-50cc motorbike, not to mention the choking stink of half-burnt 2-stroke mix it leaves behind because the incompetent little shunt riding it has been tweaking the thing for maximum racket without knowing what he's doing.

[mattsccm]

I love the smell of two stroke petrol. Well the exhaust fumes.

[Cowsham]

I love the smell of two stroke petrol. Well the exhaust fumes.

You need to add some castor oil to the mix to get the old smell back -- that new synthetic oil is great but a putrid smell -- my backpack is stinking after a sail on my 250

[Slowtwitch]

Bar ends, cannot see the point of em.

[jb]

Bar ends, cannot see the point of em.

You'd be able to see all the pipes and glasses without them...