Cycling UK Forum

Good afternoon,

Quick question relating to my commute route.

There's a nice cycle path along side the A580 between St Helens and the outskirts of Liverpool but even with Specialised Nimbus Armadillos I'm suffering from occasional punctures, a colleague who used to cycle on non-armoured tyres had three punctures including a wrecked inner tube / tyre in one week. Needless to say he's upgraded his tyres on replacement.

Most of the problem is a lot of glass on the path, with the occasional metal shard from a previous accident. We've contacted the local councils but nothing apears to have been done. On top of this there is the grass cuttings etc that are left on the cycle path making it very slippery in the winter. This path doesn't appear to have been cleaned in any part of last year, one patch of noticable smashed tinted glass definitely hasn't been touched.

Thanks for any help or contacts!

Cheers,

Wesley brooks.

While I appreciate the comments as to the unsuitability of the path at present, can I suggest that you also make sure that your tyres are pumped up properly?

I used to get a lot of punctures off-road from flints and thorns, as I thought softer tyres were better off-road - I was wrong. Wet and thorns don't mix, in particular, but properly inflated tyres make a big difference.

If you're already up to pressure, then commiserations, and good luck in your quest - that 4% increase in Council Tax should definitely cover this!

I've had two sets of Nimbus tyres (26" * 1.5", on a hard tail MTB) recently, the older ones (failed after a chunk of rubber was cut off the tyre on said route) had a max pressure of around 100psi and the newer ones are around 80psi. I generally fully inflate my tyres to get the lowest rolling resistance. I use lower pressure only when off road with my knobblies and then drop the pressure to between 30 and 50psi depending on the trail etc...

The rims are marked up with a max tyre pressure for the 1.5 tyres of around 100psi.

Cheers anyhow!

if you have contacted the council and they have not responded, not too sure. do they have any cycle campaign officers? what about ctc hq do they have any suggestions?

Thanks for the link to the fill that hole site. I'll try to report the glass / debree on their and see what happens.

I'll try contacting the councils by writing (Liverpool, Knowsley, and St Helens) and get contact details for cycle related staff that way as well.

Cheers.

Look again! That's not the fillthathole site. It's clearthattrail and I thought that was what you were trying to do......?

D.O.T. Highways Agency , but it probably better bringing it to the attention of each Local Authority it passes through as they may or may not maintain that section . It's what used to be trunked therefore direct responsibility of Highways Agency ( D.O.T.) . I use it , it is a pain in sections, some drunk throws a bottle out the car window every night , i am sure .

thirdcrank wrote:Look again! That's not the fillthathole site. It's clearthattrail and I thought that was what you were trying to do......?

Fair point! I'd looked at the link and then followed a link of your link about potholes after thinking I could come up with a few of them on route too! Got myself all confused! Thanks all the same. Is the cycle path classed a trail? Its basically part of a large footpath which has been split in to by a white line.

I don't know if it counts as a trail but it must be worth a try. I have never used that site but have had some results with fillthathole. My own method is to take clear digital pictures of the problem and include them in the report. Then, if you are reporting a true problem, they need some brass neck to ignore it.

Another point about potholes is that highway authorities have a statutory duty to repair them but a defence if they did now know in spite of a reasonable inspection regime. They cannot claim ignorance if they have a report from the public.

I imagine that with a dross-strewn cycle path they might ignore reports, no matter how it was reported. Incidentally, I have used fillthathole to report a hedge which was so overgrown across a footway that pedestrians had to step into the road to pass it. It was cut back, if not so thoroughly as I should have liked.

it is a cycle path and delineated as such using road markings , but i don't think it forms part of a "trail" as in national trail . anyway full of glass again .

Wesley

I must put my hand up and say 'Sorry.' The clearthattrail site is quite specific about what counts as a trail (including a BOAT - which would be more use around here in the present floods) and it looks as though it does not include a cycle path.

I can only say that I have made several reports to the highway authority by fillthathole of things that did not amount to a pothole. (Overgrown vegetation, standing water caused by blocked gulleys, inadequate road sweeping,etc.) The site admin has forwarded the reports so I presume they have considered them legit. The results have been varied, but the same applies to potholes. As I mentioned, I always include one or more clear digital pics. If the authority is ready to deal with these things it should welcome a report by ant means -if not they are going to drag their feet, come what may. Either way, display on the internet is more likely to have an effect than a telephone call from another irate cyclist.

No need to apologise! I'll attempt to log positions etc next weekend. Went along it a couple of times this weekend, the first time since early December and glass is back in strength. It seems to be worst where it's washed off the verge in bad weather and over the path.

I can understand they can't fund a weekly clean up, however I would expect some evidence of maintainance (other than leaving the grass clippings over the path from the verges!) a number of times over the course of the year!

Cheers for the information, I'll post back here once I've sent the letters and logged the reports on the website.

Do you think it's a coincidence that A580 looks like ASBO at a glance? Seems to me that there are probably a few litterers there who could do with an ASBO to stay away from the A580