And then, when you do get past they go mental flashing lights at you.

That’s funny. I’ve never had this happen to me. You hadn’t just been crammed right up their backside because you perceived them to be travelling too slowly, had you, per chance? Or overtaken them at a dangerous moment purely because of your impatience?

No chance of that at all?

More than 20 years now. H Street went to the wall in ’91.

With stuff like that it just depends on what people are willing to pay. Whose board it is. What Graphics. Etc.

Colby Carter though….can’t see it being worth a huge amount. If it’s well used….barely anything.

But, there’s some serious geeks out there. You never know.

Slow drivers are just as much a menace as speeders

I can’t remember the last time I seen anything I considered dangerous or ‘menacing’ about the lack of anyone’s speed.

It’s only a menace to impatient drivers with so much negligence for their own responsibility that they need someone else to blame for it.

I got the tool kit last year. Rather than spending a tenner on each item elsewhere (which I’ll end up doing anyway, but in a more leisurely way, thus preventing bankruptcy).

For 25 notes it does the job. Contains most of what you need and gets you started if nothing else.

I tell you what. After years of using a screwdriver and hammer to remove bottom brackets and cassettes it was a revelation to me!

It’s a market that really needs fueled again in this country, so I say good on Halfords and VP for stoking the fire.

You drove into him, and it’s his fault for not getting out of your way?

That would appear to be the logic :?

Clarkson likes to take the wee and wind people up. Doesn’t matter whether they’re mexicans, protestors, cyclists, or Audi drivers. A pinch of salt should be taken with each serving.

it’s taken you 4 years to get round to removing the spoke protector?

Yes :| :oops:

obviously removing it will void any warranty on the wheel, but it’s all about aesthetics really innit :wink:

It’s 4 years old :wink:

Do not confuse a hub spacer with a clear plastic spoke-guard.

Thanks. That comment did have me confused a bit. I’m talking about the spoke guard.

There is a few barriers on the eastern end. Mostly the type that you have to kinda zig zag through. Probably come across them about every 2 miles for the last 20 miles. Maybe a bit more closer to Sunderland.

Not sure about the Tynemouth trail.

You pay for the guarantee that it will be done in one hour.

Just like you pay for guaranteed next day delivery even though first class often arives the next day anyway.

It’s total stupidity to turn a customer away when they’re already done.

That’s amazing. Those guys are faster than me :oops:

Not noticed any problems with the latest versions of chrome myself. Still running as fast as ever for me.

Sounds like vertigo. Often caused by ear problems. But I agree. Doctor is best port of call.

As with the numerous car vs cyclist vs pedestrian vs horse vs dog walker incidents everyone just needs to to act with a bit on common sense and consideration instead of (mis)quoting laws and common practice.

That’s very true. Most problems out on the trails, hills, roads, or wherever, are down to an individuals arrogance and belief that they have right of way.

It’s not difficult to slow down a bit…..for either of those two riders….and it wouldn’t be a big deal if the leading rider took a while to find a place where he felt it would be appropriate to let someone past.

Can’t see how it’s dangerous. It’s only dangerous when you have some arrogant fool hanging on to your back wheel.

Guy with the camera is a bully.

Maybe he’ll think twice before trying to intimidate anyone else out on the trail.

Sunshine, fresh air?

:mrgreen:

Where did I say “Sandwiching yourself between two very solid objects”?

You either take primary position, or invite traffic to pass….sandwiching yourself between them and the wall.

OK, the guy deviated a little, but that’s half the reason for taking primary in the first place. Maybe he was avoiding potholes? He was only slightly over the halfway mark though. It makes absolutely no difference to the other traffic, so is completely insignificant.

The whole field of vision thing is ridiculous as well. I suppose the cyclist should have stopped before crossing the bridge. Got out a sketch pad and drew every possible scenario, analysing what position he would be best seen in before continuing?

Cyclist got rear-ended, I don’t see how it could have been worse if he was closer to the kerb, but I’m not an expert in collisions like this.

There is no curb. There’s a wall. Sandwiching yourself between two very solid objects is not a very good idea. Just like you wouldn’t squeeze between two buses.

Interestingly the by-law quoted above mentions overtaking with 4′ clearance…which I think the cyclist himself made impossible at times due to his road positioning.

He was riding in the position advised to him by the signs! And a position that would be advised by most cycling organisations.

In my experience every browser can have its problems and can go from running to sweet to running like a pig for whatever reason. But on a good day Chrome is lightening fast. And no less reliable than anything else.

The most trouble I’ve had over the years is with Firefox. But the trade-off is that you get loads of useful add-ons with it.

If the argument is that driving in the middle of the road is safer, then explain what happend in that video, becasue more than one car had to avoid that cyclist anyone that did could have been a collision.

But potentially, it could have been worse if the cyclist was tucked in by the wall.

All the video suggests is that cycling in itself is not safe.

Is this the position that just meant a car ran into him – is that one that is the safest? Does the getting hit bit does not make you questions it’s utility in this scenario

Because the cyclist was hit in this instance, it doesn’t tell us that primary position isn’t the safest option for this road. It merely tells us that the cyclist was unfortunate.

As explained above. It was a 35mph limit. It was reasonably quiet. If it were not for the driver’s dangerous actions, it would never ave happened.

But of course, we’ve got to accept that there’ll always be one or two dangerous drivers about.

So let’s assume the cyclist was tucked into the wall. The lane isn’t that wide when you have a look at it, but it would’ve left just about enough room for a car to pass. The driver sees the cyclist, attempts to squeeze through and smashes him head first against the wall…

And looking at the road design….and the signs….I’m making a guess, that this is something that as happened before and is the very reason for the signs.

Would that be safer?

I think we all agree it would be safer to walk. But what if this guy has a 20 mile commute? You can’t just get off and walk every 5 minutes where it looks a bit sketchy. It’ll take you all day. So what you would really be saying, is the humble bicycle isn’t a viable means of transport, and if tat’s what you use it for you should probably sell it and get a car instead. Which is a pretty mad and surprising opinion on a cycle forum.

Balanced. I heard someone say? I don’t see what is balanced about saying cyclists should not be on the road. If it was the M25 you’d have a point. But that there, is not.

If you cycle in the middle of the lane the car directly behind you can see you yes, but when it swerves to avoid you the car behind then has you appear from knowhere.

I didn’t think the traffic looked like it was moving that fast. I encounter a lot of seriously fast traffic on semi-rural roads and that looked timid in comparison. But….half the drivers in that video looked blind. I don’t get why they had to wait until they only had a few feet to spare before pulling out.

And for that reason I think I’d take the walkway too. But massive respect to anyone who takes on these roads. As pointed out above, whenever you step down, you’re pretty much saying, ‘you’re right guys, cycling’s a waste of time. We just get in your way and endanger ourselves. I’ll start taking the bus from now on…’

I’m yet to have the pleasure of owning a GPS, but as someone who gets lost quite a lot despite map and compass, it’s on my list.

For example, my last ride up on the moors. Very straight forward. Few turns. I only got the map out a couple of times during the ride to make sure I was on the right track, which I was confident of anyway. Until near the end. When the Bridle petered out into nothing. Well, almost nothing. There was a few tyre tracks continuing down, and the vague remnants of a trail. A bit unused I thought, but hey, it was heading in the right direction, and I’d been travelling in a straight line for 5 miles. How hard could it be?

A bit further down, the track became less visible, until it eventually became the moor itself. Not the first time I’ve optimistically done this. And I was heading in the right direction. But what a pain in the backside it is, to trail across the moor through thick heather and boggy ground. Or give in an retrace your steps back hoping you can find the right way after making your way back up. If you’re not on it already…

And that’s the thing.

That uncertainty.

And so out comes the map. The fact that I was quite close to where I should have been meant it was very difficult to tell that I wasn’t there already!

On a bike you can cover some fairly large distances pretty quickly. While walking, it’s quite easy to check your map at each and every junction, and at any questionable bit in between. And I feel that that convenience of GPS may be of benefit to me. Being able to have a quick peek and ‘….cak, what am I doing there…’ before turning back, rather than continuing another 5 miles downhill in the wrong direction..

I am guessing you will advocate his cycling well beyond the half way point of the lane?

I don’t understand what difference it makes where he is in the lane when there’s a whole other lane, which is exactly where you should be overtaking regardless of the cyclists position?

Especially when there’s signs explicitly advising cyclists to take the middle of the lane.

Why was the guy cycling down the middle of, what seems quite a wide, lane?

Because it’s safer.

Why would it be so much effort to move into the other lane to overtake?

Yay. Nice bus driver for a change.

Top stuff.

There’s a lot of branches around at the moment, as many of them have fallen under the weight of the snow. So worth being extra vigilant wherever you are. …if it’s been snowing, of course.

I felt flu like for a day or two when I had it, and the rash broke out about a week later, which affects your nerves….hurt like ****. But aside from that I was fine. All in all was pretty much gone in a couple of weeks.

Being in Vietnam at the time I had pretty much zero medication for it either. Went to the pharmacy, which was just a shanty with a glass cabinet, and they didn’t speak a word of English. They just pointed a bit and went oooohhhh.

I was in a similar position. Sitting behind a desk all day. Smoking. Drinking. (not while I was at work of course.) And I suppose with ageing as well the pounds were gradually getting more and more, and for the first time in my life I was becoming a bit of a porker…

I would ride a bit. like yourself, about 6 or 10 miles after work. But the fat would just keep on coming. It was a bit scary.

So I stopped smoking and drinking (I still ave a couple of cans on a weekend), and started riding harder. Turning that 10 miles into a good workout. Adding in a few more hills. And my weight moved very little!

So I had a look at what I was eating too. And I shook that up quite a lot. I would eat two sandwiches at work (4 slices of bread) a packet of crisps and a bar of chocolate. And I would still feel hungry all day. I replaced the sandwiches with a tuna salad, swapped the crisps for museli, and the chocolate became a banana. That looked a bit sparse, so I started adding other stuff in: carot sticks, nuts, cheese…anything natural. And now I find I’m less hungry during the day…AND I’m actually beginning to loose weight.

Started cycling even more. Riding to work occasionally. Sometimes clocking up 150 miles a week, and it’s still a bit slower than I would like, but the scales are continuing in the right direction. And the other half has recently started a diet so we haven’t even got any crap in the house to eat when I get home, and so the scales have took anoter dive…

It all counts.

As said above, dodgy cars and dodgy people go together. This is why i prefer to buy private cars, so I can guage the previous owner.

Absolutely. The owner will usually tell you more about the car than looking at the car will. Even if they don;t say a word.

Ask them a few questions. How long they’ve owned it. Servicing. Etc.

Aside from that, you don’t need t be a mechanic. Check for any rust (I’d expect none at that price). Check the oil…make sure it looks good, contains no goo, and is not thick and lumpy like a car I looked at recently!

Have a look, see what tyres are on it. If it has a full branded set that’s a good sign that the owner is happy to fork out on decent stuff. But if they’ve been scrimping here, you’ve got to wonder where else they’ve cut corners. Even if they have cheaper ones, but a full set, that can be a good sign. If they have different tyres on every corner, all with different tread depths however….that’s a bit worrying: proper peasantville servicing.

Give the car a good test drive. Make sure all the gears operate smoothly. There’s no misfires or spluttering throughout the rev range. Drop down your speed and put it in a high gear and floor it, and listen for the clutch slipping. Check the electrics. Listen for any odd noises, and notice how the car handles and steers.

Look at the advisories on the MOT cert.

That will get most people by. And if you’re happy to walk away and don’t get too excited, or feel pressurised, and you can trust your instincts, then you should do alright.

Before you go look at a car too….DO google it. There’ll be a buying guide somewhere that some geek as written up on forum. It’ll likely provide a list of common faults for that model. And every car will have very common faults. Some of them are inevitable and will need budgeted for. Some are avoidable through good servicing. And some are just annoyances. Pay special attention to these.

Cheers Sanny. That looks a nice jacket. Hard to tell what it’s like from the pictures though.

I guess I ideally, I just want a shell. I’m generally warm in a t-shirt and whatever stops the wind coming through. But then I suppose you need it to keep any moisture off your skin too, so you will have some internal layers. Is the Rab quite thick, as in a perfect world, if I were to pay that much for a jacket I’d like it to do everything. And wouldn’t want to be melting in my own sweat every time I put it on.

I say everything….it just needs to keep me dry and comfortable really.

Gloves are an interesting one…I remember being out once years ago in te height of summer, in a serious rainstorm. In the middle of nowhere. People stopped and asked my muddy, wet self if I needed a lift, it was THAT bad. As it happened, I had prepared with a seriously big sweaty jacket, so that was kinda fine, considering the conditions…I was glad I chose that one. But my hands were freezing. Yet it seems many of the waterproof ones are designed for winter.

Again, some decent summer gloves that can withstand the worst of British weather would be awesome.

Just looked it up on the map. Been thinking of doing it for a while, but couldn’t picture the route. Will have to give it a go… Mind you, I thought I was going to die walking up it….nevermind on the bike!

Looks good. I’m not too keen on the usual freeride style stuff either. Just want to see people riding in places they get excited about, and the subsequent stories.

I’ve only ever walked Helvellyn. What route do you take up. Do you bypass striding edge and go up the back?

Hairspray. Acts as a lubricant when you first spray it…and sticks when you slip them back on. Or if you haven;t got any I find deodorant works.

If you plan on using the grips again, I wouldn’t recommend using any lubricants.

Cheap is good.

The only time I see it is when they are passing other traffic, or expect that they may be passing traffic (i.e. on bends). One thing that I get right royally peeved about on country lanes, is the aversion to slowing down for any reason at all. Doesn’t matter if there’s not enough room to get through, as far as they’re concerned, you’ll make room for them…