as above, you need some of these. new nuts will help, but might not be enough.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124387347393?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338749377&toolid=20006&customid=GB_888_124387347393.151676708134~1866858443408-g_EAIaIQobChMI2cnFyLqohAMVf62DBx1xGQDUEAQYAiABEgKoZfD_BwE

You might even find some in the uk

There’s been a whole load of analysis of the options done, not just about cost benefits. It’s in one of the PDFs that was presented at the TEC meeting yesterday. It is, as you can imagine, a complicated task. [pdfs hopefully linked below]

I use the roseburn path [and now the new route along past haymarket to the west end] every day to get to work and absolutely love it. It adds 5-10 minutes to what would otherwise be a 15 minute ish journey but I use that route anyway because it’s so much better than the most direct alternative [Queensferry Road]. I have concerns like many about the loss of the Roseburn path as a cycle route, as a linear park and amenity space, as a green corridor, as a wildlife habitat.

I’m slowly coming round to the idea of the tram running on the old railway [and am a huge supporter of mass transit in general], but am genuinely concerned about what the cycle route alternative will be, and how well a replacement will function.

Yes, the current network of old railways often feels unsafe, isn’t well lit, and has other problems, but selfishly, I really do not want to lose the 4km or so of high quality, quiet, off road infrastructure that my young family and I enjoy using to get to the centre of Edinburgh.

P.S. This link might work..  https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/documents/s66427/Item%207.3%20Tram%20from%20Granton%20to%20BioQuarter%20and%20Beyond%20Consultation%20for%20Strategic%20Business%20Case%20Develop.pdf

and the citywide plan https://democracy.edinburgh.gov.uk/documents/s66421/Item%207.2%20Our%20Future%20Streets%20-%20a%20circulation%20plan%20for%20Edinburgh_Part1.pdf

I know there are a lot of dogs around, but I think came across the same two one evening last week while cycling out to the pentlands, just before the colinton tunnel. They were charging around while the owner seemed to be paying little attention to them. I had already slowed down, but had to all but stop when one came out of the trees and across the path right in front of me. We avoided each other though. Owner apologised, I carried on.

http://www.rothaircycles.com/ In Glasgow.

I got some bits done by them, really good quality and a decent price.

Great pic Kayak, looks like a kestrel. OP, get a pet one. It’d probably keep them away.

+ another 1 for the b&m toplight line. Really bright, and very good stand light function. It’s considerably brighter than the battery light it replaced.
Excellent piece of kit.

We’ve got a box out front e cargo bike and it’s brilliant. Kids go in, along with shopping and any other stuff, and they get the best seats, with a roof etc. Also great for just flinging stuff in.

Although expensive, the kit on Urban Arrows, R&M etc is a step up from radwagon, and with that comes proper reliability, performance, and robustness. They are the choice of bike delivery companies for a reason.

I’d recommend trying to get a shot of various things to see what suits. In edinburgh at least there are regular events for people wanting to try out cargo bikes, so worth keeping an eye out wherever you are.

A friend has a bike shop that sells various utility bikes, and sells quite a lot of Terns. They are much more like a normal bike than a box out front cargo bike (he also shifts quite a few of the raleigh / batavus cargo bikes).

It really doesn’t.

Why not?

In the context of this thread on cars, if you/we choose to spend our money on a large car that uses lots of energy to move, is environmentally damaging, takes up lots of space in public places, is dangerous for anyone not in such a large car, and is generally inappropriate and unnecessary in most situations, then it very much becomes other peoples business.

In Edinburgh (and I’m sure other cities in the uk), there are people with ambitious and brave ideas. There is a plan (seen by many as controversial) to significantly change the way people move around the centre of the city. Remains to be seen how much of the plans will ever be realised.

I am deeply pessimistic about the major shift we as a society need to make to get away from the damaging car centric culture we’ve become over the last decades. We need to get away from being so dependent on cars, and that means taking space away. Like it or not.

Politicians are of course democratically elected, but they are also expected to have to make unpopular decisions from time to time. Cross party agreement would help hugely with this, with a shift away from polarising debate and point scoring within councils and governments, and the general population. It’s mentioned above, but maybe Boardman will be helpful in this respect.

Another dutch example I’m afraid, but have a read about Groningen and Max van den Berg. A brave local politician in charge of traffic and urban development policy. He got a hugely controversial project in place, and was extremely unpopular at the time. Now, he’s seen as a visionary planner. Spoiler – he stopped people being able to drive anywhere and everywhere.

Molgrips, there already is a DfT design guide that should be adhered to. Guess what though, the UK is somehow different to many places that designs have been borrowed from, the guidance isn’t followed, and through a process of incompetence, cost cutting, political point scoring and spurious objections the results are predictably compromised and confusing, if not dangerous. We don’t need to invent a solution and build elevated cycleways either. There is an abundance of space on the ground, it’s just monopolised by motor vehicles.

But it’s ok, because in the meantime car drivers are not even slightly inconvenienced.

The Edinburgh West-East project has become a joke, mainly because a small group of entitled locals can’t stomach the idea of the removal of some loading bays from outside a few small shops. I think it’s been going for about 10 years. Uses a mixture of main roads, side streets, modal filters etc. It will remove some space from cars (!) and give priority to cyclists and pedestrians at certain points. It will also enhance a section of shopping street for pedestrians by widening pavements. Stymied endlessly by the ridiculous TRO process we have in Edinburgh that robs the roads authority of any authority to do roads work.

This is it. I’ve lost track of what’s actually getting built http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/ccwel/

Anyway, it’s not ok because some motorists will be slightly inconvenienced.

Dunno if it’s the one that TJ is thinking of, but there’s another piece of proposed new mostly off road active travel infra in Edinburgh that would join a couple of the most heavily used traffic free routes, but one objection has caused the whole project to be dragged back for yet more consultations to try and keep all the people happy all the time*.

*As mentioned up there, people have to accept that changes in how we get about need to be made. Some of these changes will make some people unhappy.

Ultimately, we don’t have politicians that are brave enough to do things properly and take away space from motor vehicles, because they want to keep their jobs and they are too caught up in petty point scoring to reach any meaningful cross party consensus. I hugely admire Chris Boardman and the work he has already done. Hopefully he can make some headway in changing this.

Kingdom of fife!

and that’s the colour to have ^^^

ls400 all day long. just look at it

I know one thing for sure, ditching the car for a bike is not being ‘normalised’ in the UK, ever. Not in our lifetimes at least. Ride what you like/can/wish to/ afford?

Guess biggest problem is really that still as a nation we are shit at seeing bikes as transport in general.

Can’t help with the baskets, but this is it. ^^ [plus woeful infrastructure]

I don’t know if I’m helping or not by using my found in a garden ratty batavus or my inexpensive cargo bike, but the latter does make people smile when loaded with kids.

Hope the genesis does everything you want it to OP, and sorry for the virtue signalling cargo/dutch bike digressions!

My point was more that for a utilitarian bike (rather than the lastest Dura Ace equipped dream bike), they cost a hell of a lot and if you want a basic ebike version then they’re the best part of £5-6k.

But if it gets used everyday (with effectively zero running or maintenance costs), is extremely convenient and reliable, and replaces a car for at least some journeys, what’s not to like?

Being utilitarian doesn’t equal cheap parts. Quality components that put up with being left outside, used all the time, not always looked after, but still just work, cost money.

It’s a tool, and like good tools, they can cost a bit, work well, and last.

A potentially significant chunk of cash, yes, but in Scotland at least, you can get interest free loans courtesy of the govt for e-cargo bikes for example. It just needs a society that is willing to get over the cultural dependency on cars. But that’s for a different thread.

We’ve got a Cabby. Got it because the box can fold so it’s much easier to store, and at that time it was miles cheaper than anything else.

It’s really well put together and I’ve just added a bafang mid drive kit. Not as posh as Urban Arrow or Bullitt etc, but it just works.

Was going to say.. something like a gazelle heavy duty NL is perfect for the sort of thing you are describing, and much more suitable than the genesis.

Totally bombproof everything, relatively undesirable, and built to live outside. As above, comes with lock, racks, lights, full chain case, hub gears and brakes etc etc.

If I ever replace my elderly but also bombproof batavus dutch bike it’ll be with a gazelle.

We’ve had a a proper box in front cargo bike for about 6 years and it’s brilliant. A full weekly shop for a family of four goes in the front, and with a proper rack and panniers at the back you can carry flippin loads.

Our kids are 4 and 7 and still get whizzed around in it – I’ve recently added an E conversion kit and it’s even better now.

If you’ve got somewhere to keep it and can afford one of the better electric versions, get one!

*We’ve had trailers, and various combinations of panniers etc, but the cargo bike is so convenient it just gets used all the time.

Superstar nanos too. I’ve got size 13.5, and the nanos are a good size.

A wee avalanche on the south side of the Pentlands. Yikes!

https://www.facebook.com/TVMRT/

I like it, but the swingarm does remind me of one of those Marins from around 2000.

Peekay, that’s lovely. I’d live in it.

Not nice 1960s modernism, but this has some spectacular interior features..

https://www.rettie.co.uk/properties/13069746/sales

https://twitter.com/hashtag/greyplague?src=hash&lang=en

See, that’s a good floor TJ.

We have crap laminate boards in our house that were here when we moved in, but some of the better laminate floorings are very good, if it is a quality engineered timber system. Dimensionally stable, available in all sorts of widths and timbers, and can be finished in much the same way as a solid wood board because the bit you see and touch is real wood. Expensive, yes, but a quality product.

Linoleum is pretty good stuff.

Yes, probably more expensive than vinyl (although not by much if you compare how they wear and longevity), but also made of natural materials not plastic. And yes it is hygienic – that’s why it’s used so widely in healthcare settings (admittedly not such a high priority in houses).

To fit it well, you need to know what you are doing though, and it isn’t available in every fashionable colour and pattern.

My cosiest things are knitted woolen jumpers.
A good shetland or fair isle knit will last ages, isn’t made of plastic, and doesn’t really need washed that often so it doesn’t matter how quickly it dries.
Expensive, yes, but handmade locally (ish), hardwearing, and not really much more $$ than a lot of the technical branded fleeces.

I think they are also called [cast iron] plunger baths.

eg https://www.salvoweb.com/8158-reclaimed-cast-iron-plunger-bath

I’d be surprised if you got one to match the bath though.

The bath in our old house had one. Worked well.

When biking around town I tend to go out of my way to avoid the setts! Many a mudguard has been a victim of the shakes.

The corner of Howe Street into South East Circus Place has to be one of the sketchiest descents when greasy. A bit better now that it’s been rebuilt, but still sketchy. Good for sliding in cars..

Drummond Place is rough AF too, so might be worth a lap while you are there. Heriot Row on the other hand is ace and smooth – good for skimming along.

Although rebuilt relatively recently, Thirlestane Road is also pretty rough. There’s significant gaps between the stones, plus speed bumps.

Interesting. I wonder if it would fit on my cargo bike. Do you know if spares are available, for example batteries if the range drops off.

Currently close to walking pace when carting kids up and down Edinburgh hills..

viz ‘clag-gone’ springs to mind…

I think that’s the problem 13th. Even a good few miles away from anything, idiots are now present. Last time I went through (being a diffferent kind of idiot with a bike) we saw no one. This time there were loads of people.

walked through the lairig ghru the other day.

Approaching corrour bothy, someone had left a massive jobbie right in the middle of the path. Complete with half a dozen wipes. Literally miles of landscape all around without any people (even a metre off the path onto the heather and nobody would notice) yet someone chose to nip one off on the path.

arrrrgghhh!

otherwise great though. so nice to see wee trees popping up where they haven’t been for a while.

Jordan, having listed for £300 i sold for £360. Reckon that could easily have been 5-600, maybe more, but I already felt a bit like I was taking the piss! I underestimated demand somewhat..

Ebay would have been more lucrative, as would splitting for parts, but I wanted a quick and easy local sale. Honestly the bike owed me nothing and was pretty worn out.

it is wild.

I got rid of a very tired but still vaguely functioning 2005 specialized enduro via gumtree. Needed new frame bearings (lots of them on an enduro), forks serviced, shock serviced, new chain/cassette/chainrings.

Within 20 minutes of posting the advert i’d had about twenty people wanting it, including some offering more than I was asking. By the time it was collected i’d had maybe 70 messages.

Sold it to someone who did a round trip of about 90 miles and gave me 20% more than advertised – suspect i could easily have got twice as much!

wild

Was chatting to a friend who owns a local bike shop, and he was saying there’s a serious shortage of 26″ inner tubes, because of everyone draggin their old bikes out!

26 aint dead

I’ve had the same problem on guide brakes on a brand new [complete] bike. Front brake only – pulsing feeling through the lever.

New pads and thoroughly cleaned rotor didn’t fix it. I’m going to stick a new rotor on at some point as I suspect the current one must be a bit shonky in some way, but haven’t yet got round to it.

I occasionally get annoyed by it, but mostly manage to forget about it – i’ve had the bike for about 9 months and use it frequently.

i think it kicks in if the MOT date falls after the 30th of March

Grant Shapps, from that link up there ^^^

‘Given the circumstances I’m granting an MOT temporary exemption so that if your MOT is due from 30th March 2020 you will automatically receive a SIX-month extension. However, you must still keep your car in a roadworthy condition and garages will remain open if you need repairs.’

Dutch bike.
Sorted