I think rather too often people miss the bull rampaging in the china shop: the motor vehicle. Campaigning for cyclists to cycle in a safer way is like campaigning for women to wear burkas so they don't get raped.

The problem is the motor vehicle.

Until we design our infrastructure to support pedestrians and cyclists, until we really pressurise drivers to get out of their cars, and until we expand both goods and people railway networks, we will continue to see much higher cyclist and pedestrian death rates in this country.

The problem is the motor vehicle.

I dunno, whip off the cages and that gopping mudguard, trim the hoses, maybe put a black saddle and black bars on it, and it would be fine.

This might be a funny thing to say on this thread, but one of the things that really attracts me to cycling is the self-sufficiency it gives you. With my bike I have my transport, my recreation, my access to travel, the hills, shops, anywhere, all within my control. I don't have to rely on anyone else.

For me, that extends to the mechanics side of things too. I like being able to sort everything on my bike, with simple tools and be self reliant. I always buy online, because it's cheaper and I like fitting everything myself. Any LBS' I've ever had have been annoying, with blinkered opinions about bikes/riding, expensive and not that helpful. So I learnt to do it myself.

Nice fat comfortable tram-resistant tyres are the way forward.

Maybe I'm not riding in all the busiest places, but I honestly can't think of a time when I've been riding and had to put up with the agro some people on here seem to. I imagine weekends at Glentress may be manic, but normally surely the trails are never that busy that people can't all get along?

Epic Designs bags like Chipps had on his Fargo? I'm saving my pennies for some, they look amazing, I've got all these adventures with them planned in my head…

I imagine there is an awful lot of waste material from machining it? It seems a bit senseless and profligate for a consumable part like a cassette.

They're well good, the girlfriend loves them. Feels mental when you cum. Am I allowed to write that here?

I've got a Panasonic G1, which isn't a DSLR, but has a nice big sensor and interchangeable lenses. I really like it because it is small, light and compact, so I find myself using it more than the Nikon D50 I had before. Oh hang on, I think it's a little bit more than £300 actually, sorry. If you can stretch to it, I'm sure your wife would love it.

Much like my post on the lazy student thread:

Smash the Establishment, comrades! Wear whatever you want and to hell with your employer's blinkered olde worlde homogeneity of appearance!

BigDummy – 😆 you're probably right, but I meant it in the nicest possible way!

I don't know about this particular issue. I suppose my point was a rather more general one, about the attitude to the young our society has. We fetishise their youth and beauty, their fashion and whims. But the focus on these things makes it easier to disregard their politics. Nothing in the manmade world is absolute or unchanging. Failure to recognise that has brought down empires and made civilisations extinct, has seen old cynical politicians dumbstruck as the concrete fell and impotent despite their money and suits.

So, yeah, anyway, Smash the Establishment comrades.

Motorcycle Diaries.

No offence Capt' but I hate how

naive

is used to denounce any position that the old guard, the 20th century thinkers, our political class, media and industrialists think is unrealistic. The only reason many political opinions are unrealistic, is because the aforementioned groups refuse to change or let go of their power.

Wonder why people of 60+ have so much?

Because they grew up during the post war consensus, and had the full and luscious fruits of the welfare state, with free university education, followed by Thatcherism, which bolstered their money and house prices, before knocking away the ladder for the young?

I live in Southside, and I like it there. We live in a nice tenement street, it's cheaper than the west end and a short cycle into town.

I must admit though, that I don't really like Glasgow. There is the sectarian violence, the parts that look like Kosovo, most of the roads are big, wide, fast and so more dangerous for cycling, and it's always raining. The best part of Glasgow is leaving and going into the hills.

Sorry Glaswegians!

One word: Revolution

If we have problems with banks, which we do, and if we are destroying the environment and wasting resources, which we are, and if we are being increasingly treated as children and watched, of which there is no doubt, then we must have the wherewithal to organise, disrupt, and ultimately, revolt.

I hate cars. As far as I'm concerned they are all loud and horrible. The 17yr old chav mobiles with the loud exhausts are indeed worse than most, but that's just relative to other motor vehicles. A large road, even without boy racer cars, still stops one year old children sleeping and forces people to shut their windows.

If you ask me, motorised vehicles (other than ambulances and fire engines) are selfish, loud and destructive and they should have their licence to use the Queen's Highways revoked. Pity no one ever asks me 😥

63% FAIL, and I guessed randomly on loads…

Grumm, I can't imagine there are that many UK citizens who can pass that. I thought it was interesting what sort of things they decided was relevant for an emigrating person to know. Nothing about our culture or habits, about our norms of behaviour. I was hoping for questions like:

"Which is correct: colour or color?"

Once I was riding my brakeless bmx back home when it started to rain… I was taking it super easy but my foot-on-the-tyre brake refused to work and I splatted into the back of one of those Porsche 4x4s. There was a great big CRACK (the bumper I think) and the 4 people in the car all turned aghast at me. I smiled politely, shrugged, and pedalled away as fast as I could…
Sorry.

I'd get the IO personally, though my friend has a wanga, in that red and it is a lovely frame. The extra cable guides for the gears on the Wanga look rubbish when run as a singlespeed and the brake hose guides are rubbish, but it does have a lovely headbadge. It also rides great, if that's important? 🙂

I have a passionate hatred of top tube mounted cable guides too, so IO everytime for me.

No worries.

I actually managed to borrow a sleeping bag from a friend, so I don't have to use my crappy 1 season jobbie, or buy one at the moment anyway. But thankyou all for your help. It was good to learn about liners for when I do get one.

Environmental lesson number 946773 (maybe?) : borrow before you buy 😉

Thanks for the help everyone. I might also be sleeping outside/in tents footflaps, so was worried about being warm.

As far as environmentalism is concerned, well everything we do/make has an impact on the environment. Rab sleeping bags aren't really much better, the pertex material if I understand correctly, is not made in Europe either. And yes I use the internet, but not that much, and our electricity is partly generated by us. We all share a computer. Taking a bus is more environmentally destructive than not going to Copenhagen, but then dying is more eco-friendly than being alive, so what are you gonna do?

At the end of the day, I own so little stuff and have much less impact on the environment than most so I can take the ribbing. I'm not perfect, and I think most 'soap dodgers' would say the same. That all sounds a little defensive, and I suppose it is, but, you know what, I'm trying.

Yeah, I'm an environmentalist not a luddite. 😕
It's difficult to reconcile these things though sometimes.

Though saying that, I ride a singlespeed so maybe I'm a luddite-in-training…. 😉

flatfish, I'm taking the bus!

I'll tell you how to: don't own much more than a bike and clothes and live in a, ahem, communal and creative way with loads of other 'soap dodgers'.

Do you mean a silk liner Dave? I've heard conflicting advice about them, some people seem to say they make a big difference, others say they don't. I think I will go for the 400 as it will be useable more, and maybe I'll splash out on some merino in case I get cold…

I like track dropouts the most. They are simple, and simple is good in mechanical things I think.

[rant]

As far as I'm concerned, the UCI, BC, all of those, they aren't my 'governing bodies'. I don't know why we put up with this shit again and again. Why don't we as riders tell these organisations that we don't want or need them, and we can create our own events, our own records and champions.

BMX used to be controlled in this way, with big companies making all the bikes and choosing who to sponsor and funding the mags and videos. But BMX took control and now tiny rider owned businesses run the show. If all the top riders boycotted the UCI World Cups for a year and started their own series run exactly how they wished it'd be ace. And all of the events for the rest of us can be run quite happily without our 'governing bodies' governing us. **** off BC, **** off UCI !

[rant/]

you just want it to be as light and stiff as possible

But isn't the Bfe really stiff already? And it would look so much better than that rather ugly gusset beneath the downtube. It seems like a steel Hemlock would fit into the Cotic range better and carry the Cotic aesthetic over into their full susser.

I'm not an engineer, so don't hate me too much if this isn't possible, but…

Why, considering all of Cotic's other bikes have steel front ends, didn't Cy make the Hemlock with a nice 853 front end, or even the Bfe front end, then with the aluminium rear. I don't see why it couldn't be about the same weight, it would be really unique, and look a lot nicer than those aluminium front tubes do.

I would've also thought that all the properties that make steel great on a hardtail would transfer over. Like I said, I'm no engineer, so maybe it would be awful, but I'd be interested to hear what others think about this.

I have a Cotic Simple, and I love it. It is such a smooth, well designed frame, looks great. Out on the trails I find it really makes me smile on the technical stuff, it is easy to flick about and lift up, jump. I really recommend it.

Tang – YGM properly now, crap copy and pasting on my part email error…

Tang, YGM

Tiboy YGM

Tip duly noted for when I get mine…

Hi Tiboy, thanks for that! Did you have any problems setting it up, as far as mudguard mounting points being in the wrong place for 26" wheels or anything like that?
Do you have any photos of your setup too?

I was hoping maybe someone would have tried it already. Maybe not.

Anyone?

ptj201, I wasn't chastising you for complaining, don't worry. I share your bemused frustration at motorists inability to behave safely, considerately and humanely. But then, I'm all for an underground car destruction army…

There's no use complaining, car drivers don't ever get it. I once asked a man with his window down why he stopped at the ASL which is there to make traffic lights safer for cyclists. His son, maybe 8 years old, was sat beside him.

He just ignored me, stared straight ahead, head rigid. I asked again and his son looked questioning up to his father, but the man kept looking ahead. Then, in true comic fashion, there was a 'bzzzzz' and his window slid shut.

The situation as it is seems crazy to me. The notion that the mother should automatically be given main custody is outdated. As men we should be demanding absolute equality in these matters. Paternity leave and rights, custody, everything. Men and women's gender roles should not be so clearly defined and old fashioned.

However, this means that there needs to be a genuine shift in perceptions of men as care givers, family people and taking part in the upkeep of a house, home and the children. Help with the housework men, you have nothing to lose but your custody battles!