Many of us see cylists doing stupid things often every day but this event left me bemused at the stupidity of it.
I stopped near the gates of a nursery school ( for 2-3 year olds I guess) and waited a couple of minutes fror SWMBO to join me at the time parents were collecting their offspring.
I guy in his, I would guess, late 20s early 30s came to collect his little one.
He was cycling on the pavement aginst the one way traffic ( not unusual )and then swerved onto the road as he approached the T junction.
He had scooped up his child who was hanging on to his neck while he had one arm around the child thus leaving him one arm to steer and brake.
End of rant
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It makes me laugh to see parents with children on bikes.
They make the kid wear a helmet, but don't wear one themselves.
I'm fully aware of the arguments for and against cycling helmets, but if you make the kid wear one without setting a good example, what sort of message are you sending them?
If you believe in them strongly enough to make the kid wear them - they'll be orphaned!
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I like the idea of the wooden baskets on the funny shaped bikes for carrying kids about in Holland. I'd have loved that as a wee boy. What a cool vantage point to explore the world from!
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I was impressed whilst in Amsterdam by the sheer variety of bicycles; cycle helmets were far from ubiquitous though.
Dynamo lighting seems to be standard fitment on Dutch bikes too. With respect to the sensible cyclists on here who no doubt do use their lights properly, perhaps it should be mandatory over here?
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A bicycle seems to be a more classless approach to cycling over there as well.
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>> Dynamo lighting seems to be standard fitment on Dutch bikes too. With respect to the
>> sensible cyclists on here who no doubt do use their lights properly, perhaps it should
>> be mandatory over here?
>>
Just so long as the requirement is for dynamo hubs, not those things which used to be driven off the side of the front tyre!
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>>Just so long as the requirement is for dynamo hubs, not those things which used to be driven off the side of the front tyre!
I think you'll find hub dynamos were effectively banned because they couldn't provide enough power to give the level of lighting required by law. With modern LED lamps that situation my well be different.
Foreign bikes with dynamo lighting seem to have the dynamo powering the front light only, the rear being battery operated.
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>> Foreign bikes with dynamo lighting seem to have the dynamo powering the front light only,
>> the rear being battery operated.
Not quite. In Germany the law is that the rear light has to be illuminated even when the bike is stationary. Modern bikes use a hub dynamo or one of the new 12V tyre sidewall types for both front and rear lights for when the bike is moving, but switch automatically to a battery backup for the rear light when the bike stops. Simple but clever system. Mine also switches the rear light off automatically if the bike hasn't moved for 5 minutes or so in case I forget. I use the bike a lot and haven't had to replace the battery for 4 years.
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>>...but switch automatically to a battery backup for the rear light when the bike stops.
Not a new idea :-)
Cica 1952 - Sturmey Archer Dynohub with a Dyno Luxe storage battery unit on downtube like this:-
tinyurl.com/2vjcsvq
Too late it is sold but I love the write up.
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!
I've got a pair of those, one men's, one women's, both 4-speed, but with "Raleigh Stainless" rims. Not a speck of rust on the rims, either. Identical machines to the one pictured, chainguard, coulour, the lot.
How much did that one sell for, do you know?
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>>How much did that one sell for, do you know?
>>
Sorry I have no idea. I found the image off Google when looking for a photo of a bike with the SA battery tube.
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Some lamps use capacitor to store current & maintain light while stationary.
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>>I'm fully aware of the arguments for and against cycling helmets
at the risk of thread drift, what are the arguments against cycling helmets? Other than pure personal choice?
Kids and I always wear helmets no matter how long or short the distance is. OK when I was wee I didn't wear helmets but I also didn't wear a car seatbelt, I travelled regularly in the boot of a Cortina Estate. But I wouldn't do that now (even if I could find a 2.3 Ghia Estate with vinyl roof...
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Cycle helmets are mandatory in Australia, apparently head injuries have reduced dramatically since the introduction of this law particularly among children.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 5 Nov 10 at 08:10
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Cycling and helmet co-ercion subjects on which I border on obsessive but I'm working ATM & pressed for time.
In brief reply to ON the Australian figures are unrelaible because helmet compulsion rapidly reduced the number of cyclists. Some interpretations, perhaps for adults rather than children, suggest that they had little or effect in reducing the risk per cyclist/mile (or journey).
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Fri 5 Nov 10 at 10:08
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>> In brief reply to ON the Australian figures are unreliable because helmet compulsion rapidly reduced
>> the number of cyclists.>>
It worked though, you missed the word "adult" out of the above sentence. :-)
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>> (even if I could find a 2.3 Ghia Estate with vinyl roof...
>>
chuck the 2.3 away and fit the 3.0l Now yer cooking.........
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>>what are the arguments against cycling helmets?
The doubters seem to suggest they provide little or no protection, being 'soft-shell'.
They don't protect the face.
They provide more inertia to the head.
I choose to wear one.
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Different countries different attitudes towards cyclists its quite common in mainland europe for cyclists to carry one or even two children on their bike and also have a trailer.
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It's not unusual to see young children sitting on the crossbar of their parent's bikes around the B11/B12 areas of Birmingham.
I'm half-expecting to see a moped carrying a family of four next!
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Contentious subject. I've been a fairly serious cyclist all my life with a particular interest in off road riding. I've seen many instances of rotation injuries caused entirely by helmet wearing. The unknown factor in these events of course is whether the same accident would have caused a worse impact injury.
On balance I feel children should be encouraged to wear helmets and adults, if they feel safer doing so, should wear them too. I choose not to wear one despite having got off my bike at speed involuntarily more times than I could possibly remember. Perhaps I'm biased as for quite different reasons I also know how to fall while minimising the risk of injury and so far have managed not to crack my head open.
I wouldn't want to see it being made compulsory but have no problem with its use being encouraged for those who believe in its benefits.
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Personally I never wear a helmet.
Not on a Boris Bike, not on my Brompton & not on my tourer. If I rode the mountain bike seriously off road I might think about it, but not on tracks, bridleways etc.
I'm now 50 & I've toured and utility biked since 1974. I like the wind in my hair and I prefer my peripheral vision unobstructed. I don't like, even subliminally, the idea of my hearing being affected and I've never found a helmet that was comfortable and didn't need me to fiddle with it while riding & with my glasses while putting it on/taking it off. If I have to carry it while off the bike on trains etc. I'll loose two a year.
The biggest risks I face are from HGV's and stupid car drivers - neither is massively mitigated by a helmet.
If I'm wrong and spend the later years of my life gibbering and living on soup the first 50 have been OK. And I'm far more likely to get that disabling head injury in my car or walking home from the pub.
The recent obits for Laurent Fignon showed him joyously riding 'Le Tour' bareheaded with his ponytail streaming in the wind; he died of Cancer.
For other people YMMV.
I made the kids wear them when they were small. Probably saved my son from a nasty egg on his bonce a few times. Now they're in their teens I'm far more concered about high viz and honing their traffic skills.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Fri 5 Nov 10 at 10:46
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I agree with pretty much everything you say here Bromptonaut. Well put in my view.
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I've tried cycling with a helmet and decided I would rather not cycle than wear one. I work on my observation after several accidents involving hitting car doors which were opened in front of me, hitting pedestrians who've stepped into me in the road and hitting the scenery whilst cycling too fast down a track.
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I think some cyclists think that wearing a helmet makes it unnecessary for them to turn their head and look over their shoulder before moving out to pass a parked vehicle or before turning right etc.
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Probably something in that, I agree, some cyclists ( and I carefully use the word "some") are not the best advertisement for our fraternity.
Equally though "some" motorists seem to think it's perfectly acceptable to pass within 6 inches of a cyclist's elbow at 60 mph...
All manner of vehicles and indeed pedestrians use roads. Common sense is the major deficit in most misfortunes resultant from that fact. Its lack is not peculiar to any particular sub-group.
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Fri 5 Nov 10 at 12:11
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"some motorists seem to think it's perfectly acceptable to pass within 6 inches of a cyclist's elbow at 60 mph"
Especially if you're wearing a helmet! There is also the feeling of security that causes some helmet-wearers to take more risks - the Law of Unintended Consequences and all that...
www.cyclingnorthwales.co.uk/pages/cyc_helm_closer.htm
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>> I think some cyclists think that wearing a helmet makes it unnecessary for them to
>> turn their head and look over their shoulder
Maybe had one of these www.reevu.com/leisure.asp
Informal reviews suggest they are OK for 'checking whether she looks as good from the front' but of limited use for their advertised purpose................
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Fri 5 Nov 10 at 12:22
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>> I think some cyclists think that wearing a helmet makes it unnecessary for them to
>> turn their head and look over their shoulder
I'd rather they unplug their headphones...
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>> I'd rather they unplug their headphones...
>>
Is that what they are? I've always assumed that their brain was on trickle charge!
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>>I've always assumed that their brain was on trickle charge!
Nah. The wire would be coming out of a completely different orifice.
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Humph,
Interested in your comment on rotational injuries - can you exemplify?
In a previous job I met a lot of folks with brain injuries; plenty of industrial accidents involving either falls or objects dropped from height, fair few car/mb accidents but the single most risky thing was crossing the street while under the influence. The only cyclist case had been riding home from the pub - and I suspect he was a bear of little brain beforehand.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Fri 5 Nov 10 at 20:43
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Well, not being a medic I may not have the correct vocabulary but in layman's terms what I have often seen is what I would describe as whiplash injuries. Apparently caused by bike helmets which are longitudinally much longer than the heads they contain. Any contact with anything solid results in the head being forced backwards in the case of a frontal impact or in the case of a tangential blow, the head and neck are subject to a twisting motion.
As I mentioned above though, on balance I probably approve of helmets for children anyway as the lesser of two risks but to be honest, having taken flight from a bike more often than strictly necessary and indeed landed the wrong way up when skiing rather more than would be advisable it's not my head which seems to be most in danger in most cases. Fingers, wrists, elbows, knees and ankles have a more lasting physical proof of their past than my head...
:-)
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Although I have a bike, I try not to use on the road more than I have to. I've long thought that a visiting alien would be astonished that cyclists share the same roads as everyone else, including 40-ton articulated lorries.
As an aside, on my school run I regularly encounter a cyclist who, because it is a single carriageway and busy both ways, manages to hold up a whole slew of traffic. Not his fault, of course, but you have to wonder about the environmental costs of making every following vehicle slow down, crawl along in a low gear and then have to accelerate hard to get past.
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I've a split view on that one JBJ. When I'm being a "motorist" I get cheesed off with cyclists blocking up roads. When I'm being a cyclist I get cheesed of with some frankly dangerous drivers. It all depends on where your sitting at the time I suppose !
I still favour the system found in many continental countries where many of the pavements are split into cycle and pedestrian sections and by and large those rules are obeyed. In this country where such facilities exist neither group sticks to their designated area so it might as well not be there in the first place. Where I live there are cycle lanes at the side of many roads but people park their vehicles in them thus completely negating their usefulness. As ever a bit more common sense from all road users whether they be on foot, on a bike or on / in any vehicle would be a benefit.
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Fri 5 Nov 10 at 14:58
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You also have to remember that in Holland and Germany the cyclist is always right.
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I agree, Humph - it was an observation rather than an opinion, but it did get me wondering if the effect on other vehicles, quite apart from the collective addition to journey times, would negate any fuel savings on the part of the cyclist.
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Ah, JBJ, but isn't your idea based on the fallacy, examined previously here, that driving more slowly uses more fuel? Last time round, we concluded pretty firmly that it uses less.
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Not to mention the biggest waste of fuel: waiting in stationary, arthosclerotic lines of cars.
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>> arthosclerotic
You beauty ! What a great word. I shall use that at the first available opportunity...With your permission of course Norton ? It's one of those you could spit out with real contempt isn't it ?
:-)
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Carry on Humph:) I do my best to puncture the view that cars have a divine right etc.
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...arthosclerotic...You beauty ! What a great word...
Would be an even greater word if anyone other than a cardiac consultant understood it.
Last edited by: Iffy on Fri 5 Nov 10 at 20:29
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I understood it and I am but a humble man...
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Cyclist with a child - I despair. - bathtub tom
