Your rants here.

Kieran_Burns

Could one of our Scots brethren please pop over to see Suzi and sort her (bike!) out?

I would myself, but I'm worried my teenage-girl-scaring-CX-pervertedness would cause her to hide.

and it's too far :P

fizz

Mr coach driver, if you are going to overtake me mid corner, make sure the back half of your coach has got passed me as well as the front before pulling back into the correct lane and see that nice shiney reflective thing on the near side of your coach ? Thats for looking in before you start your maneouver.

Of course trying the same trick 2 days later to the same cyclist you almost ran off the road, is particularly bright now is it. Of course I am going to sit in the primary position and ride defensively if it means you dont put my life at risk. I have emailed your company, but you dont seem that down with technology so perhaps you never recieved it or are just ignoring me. 3rd time you try that stunt I will be paying your fine establishment a visit to discuss road ettiquette shortly no doubt.

To Mr Unbranded white van man this morning, if a cyclist is keeping up with the traffic flow, overtaking and then trying to run me into the kerb because there was no gap for you to slot into as the car in front of you had stopped to give way to traffic on a a roundabout does indeed make you look like a muppet

To the driver of the van from the company at round the corner from my workplace. If you keep overtaking me like that and a colleague of mine that also cycles. We will be paying a nice visit to your place of work to discuss your driving style with your manager.

To the chav in beat up Nissan Micra, see that pedal in the middle, if you press it more gently and earlier, then you dont have to lock the brakes up in order to avoid rear ending me when I stopped at a junction because there was traffic coming. Of course reving your engine and turning your music up makes you look double hard and I wish my c*ck was as big as yours obviously is.

Had a fun couple of days... I tend to ride defensively anyway, but the last few days really have taken the biscuit with people driving like complete idiots...

Mr Sworld

fizz wrote:

Mr coach driver, if you are going to overtake me mid corner, make sure the back half of your coach has got passed me as well as the front before pulling back into the correct lane and see that nice shiney reflective thing on the near side of your coach ? Thats for looking in before you start your maneouver.

Of course trying the same trick 2 days later to the same cyclist you almost ran off the road, is particularly bright now is it. Of course I am going to sit in the primary position and ride defensively if it means you dont put my life at risk. I have emailed your company, but you dont seem that down with technology so perhaps you never recieved it or are just ignoring me. 3rd time you try that stunt I will be paying your fine establishment a visit to discuss road ettiquette shortly no doubt.

To Mr Unbranded white van man this morning, if a cyclist is keeping up with the traffic flow, overtaking and then trying to run me into the kerb because there was no gap for you to slot into as the car in front of you had stopped to give way to traffic on a a roundabout does indeed make you look like a muppet

To the driver of the van from the company at round the corner from my workplace. If you keep overtaking me like that and a colleague of mine that also cycles. We will be paying a nice visit to your place of work to discuss your driving style with your manager.

To the chav in beat up Nissan Micra, see that pedal in the middle, if you press it more gently and earlier, then you dont have to lock the brakes up in order to avoid rear ending me when I stopped at a junction because there was traffic coming. Of course reving your engine and turning your music up makes you look double hard and I wish my c*ck was as big as yours obviously is.

Had a fun couple of days... I tend to ride defensively anyway, but the last few days really have taken the biscuit with people driving like complete idiots...

Wow!

Fizz, do you save these things up or did it all happen on one day?

freehub

What is it with people in cars, I was coming up this drag to a traffic light, I got behind this car, this woman was driving it, she opened her window and turned her s****y music up, was she trying to impress me or something? She looked like a Muppet, a fat Muppet.

el_presidente

freehub wrote:

What is it with people in cars, I was coming up this drag to a traffic light, I got behind this car, this woman was driving it, she opened her window and turned her s****y music up, was she trying to impress me or something? She looked like a Muppet, a fat Muppet.

perhaps a banging tune came on and she was in the mood to rock out? it's not all about you!!

_Brun_

freehub wrote:

What is it with people in cars, I was coming up this drag to a traffic light, I got behind this car, this woman was driving it, she opened her window and turned her s****y music up, was she trying to impress me or something? She looked like a Muppet, a fat Muppet.

^Sexist.

attica

freehub wrote:

What is it with people in cars, I was coming up this drag to a traffic light, I got behind this car, this woman was driving it, she opened her window and turned her s****y music up, was she trying to impress me or something? She looked like a Muppet, a fat Muppet.

^Fatist.

TommyEss

To the guy who began crossing on the red man as I was coming through on green, who spotted me as I was slowing to allow him across, and then decided to stop right in front of me - thank you - I needed the track stand practice!

Kieran_Burns

freehub wrote:

What is it with people in cars, I was coming up this drag to a traffic light, I got behind this car, this woman was driving it, she opened her window and turned her s****y music up, was she trying to impress me or something? She looked like a Muppet, a fat Muppet.

^Hensonist

fizz

Mr Sworld wrote:

Fizz, do you save these things up or did it all happen on one day?

The first encouter with the bus happened on Friday. The 2nd encouter with the bus and the other stuff all happened yesterday and they say bad things come in three's !

Needless to say I am not feeling very well disposed to my fellow road users at the moment.

Wallace1492

suzyb wrote:

I tried to get my BSO into working order today, adjust the rear gears (no cable for the front atm) and the brakes.

Gear adjustment went fine. Brake adjustment confused me despite following bicycle tutor so whilst the brakes do stop the wheel turning when on the stand, not so sure they will when travelling down hill at speed.

Not that it matters that the bike doesn't have brakes as it doesn't move anyway. Every time I sit on it the rear wheel gets pushed to the side and rubs against the frame despite me tightening as much as I can.

I hate bikes :evil:

Not sounding good. Would pop over, but I would just stroke my chin, humm and hawww, then tell you it needs looked at by LBS....

Onlt thing with the wheel rubbing is thinking spokes may be loose, as wheel should not move if fitted correctly.

itsbruce

To the asshole in Specialized gear (yellow top, black shorts) who didn't want to slow down going over Battersea Bridge this morning:

I realise that when you saw four bikes hanging back rather than threading through a gap between one car and the next, you though we were all wusses who don't like to mix it with cars. I'm sure that crashing right through us made you feel really macho. How macho did you feel when you saw the broken down car blocking the road ahead and had to stand on your brakes?

God, how I wish you hadn't seen it in time.

Cars I can deal with; it's pedestrians and fellow cyclists that cause me grief.

iPete

London cyclists, awful!

Ventured across Zone 1 for the first time last night, does anybody stop for red lights here? I've been cycling 7 months from Victoria out into the suburbs and the standard of cycling is half decent, why when you cross central does the standard drop so much?! The extra traffic, buses etc I can handle but...

bails87

iPete wrote:

I've been cycling 7 months from Victoria out into the suburbs

7 months?! How far away are these suburbs?

iPete

bails87 wrote:

iPete wrote:

I've been cycling 7 months from Victoria out into the suburbs

7 months?! How far away are these suburbs?

Somehow got all the way around and had to pass through zone 1, I'm starting again tomorrow.. its a long commute!

cat_with_no_tail

To the driver of the Ford Focus, I could see that there was not enough room for you to squeeze past me, this is why I clearly signalled you to move back in. The driver of the 2 oncoming cars could see that there was not enough room for you to squeeze past me too, that's why they both leaned on their horns when you tried it anyway nearly driving into us all in the process.

The fact you turned off 200m further up the road just makes you look like even more of a moron.

If you pull a stunt like that again, I'll follow you, hunt you down and practice my bunnyhops on your boIIocks you compete and utter cumsponge!

attica

Cat With No Tail wrote:

The driver of the 2 oncoming cars

How did he do that? Remote control via iPhone App no doubt.

Cat With No Tail wrote:

If you pull a stunt like that again, I'll follow you, hunt you down and practice my bunnyhops on your boIIocks you compete and utter cumsponge!

Top insulting, you should win a prize for that sentence, chapeau!

Incidentally, my own rant of the day:-

If you - yes you, the waste of skin on the hybrid - spot a car that is patiently waiting to turn left behind a fellow cyclist, indicating clearly and affording said cyclist lots of room. Do you really think it's going to end well if you then try to filter past him on the left? I was that car driver today (for once) and just be glad that I spotted you. Bl00dy Darwin award wannabe. pfft

davis

Wallace1492 wrote:

Not sounding good. Would pop over, but I would just stroke my chin, humm and hawww, then tell you it needs looked at by LBS....

I'd be inclined to suck air in through my teeth, that should help.

Skippy2309

Rants on both sides, First some twit nearly took me out head on! give way sign for the car I pull through the gap I was there first and the guy came straight at me not even slowing I just slipped past and missed the mirror!

on the flip side I have seen some really dumb ass people on bikes while in the work vans, from people popping lights to people trying to under take a HUGE white van with the noisiest bloody indicators going left. Luckily me and the other bloke commute by bike or there would be a few dead cyclists.

Also if your riding at a nice slow cruise dont ride in the middle of the lane keep to the left (inside the cycle lane) its not hard the things just over a meter wide you dont have to ride outside it as well as the slow people squeezing between bikes and cars to get to the front at the lights and then stopping everyone making any progress!!!!!!!

Not much riding for me as I had an accident (car) on sat so on a nice load of drugs with lots of muscle spasms :roll:

suzyb

davis wrote:

Wallace1492 wrote:

Not sounding good. Would pop over, but I would just stroke my chin, humm and hawww, then tell you it needs looked at by LBS....

I'd be inclined to suck air in through my teeth, that should help.

Does doing either of that help more than swearing, yelling and throwing the bike on the floor in a tantrum.

davis

suzyb wrote:

davis wrote:

Wallace1492 wrote:

Not sounding good. Would pop over, but I would just stroke my chin, humm and hawww, then tell you it needs looked at by LBS....

I'd be inclined to suck air in through my teeth, that should help.

Does doing either of that help more than swearing, yelling and throwing the bike on the floor in a tantrum.

Almost certainly, because they're expensive.

As a serious attempt to be helpful, what happens if you take the wheel off the bike, remove the axle, and try doing the pre-stressing thing by putting the wheel flat [ i.e. not the spoke-squeezing] in http://bicycletutor.com/wheel-truing/? You need to work out if it's the axle wobbling in the bike, the wheel wobbling on the axle, or the wheel just plain wobbling (The only other cause I can think of is the frame twisting, and if that's happening that's one frame for the skip). Doing the pre-stressing thing should help you spot the third case.

el_presidente

look Davis, this is the rants thread, there;s a perfectly good workshop section

davis

el_presidente wrote:

look Davis, this is the rants thread, there;s a perfectly good workshop section

You know what really really gets on my wick? Those sanctimonious smug gits who go about telling other people about the best way of posting stuff on t'internet. Thinking they know all because they've read the damn rules and assumed rules were for everybody. Them, they're worse than the bloody tax-dodging cancer-causing cyclists. Don't get me started on those scumbags, riding around powered by their own sense of self-satisfaction, they act like they're making the world a better place. I tell you, I damn nearly had to pull one of them out of my bumper when I overtook the git on the lanes round here. Don't they know the road's barely big enough for a car? He damn near made me spill my Stella.

And puppies. I hate puppies too.

;-)

suzyb

davis wrote:

suzyb wrote:

davis wrote:

Wallace1492 wrote:

Not sounding good. Would pop over, but I would just stroke my chin, humm and hawww, then tell you it needs looked at by LBS....

I'd be inclined to suck air in through my teeth, that should help.

Does doing either of that help more than swearing, yelling and throwing the bike on the floor in a tantrum.

Almost certainly, because they're expensive.

As a serious attempt to be helpful, what happens if you take the wheel off the bike, remove the axle, and try doing the pre-stressing thing by putting the wheel flat [ i.e. not the spoke-squeezing] in http://bicycletutor.com/wheel-truing/? You need to work out if it's the axle wobbling in the bike, the wheel wobbling on the axle, or the wheel just plain wobbling (The only other cause I can think of is the frame twisting, and if that's happening that's one frame for the skip). Doing the pre-stressing thing should help you spot the third case.

Not the one I threw on the ground. To quote supersonic when I first joined it's "...on the very budget side of budget! ".

But I'm going to have another look tomorrow and make sure I have tightened it as much as I can. Just to double check.

davis

suzyb wrote:

Not the one I threw on the ground. To quote supersonic when I first joined it's "...on the very budget side of budget! ".

But I'm going to have another look tomorrow and make sure I have tightened it as much as I can. Just to double check.

oh, this is a BSO, isn't it? Possibly not worth saving, but maybe useful as a practice run...

I should keep quiet here, I'm the proud owner of too many "practice runs".

cyclopsbiker

DN51 UBK - dark green? estate car
turning left off Creek Road into Deptford High Street

It's Mirror - Signal - Manoeuver

not.... manoeuver - oh! SMIDSY!!!!!

though I doubt he actually thought he was in the wrong since he was more important, his day was just too busy to check his mirror as he pulled out of a stationary line of traffic to turn left across my path.....a turning he was pretty much past and had to go over the white line to get back on the left side of the road

anyway, I've stuck the details on CTC SMIDSY.

rant over.

Wallace1492

Arrrrrrrggghhhhh.

There was, cycling gear on, 7am, small rucksack packed, just a least check to make sure I had my cash, work ID and keys in the small pocket, where they always live..... HELP Ma BOAB!! No keys.... then I remembered, previous night had packed up bag before locking locker, therefore keys must have been in jersey pocket! Errr I was wearing same jersey, so no.... Ah, maybe left by front door, as door key lives in jersey pocket..... no.

Most likely they were still in locker at work, however not willing to take chance, I changed, showered, drove and got train. And yes, they were in the locker!!

That's me lost 15 miles I will never get back.... Dam you SCR Stats!!

kurako

Fuggin pedestrians. Start walking out without looking, glance my way, continue walking straight in front of me. Either of these would be preferable.

1.Pay attention to what you are doing
2. If you realise you've made a mistake and I'm going in front of you stop walking
3. If you realise you've made a mistake and I'm going behind you continue but showing a little haste would be nice

FFS!

Also to the left hooky car on Commercial Road. Stop doing that. When you appear out of nowhere and swing across in front of me don't be surprised when I stop. Some sort of indication that you are in the wrong and aplogetic would be nice. Commending me on my superior bike handling would also be much apppreciated. Staring blankly as if I should have sensed you swinging around me and its my fault is not cool. Also if you have your son in the passenger seat he better be wearing a seat belt. Idiot.

Blacktemplar

JoeSoap76 wrote:

Does anybody else ever have cause to cycle around the Paisley area?

I was out this evening for the first run in a while (owing to a broken rib - now un-broked) and decided to head through Paisley for a change. I was coming down Caplethill Road towards the town centre and found myself having to slalom around dozens of (to me, anyway) massive potholes.

Unfortunately I had a car pass a little too close at one point and when I looked back to the road after remonstrating with him (not that he noticed) there was a big b*gger of a hole right in front of me. I didn't have time to avoid it, just to do my best to stay in the saddle and try and hop the thing best I could. Managed with the front wheel (and I think that's what kept me upright) but the rear wheel took a bit of a thumping.

The only damage seems to have been the loss of a favoured (but cheap) water bottle that found itself bouncing away under the wheels of the cars behind

I've just written to the council with words like 'fatal' and 'waiting to happen' but I doubt that they'll do much about it because I can't say that any of the other roads I've cycled in Paisley have been much better.

Another nice route struck from my list

Know what you mean mate, East ren and the Southside are a disgrace as well. All through Shawlands you can actually see the original cobbles through the craters. Same gig all the way down to Shields Road. The place looks like it's been carpet-bombed by the RAF.

On the subject of Rants, had my first NDE (near death experience) this morning. Some brainless bint in a huge 4x4 is coming down the M8 (Westbound) offramp onto Seaward Street at the new roundabout, and I'm watching her as she's not even looking at the traffic coming from her right. With about 30 yards to go to the give way, she belatedly slows and looks up - she must have seen me in my fluoro jacket, and looked as if she was stopping. Foolishly I kept going, although a bit wary by this point. I nearly filled my shorts when she pulled out as I passed her - I think my high pitched girly scream must have woken her up, as she slammed on the anchors as I swerved out to avoid her. The front bumper brushed my leg, so it was a close one. I screamed dog's abuse at her but kept going, and I noticed she slowed to a crawl behind me to avoid the embarrassment of catching up. Moron.

A few weeks back the same junction offered up another potentially spectacular one. Some hairy spotty yoof in a clapped-out Mondeo, large thermos of coffee in one hand and headphones on, just drove out onto the roundabout without slowing down or even looking - lucky for him there wasn't a truck coming..... might have upped the average on the gene pool mind you.

TommyEss

My brain switched off this morning, so I completely missed the fact that the little white van at the front of the queue of traffic had stopped to let the massive artic that had been making a delivery to Somerfields out - only the artic wasn't indicating and was still pretty much still at the kerbside, due to the traffic queue in front of it.

I moved in front of the van, just as the artic moved off from the kerb - spotted it in time, so just waited on the outside for him to make his move - bags of room...

(Just ranting at myself for switching off!)