Your rants here.

xbnm

If you're going to attempt to a U turn at a busy junction with a cyclist car and bus approaching from different directions put your .... phone down before you try and spectacularly fail to complete the maneuver. Might be a good idea to put it down before the cyclist with camera tells you for the third time to put our phone down.

Numpty

wolfsbane2k

Sgt.Pepper wrote:

JakeJ wrote:

Drivers pulling out of junctions turning right, into my path.

That's how I'm going to die.

I blame modern cars and their huge A pillars, they may make cars a lot safer but they create a massive blind spot.

A pillars are getting ridiculous. Half of my Mondeo estate is just a blindspot now. Thankfully it has great mirrors, but it's still disconcerting when I turn to check my shoulder and can't see a damn thing.

I'm assuming you've seen this about a pillars?

http://singletrackworld.com/2018/01/col ... -cyclists/

elbowloh

Have to say that last night's commute home was the worst / most hazardous commute i've had in a long time and made me question why i cycle commute (i won't stop though).

Minutes away from work a car pulls out of a side road. I saw him the whole time and not once did he look right to see if there was traffic coming. It could have been a massive lorry or a bus, he just didn't look until he was pulled right out and i shouted out something along the lines of "noooooooooooo" and was surprised to see me 2 metres from his door, i had slammed the breaks on and stopped dead there staring at him. He pulled away then and avoided eye contact with me for a while at the next set of lights then waved his hand in apology.

Secondly, a pedestrian stepped out into my path on the crossing of York Road outside Waterloo station. It was very much green for me, but it's notorious for pedestrians just going across willy-nilly, so i was alert. I shouted out something like "whaaaaaaaaaaa" and i think she pretty much shat herself and stepped back. I didn't mean to scare her, but again she just didn't look right at all to see if it was clear until I shouted.

Thirdly, almost got right hooked at the bottom of Col du Balham by a motorcyclist, he was waiting for a gap and started to go just as i arrived, again I shouted "nooooooooo" and we both had to slam on breaks to avoid collision.

Lastly, on the CS7 between Tooting Broadway and Colliers Wood, I'm on the CS7, there's a WVM waiting to come out of side road. The traffic is at a standstill and they hadn't left a gap for the van to pull into, so there is no where for the van to go. I was thinking i'm ok to proceed along the cycle lane, right?

As i'm passing he starts to pull out, literally straight at me, I veer right, shout "noooooo" again and he slams on the brakes.

I just don't get it. I'm very visible. I'm 6'5", i have a big, bright light on the front, i have an additional flashing light. I have hi-vis fluoro gillet, flouro gloves and a white helmet. I'm not a shouter usually, but I had to scream out 4 times last night just so drivers became aware I was there.

fat_tail

elbowloh wrote:

Have to say that last night's commute home was the worst / most hazardous commute i've had in a long time and made me question why i cycle commute (i won't stop though).

Minutes away from work a car pulls out of a side road. I saw him the whole time and not once did he look right to see if there was traffic coming. It could have been a massive lorry or a bus, he just didn't look until he was pulled right out and i shouted out something along the lines of "noooooooooooo" and was surprised to see me 2 metres from his door, i had slammed the breaks on and stopped dead there staring at him. He pulled away then and avoided eye contact with me for a while at the next set of lights then waved his hand in apology.

Secondly, a pedestrian stepped out into my path on the crossing of York Road outside Waterloo station. It was very much green for me, but it's notorious for pedestrians just going across willy-nilly, so i was alert. I shouted out something like "whaaaaaaaaaaa" and i think she pretty much shat herself and stepped back. I didn't mean to scare her, but again she just didn't look right at all to see if it was clear until I shouted.

Thirdly, almost got right hooked at the bottom of Col du Balham by a motorcyclist, he was waiting for a gap and started to go just as i arrived, again I shouted "nooooooooo" and we both had to slam on breaks to avoid collision.

Lastly, on the CS7 between Tooting Broadway and Colliers Wood, I'm on the CS7, there's a WVM waiting to come out of side road. The traffic is at a standstill and they hadn't left a gap for the van to pull into, so there is no where for the van to go. I was thinking i'm ok to proceed along the cycle lane, right?

As i'm passing he starts to pull out, literally straight at me, I veer right, shout "noooooo" again and he slams on the brakes.

I just don't get it. I'm very visible. I'm 6'5", i have a big, bright light on the front, i have an additional flashing light. I have hi-vis fluoro gillet, flouro gloves and a white helmet. I'm not a shouter usually, but I had to scream out 4 times last night just so drivers became aware I was there.

this is my ride every day....

wolfsbane2k

elbowloh wrote:

Have to say that last night's commute home was the worst / most hazardous commute i've had in a long time and made me question why i cycle commute (i won't stop though).

Minutes away from work a car pulls out of a side road. I saw him the whole time and not once did he look right to see if there was traffic coming. It could have been a massive lorry or a bus, he just didn't look until he was pulled right out and i shouted out something along the lines of "noooooooooooo" and was surprised to see me 2 metres from his door, i had slammed the breaks on and stopped dead there staring at him. He pulled away then and avoided eye contact with me for a while at the next set of lights then waved his hand in apology.

Secondly, a pedestrian stepped out into my path on the crossing of York Road outside Waterloo station. It was very much green for me, but it's notorious for pedestrians just going across willy-nilly, so i was alert. I shouted out something like "whaaaaaaaaaaa" and i think she pretty much shat herself and stepped back. I didn't mean to scare her, but again she just didn't look right at all to see if it was clear until I shouted.

Thirdly, almost got right hooked at the bottom of Col du Balham by a motorcyclist, he was waiting for a gap and started to go just as i arrived, again I shouted "nooooooooo" and we both had to slam on breaks to avoid collision.

Lastly, on the CS7 between Tooting Broadway and Colliers Wood, I'm on the CS7, there's a WVM waiting to come out of side road. The traffic is at a standstill and they hadn't left a gap for the van to pull into, so there is no where for the van to go. I was thinking i'm ok to proceed along the cycle lane, right?

As i'm passing he starts to pull out, literally straight at me, I veer right, shout "noooooo" again and he slams on the brakes.

I just don't get it. I'm very visible. I'm 6'5", i have a big, bright light on the front, i have an additional flashing light. I have hi-vis fluoro gillet, flouro gloves and a white helmet. I'm not a shouter usually, but I had to scream out 4 times last night just so drivers became aware I was there.

Wow. Glad your were on your toes!
It's smacks so hard of this:
https://bangingonaboutbikes.wordpress.c ... -nonsense/

And exactly why I can't be bothered with the hivis thing.

elbowloh

fat_tail wrote:

this is my ride every day....

I empathise. I get some issues most days, but last night just seemed insane, like everyone was out to get me!

davis

Sgt.Pepper wrote:

JakeJ wrote:

Drivers pulling out of junctions turning right, into my path.

That's how I'm going to die.

I blame modern cars and their huge A pillars, they may make cars a lot safer but they create a massive blind spot.

A pillars are getting ridiculous. Half of my Mondeo estate is just a blindspot now. Thankfully it has great mirrors, but it's still disconcerting when I turn to check my shoulder and can't see a damn thing.

I once completely missed a *car* because it was hiding behind the A-pillar and wing mirror of my Mrs's car. I realised one has to move one's head quite a bit to see stuff...

poweredbyidris

Pre-emptive rant: can all the suicidal pedestrians staring at their phones as they cross the CS between Tower Hill and Blackfriars try Dignitas instead.

Friday evening's ALWAYS the worst for this

N0bodyOfTheGoat

PoweredByIdris wrote:

Pre-emptive rant: can all the suicidal pedestrians staring at their phones as they cross the CS between Tower Hill and Blackfriars try Dignitas instead.

Friday evening's ALWAYS the worst for this

Sounds like you need a 140dB Hornit, at least for Fridays! :twisted:

fat_tail

PoweredByIdris wrote:

Pre-emptive rant: can all the suicidal pedestrians staring at their phones as they cross the CS between Tower Hill and Blackfriars try Dignitas instead.

Friday evening's ALWAYS the worst for this

agreed

on a more humorous, one evening late last year I was heading home and passed a boris biker by tower hill. then I had to stop at the red and he pulls over next to me and then suggests we race to Waterloo but then admits he was half-cut and asked if I was going to turn him into the police ... he probably didn't fancy riding the rest of the way to Waterloo.

elbowloh

3 things.

1) Was coming in by car this morning, after I pulled a groin last night playing 6-a-side. It's a bit ouchy lets say.

2) Listening on the radio about this leaked analysis report undertaken by Whitehall that says we will have slower economic growth in each of the 3 scenarios modelled compared to staying in the EU. A government spokesman says we should ignore the report as "our preferred option" hasn't been modelled. Now, WTF? I could get it if they said that the report hasn't been finished or reviewed yet, but that the preferred option hasn't been modelled? How the fuck do you even settle on your preference if you haven't modelled it? You can't say that modelling has no value and it's only a prediction because you've gone to the trouble of modelling the other options. This just reinforces (again) the fact that Brexit is all purely for ideological reasons and to hell with the economy.

3) Sat at a red light, about to cross Oxford St to Tottenham Court Road, and a skip lorry from PB Donoghue coasts past me and completely occupies the bike box. The irony being is that the strap line on the side of the cab says "Leading on cyclist safety"

Wheelspinner

^^^ WTAF are you on about? This is the rants thread.

tincaman

froze wrote:

I've used the large version of the Topeak Aero Wedge and it's the best bag of all the bags I've owned, but in todays world of Chinese made products getting better I found a expandable aero wedge bag on Amazon called the BV which got the highest reviews of any bag they sell so I ordered the large one just to try it out...all I can say is that for $13 it's a fantastic bag! I was quite shocked, it's as roomy and as well made as the Topeak, in fact it's made of the same materials as the Topeak, the BV expands from the bottom instead of from the back end like the Topeak. The BV large bag is a size in between the Topeak medium and the large Aero Wedge bag if that gives you any idea of it's size. There was another independent review that was done on a bunch of bags by a site called Bestgr9.com that rated that BV bag as the best of 8 bags they looked at.

Rant, bestgr9.com, worst review site, EVER

timothyw

Tesco have returned the clubcard voucher multiple for evans cycles back to 2x.

It should be going up to 3x in June when they implement the changes they were going to implement a few weeks ago before MSE kicked up a stink.

Dilemma now whether to wait and cash them in then and potentially risk further changes (like Evans leaving the clubcard scheme...)

Here's the news article for those that missed it:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/ ... card-tesco

Annoying.

wolfsbane2k

TimothyW wrote:

Tesco have returned the clubcard voucher multiple for evans cycles back to 2x.

It should be going up to 3x in June when they implement the changes they were going to implement a few weeks ago before MSE kicked up a stink.

Dilemma now whether to wait and cash them in then and potentially risk further changes (like Evans leaving the clubcard scheme...)

Here's the news article for those that missed it:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/ ... card-tesco

Annoying.

Even more annoying - Try having £30 of vouchers that expire in 2 weeks time, and you'd saved them for when it went to 3x..

Was going to get some nice shoes with that!

asprilla

Exposure Strada 1200; what a piece of garbage.

I've had a Strada Mk5 for a number of years and the battery wear was beginning to show so I thought I'd upgrade it.

Absolute shit.

Tonight was the second time it's died on me on the commute.

I charged it from 35% to 47% in the office and according to the timer it had 4hrs left when I set off, but an hour later crossing Hampton Court Bridge it just dies while I'm approaching the junction where traffic bursts out from the right.

Had to do the last 6km on the footpath.

Had a read and apparently its a known issue for which there isn't a fix. How TF can they put something so dangerous on the market? I've been an Exposure fan boy for 10 years but I'd think twice now.

poweredbyidris

The new light phasing between Tower Hill & Royal Mint St

Grrrrr

wolfsbane2k

Threw myself off the bike this morning trying to climb a hill when the chain slipped. Little bit of roadrash on the knee.
Had been slipping a little bit since getting on the bike this morning, but thought it would be ok, probably a little crusty chain that would loosen up, after perfect operation the previous day.

Turns out that my "the bikes not that dirty, i'll clean it at the weekend" check last night failed to consider the fact that the RD hinge was caked in mud after crossing a tractor trail from a newly ploughed field, which was going to dry out and prevent it from moving to take up any slack at all.

Definitely a "properly clean the bike" day tomorrow.

elbowloh

Not so much, but upsetting. One of our cats was ill, so the Mrs has taken her to work (she's a vet) and it turns out he has diabetes AND pancreatitis. He's going to need 2 insulin injections every twice a day from now on.

milemuncher1

Strava allegedly about to allow Turbo trainers for their ‘Challenge’ rides. Cue thousands of turbos being linked to a cassette removal tool, and a washing machine motor, and people getting a gazillion miles on their ‘challenge ride totals’. It’s not really annoying, more amusing.

vimfuego

no more amusing than the thought of climbing challenges being completed without ever leaving your garage....

Brakeless

Milemuncher1 wrote:

Strava allegedly about to allow Turbo trainers for their ‘Challenge’ rides. Cue thousands of turbos being linked to a cassette removal tool, and a washing machine motor, and people getting a gazillion miles on their ‘challenge ride totals’. It’s not really annoying, more amusing.

Not much different to posting all your rides twice !!

Ben6899

Brakeless wrote:

Milemuncher1 wrote:

Strava allegedly about to allow Turbo trainers for their ‘Challenge’ rides. Cue thousands of turbos being linked to a cassette removal tool, and a washing machine motor, and people getting a gazillion miles on their ‘challenge ride totals’. It’s not really annoying, more amusing.

Not much different to posting all your rides twice !!

*Hands Savlon to Milemuncher...*

milemuncher1

vimfuego wrote:

no more amusing than the thought of climbing challenges being completed without ever leaving your garage....

I’ve never ever fully understood how that works, there’s obviously a ‘hack’ involved, but how they hack the elevation is beyond me.

milemuncher1

Back on topic. Cloggers / nodders, breaking their balls to try and pass you, then almost instantly blowing up, and getting in the way, on the next upward bit, when you can’t easily repass, due to traffic.

milemuncher1

Brakeless wrote:

Milemuncher1 wrote:

Strava allegedly about to allow Turbo trainers for their ‘Challenge’ rides. Cue thousands of turbos being linked to a cassette removal tool, and a washing machine motor, and people getting a gazillion miles on their ‘challenge ride totals’. It’s not really annoying, more amusing.

Not much different to posting all your rides twice !!

If I record ( not report ) a ride twice, it’s nothing to do with Strava, I have to ensure an accurate record of certain routes, due to my responsibilities as a BC ride leader. A flaky Garmin and several cases of Strava crashing, and losing data, means I’ve learned that if I really need an accurate record of the ride, I have to have a back up device running. Even with a double record here and there, certainly not “all rides” by any stretch of the imagination, the total mileage is still almost certainly less than the actual miles ridden, that’s what you get if you actually ride a bike ( something some people seem to not have any evidence of doing, at least on here).

Brakeless

Milemuncher1 wrote:

Brakeless wrote:

Milemuncher1 wrote:

Strava allegedly about to allow Turbo trainers for their ‘Challenge’ rides. Cue thousands of turbos being linked to a cassette removal tool, and a washing machine motor, and people getting a gazillion miles on their ‘challenge ride totals’. It’s not really annoying, more amusing.

Not much different to posting all your rides twice !!

If I record ( not report ) a ride twice, it’s nothing to do with Strava, I have to ensure an accurate record of certain routes, due to my responsibilities as a BC ride leader. A flaky Garmin and several cases of Strava crashing, and losing data, means I’ve learned that if I really need an accurate record of the ride, I have to have a back up device running. Even with a double record here and there, certainly not “all rides” by any stretch of the imagination, the total mileage is still almost certainly less than the actual miles ridden, that’s what you get if you actually ride a bike ( something some people seem to not have any evidence of doing, at least on here).

Total balls. Put your strava in your own name and make it public if you're so concerned about 'evidence'. Your posts are laughable, 200 mile rides with a rucsac on is the latest ffs.

milemuncher1

See you next tuesdays that post on an Internet forum about a given subject, but have no demonstrable experience of the subject matter of the site involved. It happens a lot, it does grip the proverbial merde. They are usually easy to spot though. Shouty, never post anything that would indicate they actually do the activity which the site is concerned with, the more you poke them, the less evidence they even do what ever it is that the site is concerned with emerges. Hell, they might even regurgitate something they read elsewhere, to try and give themselves some sort of credence. Total muppets. But that’s the internetzzz for you. There are no ‘rabbit proof fences’ more’s the pity. It happens a lot. The site owners don’t mind, it generates clicks, the paying advertisers like it, job’s a good’un. Welcome to the digital age I guess

Brakeless

Milemuncher1 wrote:

See you next tuesdays that post on an Internet forum about a given subject, but have no demonstrable experience of the subject matter of the site involved. It happens a lot, it does grip the proverbial merde. They are usually easy to spot though. Shouty, never post anything that would indicate they actually do the activity which the site is concerned with, the more you poke them, the less evidence they even do what ever it is that the site is concerned with emerges. Hell, they might even regurgitate something they read elsewhere, to try and give themselves some sort of credence. Total muppets. But that’s the internetzzz for you. There are no ‘rabbit proof fences’ more’s the pity. It happens a lot. The site owners don’t mind, it generates clicks, the paying advertisers like it, job’s a good’un. Welcome to the digital age I guess

Nothing to prove to you Liarmuncher, just highlighting your bullshit which seems to be most posts you make. Nice of you to call people 'c u n t s' . As a British Cycling Ride leader you really are a embarrassment.

elbowloh

Had to drive again this morning as I'm still suffering from groin strain.

Sat at some lights for ages at a T Junction. There's a long queue in the right hand lane to turn right. There are no cars in the left hand lane which is left turn only, then 4 cars in a row decide to use the lane. As they go past (2 black cabs, one prius mini cab and one addison lee cab) i think to my self "i bet they all try to jump the queue and turn right", which they of course do, which causes a blockage meaning loads of cars that were queuing can't go. Cnuts. They're not professional drivers, they're professional w@nkers.

Next set of lights, again waiting to turn right. The van in front decides he can't be bothered any longer to wait for the light to go green, waits for a gap and just goes. A full 5 seconds later, the light goes green. Tw@t.