If you see a cyclist on the side of the road...

walkingbootweather

DonDaddyD wrote:

Depends.

I'm normally a B man.

You surprise me. I always had you down as a DD man

or should that be DDD man?

spasypaddy

davmaggs wrote:

The OP sounds very self-entitled.

I shall post the alternate; Why on earth should the world stop what it is doing* because you can't be bothered to carry the right gear or learn what to do?

*remember you are in a central London park surrounded by amenities and not out on some lane or lonely A road (where I think disappointment is reasonable). You were unlikely to die a lonely death.

im not self entitled. my chainset had fallen off and i managed to bodge it back together. it wasnt a puncture. and if you had bothered to read my 2nd post in this thread you'd have seen that.

which shops are open at 8.15am on a sunday morning other than coffee shops?

i hope to see you on the side of the road one day with a problem that you're skills aren't capable of fixing just so i can stop and help.

clarkey cat

*popcorn*

meanredspider

I have video evidence of B

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnAIFf6ulTo

at about 1:42 in - have the sound up

peat

haha. FIGHT!

My rides are 99% rural, so it's always always B. I have given patches and tubes in the past. I'd like to think that someone would do the same for me one day, but i shan't hold my breath....

Blonde Cyclist

Normally B, although I wouldn't want to give away my last patch or tube unless I was close to home. In the past year I have stopped to help three (male) cyclists who needed help - each time I cycled past slowly, asked if they needed help and then found a safe place to pull over:

1) Richmond Park - flat tyre, got my kit out and then he tells me there aren't quick release wheels and he left the key at home!
2) Vauxhall Bridge - someone looking very sorry for themselves holding a wobbly saddle. I not only offered them a multitool but used it and put it back together for them...
3) Lower Richmond Road - another flat - this time it simply wasn't pumped up enough and I lent my pump so that he could get home

Everyone of them had gone out without the correct equipment and whilst I didn't mind stopping I may not always have time (or enough spares) to deal with another person's equipment failure. However, we all make mistakes (how many of us have accidentally left our repair kit at home before - whoops) or encounter issues we just don't know how to deal with and whilst we shouldn't expect every single cyclist to stop I hope that there are still enough good samiritans out there to help.

davis

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

Well I had an unexpected encounter yesterday, my rear tyre decided it no longer liked being its proper shape and ballooned out the side to the point it was hitting the chainstay and front mech clamp (a fairly new Schwalbe Utremo ZX HD ). Nothing more to do than walk to the station at Arundel or call in the Calvary. As I was walking back a road cyclist coming towards me slowed and I was expecting a cheery offer of help. Not so - 'Nice Shorts' is all I got before he sped off into the distance :?

Ah you weren't a million miles away from me. There aren't exactly bike shops on every corner so a blown tyre isn't fun. (No, it wasn't me commenting on your sartorial elegance!).

davmaggs

spasypaddy wrote:

FTR i carry enough tools to rebuild a bike on the side of the road. Which is fortunate as my chainset fell off yesterday. Now i knew what i was doing but some politeness from fellow cyclists would be nice. especially considering i was there for about 40mins which meant i saw people 3 or 4 times go past. and each time they ignored me.

I don't get what the moan is about, surely this belongs in rants?

You had enough tools and skills to do the job, and only wanted people to stop to be polite (but not actually help)?

spasypaddy

davmaggs wrote:

spasypaddy wrote:

FTR i carry enough tools to rebuild a bike on the side of the road. Which is fortunate as my chainset fell off yesterday. Now i knew what i was doing but some politeness from fellow cyclists would be nice. especially considering i was there for about 40mins which meant i saw people 3 or 4 times go past. and each time they ignored me.

I don't get what the moan is about, surely this belongs in rants?

You had enough tools and skills to do the job, and only wanted people to stop to be polite (but not actually help)?

but how do these people know that? considering i was on the side of the road for near enough 45mins looking despondent with an upside down bike. on a circular road where these people go past between every 8 and 15 mins. so some will have gone past 5 times (some 3 times).

i couldnt go past someone walking with a bike down a road and just ignore them.

maybe ive just been brought up with better manners and better common courtesy to others than some people.

clarkey cat

maybe ive just been brought up with better manners and better common courtesy to others than some people.

this is undoubtedly so.

jonny_trousers

davmaggs wrote:

spasypaddy wrote:

FTR i carry enough tools to rebuild a bike on the side of the road. Which is fortunate as my chainset fell off yesterday. Now i knew what i was doing but some politeness from fellow cyclists would be nice. especially considering i was there for about 40mins which meant i saw people 3 or 4 times go past. and each time they ignored me.

I don't get what the moan is about, surely this belongs in rants?

You had enough tools and skills to do the job, and only wanted people to stop to be polite (but not actually help)?

Especially as most people doing laps of Regent's Park will be timing themselves. If you wanted help then I suspect anyone would have stopped, had you flagged them down. If you wanted a friendly, "You alright mate?" then if you'd pushed your bike to one of the sets of traffic lights I'm certain you'd have got it.

spasypaddy

clarkey cat wrote:

maybe ive just been brought up with better manners and better common courtesy to others than some people.

this is undoubtedly so.

if i see someone walking along the side of a road with a bike i always slow down and take in the whole bike to see if theres something wrong and if they aren't on their mobile i ask if they are ok.

i would hope that karma would bring people to support me however i was completely wrong.

Kieran_Burns

spasypaddy wrote:

clarkey cat wrote:

maybe ive just been brought up with better manners and better common courtesy to others than some people.

this is undoubtedly so.

if i see someone walking along the side of a road with a bike i always slow down and take in the whole bike to see if theres something wrong and if they aren't on their mobile i ask if they are ok.

i would hope that karma would bring people to support me however i was completely wrong.

not everyone owns one though....

jonny_trousers

notsoblue wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

Funnily enough I saw someone in just that situation in Regent's Park on Saturday. As I had no spare tube, patches or tools I just continued on my way as I don't suppose moral support would have helped much.

Was that on the north end? Red bike? If so it was probably me! I went out for one last ride on some Gatorskins which I'd almost completely worn out...

South side. Bloke with a metallic blue thing. He gave up in the end and pushed his bike away.

Someone practising chucking carpet tacks?

spasypaddy

Kieran_Burns wrote:

not everyone owns one though....

a mobile?

yes but if they are on their mobile i wont interrupt them. if they aren't on the phone i'll ask if they are ok. if they are on their phone and the bike is obviously damaged (puncture/broken chain) i will stop and help.

on a sportive once i stopped and helped a random person (who wasnt on the sportive) put his chain back together as he had snapped a link.

clarkey cat

I once stopped and asked someone if he needed help as he was pushing his bike. He told me to 'fxxx off' and then chased me up the hill. He rode alongside me calling me a faggot and telling me his mates would stab me. We got in a fight and I have a big scar on my cheek from the ring he was wearing.

walkingbootweather

That Regent's Park can be like a zoo of a weekend. I have managed to track down a website that contains pictures of some of the ignorant animals that may have rode by ignoring your plight.

angry_bird

B, I'd at least offer even if I'm not on the bike, ended up helping some guy singlespeed his bike couple of weeks back, god knows how he'd managed it, but had snapped his rear mech off down by St Pancras :roll:

Having said that in Regent's Park I'd offer help but I doubt I'd end up lending anyone my last tube, there's plenty of bike shops in Camden or GPS cycle surgery and I'm fairly sure there are a couple more bike shops that way too...

SimonAH

I always ask - costs nothing if they don't want help, if they do need help then it's under the heading of pay it forward. I can't imagine a situation where I'd resent being asked?

Clarky Cat, where you wearing your Hitler Youth outfit again? That does raise the hackles of some people you know.

northstar

b and a.

jamesco

D - slow down and assess whether they are clearly in control of the situation.

...and they'd need to look helpless & in need, too, for me to stick my beak in.

It's London and there are bike shops all over, and certainly enough taxis/buses/mobile-phones to get back home if there's no other choice. I've caught the tube home after the chain snapped late at night and it was no big deal.

To be honest, I don't pay much attention to what's happening on the footpath as what's happening in front of me is the first priority, so maybe these people really were oblivious to you, spasy? Flag them down and they'll probably be happy to help; they're not likely to be scum.

spasypaddy

No they looked at me but rode past. believe me it was quite obvious what was going on. no parked cars, no pedestrians.

no open bike shops in London at 8.30am on a sunday

t4tomo

walkingbootweather wrote:

Depends upon how pretty she is

.........so I certainly wouldn't force myself upon someone.

shouldn't that be

"I certainly wouldn't force myself upon someone unless she's exceptionally pretty"?

Back to the OP, if you had a destroyed crankset, then not many people carry the tools / spares to fix that anyway. Why didn't you just get a taxi home? I never carry any spares if cycling in London. On the rare occasions I get a flat I get a cab and fix it at my leisure.

spasypaddy

i was to be in work for 10 so i was putting it back on the frame so that it didnt ruin my bag/stuff in my bag and then i walked the 2 miles to work.

i had planned on doing an hour of laps

Applespider

I have offered my CO2 pump to someone with a flat on a wet night who was struggling with a crappy mini-pump but otherwise, I do B. I really don't have the skills to offer much help!

I have been stopped for though at Vauxhall on a similarly damp evening where my cargo net had pinged off the rack and caught itself up in the rear hub. I was struggling to cut it free and a nice chap stopped, carried my bike to the nearest cafe where we could borrow a sharp knife to at least get me moving. We mutually decided it was a little excessive to try to fix the freewheel at the end of the road so I rode home 'fixed'.

tallmansix

b)

I offered a guy a patch or a tube today on the train for his flat back but he said he would walk, I guess because he had no tools and he was getting off, but I always offer help and it is politely declined.

Daz555

I offer help when out on my mountain bike as I have tools, pacthes and a spare tube. I do not carry anything on my commute however so would probably only offer help if someone looked to be distressed.

Fireblade96

I'd always at least slow down and ask if they're OK. I might not be able to help, they might not need it, but there's no harm in offering - it's the polite and friendly thing to do.

I've spent 30 mins at the side of the Thames path trying to repair a mechanical problem, and not had a single cyclist stop to ask if I was OK, other times when fixing a p* I've had pedestrians offer to help. Sadly, most people round here would rather eat slugs than have a friendly interaction with a fellow road user.

king_jeffers

navt wrote:

You wouldn't stop and offer help if you were not confident in doing so. Assuming that people cycle by do so obliviously is unfair.

This is me... I can stop and offer help but really we'd just both be looking at the problem wondering what to do... then hope someone else would ride by and offer help :-) I could provide small talk for a bit, but I really have to get to work. :oops:

monkeydan

King Jeffers wrote:

This is me... I can stop and offer help but really we'd just both be looking at the problem wondering what to do... then hope someone else would ride by and offer help :-) I could provide small talk for a bit, but I really have to get to work. :oops:

Yep... I only recently learnt how to change an inner tube and count myself amongst the least practical people of this earth. Basically I would not have any clue what to do.

I was actually going round Regent's Park around that time (maybe slightly later?) but I don't remember seeing OP. Not that I would have stopped or anything anway