Cycling Forum / Country Specific / UK Cycling / February 2009

I am looking at an old Dawes Galaxy with a broken
rear derailleur with a view to purchasing it. The rear
derailleur has had a bit of a love-in with the spokes
and came of worse for it.

Just read this story which left me open mouthed in disbelief.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0219/1224241416776.html
Skip truck that killed cyclist 'defective'
A truck involved in an incident that caused the death of a college

Coming home from work down our docks road at 3 pm yesterday, I faced a 25
mph headwind, so at the first opportunity I decided to bail out and cross
the main carriageway using the light controlled cycle crossing to get to the
other side of the road and head home a different way.

There seems to be a reluctance in here to acknowledge that there is
evidence concerning cycle helmets outside the biased list produced by
the charlatans at cyclehelmets.org.
Here is one which has escaped their database.

Half term at home and getting bored...  So I got on my bike.  My aim
was to cross the Thames as many times as I could until I got fed up
with it.
1. Greenwich Foot Tunnel

My colleague has a Carrera Subway 2 bike. When we were looking at it, I
noticed straight away that the headset feels loose and tight at the same
time.
It's loose in the sense that there is a great deal of play at the top,

Just came across this passage.
Isaiah 59:17 He put on justice as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation
upon his head: he put on the garments of vengeance, and was clad with zeal
as with a cloak.

Well at least the killer was arrested this time. Just shows how much
appalling damage can be caused by a car compared to that of a bicycle.
"Two pedestrians killed in crash
'The car hit the three woman before crashing into a wall'

Bad stats. for velib.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7881079.stm
Velib has had half of its original 15,000 bikes stolen. 11,600 (of
20,000) bikes vandalised. They do 1,500 repairs a day, that's repairing

for getting from UCL to Victoria station that is.
I had a train to catch at 6pm. Got out of UCL at 5:20pm then found that
batteries on front light were flat. Bugger. First thought was to use the
spare batteries, unfortunately I had left them in my other bag. Then decided

Clean living way to beat cancer:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7908675.stm
"Over 40% of breast and bowel cancer cases in rich countries are
preventable through diet, physical activity and weight control alone,

Yes, another car has smashed into a house, once again demonstrating
the sheer destructive force and danger of a car compared to that of a
bicycle.
"Two people had to be rescued by firefighters after a car crashed into

I unsubscribed from here over a week ago.
So I just logged on  and had a look at what was happening. I was not surprised
It confirmed my ( undisclosed) opinion of this, once, very good cycling NG.
So my display shows a total of 117 posts downloaded  --and of that number 47

I never enjoyed much riding in winter. Last year I was always frozen
riding to work in the mornings, despite wearing a heavy jacket (the last
of three layers) and long cycling trousers. There were even a few days
in the summer when it felt chilly enough to return to long trousers.

This should deter a few potential killers. 'Passing too close to a
cyclist' is interesting but given the fact that most cops are
motorists themselves and allowed to exercise their 'discretion', I
won't be holding my breath on that one.