Do it properly

If you're going for the full fixed gear hipster look, i reckon you should take it to the logical extreme.

i've done you a pursuit version too. they seem very popular.

THAT hand signal

I had another altercation with a bus driver this morning.

As I'm trying to be nicer, in light of yesterday's manners hiccup, when I saw the big red bus right on my ass, I moved over to let him through, admittedly, I did shake my head, but I made no attempts to raise a finger or shout obscenities.

However, as the bus passed me, I saw the driver ranting through the passenger door. I have no idea what he was saying, but he was plainly annoyed.

Then he cut me up.

So, as I come alongside the bus, I stop next to his window and say 'Was that really necessary?' to which he fires back expletives.

At this moment, I'm still beaming with pride that I didn't swear.

So I retort with 'so, as I annoyed you, you thought it was okay to drive dangerously?' and he says 'was I?'

Right, not the small grains of calm I'm grasping in my hands slip through and I reply 'yes you fucking were, you veered across the lane In a big fucking bus'

He goes mental at this point and starts shouting about 'reading the road' and something about the bus lane.

I say I wasn't in the bus lane and he shouts that I should have been.

Hang on, you're in the big fucking red thing with wheels that carries passengers, why should I be in the BUS lane.

I tell him that there is nothing in the highway code that states I HAVE to use a bus lane, it's my choice. I usually prefer not to, as it's full of cunts like him (I didn't say that bit btw, the cunt bit).

He really loses it now, so I tell him he's an idiot, a dangerous idiot who doesn't even know the highway code. Surprisingly, he doesn't respond well to this, so I push it and call him and idiot again.

He's puce now.

Then he does the naked sock puppet thing.

This is the point of this rant, what does the puppet mean? I mean, I know what it 'means' - I'm all mouth. But we both are, we've both been shouting at each other and neither of us made the offer to move this to queensbury rules.

Then I realise, I've seen this before, this is the last ditch effort of the puppeteer who has run out of expletives. My argument is you're being dangerous, you could kill someone and the highway code, that you're trying to use against me, has just bit you on the arse. Yours is... Ummm... Do you have one?

So, I tell him once more, he's an idiot and he's dangerous. So he drives off right next to me and my now shaking legs (with anger) wobble out of his way.
Are you trying to prove my point?

He does try and drive close me on the next turn, but he has to deal with traffic, I don't.

Two other minor points

1.
To that prick that was walking down the road with earphones in so that he couldn't hear me shouting 'excuse me'. I hope you get run over.

2.
I woke up this morning with an eye that looks like it's been punched. Great. Thanks. Not only do I have to deal with idiots, but with a disfigurement that makes me look like a circus act.

Function over form

I'm confessed to a love of 'functional' bikes on this blog before, which thinking about it is a bit of ridiculous statement... surely all bikes are functional?

well, actually some of the gleaming show bikes that are tootling around shoreditch right now aren't.

anyway, i digress, i'm really digging bikes that look like they can handle shit, they're not all deep v's and track bars, but they're still mighty pretty. in fact, i've made my first move towards this... surly now has a rear rack fitted. the same tubus rack i'm removed from the box and looked at, only to put it back again, at least 20 times over the 9 months.

i took my first ride (to the supermarket) on saturday and it was a complete success, well aside from the first couple of near tips, it's mental how different the bike feels with panniers... but, i'm keen to prove i can manage without an engine.

back to other peoples bikes, lots of lovely examples of work bikes on cyclofiend
the rest of the site is awesome too btw.

i do think the american's are much better at this than us...

I am sometimes wrong

I woke up yesterday with a banging head, complete lack of co-ordination and a sahara-esque mouth.

i only had 3 cans of kronenbourg to blame this on, that's not right or fair.

anyway, i set off after stumbling around and bashing my shins on the pedals/cranks atleast 3 times.

things are going okay, i'm riding through peckham park, there's another cyclist in front on an old peugeot mountain bike (with the coolest 80s graffiti style graphics), there's a guy in the path with his girlfriend (i assume) who moves out of the way.

so it's all good.

however, as i go past i hear him shouting something about '...our mother's not bringing us up properly...' i stop, i ask him who he's talking to, and he says both of us. he moved out of the way and we both went past without thanking him.

i'm tired, i can't be fucked, i'm certainly not going to jump through big hoops of gratitude, i tell him to get over it and say 'for fuck's sake' he shouts something else i don't hear/understand and i ride off.

i ride another couple of hundred metres and then i think... he's right, i should have said thanks. i was rude. i turn around, then i think if i go back now he'll probably think i'm taking the piss and ploat me.

I REALLY need to think a bit more... it's to easy to get caught up in a little fug of cycling self-righteousness...

Utility

On a day-to-day basis i admire the flexibility of michelle's cycle helmet.
It was a cake tin last week, today a fruit bowl.

It all feels a little 'paddington bear'

And i thought I had it bad

Daily i deal with cunts. lot's of them.
On the upside, i don't have to deal with bears wandering into the road.

i have to confess that, at first, i was interested in the article gleamed from cyclelicio.us then i read it a bit more carefully.

‘and we went, 'aaaahhhhh.’ and i was like and he was a like... i think i may have worked out how this happened...

'Bags' of room... haha... haaa...

*sigh*

i bought a bagaboo and i have to say it's really rather ace.
it's a 'workhorse', which looks like this:










it's much bigger than the chrome that i use day-to-day and well... it feels more substantial. i may even do some kind of review on here i'm that enamoured.

Bikes and bus lanes

Boris is about to drop his first clanger with an ill informed plan to allow motorcycles into bus lanes.

On a personal note, i have enough problems trying to avoid motorcyclists as is, allowing them into one of the few sanctuaries we have left will only make matters worse. Although, it seems a lot of the bikers commuting along the old kent road seem to think they already have rights to use bus lanes… it's not illegal if you only use a foot of the lane…

On a less personal note, the facts on which this decision is being made are flakey to say the least.

If you're reading this, and would like to help either the cycle commuters of london or just little 'ol me, sign up! and let's try to stop this nonsense...

Sign the petition here!

Fixed is dead

Well... probably not... but these are cooler... really...

more here

Coasting

I read about the trek lime on treehugger a little while ago, and whilst the whole concept intrigues me - coast brakes whilst a seemingly common childhood experience in the states, are/were rare as hen's teeth here, strictly grifter myself (yes, mine was EXACTLY like that) - i found the actual bike to be a dissappointment, then i guess it's not aimed at me.

then i saw this on bikehugger, mathowie's sweet mod... i want one...

i'm constantly impressed with our overseas friends attitude to their bikes and i think that's the keyword 'their' - whilst day-to-day in london, i see lots of new shiny fixed gear wheels (in fact a little too shiny and new) i rarely see personal bikes. most fall into the afore mentioned 'fixed/shoreditch' bracket, which i (perhaps cynically) see as mostly trend driven, or the full on commuter with an off-the-shelf evans* special, which i see as practical/don't give a shit. i should add there are a handful of roadies thrown in the mix, but less so.

anyway, i digress... i rarely see a bike that i think 'whoa... i'll steal that idea... to add to the list of bikes i 'need''

yet on bikehugger, commute by bike, fixed gear gallery, etc. i fall in love daily with the niche...

i should add these aren't always single/fixed beauts either, i'm getting more and more drawn to the practical, i'm loving wood/metal front racks (that you simply can't get here) paul comp, (which you can get here, but only after you've paid an additional $60 to the post office and tax man) and of course, all things surly.

i salute you america! (in a top gun sort of way)

*evans - absolute spawn of the devil, please don't ever shop here, they need to be stopped...

Oh the irony...

this is london posted an article claiming that 64% of motorists are 'too scared to cycle because of traffic'

am i the only one to see any irony here? umm... you are the 'traffic'

read the full (pretty short) article here

Drivers, rage and real writers...

I've pontificated far too often on the subjects of road rage, inconsiderate drivers and downright dangerous behaviour. Then as is often the way, i find someone has done it a hell of a lot better than me.

drat.

and double drat.


'People, in general, want everything they do to be as easy as possible, and they never want to be to blame for anything bad...ever. People who drive cars are no exception to that rule. With the The Scofflaw Cyclist straw man in place, car driving people have a target for the frustration they feel over the situation THEY have created, but for which they are completely unable to accept the blame. Most motorist frustration seems to be the result of not being able to get from point A to point B easily, and that's simply the result of traffic congestion. Traffic congestion, one might be surprised to discover, is caused by one thing and one thing only - too many cars in one place at one time. Scofflaw cyclists have nothing to do with it. While it runs counter to human nature to sit in traffic and think "I can't really get frustrated with this since I am, after all, as much to blame as every other motorist out here for this traffic jam," blaming Scofflaw Cyclists for the frustration that driving seems to engender is a bit far-fetched.'

the full article is here

and i read it at bikefixation first

That's plain wrong

Urban Velo have a theory, a theory that explains, or atleast justifies the demise of nishiki.

this picture.

that's it.

and they deserved it.

nice shades tho.

Laid back

I popped into bikefix today to pick up a spanner as my brooks is creaking like a good 'un. i couldn't even wait until i got home, the noise is just too much...

anyways, there was a very nice chap in there, we didn't get as far as shaking hands or exchanging names, but he was extolling the virtues of all things recumbent. he had his own machine in there, which looked far from my preconceived image of said machines, actually, he also broke that mental image.

basically, it was cool, i'm shocked to admit that, i've always admired the engineering (and the crazy chain length), but never, ever have i been tempted. until now.

i think it was the talk of hitting 30/40 mph that did it. but that was probably him more than the bike, i'm 'carrying' more...

it'll never wash with keito though.

The youth of today tsk!

This was supposed to be the nice bit...

i'd negotiated cheapside, the idiot gauntlet, borough high street, the highest concentration of potholes this side of baghdad and the old kent road... which is... umm... 'shit'

i'm now cutting through peckham, along the cycle route, which weaves through parkland... ahh... i don't even need to hug the brakes.

now this is shared pavement, cycle and pedestrian, usually fine, not today.

i see bunch of teenage girls, 4 abreast, i slow down, i'm about to say 'excuse me' when i hear one say 'i bet he doesn't even say 'excuse me'

i should have been sensible (and polite) and done so, but i think 'fuck it' and go for a gap, plenty of room.

then i receive the most incredible shrieks, i turn and say 'it is half cycle path' - met by more shrieks and then i add 'what's with the attitude? i'm sharing, can't you?' - now everything goes crazy, you'd think i'd just popped one of them.

plainly the 'excuse me' had very little to do with this, this was more than that, i forget peckham thrives on attitude, i've been exposed to it enough, i should know better.

i ride away slowly with finger in the air, i don't feel better, i feel sad... i don't comprehend this, maybe i should have be more polite, but i suspect these demure teenagers wouldn't have been happy even if i had...

i'm scared. for teenage boys.

I like this a lot

Let's take it back...


Gleamed from Bikehugger

and in turn from flickr

I've been a bit busy...

... and other such excuses...


not only did the iro arrive, and boy what fun it's been, but so did my new airnimal and summer!

i can't begin to describe how nice it feels to be riding with warm toes and only two layers of clothing.

as for the airnimal, it's a strange beast, so completely different from any bike i've ever ridden. aside from the weirdness when you stop at lights and decide to let the bike rest against your thigh, then realise it doesn't have a top tube and watch it fall to earth... but, as much as it rides like the real deal compared to other folders, it's still a folder, and subsequently has all the flex of other folders.

i think it'll take some getting used to. but i'll enjoy it.

On the upside

Zeus is dead! long live zeus!

the old zeus bike, after it's frame sadly passed away, has been reincarnated in the form of an iro.

i was worried that the smaller frame, a 53, would be too small after the surly which comes in at 56. well... to be honest, i was more worried i might look like a pea on a drum, and i still might, but i don't care, he flies... i was beaming when i got here, so fast...

the riding position is a little more 'aggressive' than i'm used to, but unless my shoulders pack in, i'm super happy.

thanks again to cycle team

sorry about the shitty pic, but i thought something was better than nothing.

Time Out!

Time out ran a few articles this month on the subject of London's peculiar relationship with the bicycle.

inevitably there was a 'for' and 'against' spread... 'Don't pity the cyclist, snarls Michael Hodges' being the latter.

i realise (of just 'hope') that this is all tongue in cheek, but hell...

the 'argument' seemed to centre around us hooligans riding on the pavement, which to me was a bit of a non-starter anyway, as of all the things we get blamed for that one is the most ridiculous. i see very few dedicated commuters carrying out such an act.

but the main thrust of the discourse was how london was a city to wander around in and 'think'.

it seems 'thinking' involves carelessly stepping out into the road with scant regard for your own of others safety. 'London is also a city for nipping across the road and between cars; impossible when silent bicyclists come charging through the gaps at speed.' well.. pardon me, but ummmm... couldn't you use your eyes? and perhaps demonstrate some of that great london thinking and exercise common sense?

in fact, the bit that got me the most, was this little gem... 'the worship of the body rather than the brain, which is fundamental to cycling'. i should start by saying that i'm by no means an athlete, i like lager, lager likes making big bellies, i should stop smoking, i eat too much, i don't give a hoot about my optimum heart rate (unless it reaches my 'optimum' and results in death) but most of all, the big bug... it does exercise my brain, continually, from when i climb on to when i arrive at my destination, i never feel as awake and aware as when i'm on my bike. i have to be, to avoid pricks like you Mr Hodges.

p.s. the comments section is the most heartening read...

too cool...

in a mr men sort of way.