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