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Bump with price drop: now £10.

Anything that has the smallest chance of making it safer to cycle is good, I suppose, but I'm not sure about this. I do wonder if this sort of app will only be downloaded by the already safe, cautious drivers, leaving the bad ones to keep driving as they always did.

I believe that the pricier ones are lighter and can have better ventilation. But some don't, they just give you more pro pointz and a lighter wallet.

Rider down at around 6pm last night on Cannon Street, just before the big junction with Queen Victoria Street. Looks like a people carrier in the left hand lane tried to turn right to do a U-turn and turned straight over a woman on a bike. The woman was being treated on the side of the road, seemed to be sitting upright and conscious. The bike was totally mangled under the car. Heal up rider.

It’s almost like a group of tech bods who don’t ride bikes got together and designed a bike through circle-jerkery alone.

Oh wait.

I worry that these alleged ‘safety’ features will encourage inexperienced cyclists to not rely on their own senses and develop their own road awareness.

Also, wot no rack/mudguard eyelets? Some commuter.

I’m selling these early 80s 165mm Gipiemme Special Pista cranks. I bought these from Thrasher (of this parish) a year ago, but I’ve never used them.
They are in generally good condition, but there is some shoe scuffing and a lot of scratching on the non-driveside crank where someone in the past has buggered up taking pedals off. I’ve tried to show this with the pictures. I still think they’ve got plenty of class and should still make someone happy.
Pics are here: http://s163.photobucket.com/user/sbarker871rbgf99/library/
The square tapering is in good condition – tried to show this too.
There are no chainrings, but have the original crank bolts and some plastic dust caps if you want them.
If memory serves, I paid £60 for them, which I’d like back.
I don’t really want to post this but can arrange delivery/pickup if you’re in London. PM if you’re interested or have any more questions. Thanks!

I’m selling a 140mm long 3TTT quill stem for £15. Clamp size is 26mm.

It is in good condition, though it has been used and there are some scuffs. Pics are here:

http://s163.photobucket.com/user/sbarker871rbgf99/library/3TTT%20stem?sort=3&page=1

I will arrange delivery/pickup if you’re in London. PM if you’re interested or have any more questions. Thanks!

UPDATE - all three saddles have gone, thanks all for your interest.

Hello. I'm selling three saddles, £10 each. Pics are here:
http://s163.photobucket.com/user/sbarker871rbgf99/media/IMAG1801_zps9132b5cd.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

1) Selle Italia Turbo, black leather. Original 80s saddle, used condition some scuffs and dings dibs'd
2) Selle Italia Turbo reissue. Vegan saddle made of black leatherette of some sort. Good condition, one ding dibs'd
3) Selle San Marco Rolls, white leather. Used condition, some scuffs. DIBS'D

Dibs to reserve them. Any questions, PM me. I can take more pics if needed. Pickup from St Pauls/the City on weekdays or Crouch End in the evenings. Thanks.

Dibs - this is beautiful and just what I'm looking for. Will PM.

I bought a quill stem from him a fortnight ago. It turned up relatively promptly, as advertised and with no hassle (other than his mildly idiosyncratic ordering system).

But I can understand why people have trouble with him and find him awkward or difficult to deal with.

For example, I once sent him a polite email, with photos, to ask if he'd be interested in buying some nice Shimano Golden Arrow derailleurs I couldn't be bothered to eBay, and to name his price.

Several days later I got a one-word email back:

"No"

Gets the point across, I suppose, but his approach is unlikely to be adopted as customer service best practice.

Great ride, great weather, great people.
There were 80 flouncers, sadly.

Sugoi, where were you when that happened? I had something weirdly similar happen on Sunday morning coming southbound down the A1 in Archway, just before the hill. The bus driver sounded eastern European or Russian, from the few expletives I heard.
He seemed to take offence to me cycling two-up with a clubmate, so was honking his horn and slowed the bus right down to gesture at us and motion that we should be in single file. This was clearly an anger management/anti-cyclist issue because the road was completely empty and he could overtake easily.
I was on the way home from really good ride, so I was in a good mood and responded by giving him a really loud cheer and a wave and ignoring him being negative.
He overtook, honking his horn some more, then as we approached him at the next bus stop he was leaning out the window, looking at us and clearly waiting for us. As we came near he shouted "HEY BITCH!" (or, more accurately, "HEY BEEEEEECH!") but I didn't catch the rest because I was cheering again and giving him another wave.
We shot off down the hill as he was impotently honking his horn behind us.
It stuck in my head because I almost never get aggro from bus drivers, I find that they are usually very calm. CCTV in the cabs probably helps with that. But I'd be interested to know if you were anywhere in the Archway area when it happened to you. It was a double-decker bus, but I can't remember the number plate or bus number.

A commenter under the story has managed to succinctly sum up something which I have always thought but never managed to articulate that well, i.e. that it is hard to excuse this kind of article as 'just my opinion' when they filter into some drivers' subconscious and affect how they drive around cyclists:

"Your words will kill."

So succinct, and, sadly, so true.

Beach, you are 100% in the right.
I know that junction, the left hand lane is left turn only, but cyclists often use it to go straight on because they don't know better or feel it's safer. Regardless, there's no excuse for this driver being a helmet over it. He sounds a bit basic.

I had a nice moment recently with saying hello... cruising through South Herts with a couple of mates on a Sunday ride, we ran into a Gregarios Cyclista club run coming the other way. 10+ riders. The whole group erupted into a storm of good-natured cheering and waving as they passed us. Really brightened up our morning. Top blokes.

My mate got one a month back. He loves it, and from having been on some longer rides with him I can see why.
It just works, and it's cheap for what it is, and it's not massive like some of its competition. I've always preferred digital maps over the little pointy arrows that some Garmins use. He gets about 16 hours out of it before it needs a charge.
The only criticism he has is that it can have a few glitches about trying to send you onto unsuitable roads eg closed roads, motorways and so on. But that's only if you ask it to calculate a route, if you upload a route then it's fine.

Have a look on the H Lloyd Cycles website. He sells new decals of classic bike logos etc. I'd be surprised if he doesn't have what you're after. I have ordered from him before, and the decals were excellent.
If not, I'd try ebay, or contact a graphic designer that might be able to knock you something up.

Saddle fit is a very personal thing. However, regardless of your arse dimensions, give the Selle San Marco Rolls a try just in case. It's like sitting on a comfy sofa. And it looks classy as fuck.

Sorry for the ropey formatting there. I hope all your eyes recover quickly.

What gets me is that the PCO sets itself up as a quasi-regulator, takes complaints etc, and can act in certain situations - but not all.

Meanwhile, the police have to manage their dwindling resources as best they can, which generally means offences against cyclists get short thrift (because it's not murder, drugs, gang crime etc etc).

That then creates a gap where cabbies can generally drive as poorly as they want, save a jolly letter from the PCO asking them not to run over any two-wheelers if they can avoid it.

Argh.

Another sterling fob-off from the Public Carriage Office. I don’t know what I was expecting really.

“What’s that Skip? You have legislative powers to discipline cabbies for certain things,but not for anything important like road traffic accidents or close shaves?Have you thought about asking for these extra powers, seeing as the police areunderstaffed and you are clearly the best guys for the job?”

Thanks a bunch.

TL/DR:Cabbie nearly takes out cyclist, gets away with it, righteous indignation.

PCO SUBMISSION

At around 7 o'clock in the evening of the 14th of January I cycled into Copenhagen Street from Barnsbury Road. A few metres before I got to the junction of Copenhagen Street and Leirum Street, a London taxi cab pulled quickly out of Leirum Street in front of me, trying to turn left.
I had to slam my brakes on to avoid him hitting me with his bonnet, but due to going downhill I still knew I could not stop in time, so I also had to swing out into the opposite lane to avoid a collision. He seemed to notice me just at the last second, and came to a halt just as I had passed him. It was a very close miss, and was very dangerous. I have bright front lights, which he would have seen if he had looked right before pulling out of the junction, so I assume that he did not look. I was also very close to him when he decided to pull out, so would have been very easy to spot.
The registration number was LM58 MZP.
As I headed down the hill towards the junction with Caledonian Road, the cab came up behind me, revving his engine, then overtook dangerously and at speed on my right hand side, with a few inches to spare.
He then accelerated down Copenhagen Street and turned left through a red light onto Caledonian Road, then drove off.
It seemed like he was trying to escape the situation.
I find this type of driving intimidating and dangerous, even as an experienced cyclist. I will leave this to you to deal with as you see fit, but I would at least appreciate the driver being told how dangerous that kind of driving is and how close he came to causing me serious injury or worse.

Regards,
redbikesgofaster

PCO REPLY

Dear redbikesgofaster,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 15 January 2014 regarding the behaviour of a licensed taxi driver. Please accept my sincere apology for the delay in responding to you.

The Taxi & Private Hire Directorate can only deal with offences that are contrary to the Hackney Carriage Acts and Orders and we have no legislative powers to investigate road traffic offences committed by taxi drivers.
Under the circumstances we are unable to take any action against the driver involved.

You have taken the appropriate action by reporting this matter to police. Whilst I recognise that the police have many responsibilities, the fact remains that they are the only authority that can investigate the road traffic offences that you describe. In the event that action is taken, for example by way of a conviction, this will result in the driver’s fitness to remain licensed being
reviewed by Transport for London.

Although we will not be pursuing this matter, we will advise the driver of the allegation (your details will not be disclosed) and remind him of his responsibilities under the Highway Code and that we expect professional drivers to demonstrate a high standard of driving at all times.

I am sorry that you had reason to complain about a taxi driver and thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Another fob-off from the Public Carriage Office. I don't know what I was expecting really. I also roadsafed it but haven't heard back.

"What's that Skip? You have legislative powers to discipline cabbies for certain things, but not for anything important like road traffic accidents or near misses? Have you thought about asking for these powers, seeing as the police are generally understaffed/not interested and therefore you are the best guys for the job?"

Thanks a bunch.

TL/DR: Cabbie nearly takes out cyclist, gets away with it, righteous indignation.

PCO SUBMISSION

At around 7 o'clock in the evening of the 14th of January I cycled into Copenhagen Street from Barnsbury Road. A few metres before I got to the junction of Copenhagen Street and Leirum Street, a London taxi cab pulled quickly out of Leirum Street in front of me, trying to turn left.

I had to slam my brakes on to avoid him hitting me with his bonnet, but due to going downhill I still knew I could not stop in time, so I also had to swing out into the opposite lane to avoid a collision. He seemed to notice me just at the last second, and came to a halt just as I had passed him. It was a very close miss, and was very dangerous.
I have bright front lights, which he would have seen if he had looked right before pulling out of the junction, so I assume that he did not look. I was also very close to him when he decided to pull out, so would have been very easy to spot.

The registration number was LM58 MZP.

As I headed down the hill towards the junction with Caledonian Road, the cab came up behind me, revving his engine, then overtook dangerously and at speed on my right hand side, with a few inches to
spare.

He then accelerated down Copenhagen Street and turned left through a red light onto Caledonian Road, then drove off.

It seemed like he was trying to escape the situation.

I find this type of driving intimidating and dangerous, even as an experienced cyclist. I will leave this to you to deal with as you see fit, but I would at least appreciate the driver being told how dangerous that kind of driving is and how close he came to causing me serious injury or worse.

Regards,
redbikesgofaster

PCO REPLY

Dear redbikesgofaster,
Thank you for your e-mail dated 15 January 2014 regarding the behaviour of a licensed taxi driver. Please accept my sincere apology for the delay in responding to you.

The Taxi& Private Hire Directorate can only deal with offences that are contrary to the Hackney Carriage Acts and Orders and we have no legislative powers to investigate road traffic offences committed by taxi drivers. Under the circumstances we are unable to take any action against the driver involved.

You have taken the appropriate action by reporting this matter to police.

Whilst I recognise that the police have many responsibilities, the fact remains that they are the only authority that can investigate the road traffic offences that you describe. In the event that action is taken, for example by way of a conviction, this will result in the driver’s fitness to remain licensed being reviewed by Transport for London.

Although we will not be pursuing this matter, we will advise the driver of the allegation (your details will not be disclosed) and remind him of his responsibilities under the Highway Code and that we expect professional drivers to demonstrate a high standard of driving at all times.

I am sorry that you had reason to complain about a taxi driver and thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

True. Newspaper websites are normally very quick to disable comments on stories where they suspect comments could be libellous or prejudicial to a future court case, but generally aren't as rigorous when it comes to stories about death and injury. If I were a close friend or family of some of these injured or killed cyclists, reading the comments section would break my heart.
Heal up riders.

Sometimes the ES does, but to be fair they should do it as standard, before the anti-cyclist bottom feeders start ranting. It normally has to get pretty bad before they switch the comments off.

Idiot - I should have done.
Roboto - The cable adjuster on this one doesn't take an allen key, it takes an 8mm spanner. I didn't have that either. God bless Weinmann.

This was outside Whitechapel hospital, so I went in to ask to borrow a spanner from their maintenance team. Firstly they said they couldn't, "because of the insurance". Then they said one of their team would need to do it, but "it could take up to twelve hours for him to get around to it." Translated, I took that to mean 'please go away'.
So I went round the corner and bought a spanner for £1.50, bargain. I left the owner of the black bike a friendly note explaining what I thought of him and how close he'd come to me renting an angle grinder and cutting his lock off.

Sucks to be the owner of the white bike, if they didn't leave the house with the right spanner to remove their rear brake.
I was the owner of the white bike. I left the house without the right spanner to remove my rear brake.