10 Common Questions about Cycling #cycling

I stumbled onto a helpful Q & A from the CTC: 10 Common Questions about Cycling

Whenever somebody mentions safety I normally say “And people don’t die in car collisions or crossing the street?”. It always seems easier to make them feel less safe about their current travel arrangements than to defend the safety of cycling. I also sometimes ask them where they get the idea that cycling is unsafe from, are they quoting confirmed statistics or just because they can’t ride a bike safely? Generally I think this comes from their fear and I agree, I’ve never been on a horse, so in my head I’m going to snap my neck the first time I try and ride one, but it doesn’t mean horse riding is dangerous, err, is it?

The key to discussing cycling is to first know if the person is an idiot, don’t argue with them if they are, you know the saying

Another approach is that you can always agree with them… “yes, bloody tree hugging cyclists, I know, but this driver this morning, I was stuck behind him for miles as he was doing 29MPH in a 30MPH limit during rush hour, can you believe it, some people shouldn’t be on the road should they?”

More bicycle light beam patterns #cycling

I’m always drawn to bicycle light comparisons and beam patterns, mainly because you never know when your prized light will be lost, stolen or broken.

I liked this bicycle light beam comparison by road.cc, simple, yet good.

What happened to Stop, Look and Listen?

This past week I’ve fortunately avoided two adult pedestrians on separate occasions who appear to have forgot the Stop, Look and Listen method of crossing the road that they were taught as children (or at least I hope they were). Mainly they don’t stop or look and who knows if they are listening or not. For the most of it I’m safe enough and normally react comfortably, they narrowly avoid getting hit and the worst part is the shout (being whatever comes into my head first – normally “LOOK”, or “WATCH OUT”) that I give.

The funny one the other morning was me shouting “LOOK LEFT” when the lady was looking left but not right, which is where I was, but she got my point.

What worries me more than anything is that there are cars out there now doing 15MPH that don’t make any noise, those hybrid cars running on electric are practically silent just like my bike, so pedestrians relying solely on sound will get themselves killed sooner or later.

Only a week ago I managed to scare the life out of a teenager who walked out in front of me without looking, it was dark but a well lit area, after walking out he glanced (a bit late) to the right and my bright front light made him think he was about to be run down by a car. His surprised comment to his friends who were still on the pavement was “I thought I was ended then, god”. I replied “Indeed” and cycled on.

Gosh, the more I think on, the more times I remember teenagers (who are the majority of pedestrians I see in the evenings) stepping out without looking, then leaping out of their skins when they realise what could have happened. I do hope that every single incident is a lesson learned and none of them learn it the hard way.

Nobody stops anymore and I seem to come across people only looking one way assuming that the other is still clear because it was last time they looked (no matter how long ago it was).

There is a STOP sign I cycle passed twice a day, I’ve never seen a car stop let alone put its hand brake on. I’m yet to find out what the law on cyclists is, anyone know?

Fixing the bike in darkness

I got fed up trying to fix or do routine maintenance on the bike in darkness last winter and I vowed to “buy a lantern next winter”.
Well, I didn’t, instead I bought myself one of those LED headtorch things:

What’s great about this one is the LED is powerful and you can adjust the brightness to any level by holding the on button (it flashes off when at the lowest setting).
It’s ideal for night-time work, but I also hang it from my shed roof and turn it on so I can see when I lock / unlock my bike.

Light comparison and beam shots

Now is the time to review your lighting system, save, beg, plead and write to father christmas.
I’ve tried year after year:

but all I got was socks and of course I need more socks don’t I?

I’ve always liked Wiggle, but I love this: light comparison and beam shots
More cycle shops should do this and then more people would realise a £30 light is not sufficient; to be honest I would spend more on a light than most would on their bike.
My eye was on the Exposure Joystick Mk6

which seems to have a nice beam pattern for road use

but I probably wouldn’t want to spend the money also there are less favourable beam shots, for example on mtbr.com.
My advice is to look around at reviews on the internet first, some will be more favourable than others, but mtbr.com is a good place for checking out bike light reviews as they normally include video and lots of photos. Remember though that photos are only good for comparison if taken using same camera settings, so best to only compare images on the same site.

The imported lights such as the Magicshine brand offer impressive output at a much lower cost, see this candlepower forum thread for details.

For comparison, my three year old AirBike Everlight SL1 (SSC P7) cost £120 new, see this candlepower forum thread for details and lovely beam shots.

Since I’ve also just linked to candlepower forums, worth mentioning that site is a good source of light information, but a little less formal than mtbr.

My cycle commute setup part 1

First up, I love my bar bag, it contains a lot of useful stuff for easy access in bad weather (so I don’t have to open my office pannier bag and get my clothes wet or dirty). I hope to cover the contents in detail in part 2, but for now the interesting things to point out are the ice cream tubs (I don’t endorce that flavour ice cream, coconut is my favourite!). The tubs keep things together, there are three tubs in total. The top one does pop open from time to time, so I do want to source a better tub for the top one, yet another TODO

The cycle compute isn’t setup correctly, it serves more as a clock than anything else, but it is useful having a clock at times. The pink rag (typical, I take a photo when it’s pink, my rags are normally black or white, honest) is very useful for wiping oil from fingers, wiping hands after emergency maintenance or wiping poo off – it happens!
Ding, ding! A bell is sometimes useful, but not that often as I’m normally braking hard rather than dinging the bell.
The bar bag has many uses including a place for my mp3 player as I’ve killed many expensive mp3 players on wet days, so keeping it in the bar bag has saved it from sweat and water and is recommended! Also the mp3 player I currently have is worth a mention, the Sony Walkman B Series, it has recovered after lots of sweat and abuse, so it gets my vote. As for headphones I strongly advise only buying from a real retailer (e.g. Dixons) to ensure you avoid the fakes out there. I currently use the Sennheiser CX 300-II Precision and they are pretty good for the money.
Also the bar bag is a good place to store a battery for my Airbike Everlight SL1:

Of note in that photo is the light bracket Bicycle light bracket DIY
Since my backup bike is kitted out in the same way (same rack, rear light brackets, bar bag mount) I am ready to use either bike when required. The only minor difference is the light bracket, that one is using an accessory bar:

Other than my lights, my mirror is by far the best piece of safety kit that I have, I feel naked on a bike without a mirror. Cateye do very good rear lights and mirrors.

The grips (though not pictured very well) are Ergon GP1, these add extra comfort for longer commutes and rides.
A bike bottle cage is useful, 1 litre fruit squash or pop bottles fit well and can be recycled when they get horrible, shop bought ones require careful cleaning to keep the bacterial down. Smaller 500ml bottles go in the cycling t-shirt cargo pocket instead.
On the back rack go the pannier bag and bike locks – d-locks can be strapped on with a toe clip strap, I think this is a top tip, others might not. If attached correctly it won’t wobble or move.

This photo also shows two, yes TWO, cateye lights, I believe this is the best option, see my other post about them.

Hopefully part 2 will follow in future!

Nice lights sir

On my commute home this evening a cyclist was particularly impressed by my rear lights. He was of course correct; they are impressive and I would recommend them to anyone willing to listen.

A friend of mine would give a warning about the cateye brackets, lights bouncing off and being lost along the way, but I’ve never had any problems. If you worry, wrap an elastic band around it and forget about it. These lights are very good and I own and use two of them every day I ride.

Bicycle light bracket DIY

Many a time have I found the need for something to attach an accessory to my bike. The biggest pain I always encounter is how best to carry things without interfering with the visibility of my bike lights.

At time of writing I mainly use a pannier bag (on the back) and a handlebar bag to carry all my commuting stuff in. The first problem I faced was how to attach my front lights with the bar bag blocking their visibility from the normal handlebar mounting position. The second was how to attach a rack top bag and not obscure the normal seat post mounting.

Sometimes there are commercially available accessories you can buy to attach lights (and more things) too (e.g. a handlebar extension a.k.a. accessory bar) but often the only option is to DIY something until you find the right accessory to get.

I made my own light mount (from old brackets, reflector mounts and metal T shaped bracket) that hangs below the handlebars:

And as they are only a few pounds I bought a rack mount bracket for my light:
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cateye-rear-carrier-mounting-bracket-prod15303/

(though the image is actually upside down)

Edit 30/09/2011: Since then I have setup my new bike with this until I got a handlebar extension and that works just as well as the DIY extension – but costs more money and is less fun, there is more fun and accomplishment in DIYing something like this.
Edit 05/10/2011: You may notice my Airbike SL1 is attached using a DIY quick release I made from some cheapo light bracket I had lying around. Unscrewing the light every time I parked my bike anywhere was just annoying, so I DIYed it.