And today's commuting highlight is...
Discussion
JulianHJ said:
Tribal Chestnut said:
Edit: and my not particularly cheap Rev’It Dominator leaks. POS.
I just don’t have any luck with textiles it seems.
Rukka/Halvarssons or some Scott Ergo Pro waterproofs will see you right.I just don’t have any luck with textiles it seems.
Gixer968CS said:
JulianHJ said:
Tribal Chestnut said:
Edit: and my not particularly cheap Rev’It Dominator leaks. POS.
I just don’t have any luck with textiles it seems.
Rukka/Halvarssons or some Scott Ergo Pro waterproofs will see you right.I just don’t have any luck with textiles it seems.
NNH said:
I installed LED "bulbs" in my R1100S in place of the small yellowish candles that BMW intially specified. It made last night's ride home much more comfortable.
At some stage I'll sort out the headlight alignment, but it's not like anyone else round here ever bothers.
I did that quite recently. Got a bargain on some top-of-the-line Philips ones - the Ultinon Pro9000 ones (which, BTW, are currently £64 a pair on Amazon - highly recommended).At some stage I'll sort out the headlight alignment, but it's not like anyone else round here ever bothers.
They did need pointing downwards slightly but the cut-off is very good - doesn't blare unfocused light everywhere like some of the cheap ones do. You can see a clean line of where the beam is focussing and it's below the window line on cars, as it should be. I ride at night at lot this time of year, and haven't been flashed by anyone since installing them.
They sure light up the road nicely though.
mikey_b said:
NNH said:
I installed LED "bulbs" in my R1100S in place of the small yellowish candles that BMW intially specified. It made last night's ride home much more comfortable.
At some stage I'll sort out the headlight alignment, but it's not like anyone else round here ever bothers.
I did that quite recently. Got a bargain on some top-of-the-line Philips ones - the Ultinon Pro9000 ones (which, BTW, are currently £64 a pair on Amazon - highly recommended).At some stage I'll sort out the headlight alignment, but it's not like anyone else round here ever bothers.
They did need pointing downwards slightly but the cut-off is very good - doesn't blare unfocused light everywhere like some of the cheap ones do. You can see a clean line of where the beam is focussing and it's below the window line on cars, as it should be. I ride at night at lot this time of year, and haven't been flashed by anyone since installing them.
They sure light up the road nicely though.
that London place
needed to be there and back so motorway was the option rather than a flower sniffing route – perhaps should have gone on the train and tube this time
journey there ok traffic light, journey back one long traffic queue from Luton to M6 turnoff, with little lane discipline
it appears the tools have moved away from German into electric, just the worst driven cars at the moment
needed to be there and back so motorway was the option rather than a flower sniffing route – perhaps should have gone on the train and tube this time
journey there ok traffic light, journey back one long traffic queue from Luton to M6 turnoff, with little lane discipline
it appears the tools have moved away from German into electric, just the worst driven cars at the moment
Had two totally different commuting experiences in the last couple of weeks.
I come in from the Surrey borders into the city of London and normally it's the same mix of traffic, filtering etc. What made these two commutes so strange is the traffic lights.
On one commute I think I must have had maybe three red lights the whole way. It was without a doubt the best and most enjoyable ride in to London in I don't know how long. And bearing in mind the sheer volume of traffic lights on my route the statistical chances of it happening must be almost nil.
And then there was last week when my commute was fifteen minutes longer than usual (85 mins instead of 70) after I hit the vast majority of traffic lights on red. I was getting so wound up that I needed to have a word with myself. It was only when I arrived and looked at the time that I realised the impact of it.
And the weird part is I leave at the same time. I use the same route. The weather was much the same. There weren't any accidents (that I was aware of). The roadworks at Richmond were still the only major holdup en route. I'm kind of dull in that I'm not trying to get there as fast as humanly possible so it's not because I've suddenly gone off like a banshee one day and in slow motion the next.
Still have no idea what changed for the crap journey but I'd like it to not happen again.
I come in from the Surrey borders into the city of London and normally it's the same mix of traffic, filtering etc. What made these two commutes so strange is the traffic lights.
On one commute I think I must have had maybe three red lights the whole way. It was without a doubt the best and most enjoyable ride in to London in I don't know how long. And bearing in mind the sheer volume of traffic lights on my route the statistical chances of it happening must be almost nil.
And then there was last week when my commute was fifteen minutes longer than usual (85 mins instead of 70) after I hit the vast majority of traffic lights on red. I was getting so wound up that I needed to have a word with myself. It was only when I arrived and looked at the time that I realised the impact of it.
And the weird part is I leave at the same time. I use the same route. The weather was much the same. There weren't any accidents (that I was aware of). The roadworks at Richmond were still the only major holdup en route. I'm kind of dull in that I'm not trying to get there as fast as humanly possible so it's not because I've suddenly gone off like a banshee one day and in slow motion the next.
Still have no idea what changed for the crap journey but I'd like it to not happen again.
SteelerSE said:
Had two totally different commuting experiences in the last couple of weeks.
I come in from the Surrey borders into the city of London and normally it's the same mix of traffic, filtering etc. What made these two commutes so strange is the traffic lights.
On one commute I think I must have had maybe three red lights the whole way. It was without a doubt the best and most enjoyable ride in to London in I don't know how long. And bearing in mind the sheer volume of traffic lights on my route the statistical chances of it happening must be almost nil.
And then there was last week when my commute was fifteen minutes longer than usual (85 mins instead of 70) after I hit the vast majority of traffic lights on red. I was getting so wound up that I needed to have a word with myself. It was only when I arrived and looked at the time that I realised the impact of it.
And the weird part is I leave at the same time. I use the same route. The weather was much the same. There weren't any accidents (that I was aware of). The roadworks at Richmond were still the only major holdup en route. I'm kind of dull in that I'm not trying to get there as fast as humanly possible so it's not because I've suddenly gone off like a banshee one day and in slow motion the next.
Still have no idea what changed for the crap journey but I'd like it to not happen again.
When I rule the world my first diktat will be to rip out 80% of traffic lights.I come in from the Surrey borders into the city of London and normally it's the same mix of traffic, filtering etc. What made these two commutes so strange is the traffic lights.
On one commute I think I must have had maybe three red lights the whole way. It was without a doubt the best and most enjoyable ride in to London in I don't know how long. And bearing in mind the sheer volume of traffic lights on my route the statistical chances of it happening must be almost nil.
And then there was last week when my commute was fifteen minutes longer than usual (85 mins instead of 70) after I hit the vast majority of traffic lights on red. I was getting so wound up that I needed to have a word with myself. It was only when I arrived and looked at the time that I realised the impact of it.
And the weird part is I leave at the same time. I use the same route. The weather was much the same. There weren't any accidents (that I was aware of). The roadworks at Richmond were still the only major holdup en route. I'm kind of dull in that I'm not trying to get there as fast as humanly possible so it's not because I've suddenly gone off like a banshee one day and in slow motion the next.
Still have no idea what changed for the crap journey but I'd like it to not happen again.
They're just not necessary. In most cases you're sat there with nothing in the opposite direction, you then have to wait for pedestrians of which there aren't any, finally for cyclists who ignored the lights and pissed off ages ago.
There's a set of lights on my commute where there's always a bit of a log jam. The other day they weren't working and low and behold everyone just got on with it without any queues in any direction.
Then there's Pelican crossings. Pedestrian walks up and pushes the button before even looking. Then decides it's clear to cross anyway. Then the traffic is brought to a halt. For absolutely no reason.
The number of lights on my commute has literally trebled over the years taking my time from 40 mins to 55mins. thats 2 1/2 hours per week wasted just sat at completely unnecessary traffic lights
And breath.....
Harry H said:
SteelerSE said:
Had two totally different commuting experiences in the last couple of weeks.
I come in from the Surrey borders into the city of London and normally it's the same mix of traffic, filtering etc. What made these two commutes so strange is the traffic lights.
On one commute I think I must have had maybe three red lights the whole way. It was without a doubt the best and most enjoyable ride in to London in I don't know how long. And bearing in mind the sheer volume of traffic lights on my route the statistical chances of it happening must be almost nil.
And then there was last week when my commute was fifteen minutes longer than usual (85 mins instead of 70) after I hit the vast majority of traffic lights on red. I was getting so wound up that I needed to have a word with myself. It was only when I arrived and looked at the time that I realised the impact of it.
And the weird part is I leave at the same time. I use the same route. The weather was much the same. There weren't any accidents (that I was aware of). The roadworks at Richmond were still the only major holdup en route. I'm kind of dull in that I'm not trying to get there as fast as humanly possible so it's not because I've suddenly gone off like a banshee one day and in slow motion the next.
Still have no idea what changed for the crap journey but I'd like it to not happen again.
When I rule the world my first diktat will be to rip out 80% of traffic lights.I come in from the Surrey borders into the city of London and normally it's the same mix of traffic, filtering etc. What made these two commutes so strange is the traffic lights.
On one commute I think I must have had maybe three red lights the whole way. It was without a doubt the best and most enjoyable ride in to London in I don't know how long. And bearing in mind the sheer volume of traffic lights on my route the statistical chances of it happening must be almost nil.
And then there was last week when my commute was fifteen minutes longer than usual (85 mins instead of 70) after I hit the vast majority of traffic lights on red. I was getting so wound up that I needed to have a word with myself. It was only when I arrived and looked at the time that I realised the impact of it.
And the weird part is I leave at the same time. I use the same route. The weather was much the same. There weren't any accidents (that I was aware of). The roadworks at Richmond were still the only major holdup en route. I'm kind of dull in that I'm not trying to get there as fast as humanly possible so it's not because I've suddenly gone off like a banshee one day and in slow motion the next.
Still have no idea what changed for the crap journey but I'd like it to not happen again.
They're just not necessary. In most cases you're sat there with nothing in the opposite direction, you then have to wait for pedestrians of which there aren't any, finally for cyclists who ignored the lights and pissed off ages ago.
There's a set of lights on my commute where there's always a bit of a log jam. The other day they weren't working and low and behold everyone just got on with it without any queues in any direction.
Then there's Pelican crossings. Pedestrian walks up and pushes the button before even looking. Then decides it's clear to cross anyway. Then the traffic is brought to a halt. For absolutely no reason.
The number of lights on my commute has literally trebled over the years taking my time from 40 mins to 55mins. thats 2 1/2 hours per week wasted just sat at completely unnecessary traffic lights
And breath.....
There is a set of lights they put in at a T junction on the main road near us presumably because of building a f
kton more houses... They were never needed, they're still not needed. It was never an issue to turn from or to the main road, I'd go so far as to say 99% of the time didn't even need to stop because it wasn't fking busy. If I'm really, really generous then maybe they are needed at rush hour, maybe. I've never seen it but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. So part time at most.
I *used* to go down that way because you could turn left onto the main road and very slightly faster than going the other way. Now of course you get held up by the traffic lights so it's quicker to go the other way instead.
With the pedestrian lights they're annoying as both a driver and pedestrian. Almost certainly they're not going to go red until there is a space in which you could cross anyway...but if you don't press them then there won't be a space. When I'm world dictator they'll be set to a maximum of 15 seconds to find a gap before they change anyway and with a minimum amount of time before they can be re-triggered.
Harry H said:
When I rule the world my first diktat will be to rip out 80% of traffic lights.
They're just not necessary
There's a set of lights on my commute where there's always a bit of a log jam. The other day they weren't working and low and behold everyone just got on with it without any queues in any direction.
AgreedThey're just not necessary
There's a set of lights on my commute where there's always a bit of a log jam. The other day they weren't working and low and behold everyone just got on with it without any queues in any direction.
There were two sets on my old commute that broke several times and the traffic was noticably better when they were broken !
Another set was on a T junction and I called to report that they weren't working properly as everyone was on red for approximately 15 seconds.
I was told they had been "rephased for traffic calming"
I told them I didn't feel very f
king calm after sitting in an extra long queueFastdruid said:
With the pedestrian lights they're annoying as both a driver and pedestrian.
Many pedestrian lights are fking annoying. You can be walking up the road to the lights for a good 2 or 3 minutes and because there haven't been any other pedestrians, the lights have remained green for motor traffic. So you get to the lights and press the button. Even though the traffic lights have been green for motor traffic for f
k knows how long, they don't immediately change to green for pedestrians. So you are left waiting to cross for some fking inordinate amount of time. Is it a fking challenge to just make pedestrians wait a while no matter what?Tribal Chestnut said:
Bit wet again this morning, these conditions are now normal, yet our sodding roads cannot cope. Local roads and even bits of the Edgware Rd were flooded.
Passed some poor sod in jeans on a sportsbike at one point then another on an RT. I know it’s warm, but jeans!
Yep was a trifle wet this morning. I love spotting inappropriate riding gear. This morning there was a guy in a big JD sports puffer jacket. He looked completely drenched, It must have weighed 3x his body weight.Passed some poor sod in jeans on a sportsbike at one point then another on an RT. I know it’s warm, but jeans!
SteelerSE said:
Not much commuting going on at the moment..?
Just freaking cold out there - heated waistcoat and very careful on non-gritted roads but still biking in to the office about once a week.
I have been commuting too, but only a couple of days a week as that's all I'm in these days. I'm fortunate in that only the first 200 meters or so of my commute are ungritted (and even then, they grit most of that sometimes), so that is less of a concern for me than it is for some. Heated vest, neckwarmer, big handguards and heated grips are keeping it bearable for my ~30 mins motorway plus ~30 mins London traffic type of commute.Just freaking cold out there - heated waistcoat and very careful on non-gritted roads but still biking in to the office about once a week.
Doing enough riding to know that my suspension service on the forks a couple of weeks ago makes the front feel a lot nicer. Hyperpro progressive springs and fresh oil with a different air gap, forks mounted 10mm higher through the clamps, and different damper/preload settings - it's now less harsh over bumps and feels more stable in the corners. Very happy with it, especially as I bought new Michelin Road 6 tyres a month ago too. It's like a new bike!
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