Annoying things other cyclists do

[The Stiglet]

pablo said:

then there is a whole load of really petty stuff like cyclists who have dust caps missing

You know you're not supposed to use dust caps right? It's a bit of a faux pas for roadies. It adds weight () and inner tubes have valves to stop water/dirt ingress.

Other no-no's on a racer include front/rear and spoke reflectors, that little plastic 'sheath' on your rear wheel to protect your chain/spokes if the chain comes off the top and under no circumstances what so ever, can a racer wear SPD's...

[Kermit power]

I'm confused. What's with all the SPD stuff? Aren't SPDs just Shimano's clipless pedals across the board? They have them for road and MTB, don't they?

[TonyHetherington]

I think it's SPD vs SPD-SL

SPD:


SPD SL;

[TonyHetherington]

The Stiglet said:

that little plastic 'sheath' on your rear wheel to protect your chain/spokes if the chain comes off the top

I used actual armorfend, designed for a Caterham. Does that get me man points? Or anti-man points?

[Raoul Duke]

Kermit power said:

I think this rather depends on where you're riding!

There will frequently be 25+ cyclists waiting at some of the sets of lights on my commute to work, so I'd end up getting RSI if I tried waving to all of them!

Good point, well presented - its very rare that i see 25 cyclists in a week here in Devon, let alone at one set of lights!

[Kermit power]

Raoul Duke said:

Good point, well presented - its very rare that i see 25 cyclists in a week here in Devon, let alone at one set of lights!

I counted 28 outside Oval tube station on morning a few weeks ago. We looked rather like I would imagine the peleton at the Tour de Glasgow would look!

[paulrockliffe]

oyster said:

paulrockliffe said:

ShampooEfficient said:

itsnotarace said:

walm said:

What on earth is a "repeater"?

One of those small traffic lights underneath the main lights. At cyclist height

the one half way up the post here:

I have never seen one of those in my life.

I assumed he meant another set of lights on the other side of the junction.

I did, they're at 95% of traffic light junctions in Manchester, so you usually expect there to be one. Because the repeaters are there it doesn't matter that the white line is inline with the main set of traffic lights. Except where they haven't put the repeaters in and the stop line is still too far forward. There are junctions where you can't see any lights from a car if you stop at the line and you have to really crane your neck on a bike. And that catches drivers out too, not just cyclists.

The rest of the rant, I see your point of view, but respectfully disagree. It's a philosophical disagreement that I don't have time for today, but if you want to continue it, either others will be along, or your could just read any of the other similar threads that pop up every week. At the end of the day I'm always going to position myself so that I'm across the junction as quickly as possible because it significantly reduces the chances of someone turning left and taking me off. My safety is more important to me than your convenience. Sorry.

Are you deliberately assuming anyone who disagrees with you on this thread is not a cyclist?

Did you not read my thread? When you stop so far past the stop line then you will not get across the junction faster than someone who stops on the line because they will see the light go green and accelerate away.
In fact the only way you know when you're on green is when bikes/cars etc start to overtake you, which surely puts you at more risk?

No, not at all. I simply offered you an explanation for one of the things that annoy you. My point was simply that if I do stop so far beyond the line that I can't see the lights change it's a mistake. When it does happen, which isn't often as I've learned most of the lights round here now, it annoys me too, because I don't want to rely on the cars moving to let me know the lights have changed. Sometimes getting across as quickly as possible means stopping underneath the light, but usually there is a repeater opposite the junction so you can move further forward. Some junctions you can move forward so you can see the other lights go to red too, so you can get on the pedals early and be ready to open the hammer. At some junctions it makes more sense to stop where there's a hand rest so you're not having to clip back in.

[anonymous-user]

The Stiglet said:

pablo said:

then there is a whole load of really petty stuff like cyclists who have dust caps missing

You know you're not supposed to use dust caps right? It's a bit of a faux pas for roadies. It adds weight () and inner tubes have valves to stop water/dirt ingress.

Other no-no's on a racer include front/rear and spoke reflectors, that little plastic 'sheath' on your rear wheel to protect your chain/spokes if the chain comes off the top and under no circumstances what so ever, can a racer wear SPD's...

dude, so many fails in one post....

1/ yeah, you take your solictors special to a club ride without dust caps and you wont get out of the car park without a club elder ticking you off....

2/ those plastic spoke guards on the rear wheel tend not to be fitted to wheels costing more than a round of drinks

3/ a road bike is never referred to as a "racer", nor is the rider....

i bet you fill your water bottle up to the top too dont you?...

[ShampooEfficient]

Today's best cyclist award - cycling on the wrong side of the road, towards my bus, and then looking at me like I'm the fking moron. I am a cyclist, I don't care if the Highway Code is for squares, I do know that being hit by a bus will hurt.

[Kermit power]

My today's best cyclist award (well, yesterday if we're splitting hairs) was the police mountain-biker who flew off after a roadie who went through a red light near The Cut in Waterloo, caught him and was still giving him a bking when I went past!

[The Stiglet]

pablo said:

dude, so many fails in one post....

1/ yeah, you take your solictors special to a club ride without dust caps and you wont get out of the car park without a club elder ticking you off....

2/ those plastic spoke guards on the rear wheel tend not to be fitted to wheels costing more than a round of drinks.

3/ a road bike is never referred to as a "racer", nor is the rider....

i bet you fill your water bottle up to the top too dont you?...

1. huh? Where do you ride? I've been laughed at for turning up to a well known bike store with dust caps. I learnt my lesson.

2. You'll still see them on £3,000+ bikes but a decent shop will take them off along with the dust caps and reflectors before handing it over.

3. As opposed to a tourer, road going fixed speed, hybrid etc.. for the purposes of the post defined as a bike with drops

Water? It's all about the Ribena

Edited by The Stiglet on Tuesday 19th July 22:49

[SteveS Cup]

Cycling politics cracks me up!!!

So much hate for the hippy fixie guys yet all you roadies have so many rules on what you wear, what is allowed to be on your bike and what's not!!!

I go out every evening after work around box hill with no helmet (although I am considering one) on my MTB in baggy combat shorts and 99% of other cyclists will say "evening" when I'm on the road section nearing my house. I even have the odd joke with the really fast roadies going past me!

Why can't we all just get along nicely and just accept what others are wearing / riding!?

[IroningMan]

Where's the fun in that?

[y2blade]

shout back and forth....bloody noisy lot

[Kermit power]

SteveS Cup said:

Cycling politics cracks me up!!!

So much hate for the hippy fixie guys yet all you roadies have so many rules on what you wear, what is allowed to be on your bike and what's not!!!

I go out every evening after work around box hill with no helmet (although I am considering one) on my MTB in baggy combat shorts and 99% of other cyclists will say "evening" when I'm on the road section nearing my house. I even have the odd joke with the really fast roadies going past me!

Why can't we all just get along nicely and just accept what others are wearing / riding!?

The haters would've absolutely loved the guy on my commute up CS7 this morning. From the ground up, we had...

Trainers...

An Orange R8 rigid build...

Team logo lycra shorts....

A baggy blue top...

and...

just to round out the picture...

an American football helmet!

[TonyHetherington]

AWESOME!!

[Kermit power]

TonyHetherington said:

AWESOME!!

He must've been 6'4", and of a hefty build too, so very, very visible!

[anonymous-user]

SteveS Cup said:

Cycling politics cracks me up!!!

So much hate for the hippy fixie guys yet all you roadies have so many rules on what you wear, what is allowed to be on your bike and what's not!!!

I go out every evening after work around box hill with no helmet (although I am considering one) on my MTB in baggy combat shorts and 99% of other cyclists will say "evening" when I'm on the road section nearing my house. I even have the odd joke with the really fast roadies going past me!

Why can't we all just get along nicely and just accept what others are wearing / riding!?

wheres the fun in that!?>...

dont get me wrong, i have my tongue firmly wedged in my cheek here, like everyone else i a msure. these "rules" are only ever debated in the pub after several pints never actually on the bike!

its a bit like motorcyclists, they respect each other, but riders of the same bikes respect each other a bit more.

the fixie thing is just because they are an easy target, 99% of fixie riders are desperate to be part of the subculture and get the in-jokes...

from my (very) limited knowledge of motorbikes, a fixie rider is the equivilent of a harley davidson rider who thinks he is cool and part of a subculture, all the other bikers just laugh...

anyway, back to the arguments

[XitUp]

Raoul Duke said:

Another hater of those that discard gel wrappers in the hedges, you lazy bds put it back in your jersey pocket.
The other thing that i dont get is roadies who are clearly experienced, and often much quicker than myself that wont wear helmets. I know that there are arguments for and against helmets - you'd rather be finished quickly than paralysed from the waist down etc etc. But there are too many gormless car drivers out there, watching their sat nav rather than the road, who'd knock you off at a slow speed where you may otherwise dust yourself down and walk away from for me to want to take the risk. It seems that unless i'm missing something they think it also makes them more "hard core"?! Ah well each to their own.

Find me a study that shows wearing a helmet reduces the chance of getting hit and injured. All the ones I've seen say otherwise.

[anonymous-user]

XitUp said:

Find me a study that shows wearing a helmet reduces the chance of getting hit and injured. All the ones I've seen say otherwise.

dont the arguments centre around the speed of impact, on slow impacts, helmets have been found to protect the head, at high speed impacts they have been found to be pretty much useless... but like any study, you can write it to get the result that you want...

i have had a few crashes, one where i split the helmet from the back to the crown and i wear one for almost every ride. i still think its irresponsible not to wear one. the only thing that i find frustrating are parents who let children ride around with a helmet so loose or badly fitting that it will fall off in an accident.

have a look at the research from the NFL's "brain bank", they have done a lot of studies regarding impact of american football players and subsequent illnesses. i appreciate that is repetitive impacts but its interesting reading.