Commuting for two

At least I hope two people commuted in together on it because that would be very cool :-D

Spotted yesterday on King St, Manchester

Note the two chainwheels located on the left hand side of the bike. This means their pedal threads have to be drilled opposite to the way that normal right hand side chainring cranks are drilled. i.e. you can't use those chainwheels on a normal bike (the pedals would unscrew). 

Although it's obvious I didn't know this about tandems until I was flogged a tandem chainwheel that was advertised as a normal chainwheel on ebay last week. Luckily a refund was forthcoming so I've bought a different one from Derekscycles instead, who not only have a great shop name but provide a damn good service too.

Light Mount

Plastic mountings on bikes are crap. Lights, pumps, locks, whatever the item, the plastic mount that came with it will be a prime suspect for breaking prematurely at some point. And that's exactly what happened to the mount for my cheap ebay light (I seem to break expensive ones just as easily I should point out).

I hadn't liked it on the handlebars anyway. It's big and ugly but does throw out a huge amount of light and poundshop batteries last for yonks in it. So I decided to find somewhere else to diy mount it as a temporary fix whilst I um & ar about playing with cree lights of some sort.

A quick search in the bit & bobs tin found this:

It's probably some kind of reflector mount I've removed in the past, I'm not sure. A quick look at the front of the bike and it looks like the mudgaurd mount on the fork will be a good spot.

The bracket needed some bending and straightening to make it work. I got a bit overzealous with using a g-clamp to help straighten out the smaller kinks in the metal and this happened.......ok maybe it's not just plastic things I break easily.

I threw away the broken mount and drilled a hole in the bottom of the casing. Then mounted it on the bracket with a small bolt. This is the most important bit -I put a piece of innertube between the bracket and the light mount to dampen any vibrations. I did the same between the bracket and frame.

I know it's a bit rough and ready but it works and it's solid, plus it gets the light out of the way where you can forget about it until you need it. Maybe at some point I'll tidy up the bracket a bit with either a polish or a coat of black paint.

Look Out! update

After my post about these wonderful signs in Reddish it appears some callous, cynical and no doubt bitter individual has defaced them in an attempt to undermine their effectiveness.

Luckily they have not moved the word 'Motorists' from it's rightful place at the top of a sign. ;-D

Do it properly....

 
Motorists of Britain, if you are going to block a cycle lane, at least make a proper job of it. Like this fella with his massive digger.

Brunswick Street, Manchester

If anyone from the DVLA happens to read this, you are more than welcome to use this image as an example for the textbook procedure when needing to block a cyclelane. Observe the attention to detail - the driver has aligned the inside edge of his caterpillar tracks with the inside edge of the kerb - very tricky considering his cab is 8ft in the air. You just don't get that kind of professionalism from your average cyclelane blocker - nice.

(motor) Cycle racks?

Ever wondered why alot of bikes are chained to lamposts and railings? it will usually be one of three reasons why.

1. The railing/lampost/whatever is closest to the cyclist's destination and therefore most convenient
2. There are no cycle racks provided so the only option is the railing/lampost/whatever
3. There actually are some cycle racks but all the space is taken up by motorcycles and mopeds

Here's a typical day in Manchester

The Deansgate rack from the first photo but on another day:

So what's going on here?. As annoying as it is, I can't really bring myself to totally begrudge the motorcyclists for doing this. If you look at it objectively all it really proves is a lack of proper motorcycle parking in the city centre. There are a few of spots I know of specially for motorcycle parking (Fountain street & Withy Grove near the Printworks for example) but clearly its nowhere near enough if this is happening. 

Anybody is going to go for free convenient parking if they can get away with it  (which is why the city centre is riddled with blue badge fraudsters) and motorcyclists are no exception, unfortunately it just results in yet another example of cyclists being bullied out of the way.

Update after Ian's question:
Here is the Councils info about motorcycle parking. It's free but there are only 108 defined spaces. From the wording

"Motorbikes found parked in contravention of parking restrictions are liable to receive a parking ticket. All motorbikes are now subject to the same regulations as other vehicles."

it would seem that all these motorbikes should technically be getting ticketed for parking on the pavement, but obviously they are not doing this. Personally I'd prefer them not to get ticketed, but to get more than a paltry 108 spaces. More (motor) bikes = less cars and that can only be a good thing in the long run.

There is also a google map showing each location.

To put these 108 spaces into further perspective: My old primary scool; Down Primary in Gee Cross has as many spaces for their pupil's bicycles as the entire city centre does for motorbikes. And the primary school spaces come with a roof.

Look Out!

Hopefully the motorists and pedestrians will notice some cyclists inbetween all that 'looking out for each other' that'll be going on thanks to these signs.

Keep up the good work Greater Manchester Police force!, a couple of more of these and all the problems on Manchester's roads will be solved in a jiffy.

Commute Buddies

Occasionally a commuting cyclist, as with other (lesser) forms of transport, might start to notice other cyclists who set off along the same route as them each day. They might begin to exchange a knowing nod or a 'mornin' as their paths cross.…..Well there’s none of that nonsense if I take the long route in the morning. Just a load of horses and rabbits. It’s not so much of a ‘knowing nod’ from the horses as it is a ‘pass me some of that lush grass I can’t reach' kind of nod. The rabbits on the other hand just scatter when they realize that idiot on a bicycle is trying (and failing) to get a photo of them again.

Dog owners will recognise this form of animal telepathy. He is focusing his mind on the human, transmitting the mental urge to tear some grass from that nice looking clump and pass it to the horsey.

One second there are at least a dozen bunnies right in front of me....the next they've scattered and all I get it this crabby photo.

A flock of migrating Canada geese stopped off for a few days as well: