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CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".

IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 14years old!
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CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

31. gembo
    Member

    Hanging bags from handle bars i have done many times when I have bought too much shopping tempted by the amazing Scotmid bargains. Bags can rub on the wheel and burst sending your shopping akimbo, bags can impact on your steering and occasionally get caught in the wheel.

    So whilst it is common there is some mild peril . I say PG.

    This forum has a thread for poor cycling, poor driving, good driving, and even weird cycle. The default of good cycling is assumed? I might get a B for that.

    Was there also bad walking? Pedestrians can be bad.

    Anyone using the roads will have a view. Drivers endure bad driving. Or toot horns etc.

    I let things go more than I used to. Might still ask a speed merchant on canal towpath to slow down.

    The fashion stuff on this thread surely contains the ironic element that you can wear or pedal what you like as long as not risk to others?

    Posted 10 years ago #

32. neddie
    Member

    Appropriate bike brands:

    - Anything over 20 years old / no longer manufactured

    Posted 10 years ago #

33. Dave
    Member

    @wingpig I guess the operative question is "what poses a danger"?

    A tandem at 10mph will do significantly more damage to a pedestrian than a solo at 15mph. The tandem has arguably more to go wrong with two riders, while the solo rider has added incentive not to crash, because their injuries will be that much more severe.

    Do we berate 10mph tandem riders or 15mph Brompton riders though? (For tandems, I guess you could substitute amply-girthed middle aged men such as myself versus our more svelte roadie enemy from up-topic)...

    Posted 10 years ago #

34. i
    Member

    Here's a blog post that covers what's wrong with the union canal.

    Posted 10 years ago #

35. Focus
    Member

    @ Greenroofer

    As a Castelli wearer, I suppose I will have to hide in the undergrowth if I ever see you coming (that's if I ever identify who you are of course!). Looks like I can scrape by on the bike front though.

    Inappropriate clothing would surely include anything that identifies you as a taxi driver, hedge fund manager or estate agent, or certain fancy dress uniforms which may previously have been worn by Prince Harry.

    On the subject of speed, I will sometimes take certain straight sections fast (far from TT speeds though, and my tri bars remain fixed to my static bike), but then I am alert to other users and will slow before reaching them. I know where the entrances are and won't speed past them either. And I like watching for wildlife so I would miss that (or rather I might not) if going too fast.

    Posted 10 years ago #

36. KeepPedalling
    Member

    The bottom line - Whenever I see any of the concerns listed above - I just think "glad they left the car at home". When you take an overall view - the most dangerous thing cyclists could do is take their car instead.

    Posted 10 years ago #

37. Focus
    Member

    Well said, KeepPedalling!

    Posted 10 years ago #

38. Greenroofer
    Member

    @KeepPedalling. Yup.

    • Doesn't matter what you ride, so long as you do.
    • Doesn't matter what you wear, so long as you do (please).
    • Doesn't matter how you ride so long as it's not dangerous or threatening to anyone else (and, ideally, so long as it doesn't give cyclists a bad name).
    
    

    I'd only ever genuinely criticise someone on a bike for the choices they make about the third of those three. That's what the 'Rubbish Cycling' thread is for. The first two are their choice, and their choice (whatever it is) is fine by me.

    Posted 10 years ago #

39. wingpig
    Member

    "Do we berate 10mph tandem riders or 15mph Brompton riders though?"

    Depends how they're riding. If their doing something which warrants beration, berate away.

    Posted 10 years ago #

40. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    The first time I cycled on the road I was about fifteen. Borrowed my dad's bike to go and play snooker. Some bicyclist type shouted at me on the Five Roads roundabout in Aberdeen, and given that I'm a sensitive soul it's no surprise that I didn't cycle again until I was twenty one.

    I thought he was shouting about the line I'd taken. Never occured to me that he might have been Fashion Police having a go at my adolescent eighties outfit.

    Posted 10 years ago #

41. Greenroofer
    Member

    @Focus (to your earlier point) - you'd only need to hide from me if you met me on the towpath in Castelli. If we met on the road (and you knew who I was) then a cheery wave would be the order of the day.

    With my tongue out of my cheek, if you want to experiment with top speeds on the straight sections of towpath out to the west when there's nobody else about then that's fine with me. I might have done it myself once or twice too.

    Posted 10 years ago #

42. gembo
    Member

    I have foolishly cycled the forth and Clyde canal from cowcaddens to Falkirk wheel then the union canal on a heavy three speed (fine except at end when came off the canal and had to schlep up the hill after cycling in a river for thirty miles. It is very wet and can be a total slog. There are long stretches where you will never see another soul. Given how boring it gets taking these at speed does not seem unreasonable. at the slateford aqueduct I become a pootler. Some people pootle faster than me, I don't chase them. Once a chap came on to the slateford aqueduct too fast and ended up in the drink.

    Ideally cyclists should adjust their behaviour just before the slateford aqueduct if heading east. Come off and go on the road if speed of the essence etc.

    Posted 10 years ago #

43. Instography
    Member

    Would anyone say that Dave qualifies as "amply-girthed"? If so, I'm in big (in every sense of the word) trouble and so inappropriately dressed.

    Posted 10 years ago #

44. Greenroofer
    Member

    The Dave I pass regularly on the canal is appropriately dressed, appropriately bicycled and not in any sense amply-girthed.

    Posted 10 years ago #

45. gembo
    Member

    Unless he is wearing a fat suit? His girth is very modest. Also he is a fair way off middle aged.

    Posted 10 years ago #

46. Min
    Member

    Jeez, I go off on holiday for a bit and by the time I come back, Dave has become both amply girthed and middle aged? I must have been away much longer than I intended. Boy am I going to be in trouble when I get back to work..

    Posted 10 years ago #

47. Kenny
    Member

    I find myself wondering why Colnago and Felt are inappropriate, yet Trek are on the fence!

    Posted 10 years ago #

48. gembo
    Member

    Update on brooks

    They also do a pannier for €560 the pair. Also if you have that much money you are in for a treat as offer just now that adds a totally free handlebar bag costing €280.

    They also do a very snazzy tweed jacket €700

    Hilariously they happily post a comment from chap in Republic of Ireland who says that brooks are exactly the reason why UK should split up into the good countries. Scotland, Ireland and Wales. They reply This is a really nice jacket that nobody needs to buy.

    Posted 10 years ago #

49. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Oh, the irony. Coming home last night on the towpath some dude tried to cause me to slow down by means of violent arm flapping.

    As venue for his Velocipede Vigilante activities he'd chosen the stretch alongside the Wester Hailes Education Centre pitches. Long, straight, no junctions, no obstacles, nobody other than him.

    Let's just say that some people think that bicyclists are self-important for a reason. Regardless of whether or not I was going too fast, unsought advice from random punters is never going to go down well.

    I was actually trying to keep up with a guy on a ratty shopping bike three sizes too small for him with a flat back tyre. He was really hooking it, but slowed to a civilised pace just as soon as we came to the bridges and the peopled stretches of the path. As you do.

    Posted 10 years ago #

50. Dave
    Member

    He wasn't carrying a right hand crank / chainset by any chance?

    Posted 10 years ago #

51. DaveC
    Member

    @IWRATS was he in the canal? Perhaps he wasn't waving, he was drowning? :0(

    Posted 10 years ago #

52. gembo
    Member

    A bit off his beat either side of the aqueduct but was it the big man with the long straggly hair? If you slow down, give a jolly ring on your bell and thank him for making way he cheers up no end. Not seen him much beyond Burke and hare statue. Often has one carrier bag.

    Posted 10 years ago #

53. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @gembo and the Daves

    There was an element of the Rutger Hauer Guinness advert about him, but I was going far too fast to see if he was steeped in canal juice or had any componentry in his hands.

    Nice green sit-up-and-beg bike. Coiffure uncertain, demeanour agitated.

    Posted 10 years ago #

54. gembo
    Member

    Ah no, my man, who is a bit Rutger Hauer but a bit carlsberg special brew too, only walks, he is big and some say scary but I say easily misunderstood.

    Posted 10 years ago #

55. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @gembo

    Not sure I know him. I'm a keen member of both the observer corps and the polite bell brigade. My current difficulty is Maximum Space Man. He is equipped with a combination of;

    1) Stick at a forty five degree angle
    2) Shopping trolley
    3) Border collie on a lead
    4) Border terrier on the loose
    5) Enormous ski gloves
    6) Odd cuts on his head

    No eye contact. No words. We misunderstand eachother every day I fear.

    Posted 10 years ago #

56. gembo
    Member

    maximum Space Man sounds quite tricky to pass.

    Rutger has a truly magnificent stare that he will fix on you. Ruddy complexion.

    What used to happen with him was that I would ring bell and slow down, he would turn slowly, stare at me, then step to side. I would trundle by and say thank you very much. Then he would say, that is the first time a cyclist has ever thanked me. However, after a few days of this I said no it isn't I thanked you the other day too. So now we nod respectfully and all is peace.

    Posted 10 years ago #

57. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Have you considered the possibility that Rutger is an Ent? They work on a different timescale and your multiple greetings may have counted as a single point in time to him.

    Posted 10 years ago #

58. gembo
    Member

    IWRATS that is possible. Also I understand too much carlsberg special brew can affect short term memory. This is pure speculation, apologies if Rutger is teetotal.

    Posted 10 years ago #

59. Greenroofer
    Member

    @IWRATS: I recognise Maximum Space Man. He's usually heading the same direction as us. He sometimes has a child with him.

    I think he's a responsible towpath user: his Border Collie is clearly a handful, but he keeps it on a short lead. The terrier is aged and predictable. For me it epitomises the word 'dogged': it just keeps its head down and trots along the path. I went through a phase of greeting him.

    There's another chap I see out by the Scott Russell Aqueduct who also has a Border Collie. It's never on a lead, and usually tries to round me up, which is a bit disconcerting. I say good morning to him (even today, when it wasn't)

    Posted 10 years ago #

60. SRD
    Moderator

    Sounds to me like Rutger was trying to make a (not very subtle) point. But it only works once...

    Posted 10 years ago #

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