This morning's commute and other commuting stories

How have i never thought of putting the bottle in the fridge

Saw a woman riding one of these with no helmet on Holloway Road. Seems like an easy fine for the cops, dunno why you'd risk it?
Also had absolutely no idea one of those electric UPS vans was sitting on my back wheel until I happened to do a quick shoulder check. The thing was as quiet as the grave!

Do you have to wear helmets on e bikes?

‘Lightweight only 40kg!’

If you don't need a license to ride it then I imagine its not in the same class as motorcycles or mopeds and therefore not helmet compulsory

Thats less than half of a vespa

I thought you had to for mopeds?

Actually I'm just re-reading that site and although their legal section says you must wear a helmet for their mopeds and that one's filed under mopeds, they seem to imply that model is exempt so maybe she's legally in the clear.

Mopeds yeah and I'm pretty sure even pedal assist bikes have to be limited to something like 15mph. If it can go higher than that it needs to be registered, taxed, MOTed and insured which would make it a moped and requires a helmet.

Can't have a "twist and go" throttle.

https://www.gov.uk/electric-bike-rules

This definitely had a twist and go because she was sitting on it like a petrol scooter but I'm guessing the company has taken care of the approval? I should have checked the specs page before posting as it says it's limited to 25 kph. Definitely did a double take on seeing her though.

Lots of rather shakey here today gone tomorrow type vendors selling illegal spec ebikes claiming they are legal knowing by the time the customer has been caught they will have vanished/renamed/whatever.

Weirdly despite what is listed on the page where you buy the product the FAQ states the bike is totally illegal...
https://www.ekobikes.co.uk/faq/
vs
https://www.ekobikes.co.uk/electric-mopeds/white-e-moto-48v/

The motor in that one you can tell just looking at the size of the hub in the pic is 1000w+ looks like a magicpie motor(that's an actual brand of motor).

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Morning temperature drops from 24 to 20 degrees and could see plenty people already riding in winter jackets and tights.

oh that's brilliant!

Chucked it down this morning on the way in, quite refreshing actually!

Bought an apeman camera ages ago after seeing @hippy recommend it somewhere on here, finally chucked it on the commuter this morning, memories of a nice incident free ride confirmed on reviewing the footage. Attached to seat post as I've had some shitty close passes lately but wondered if any camera users would recommend a front facing setup instead? Or should I just chuck another £30 on a second cam and run front & back?

Proper MGIF this morning by a taxi on the approach to Southwark Bridge.

Wasn't even a bad overtake, but he hit the back of the traffic jam within 10 metres.

Did giggle as I moved over into the seg lane and left him to his 15 minute wait to get across.

Been a while, close pass followed by an exchange of words followed by him literally chasing me down in his car. Fuck sake.

Got punish passed (TWICE!) by the same dickhead bus driver on Brixton Road and then deleted the bloody camera file by mistake as I hadn't got used to the filing names yet argh.

literally chasing me down in his car

What happens / happened when he catches you?

I jumped a red light down a cycle only route and he shouted threats/obscenities out of the window. All for smart remarks but psycho in cars is a no no for me.

^ Eh. Some overreaction! :(

Everybody was super nice today, a huge berth from a lorry overtaking [the unbranded dirty mystery construction type], random person smiling at me [???] and a cyclist letting me out.

It must be the rain we had ;)

I pulled up in the cycle lane behind a left turning lorry here. The lorry was straddling both lanes and was a ridiculously long thing so was obviously going to swing right and have to use the full width of the road.

Some bellend on a dodgy hybrid pushed past me on my inside and I shouted at him to wait so the lorry doesn't crush him. He gave me a proper dirty look but shuffled backwards sheepishly. The lorry driver leant out the window and gave me a thumbs up and a thank you. Good deed done for the day.

Could have saved a life there mate, good work

Abuse and close shave driving all the way up York way by a Pimlico Plumber.
He even raised his window ! so that i wouldn't - spit or god knows what - while he shouted at me. Clearly a a psychopathic regular.

All of this because he didn't have space to overtake within the first 50 meters when the lights turned green at KingsX junction.