Ghost Bikes

Also, why are there so many car ads on tele and no bike ads !!!??

That'll be the money methinks.

Average cost of a family car £15,000 v average cost of a Halfords bike £150.

No contest.

Also, why are there so many car ads on tele and no bike ads !!!??

Why do you think? Because the size of the market for cars is far, far greater than for bikes, of course. Selling people cars they don't need is also actually (and, perhaps, surprisingly) quite a difficult thing and needs to be kept up at high intensity all the time. By contrast, people who actually want to cycle will gradually work their way from a Bicycle-Shaped Object to a proper bike, which doesn't require a massive outlay and debt for years, and people who don't really want to cycle will stick with some shit bike. Neither group needs a lot of advertising to them. With bikes, it's not so much the product but the experience you need to sell currently (although hopefully that will change more and more in coming years).

Car advertising is also a major source of income for the whole media, which is why you hear so many scare stories (fewer in the last few years, as cycling organisations have been doing some intense media work) designed to put people off cycling.

Yeh, but what happened to even the safety ads, in the 80's I remember, ' make it bright, make it white and get yourself seen '

Still advertising cycling !! any is good....?

I remember being in The Tufty Club as a kid

i hate that motorbike safety ad thats on Five all the time. that music! too long! argh!

The one at Camley St was drawing quite a lot of attention this morning from drivers, was standing by it for 5 mins or so. Fantastic photos too!

saw the st john's st one yesterday with 2 feckers testing the lock on it, they walked off before i could tell them to f***k off. also a friend told me this morning he saw one of the new bikes with a front wheel missing already, but i'm not exactly sure where it is.

Christ, nowt's sacred anymore.

Need to get the signs on them asap so people know what they are about.

Are the bikes going to get signs / notices informing people?

Great work on getting them out, and a powerful set of photos too.

Yeh, but what happened to even the safety ads, in the 80's I remember, ' make it bright, make it white and get yourself seen '

Still advertising cycling !! any is good....?

No. Those ads are fundamentally detrimental to cycling, as they spread a message that cyclists have to shoulder the primary responsibility--i.e., 'drivers want to drive in such a way as to endanger vulnerable road users, which means that you have to be highly visible so that they can do that'. It's a little difficult to understand how the psychology works there, but a good place to start is the Road Danger Reduction Forum:

http://www.rdrf.org/index.htm

The RoadPeace web-site also has a good page:

http://www.roadpeace.org/index.asp?Pageid=124

See especially the 'road safety myths' page.

Sadly I would doubt drivers notice. ;(

Oliver Schick for mayor!

Saw a builder photographing the one on blackfriars bridge yesterday morning with his camera phone.

Are the bikes going to get signs / notices informing people?

Great work on getting them out, and a powerful set of photos too.

I'll tag RIP and a date on the pavement in front of the bike. names and tributes will follow - takes a while to get them together.

The entire bike has been heat treated in full as part of the painting process. the bearings are ruined and seat post/bars etc seized. so if they do get it off it is useless.
I nope those that did steal it find this out the hardway and lose a few teeth.

Ed - great idea - any spare locks would be great. we had to keep it to a minimal in order to save costs

• Loads on the photos. they really look great!
  

Sadly I would doubt drivers notice. ;(

The paint job stands out and will hold up well over time and we spent a while placing them as close to the scene of the accident as we could whilst being out the way of cyclist/peds but right in sight.
That and a bit of artistic direction from our photographers

Lovely pictures Grow-up... if you don't mind I'm going to attach them to an email and send them to everyone I know with a little explanation?

It is a wonder about the cycling ads, why isn't there a cycling marketing board (like the milk marketeding board... "acrighton stanley, who are they?!" "exactly"[1]), a clongomeration of bike companies and retailers advertising why cycling is good and how the health benifits outweight the safety fears?

[1] needs to be said in a scouse accent

It is a wonder about the cycling ads, why isn't there a cycling marketing board (like the milk marketeding board... "acrighton stanley, who are they?!" "exactly"[1]), a clongomeration of bike companies and retailers advertising why cycling is good and how the health benifits outweight the safety fears?

There is. Try http://www.ba-gb.com/.

They're obviously not as powerful and as influential as industry bodies for larger industries.

Had to say, yesterday when I saw the one at Christchurch/Streatham/Brixton , I pulled over and stopped, had a look for a few minutes. Few passers by looking at me/the Ghost bike with a look of confusion. Seriously need to get some kind of memorials up there soon or as like someone stated above people'll just think they're abondoned bike and start either nicking bits or trashing them, especially round that area

I might go down later with something to put on it

Hmmm, how many members (other than the obvious; landrover and halfords) have larger car concerns than bike?

Great work Pip and helpers.
Wish I was home to help.
There is a similar campaign in Aus for road fatalities, with white crosses at all the scenes of fatalities, and it takes some time for the general public to understand what it is all about.
I've also seen stuff in France with big cardboard cutouts of people at the scene of fatalities.
Education take time!
Stu

surely this needs to be mentioned in the london lite or something, just to make people more aware.

Christ, nowt's sacred anymore.

Need to get the signs on them asap so people know what they are about.

a white laminated sign with a big bold ¨RIP¨should make people aware that someone die, the problem i saw is that, how do i know it's a ghost bike? there's no note, there's only a small hint that someone die, etc.

I kinda agree, in Brighton we had one with an A4 sign that just read:

"A CYCLIST WAS KILLED HERE"

was bold and effective, pip let me know if you agree as I will be visiting all the sites again soon and can help with distribution/ pick you up if you want to join me to check all the bikes and possibly replace parts.

i can maybe sort out some A4 laminates, just need to zip tie to the frames?

and that all it need to be done, big laminated paper right on the middle of the frame triangle almost covering it entirely with "RIP" on both* side.

*one side, the peds can see it, and the other side should be able to be glimpsed by drivers.