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My first name's Benjamin.
David Hume wrote his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion in 1750.
I'll get my coat...

.... because this video of some amazing bicycle gymnastics has probably been posted before.
But if it hasn't: enjoy!
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=18c_1185222191

Thanks, Hippy.
Well, I bought it and it seems fun so far. They couldn't make it fixed in the time I had available to get to work, so I'll just be a wimp for a while.
For the past 6 months I've been riding a borrowed lady's Halfords bike, so it's quite an improvement...

How many miles is it?
And what kind of pace...?

Well, I think I'm going to go for it.
I'll get it SS and maybe experiment over the weekend with using it fixed.
This is probably a stupid question, but:
With a geared bike, you pull the derailleur thing back to make the chain slack when you're taking off the rear wheel, but of course this isn't possible on a fixed gear... so is there some trick I need to know to take the wheel off to turn it round into fixed? I don't need to undo the chain with a chain-breaker or whatever, do I?
One of the things that's encouraged me to get a SS is the idea that I may be able to service the bike myself [gulp, I'm just rubbish at these things]. Is there a book/DVD/web resource that you can recommend to learn this stuff?
Thanks for any input.
PS: I might just buy the bike fixed rather than SS. So if I don't post anything over the coming days and you see one of those yellow accident signs somewhere between Spitalfields and Wapping, that was me... :)

OCD Anyone ever been chased by those Police Cyclists?

A pal of mine who had jumped a red light (safely for himself and those around, etc, of course...) sped up on seeing that a bicycle policeman had seen him but was on a rubbishy gran's bike [and probably also didn't want to be going absolutely hell for leather such that he couldn't say "Oh, I just fancied upping the pace a bit"] and was pulled over.
That's by the by, really, but the interesting bit was how amazingly condescending the policeman was. After doing the "Now, then, what wasn't right about what you did at that traffic light?" stuff, the policemen said: "Now, I could give you a fine. Or you can cycle bike to the lights and have another go at negotiating them properly."
I'd be tempted to accept the fine and then do the routine whereby:
Cyclist: Would I breaking the law if I called you a ct?
Plod: Yes, I could arrest you for insulting a police officer
Cyclist: Hmm, well would I be breaking the law if I just thought you were a ct?
Plod: Er, no
Cyclist. Fair enough. I think you're a c**t

kowalski Interesting that 1750 got breathalised.
You don't get breathalised for being pissed in public I'm sure.
Else plod would just stand outside the pub, tool in hand.

Indeed. But it's just one way in which the police can do you for more or less anything if they're bored or just fancy - one reason I'm always super-polite to them if I ever have dealings with them.

kowalski I'm pretty certain you can be done for riding whilst pissed.

The worst of it is, there is no prescribed blood alc level for cyclists.

Seems it rests on the "judgement" of the woodentop that stops you. And on this judgement, you could get hit with a £1000 fine.

How this would stand up in Court I'll never know.

And I hope I don't find out!

I got done a month or so ago for riding drunk.
I wasn't actually terribly pissed, although I did have a lot of booze in the system.
I'm sure they just picked me up because a) it was in the City, where the cops have bugger-all to do after about midnight and b) you can be fairly sure that there's a good chance somebody cycling in the wee hours in London has had a drink or two [well, perhaps not, but still].
They claimed I was cycling erratically, but I don't think this was true.
Anyhow, I was very co-operative etc but still (and I guess they just needed to have a certain tally of arrests etc) I was breathalysed and taken down to the nick.
As pointed out, alcohol levels are irrelevant, but still.
"For my own good" they put me in a cell for a few hours, since they had "a duty of care" etc, etc, and would have been liable if I'd got hit by a car or something walking home, apparently.
If they'd charged me it would have been a "my word v their word" thing as to whether I was drunk.
They gave me a FPN, which I only accepted on the basis that it's not something that sticks. A fifty pound fine, but not for drunk cycling but rather for "being drunk in public" which is contrary to the Licensing Act of 18-something or other.

Mat Sinclair So is the FPN something that is on record?

As I say, apparently not.
I'll be making a Data Protection Act request of the police to check that this is the case. A civil suit will result if not... :)

photoben Give Andy £449.99 and he'll build you a pimp daddy mack fixed gear bike.

Some of that stuff does look pretty cool

RPM ... and [it] has got gears!

I wish I had gears...

It doesn't, though. It seems to be a new addition to the Specialized range.

Went to a bike shop today to buy a Langster 2008 [which would be my first fixed gear bike, although I'd ride it freewheel to start with, I think...] but came across the Specialized Tricross, which took my fancy as a) it'd nice to be able to ride on towpaths etc occasionally and b) it could, I think, take a pannier.
Just wondered if anybody has an opinion about the bike. http://www.tredz.co.uk/details.aspx?cgid=&id=11879&cid=
Thanks for any thoughts.
Ben