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Also, what does PMSL stand forrrrr?

Piss myself laughing.

I've revisited this thread and they are still SICK. That's worse than cycling bibs.

RIGHT..!!!

I decided that as the base plug has non-sealed bearings and someone at SE beers told me that a couple of months of winter riding had built up loads of junky shit etc. I decided either the Freestyler or the racer with their sealed bearings are where it's at.

So I rode the Freestyler. And fuck me, it was SEX. Not just grunty and sweaty, I mean the kind that you get after a few weeks with someone, when all the bumps and the grinds are in just the right places and you both move together beautifully and stylishly. Seriously, I almost did a sex-wee in the middle of Tooley Street.

BUT...

It has shitty messenger-style bars and brake levers that are a mile from my fingers - probably so you don't twat knuckles when you do tricks and stuff. So despite it riding like a dream, I was going to have to change some stuff anyway and I seriously couldn't handle the narsty snot-rims.

So I tried the racer and HATED the splayed drop bars. But it's shiny and chrome and silvery and lovely. So I just changed the bars and bought white grips and it looks classy but quite punchy at the same time. Bars are too wide and probably need a little trim with the old hacksaw, but it gives me control and a fatter road-presence, so I'm growing to like them.

Charge Plug = deep joy + happy Tim.

So we should wear helmets whilst watching television and catching the bus?

Yes, that exactly what I think. Thank you for crystalising my thoughts into such a gem of wisdom.

And out of interest, did you go to a special school to get to summarise things with such rapier wit, or is it just a natural talent that you have?

My mate (who came into his inheritance the other day and was feeling flush) went straight out and bought a Langster. So he has a similar set of reduntant bars going spare too. We both did identical things to our bikes and ripped the drops off, sticking straights on, for a more upright riding position and better traffic handling.

Anyone interested, or they not so cool as the Charge bars?

In a very similar vein, Bikefix in Lambs Conduit Passage had an insane looking Swedish military bike about a year ago, which weighed about as much as me and had a big flat front rack big enough for U2 to play a gig on.

I'd be interested to know if anyone ever bought one, how it rides and what they use it for...

Nice idea.. how about just having trains actually let real bikes on without all the grief?

What, like with a guard's van..? Where you can put bikes in..? And ride the train to wherever you like, before cycling..? Oh dear, oh dear. Looks like the hippy's been at the whacky baccy again, I feel.

I mean, really! Don't think that's going to be a positive move for the train companies, is it now. That would mean adding an extra carriage - and no paying passengers on it. Just think of the lost revenue for the directors and shareholders of our recently privatised and extortionately priced railways.

Don't go bringing your common sense into the debate, you foolish boy. It's all about the money, dontcha know...

The cadenza looks like a good ride for a folder and folds down small.

It doesn't really. Unless you want to get the allen keys out every time you get on a train, to twistify the headstock or take it off altogether, it folds to about the size of a double push-chair. Given how flimsy, ahem, I mean how lightweight most of the components on it are, I'd worry about thread stripping etc.

BUT...

If you do a commute where there aren't too many people to get in the way of and you don't mind a compromise of a bike (it looks a bit like a street bike, it just isn't quite man enough for the job) then it's ok. I wouldn't recommend one to other people, except for very specific journeys. But I wouldn't slate it too badly either. Mine's had getting on for a couple of thousand road miles I reckon, so it can't be THAT bad.

Trouble is, if you're big, the one-size-doesn't-really-fit-all geometry starts to take its toll. About ten miles is my limit for riding on it. Mine gave me terrible trouble with numb-cock after a few miles and stuff like that. Plus I end up with my shoulders dead in line with the front forks, so instead of bumps causing my arms to go up and down slightly, it thumps straight up my arms and into my shoulders. Gave me a partial dislocation (my medical friend informs me it's called a "subluxation") of one shoulder, until I realised what the problem and just rode it less.

If you want to sling something on a train, get near town, jump off and put a few miles down, it's good. But don't be tall or heavy, or on a busy train.

The Dahon can barely take that weight.

Mate of mine had one break on him.

Helluva mess....

Ouch!

Mine's been a mix. Got a Cadenza - the full-size folder, which is built to be like a street bike, with 2x8 gears. Frame hinge creaks a little but always has. The big problem has been the rear wheel - it came single cross on the drive side and straight spokes on the non-drive side. I've busted loads of the spokes. Need it stripped and rebuilt as a triple-cross or something. Or maybe buy some super-strong spokes like those bladed sort maybe. Shrug. I don't live in Chesham anymore, so I don't need it for the next year or two. Hello eBay, goodbye Dahon.

There seems to be one to the side of the railway line near Sutton, if you're feeling brave to climb over the little fence and trot down to retrieve it. :-)

Agree with previous posters - you don't get right of way, simply by turning on a flashing yellow light. It is there to alert other drivers to your intended actions. My rule of thumb with the indicating buses is, if I am behind, let them out - open hand gesture to show I'm offering them the space and I'm safely back far enough (I know Highway Code says don't give directions to other road users but I don't care), that way they get out and sped up and out of my way quick smart and I get something to chase. If I'm alongside, speed up and GTF out the way, in case they didn't see me. If they push me out (which none ever have yet), then it'd be cross words and a mobile phone photograph of the driver, so you can prove which one it was.

You remember the case of that 6ft girl who was ejected from a bus because she was "too tall"? They couldn't work out exactly which driver it was from the bus route number and the description, so a quick photo would have resolved the matter simply enough I reckon.

Curses!! Spent the evening picking up my new bike from being trapped in the farthest reaches of West London. Was too late by the time I got near Tooley St.

Next week...

Sorry to hear about this lady's death. I am new to the forum, so I didn't ever meet her.

That tweet is way too long - it needs to be 140 characters, I believe. I twittered it in two parts instead. I broke it at "Can you help us?"

Good luck.

I always have a plastic bag in my rucksack to tie over the seat. Makes your bike look like a complete piece of shit instantly.

Oh hang on, my old bike was a complete piece of shit.

Ah, but the saddle was nice thogh. And it never got nicked.

O MY GOD, that poor bike. colour scheme is AMAZING but o dear how did they get it SOOOOO wrong.

the first one was at the mag launch.

this geekhouse had potential, but unfortunately a couple bits kill it :(

Has anyone else noticed that between photo 1 and photo 2, the bike has grown a killer face-splitting spike for some reason..?

Can you even get those bars separate from the whole bike?

Hey, if anyone wants a set, I think I'll have some in a few days...

Rode the Plug Freestyler tonight. It is schweee-eeet. But it's f'ugly. It's so f'ugly, it's almost "pengy". But compared to the crap that's been between my legs lately**, it was like an orgasm with spokes.

And the racer is really nice with the white and chrome, so I want that. I hated the ride with the drop bars though, so I'm just going to change them for straights. Leaving me one old-skool set of drops surplus to needs...

**No, not you honey.

Anyone ever seen the footage of Jackie Chan getting side-slapped by a VW Camper and then bouncing off the road on the opposite side? I saw something very similar when a drunk punky-looking girl stepped off a Routemaster before it's come to a stop. She jumped, smacked one side of her straight into the glass of the bus stop, bounced off and hit her other side on the pavement. If she'd been conscious, it would've hurt.

It's the things I don't see coming that worry me the most. I accept it isn't going to be any used if I face-plant, or I get rolled over but those above are the kind of impacts I'm hoping my helmet will mitigate - getting t-boned or coming down awkwardly if I get clipped off and don't see it coming. The faster speed slap straight up the back might also be helped by a helmet getting between the back of my head and the windscreen. Someone metioned getting hit by a lorry, but an unladen non-articulated can stop on a sixpence (my old man used to drive one). If I ever got hit from the side by a lorry, yeah, if it rolls on over me then I'm toast and jam but if not, a helmet will at least help with the front of it not cracking my skull.

When I can see it coming, I have some control over how I land. When I don't the only comfort I have is a little padding.

clear case of sexual harrassment, I'd rather having a kicking, at least you know where you stand.

Masochist!

^^Why people leave their helmets outside I do not know..at least I can't think of any reason..

Makes it harder to jack the lock - you can't so easily get tools into it.

Some of these bikes are looovely. So now I hate you all.

people on pushbikes like u think your something special and that you have the rite to sqeeze in between cars in traffic e.t.c .

THAT is one of the funniest things I've heard in ages. A motorcyclist complaining about cyclists going between cars.

Tell me techni, me old china, you never done that? Not ever? Not even once? Yeah right. PMSL

I left about ten and numbers had dwindled. And it was feffing cold once the sun dropped too!

Nice to have met everyone. Thank you.

Tim

Are you looking to have a test ride?

Is that a euphemism for something..? ;-)

Ummm... More seriously, yes hoping to try one out, because I am drawn by the tales of their sturdy ways. And also hear the pitfalls and problems too - go in with yer eyes wide open, I say.

I would have asked for some advice on sorting out my old bike too but I twazzed it up the other night and I'm on the missus spare one cos all mine are now injured. So that'll have to be another day.

Better get leaving work if I'm getting there by 7. ;-)

The reason it matters is that this sort of crap is the kind of justification that the idiots in Whitehall use to curtail our freedoms.

OK, it's actually the opposite way round this time, so he's arguing against helmets, so no freedoms curtailed as yet. But I'm objecting to this kind of rubbish science of basic principal.

The police have rushed through all this anti-terror legislation "to keep us all safer" when actuall all they are using it for is to bring back the stop-and-search powers they lost because of all the misuse of them that happened in the seventies. They're using it to have sniffer-dogs in Vauxhall tube at ten o'clock on Friday night. Popular time for terrorists transporting semtex? Or just looking for a few pills in a clubber's pockets.

I can't help that this effectively isn't a free country anymore - if it ever was. But at least if decisions are being made that concern my life, then on basic principal, I want REAL facts and information being used to make the decisions, not complete rubbish.

Why? You want helmet wearing to be mandatory? Fuck that. You want to to wear a helmet? Go ahead, no one's stopping you. Like everything in life, assess your risks and act accordingly. I'm sure there are some cyclists that probably should be forced to wear helmets (actually it would be better if they learned how to ride better and improved their awareness of things around them) but I'm getting severely pissed off with the constant introduction of legislation in this country to cater for the lowest common denominator of fuckwit.

No, I'm not saying that. Did you read what I wrote? Did you read what he wrote? None of it had anything to do with what you just said. I'm assuming you didn't read the article. I don't give a stuff about legislation or not, or whether people wear helmets or not. Until it's legislated, it's personal choice.

I'm angry because this is bad science of the worst sort. I'm angry because his conclusions are full of more holes than Swiss cheese and he's hoping people will actually treat his paper with reverance, when it's just rubbish science.

Judo, ju-jitsu, or probably aikido for pure style would be good places to think about. Learn to fall, learn to make things fall. It's a win-win.

who's in tonight?

I have a well early meeting tomorrow, someone has to remind me not to get hammered.

I'll be making my first appearance tonight. Probably about 7pm. I'm hoping someone with a Charge Plug, preferably large frame, will be there. Hillbilly I believe is the man to look out for. All tips on a new bike gratefully received.

And I'll remind you that you asked to be reminded not to get hammered tricity. ;-)