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Although I will NOT be making one of these stupid things as my next build project.

Hey Ollie. I've ben out of cycling for a while - I screwed my back and cycling was making it worse, so I had to knock it on the head completely for more than a couple of years.

But I'm BACK! With a new set of TwinRails on order for my trusty Charge, I'll be back on a fixie by next week!! :-)

A weight-weenie's worst nightmare, as a perfectly decent high street hybrid becomes a freakish mutant creature, made using springs instead of tubing.

(Posted for its comedy value only).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N39uwTykTQk

A friend of mine posted this to Facebook 4 hrs ago...

"Just missed seeing an accident at back of St. Pancras / Kings Cross bridges. Cyclist lying on the ground, bike bent up. Definitely just missed it as the traffic is backed up but not by much. Cyclist was talking to people standing around so I'm hoping it's OK. Feeling shaken and not like getting on my bike anytime soon..."

I asked the exact location and she described it as:

"Under the bridge on St Pancras Road, corner of Midland Road, behind St Pancras stn."

She also added, "By the way, car drivers. If traffic is stopped and not going anywhere, using your horn is unnecessary. There could be someone lying in the road in front of you, like there is now."

I haven't been to the site in ages - everything bike-related has been put on hold due to buying an old house needing a lot of love and so I've become a builder in my spare time. However, entirely by accident, I found this collection of frankly bizarre bicycles created by Italian designer Gianluca Gimini whilst searching for something completely different and I thought it needed to be shared somewhere.

He asked people to draw a bicyle from memory - and then turned a number of those drawings into actual bikes. They're not all entirely structurally sound and some look a little uncomfortable to ride, but it's a thought-provoking set of designs and well worth a browse. Enjoy.

http://www.designboom.com/design/gianluca-gimini-velocipedia-bike-design-collection-04-08-2016/

The site's changed a lot in look, but the general categories seem the same, so I'm just posting this under General - please move if it belongs elsewhere.

@Ttazz That looks like my dream bike...

http://www.treehugger.com/slideshows/cars/10-mind-blowing-bike-hacks/page/6/#slide-top

This.

Words fail me...

Thanks Scilly Suffolk. What is the CP thread?

So... with ALMOST as much speed as Chainbreaker's super-light-super-safe build (has that been resolved yet, btw?) this bike is now rideable! Pictures to follow this weekend.

Well, when I say "rideable, what I mean is it doesn't actually have any brakes yet - so at the moment it definitely goes, it just doesn't stop. But that's progress though, right?

I mean, I did buy brakes - along with square-end cables and white outers, but here in Vintage Bike Rebuild Hell where NOTHING fits, I ran into the problem that neither of the calipers will fit through the drill holes in the frame or forks. It seems that old brakes used one long bolt with a standard nut on the end. These modern brakes have a shorter bolt which meets with an insert nut that sits inside the frame - except it doesn't, because the nut-side hole isn't large enough to accept it. Leaving me with the next questions in the list of things to either modify or buy retro components for is:

Do I drill out the frame hole to accept the insert nut, and risk finding that there is some other problem waiting for me in this never-ending nightmare from which I just cannot wake?
Do I try to change the bolt in the modern brakes out for something longer, cut it to length and fit a standard nut to the end?
Could I find a beautiful retro brake set, for which I won't have to sell a kidney?
Or do I just capitulate and put the original El Crappo brake calipers back on for now, until we can find something better?

If I am buying another brake set, I could really do with one of those upside-down rear brakes (because of the mixte frame, the brake cable arrives at the caliper from beneath not above as normal). Anyone have any idea if I can buy a modern replacement for one of these?

6 in 14 days. One would have been too many. This is absolutely appalling.

RIP you poor man, and condolences to his friends and family.

Isn't it 9 in 14 days? This is just awful.

RIP cyclist.

Ride safe everybody.

Original interested party has dropped out. Any other takers before I put the bike on eBay? I'm stranded out in Oxford, so I'd love an excuse to drop into beers in London one night.

any pics of the rear spacing?

On Dave's mum? Hang on, I'll see what I can find...

marketing?

Archaeology. I figured something that taught me to treat rusted old relics as treasure would be useful as a bike nut. ;-)

Can I try before I buy?

Dave's mum? You're a brave man... ;-)

My mate Dave's mum was featured in Readers Wives in 1976* and due to the expense of my forthcoming university course, I am forced to sell my extensive collection of her naughtiest photos. This is a must for the discerning connoiseur of tacky mid-70's British "erotica".

Not only that, but for a limited time only, this red hot offer ALSO comes with a FREE Kona Paddywagon (53cm)!!

/attachments/73959

About a year old. Cromoly butted steel frame. FSA Tempo chainset. Flip-flop rear hub with the standard OTP 42x16 gearing. Tough wheelset comprising TunnelTop rims on Kona hubs. It will make the PERFECT companion to your set of faded magazine clippings and grubby, well-fingered polaroids.

All this can be YOURS for just £220. So don't delay, buy today!

*This part is actually true.

So, 10 months after the last post (bike projects move like glaciers in my house) we have the bike back from the powder coating people.

So here's what the pieces currently look like...
/attachments/73817

So....

HAS this been resolved yet?

I give no weight to the clothing, I didn't see the accident happen. It was just an afterthought in case someone uses the rider down threads to look at stuff like percentages of hi-viz vs low-viz in accidents at a later date. It was intended as a statement of fact about the rider's equipment and the conditions, no blame attached.

That post had been deleted now, because it bordered on conjecture. Probably best to leave it that way.

This was at approx 3.30pm today. FWIW, he had no helmet, was dressed in black on a dark bike, and it's a dull, poor visibility day today. Not saying they were contributory factors, it's just that someone may compile statistics on these things at a later date.

Passing in a car, so I have few details. Rider down, man, about 30, riding a an old MTB. Seen standing on the corner of a side road off Victoria Street opposite the DTI building. He was holding a hankie to a cut above the left eye, delivery van stopped halfway across the corner.

Looked like a left hook resulting in a fall and head injury. Seemed to have JUST happened, no emergency services yet. Rider was mobile and standing, so hopefully it just needed a couple of stitches.

Have been following this in the news. It's so tragic. The exact circumstances will come out when it goes to court and I'd expect the driver to plead guilty. But none of that will change what has happened.

Condolences to this couple's family and friends.

As opposed to Alfie bashing open its back doors, of course.

I'm stuck in London until after rush hour (cheap day return ticket), so looks like I have a couple of hours to kill at least. Anyone hitting the pub early-doors?

My first thought when I saw the Twheels was for fatbikes/offroad. Doubt they would work for racing, as you say.

Nice one, thanks DJ.

Those airless tyres are pretty interesting. But they are still just fitted to standard spoked wheels though, which seems to me to be a bit of a halfway-house and misses a lot of the possible shock absorbtion benefits. The tyres on that army vehicle had several inches of deformity available to them, which I would have thought would be much more useful. Smaller wheels, at maybe a 20" diameter with really deep honeycomb airless tyres several inches thick - that's what I would want to see.

Mind you, bicycle tyres can't use the same kind of flat profile that car tyres use though, so maybe it wouldn't work for cyclists. :-(