-
Jeezus, you're not joking. Had a click through, that's a lot of expensive carbon to have in one house.
02096 strange tel no. too.
If anyone lost a TT bike, one dodgy guy is selling many high end (all the same number, email and location). Probably 20k TT bike for 1 guy in whitechapel....doesn't sound right especially when all the ads have been removed very quickly less than 24h later (so google cache link):
And I know that i missed few, can be a simple scam but few bike have the same background. They all appear on BikeHD.
-
Out of curiosity, if I find it at a market, do I ring the police and try to get them to come down?
There are usually police patrolling nearby, also Market Inspectors carrying radios and in marked tabards or similar.
If you see your bike, say nothing, but quickly locate a MI or cop. A fruit seller or someone like that should have the number of the market inspectors, and the MIs have the numbers of the nearest cops. Bethnal Green cop-shop is open on Sundays, and is active on bikes.
All this assumes you can prove the bike is yours. If you can't (no folded piece of paper down the seat-tube), then you'll have to bluff. No sellers in street markets like to see cops on their stall, and it makes little difference if the police take the bike until ownership is proved, or the seller gives it back to you, EXCEPT, if the same vendor is having the same problem on his stall every couple of weeks, the police will have a serious word with him about 'receiving stolen goods'.
Without proof you can ask quietly for your bike back, or loudly cuss and do your nut, depending on what you think will work. If the vendor is trying to sell your bike, be loud. The buyer will do one. If you think the vendor will do a runner, try and lock up the bike. Under some circumstances that should be the first thing you should do - sometimes at BL sellers stand some distance away from a hot bike, so they can't be implicated in case of trouble.
At Brick Lane you have to reach early - you see the dirtbags in the cage there stripping down frames and playing 'mix and match' from 8am.
-
Hey, do you know where your Brompton is?
-
I guess I'm typical, not checking the stolen bikes thread until something happens that impacts me. I'm doing the rounds of the law etc, trying to see if someone is looking for this Aeron - good luck for them, bad luck for me.
Seems that just as the number of regular cyclists on the road inhaling the lovely motor fumes has shot up, so has the number (or work rate) of the thieves. The cops are overwhelmed, and still have Jimmy Savile's activities and blood and guts stuff to contend with.
The Victoria Park/canal scenario has been going on for decades. A small mob of kids, often gypsies (and all under the age of criminal responsibility, natch), will just rush you. Society in London is such that you have little hope of help from fellow cyclists.
You have to be very alert, very strong and very ruthless to hold onto your bike. When it happened to my mate (female) years ago, we worked out that you have to really see them coming, sprint to string them out, and really launch the first one to reach you. Then if you are still encircled, see if you can drop the biggest one of them. That makes the little rats hesitate.
Don't forget your lock and bike can be weapons in themselves, and cycle shoes are stiff and tough.
If they have screwdrivers, blades or whatever, I'd let it go. These kids know no anatomy and might stab you somewhere vital.
The area is not recommended for female cyclists once dusk has fallen.
Are there any app developers on the board who are interested in devising a stolen bike app? I'd love to be able to see a long parade of bike pics scrolling across an Xphone screen when I'm at a car boot or similar. Sure cops would too.
P.S.: The picture of the Kona Smoke is heart-breaking for some reason. I'd *never *leave it at a train station.
-
A fortnight ago I bought an Aeron in Deptford (London SE8) in good faith, and but I'm not happy about its provenance any more (coppithat gave me a heads-up). I don't need the bad karma.
I've googled it, no dice. Nothing directly in this thread either. Will check with Mr Plod, registers, cycle Task Force. If you know anyone that has lost an Aeron bike recently, tell them to email alldatstrakATgooglemail.com with a proper description. It hasn't been disguised.
Profit on stolen bikes isn't all that, so what's going on? Good explanation here:
http://blog.priceonomics.com/post/30393216796/what-happens-to-stolen-bicycles
Digest: Stealing bikes is pretty risk-free, and a risk-free profit... is pure profit. -
So the drivers are forced to lie that they have already dropped off their last passenger so they can get another job and make some money.
This is incorrect, as AL use reasonably sophisticated auto-allocate software. It is possible to cheat the system, but not in the way that you describe, as the software relies on GPS location to allocate work, ie you might clear the job before you're actually clear, but you still won't be close enough to the next job to be allocated to it.
Bill, I know well that this is all stuff you know about, but I did hear that AL jobs are often taken by the 'first responder' who is on the patch. Perhaps that is out-of-date, or just crap, I can't say I heard it direct from a driver. Is it possible there is still a scramble even with the GPS system if several cars are within radius?
Sad to hear that AL are just the best-known PHC exploiters rather than the worst.
Directors sitting at boardroom tables shiny with the sweat and blood of others. Still AL do deserve to be picked with Griffin coming out with the old 'we pay road tax, so cyclists should shut it'.
John Griffin's response to criticism included this R4 news feature.
Drag to 0:16:22
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01gd4ly
With added Pussy Riot and Russian cussing! -
AL most definitely mug off their employees (who are not in fact regarded as employees). Victims?
Here's some background:
Addison Lee is a proper unprincipled scam operation. They don't make their money from fares, they make it from all the rentals they force on their cabbies. Skint Naija boys, Polish guys, Bangladeshi boys who don't have a decent motor of their own reckon that they can make some money working for them as they seem to be a class outfit. They don't find out the bad news until they have coughed up and are in a hole. Seriously, you need to work 60 hrs a week. If you work 50 hrs you won't break even as fuel and AL fees will top £350 a week.
Fair enough AL set the fares, but how come the drivers are then 'self-employed'? And you get a ban if you turn down a job, but your're lucky to get any jobs, as they overload the circuit with drivers so there are always lots free. Good for picking up passengers fast, but very bad for the drivers who might get two jobs in a shift. So the drivers are forced to lie that they have already dropped off their last passenger so they can get another job and make some money. So they are late to pick you up, and nobody's happy.
Well nobody apart from Addison Lee who make money from the drivers even while they are parked up, and also take percentages of their fares, charge booking fees etc. I've heard from drivers that the longer you work for AL, the more you are trapped, as you can't make enough money to get a car of your own.
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2010/09/how-self-employed-are-addison.html
Bitter comments.http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110328034455AAVeNro
Yep, something that sounds reasoned on yahoo answers.AL head honch Griffin is a major shark, and makes big donations to the Tories. He's hooked up with Boris Johnson too. It's tough to boycott AL cabs, because AL still get their money, but you're making it even tougher for the drivers.
Oh yeah, from a cycling safety point of view, AL don't monitor the working hours of their drivers, as the whole sweatshop system would collapse if they didn't allow their drivers to cover insane hours. So in addition to talking crap, Griffin is an icon for exploitative employers everywhere.
The fact that AL drivers may not drive a car regularly, and do not own the vehicle they use for cabbing may also have an effect on their driving style, but not as much of an effect as their desperation.
-
^Good call, Marmoset. I'm on Crossfields also, and will second your suggestion to the Tenants Association.
Driver was arrested, then bailed after handing himself in to the cops, but not before taking all the options a scumbag can think of:
- Leaving the scene
- Driving back to the scene to check how badly he'd f*ked up
- Leaving the scene again
- Abandoning his motor in a side-street and legging it
TJ was a teenager, of Nigerian background, and always on his bike. For cultural reasons, this is pretty unusual. He was truly well-thought of and respected.
To make it clear to those who haven't clicked the links, TJ was crossing Deptford Church Street on the toucan crossing when the car struck him.
I don't know the state of the lights and other details when he was crossing, but it's a dodgy crossing simply because it is in the middle of a straight on a fast dual-carriageway. Drivers don't keep to the limit, and don't look for the lights. Even when they are on red, drivers are reluctant to stop.
It's best to cross there as if you are not actually at an official crossing, and it's dangerous even then.
- Leaving the scene
-
Deptford Church St is at this time closed in both directions. I was trying to reach the High St from my place, and found almost every direction taped off. There were police vehicles and police everywhere. A couple of kids told me that there had been a multi-car pile-up, but when I went the long way round to where the biggest knot of po-po where standing around, I saw a seriously mangled bike lying mid-lane on the southbound side, alongside a lot of debris.
Looked like a hybrid, but it was too wrecked to be sure. Keeping in mind that when cars spin off the (almost straight) road and demolish our wall the cops have the road clear again within 20 mins, this looks bad.
I fear for the state of an unknown rider.
-
I'm not nervous - but that's because I've done DD plenty of times before. i still have to change my forks (Vitus plasticine forks dead), assemble kit and food, check over bike, find some mudguard bolts and reassure myself about the weather. So far today in Deptford it's scuba-diving weather - but I'm not nervous.
Noobs, it's just a long, long ride, not much harder than L2B, because it's flatter overall. Don't worry about doing it alone - you'll never feel alone.
Both my mates have bailed, but so long as it doesn't look as if it's going to bucket down, I'll think of Barry, and do it. I didn't get a good night's sleep, I haven't found my rain jacket, nor my camera, haven't carbo-loaded, bought flapjacks, bananas or chocolate, or charged my lights, and it doesn't look like I'm going to have time to doze this afternoon.
I need help (in general), but in particular, today, please someone, PM me:
Jaitch' number, and the agreed location of the forum van at kick-off.
Missmouse' number or any other Southwark person sorting the SC transport, as I'm taking over my friend's ticket.
The location of the legendary 'other café' that isn't on the beach at Dunwich. I can't take the fry-ups that the Flora dishes out.
Where's the meeting point for the Southside feeder ride?
I don't understand the accuweather chart - does anyone have the latest weather prognosis?
mmmm... tailwind...
If it's dry-ish, I'll be rolling. Say 'hi' when you overtake. I've got fluorescent bar tape on a gorgeous bonded Vitus with black tubes in blocky alloy lugs, with ill-matching red forks.
-
- coppiThat - going
- Oliver Schick - going
- Digger - skidding
- Tiswas - going
- Northern Graeme - racing
- ChainBreaker
- Nelaii - beer, trackstand and skid competition
- Darkpoint - Racing
- Jenny J - racing (brompton)
- Pootsmanuva - going/watching.
- Nishiki_Alien - going (racing if I can hotwire coppi's R100RS)
- coppiThat - going
-
Death by careless driving is usually prison, but probably not enough. Lots of aggravating circumstances there though.
No, a death by careless driving conviction means specifically **not **prison. 'Death by dangerous driving' usually points to prison. 'careless' driving has a lower threshold of proof, and isn't usually worse than a fine and disqualification. Even with the despicable, gutless failure to stop, *and *being uninsured, I can't see this guy going to jail.
Yeah, I know.
-
pascalo +1
Petrie Hosken just used the event of Gary Mason's death as a springboard for an unrelated, poorly-informed rehearsal of the usual tired old anti-cyclist rhetoric: helmets, red lights, bikes on pavements, insurance/road tax, bicycles are anonymous, blah blah. I downloaded the show from here (English version of link)
password here:Update: Gary Mason died of multiple injuries, according to the post-mortem.
The accident took place in the early morning, so he might in fact have been on the way to work. It seems that the driver involved in the accident was arrested, but wasn't actually charged, as was widely reported earlier. The police are still appealing for witnesses. They breath-tested the driver, but are not releasing the results.I have reason to believe that the police are looking at a possible 'death by careless driving' charge, rather than 'death by dangerous driving'. dbcd charge means they don't have to prove that the driver's behaviour would 'obviously' have led to an accident. However, nobody gets locked up for being convicted of 'careless' driving. A dangerous driving conviction can easily see the driver locked up.
The junction is known to be dangerous. Sutton Council bid for funding to improve it in 2009, but TFL turned them down. Looking at that junction, the winning boroughs must have bid for sites where road users/pedestrians were being mowed down daily.
Disturbing press photo. Gary's bike at the scene, 6/1/11. here:
Photo from Sutton Guardian.A contact told me that the driver may use Gary Mason's visibility as a mitigating circumstance, as the accident took place well before sunrise (8.04am on 6/1/11).
Whatever happens in the legal arena, I'm still gutted by this. I could only feel worse if it was a FM, or someone I knew personally. Perhaps it's because I'm Southside, and he was 'South London forever', or maybe because I liked the way he had an unglamorous barrel-shaped torso, but was a great boxer.
-
I'm in that area, and I've asked a couple of people. None of them has heard anything - hopefully it's more a case of 'bicycle down' than 'rider down'. I don't hate bendy buses as much as some other cyclists seem to... The driver has a fantastic field of view in front, and doesn't have a thing to do while moving except drive and watch the traffic.
-
still the same dodgy types on brick lane
was there sunday morning
good news is that the quality of the stuff they are selling now is crap
they are obviously feeling the long arm of the law
just selling tat now
try west africa
lots of stolen stuff gets chucked in shipping containers and transported to west africa
mercs bmw's and bikes mobile phones etcOne solid point amongst several wild and ill-informed statements. Give me a break. Think before you post, and post what you actually know about. Where did you hear about stolen bicycles being sent to West Africa as a major destination? You're just talking prejudiced, generalising nonsense. There is no real cycling scene in any West African country, as due to road conditions, they are either toys for children to ride around the compound in, or heavy-duty Chinese roadsters, used for village tasks.
Nor is West Africa a major destination for stolen Mercs and BMWs. For one thing, the steering is on the wrong side, and it is generally illegal to drive cars that are not left-hand drive in most of these countries. Some older vehicles **are **stolen in the UK and sent to Lagos or Takoradi for parts, but they are mostly commercial and passenger vehicles.
Mobile phones? No, also usually bought singly, and you won't find many in shipping containers. You can travel by passenger plane to West Africa (as well as Eastern Europe etc) nowadays, and handsets aren't very heavy.
Back on topic, reasonable quality bikes stolen in London are often sold via eBay, Gumtree and Loot, and tat is sold via street markets/boot fairs, pubs and anywhere. I've done studies on this, and most bikes stolen in London stay in London.
Online is a low-risk way for thieves to convert the hot bikes, and also enables them to get better money for them. Not sure what can be done to stop this - certainly Gumtree etc haven't found a solution. Maybe they could make detailed photos (including frame number) compulsory?
Brick Lane is also quite a bit different now. This time last year you would see a row of teenagers lined up trying to flog their ill-gotten machines on a Sunday morning. Most of the decent bikes on the stalls were similarly suspect, the stallholders had usually just bought them earlier that morning, from earlier-rising kids. They are the 'dodgy types' from a cycling point of view. And of course, the massive numbers of people who want nice bikes, but don't care how they get them.
Over the last few months, the BL scene has changed. The availability of hot bikes there has fallen dramatically, because the police have been really giving the tiefs a hard time. Boris Johnson's Cycle Task Force and coppers from Bethnal Green Police station have been seriously patrolling the Sunday market, and they include some officers who know one end of a bike from another, and what one might be worth. They have even been stopping shoppers just walking through the market wheeling their bikes, if they don't like the fit between bike and rider. If you can't tell them anything about your bike, or you start talking crap when they relay the frame number on the radio, then they just take it off you. They know only a legit owner can fight them on this right down to the wire, or will turn up to reclaim it.
On the one hand, the police are definitely taking bike theft more seriously, but on the other, bicycles are very susceptible to theft, and cycling has been getting more popular in London over the last few years.
-
Gary Mason was not a sport cyclist, commuter or politically into it, but he rode a bike to get around simply and easily, and to help keep his big frame at least reasonably fit. As good a reason as any.
I can remember when Gary Mason was an active boxer, and I hope none of you mind that I've pasted here a few words I wrote about him to send to various friends who hadn't heard the sad news. It seemed to me a bit better than getting into a strop yet again about the carelessness and selfishness of some drivers, car domination of the roads, our poor cycling facilities compared with other Northern European countries, blah blah.
Remember Gary Mason
On Thursday Jan 6th, ex-boxer and ex-British Heavyweight champion Gary Mason got squashed on the street by one of those little Vauxhall Combo vans the white van guys like. He was riding a bike along the road in Wallington, Croydon. Don't be fooled by news reports that 'he was in collision with a van', the driver hit him, and he died at the scene. The van driver was arrested on the spot and charged with causing death by careless driving, and later bailed.
Gary was a top South London boy and a nice guy, but under-rated as a boxer. Experts describe him as a solidly-built 'banger' with two knockout hands, rather than a stylist, and he was respected for his bravery and heart. He was able to take it as well as hand it out. He was the British Heavyweight champ for a few years, a clean and good technical fighter. Not too exciting until his jab had done the business for a round or two. He had heavy hands and you could depend on him to knock mothas out. You can't ask much more of a boxer. He often finished with a one-two left-hook, right-cross combination that his opponent saw coming, but couldn't do anything about, as he was usually so close he was practically inside their shorts. He certainly would have hammered Frank Bruno to the canvas - which is why Terry Lawless made sure they never fought. No arguments from Big Frank either. He and Gary were stablemates and sparred regularly. He knew exactly what would have happened, and his career wouldn't have
profited.Gary Mason only ever lost one fight in his pro career, a TKO when he challenged Lennox Lewis for the European heavyweight title. He was severely hampered by repeated eye problems, before this fight and during it. Even then, Lewis complained that it was the hardest fight he had had so far. Gary Mason moved to the US and fought twice more after this, winning handily before retiring in 1994, due to a troublesome detached retina in his right eye.
After retirement he tried promoting for a while and also briefly played professional rugby. He was also a popular and knowledgeable boxing pundit for Sky Sports, but he dropped an f-bomb live on air, and lost the gig. His real problem after his career was that he was an open, friendly guy, who made some dodgy mates who really rinsed his wallet out, and left him with nothing after all his hard work. At one low point he was homeless, jobless and broke.
And he did do some hard work. He beat several decent Americans in the ring, including Tyrell Biggs. Mason finished with a record of 37-1, 34 by KO! Gary Mason wasn't glamorous, and he never fought for the world title. He did his job, and people should remember that he did it well. I certainly will.
Ola Onatade
7/1/2010Gary Mason's era here:
http://fightfranchise.com/gary_mason.html -
120 miles on an almost brand new Brooks was also not a great idea, though not unbearable.
Did anyone else see a man jogging barefoot at around 3am in the middle of nowhere in Suffolk? May have been a hallucination, but I'm pretty sure I did.
Mmmm... Brooks broken-in to one's own bottom. That's not the lightest, but the best. I offered the big-guy-on-a-Brompton a swap for his proper vintage Brooks wool jersey with button pockets, but I think he wisely noted that we were several sizes apart.
The jogging man might possibly have been 'man with dog'. He kept giving the dog (and his legs) a break from his cargo bike, and each time the dog seemed to notice some rabbits or summat, and he had to run and look for it.
That coach pic says it all :-)
I'm not sure I'd do it again. The bicycle is not a sensible mode of transport for going 112 miles.
NiallI strongly disagree. This ride shows that such a distance is easily feasible for mere human beings. Bikes are quiet, affordable, discreet, fume-free* portable and relatively light-weight and safe. Since they were invented, they have been a nice, independent way for people to enjoy the countryside without disrupting it too much or spoiling it for other people. And your bike uses the same fuel that you do. Imagine doing that kind of route at that time of night on motorcycles, or with the Mini Club UK or something. Then you would hear about complaints.
If all you know about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunwich is the ride, it used to be a very important place, back in medieval times - a big port big enough to have up to 18 churches before it all fell into the sea.
The Heathland, the ruined priory in the run down to the sea and other historical and/or beautiful parts are also well worth exploring, if you make the time/your legs permit. There is currently a project to reveal the 'lost' city with high-tech underwater cameras. You can also walk a very long way on the beach in either direction.
My infant 'DD18 Long Ride Report' thread's been deleted, so I'm going to post my long and boring ride report here. Sorry. I did try to keep it out of the way. Please pm me anyone, if you know what breach I committed that got it pulled, cheers.
*damo excepted
-
Coach pic definitely not posed. Two of my hairs are in that shot. While you're rolling, if there were an extra fifteen miles you wouldn't notice. In fact some people went off course and did do miles and miles extra. But by the time you reach the beach and your body realises there's no more pedalling to do, it shuts down, and there ain't too much you can do about it*. When we got off the coach at Smithfield, you could see that every single window had a big greasy smudge on it from the hair of someone's slumped head resting on it.
@lynx: bike van was bulging, and some bikes were carried in the cargo section under the coach. A major part of the operation was the patience with which TSK and certain holy others bubble-wrapped and slotted the bikes together into the van. Even with the coach cargo space it was a very close thing. And there were empty seats on the coach (from DNS people, I guess)!
@Oliver: Trevor told me he was turning off because he planned to do some 'wild camping'. He probably has a lever that converts his Zzipper fairing into camouflage netting that stretches over the his BikeE.
**Long Ride Reports
**http://www.lfgss.com/thread47883.html#post1547489If you have a long ride report, but are a bit shy about putting the full whack into the main DD thread, then please put it here. If you have more to say than just shout-outs to other forumengers, e.g. gobby stuff to say about:
- what you experienced
- how you felt
- what you ate
- what you saw
- your pre-ride prep (or lack thereof)
- your bike
- your kit
- your pics
- if you could ever imagine managing London-Dunwich-London
- strange Essex people - what's up with them?
Feel free to put a link for your opus in the main DD thread, so anyone interested can hop over and have a look.
If you've already posted a report here, like Clefty or Bluequinn, you can repost or make an extended remix in the new thread. We'll read it again!
No, I haven't posted my own report yet...
*Unless you're made of carbon, steel, ally, Digger, FridayMarch26th, Archie's Grobags or similar material.
- what you experienced
-
If you have a long ride report, but are a bit shy about putting the full whack into the main DD thread, then please put it here. If you have more to say than just shout-outs to other forumengers, e.g. gobby stuff to say about:
- what you experienced
- how you felt
- what you ate
- what you saw
- your pre-ride prep (or lack thereof)
- your bike
- your pics
- if you could ever imagine managing London-Dunwich-London
- strange Essex people
Feel free to put a link for your opus in the main DD thread, so anyone interested can hop over and have a look.
- what you experienced
-
Props to **Velocio **and TSK, organisation was fantastic (my own fault I didn't hook up with forumengers at the start, and also missed dumping stuff with van - caught up with it at Sudbury). I'd call it basically flawless arranging, mainly because TSK cared enough to phone me to call me to the coach while me and Debs (yellow jacket in coach pic) were slumped across one of the caff benches.
Any event where you get to put faces to forum names is good, let alone the legendary dynamo, the main annual ride for Londoners who think they know one end of a bike from the other. Big ups also to **Digger **and the rest lounging around the LFGSS van, a friendly lot youse is.
I may post a ride report and a few observations, mainly because other people may think mine's crap, and write better ones, and I actually enjoy reading them. I'm really interested in some of the stories of people who went off course, as very many people on the ride took wrong turns, and some didn't seem to come back, that I saw.
Maybe in a couple of years' time, most people on the ride will be Google Latituded, and Google will send you an automated text ["Wake up, you dozy sod!"] as soon as Latitude can determine that you are off-course according to a standard route plotted on Google Maps...
-
I don't need it, I'm on the forum coach, but have some rep for bothering to post it! Nice one.
-
Allez frame cracked, so I need another modern Al frame that will only last five minutes.
I'm looking for a lightweight road frame for hanging my geared bits on - alloy, carbon forks etc. I've already got plenty of steel. Around 60cm. Bare, half-built or complete bike considered. 700c only, to take 9-spd bits. Paint job not important, but frame must be straight and undamaged. None of yer tat, ta.
Also,
Shimano 9-spd brake/gear shifters.27" tyres - anything smaller than 27x1/1/4. For a different project.
You can reach me on alldatstrakATTgooglemailDOTTcom, feel free to put even a non-forum mate in touch, I'm not having much luck so far.
Cheers and thanks for reading.
-
=== LFGSS COACH LIST ===
- Velocio (PAID)
- Clefty (PAID)
- joe smith (PAID)
- CG (PAID)
- S/J (PAID)
- Bombadil (PAID)
- BrianClose
- emab
- FridayMarch26th (PAID)
- polowannabe
- conker (PAID)
- Marco (PAID)
- allensea
- dicki
- Digger (PAID)
- middleofnowhere (PAID)
- K-Dog
- leifal (PAID)
- braker
- BlueQuinn (PAID)
- jcgarcia (PAID)
- Tiswas (PAID)
- Ziska (PAID)
- Crumb (PAID)
- spagettihoops (PAID)
- skiver (PAID)
- mo_mo (PAID)
- bobby dids (PAID)
- dimi3 (PAID)
- betty (PAID)
- Rossi75 (PAID)
- StupidPony (PAID)
- Dropout (PAID)
- Multi Grooves
- Nishiki_Alien (PAID)
- Nishiki_Alien + 1 (PAID)
- tika (PAID)
- *FRANK (PAID)
- theAHi (PAID)
- skydancer (PAID)
- fluff
- 3stripe
- 3stripe + 1
- bobbywomb
- jamiedawsonyoung (PAID)
- jamiedawsonyoung + 1 (PAID)
- diapo
- Socialamnesia (PAID)
- Socialamnesia +1 (PAID)
=== COACH IS NOW FULL ===
=== STANDBY LIST BELOW THIS LINE === - jenny j
=== MAKING THEIR OWN WAY BACK ===
damo
Clever Pun
dee-bee-one
mjs110 (if it's not raining, ipswich)
6pt
Branwen
Samuelson
pascalo
steves
Northern Graeme - Velocio (PAID)
-
Not cobblers. I've done DD several times, and visibility depends a lot on the weather, and how close the ride night is to the actual full moon. On a clear night with a proper full moon, you'll be ok if your front light just throws some sort of a beam. I've seen plenty of people riding by the light of their mate's lights. Not ideal, but people do it...
I agree with moth that not many hi-power lights can last 6 hours on continuous burn, either. On top of that, when they are in full effect, some of them are so powerful that they can actually annoy other riders.
I'm using any old full-size LED rear, and a decent LED front, and packing one set of spare batteries. Most LED rears are plenty bright enough. The most dangerous part is leaving town on a Saturday night in traffic, and that's the lighting I normally use in London night-riding.
Not too sure about being a cyclist and not having any lights you can lay your hands on. Strange philosophy. You can get a (LED) beam front and rear LED from Tescos, or any boot fair for not much more than inner-tube money.
As others have said, a beam is important for map-reading, sign reading, repairs, seeing the ground in the dark, wooded sections. Got to be a beam at the front.
LFGSS
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
Black Brompton thieved from Deptford Market SE8, this morning (Wednesday 28 May).
3-speed
Chrome bell
Folding pedals on both sides
pm CoppiThat if spotted.