coldel

So why is it that countries across the rest of Europe, who arguably each have more cyclists than here, do not need to wear lycra? I would say one reason is because they are not on a time trial when cycling to work and do not sweat profusely and thus do not need the outfit. We seem to have gone cycling crazy here, which is not a bad thing as we can see we are successful in the sport. But most people commuting seem to have the wrong equipment i.e. using crouched down time trial or fast road bikes vs when I lived in France and the like the people commuting to work across capital cities cycled slower, had more upright bikes and generally made their journey safer for themselves.

Looks like a rain free day, no stress.

It was an interesting point made above, that cyclists are also motorcyclists yet behave differently on each vehicle despite it being the same person. Clearly there is a mentality thing that with certain people turns them from sensible motorcyclists to cyclists with a chip on their shoulder. I guess I get an exacerbated negative view of cyclists living in London, I am going to generalise and say at least three quarters are mild mannered people when on foot but turn into Tour de France wannabes the second they strap on all that completely unnecessary lycra (seriously you are not going to shave three tenths of a second off your commute time to work by shaving your legs and wearing unsightly outfits with Team Sky written on them) and try to race as fast as possible to work. There is something competitive about it that shouldnt be there, imagine if every car and motorbike driver drove with the same approach, stick on a one piece flame proof suit, helmet, gear up and absolutely push the car/motorbike to the limit to catch those cyclists and show them its quicker using my form of transport...

Not been written yet and hate to be the protocol man but: All the usual rules apply in short though... Remember you are representing 350z-uk, bad behaviour is not tolerated at any meet Its a public place and should be treated with respect so no stupid behaviour such as doughnuts/wheel spinning out the car park or the like, leave that to silly boys outside Ace Cafe Et cetera et cetera

How many cyclists actually have lights on in the dark? 50% at most? What astounds me is that cyclists always raise the point that they have no protection etc. Yet behave in a way that minimizes their chances of staying safe. Dark clothing, undertaking, drafting cars inches behind, weaving in and out of traffic, not using lights, rapidly changing position behind a car to try and get through - Cyclists can take a really pro-active step to ensuring road use is safer, by putting their own safety at a higher priority than beating the traffic. They cant account for an idiot in a car doing something stupid, but they can stop the ridiculous 'racing' mentality you see in traffic in London.

Hurrah good numbers - maybe make double figures, anyone?

Is that PlastX? I bought a bottle of that off ebay for about £8 - does come up nice!

Gave the engine bay a tidy up over the weekend too - just need to get home tomorrow, clean her quick, then dash over Cobham way!

Actually ended up stopping at these services over the weekend, should be easy enough to get parked up, its huge! Hoping the rain holds off though...

S4, M3, Skyline! Loads of 4 seat options out there, I sold my VX220 so I could get a four seater to take my little out in - really is not worth trying to do some conversion on a perfectly good 350z. If you have the money, buy a four seater!

99% of cyclists in London are commuters, not couriers - its really not that big an industry! Having done a fair bit of travelling, you only have to go to Copenhagen or the like where cycling is very common in city centres - the difference? - better roads i.e. cycle lanes - also people cycle to work in their work clothes at a safe reasonable pace, not in a yellow lycra jersey like they are up against a time trial or something.

Mentioning cyclists on a petrol heads forum...! Well we have a slightly biased view of course, I am sure plenty of cycling sites have the same about 'those muppets in sports cars that waste earths resources and take up road space' - but hey!

It goes whhhsshhhh dvssdvsssdvsssss-aaaaa When I first got the car I thought the HKS BoV was a bit over the top, it is loud, but it certainly does the job and I have really come around to the sound - it just lets you and everyone know that its all ok, all that compressed air has been safely released back into our lovely atmosphere with a bit of theatre and sound! The sound on the car is pretty good, you got the 2.5L engine, but then the turbo noise which is much louder than its modern compatriots, then the BoV valve and the exhaust+decat - certainly gets heads turning 100 yards up the road!

Voice of relative reason. You should live in London mate, upper richmond road in putney (somewhat bizarrely) is one of the routes dear Boris decided most cyclists should take in and out of London, without a cycle lane introduced. More cycles use that road than cars literally pelatons of them. There are about five sets of pedestrian lights along the road that NONE of the cyclists stop at, its as if mob mentality has ensued and because one fat overweight bank manager in lycra has jumped all the lights everyone else does. I remember once actually being at one set of lights and being utterly astonished that some cyclists had stopped at a red, only to then noticed further down about 30+ cyclists all being queued up by coppers and having their details taken Drivers can be stupid and miss bikes in mirrors and the like, but thats no trade off for deliberately going through dozens of red lights and ignoring roundabout procedures. I would also bet my bottom dollar a higher percentage of cyclists jump lights than drivers speed. I remember being on my bike and just being embarrassed that when I gave way to a car or something equally 'car like' that cars suddenly gave me loads of room and got thumbs up and smiles, that as a cyclist I was in the minority that took other cars seriously and followed the basics of road laws.

There in is the problem, most drivers obey the rules mostly, most cyclists don't, mostly. I am no model driver, I am sure most of us aren't but you can see those cyclists that do stick within the law must hate knowing that the big majority that take the pi$$ just end up tarring them all with a brush. I'd say get out on a bike and see how many drivers are considerate.... On anyone journey I will have multiple incidents with cars not looking beyond me the cyclist and just wanting to make progress regardless. I've had cars try to over take me when I'm positioned to overtake a stationary bus dropping passengers with cars coming the other way. That particular numpty had to apologise when he parked up at his place of work only to find me leaving the bike shed. Even as a solo cyclist you will have encounters with drivers who think you shouldn't be on the public highway. I have been out on a bike, I used to have a Scott CR2, used it to cycle 2k miles across France and used it a lot around Putney/Richmond etc before selling it. If cars undertook, cut up, didn't look more than ten yards ahead of themselves etc as much as cyclists do in general there would be x10 more fatalities on the road than we see now. Some drivers are dopey in that they might make bad decisions in moving traffic, however, a red light is a red light, giving way to the right is giving way to the right, really simple obvious stuff which cyclists seem to have decided are not applicable to them - start obeying the rules such as this and you might find cars are less likely to want to 'get that place back' which most cyclists complain about.

Fine when moving and heating when stationary would to me shout fan problems - are they kicking in? I am sure one of our resident experts will be on this thread shortly though!

There in is the problem, most drivers obey the rules mostly, most cyclists don't, mostly. I am no model driver, I am sure most of us aren't but you can see those cyclists that do stick within the law must hate knowing that the big majority that take the pi$$ just end up tarring them all with a brush.

Buy a 350GT? Someone linked a 350z for sale with four seat conversion on it some time ago, it looked pretty poor.

A very sunday job, cleaning up the engine bay a bit. Also been checking the oil since purchase 3 months back as these older engines you never know, checked today...not a drop gone since I did an oil change a couple of months back Anyway, some engine bay bling...

Same thing happened today! Two cars turning right, I was the second one, guy on a bike cycled at the car in front and last minute slowed almost to a stop then tried to edge out in between me and the other car turning right at the roundabout, what on earth is wrong with these people! They got a death wish? Or are they people that have never sat a driving test and do not understand the rules of the road (possibly option 2?).

Gear knob posts always go that way, weight and shape over length every day mate!

Depends on the car - many cat D VX220s out there simply because of a broken panel in a 5mph crash. Cars can get written off easily.

*Sold*

Had this kicking around for a while now in my parts cupboard, not going to install it on the R33 so offering it up to you lucky guys. I fitted something similar to my Zed, involves cutting the stitching off the handbrake and peeling back the leather OEM cover then sliding this on. Not as scary as you might think, but great upgrade on the standard skinny handbrake. £25 delivered.

Nice one - did he machine polish it?