So what do we think?

[rtbiscuit]

And cycle lanes in the roads, plenty around here. Probably only on the pavement where the road just isn't justifiable (councils doing it cheap?). To be honest they shouldnt be on pavements at all, only takes a toddler to fall over and an oncoming cyclist will inflict serious damage.

Round near us is very bike friendly, lots of underpasses and cycle paths. But the cycle path is often the pavement like in this photo near us

[gangzoom]

 

I do like this video, but have to say the ending is abit unrealistic....that hill only looks like at the most a 15% gradient, any real cyclist should be able to smash up that without even breaking a sweat

Edited August 16, 2013 by gangzoom

[coldel]

Nice if you got the room on the pavement - most around my way are on the road.

[gangzoom]

Regardless of what you think about cyclists if you admire a 350/370Z you have to at-least understand why some of use like the idea of been able to go fast on the roads with just pedal power...Made from Carbon NanoAlloy (60% stronger than normal Carbon fiber), Carbon wheels, Electronic shifters, Asymmetrical frame developed using a wind tunnel, total weight 6.5kg....Oh at £9.5K it's worth more than most 350Zs (unfortunately not my daily ride )

 

Edited August 16, 2013 by gangzoom

[StevoD]

you dont know cyclists till youve been to cambridge and im guessing oxford

 

id say 70% of thing on the roads are bikes and a large proportion of them are foreigner students who can barely talk English let alone understand road laws so they just cycle when and where they want, if its into your door as your waiting at red lights so be it, if its the wrong way down a one way street in the middle of the road so be it, No reg No Insurance so any damage cant be traced.

 

Three most anothing cyclists are the above foreigner confusers , The race pack bread and the Hipster fixxie bike brigade (see video)

 

 

Dont tax bike just make them so they have to be registered and insured and have a tax disc/inspection disc to state if its road worthy

 

Edited August 16, 2013 by StevoD

[StevoD]

cambridge

 

[docwra]

What a cracking video

[Squee]

I don't mind cyclists not paying VED/emissions tax/road tax/whatever you want to call it. They do pretty much nothing in terms of damage to the roads anyway, and clearly no environmental impact aside from sweaty people in offices at 9am.

 

What I do object to is that they don't have to have insurance. That seems wrong to me, when every other road user without exception (I think) has to have this by law. I don't think it needs to be hundreds of pounds, but there should be something.

 

A couple of weeks ago right outside my house a cyclist slammed into the postman's (stationary) delivery van. Dozy poor b*gger smashed three vertebrae, cheek and collar bone and lost a load of teeth and was in hospital for at least 10 days, could still be in now as far as I know. The police have agreed that it was 100% the cyclists fault and Royal Mail are pursuing him to damage to their van. So maybe if this became common place they might all start getting insurance!

 

S.

[AK350Z]

Just start taxing the cyclists. Maybe bring our tax down a bit

 

Hmmm, we're all in the same basket though aren't we? As 84% of cyclists own cars anyway and all that. I've got 3 bikes and pay over £600 in VED every year, so I think i'm covered. Not to mention cyclists and every other person pay 20% tax every time they buy bike parts/cars/other goods. We all pay enough.

 

I jumped red lights and all that when I was at uni in Bristol, Mostly it was to save time, as in that special way that overtaking people in the car sometimes gets me there 30 seconds faster. Obviously it's pointless in the grand scheme of things, but people still do it, and as a cyclist, you know you can get away with it. Strangely, I didn't always do it, a lot of the time I stopped at the lights like everyone else. It was just down to mood and perceived need I guess.

 

Cycle lanes are too often a fudge, many take you too far out of your way, make it slower to get where you're going, or are blocked by cars or shitting dogs and their owners.

 

The problem with cycling tests etc is that bikes and cyclists are far too numerous to be effectively tracked or monitored, so how would you ever do it cost-effectively?

 

Make me glad to live up here though, cycling is a lot easier!

 

Some interesting points above

 

1. Most cyclists already pay VED, so I agree there shouldnt be a road tax as such, but they should be insured

2. The middle paragraph is typical of most thinking of cyclists (and no dig at you AK) but yes cars over take to grab their 30 seconds back but that doesnt justify cycles going through red lights. Going through a red light is illegal, overtaking is not. Also cycle lanes do sometimes take you out your way, but so do lots of one way systems but as a driver you dont see them going the wrong way around it just to save time. I actually have no problem with a decent standard of cyclist using the road instead of a cycle lane, if they are of a decent standard - unfortunately its the cyclist who cant cycle straight, uses no road sense, undertakes cars and generally is a hazard on the road that drivers have a problem with when there is a perfectly viable cycle lane available. But seriously, not obeying the rules because they 'delay your journey' is not an excuse

3. If there was a financial incentive for enforcement officers to target cyclists to check for test passes/bike IDs etc then it would happen - unfortunately the law is not set up for that so it wont happen. In fact things like dangerous cycling (and subsequently accidents) and bike theft would all be reduced if a concentrated effort was put in

 

 

Certainly i would agree to cyclist insurance, especially if it worked the same way as car insurance where you can get personal injury and theft protection (And breakdown???) all rolled into one policy. House insurance just isn't intended to cover multiple bikes worth several thousands of pounds, and it's nearly impossible to find one that covers you. I don't know why the idea isn't being pushed by the insurance industry more!

 

I can't pretend to have much city cycling experience these days. It's 10 years since I was commuting in Bristol, and that was known as quite a cycling friendly city. I imagine cyclist numbers have increased by an order of magnitude since then.

 

Don't worry Col, I'm a reformed character now I think a lot of it was down to impetuous youth and all that jazz.

 

If you want to see some cycling that would make even the most nobbish cam-equipped commuter blush, I can recommend Lucas Brunelles Line Of Sight, full film on youtube:

 

[rtbiscuit]

I watched the first 12 min of that ak. Its like deathrace on bikes. Very skilled but also very nobbish and in the first 3 min you see people getting it wrong big time. They're the kind of cyclists I like to push ally rods through the front spokes as they cycle past.

[mouthwash]

Interesting comment made by someone on the BBC website:

 

"If VED is indeed a 'pollution tax' then why can you legally own a vehicle, declare it 'off road' run it around a track and not pay the duty? This is a tax for motorised vehicles to use the road network pure and simple!"

[StevoD]

Interesting comment made by someone on the BBC website:

 

"If VED is indeed a 'pollution tax' then why can you legally own a vehicle, declare it 'off road' run it around a track and not pay the duty? This is a tax for motorised vehicles to use the road network pure and simple!"

 

And i think 90% of Track/Race cars run zero emission control, so a very valid point dont see the BTCC or F1 paying for a months VED when they pop over

[rtbiscuit]

Interesting comment made by someone on the BBC website:

 

"If VED is indeed a 'pollution tax' then why can you legally own a vehicle, declare it 'off road' run it around a track and not pay the duty? This is a tax for motorised vehicles to use the road network pure and simple!"

 

And i think 90% of Track/Race cars run zero emission control, so a very valid point dont see the BTCC or F1 paying for a months VED when they pop over

Hadn't thought about that. Could the government be challenged over it?

[Ekona]

Only in the sense that they would then charge people for track cars, which could kill the industry dead here. I would suggest this is one thing we're better off keeping quiet about