2 Wheels Good

World Naked Bike Ride 2009

2009-06-16T13:54:00.001+01:00

Manchester World Naked Bike Ride 2009, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

Last Friday's naked bike ride was fun, even though the Police stopped us and claimed that no-one had told them that Naked meant we'd have no clothes on. More pictures in the Manchester World Naked Bike Ride set

Technorati tag: Cycling

Manchester bike shops

2009-05-22T10:56:00.002+01:00

Most of my bike blogging has now moved to the On Two Wheels blog for the Manchester Evening News. One set of posts I'd like to share here is my ongoing guide to Manchester's bike shops. There's been a lull in posts on the subject but I will get back to it when my routine allows it and the weather improves.

There's also a map of Manchester's bike shops to go with the posts. As you can see, at the moment everything mrked on it is in the city centre or close to a route south from it along Oxford/Wilmslow Road. Again, this is something I'll try to remedy when I can get back out there hunting for other bike shops.

Technorati tag: Cycling

Now I'm On 2 Wheels too

2009-01-07T10:31:00.002Z

Since just before Christmas I've been blogging for the Manchester Evening News at the On Two Wheels blog. My plan for the blog is to do a bit of outreach to pedestrians and drivers as well as reporting cycling news.

Technorati tag: Cycling

Austerity Cycling

2008-11-17T13:26:00.002Z

As credit has been crunched, so sales of bikes have risen, as more and more people catch up with those of us who realised years ago how much could be saved by switching to two wheels.

Technorati tag: Cycling

Manchester's most dangerous cycle routes mapped

2008-10-15T10:24:00.002+01:00

A map has been drawn up of the most dangerous roads in Manchester city centre for cycling. Unsurprisingly, Oxford/Wilmslow Roads are high up the list. Equally unsurprisingly the "blame the victim" mob of commenters are out, trying to say it's all the cyclists' fault because a few of them do dumb things.

Technorati tag: Cycling

I Bike Mcr mini festival next week

2008-10-02T10:48:00.001+01:00

There's another I Bike Manchester mini festival next week. Check out the timetable here.

Technorati tag: Cycling

The bike always wins

2008-09-23T22:30:00.002+01:00

There was a bus-bike-car-train race from Heaton Chapel to Manchester Town Hall last week. As usual, the bike won.

Technorati tag: Cycling

Google Earth and GPS for the Olympic cyclist

2008-09-01T13:07:00.005+01:00

Kristin Armstron, who won the Olympic gold in the Womens' Individual Time Trial used a clever GPS and Google Earth hack to improve her training. Whilst in Beijing last year to check out the course she used her husband's GPS unit to record the time trial course. Back in Idaho she exported the data and plugged it into Google Earth to find the nearest local equivalent route and to get gradient data.

I keep meaning to get a GPS unit for my rides,though I doubt it would make me any faster.

via kottke.org

Technorati tag: Cycling, Olympics

Victoria Pendleton wants safer roads

2008-08-28T22:41:00.004+01:00

Olympic gold medallist Victoria Pendleton has criticised drivers who make her road training dangerous. Why does it take an Olympian speaking out to make this newsworthy- surely it's something that deserves wider coverage as a matter of course- and why am I not surprised by the number of whining idiots in the comments?

In case my reply was too long for the system, here's what I had to say. It's more of a bullet point list than an argument, but, hey-

Working my way backwards through the comments-

Chris- road safety isn't a non-story. It's sad that it takes an Olympic medallist to draw attention to it.

Ace/Once again- if a driver gets close enough to me that I scratch his paint with my pedals I'll be reporting him for dangerous driving rather than handing over any sort of insurance details. And yes, I am insured- third party- through being a member of the CTC.

L L Fontelroy- it isn't my responsibility to pull in to let cars past. It's drivers' responsibility to only go past me when it's safe. Don't blame other people for your dangerous driving. And it takes more brains to ride a bike than drive a car, because you have to second guess the idiotic moves of drivers in order to stay safe.

Mancrider- agree with you completely

Bean B4- so much nonsense in two sentences. Well done.

Technorati tag: Cycling

The world's most prolific bicycle thief

2008-08-26T13:24:00.002+01:00

Toronto bike shop owner Igor Kenk was hoarding 2,865 stolen cycles when police raided his store and several other addresses around the city. They're still not sure why he took so many.

Technorati tag: Cycling

The secret menace

2008-08-07T12:26:00.001+01:00

James Daley wishes pedestrians would pay more attention. Don't we all.

Technorati tag: Cycling

Adrenaline Gateway

2008-07-11T11:15:00.003+01:00

As part of the Adrenaline Gateway project the area around Lees Quarry near Bacup now has several mountain biking routes. There must be a train out to Bacup.......

Technorati tag: Cycling

Over reaction as usual

2008-07-11T10:00:00.006+01:00

I have no sympathy for Jason Howard, the cyclist who hit and killed a teenager he could easily have avoided. I'd even agree with the girl's parents that sentencing for death by dangerous cycling should carry as big a fine or sentence as the equivalent crime by a driver (though that is often pathetically low).

However, the truth is that cyclists kill fewer people per year than drivers do per day and reactions such as this overwrought piece in the Daily Express show the bias and prejudice of the writers. Virginia Blackburn trots out the usual nonsense about lycra louts jumping red lights and then gives an example from her own life that says a lot more about her fecklessness than that of any cyclist. She steps out into a busy road in front of an oncoming cyclist, and only when he warns her does she realise there's heavy traffic in her path. Does this woman not know the Green Cross Code?

Look both ways next time Virginia.

Update My email to the Daily Express news desk-

Sir,

I would like to raise a complaint about Virginia Blackburn's column which I read on your website today. Terrible as Jason Howard's behaviour was, I feel she is over reacting in the cliched attack on cyclists she spins out of it. The truth is cyclists kill fewer people per year than drivers do per day, and very rarely through recklessness. Her description of cyclists "speeding down the high streets as if they're taking part in a race, ignoring red lights, terrifying pedestrians and occasionally killing anyone who gets in their way" could more accurately be applied to motorists.

Virginia's description of her own encounter with a cyclist says more about her than him, I feel. She was in the middle of the road before she spotted him, and she was heading for a lane with heavy traffic in it? Has she not heard of the Green Cross Code? If she had looked both ways before stepping off the pavement she would have seen the cyclist and not had to make him swerve to avoid her, and she would have been able to tell that there was too much traffic to sensibly cross where she was. It sounds like she's lucky her jaywalking didn't get her and another person injured.

There are too many attacks on cyclists in the popular press, a disproportionate amount given how little danger we represent to pedestrians and other road users when compared to cars. This could be because too few journalists cycle regularly and understand the joys (and dangers) of using two wheels. To redress that balance I will happily invite Virginia, or any other Express journalist who is game, to spend a day with me cycling around the streets of Manchester. I promise it will be an eye opening experience.

Sincerely,

Ian Pattinson

http://www.2wheels.howtosavetheworldforfree.com/

Technorati tag: Cycling

Bike Salute

2008-07-09T09:57:00.002+01:00

Whilst in Budapest last week I saw a few people with Critical MAss T-shirts. One of them had a pair of riders doing the "bike salute". I think it was my first introduction to it, strangely enough. Synchronicity saw me find bikesalute.com yesterday, a site/gallery with the plan to get a thousand riders to do the salute.

So long as they don't ask the guy with the mosaic bike.

Technorati tag: Cycling

Mosaic Touring Bike

2008-07-09T09:52:00.002+01:00

Mosaic Touring Bike - Top Tube & Down Tube, originally uploaded by nathan2480.

This touring bike has gained nine pounds in weight because of the mosaic the owner has decorated it with. It looks lovely, but must be hard work getting around, and even harder work getting to stop.

via BoingBoing

Technorati tag: Cycling

The Bicycle Tutor

2008-07-01T19:45:00.002+01:00

Everything you could possibly need to know about fixing your bike.

via Lifehacker

Technorati tag: Cycling

The £15 cardboard bike

2008-06-26T21:57:00.001+01:00

A student at Sheffield Hallam University has designed a cardboard bike that could sell for as little as £15.

Technorati tag: Cycling

The World's better by bike

2008-06-26T16:39:00.003+01:00

17 reasons the bicycle is the world's favourite mode of transport.

via The Cycling Dude

Technorati tag: Cycling

Bike Week

2008-06-14T23:41:00.001+01:00

It's Bike Week 2008. I'll have to look for local events.

Technorati tag: Cycling

Naked Bike Ride

2008-06-14T18:59:00.001+01:00

Naked bike ride, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

Yesterday it was that time again. Time to cycle through town with no clothes on. We got naked a good half hour before setting off, to facilitate others getting slogans and symbols body painted onto them. It wasn't as warm as last year, though the rain held off, so those of us gents who weren't seasoned naturists didn't promote ourselves all that well. (Take me indoors and warm me up and it's a different matter, honest.) However, it's surprising how quickly it feels natural to be unclothed outside.

I put my camera on continuous shooting and just held down the shutter every time I saw something interesting, getting four or five shots. I must have taken in the region of 500 photos. In the process my camera clicked past the 10,000 mark and started all over again at zero. The best of the photos are in the Naked Bike Ride 2008 set. There's also a Naked Bike Ride 2007 set, which provided source material for the Naked Bike Ride paintings I photographed earlier.

Technorati tag: Cycling

How to set up your bike

2008-06-13T09:52:00.001+01:00

As I've just had a bike built for me and I'm about to buy a replacement for my old commuter I should pay attention to this guide to bike set up to avoid joint pain.

Technorati tag: Cycling

Ian has a new bike

2008-06-03T12:58:00.003+01:00

Ian has a new bike, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

It's actually cobbled together from components I took off another bike and a frame, fork and other bits I got off Ebay. The stand over height is ridiculous, I didn't realise how small the frame is until bits started going onto it. I need to replace the pedals and get my nerve up and then I can go play.

The bike was built for me by GBH bikes on Whittle street, Manchester (just off Tib Street), M4 1LT. If you're on Facebook you can join their group. I videoed the build and will be producing a few short clips about it.

Technorati tag: Cycling, Bike Building

Get your own jet bike

2008-05-21T10:58:00.002+01:00

For just $650 you can get a pulse jet designed to fit to a bike.

Technorati tag: Cycling

Cycle sidecar

2008-04-13T11:17:00.001+01:00

Cycle sidecar, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

Spotted in town earlier this week. I'm not so sure about its ability to turn left or just how useful it would be in traffic.

Raleigh Chopper info

2008-04-12T19:31:00.002+01:00

ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT CLASSIC RALEIGH CHOPPERS BUT DIDN'T KNOW WHO TO ASK.

ANd there's a lot to know, with the various models, special editions and foreign variants. The site's owner would probably cry if I told him the tale of how my friends and I sheared the frame of a Chopper by doing stunts off a home made ramp.

Technorati tag: Cycling