Tag: bad

June 16th – A lost day with bike repairs when everything went wrong. Slipping out on a test ride as darkness fell, I hit Silver Street and Catshill Junction, and realised I’d forgotten just how much the G7X camera loves the twilight.

A dreadful day, but a bit of a ride in the glorious even cool was just what I needed.

December 20th – Spotted in Telford on a very brief visit at the new footbridge project, this will only be of interest to those into civil engineering.

The absolute worst sheet metal piling job I’ve ever seen. Not the varying depths – that can be normal, and they’d but cut level afterward; but the sheets are designed to go in true and interlock.

Were they piling guys on the pop?

October 18th – A week or so, I posted a video ‘Welcome to the suck’ pointing out the dark winter commutes were upon us, and every year I note that when the dark nights come, the traffic behaves oddly until around Christmas, when drivers finally get used to the dark.

Tonight was a grim commute. All the way in not quite rain, a penetrating mist-drizzle soaked me; it was cold, and the traffic was awful. But seeing this was astounding. Sorry it’s so blurry with rain on the camera lens but I’ll explain.

I’m stopped at the cross roads of the Pleck Road (Ring Road) with Bridgman Street in Walsall, near the Manor Hospital. I’m at the front of my queue heading northbound straight on. The lights are red. 

Heading south in the opposite direction, pushing through the traffic which is moving aside are two fire appliances on blues and twos. I can smell smoke. Their shout is local.

The engines get to the the lights opposite me, attempting to turn down Bridgman Street to my right, their left – but are blocked by two cars, just resolutely unmoving. Eventually a small movement is made, one appliance takes the outside line, the other the inside line.

It’s not rocket science, and it’s in the Highway Code. Get out of the way of emergency vehicles when safe to do so. After all it might be your family, house or business these people are rushing to the aid of.

There’s a word for these obstructive people: arseholes. But totally symptomatic of the madness of the first dark evenings of winter.

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)

March 14th – My experiment with Specialized Armadillo tyres is now over.

I will not be buying another set.

On my favourite steed, I have tyre clearance issues with the mudguards, so wanting to return to the softer, more forgiving ride of a 28mm tyre over the usual 25s, last September when tyre replacement was needed, I got a pair of Specialised Armadillo tyres I’d heard were very good – apparently nearly as resilient as Martathon Plus which I normally use, at a lower profile. 

People ho liked them recommended them with an almost religious zeal.

My initial feeling was that the tyre were not as tough, but they bedded in and proved very puncture resistant, which surprised me. My issue was that for a tyre described as ‘all condition’ their grip was sketchy at best in even moderate rain and useless on even slight ice, as two offs and various skids in the winter had proven.

The compound seemed very hard and they tyres were noisy when rolling.

Leaving work this evening, I flatted on the rear. examination of the tyre revealed the surface had totally delaminated from the inner lining, and was shredding. Within five months.

I’ve popped Schwalbe Marathon Plus 28mm back on. The quiet and feel is heavenly. Stick with what you know, folks…

January 4th – it has been a temperate commute in the morning, spoiled only by ten minutes of rain, but it felt reasonable for first day back, but in the evening my return was a shock. Not dressed for sub-zero temperatures, and on a bike without ice tyres, I gingerly picked my way through lanes and backstreets chilly and nervous.

That’s the trouble with having time off; you need to sharpen your commuting game on your return, because you get out of the habit.

August 5th – Interesting to note the fruits doing well this year and those that aren’t. We seem to have bounteous quantities of blackberries, acorns and here, sycamore seeds. Beech also seems to be fairly prodigious.

Not doing so well at all are the horse chestnut, hazel and pear trees.

It’s curious how the years cycle. As my Grandad used to say ‘It’s always a good year for something’.

July 21st – It’s been a great week of commuting so far. Sunny and warm, without too much wind. I felt the sun on my face, and everything had that great summer air about it you only get in during really warm spells.

This evening, however, was different; it was ten degrees C cooler than on Monday, and the skies were grey. As I neared Brownhills, it began to spot with rain, and I raced home to avoid the thunderstorm we were surely due.

It never came, and neither did the rain.

It’s been a great few sunny days, and if the summer would like to return, I for one will make it very welcome indeed…

June 20th – One for the occasional series on the silliness of advertising billboards.

I find myself paying more attention to roadside ads when cycling, as they take me longer to pass than if driving and some, after a few weeks, really begin to irritate. This one is a particularly fine example of the Photoshop failure art form – this example is on the Walsall Road in Darlaston.

This is an advert for the BMW Mini Cooper. Nothing wrong with that (unless you can remember how much character the original had…) but this ad exists in several forms for different length billboards. Notice the bike in the background? In all but it’s longest format, the lamppost is slightly behind the car, and you can only see the rear of the bike, a steel 1980s racing bike. 

In common with most 80s bikes, it has a self-added prop stand, mounted off the rear wheel nut, and an aluminium circular spoke guard between the gears and wheel on the back axle.

Quite what’s passing through the wheel at ground level I have no idea.

Now look at the front wheel. It has the ghost of the propstand mount, rotated around 105 degrees. The aluminium spoke guard is on the front too. The end of the front fork is straight, with no dropout.

The forks and position of the wheel suggest the top tube (between handlebar quill and saddle) is unfeasibly huge.

The front of the bike is not real. It’s been created in photoshop, by someone unfamiliar with bikes, purely to fill space when the ad was stretched.

What a load of old tut. This has been rubbing me up the wrong way for a week now.