This is a bit of us...
[rentdue_nofoodforyou/Reddit]
The Bike Mechanics Subreddit had its mind blown by one US-based mechanic's tale of how one customer racked up a "ridiculous abomination" of a ticket by asking for $3,000 of upgrades to be put on this $250 Walmart gravel frame.
DT Swiss wheels, Shimano GRX groupset and dropper post (that's yet to arrive) later and this is the end result. "I do not care how much it costs. I want it to work good," the regular customer apparently told the mechanic, giving the green light for upgrades totalling 12 times the value of the original bike.
The mechanic continued: "[He] skipped out on nothing, and I'm pretty sure if we didn't stop him, he would've let us put $7K into it. DT Swiss rims, hubs, and bladed spokes. He asked about a Chris King bottom bracket and headset, but maybe that's for next time lol. $85 tyres. Zoom in on the 203mm front rotor and all the configuration it took it make things work great. This was awesome to be honest.
"It rides how you'd expect an upgraded Walmart frame to ride. Shifting and braking work great, but something still feels… off. Definitely not something I would notice if I hadn't been doing this for a while, but my customer is very happy and that's all that matters."
It's been dubbed The Bike of Theseus by one of the astonished Reddit users to comment on the post. To save anyone out of the loop, like myself, that's after Theseus's Paradox — a thought experiment that raises the question of whether an object that has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object.
Another top comment added: "Wow! Well, all he has to do is upgrade the frame someday, if he wants to."
Another comment said: "These frames are not garbage like a lot of other Walmart bikes. Both this one and the OT MTB get pretty good reviews for what they are and I think the intent is to provide a decent foundation that you can build on as you progress as a rider. Incrementally replace parts as you need them and as your skills and needs advance. I really like the idea of making very affordable bikes that aren't absolute garbage to ride. I'm sure a lot of potential riders are turned off by heavy, shitty, poorly designed and specced BSOs from box stores."
To which the mechanic who did the work said: "I totally agree! It's one of the reasons we agreed to do this for our customer. It's been getting a lot of compliments as the project progressed from other customers."
10/10 no notes.
Even skinny cyclists...
Retiring French pro Lilian Calmejane has given an interview about Tadej Pogačar in which he said it is "normal" that there are questions around world champion's performances given the history of the sport, but insisted you "cannot be influenced" by the sport's past and simply assume "that everyone is cheating".
Speaking to Cyclism Actu, Calmejane said "there will always be ultra-dominent people" in sport and pointed to Olympic swimming sensation Léon Marchand and Usain Bolt.
"But who says that Tadej Pogačar will continue at this level for five years? I am not sure. It is normal that there are questions, cycling is a difficult sport with a scandalous past and that will continue for a long time," he added. "As a professional cyclist you cannot be influenced by that [cycling's past] and think that everyone is cheating."
Me on @theJeremyVine radio show today talking about the #fuel duty freeze in the #autumnbudget with Tina Daheley sitting in pic.twitter.com/jAmmHFHnGE
— Laura Laker (@laura_laker) October 31, 2024
Some of your thoughts...
eburtthebike: "I'm disappointed with the response from CUK and Sustrans, but I suppose they have to deal with the government in the future and don't want to prejudice those dealings, but Carlton Reid nails it.
The £100m doesn't even approach restoring the Tory cuts, which the chancellor could easily have done, justifying it by the huge return on investment, and as Mark Sutton says, it's just a drop in the ocean, not unprecedented levels of funding.
"The only positive thing to be said is that it isn't a cut, but given the increasing pace of climate change, obesity and the cost to society of car obsession, it should have been ten times that."
FionaJJ: "I'm equally underwhelmed by the money for active travel and the reaction from Cycling UK and Sustrans, but agree the response is most likely to be a pragmatic one with the calculated hope that staying positive will reap more rewards in future budgets. Building a healthy working relationship and having the ear of those in power is important at this stage of the electoral cycle."
Rome73: "100 million is nothing - but it's better than nothing. Freezing fuel duty to save the average motorist £59 over 1 year is also pathetic. But it's politics and everyone knows that cars come first."
Steve K: "For me - and nothing to do with cycling - the most depressing transport thing is to increase the bus fare cap at the same time as freezing fuel duty, not even reversing the emergency 5p cut. That cut was brought in because of rising petrol prices; it's currently about 30p less per litre than it was at that point. There is no justification for prioritising keeping that now unneeded cut over bus journeys."
hawkinspeter: "I'm with Carlton on the budget - such a tiny amount of money to allocate to the most effective investment we have. I was hoping that Labour might be forward-looking, but they're just looking backwards at the impossible personal motor car dream that the manufacturers spent a lot of time and money advertising."
Green Oil has suffered as a result of i-Ride, a major UK cycling distributor, entering administration.
The brand told us it was still "owed thousands of pounds", a "huge hit for a small operation", bad timing as it has just launched its Green Oil Wet Chain Lube in Prevented Ocean Plastics and the world's longest bike-cleaning brush... in the words of David Brent... "You're still thinking about the bad news, aren't you?"
Made entirely from sustainably sourced wood, the aptly named Green Oil Massive-Brush takes the crown as the world's longest production bike cleaning brush and has been designed to last over a decade, Green Oil tells us. Its aim is to be better than five cheap brushes and combines a claw brush, spoke brush, frame brush, tyre brush and drive chain brush in one. A Basil short of a full house.
It's priced at £47.99 for the Massive-Brush 1.0 and £52.99 for the Massive-Brush SLR.
"Cheap brushes out there look like good value," Green Oil says. "Five in a pack. Made of plastic. £25- £35. But why not have one decent brush for the whole bike? Should we support British Manufacturing and sustainable forestry? Yes. Should we use everything made of plastic and leave bits of plastic bristle in the environment? Hell no. The Massive-Brush is Plastic Free, it has over 5 different uses, and it's designed to last over 10 years."
So, how has the Budget gone down in the cycling world? The response has been... mixed. Cycling UK gave credit to Labour for "recouping additional £100 million funding for cycling and walking infrastructure", but others have questioned if this goes far enough?
Critics of the new Labour budget, including Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer, have expressed frustration at the discounted fuel duty, with some describing the funding allocated to cycling as a "drop in the ocean".
Transport journalist Carlton Reid said it is not the "unprecedented level of funding" in cycling that Transport Secretary Louise Haigh promised was coming after the election victory. "Meanwhile, motorists get yet another fuel duty freeze. Climate change anyone?" Reid asked.
One reply to Carlton's post on social media called it "staggering" that Boris Johnson "is still the first AND last Prime Minister to do anything for cycling". Another said yesterday's Budget had "absolutely shafted active travel".
Harry Gray from Walk Ride Greater Manchester called the £100m "a slap in the face".
"A single junction can cost £1.6bn - we are talking about change in the bottom of the pocket being spent on walking and cycling," he wrote. "Gear Change under Boris Johnson had us up at £300m a year. As a side note, I've heard word on the grapevine that the £500m pothole funds will be available for local gov to spend on active travel too. Also, we are not clear if Greater Manchester and West Midlands are included in the £100m because of devolution.
"Alongside the freeze on fuel duty, this isn't the ambitious budget we were expecting."
London's Walking & Cycling Commissioner Will Norman said the £100m was "great to see", although Donnachadh McCarthy, the founder of Stop Killing Cyclists and director at Climate Media Coalition, replied saying he was surprised to see Norman's assessment and suggesting it was "better to stay quiet".
"Another £5.7b giveaway to car sector," he wrote. "£0.1b 'extra' for cycling is the same old breadcrumbs that will NOT build a national cycle network needed for health, kids safety, climate & pollution reduction."
Any more thoughts on the Budget? Get them in the comments and we'll share some later...
We stumbled across this on Reddit in a Subreddit dedicated to the noble pursuit of documenting "IdiotsInCars". Roll the tape...
[OC] Must get in front of cyclist, no matter what!
byu/the-real-vuk inIdiotsInCars
There's a lot to unpack from this, one of the most pointless overtakes we've ever had the pleasure/displeasure of seeing. Some suggested the driver had seen the truck in front pull away and thought the traffic might be moving away, hence the overtake, although we'd point out you'd want to wait until you're not on a bridge with a blind summit, perhaps?
Anyway, after that we get the rev of the engine mid-overtake, the emergency stop when the brake lights come on in front, a little chuckle from the rider, a wonderfully sarcastic thumbs up for the impressive manoeuvre and, of course, as is required for any MGIF (must get in front), the cyclist then sails on by as the queue of traffic comes to a standstill. Lovely stuff.
Once we'd scrolled past the replies defending the overtake, many seemingly applying US traffic rules to this situation filmed in the UK, we found the comments complimenting the rider for having perfected the sarcastic thumbs up, and another whose plays "car leapfrog" themself.
That is, the commenter explained: "My favourite game when riding in the city. Cars [drivers] are always doing incredibly risky manoeuvres to pass me between lights only to brake hard behind the next car. Then they have to watch me pass them and cross the intersection ahead. City drivers could save on fuel and brake pads if only they coasted slowly between intersection bottlenecks. Instead they have an innate predisposition to slower moving road users. What good is it to pass a cyclist yet gain nothing?"
Summing up the mixed response to the video, we'll end with a comment by someone called... *checks notes* Poetic_Shart... "This sub is full of idiots. If the cyclist was a car and got cut off like that everyone would be up in arms. The bias against cyclists is ridiculous. People have to learn some patience or get off the road."
Right, that's probably enough Reddit for one day...