A random thread for cycling things that don't really warrant their own thread

[Tim Hall]

My Young Lady has taken to calling her Rain Legs "Wet Legs" on account of being down with the kids and an admirer of the Popular Beat Combo from the Isle of Wight.

I commend this to the house.

[Wowbagger]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/18/joe-biden-falls-off-bike-video

Joe Biden has a clipless moment.

[Kim]

Someone, possibly a student, just cycled past my window whooping and singing.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Basil isn't mentioned...
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jul/28/bicycle-graveyards-why-do-so-many-bikes-end-up-underwater

[Cudzoziemiec]

Rene Herse, old skool darling, have produced a one-by, hated by traditionalists almost as much as disc brakes and electronic shifting. Some hedz gunna asplode!

https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop/components/cranks/rene-herse-one-by-crank/

Perhaps they should just call it a single-ring crankset?

[T42]

Motto: It's quicker by Herse?

---o0o---

Meanwhile, I noticed yesterday that the back tyre (Schwalbe Durano blah blah 700x25c folding) on the eBrute was looking a little worn and went looking for a replacement. Was smackëd in ze gobbe by the number on offer: zilch² unless I wanted to pay ~5€ more than the last one cost including delivery.  Plenty of wired-bead versions going: I loathe horrible things but I got one anyway, even with a 2-week wait for delivery.  Last time around it was 3 days.  I'll do the bothersome front=>back swap before I mount it, though.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Motto: It's quicker by Herse?

[grams]

Perhaps they should just call it a single-ring crankset?

It's got narrow-wide teeth, which you only need if you're running derailleur gears at the back. So definitely 1x-specific.

Don't worry, it's still square taper. When they start selling external cup integrated spindle gubbins, we'll know the kingdomrepublic has fallen.

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's got old fashioned good looks, with its sculpted cranks and cloverleaf chainring, all shiny and polished. I can see it turning appearing on American bikepackers and the non-racy end of gravel.

[TheLurker]

More "not car" than "cycling related", but it suggests (to me) that it ought to be possible, eventually, to overturn the "cars own the road"  mindset that has been prevalant this last 100 years.  Well, one can hope.

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/when-cities-treated-cars-as-dangerous-intruders/

[Bledlow]

C&B Seen has gone. They used to sell some bike lights & relevant accessories, including better batteries than most Chinese eBay sellers. Company dissolved March this year.

I suspected something when I looked at the website a while ago & everything was out of stock.

[citoyen]

Just been involved in a discussion with colleagues about updating the entry in our house style guide for bicycles/bikes.

We currently say:

Do not use, refer to cycles - this is more inclusive for different types of cycle

But some people think "cycles" sounds too stiffly formal and unnatural, which I agree with, and there are contexts where you don't need to be inclusive, ie you're talking specifically about bikes, so we're modifying it to allow people to say bikes when they mean bikes.

M'colleague also suggested adding a qualifier to explain what we mean by "different types of cycle", viz:

Do not use, refer to cycles - this is more inclusive for different types of cycle (monocycles, bicycles, handcycles etc).

"Monocycles" made me wince. I presume this is the term that has been adopted to describe those motorised single-wheelers to distinguish them from pedal-powered unicycles. Ugh. I suggested leaving that out - they're a bit of an outlier and not really "cycles" in this sense - and mentioning tricycles instead.

M'colleague also said she thought about including tandems but I pointed out that most tandems are bikes. This got me thinking, though - is there such a thing as a tandem unicycle?

<google>

Of course there is!

https://road.cc/content/blog/12044-tandem-unicycle-positively-unbalanced

[Cudzoziemiec]

I followed the link to a youtube clip and it's insanely wonderful. Evidently a great way to confuse dogs too!

[tom_e]

"Monocycles" made me wince. I presume this is the term that has been adopted to describe those motorised single-wheelers to distinguish them from pedal-powered unicycles. Ugh. I suggested leaving that out - they're a bit of an outlier and not really "cycles" in this sense - and mentioning tricycles instead.

Electric unicycles are usually abbreviated EUC.  I've seen monocycle used by non-English speaking unicyclists, presumably as a direct translation of their native term.  A quick google turns up users of both, but most popular English sites favouring uni-.

I shouldn't have started looking at this.  I see that some argue the prefixes mono- and uni- are greek and latin respectively, and hence should be applied depending on the origin of the rest of the word.  In this case, latin cyclus appears closer than greek kyklos?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Wiktionary offers this as a monocycle:


while Wikipedia has a photo of the same machine to illustrate 'monowheel'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monowheel

While the first hit I get for 'uniwheel' is a motorised device:
https://personalelectrictransport.co.uk/shop/uncategorised/uniwheel-electric-unicycle/

[citoyen]

I followed the link to a youtube clip and it's insanely wonderful. Evidently a great way to confuse dogs too!

Crazy Germans. Nuff said.

[Cudzoziemiec]

In similar vein, does anyone know of a single word that can be used to cover both walking and the use of wheeled mobility aids? That might include a bike used as a support or ridden on a pavement at low speed but not cycling as we normally think of it. Context:

When we refer to ‘walking’ or ‘pedestrian’ we mean to include those who use mobility aids, such as wheelchairs or mobility scooters, or who may be pushing children in buggies or otherwise moving at walking pace on a pavement or path in the public realm.

Some mobility aid users are happy to use ‘walking’ or ‘going for a walk’ when moving around outdoors and do not wish to be separately categorised. However, others have pointed out that the term ‘walking’ may be taken to exclude those who use wheeled mobility aids.

?

[Kim]

'Active transport' seems to be the one that people use to cover walking, cycling and wheelchair use, though it gets blurry when there's electron involvement.

I'm not sure if there's a term that specifically excludes cycling in the usual sense.  I know wheelchair users tend to use 'wheeling', particularly when using an electric wheelchair at higher speed for what would be a decent-length walk or short cycle journey.  As in "I'll wheel from the station, saves faffing about with taxis."

[Cudzoziemiec]

Yeah, 'wheeling' has been suggested. 'Active transport' seems to usually include buses and trains, so somewhat different.

[citoyen]

Sounds like someone being over-sensitive - I can't see how "walking" excludes those who use mobility aids. It's still essentially moving forwards by putting one foot in front of the other.

This sounds like the kind of thing we might have an official opinion on, so I'll ask m'colleagues in the office tomorrow. Could be one for the D&I team.(Although our style guide says not to refer to people as pedestrians but people walking.)

[Kim]

Sounds like someone being over-sensitive - I can't see how "walking" excludes those who use mobility aids. It's still essentially moving forwards by putting one foot in front of the other.

Unless you're not using your feet...

(The wheelchair users I know personally seem happy for walking to include travelling at walking pace with a mobility aid.  Particularly when it pertains to which part of the road they're using.)

[citoyen]

Unless you're not using your feet...

Sorry! Me being dense... for a change. I got mentally fixated on the image of someone using a bicycle as a support rather than riding it and forgot we were talking about wheelchairs too.

What about perambulating? It usually but not specifically means walking, and historically meant pushing a baby around in a perambulator, which seems to fit the bill.

[barakta]

The DWP uses the ghastly term "mobilising" which cunningly excludes wheelchair users from the DWP definition of mobility impaired in certain benefits... No recognition of how poorly wheelchair accessible many places and transport are.

Many of my wheelchair using friends use "walk" and aren't fussed by it, but have then had people tell them they "MUST BE LYING" about being legit disabled for using that term rather than wheel or similar...

[Cudzoziemiec]

What about perambulating? It usually but not specifically means walking, and historically meant pushing a baby around in a perambulator, which seems to fit the bill.

Good suggestion. Possibly slightly formal sounding but that's not necessarily a problem.

[citoyen]

The DWP uses the ghastly term...

This could easily be the introduction to many different sentences.