: P

…is actually not bad.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/11598.aspx

I was initially disappointed to find the “Cycling Journey Planner” looks like a lazy modification of the standard TfL journey planner, with the word “cycle” instead of “walk”. However, click on the “start” or “end” maps and it actually gives you a full cycle route breakdown, albeit in multi-page PDF format.  I found it suggested some ‘I didn’t realise that was there’ routes as well as a couple of unnecessarily road-avoiding ones. However, generally as an initial guide to cycling from one place to another in London without being too caught up in traffic, it’s pretty good.

: P

Although this was designed to highlight the danger of walking into the road while lost in your own little world, it’s a good time to remember how idiotic being an “iPod zombie” on a bike really is: cars and motorbikes have rear view mirrors; cyclists have ears.  If you want to “get in the zone” or isolate yourself from the outside world, don’t do it in traffic.  At least, don’t expect to do it for long.

: P

What interests me is not the sports metal soundtrack accompanying what appears to be fairly banal footage of some cyclists riding down the gaps in near-stationary traffic (something most of us would simply refer to as “commuting”), but the comments. “These guys are roadkill waiting to happen”, “crazy”, “insane” and of course an obligatory “I wopuld of hit him just for fun…asswipe bike on a freeway…fuckin moron.”

The first Raceguard was invented in 1994, an innovative seatpost-mounted rear mudguard, and it rapidly became the market leader among mountain bikers and commuters alike as the simplest and best-looking way to avoid that “wet stripe” up the back of your clothes.  It was a great design, simple to fit (although to do so you had to remove the seatpost and slide shims on and off), easy to adjust and once fitted it stayed in place and was hard to break.  I bought one in ‘95 and it’s been in intermittent use since then and is still going strong.

For 2009 Mr. Crud’s been challenged to redesign it, chiefly so you don’t have to remove the seatpost to fit it.  Other manufacturers (SKS, Topeak, Cycraguard) have recognised the Raceguard’s popularity and produced similar offerings, some of which fitted straight around the seatpost, so after 11 years it was time for an update.

So what’s new?  As you can see from the photo above, the mudguard itself keeps the familiar (and very effective) shape of the recent “RacePak” incarnation, but the main thing that has changed is the clamp.  It can now be fitted straight around the seatpost and with a very British, very CRUD-like conciseness of design.

The pack contains two rubber shims, one seatpost clamp, one nut and bolt, the arm and the mudguard.  It’s all made out of flexible plastic that feels pliable but hard to break.  It weighs a lot less than it looks like it should.  It’s very simple to fit in less than a minute.  The shims mean it will suit seatposts from 25-33mm and, once everything’s in the right place, a few turns of the one bolt mean it’ll all stay put.

…and that’s just what it did.  Over lumpy rattly stuff and in soggy mud and rain, it kept our backs (and saddles) dry and free from The Stripe.  Neither branches nor not-going-to-make-it faceplants managed to shift it.  We’re impressed.  I’m sure that the 2009 redesign will be even more popular as its predecessor.

Mine’s going to stay on my bike.

I can’t decide whether this is a great idea, or a really terrible one.

While round-the-clock parts availability is a Good Thing, I can foresee drawbacks.  I can just imagine the typical phone call I’m going to get at 2am from some random hipster who’s snakebite-punctured his brakeless fixie slamming it into a kerb as he’s failed to stop in time; he’s dug out enough change for an inner tube and an energy gel and now, drunken but buzzing as the sugary caffeine kicks in, he decides to slur his way through asking me why the inner tube didn’t come with instructions…

Worth a look.

“One of the cycling community’s most passionate members,” Sheldon was an inspiring writer, inventor, mechanic and fixie rider whose knowledge created possibly the best archive of bicycle technical information on the internet.

Our thoughts are with his family and everyone else who will miss him.

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/3605/

The Wilson Brothers, designers, cyclists and fixed wheel enthusiasts, have a small show of four bikes. There’s a brilliant old “safety bicycle”, a prime courier bike, a lovely Dolan track bike and a concept bike created by the brothers. Worth checking out, but it’s only there until 9th September.

More photos in the Gallery