Dr Ferrari's Camper Van (off-topic discussion)

buffalo

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Aah hacked off big time. Got the bike back from the lbs on Saturday. Had to go into work on Sunday, got back to the station in the evening and the gear cable had been ripped to pieces- it'll have to go back into the shop and I'll be without a bike for a week or so again.

ffs, is that Balbriggan station again?

Kintarō Hattori

buffalo wrote: »

ffs, is that Balbriggan station again?

Yup it sure is. I'm absolutely writing a letter to Irishrail now. It's a little ridiculous at this stage. I'd be happy to pay a contribution towards keeping it somewhere safe- on top of the €112 I pay for a monthly ticket.

On the way home I was mulling over whether or not to call into the Garda station and report it. It's a minor thing and nothing would come of it but at least they might up their presence around the area a little bit. I called in to the station but just ahead of me was a young woman reporting a serious matter in relation to her ex- so that kinda knocked the wind out of my sails. My matter was absolutely unimportant in respect of that.

Sigh, it's annoying as I had just paid for a service but more importantly it now means I have to walk 20 minutes to the station and 20 minutes back in the evening all this week!

Qualitymark

Write to Irish Rail and CC the Minister for Justice, Minister for Transport, Minister for the Environment, local garda station, local stationmaster, asking what they intend to do about repeated vandalism and thefts at the station, repeatedly reported and complained about. Make a complaint on fixmystreet.ie and get everyone else to do so - put notices up around the station warning of thefts.

Daithi BC

Anyone have any recent experience of flying Aer Lingus with a bike? The most recent threads I can find on Boards are all a few years old.

I have a bike bag, and thought that I could pack the bike in that and treat it as a big suitcase, but do I actually have to ring them up and pay the €40 bike fee as well? If I do, it's a heavy steel bike, so there's no way it's going to be under the 15kg they mention on the website.

tomasrojo

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Yup it sure is. I'm absolutely writing a letter to Irishrail now. It's a little ridiculous at this stage. I'd be happy to pay a contribution towards keeping it somewhere safe- on top of the €112 I pay for a monthly ticket.

If vandals or thieves are targeting the station itself, is there anywhere nearby you can park? Thieves in particular like bikes parked at rail stations and outside cinemas, because there's a higher chance that the owner won't be back for a while.

Jawgap

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Yup it sure is. I'm absolutely writing a letter to Irishrail now. It's a little ridiculous at this stage. I'd be happy to pay a contribution towards keeping it somewhere safe- on top of the €112 I pay for a monthly ticket.

On the way home I was mulling over whether or not to call into the Garda station and report it. It's a minor thing and nothing would come of it but at least they might up their presence around the area a little bit. I called in to the station but just ahead of me was a young woman reporting a serious matter in relation to her ex- so that kinda knocked the wind out of my sails. My matter was absolutely unimportant in respect of that.

Sigh, it's annoying as I had just paid for a service but more importantly it now means I have to walk 20 minutes to the station and 20 minutes back in the evening all this week!

Jeez, you lot in Balbriggan - you've already jumped the queue for a new primary care centre (maybe you could lock it there when it's built:)) and now you want a safe train station?!?!?! I bet if Reilly gets made Minister of Transport you'll get the Taj Ma -feckin - hal as your station!

On a more constructive note.....I'd report the matter, the more reports the Guards get the more likely they'll try and do something. I'd also write to all the local public reps and wannabe public reps, get them involved - it can't hurt.

I suppose leaving the bike locked on the racks outside the library is not practical as it's still a good walk to the station from there?

On an unrelated note - nice to see the R132 getting a much needed re-surfacing - that was a very pleasant surprise on the spin in this morning! I saw them putting the cones out last week and thought they'd be at it for ages, but they obviously got their finger out over the weekend.

Qualitymark

You might also write to your local paper - and to the Irish Times while you're at it, though you might have less luck there - asking why people can't leave their bicycles safely in a public train station.

Wishbone Ash

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

the gear cable had been ripped to pieces- it'll have to go back into the shop and I'll be without a bike for a week or so again.

Won't your LBS replace a gear cable on the spot or within a couple of hours or so. Why would you have to wait a week?

Wishbone Ash

Nearly made an eejit of myself today in Lusk.:eek:

I was distracted by that chap who cycles around with the blue "Up the Dubs" barrel and flags on a trailer. He was cycling in the opposite direction and was involved in a near miss with a vehicle. I was belting along looking across at him. When I looked forward again, the car in front of me was stopped dead on the road. Managed to stop with inches to spare!

Beasty

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Nearly made an eejit of myself today in Lusk.:eek:

Best solution to this problem - don't go near the place (besides the by-pass has some great Strava segments, and no potholes!)

Wishbone Ash

Beasty wrote: »

Best solution to this problem - don't go near the place (besides the by-pass has some great Strava segments, and no potholes!)

It wasn't in the village itself!

BTW - you took a massive 22 seconds of me in regaining that KOM recently. You must have been almost airborne going over all those bloody ramps! I don't think I'll be attempting to regain it unless we get a westerly tornado.

Lusk Doyle

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Beasty wrote: »

Best solution to this problem - don't go near the place (besides the by-pass has some great Strava segments, and no potholes!)

It wasn't in the village itself!

BTW - you took a massive 22 seconds of me in regaining that KOM recently. You must have been almost airborne going over all those bloody ramps! I don't think I'll be attempting to regain it unless we get a westerly tornado.

*cough* he regularly drafts those big tractors *cough*

Chips Lovell

Armstrong wins nudist triathlon:



From here

youwhoglue

Bedazzled this morning with the amount of Aldi gear out this morning after the scrum last week!

Darkglasses

Coming up to my 1 year cycling anniversary, and still no punctures. Either i'm not riding enough or i'm luckier than I thought

Wishbone Ash

Darkglasses wrote: »

Coming up to my 1 year cycling anniversary, and still no punctures. Either i'm not riding enough or i'm luckier than I thought

You've probably just jinxed yourself.

Mycroft H

Yea, you'll get three punctures on the way home.

awec

The last time I mentioned that I hadn't got a puncture I was sitting at Portmarnock beach. Facebooked a friend and sent him a picture, and he replied "hope you get a puncture on the way home".

I said there was no chance.

Got a puncture on the way home. :mad:

Beasty

Lusk Doyle wrote: »

*cough* he regularly drafts those big tractors *cough*

Unfortunately those big tractors seem to be limited to around 40kph and there's no way they could go over those speed humps at anything approaching that speed;)

I'm happy to leave that segment alone now - if someone beats my time so be it, but I reckon I'm risking serious damage (to bike and/or me) if I go much faster ...

Darkglasses

awec wrote: »

The last time I mentioned that I hadn't got a puncture I was sitting at Portmarnock beach. Facebooked a friend and sent him a picture, and he replied "hope you get a puncture on the way home".

I said there was no chance.

Got a puncture on the way home. :mad:

You all have me scared now. I'm going to stick a saddlebag on my commuter bike tomorrow :mad:

Captain Havoc

In further good news, I'll be going part-time in my current job as I'm going to be working part-time in the bicycle industry (I'm not going to say exactly what). I spent three hours regurgitating the rubbish I read on here to a business owner, which seemed to be enough to bore him into submission and offering me a job. So, my fellow boardsies, I thank you once again for shaping my life a little bit more.

*Just seen this is my 7,000 post \o/

bcmf

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I was distracted by that chap who cycles around with the blue "Up the Dubs" barrel and flags on a trailer.

Bernard Cruise I believe is his name.

Jawgap wrote: »

On an unrelated note - nice to see the R132 getting a much needed re-surfacing - that was a very pleasant surprise on the spin in this morning! I saw them putting the cones out last week and thought they'd be at it for ages, but they obviously got their finger out over the weekend.

If you didnt come home that way you will be in for a bigger surprise in the morn when you go sliding on the chipping they put down .Gonna be a tricky stretch of road for a few weeks

Qualitymark

Some interesting figures from the new Vulnerable Road Users (that's us, folks!) campaign:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1001/breaking42.html

includes:

* Some 76 per cent of those killed or seriously injured were defined as ‘vulnerable road users’ such as pedestrians, pedal cyclists and motorcyclists

* Almost 80 per cent of incidents occurred in the 50km/h speed limit zones

* High risk periods were identified as at between 4pm and 6pm Monday to Friday for vulnerable road users

* The early hours of the morning at weekends were identified as the times of high risk of single vehicle collisions often involving speed and alcohol

* The Garda districts where the highest levels of fatal and serious injury crashes were Clondalkin, Tallaght, Coolock, Blanchardstown, Ballymun, Store Street, Lucan, Dun Laoghaire and Raheny.

Beasty

Qualitymark wrote: »

Some interesting figures from the new Vulnerable Road Users (that's us, folks!) campaign:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1001/breaking42.html
....

Separate thread already running here on this

Jawgap

Captain Havoc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCDnR6Px-co

Qualitymark

Beasty wrote: »

Separate thread already running here on this

Ooops; looked, didn't see. Thanks.

RobFowl

Well I never !

http://twitchy.com/2012/09/30/cher-rants-about-pacific-coast-highway-bicyclists/?utm_source=autotweet&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=twitter

buffalo

Kintarō Hattori

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Won't your LBS replace a gear cable on the spot or within a couple of hours or so. Why would you have to wait a week?

I go early in the morning and come home late in the evening, so it'll be Saturday before I drop it into them. The missus can't be bothered too- she'd rather see me walk to the station for a week!

Wishbone Ash

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I go early in the morning and come home late in the evening, so it'll be Saturday before I drop it into them. The missus can't be bothered too- she'd rather see me walk to the station for a week!

Aah - I thought you had dropped it into your LBS and they said to come back in a week!

AstraMonti

I see some girls walking on the street and I am not sure if that's makeup on their face or they just lost in paintball.

ROK ON

I stupidly decided to drive to Dublin last night instead of getting the train this morning.

Car died 120km from Dublin. Stuck in the hard shoulder for two hours weighting for breakdown recovery.

Gardai told me do not leave the car and to turn on my hazard lights.
I did this.

Despite this I learned that truck drivers are pr1cks. Most made no attempt to move out a few feet and many passed at speed inches from my stationary car.

I also lost count of the amount that flashed me or aggressively beeped their horn.

Clearly a broken down vehicle in the hard shoulder inconvenienced gem sufficiently that I needed to be taught a lesson.

When on a bike we often view other road users as being agin us so to speak.
Last night taught me that a reasonable large amount of other road users are simply hostile.

Lumen

ROK ON wrote: »

Gardai told me do not leave the car

WTF? That's the most dangerous place to be!

Perhaps they thought you would be at risk of sexual assault.

doozerie

@ROK ON, As Lumen says, being in the car is considered extremely dangerous and any "official" (from the RSA, AA, etc.) advice I've ever seen given for people broken down on a hard shoulder is to get out of the car and stay further in off the hard shoulder itself. That advice is usually given for motorways but it should equally apply on a national road too. The advice is usually accompanied by accounts of broken down cars having been hit, and people all too often having been badly hurt or killed, by another vehicle travelling in the hard shoulder. One account I read recently was of an AA recovery truck driver whose truck, well lit as it was, was ploughed into by a truck in the hard shoulder while recovering a broken down car - I don't recall the exact details but I think the broken down car was behind his truck and it was shoved/piled into his truck. The AA guy was badly hurt, the people (woman and child, I think) they claimed only avoided serious injury because AA guy had insisted they sit in his truck cab rather than in their car while he set about hitching the car to the truck. You'd think that people wouldn't drive in the hard shoulder, and particularly not at speed, but they do.

Any Garda that advised you to stay in your car should be invited to join you, but they also deserve a complimentary punch in the face just for being so feckin' stupid in the first place.

le petit braquet

ROK ON wrote: »

Gardai told me do not leave the car and to turn on my hazard lights.
I did this.

AA advice is to leave the car http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/breakdown_advice/general.html

Wishbone Ash

ROK ON wrote: »

Gardai told me do not leave the car and to turn on my hazard lights

Perhaps they may have meant that they didn't want you to abandon the vehicle rather that to actually remain in it.

ROK ON

Thanks.
The Garda was specific. Turn on your hazard lights & remain in the car.

Intact, the RAC helpline (my breakdown insurer) states to stay in the vehicle and to only exit the vehicle if the vehicle cannot be removed from the road.
In this case they say to exit the vehicle at at door furthest from traffic (I guess usually the passenger side).

Everyone said stay seated and don't worry. However having articulated lorries hurtle past every few minutes and then beep their horns is unnerving to say the least.
2 hours of fun fun fun while I waited and waited.

@ Lumen - the cows/bulls in the field next to me were looking at me in a strange fashion. The question of assault was not a remote one!

Hungrycol

Why did you call the Gardai?

doozerie

ROK ON wrote:

The Garda was specific. Turn on your hazard lights & remain in the car.

Intact, the RAC helpline (my breakdown insurer) states to stay in the vehicle and to only exit the vehicle if the vehicle cannot be removed from the road.

That's bizarre, it puts them at odds with some of the usual respected sources of advice on motoring and safety. In addition to the AA link already posted, here are a couple of quotes from Directgov, the UK government's site:

Leave your vehicle
Leave your vehicle immediately via the left-hand door. Make sure your passengers do the same. You should leave any animals in the vehicle, or keep them under proper control on the verge.

Wait for help to arrive
Stay well away from the carriageway and hard shoulder as you wait for help to arrive. Don't get back into the vehicle and don't try to repair your car yourself, even if you think it's a simple job.

The official Irish Rules of the Road page is an odd one though, it has the following:

Always get out of your vehicle from the passenger side. Do not attempt to walk on the motorway.
Get help quickly and do not leave your vehicle unattended for longer than necessary. Wait for help on the embankment side of the motorway.

That's strangely ambiguous, in that it does not actually tell you to get out of the car, just that you should do so via the passenger side if you do so at all. The last sentence above about waiting on the embankment side is unclear too - wait on the embankment side of the *motorway*? Huh? What if there is no embankment on your side, do you run across to the other side of the motorway? Should you bring your car with you? Or should it simply say that you should wait on the embankment side of *your car*? Based on your experience, I wouldn't be relying on a Garda's interpretation of it, that's for sure!

Lumen

More bikes sold than cars in Italy for first time since WW2
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/9581180/More-bikes-sold-than-cars-in-Italy-for-first-time-since-WW2.html

Lumen

doozerie wrote: »

That's strangely ambiguous, in that it does not actually tell you to get out of the car, just that you should do so via the passenger side if you do so at all. The last sentence above about waiting on the embankment side is unclear too - wait on the embankment side of the *motorway*? Huh? What if there is no embankment on your side, do you run across to the other side of the motorway? Should you bring your car with you? Or should it simply say that you should wait on the embankment side of *your car*? Based on your experience, I wouldn't be relying on a Garda's interpretation of it, that's for sure!

Note also that if your car is left hand drive you must execute a three-point turn before exiting via the passenger door.

GlennaMaddy

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Won't your LBS replace a gear cable on the spot or within a couple of hours or so. Why would you have to wait a week?

I go early in the morning and come home late in the evening, so it'll be Saturday before I drop it into them. The missus can't be bothered too- she'd rather see me walk to the station for a week!

Lbs in skerries does pick up and frop off

Wishbone Ash

Lumen wrote: »

Note also that if your car is left hand drive you must execute a three-point turn before exiting via the passenger door.

That reminds me of a stunt I witnessed by a cool dude in a LHD Ferrari at the entrance of one of the long tern car-parks in Dublin Airport.

Getting out and running around to pull the ticket was not for him. He spun the car around on the spot, reversed up to the machine, pulled a ticket, reversed in, and spun around again and headed on his way.

rainbow kirby

GlennaMaddy wrote: »

Lbs in skerries does pick up and frop off

Wish there was one in the city centre that did that, mechanical on the way home this evening and my LBS closes at 6pm :mad: Gonna be Thursday night at the very earliest before I can do anything with it, which is a pain in the rear end to say the least.

doozerie

Lumen wrote: »

Note also that if your car is left hand drive you must execute a three-point turn before exiting via the passenger door.

Bah, foreigners and their strange and fearful driving ways. The RSA have no time for them, they're as bad as cyclists, as per the official RSA mottos of "Welcome to Ireland. Now please feck off!" and "Oh you're riding a bike are you? Well be careful now. And please feck off!"

Jawgap

Seen in Dublin today*



*May actually have been in Dublin

kumate_champ07

smacl wrote: »

Lost a couple of sets of these myself over the year, I had it down to my bad taping technique. Plenty of options on spares on bike24 though I reckon Brooks are just flogging on old sherry bottle stoppers;



Maybe have a few bottles of bubbly over the week and you're sorted

they recently started using the leather scraps from saddle production to make up bar grips, the price is a joke tho, something like 50 a pair

kumate_champ07

Jawgap wrote: »

Seen in Dublin today*



*May actually have been in Dublin

London 5 years ago

http://artofconversation.typepad.com/art_of_conversation/2007/05/index.html

Was watching a BB5 setup video on youtube. I most certainly wasn't expecting the ending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5zjUaTAQmY&t=3m12s