Jan and Klodi's Party Bus - part II **off topic discussion**

Eamonnator

Fian wrote: »

http://www.thejournal.ie/epo-cycling-amateur-lancet-study-3470653-Jun2017/

It seems we've all been wasting our time diligently taking EPO. Honestly what does it take to improve - actual exercise?

Ah well.

Does this mean that Armstrong DID win all those Tours de France?

Chuchote

A piece in the Belfast Telegraph mentions these yokes

https://www.immobitag.com/

PROTECT YOUR BIKE
A BIKE IS STOLEN EVERY 71 SECONDS IN THE UK

Act now and start protecting your bike with ImmobiTag, an easy-to-fit electronic tag emitting a unique ID that's embedded into your bike frame and is almost impossible to remove. ImmobiTag is registered on Immobilise - The UK national property register and is linked to all UK police forces.
Learn about how ImmobiTag RFID tagging works...
BENEFITS OF IMMOBITAG
Easy-to-fit electronic identification (RFID) tag, no expertise required
One off charge of £14.29
No annual subscription
No updating fees
Managed entirely online
Includes stickers to ward off would be thieves
Linked to Immobilise, the UK national property register and all UK police forces
Linked to CheckMEND, the national second-hand trade stolen property database

Do adverts.ie and the Gardaí have anything like this?

Thud

Found a Castelli rain jacket near Marley Park yesterday morning, if you lost it or know anyone who did PM me

cdaly_

Chuchote wrote: »

A piece in the Belfast Telegraph mentions these yokes

https://www.immobitag.com/



Do adverts.ie and the Gardaave anything like this?

Given that it's an RFID tag, there's no tracking. It's only useful if you can find the bike and scan it.

Chuchote

cdaly_ wrote: »

Given that it's an RFID tag, there's no tracking. It's only useful if you can find the bike and scan it.

Still waiting for someone to make a bike-size SigFox tracker. There are now companies making these trackers for containers - the huge ones that articulated lorries bring to ferries and roll on to them - so they'll track loads of goods across the world, but no one yet making a bike tracker, as far as I know.

SigFox because you don't have to have a SIM card; it uses the SigFox satellite system and is accurate to within a metre.

12 element

Chuchote wrote: »

Still waiting for someone to make a bike-size SigFox tracker. There are now companies making these trackers for containers - the huge ones that articulated lorries bring to ferries and roll on to them - so they'll track loads of goods across the world, but no one yet making a bike tracker, as far as I know.

SigFox because you don't have to have a SIM card; it uses the SigFox satellite system and is accurate to within a metre.

You still need a Sigfox subscription but it is much cheaper. Bit pedantic but Sigfox uses terrestrial transmitters/receivers not satellite. I know all the RTE masts were to have Sigfox added but i'm not sure what the coverage is like in Ireland?

Chuchote

SigFox's own maps claim coverage across most of Ireland. Not Northern Ireland, Kerry or parts of Wicklow, though. But enough that it would work well as a bike tracker.

https://www.sigfox.com/en/coverage

LollipopJimmy

I helped a buddy buy a bike this week and he was asking about decent locks because he was going to leave it outside work... I explained the under your ass or under the stairs. Unfortunately we live in a society where a bike can't be locked for more than a minute or two in a public place.
When I'm cleaning or tinkering with my bike I do it in my shed but when I'm finished the bike comes back into the house. I have my shed connected to the house alarm but recently my area has been seen a spate of shed burglaries so I've just given in to the fact the bike needs to stay in the house

tomasrojo

I have to say I've been leaving bikes locked in public in Dublin for donkey's years. Had a front wheel stolen once (learned that you have to secure front wheel), bike vandalised once (learned that you don't lock bikes behind pubs at night), and one wheel damaged beyond repair by a reversing car (again, while parked; not much I could do about that one). But I've never had a bike stolen.

If I had to bring the bike in with me at all times, cycling wouldn't be anywhere near as much practical use to me. I suppose I could switch to using the Brompton full time, but it would still be a total pain.

Chuchote

tomasrojo wrote: »

I have to say I've been leaving bikes locked in public in Dublin for donkey's years. Had a front wheel stolen once (learned that you have to secure front wheel), bike vandalised once (learned that you don't lock bikes behind pubs at night), and one wheel damaged beyond repair by a reversing car (not much I could do about that one). But I've never had a bike stolen.

If I had to bring the bike in with me at all times, cycling wouldn't be anywhere near as much practical use to me. I suppose I could switch to using the Brompton full time, but it would still be a total pain.

I use the heavy old 'functional' bike for trips to shops and so on, and the adorbz new light bike for 'cycling'. I'd pass on the old bike - have someone in mind even - if I had a tracker on the new bike.

Doctor Bob

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

I explained the under your ass or under the stairs. Unfortunately we live in a society where a bike can't be locked for more than a minute or two in a public place.

I've had one bike stolen in 25 years of cycling in Dublin, and that was from my parents' garage while I was on my J1. I've been locking bikes in public the entire time I've been cycling, but a mixture of good locks, good locking technique and common sense has meant I've never suffered the misfortune of theft from a public place. *touches wood*

Lusk_Doyle

Interesting looking machine...

seamus

Not the most beautiful bike out there, but I guess as a commuter/city bike they're really well crafted;

https://www.vanmoof.com/

Chuchote

Doctor Bob wrote: »

I've had one bike stolen in 25 years of cycling in Dublin, and that was from my parents' garage while I was on my J1. I've been locking bikes in public the entire time I've been cycling, but a mixture of good locks, good locking technique and common sense has meant I've never suffered the misfortune of theft from a public place. *touches wood*

Thing is, Doc, take a look at the Stolen Bikes Thread here. Thousands and thousands of reports of bikes stolen.

So many bikes are stolen in Ireland that they are not included in Garda theft statistics, or so I've been told.

tomasrojo

Chuchote wrote: »

Thing is, Doc, take a look at the Stolen Bikes Thread here. Thousands and thousands of reports of bikes stolen.

So many bikes are stolen in Ireland that they are not included in Garda theft statistics, or so I've been told.

There are many thousands of cyclists in Ireland though, so you're bound to get a lot of thefts. And it's pretty clear, or used to be (stopped following the thread, as it was really repetitive), that a lot of those bikes were badly locked, or not locked at all (in sheds and garages).

I do expect to have at least one bike stolen in the future. But it's looking as if the rate (which currently is still at zero) will be something like one bike stolen every few decades, max., which means that I'll take the very rare large inconvenience of replacing a bike over the many thousands of small to moderate inconveniences associated with never locking in the street.

CramCycle

Chuchote wrote: »

Thing is, Doc, take a look at the Stolen Bikes Thread here. Thousands and thousands of reports of bikes stolen.

So many bikes are stolen in Ireland that they are not included in Garda theft statistics, or so I've been told.

I have had two stolen, neither locked well, I accept that. The one (I loved) that was locked well, they could not get through the lock. So they cut the brake cables and removed the saddle. I had to run for work so left it there. Came back later and they had driven a sledgehammer across the top tube because they could not get the lock open.

Lyrics NSFW but apt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjveFZaGMpw

tomasrojo

seamus wrote: »

Not the most beautiful bike out there, but I guess as a commuter/city bike they're really well crafted;

https://www.vanmoof.com/

I don't like the lights (angled wrong, probably forced on them by recessing them so far into the frame for security), and the inbuilt lock looks inadequate on its own, but the concept is a good one.

I see a bike locked in Donnybrook all the time that strikes me as a similar, and good commuter bike. Seven-speed hub gears, chain guard, and disc brakes, fairly sporty construction, but still can carry stuff. Looks like a good, low-maintenance design (until you get a puncture, maybe).

Chuchote

tomasrojo wrote: »

There are many thousands of cyclists in Ireland though, so you're bound to get a lot of thefts. And it's pretty clear, or used to be (stopped following the thread, as it was really repetitive), that a lot of those bikes were badly locked, or not locked at all (in sheds and garages).

I do expect to have at least one bike stolen in the future. But it's looking as if the rate (which currently is still at zero) will be something like one bike stolen every few decades, max., which means that I'll take the very rare large inconvenience of replacing a bike over the many thousands of small to moderate inconveniences associated with never locking in the street.

Maybe. A neighbour had his kids' Christmas bikes stolen off the front railings in respectable Terenure - they sawed the iron Victorian railings apart to get them.

tomasrojo

But that's partly the point: wrought-iron railings are really easy to break. That's not locking a bike properly.

I'm not saying it's ideal, but you do need to have some idea of how strong the thing you're locking to is. Locking to wrought-iron railings for a few minutes is ok. Overnight it's definitely not, and making a habit of it will end with your bike being stolen.

EDIT: Just to be clear, I'm not blaming people who get their bikes stolen because they don't know this stuff; but you definitely can lock your bike in public without constantly having to replace bikes.

buffalo

tomasrojo wrote: »

There are many thousands of cyclists in Ireland though, so you're bound to get a lot of thefts. And it's pretty clear, or used to be (stopped following the thread, as it was really repetitive), that a lot of those bikes were badly locked, or not locked at all (in sheds and garages).

I've had two bikes stolen - one locked with a cheap lock that I bought because I was a penniless* student, and one because I was in such a hurry that I didn't lock it properly (I think I managed to lock the plastic bag I used to keep my saddle dry, but not the frame ).

On the flipside, I have on occasion left my bike unlocked outdoors in the centre of town without fear of it being stolen, because of where it is (and no, I'm not saying where!).


*may have chosen to spend money on beer instead of a decent lock

Chuchote

Yeah, the neighbour is not from Ireland and was surprised and grieved.

Doctor Bob

I was trying to phrase my answer in a way that wasn't too finger-wagging, but unfortunately, in a lot of the bike thefts I hear about from mates, they were partly responsible to some degree, whether that was a cheap lock, a good lock badly applied, or poor choice of location. (I'm not callous enough to point this out to them!) I'd love to live in a world where we could expect that a bike left unlocked against a railing would be there when we returned, but that's not the case.

I'm lucky that I have a decent bike cage in work (though I still lock my bike inside it in case someone leaves the door open, as happened recently), and I keep my bikes inside the house at night - again, I'm happy that I have this option, which isn't available to everyone - but when I have to leave it on-street, I do it with reasonable peace of mind, at least regarding theft; vandalism is more of a concern to me. (A friend once had an unsuccessful attempt made on his bike, but when the thieves couldn't get through the lock or the railing, they cut through his frame.)

EDIT: Just to reiterate: My first post above was to refute the claim that 'Unfortunately we live in a society where a bike can't be locked for more than a minute or two in a public place.', which is not true.

Kurtosis

To the idiot that locked their bike lock around my bike on the other side of the rack today: you're an idiot.

CramCycle

Kurtosis wrote: »

To the idiot that locked their bike lock around my bike on the other side of the rack today: you're an idiot.

Common thieving tactic, you go home and leave them time to work it over later. May not be the case but it also could be.

rollingscone

Seen so many bikes, often far more valuable than my best bike locked in places like Parnell st over night with a cheap lock through the toptube.

Bike thieves are endemic but they are mostly opportunists, the organised ones are targeting sheds in the suburbs not angle grinding your well locked city bike.

On a lighter note, a cyclist (in Hivs and Helmet, therefore being safe according to the RSA) struck a ped crossing the road in front of the CHQ on a green ped light this PM.

He was very apologetic, after having paid no attention and failing to modify his behaviour in response to his surroundings. But the ped probably "came out of nowhere"...sometimes I wish the Cycling High Council was real.

LollipopJimmy

rollingscone wrote: »

Seen so many bikes, often far more valuable than my best bike locked in places like Parnell st over night with a cheap lock through the toptube.

Bike thieves are endemic but they are mostly opportunists, the organised ones are targeting sheds in the suburbs not angle grinding your well locked city bike.

On a lighter note, a cyclist (in Hivs and Helmet, therefore being safe according to the RSA) struck a ped crossing the road in front of the CHQ on a green ped light this PM.

He was very apologetic, after having paid no attention and failing to modify his behaviour in response to his surroundings. But the ped probably "came out of nowhere"...sometimes I wish the Cycling High Council was real.

Anybody remember the place in Clontarf where kids were brought to learn the rules of the road?

Kurtosis

CramCycle wrote: »

Common thieving tactic, you go home and leave them time to work it over later. May not be the case but it also could be.

It did look like a genuine mistake, lock looped through my gear cable. If they do want to rob it though, they're welcome to it, an almost 11 year commuter that I'll be replacing in the next couple of months anyway!

davycc

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

Anybody remember the place in Clontarf where kids were brought to learn the rules of the road?

Yeah went there myself with my school in the early 90s , it was the highlight of the year got to zoom around on pedal go kart and bikes and lean the rules of the road in a fun way.

CramCycle

Kurtosis wrote: »

It did look like a genuine mistake, lock looped through my gear cable. If they do want to rob it though, they're welcome to it, an almost 11 year commuter that I'll be replacing in the next couple of months anyway!

And I imagine most of the time it is, sometimes though, just sometimes (scare mongering)

magicbastarder

we went for a wander in the phoenix park today, and i was thinking that the bike hire place at the parkgate street end could be missing a trick by not setting up a stand in the papal cross car park; there are probably loads of people who would drive rather than cycle to the park, and wouldn't come across the bike hire place (nor be able to find reasonable parking near it), but who would be more than willing to park at the papal cross and hire a bike from there...