Team kit is good for beginners
By buying last year's team strip you can get some quality gear for a fraction of the price you would pay for the normally branded version
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Team kit is good for beginners
By buying last year's team strip you can get some quality gear for a fraction of the price you would pay for the normally branded version
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Kudos to Matt Barbet riding off on ITV4's Tour of Britain London stage coverage without a hard hat 
srw
It's a bit more complicated than that...
More observations. 20-something riders on tour last week. About 50-50 with and without helmets.
Among the locals:
In the Netherlands, almost 0%. Bikes very very common.
In Belgium, about 5%. Bikes very very common.
In Germany, about 20%. Bikes quite common, at least in the towns.
In France, very few locals on bikes.
Back in London, traffic too busy to notice.
All the above exclude the small minority of riders on drop-barred bikes designed for riding quickly, usually wearing club Lycra, where the proportion was about 80%.
Among the locals:
In the Netherlands, almost 0%. Bikes very very common.
In Belgium, about 5%. Bikes very very common.
In Germany, about 20%. Bikes quite common, at least in the towns.
In France, very few locals on bikes.
Back in London, traffic too busy to notice.
All the above exclude the small minority of riders on drop-barred bikes designed for riding quickly, usually wearing club Lycra, where the proportion was about 80%.
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doog
....
- Location
- The beautiful south
Netherlands last September ...15% wearing lids...weekend riders more so
Germany - 85% wearing lids...did the country from North to South and it appears part of the culture
France - done three tours and more wearing lids than not.
Germany - 85% wearing lids...did the country from North to South and it appears part of the culture
France - done three tours and more wearing lids than not.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
King's Lynn over the last two hours stop-start quaxing (about 9miles): 7 helmet wearers, comprising 4 that I'd say were tourists, a young man who rode up far too close behind me for how he was weaving(phone perhaps), one middle aged woman riding through a no entry and one older gentleman cycling along a footway instead of either the parallel carriageway or cycle track 
- fortunately that's out of something over a hundred cyclists. (I lost count approaching a hundred. Busy today. Not Cambridge, but busy.)
- fortunately that's out of something over a hundred cyclists. (I lost count approaching a hundred. Busy today. Not Cambridge, but busy.)Big Andy
Über Member
- Location
- Huddersfield & Leicester
Over the last 2 hours here in West Yorkshire, predominately along the Calder Valley and Spen Valley Greenways with a couple of road miles thrown in 57 wearing helmets, 14 not.
In general with only 1 or 2 exceptions those wearing sporty clothing, lycra, shorts t-shirts had helmets. Those in everyday clothing didn't. Those in helmets generally appeared to be cycling for exercise as a main purpose those without were either actually going somewhere but mainly just pootling along the greenway for something to do and get a bit of fresh air and enjoy a lovely day.
Fair play to all of them I say.
In general with only 1 or 2 exceptions those wearing sporty clothing, lycra, shorts t-shirts had helmets. Those in everyday clothing didn't. Those in helmets generally appeared to be cycling for exercise as a main purpose those without were either actually going somewhere but mainly just pootling along the greenway for something to do and get a bit of fresh air and enjoy a lovely day.
Fair play to all of them I say.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Basically, I agree.
That reminds me: only one of the tourists wearing helmets was in obvious Lycra and I only noticed one non helmet Lycra user. A medieval town centre on a fairly busy market day isn't a clever place to cycle purely for exercise and it's easy to ride out towards Sandringham or the fens if you want to try going quick,so unsurprisingly almost all I saw were cycling primarily as an easy form of transport, as was I.
srw
It's a bit more complicated than that...
Easy, and cheap. Which I believe in King's Lynn might be quite important. In this very prosperous part of Surrey it's noticeable that there's a growing cadre of riders on what this forum would dismiss as BSOs who (massive assumptions alert) appear to be using bikes because it's a cheap way to get around for someone who needs to get to a manual job or to the shops. They've worked out that there's no point in spending a few hundred pounds on a car plus the same again for insurance and 30p per mile plus parking when you can buy a bike for a hundred quid and mileage is free.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
The cheap may be important to some (and I've seen a few wheels so buckled that they rubbed each seat stay in turn), but King's Lynn has massive inequality, so there's also parts with £million-plus houses. (In one of the nearby villages, there's a street nicknamed "millionaire's row" - and around the corner is one of the few remaining village bike traders.)
But easy is important to everyone. Jump onto a bike, bypass the snarled-up junctions, skip most of the traffic lights (red bikes at Toucans are give-ways), breeze along the riverside, weave through the old town streets (aided by the slowly increasing "except cycles" and so on), then park right next to the market, shop, put your shopping into the panniers or baskets and push off home again... and if you see a friend along the way, have a quick chat, or ride along side by side for a while. No petrol, no lycra, no helmet, no special gear - just the bike and what's on it. It is just a so much nicer and simpler way to travel than trying to manoeuver a large metal box through the old town gates and onto a quay or market place while so many others are... but I hope I'm preaching to the choir
