Friday 19 November 2010

future projects

I am having a super stressful time at work right now, and it doesn't look like it's gonna change till the end of December. However there are things that come to my mind occasionally - little projects that I don't have time for yet, but which I would like to promise to my readers.

1) Segregated cycling infrastructure in London. Yes I know it's an oxymoron of sort, but trust me there are those little nuggets here - perhaps their design isn't ideal and they are disconnected but I would like to go and visit them, snap some photos and talk more about how they help or don't. I already have an extensive list, but if you have any ideas let me know in the comments.

2) Inspired by this article "A beginners guide to bike shopping" I want to go to different big and small bike shops and see what they are going to offer to someone who knows nothing about bikes (at least he pretends not to). This would be an indicator of how cyclists needs are perceived by salespeople and what choice do beginners get - are they thrown into spandex straight away and put on a carbon road bike or do sales people play safe and recommend hybrids first? Is the utilitarian cycling mentioned and taken into account at all? I would definitely need help with this as I am known in some of the shops already (no, I didn't start a brawl or anything).

8 comments:

  1. Send a girl ... of course, that might be a different article altogether

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  2. That's a good point - would you volunteer? :)

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  3. Just found your blog. Looking forward to these two projects :-) Like the idea of number 2, I've never thought of it from that angle before (since I know more than is healthy about bike bits!). Might have to give it a try myself sometime.

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  4. Stingy Jim, thanks for your comment- it would be fun if more people did it - we could then compare results.

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  5. Ditto for item 2.

    Have been told by a bike shop zitburst that a Pashley Roadster isn't a 'practical bicycle'.

    And then there are mudguards. "Why do you want mudguards?" Erm!?!

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  6. Nice one! Guess it depends on one's definition of practicality.
    Of course you don't need mudguard - they weigh like 100g each! And this is how you want to arrive at your destination http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/interviews/jpow-mud.jpg

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  7. I would but I'm not in London. I can tell you all about the various bike shops of Southwest Scotland if you like though!

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  8. Re the picture. I'm surprised SKS don't use that in their advertising material!

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