Kennedy Fraser got the answer right, although most of you were winners too with your entertaining answers. Here’s the widget in its final resting place:
The widget was the piece I was missing to make the gears work on one of my bicycles, hence the joy. Unfortunately the gears still do not work properly as I am not very good Sturmey Archer adjuster.
The bicycle is my circa 1976 Raleigh Twenty Stowaway folding bicycle. I bought it from eBay for about £43.
It is one of two and a half folding bikes I own (the half is a scrap raleigh twenty which I’m using for parts). It does not fold very well, but I plan to use it when I go places and want to lock a folding bicycle outside. I quite like the challenge of bringing the old fashioned granny shopper bike back into vogue. Other people have done so in far more convincing ways – see Sheldon Brown’s Raleigh Twenty page, and in the UK Littlepixel’s one.
I have a more sophisticated folding bike about which I might write more another time. I am a great believer in folding bicycles – see for example this post and some of the ones in my cycling category. I will perhaps write more about how I believe folding bicycles can save the world at some other point if anyone shows the mildest bit of interest.
I’ve posted about the Sustrans Connect2 project a couple of times over the last week – I’m very pleased to say that it has won the competition for £50million which will go towards new cycle and walking paths.
£50 million won and we couldn’t have done it without you!
This is fantastic news, and thanks to everyone who voted for Sustrans’ Connect2 in the People’s £50 Million Lottery Giveaway, and for your help in winning £50 million of funding from the Big Lottery Fund for Sustrans to invest in walking and cycling UK-wide. This really is an amazing achievement for our charity and the many local authority and other partners with whom we will work on Connect2. We simply couldn’t have done it without you and your votes.
We start work on delivering Connect2 in January 2008. Our local authority partners are poised ready to go, and will be adding matched funding from their own transport and other budgets to the £50 million from the Big Lottery Fund. This is a five year project, and in total we have already identified nearly £100 million of local authority funding to support Connect2, and we are working hard to bring even more funding to the project so that we can ensure as many people as possible benefit from Connect2.
We will continue to update you on progress during 2008. In the meantime can I take this opportunity to wish you a very happy Christmas and New Year and to thank you again for supporting Sustrans’ Connect2.
John Grimshaw MBE
Founder and Chief Executive Sustrans
This is the video for the Sustrans Connect2 project which tells you a bit more about it:
You can find a scheme close to where you are (in the UK) by clicking on the map.
Posted by Dave at 1:50 pm on December 12, 2007 and filed under Current events, Cycling.
As I have said before (hence the continued’) I love the idea of getting a folding bike. The picture above is me test riding a ‘Brompton’, the ultimate in folding bikes, at the Cycle Show. Bromptons cost about £600 once you have bought all the trimmings. As you can see I am blurred owing to my great velocity. The lady on the right is guiding the traffic as the test track is a figure of 8 – in other words it crosses over itself on a diagonal basis. This is to give an element of danger which adds realism to the test ride. The other lady on the right is the assistant to the lady guiding the traffic. I’m not sure what her job is, but it involves standing there. The figure on the left is a cardboard cutout for safety reasons as it would be too dangerous to have a real person there with all these test-cyclists whizzing around. This also adds a sense of realism for those who will find themselves regularly riding in areas populated largely by cardboard cutouts.
When I was in the supermarket yesterday I noticed that someone was advertising a folding bicycle for only £25 in the postcards. £25! Buoyed with enthusiasm I called up and made my enquiries. Unfortunately the man did not have the answers to my in-depth questions, like ‘What make is it?’, so I decided I had better go and see it.
I went on my folding bicycle inspection excursion this morning. Upon seeing the bicycle I instantly knew that it was not what I was looking for as it was a bit rubbish, so told him that I would not be buying it. I came up with a convincing reason involving the handlebars. He said that that was fine, not a problem at all. At which point in a moment of madness I said: ‘Oh, alright then, I’ll buy it.’
I am an idiot sometimes.
Unfortunately the bicycle really is rubbish. It is unique amongst folding bicycles in that it folds into a shape bigger and less convenient than the shape it started from. One popular folding bicycle website says this about it:
The Skoda of folding bikes – the Universal is still the cheapest folder available, but the Chinese are challenging. Made in Poland, the bike looks like a 1960s-vintage ’shopper’, which is exactly what it is. It’s heavy, it doesn’t fold very well or clip together, and the ride and handling are poor. Yawn, yawn. Long, long overdue for a replacement
I have discovered that one of the people who was up against me in the Creative Blog Category in the Christian Blog Awards is an evangelist who navigates around Britain in a sailing boat, stopping here and there to evangelise riding a Sinclair A-bike whilst dressed as John Wesley.
I went for a coffee in the local Nero’s and met Grant who like many many other people was intrigued with my A-Bike, which following an explanation of its workings allowed me to continue our conversation with me sharing the gospel with him.
On my way back to see if my new friend had arrived at the meeting point I was astonished to be stopped by an elderly lady who must have been well into her 80’s who wanted to talk to me about my bike.
I would reiterate what I have said in an earlier newsletter that if you are at a loss on how to start conversations with people to share the good news about Jesus with them, then buy an A-Bike and you will have many such encounters each day. They can be obtained from www.a-bike.co.uk for £149.95.
The A-bike, in case you are wondering, is a folding bicycle. It is apparently great to carry but not so great to ride. If you want a space-age bike that is great to ride but not quite so great to fold then I’d recommend the Strida. Not that I’ve got one, but who knows, one day.
Anyway, enough about bicycles. John is the intrepid evangelist’s name. I wish him all the best on his mission.
In this day and age it is right that those who are able should travel to the supermarket by bicycle when they can. I find though that when I do so I often encounter problems transporting groceries, especially if they are delicate or malleable. My bread, as the jottings above indicate, often ends up rucksack shaped at the end of the trip which means that the bread burns in the toaster as it is misshapen into untoasterly forms.
I think that I need some better means to carry delicate groceries by bicycle. Perhaps some panniers, though most panniers that I have seen look a bit small and still liable to crush bread. I could attach a large plastic box onto the rear rack, but that would look a bit unstylish and clash with the sleek lines of my bicycle.
In the old days bicycles had baskets, but these are now frowned upon in areas such as South East Essex. I think some more innovative solutions are called for, hence the drawing of the bread-carrying hat above.
We made a last minute spur of the moment to go down to Kent today to see stage one of the Tour de France, and I’m very glad we did. Rather than attempting to see (or not see) the finish in Canterbury we made our way to an obscure stretch of road somewhere in the middle of nowhere, unfolded our Greenbelt folding chairs and sat by the road in the sunshine eating lunch and generally having a marvellous time.
About two hours before the race the ‘caravane’ comes through – lots of weird and wonderful advertising vehicles dispensing free gifts. I rather liked these yellow wheely bins:
We collected quite a few goodies – I’ll try to gather them all together tomorrow and take a photograph.
The excitement builds in intensity as the race approaches. Then, all of a sudden… swoosh… as the ‘peleton’ zooms by at great velocity (note the clapping hands – included in the photo to give a sense of the atmosphere):
Nearly all of them sped by at once, except one who was a minute or two behind, and this guy, who tootled past 5 minutes later having obviously not had the best of days:
All in all a great spectacle. If you’re in the UK then you can watch the Tour every day (I think) at 7 on ITV4.
I happened to be loitering outside Lambeth Palace this afternoon, and noticed this sign next to the door.
There are several observations one could make, but the one that particularly came to mind is that the safe arrival of guests at the Palace depends entirely upon the correct placing of six coloured drawing pins.
It concerns me that ne’erdogooders could, if armed with reasonable fingernails or, heaven forbid, some extra coloured drawing pins, create havoc in the Palace and therefore the entire Anglican Communion. Visitors to the Archbishop’s cottages could turn up at the library, visitors to the flats could be mistaken as Advisors, and all sorts. It would be a scene of utter chaos.
Let’s just hope and pray it never happens.
[Unrelated aside. Saw some of the Tour de France opening ceremony in Trafalgar square this evening. It has really buoyed me with enthusiasm for the race over the next two days. If you get the chance to be anywhere near London or Kent to see the Tour then I'd say do.]
The world’s greatest bicycling race the Tour de France is coming to London and Kent next weekend, the 6th to the 8th of July. There are two websites which tell you all about it – the Tour in London site, which focuses on next weekend’s events, and the official main Tour de France site. In summary this is what is happening:
Friday 6th of July
The opening ceremony at 6pm. I’m not sure how interesting this will be to non-cycling fans as I haven’t been to one. I’m hoping to be there as I happen to be in London anyway that day.
Saturday 7th of July The prologue time trial. This is where the riders go one by one at one minute intervals around the streets of London. The route is about 8km and will taken them about 9 minutes. The ‘caravane’ starts at 1 (these are the eccentric promotional vehicles that precede the race and give out freebees), whilst the first rider goes at 3pm and the last at just after 6. We’re planning to be there.
Sunday 8th of July Stage 1, from London to Canterbury via various places. It starts at about 10.25am with the caravane before that from 8.40. The race reaches Canterbury sometime around 3.30pm. Again, we are hoping to watch the race at some point along the route, but we aren’t quite sure where. There are special train timetables which we are poring over. In theory it should be possible to see the race twice, once in London and once in Kent, but that might be a bit ambitious.
Anyone else planning to watch it? We might see you there, depending upon your chosen vantage point.
Today I went unexpectedly to the Chelmsford Diocesan environment conference. I did not intend to go, but owing to various circumstances I ended up there. It is a not-that-long but not-that-interesting story, so I will not tell it. And very good the conference was too. For me the need to take action on environmental and justice issues rather put yesterday’s discussions into perspective. Hence my hastily scribbled list, which is not intended to be accurate, or correct, or good.
Of course it is easy to get overwhelmed by the pressing needs of our planet. One of the conference speakers, when faced with the question ‘But what can we actually do?’ replied by saying ‘Do what you do’. In other words, do the thing you normally do in life, but do it in such a way that will help the world to operate sustainably and will help to get the message about environmental issues out there and will generally do as much good as possible. For this reason I will continue to do a few drawings and rambly blog posts, but I am going to try to address environmental issues a bit more often.
I have decided to take a small bit of additional action in one particular area though. I think we should have some cycle racks at our church, so I am going to see whether I can, by asking the right people, make some cycle racks happen at our church. I think having cycle racks at church would mean that more people might cycle there, which would be a good thing. If anyone reading has experience of commissioning cycle racks for a church then I would like to hear from you. Alternatively you might know a church with really really good cycle racks and you might know how they got them. I talked to a man from Sustrans, and he said that Sheffield Cycle Racks are the best ones. I don’t know whether there are special people who install such things or whether you get a builder to do it or mix your own concrete using a home made recipe. I am so clueless on the subject you would hardly believe it. My ignorance is plain for all to see.
Greetings to Paul, who I met at the conference, though I knew him from the internet. Paul offered me his garden for my occasional cartooning purposes, which was a very kind gesture.
The government here in the UK is revising the Highway Code. The Highway Code, for those who don’t know, is the booklet which tells you how to behave on the roads in the UK. It always used to look a bit like the famous evangelistic booklet ‘Journey into Life’, but was more expensive. There is a test on the Highway Code when you take your driving test in the UK (Many Evangelical Churches conduct a test on ‘Journey into Life’ before you are allowed to join the coffee rota, but I digress).
Anyway, the serious bit. The plans for the new Highway Code will be very bad for cyclists. Among the problems with the proposed changes is the fact that cyclists will be forced to stick to the cycle lanes and paths rather than the road. This is a bad thing for all sorts of reasons – the CTC, the Times and the Guardian explain it better than I can do here. This really is going to happen – the new Highway Code will ‘become law’ within the next 40 days if I understand things correctly.
There is something you can do if you act quickly. The Cambridge Cycling Campaign has encouraged their MP to present a petition to parliament which anyone can sign. See Actions every cyclist must take to safeguard their right to use the road. You can print off the petition from this page – it does need to be printed and posted, and it does need to be done straight away as the deadline is Thursday. The petition is as follows:
The Presenting Member: David Howarth MP
PETITION FROM Cllr Ian Nimmo-Smith and others
To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled.
The Humble Petition of Cllr Ian Nimmo-Smith and others of like disposition
Sheweth
That there is significant concern that the proposed changes to the Highway Code will force cyclists to use sometimes inadequate cycle facilities and that the proposal to require cyclists to ride on the left-hand lane on roundabouts will place cyclists in greater danger.
Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your honourable House shall urge the Department of Transport to reconsider the proposed revisions to the Highway Code so that cyclists are not required to use cycle facilities ‘wherever possible’.
And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c
Just for into, the e-mail I received about it:
> Cambridge MP David Howarth has an opportunity at very short
> notice to present a petition in the House of Commons opposing the
> changes detrimental to cycling in the new Highway Code which is now
> before parliament.
>
> Anyone can sign the petition: it is not specific to Cambridge
> constituency voters.
>
> Unfortunately though it has to be physically signed with an
> original signature on the correct form. Therefore, please can
> we ask you to print the form which you can find at
>
> http://www.camcycle.org.uk/campaigning/issues/highwaycode/petition.html
>
> (make sure you have the whole link including the .html that might be
> truncated in this email)
>
> fill it in and send it by post *to ARRIVE by this THURSDAY morning*
> at the absolute latest (Wednesday if possible) to
>
> David Howarth MP
> David House, Room 4/11
> Norman Shaw North
> House of Commons
> London SW1A 0AA
>
> (n.b. not just to the usual House of Commons address, please, as
> that mail would then end up back in Cambridge)
>
> Please ask friends and colleagues who you can contact to fill in the
> form as well. Please feel free to circulate this as widely as you can.
>
> Further details about the highway code issue can be found at
> http://www.camcycle.org.uk/campaigning/issues/highwaycode
>
Please pass this on, blog it etc. Thanks to Paul Roberts for telling me about it.
People come to this blog to hear the latest in-depth analysis on the religious stories of the day, so I thought today I would talk about my latest invention, the upside down bicycle. This off-topic item will be a disappointment to everyone, I know, but such is the price of technological innovation.
The blueprint is shown above. I don’t think that anyone else in the world has invented one , but they might have done. There is a man who has invented the sideways bicycle, as seen on the BBC and elsewhere a few months ago, but that is different.
If anyone would like to purchase the blueprint above contact my people and they will talk to your people.
I can see several uses, the main one being that you could travel places upside down. People wishing to travel upside down at the moment face very limited options. A major advantage is safety – if you fall off and end up upside down you do in fact end up the right way up. Much less disorientating.
You can put this blueprint on your blog as long as you put a clause underneath it saying that people cannot manufacture this bicycle without their people talking to my people first.
The not- quite- daily internet column of Dave Walker. Dave is a freelance cartoonist who also writes and draws for the Church Times. (
Posted by Dave at 9:24 am on March 20, 2009 and filed under Cycling, Photographs, Quizzes and competitions. 
The world’s greatest bicycling race the Tour de France is coming to London and Kent next weekend, the 6th to the 8th of July. There are two websites which tell you all about it – the 
Today I went unexpectedly to the Chelmsford Diocesan 
