Roberts Cycles - winter dreaming

A Roberts tourer (pic from their website)

Now we are in the season of long nights, my mind has turned to dreaming of bikes :-)

Let me introduce you to today's pipe dream - the Roberts touring range.

Proper bikes - typically with Reynolds and/or Columbus tubes, which have fitting for pannier racks, mudguards (fenders) etc.

Bit pricey, mind.
But plenty of options to choose from.
That's the thing about a handbuilt bike - you can ask them to make it just the way you want it :-)

Lidl lights failure

Remember these?
My great new lights from Lidl?

Problem.
The front light has failed.
I have only had them for about three months, and have used them almost daily for the last two.

The problem is the switch on the front light, which has fallen apart.

It is a pity, as they were lovely bright lights, especially the front one.
I know that a lot of manufacturing is about sourcing low-cost parts to keep the overall product cost down, but I am annoyed that the light failed for the sake of an extra few pence (cents) for a better switch.

On the bright side, at least the mount fits an older Lidl halogen light we have, so that is mounted on my bike at the moment. But it is nowhere near as bright.
It is OK for general riding, but not really bright enough to illiminate potholes etc :-(

As for the LED light - that's going into my "projects box". Maybe I'll replace the switch when I have time.

An older, halogen, light from Lidl mounted on the bracket from the new LED
light that failed. The halogen light is OK, but it is only half as bright !!!

Living in a "compact" town with decent bus and train links

Map from "OpenStreetMap", but the annotations are mine.
Blue = schools for under 11s ("primary"), Red = supermarkets, Black = train stations,
Green = bus stations, Purplr Line = Bourg Walk bridge

For those of you that want to know what it is like living in a compact town ... (there is a scale, bottom left). To put it in context, the urban area of Aylesbury shown on the map above has a population of in the region of 75000. (new housing is still going up, so the census number from 2011 is like to be on the low side!)
This is where I live - Aylesbury. I live near the big "x" on the north-east side of town.
The blue dots are schools for the under 11s (three are "special schools" for those who, due to learning disabilities etc. need lots of extra support - and tbh, I think one of the three I have marked is for the older kids - so that's two for the younger kids).
The red squares are the supermarkets - EVERY major British supermarket chain is represented in Aylesbury. There are, of course, local, smaller, food stores on top of that.

Gotta be copyright of Chiltern railways, but I'm sure they won't mind me sharing their route map.
the map is about 7 years old, and there is now a second railway station in Aylesbury that is not shown.
It is Aylebury Vale Parkway, which is just a bit further up the spur that leads to Aylesbury.

The two black marks are the two railway stations - both connect to London (Marylebone), which is VERY close to Baker Street and the Madam Tussaurds waxworks venue. There is an alternative route that connects (via a change) to Birminham, and thus, to the rest of the country's rail network.

Map copyright Arriva, showing the Places one can get to with
an "All Zones" pass.

The green square near one of the railway stations is the Bus Station.
The purple line near the Bus Station is the "Bourg Walk", the $12.8 million walking and cycling bridge that was built a few years ago as the centrepiece of the town's cycle program.

Car-Free Cities

I am now a "moderator" on the "Car-Free Cities" community.

Why not share your views with my survey on "What one change would make folks cycle more and drive less?"

We all love cycling.

But what about taking it one stage further, and thinking about whether we should change the "Car-first" situation that exists in our towns and cities.

Does your town have a "pedestrianised" area?
How could it be made better?
Dou you use buses or trains much?

Do you prefer coffee shops to drive-thrus?

Why not share your ideas and experiences with me and a wider audience?

Go on and give us a try!

Update 23 Nov 2014
Another survey: What should YOUR local government concentrate on FIRST?
Are more cycle paths the best priority in your area?
Or would you prefer more trains, or better bus services, or something else?
Let us know over on Car-Free Cities

Recycling by bike?

As a lot of you know, I live in Aylesbury, a designated "cycle town".
Things are slowly getting sorted out to make more and more things possible by bike.

But what about recycling?
A rider can obviously cycle to the bottle banks that are pretty common in the corner of supermarket carparks, and we have a fortnightly "mixed" recycling collection from our houses in the "blue bin".

But what about the bigger stuff, or the odd stuff?

There is a recycling centre on the edge of town (the Rabans Lane site), and another just out of town, on the other side (the Aston Clinton site).

Can I go there on a bicycle to do my recycling?
First place to look is the council website, as they own the sites.
And, indeed, there is much helpful advice available there.

But there is nothing on bikes!

So today I went to the Raban's Lane recycling centre and asked the staff.
Apparently folks arriving on foot need a (free) permit from Bucks County Council - indeed this is hinted at, but not explicitly spelled out on the pdf download the council have on their website.
According to the recycling centre staff a few folks DO already visit on foot, and DO have the (free) permits.

But what of bikes?

The helpful staff said that a cyclist, with or without a trailer, would be treated like a pedestrian, and would need a (free) permit,
The good news is that cyclist are actually allowed at all, as I have heard some distressing reports from other parts of the country that only motor vehicles are allowed into their local recycling centres, with apparently no exeptions or exemptions.

How much does a bike cost?

How much does a bike cost?
There is a price that it is sold at, but is that the real cost to the buyer?

A lot of it is about priorities as well as wealth.
Anyone who has a mortgage or a loan and thinks themselves as having money to spare is merely choosing one thing over another, rather than spending "spare" money.
(same goes for buying motor vehicles and holidays when you also have a loan or mortgage!).
Some would suggest increasing benefits to be had up to about £1000 ($1600, 1200 Euro), then rapidly reducing benefits beyond
Indeed, one would expect the planners of the cycle-to-work scheme (a tax-subsidized scheme in the UK to assist commuters to buy bikes) have reached a similar conclusion, given that the scheme is capped at the same £1000.

However, is not the real test of a bike's "value" the opportunity cost?
What else could have been bought/paid?
How much in health/fitness/mental health benefits will be generated?
("satisfaction"/"happiness" I have included in mental health, as a severe lack of either often results in a decline in income)
How much money will be saved by not using other transport methods?
Will the bike save time, and how much is that time worth?
etc. etc.

I actually have the finance for just about any bike - but buying one would not change the way I ride much, and the "true" money cost would have to factor in the extra interest payments I would be paying my mortgage as a result!
A cargo bike would be nice (like the Pashley Mailstar I borrowed last summer), but as they are still being withdrawn from service and "consolidated" near me, it is quite likely I can borrow another next summer - so it seems pointless to buy a similar bike at the moment.

A trailer project will be where I am going next spring - taking garden stuff down to the recycling centre is a job for which we currently have no realistic alternative than a motor vehicle - and I want to change that. Since we live in a town with fairly decent cycling infrastructure, it seems a waste not to use it more!

How can I justify spending money on building a trailer rather than buying a new bike?
Well, the trailer is going to be quite cheap to build - I already have 4 twenty-inch wheels and an assortment of tyres (two from my old folder, and two from a worn-out freebie bike I was given that I stripped for parts).
A bit of wood is not that pricey.
Imagination is free :-)
And it will allow us to offset another cost - that of using a motor vehicle to go to the recycling centre.
So it really won't cost that much.

On the mental health side, I am as much a "wage slave" as the next man, and feel as drained by the corporate horse-manure as the anyone else, and a modestly priced construction product, when completed, will certainly makes me feel good, and using it will make be feel even better.

So next time you read that advert for the latest/greatest bike, just think about what it will really cost, beyond just the "sticker" price, and how much extra benefit (if any) all that money will buy.