bikelight, streetlight, starlight

[devi]

I just bought a bike. It was 25 quid. I wondered on the way over to see it whether a) it was a piece of shit, b) the owner was clueless, c) the owner just couldn't be arsed to charge more. It turned out a bit more complicated than that. The bike is lovely, but it's been stripped of anything that isn't actually bike. It has no light and no lock and no pump and no rack. I mentioned the lack of light and the owner said "Um, well, I've never cycled it at night." Hmm.

I rode it all the way back from Kidlington, four or five miles. The streets were quiet. Everyone seemed to be staying in out of the cold. Cycling past the cop shop with no light was a bit worrying, but no one noticed. It was perishingly cold, and I've barely moved a muscle this last week, and before long my legs were throbbing and my eyes were streaming and my cheeks were blaring heat, but I knew I was alive. Alive and mobile and not dependent on eccentric buses, and it was good.

Coming through the town centre I found a short cut down past Keble College, between building after building of fabulous prettiness. It felt funny cycling along the stone-flagged streets in my flappy black coat, in the dim yellow light - as if I wasn't there as myself but was acting in some sort of period drama. When I stopped at some lights to peer at my city map a white-haired man on a bike pulled up to ask if I was lost. I said no, I was figuring it out, but thanks. A tweedy young man with glasses who could have been Son Of Giles gave me a grin from where he was waiting to cross the road. The Radcliffe Camera - that round building which I think is part of the Bodleian Library? - was all lit up inside like a temple to books.

As I cycled past the floodlit dog-racing track, just before the house, a trumpet fanfare rang out through the speakers, out across the estate houses and up towards the icy stars.

I might spray-paint the bike a stupid colour. It needs a name too.

I'm playing at being a student, I know. But while it lasts it's a fun game to play.

Comments

[taimatsu]

The Rad Cam is indeed part of the Bodleian - it has Theology reference and bits of English in it among other subjects.

[tackline.livejournal.com]

I took the canal path when I cycled to Kidlington and back a couple of years ago. Perhaps wouldn't recommend it in the dark.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I saw that on the map and it's on the to-do list, but in daylight, yeah!

[lostcarpark.livejournal.com]

Not bad - I recently bought a new tyre for my bike, and it set me back 25 quid (though in this case it was Euros rather than pounds, but the fiver for the inner tube would bring it up to about the same). It is Kevlar, though, so I'm hoping that means it's bullet proof.

[smorgasbord.livejournal.com]

What sort of bike is it?

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

It's, er, a Coventry Eagle. Quite slender but with mountain-bike tyres.

[smorgasbord.livejournal.com]

Cycle of the Year 1936. (http://www.classicrendezvous.com/British/coventry_eagle_lady.htm)

[caescarna.livejournal.com]

"The Radcliffe Camera - that round building which I think is part of the Bodleian Library? - was all lit up inside like a temple to books."

From my coach seat, on Sunday's journey home, I couldn't help but notice the lit-up rooms of the houses lining each side of the road, and how many had bookshelves and cabinets lined with volume upon volume, and it made me think that perhaps Oxford is a place where books come home to roost. That Oxford attracts books perhaps?

[juliet]

FWIW, bikes if you buy 'em brand new don't come with lights, lock, or pump either (& most not with a rack, unless you get a hybrid city-bike like mine, which I bought partly *because* it came with a rack).

You might want to get the brakes & gears checked over. ISTR that the shop up in Jericho has a decent enough rep; unless you know someone who could do it for you or have bike mechanical knowledge yourself (I have been doing bike classes & could check it but am not in Ox!).

I am assuming that you are planning to *get* lights & a lock... LED lights seem to have longer battery life but are less good for actually illuminating the road (not a problem if you're cycling in streetlit areas). *Do not* get a lock with a circular key - these are vulnerable to the Bic pen trick (i.e. breakable with a Bic in under 30 secs). And never leave it just locked to itself. Of course, for a 25quid bike you're going to wind up spending about double that on kit, but even a 25quid bike will vanish sharpish if it's left unlocked/not locked to anything solid, especially in Oxford :-( (though mind you, I only had one bike nicked in Oxford, & have lost 3 in London).

Hurrah for bikes!

[triskellian]

You might want to get the brakes & gears checked over. ISTR that the shop up in Jericho has a decent enough rep; unless you know someone who could do it for you or have bike mechanical knowledge yourself
smiorgan does a lot of his own bike maintenance, and I'm sure he'd be happy to look over the new toy for you. And for a bike shop that's a bit closer than Jericho, he gets his repairs etc done at Cycloanalysts or Beeline on the Cowley Road (there's a reason why it's sometimes one and sometimes the other, probably to do with different specialist knowledge each shop has, but I can't remember what).

[smiorgan.livejournal.com]

Repairs at cycloanalysts, because they know me and do a good job for not much money. Brand new kit at Beeline, because they have a good range of stuff.

Happy to look over yer bike for you and give advice if you want it. You need those lights (two rear, pref. two front as well), but LEDs should do fine as long as you don't cheapskate on the batteries like most students do. And you must, must, must wear a helmet. Yeah, those things will set you back more than the bike cost you - but you still got a great deal on the bike!

Welcome to the revoloution!

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I thank you, sir. That would be great. And I'll get myself down to Beeline for some lights asap.

[kauket.livejournal.com]

And it's a million times faster (well not that much ok) cycling than walking to a bus stop, waiting for a bus and then sitting in it in the queues of traffic. 20 minutes from home to college on a bike, about 40 on the bus

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Well, my two previous bikes had all that extra stuff as part of the deal. Though it occurs to me that both of them were bought *for* me (this was a long time ago) so I didn't see the whole negotiation process.

Thanks for the lock tip (30 seconds? Yikes!). And the last bike I had was left locked to itself in Trinity College Dublin and nicked, so that's one lesson I've learned well.

[juliet]

Other lock tip: the current Best Standard is considered to be 2 locks, of different types (one D-lock, one cable lock), so unsavoury types have to carry two lots of kit around with them (& the cable means you can lock the wheels). However, this may be overkill for a cheap bike - up to you!

For the record, I disagree with the helmet tip above (I don't wear one, & have done research on the matter - I don't think they make enough difference to be worth the unpleasantness, & *may* increase the risk of certain types of injury). But it's very much a matter of personal risk assessment (a few min with google should give you the relevant stuff), & how much you dislike helmets.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Someone once threw a sandwich at me from a moving car as I was cycling up Banbury Road.

Be careful out there.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Erk. The fact that it was a sandwich rather than another sort of projectile somehow makes it all the more unpleasant.

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

I hate the Rad Cam because, despite being self-evidently the best library building in Oxford, as a classicist I only had cause to enter it once in my entire undergraduate career! Highly unfair.

And I too have been thinking about buying a bike, not for using to get around London as I think I'd die (though, hmm, cycling to where I work from where I live is by no means an absurd proposition), but because whizzing around Battersea Park on it might make a good exercise regime. You are allowed to ride bikes at high speed through crowded parks, right?

[juliet]

Cycling in London is nothing like as dangerous as it tends to be thought. In 3 yrs of cycling to work (mostly 6 miles each way, although there was 6 months where it was only 2 miles) I've had only one accident, & that was the fault of my bike (the top of the seatpost sheared through) rather than anything to do with traffic. (I am now touching wood like mad, as clearly I will now have an 'orrible smash on the way home tonight...)

Several of the boroughs offer cheap/free cycling-in-traffic lessons, which teach you things like positioning (take the lane, don't cycle in the gutter - makes you more visible & makes traffic give you more space), road awareness, Don't Go Up The Inside Of Lorries (biggest source of cyclist accidents), etc etc. Worthwhile for people who haven't cycled in traffic for a while. And TfL do fantastic cycle maps (available from their website) with signposted routes & bike lanes & suggested quiet routes & so on marked in.

And it is *so* much nicer than the tube. And more reliable.

[gets off cycling-in-London soapbox]

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

I've been wondering about the dangerousness of cycling in London for a while. I've had lots of people tell me what they thought, and it seemed almost invariably based on the 'I got hit' or 'I've been doing it for years and never got hit' arguments, which I don't find convincing.

Now that you've reminded me, and I've got a big book of road statistics in front of me, in 2004:
-Greater London (GL) had 25% more cycle accidents per head of population than Greater Manchester.
-GL had 10% fewer cycle accidents per head of population than Oxfordshire
-GL had 43% fewer cycle accidents per head of population then Cambridgeshire

Sadly I don't have the number of cyclists statistic that I'd like to go with the above (though I might look for it later on). This does seem to corroborate my friend K's view that Cambridge is way more dangerous than London.

[deborah_c]

Or possibly just that a far greater proportion of people in Cambridge cycle? After all, it's easy to achieve 0% cycle accidents per head of population if no one ever actually gets on a bike...

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

Well, hence my comment about wanting to know the number of cyclists.

[juliet]

[nods] You are of course right that personal experience doesn't mean that much. Although I'd add that not only have I never had an accident myself, I've never witnessed one (on a bike; have witnessed motorbike/car accidents & the aftermath thereof) in somewhere around 7,000 miles. Although I have witnessed a lot of *really bloody stupid* behaviour :-/

Can't find anything immediately on cyclist numbers, other than that they've doubled over the last 4 years in London. Waltham Forest claim that cyclist numbers have increased & accidents decreased in their borough (which matches what I've seen elsewhere, possibly on the LCC site, but can't find links to atm).

In general, my recollection is that measured per mile cyclist deaths are lower than pedestrian deaths, but quite a lot higher than public transport deaths (though note that public transport is significantly safer than any form of self-powered transport - the cycle figures are closer to the pedestrian/car figures than any of them are to public transport). But I can't remember whether that's in London or in the UK generally).

The other side of this, of course, is the health benefits from cycling - it's certainly arguable that they outweigh the risks.

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

Annoyingly, I have found numbers for London now, but not for Cambridgeshire - instead I can only get the "East". I might do a quick study on regional cycle casualties compared with number of cyclists (bearing in mind, as you imply, that what you really want is number of cycle miles), if I get a moment later on.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

measured per mile cyclist deaths are lower than pedestrian deaths

I think also lower than motorist deaths. Although I guess most cycling is in sub-30 traffic, so you'd be unlucky to get an actual death out of it. Obviously a bump is far more damaging to a cyclist than to a motorist.

Personally I reckon that the health benefits do outweigh any increased risk, as cycling's the only form of exercise I get at the moment!

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

My workplace offers pool bicycles, bicycle maintenance courses, cycle maps, low-cost bicycle loans and an allowance of up to £9.40 a month to help with costs, so maybe I *should* look into it. I have nothing to lose but my trains!

Where do you start looking if you want to get a bike, then?

[juliet]

Whereabouts are you based? My cycle knowledge is primarily south-of-the-river.

If you want to buy new: On Your Bike, on Tooley St (turn left out of that exit of London Bridge tube) are very nice people (they are running the bike maintenance course I'm doing atm) & generally competent. If you want to buy second-hand (may well be a good bet - next time my bike gets nicked[0] I'll be at least considering second-hand) there's ReCycling on Elephant Road (Elephant & Castle), or there's some more information on buying second-hand in London at http://www.southwarkcyclists.org.uk/bikebuyingadvice.shtml

Hybrid probably better bet than a mountain bike in London; you could also think about getting a road bike. I didn't last time because I was concerned about thin tyres getting more punctures/not handling potholes well, but I'm informed by other folk who ride them that this isn't a problem, & they *are* faster (because lighter). Zoom! (again, next time my bike gets nicked I'll almost certainly go for a road bike)

[0] I have two locks, am fanatical about locking *to* things, & virtually never leave my bike outside overnight, but am pretty pessimistic about the fact that sooner or later someone will have away with it :-/

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

South-of-the-river no object: I'm living in Battersea, working in Brixton.

And a hybrid sounds like it might be best - I'm quite scared of "fast"!

[juliet]

[grin] You only have to go as fast as you care to pedal! I guess more to the point is that road bikes are *easier* to go at whatever speed you want. But a hybrid is the normal choice in London, really. Have a look round ReCycle or one of the other second-hand places, & have a look at OYB or similar as well, & see what you reckon about the prices & what you like (bike shops will have a wide range; obviously second-hand places will at any given point in time only have whatever they've had in that week - so if you decide to go 2nd-hand, prob worth looking in a first-hand shop first). Will your work give you a bike loan? (on the same arrangements as season-ticket loans; more companies are doing this now).

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I've always had road bikes, on the maybe-overly-semantic basis that I cycle on roads, rather than on mountains. Fast is good though, it means you can get up later and get home sooner!

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

Bah - try going down into the depths of the Radcliffe Science Library where all the physics books are - you'll soon think yourself lucky!

You also missed out on the new Sackler library, which is for Classics. It's another round library, which doesn't have enough shelving, floods when it rains and the front (metal) door gets too hot to touch in summer. Isn't Oxford wonderful? ;)

[addedentry.livejournal.com]

You think you were shortchanged? The Radcliffe Camera was built as the *science* library, but when the sciences began to take over the world, they were kicked out to a strip-lit car park under the lawn in front of the University Museum (and opposite Keble).

Ah, days of crappy bikes. The anti-helmet lobby warn that helmets make one feel safe taking risks, but I'll never feel wholly safe on my bottom-of-the-range tin-opener, fortunately.

There are recumbent bicycles for hire in Battersea Park!

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I am loving the idea that once upon a time all the science books in Oxford could fit in there.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

All the "natural philosophy" books, you mean.

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

I can't believe it took them so long to release that science was, in point of fact, highly "unnatural"!

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

You think you were shortchanged? The Radcliffe Camera was built as the *science* library, but when the sciences began to take over the world, they were kicked out to a strip-lit car park under the lawn in front of the University Museum (and opposite Keble).

Barstewards! Humanities gets all the best buildings.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

Yeah. When I was at Trinity in Dublin doing computers, the Arts end of the college was all stunning and old and gorgeous and cobbled, but the science block looked like a nuclear bunker.

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

First come, first served :P

[caescarna.livejournal.com]

Get yourself a couple of tyre-levers as well, they're inexpensive and essential for getting your tyre off should you suffer a flat and want to fix it yourself.

[juliet]

Actually, I think we have some spare, so if you want them I can dig them out...

[kauket.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, a flat tyre tip. If you are as lazy as me, the bike shop on Iffley road fixes flat tyres (n ew inner tube) for 7 quid. I hate fixing flat tyres, they are a pain. If I start getting them often, I'll learn myself, but for now, this worked a treat

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Yay cycling around Oxford! -- I do miss that. It's great fun discovering all the secret paths...

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I've been examining the city map and looking at all the paths by rivers and canals, but I'm probably best off leaving the remotest ones till spring...

Oh, and! Would calling my bike 'my wheels' be an example of that last figure of speech you posted?

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Synecdoche -- yes, it is indeed, 10 points for you!

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

Re Keble - I like Keble College, but you have to be mentally prepared for it, or it can be a bit much for the eyes. Certainly, it doesn't hide its light under a bushel. Nice Chapel too, if very, VERY Victorian.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I think seeing it in daylight might have been a bit too much for me. The gaslighty feel of it in the dark was enough...