Tag: safety

Stupidity

So, I was looking through Twitter, and Chris Boardman (@Chris_Boardman) had posted a tweet from a Greater Manchester Police Account.

It was a reply for a video they had posted, of a cyclist with no lights riding down the road. They wanted to stop and have a chat with him, however they didn’t get the chance.

The tweet basically advocated “Giving him a nudge”. So in short, knocking him off the bike. What was truly shocking, the account that posted the reply was a IAM registered driver, and a vehicle inspector for the Police! As it Turns out, the poster of the video via the GM Police account, was actually Stephen B himself. In other tweets, he clearly displays a bias against cyclists. If he has this attitude, and mindset, he has no place to Police the roads.

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New Camera

So I recently got a VIRB camera. I had wanted for a helmet camera, but there are a few things up with that. One, is that this is a very heavy camera, and quite large. Mounting it to the side of the helmet makes it very noticeable in the lean due to the weight, I tried mounting it on top of the helmet, but finding an area on the helmet that stops the shake is hard. I have a Kask Mojito helmet, which has no flat areas at all. It does work, it is just quite wobbly.

Example image from VIRB
Example image from VIRB

The other issue I have, is that the camera over exposes quite a lot. When compared to the GoPro Hero I have mounted to the handlebars, its very noticable. I can live with that, just about. A Lot of it could be dealt with in Post Process, but there is not really a massive need. I only plan to use helmet cam when something happens, it will pretty much be throw away footage. It seems to be mostly when leaving shaded areas, and the GoPro can have issues with this too, it just seems to deal with it quicker. VIRB does overexpose consistently through the frame however.

Example image from GoPro Hero
Example image from GoPro Hero

In other ways, this is a good camera. I think I’ll be keeping it around, and find away to helmet mount it at some point.

I also got hold of a repair stand. This is a massive help when working on the bike, as having it elevated, and off the ground saves my back and makes drive chain adjustments so easy. No more tipping the bike over and working on it upside down. Probably one of the better purchases I’ve made recently..

Despite what Simon at VeloHeads says (I have no reason to doubt him, and he has been repairing bikes for god knows how long, as he likes to point out) however, I don’t like clamping the carbon seatpost, so I have to swap it out for an old aluminium one when I have it in the stand.