Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber insisted the stance "isn't victim blaming" and argued the concern was simply stating that "if the plans go ahead they should be designed with crime prevention in mind"

In their first season since gaining the added investment of global drinks powerhouse Red Bull, Ralph Denk's team have performed strongly, most notably taking a Grand Tour victory at the Vuelta a Espana through star signing Primoz Roglic. The Tour de France is the one Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe want...

The 2024 season is almost at an end, meaning for many riders, attention has already turned to the next campaign. For some however, 2025 brings uncertainty, such as the situation for Ethiopian national champion,Negasi Haylu Abreha.Explaining his desperate situation, the 24-year-old took to his offic...

Mark Cavendish has revealed he will remain in pro cycling after his retirement from competition this year, adding he has long been planning his move into team management. The British rider, who claimed a record-breaking 35th stage win at the Tour de France this year, has also revealed he has taken up running and has []The post Mark Cavendish to stay in cycling after retirement, moves into management appeared first on Sticky Bottle.

Tadej Pogacar has written his 2024 season into the annals of cycling history, surpassing even the barbarities of Eddy Merckx in the seventies. For his rivals however, all hope is not lost.This has caused many to begin to dismiss Jonas Vingegaard and to take it for granted that the Slovenian supersta...

The Old Bob's Trail at the Forest of Dean features different skills areas to build rider confidence and techniqueOld Bob's TrailThe Forest of Dean has announced the addition of a brand new green level trail to its repertoire. It is Continue reading

What is more seductive than a ribbon of road vanishing into the fall foliage?And what is more repulsive than the sight of a late-90s freak bike?But heres the thing about bikes: if you really love riding them, they all win you over eventually. (Okay, not all, but most. Or many. Or a lot of them.) For years, I ridiculed the Y-Foil, a wildly dork-tacular bike that was the very antithesis of the classic materials and silhouettes I hold sacred. But you know what? I really like riding it! There, I said it. See, heres the thing about the Y-Foil: you know that phrase, the most clichd five words in all of cycledom?Laterally Stiff Vertically CompliantSince the dawn of time, bike reviewers have told us that this material or that material possesses magical qualities that can render a bike laterally stiff yet vertically compliant. Crabon filters out high-frequency vibrations. Titanium has a springy ride quality. Theres nothing like the magic carpet ride of classic steel. And so forthnone of which really stand up to scrutiny, since whatever the bikes made of youre basically just sitting on top of a rigid diamond. Yes, some bikes are undeniably smoother than others, but youre never sure if its the material, or the geometry, or the seatpost, or the saddle, or the tires, or just how you happen to be feeling that day. (Ive absolutely found a bike to be sublimely comfortable one day and borderline painful the nextyour fitness such as it is on any given day informs quite a bit about how your bike feels.)But the Y-Foil is different: its not a diamond. (Well, mostly. I guess theres kind of a diamond in there.) Instead, youre sitting on a beamand the beam flexes. And unlike, say, the rolling diving board that is a Softride, the flex is quite subtlesubtle enough that it feels like a normal diamond road frame, until you hit some rough pavement or something, at which point you realize you are in fact undeniably suspended. It climbs like a normal road bike, it sprints like a normal road bike, it does everything else like a normal road bike, but at the same time youre isolated from the most jarring shocks and vibrations. Is the frame design more effective than, say, a 32mm tire or a leather saddle? Not necessarily. Are those a better way to improve ride feel? Almost certainly. Still, the fact remains: the Y-Foil is indeed laterally stiff yet vertically compliant, a quality that few if any traditionally designed frames can unequivocally claim to possess regardless of the parts that are bolted to them.Again, the problem of harsh-riding road bikes has since been addressed thanks to wider tires and all the rest of it, but at a time when anything wider than 25mm on a race bike was considered unthinkable, the Y-Foil did indeed improve upon the traditional racing frame by being simultaneously more aerodynamic and more comfortable, qualities that were long considered mutually exclusive. Does that make the Y-Foil a noteworthy success in the context of the era in which it was designed? Or is it the rolling embodiment of how ridiculous it was that everyone insisted on using narrow tires at all times?I say its both, and that we should laugh at it and appreciate it.But yes, before the UCI cracked down on non-traditional frame designs at the end of the 1990s, its hard to appreciate just how intent frame designers were to eliminate the seat tube once carbon fiber made it possible to do so. Heres another example, which a reader reminded me of recently:The Y-Foil can confound the eye when youre expecting to see a diamond frame, but at the same time its a design with its own internal logic, and once you realize its not a traditional frame your brain quickly come to terms with it. That doesnt mean you like it necessarily, only that it is what it is, which is a bicycle unto itself. The Kestrel however is basically a traditional frame only without a seat tube, so no matter how long you look at it your brain wants to put that seat tube back:Speaking of the Kestrel, my time with a 4000 was one of the most significant bicycle relationships in my cycling life, and recently I happened upon yet another contemporary review:These words were both chilling and prescient:Granted, the timeline was a bit offTreks top-of-the-line bikes were full carbon five years after the 4000, but most others werent:But here we are in 2024, and if you head out onto the popular roadie routes in your area youll see that the mantle of progress (Im not even sure what that means) has certainly won out:Though I would argue that the prognostication regarding steel being relegated to the nostalgia market was not borne out. Sure, nostalgia may be part of the reason steels still around, but its mostly because you still cant beat the combination of durability, price, and performance:The wide tires give it Y-Foil smoothness, you can put fenders and stuff on it, you can carry more than one water bottle, and as a bonus the seat tube helps protect you from road spray. (You dont want to be out on a bike without fenders when its really wet outside, but you dont want to be out on the Y-Foil when its even slightly wet at all.)Some opt for progress while others lament it:Meanwhile, its not all abandoned Citi Bikes around these parts:I mean there are a lot of them, but the city has also added a lot of bike lanes, which means we can now take a family ride to Little Itly almost entirely via bike lanes and greenways:Of course I took the Platypus, as its my dedicated leftovers hauler:Thats also bread from the bakery of the guy who wrote an op-ed against the very bike lanes we used to get there:I cant tell if the jokes on him or us.Actually, the jokes on all the people sitting in trafficexcept for the ices guy, who like us was making the most of the Indian summer warm fall weather:I guess progress is what you make of it.

As the mens and womens WorldTours come to a close, lets have a look back at an exhausting season

Jai Hindley has struggled to replicate the kind of form that saw him crowned Giro d'Italia champion in 2022 over the last couple of seasons. Whether it be crashes, injuries or illness, the Australian has been plagued by bad luck. Nevertheless, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe maintain full support of the...

Issue with power supply at Drogheda train station is understood to be part of the delay. Batteries at Drogheda to fast-charge batteries on trains as ESB cannot upgrade power supply quickly.The first next-generation Dart train, as part of an order of 185 new carriages, has left the factory of train manufacturer Alstom and is on the way to Irish Rail.Train firm Alstom tweeted an image of a train carriage wrapped up with the text, All wrapped up! Special package out for delivery, followed by the emojis for eyes, the Irish flag and a shamrock.Irish Rail awarded Alstom the contract for new trains in December 2021 for up to 750 fully electric or battery-electric powered vehicles over the next decade. As part of that, two orders totalling 185 carriages have been placed to date, comprising six sets of five-carriage conventional electric trains and thirty-one sets of five-carriage battery-electric trains.Although some responses online have billed it as an early Christmas present, the first of the new trains should have started arriving during the summer months. The delay was already known, and the plan for the trains to start entering service in mid-2025 has been pushed back to early 2026.The second order of new Dart trains was expected from 2026 onwards and is now set back to Summer 2027 onwards, and a third order is expected in Summer 2028 but is dependent on it being ordered this year.The process of ordering new trains has about a four to five-year lead in time from the order being made to when the trains are operational. After the trains are shipped to Ireland, significant work is involved in final assembly, commissioning, testing, regulatory approval, and driver training.The new Dart trains on order include battery and overhead electric hybrid vehicles that use electric overhead wires when along the exiting Dart route and battery-electric when beyond the existing electrification. Further electrification of lines is planned as part of the Dart+ infrastructure programme, but the plan is to have the trains in use ahead of the infrastructure changes. Mark Gleeson, a spokesperson for commuter group Rail Users Ireland, said: We welcome news that Alstom has achieved an important milestone with the shipping of the first train set to Ireland today from Poland.He said: The project from the start has been subject to delays, delays in getting NTA and Government approval to authorise the order added several months, and then supply chain issues impacting the assembly by Alstom has added a further four plus months to the project.Six of the 19 sets in the first order are overhead electric only, with the focus on extending the Dart service from the start.Gleeson said: Rail Users Ireland is concerned at the high-risk approach. Instead of low-risk entry to service on the existing Dart line before enabling battery, Irish Rail has opted to go for the full battery electric operation with charging in Drogheda.He said the plan includes a lot of challenges and dependencies to make everything work, including a plan to use an on-the-move automatic switch between overhead and battery using Irish Rails new European Train Control System (ETCS) signalling system, which is being delivered to support the new Dart fleet.Gleeson said: Irish Rails own timeline suggests the restricting factor is now the power supply in Drogheda to charge the trains. Irish Rail has been unable to secure a large enough grid connection, so a battery farm is being built in Drogheda which will charge within the grid limits and then rapidly discharge when the trains need to be charged. Thats Q1 2026.Irish Rail has also accepted that the 1984 Dart fleet has to be replaced and that funding is being sought outside Dart+ budget for this.On this issue, Gleeson added: RUI welcomes this effort as the 1984 fleet is in need of replacement to ensure a reliable service can be maintained.Irish Rail has said that purely electrically powered trains are expected to make up the majority of the orders from Alstom, but the battery electric trains are expected to be used in Dublin and possibly later in Cork too, ahead of the electrification of the lines.As Dart services are extended, intercity/longer-distance railcars currently used on commuter routes into Dublin will also be freed up for use on other parts of the rail network.Irish Rail was contacted for comment on the delay.(Note: Since this video was made, the onboard charging of electric bicycles has been removed from the train spec)