Kick stands and tyre pressures

Spanninga Easy 30 mm version

The kickstand failed on one of our rental bikes at the end of last year.

A bicycle which falls over unless leant on something is a nuisance, even just in storage, let alone in use. Leaning on brick walls causes damage to the bike. Other surfaces can be damaged by the bike. Therefore, I've replaced the broken part with our favourite type of single sided stand, the Spanninga Easy kick-stand. This is a long stand which is sturdy enough that it will support quite heavily laden bicycles safely.

Luckily, with most bikes, fitting a kickstand is an exceptionally easy job to do. It fits to the bracket provided as part of the frame, with one bolt just in front of the rear wheel, and just a single tool is required to do this - an 8 mm Allen Key.

The stand simply has to be held in position with one hand, while the bolt is done up with the other. It takes just a couple of minutes to do.

It's a good idea to put a little grease on the thread of the bolt so that it won't seize up over time, and to put some on the mechanism of the kickstand as well to make it run a bit smoother.
Most bikes use the "30 mm" version of the stand. Dimensions of both variants are in the web shop.

Bike with working kick-stand, so which no longer has to be leaned on something.

And now something about tyre pressure and tyre choice...

The bike in the photos above is fitted with the same tyres as I've currently got on my Mango for winter commuting - the Schwalbe Marathon Plus. The great advantage of these tyres is that they are virtually impossible to puncture. As a result, they're our choice for most of our bikes, most of the time. If you prefer riding to repairing punctures, these are the tyres to go for.

They're also quite fast tyres... but only if pumped up quite hard. I realised on Sunday morning that after months of riding the narrow Marathon Plus tyres on the front wheels of my Mango were well under the maximum recommended pressure of 6.5 bar ( 100 psi ). In fact, they'd got down to about 5 bar ( 75 psi ) which is low enough that they roll much worse. I'd been disappointed by my speed of late, but of course pumping the tyres up to the recommended pressure restored their previous performance.

It's one thing to have to stop and fix a puncture in the middle of the summer when it's warm and the sun is shining, but something else altogether in the winter when it's dark and cold. That's why I use them especially in the winter.


But now it's just about Spring... and Summer is around the corner. This time of year, punctures are less likely, and in any case I don't quite so much if I get them. Soon, I'll take the Marathon Plus tyres back off my Mango and replace them with something which is a little more fun to ride with. For everyday summer use, I intend to switch to the the Marathon Racer. They still have a puncture resistant layer, so punctures should at the least be rare in summer conditions, but it's a much thinner one making them lighter and faster rolling than the Marathon Plus. They're well suited for everyday riding.

For racing, I've a pair of only slightly worn in Continental Grand Prix tyres for the front, or perhaps Stelvio or Durano. These are all nice fast rolling, narrow, durable, puncture resistant and light weight tyres with decent grip on the road, and should work well combined with a Marathon Racer on the rear.

Repairing a puncture in a
Comp Pool which I fitted
to Judy's bike

However, I've also some more unusual tyres which I might use again, but only if the right opportunity presents itself: Three Avocet Fasgrip tyres. These are a real curate's egg of a tyre. They're fast, they're durable, but they have a magnetic attraction for sharp objects on the road so you get lots of punctures. The lightest sprinkling of rain results in no grip whatsoever, and even more punctures. I don't sell these. I don't think I could live with myself if I did. However, a colleague of mine at the Ligfietsgarage sold them to me personally (they don't sell them to the public either), describing them as "just like the Tioga Comp Pool". I should have taken this as a warning, but of course I'm a glutton for punishment so I instead took it as a recommendation. He was absolutely right. They really are just the same. I should have known what I was letting myself in for. But with both of these tyres there's a pay-off in the right conditions in that they do genuinely have low rolling resistance - so long, of course, as they're pumped up to their recommended pressures, plus a bit more if you're really daring... I raced with the Avocet tyres last year.

Tioga's Comp Pool is long out of production. I thought the Avocet was out of production too but it's still on the manufacturer's website. Occasionally someone comes out with a new tyre which is described as "just like the no longer available Tioga Comp Pool". Sensible people run away when this comparison is made... Speed without such compromises comes from the more sensible tyres which I mentioned earlier.

Stairs are dangerous - wear a helmet

In 2008, 716 cyclists died on the roads of the United States. It's quite a death toll - it would of course be better if there were fewer. However, by comparison, 12000 people die each year on stairs in the same country. It's much the same pattern in any country. Stairs are much more dangerous than bicycles. Nearly 17x as dangerous.

This article provides a list of helpful tips to prevent injuries from falling:

Here are some tips from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association to help prevent injuries from falls.

Keep muscles and bones strong, by following an exercise regimen:

1. Strength training with weight bearing and resistive exercise works for all age groups.
2. Practice exercises designed to help improve balance.
3. Exercise at least three days a week to improve strength, flexibility and balance.
4. Choose low-impact exercises, such as yoga, tai chi and Pilates to avoid stress on joints.
5. Stretch daily to improve flexibility and mobility.

Make your home safer with simple improvements:

1. Good lighting, without extension cords, to eliminate dark areas.
2. Slip-resistant walking surfaces.
3. Grab-bars and a night light in the bathroom.
4. Handrails on both sides of stairs extending one foot beyond last step.
5. Remove throw rugs from doorways and hallways.

If you have fallen before, follow these recommendations:

1. Consider a full physical evaluation and balance screen, including vision and hearing tests.
2. Wear shoes with good support, such as lace-up oxford shoes with leather soles and rubber heels.

What's more, "The actual number is probably much larger. We believe most stair incidents are not reported". This is a scandal ! Stairs are demonstrably dangerous. So much so that they are the second largest cause of unintended injuries in the United States. When will we see national campaigns about stair safety, advocacy of helmets and special safety clothing for use of stairs ?

Why are Stannah stair lifts only marketed to the elderly ?

Children should be taught to use Stannah stair lifts. We can save lives with a campaign for this. Parents should set an example by always using a stair lift themselves.

Oh, hang on, there's a worse problem
Wait. Stairs are only the second largest cause of unintended injuries. What's the largest cause ? You'll perhaps not be surprised to hear that Motor vehicles are actually the largest cause of unintended injuries. Perhaps we should be putting our efforts on safety there.

And it gets worse. If you look not just "unintended injuries" but at "preventable causes of death" for the USA, the picture changes again. Now the 43000 deaths per year due to Traffic Collisions looks a little less significant as there are five other greater preventable causes of death. However, up there in the number two position, are 112000 deaths per year due to "overweight and obesity".

With this, cycling comes into the picture again. If the population can be convinced to take regular daily exercise as a part of their everyday lives, there is a very good chance of reducing that enormous death toll. If these people cycle instead of drive, they not only will reduce their chance of being one of 112000 dying each year due to being overweight or obese, they'll also reduce their chance of having anything to do with the 43000 deaths due to motor vehicles.

By comparison, the 716 deaths of cyclists now look a bit less significant. So why are cyclists the focus of so much "safety" campaigning ? In any case, helmets can only do so much. Of those 716 cyclists who lost their lives on American roads in 2009, only some will have died due to a head injury. Of those who died due to a head injury, only some won't have been wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. And of the non-helmet wearing cyclists who died of head injuries amongst the 716, only some might have had their lives saved by wearing a helmet. The potential gain to society by scaremongering over bicycle helmets is small. By comparison, the potential gain by encouraging people out of cars and onto bikes is enormous. Also the potential gain by re-arranging the streets to resemble those of the Netherlands is also enormous. Dutch cyclists are the safest in the world, with a death rate per km cycled 5x lower and an injury rate 27x lower than in the US, even though helmets are very rarely seen except on sport cyclists.

Note that because many of the other preventable causes of death catch up with us only as we get older, if you're an American aged between 1 and 44, the most likely preventable cause of death for you is a motor vehicle crash. For children aged between 9 and 18, it is the most common preventable cause of death worldwide.

If you want to make children safer, and cyclists safer too, then don't campaign for cycle helmets, or for improvements in stair safety either. The thing to do is to copy what has been done in the Netherlands. In particular, this campaign, and always keep an eye on the need for a high degree of subjective safety.

At present, there is a "wrong headed" attempt to make cycle helmets compulsory in Northern Ireland. The last day to sign a petition against this is today.

Update a bit later in the day: Some people in the comments are getting a bit too interested in exact statistics for how dangerous stairs are. Actually, this isn't really the point. The point is that there are many things more dangerous than cycling, however you count them. This post is about keeping a sense of perspective about different risks. There is simply too much scaremongering about cycling.

Note that exercise is listed as one of the things that improves your chances when climbing stairs. Cycling is also low impact exercise, so ride a bike and you're safer there too. In the photo at the top, Judy risks climbing the stairs of a local lookout tower - without wearing a helmet. I'll end on a serious note: Hold the rail when you walk on stairs. It might save your life.

Maastunnel Rotterdam

The oldest traffic tunnel in the Netherlands can be found in Rotterdam. It connects the two banks of the River ‘Nieuwe Maas’ (New Meuse). The first talks of creating a tunnel date back as far as 1899. Since Rotterdam has always been an important port (from 1962 to 2004 it was even the busiest port in the world) a bridge on this location would have had to be constructed too tall to allow sea ships passage. After long debates the decision to construct the tunnel was finally taken in 1933.

Maastunnel South Ventilation Tower and SS Rotterdam

The tunnel was built from 1937 to 1942. It consists of a set of pre-fabricated tubes that were sunken into a trench that was dug in the river floor. This technique had never been used in Europe before. Two adjacent tubes are for motorised traffic (2x2 lanes). Right next to those there are two stacked tubes. One for pedestrians, on top of which there is one for cyclists. Motorised traffic reaches the tubes via long access roads. Pedestrians and cyclists enter their tunnel from an entirely different location by escalators. Therefore, as a cyclist you could be unaware there even is a tunnel for motorised traffic.

In yellow: cyclist's access to the tunnel

Construction of the tunnel started in 1937. When World War II reached the Netherlands in May 1940, Rotterdam was heavily bombed. The entire historic city centre was wiped flat. However, the tunnel was spared and it was completed during the Nazi occupation. On the 14th of February 1942 there was a secret opening ceremony without Nazi participation.

Prime example of separate cycle infrastructure

The tunnel is a magnificent and early example of elaborate separate infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians versus motorised traffic. The visible ventilation towers with copper dome roofs are of high architectural quality. With the tunnel they have been a landmark for Rotterdam for almost 70 years now. About 75,000 vehicles and about 4,500 cyclists still use this tunnel daily. In the 1950s a staggering 40,000 cyclists used the four escalators on either side of the tunnel every day. In the morning three were used in the direction of the centre and in the evening it was the other way around. Nowadays there are far less cyclists. Partly due to the decline of cycling in the 1960s and 1970s but also because there are more bridges and tunnels now.

The video shows a ride through the tunnel

The actual bicycle tunnel is 585 meters (640 yards) long and the deepest point of the tunnel is 20 meters (66Ft) below the surface.

After the first bridge in 1878, the Maastunnel was only the second permanent connection across the river. Since the tunnel was built several other bridges and tunnels were constructed. Reducing the importance of this first tunnel. Besides more tunnels for motorised traffic outside the city centre, there are now also a railway tunnel and a metro tunnel. Cyclists wanting to cross the river in the city centre have a choice nowadays between the Maastunnel and two bridges. The 1981 replacement of the original 1878 bridge and the Erasmus bridge aka the Swan from 1996. But they can also use the elaborate regional "waterbus" network. On the waterbus bicycles can be taken for free.

Why this isn't so important as you might think Exceptional infrastructure like this is always interesting to see, but what causes people to cycle in large numbers is the very tight network of everyday, but high quality, cycle routes.

This is not a cycle path

This video has explanatory captions which are only visible on a computer and not on a mobile device I cycled to a supplier in Hoogeveen and back home this afternoon to get more front luggage racks for the shop. A 75 km round trip pulling a trailer, which makes for a decent mid-week workout.

I went after lunch and returned just after the schools had shut, so there were a lot of school children making their way home both in the same and the opposite direction to me. A few of them are in the video and photos below.

Most of the first half of the route between here and Hoogeveen is on roads, not cycle paths. However, these are not roads as you probably know them. Yes, in theory they are "shared" with cars, but in practice you only very rarely see a car using them. Some years ago, a parallel road with a higher speed limit was built to take the through traffic. The only cars which use the minor road are those which are accessing properties along it. Today I saw no cars using the minor road in either direction, but I did see a lot of cyclists. On the parallel road with the 80 km/h speed limit there were quite a few cars, but no cyclists. It is illegal to cycle on that road, but we lose nothing due to that.

The Netherlands has 35000 km of cycle path, vs about 130000 km of roads. However, this doesn't imply that when you cycle on the roads that you have to "share" with large numbers of cars. Rather, you are segregated by mode, even when on the roads. What I'm highlighting here is road, not cycle path, so is not part of the 35000 km cycle path total. There are a lot of roads like this in the Netherlands, both in rural and urban settings.

Sometimes it seems that cyclists from the UK in particular get particularly vexed over the issue of being "banned from roads". However, in this case it really makes no difference at all to cyclists. We get the better half of the deal, in fact, with a direct route which is only very rarely invaded by a motor vehicle. What cyclists need to fight for is better conditions for cycling, which result in more cycling. Spending time in defending a position of being allowed to use roads which the majority of the population find unpleasant may slow the decline of cycling, but it will never grow it. The best defence is a good offence. In the case of cycling, growth comes by fighting for cycling conditions with a level of subjective safety such that everyone will want to cycle, and direct routes which make cycling efficient. The Dutch have done this for a while now, with great success relative to other countries.

Most of the still photos which follow were taken heading South, so that's why the main road is on the left in some of these photos, while it's on the right in the video:

A lone cyclist on the service road, while the parallel road for cars has several cars. Note that the street light is on the quiet road.

Several more cyclists on the quiet road. The main road is now on the left of some housing, so it's temporarily out of sight.

An adult cyclist blithely passes by a sign saying that he's banned from using the main road. Somehow he seems not to be concerned about this. 

Another adult cyclist, passing another sign, who doesn't seem to mind one bit about being banned from the road on the left.

Two girls riding together with no concerns about motorists.

One of the points where the service road becomes a cycle path. This makes it discontinuous for drivers, and is another reason why the road we're using only has cars on it which are being driven to access properties along it.

Now on the cycle path. This boy doesn't seem to feel sufficiently threatened by the traffic that he thinks he needs to hold his handlebars properly.

An elderly couple out for an afternoon ride. They're heading towards a roundabout, which if you're on the cycle path you completely avoid.

I'm also quite glad I'm not on the road. It wouldn't improve my feeling of safety either. Subjective safety is the big question. If there's not enough of it, people don't cycle. It's not just "for beginners". Experienced cyclists also also benefit from conditions which make cycling more pleasant.

On the way home now. We're on the cycle path on this side of the trees, the cars are on the right. Here two bikes are being used by four teenagers. Coming in the opposite direction are another elderly couple out for a ride.

Two more girls heading home on the cycle path.

Back on the road, with more children heading home from school and using the full width. The cars are on the other road to the right of those trees.

Another group of children riding home together. They were more spread out before they saw me coming in the opposite direction and made room.

None of the photos or video show cars using the minor road. This isn't just due to me being selective - I saw no cars using that road today.

The route highlighted by this post is shown on the map below. If the only route here by bike was the main road then there is simply no way that there would be this level of cycling, especially by school children. Few parents would see that option as safe. That is why even "on the road" it is important to have segregation of modes.


A 17 km one way distance to school

Conditions like this are what makes the difference between 1% of journeys being by bike in the UK, USA, Australia etc. and 26% of journeys being by bike in the Netherlands. It's the reason why 16 million Dutch people make more cycle journeys between them than 300 million Americans, 65 million British and 20 million Australians all added together. It's also the reason why Dutch cyclists are the safest in the world.

Hoogeveen and back is quite a regular journey for me now, and I've videoed it twice before. Article originally referred to 29000 km of cycle-path. This was incorrect - the Netherlands now recognises 35000 km.

The Netherlands is an oil producing nation (or "only an energy poor country would build cycle paths")

A few days ago we went on a family outing to one of the places where Vincent van Gogh lived in Drenthe. It was really a very nice place to visit, and will be an option for our cycling holiday routes this year. While in the area I also took a detour to look at something altogether more industrial.

Many people don't realise that the Netherlands is an oil producing nation. From the 1940s until 1996, oil was produced in this area of the Netherlands. Many pumpjacks still stand as a memory of this time, but the only one I've seen running is that in the video (it's for tourists and doesn't still produce oil). I suspect that Google's Street View doesn't include images of cyclists riding on cycle paths past oil pumps in many other places.



It's another of those myths and excuses - that only a country with no natural resources, without oil and without a car industry would support cycling. However, here's a nation which started supporting cycling right at the time when its oil production was highest.

While the pumpjacks (jaknikkers in Dutch) no longer operate, oil is now being produced in this country again. There's a new technique, involving pumping steam underground which comes back up with oil and gas. The gas is burnt in a power station which contributes to the local electricity supply as well as generating more steam.

Oil is flowing out of the ground in the Netherlands right
now through these pipes.

You may have guessed already that oil isn't really "my thing". I'd like to see less of it being burnt. However, I find the technology pretty impressive. These pipes are amongst those through which the steam and oil flows at present.

Assen is where the headquarters of NAM are based. That's the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij - Dutch Oil Company. It's not a particularly famous company in itself, but it's a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell (itself a Dutch company, of course and one of the largest employers in the Netherlands) and ExxonMobil - two companies which are known around the world.

And it's not only oil. Some readers may have heard of the Groningen Gas Field. The largest deposit of natural gas in Europe is right beneath our feet here, and pumping stations for gas are distributed around the local landscape, pumping from both this large field and several smaller ones. These stations are small and only really noticed if you look for them. One of them is about half a kilometre from our home. I cycle past it quite regularly, as do thousands of other people:

Two more videos about local oil production:




Another pump, this time outside the NAM building in Assen. NAM is one of the largest employers in this city:

Related blog posts have shown how the cost of running a car in different countries is not related strongly to the cycling rate, nor indeed to how easy it is to afford to buy a car. Contrary to many opinions expressed in other countries, The Netherlands really has not pursued anti-car policies.


I mentioned a car industry back a bit in this post. They don't make cars any more, but surely most people have heard of DAF trucks. In the last week, proposals to increase the speed at which you can drive, and thus burn more fuel, have been raised in both the Netherlands and the UK have this week. Jaknikkers still operate just across the border in Germany.

A Carnival of Cyclists

Originally a sharp religious division ran diagonally through the Netherlands. South-east of it lived Catholics and north and north-west of it lived Protestants. Nowadays almost 43% of the Dutch are non-religious, but once every year the old division becomes very clear again: at Carnival.

Only the originally Catholic south really celebrates Carnival.
The celebrations for this year officially started at Sunday 6th March and stop at midnight the following Tuesday. In the south of the Netherlands this party is taken very seriously by young and old. And how better to reach the festivities than by bicycle.


Which creates a Carnival of cyclists... all kinds of people on all types of bikes in all sorts of costumes. And they are almost all showing the colours of the city, in this case: red, white and yellow.

Carnival in 's-Hertogenbosch is considered the oldest in the Netherlands and was already celebrated in 1385. The Dutch honour their traditions!

A few photos from the last couple of days

A few photos from the last couple of days. First, a page out of the latest Vogelvrije Fietser (Fietsersbond magazine). Subscribe to this newspaper for a year and you get a free bike. Not a bad deal.

This month, the Vogelvrije Fietser also linked to my bell test from a few months back.

Our eldest daughter Eliza, on the way home from school.

Bikes outside the post office, so close as possible to the door.

There is a lot of rebuilding going on in Assen at the moment. Due to it, directions have been put up to direct people to park their bikes elsewhere, but many bikes get parked next to the sign.

Judy took this photo while waiting for the traffic light to change on the way to college. There's another crowd of cyclists on the left too (at this simultaneous green junction).

The scene in a suburb of Assen yesterday, on a cycle path featured previously.

Photo from a stop on our afternoon ride today

Passing the pagoda in the Asian area of the Assen arboretum

Approaching a pile of logs

Photo of logs.

Photos taken, Judy heading back home again

Bicycle road on the way back into Assen on a quiet Sunday in March.

Bike basket that I made this week, with red and green willow.