Hoping to increase driver passing distance at night, I've glued front and rear reflectors to my wing mirrors.

[guerney]

It's still dark out early, and for those of you who can't afford the ludicrously and outrageously priced £3 million GuerneySiderating Illumimaker™℠ ®©, behold the GuerneySiderating IllumireflectorLite™℠ ®© !!!

In other words... while clearing up the other day I found a small water bottle, cut a hole through the lid (drilled by hand, using a drill bit), cut off the bottom (to add flexibility if it hits something), and made some holes all around that bottom side... thusforthly:





...then I made some holes in some spongy foam packing material, which was delivered surrounding one of my many recent AliExpress sales purchases... and wove a long ziptie through the holes and the foam, exactly like this:





...bolted through the hole into the aluminium end bar cap (bought cheaply in the aforementioned AliExpress sales). I should have put a small washer inside the bottle cap, before bolting through.





...and simply tightened the bolt and end cap into the right hand side of my shiny new Dahon Espresso handlebar... tightened on a second long reusable ziptie, which I should have also woven through the bottle...





A bit of reflective tape adds a finishing touch... of course, upon reflection a better placement would be nearer the end. The foam could do with being longer TBH. Two widths of pipe lagging (available at a hardware shop or builder's merchant near you) would have been wide enough to be woven around the water bottle.





There you go! Much cheaper than chips (have you SEEN the price of a bag of chips these days?!?!?), even if you have to buy a small bottle of water and missed the excellent AliExpress Winter Sale of 2023/2024.

Will this work as well as the full fat £3 million GuerneySiderating Illumimaker™℠ ®©? Time will tell - I'll try it out when I eventually get around to assembling my 26" wheeled Dahon Espresso folding bike.

 

[guerney]

In terms of close passes and drivers cutting in too close in front when overtaking, my road cycling experiences are nothing of note these days thanks to the hugely awesome repulsive power of my GuerneySiderating Illumimaker™℠ ®©, which I keep deployed at all times at various angles. This boring video was shot at 6.35am, sunrise was at 6.49am, hence the ISO 800 graininess of darkness... and this is the closest cut in ahead I've experienced since attaching an Oxford lollipop top my right hand side handlebar end. The driver obviously felt it had to overtake and cut in closer than usual ahead of the impending traffic island. Slowly. Like I said, boring. And looped five times, to bore you repeatedly.

If I hadn't been using my lollipop, that's exactly the sort of driver which would have wafted past the end of my handlebar with inches to spare in that situation. Wafted a few inches past the lollipop instead.

Rustling noises are courtesy of my down filled hihiz dayglow greeny yellow jacket collar rubbing against the helmet my GoPro Hero 7 Black is bolted onto the jawguard of.

Here's a driver repulsed to the other side of the road by my Siderating Illumimaker™℠ ®©!!! Drivers sure do find my GuerneySiderating Illumimaker™℠ ®© repulsive. This happens often.

Very grainy because this was shot a few seconds after the video above, before sunrise, so I've had to brighten it up a lot. As usual, Youtube compression has reduced what quality there is at such low light levels. That number plate is too far away to be threat to my positive sense of wellbeing; doesn't need recording.

 

[thelarkbox]

Rode into the city centre for a dental appt yesterday.. BOTH Boxes on my bike were swiped off by passing lycra clads.. Both were secured with thin but tight and secure cable ties. the rear box was lost as i stood still assessing available slots in the chokka-block full bike racks in an Alley full of pedestrians!! My jaw was on the floor!, And I was glad of the motor assist as i balanced the one box in my lap and held the 2nd as a wind catcher under the handlebars on the return leg. The Dentist receptionist mistook me for a pick up driver and dropped a load of labeled bags in my box as i turned up.. (my 'spare' cable ties have been sat loose in the front box for over a year and went in the wind with the 1st loss @15 mph down the Oxford Rd. ) My resting Bastard face didnt do its job at all ;(

 

[guerney]

Rode into the city centre for a dental appt yesterday.. BOTH Boxes on my bike were swiped off by passing lycra clads.. Both were secured with thin but tight and secure cable ties. the rear box was lost as i stood still assessing available slots in the chokka-block full bike racks in an Alley full of pedestrians!! My jaw was on the floor!, And I was glad of the motor assist as i balanced the one box in my lap and held the 2nd as a wind catcher under the handlebars on the return leg.

Were your boxes attacked, or torn off by lycra static electricity?

The Dentist receptionist mistook me for a pick up driver and dropped a load of labeled bags in my box as i turned up..

Dentures and stuff? You could have sold your bounty on antisocial media for big bucks, depending...

Breaking strain of zipties does seem to vary a lot. Often the cheapos are not UV stabilised - thick ones I bought at the Post Office were so embrittled by exposure to sunlight, they had to be thrown away. I always keep several strong reusable ones attached to the handlebar stem, in case I need to attach a bottle of milk or shopping bag to the handlebar on a late night garage run, or whatever whenever wherever. Can't be without easy and certain access to zipties...

 

[thelarkbox]

No Idea how each incident went down both were a a surprise when they occurred leaving me somewhat shocked, picking up the pieces, Both boxes were secured with a couple of thin 2-3mm easy to snap cableties as I would rather not rip up the base of the boxes with strong zip ties when knocks happen and they are easier to snap off when access is needed to the brakes..

The front box has a lip that fits over the front rack rear top bar, and was just secured at the base front
all I know it lifted in the air as something blue in a teardrop egg box helmet cut in front of my wheel like a slot car.. Once picked up I only needed to keep a hand on it to keep it in place - Until I arrived in town and got the rear box knocked off while stood still, and again all i saw was a blue lycra blur weaving through the foot traffic. Same idiot with a vendetta? or a coincidence? or ??

Im not aware of cutting off anyone else and tend to be quite patient at junctions ? I could rear check more frequently but always do so before moving to the right.. I cant see speed being an issue as my bike isnt built for speeds greater than 15mph, as at that speed im pedalling at a good rate in top gear with a 36t chainring.

While my city centre visits are 1-2x monthly if that, ive been riding about with both boxes mounted without incident for a good while, just odd that 'lightning struck twice'.. - no damage beyond a lil frustration and a minor inconvenience.. the dentist bill came as a bigger shock, first time ive had fillings in a decade+ ouch in both mouth n wallet.

I didnt even get a staff discount for 'handling' the pick up on my arrival ;(

 

[guerney]

The front box has a lip that fits over the front rack rear top bar, and was just secured at the base front
all I know it lifted in the air as something blue in a teardrop egg box helmet cut in front of my wheel like a slot car.. Once picked up I only needed to keep a hand on it to keep it in place - Until I arrived in town and got the rear box knocked off while stood still, and again all i saw was a blue lycra blur weaving through the foot traffic. Same idiot with a vendetta? or a coincidence? or ??

Unless the ULO was extremely tiny riding a miniature recumbent while wearing a giant blue helmet with a large rim bumper at box level, sounds to me like your boxes were punched off - stronger zipties wouldn't have broken and you could have been knocked over and minced by several heavy metal boxes on wheels. Perhaps anti-ebike sentiment has reached fever picth out there in the wilds of wherever you are? Let's hope just one in lycra is fevered with whatever disease it suffers from. Another good reason to wear an action camera BTW.

 

[thelarkbox]

Unless the ULO was extremely tiny riding a miniature recumbent while wearing a giant blue helmet with a large rim bumper at box level, sounds to me like your boxes were punched off - stronger zipties wouldn't have broken and you could have been knocked over and minced by several heavy metal boxes on wheels. Perhaps anti-ebike sentiment has reached fever picth out there in the wilds of wherever you are? Let's hope just one in lycra is fevered with whatever disease it suffers from. Another good reason to wear an action camera BTW.

Reading your attempts at picturing the scene give me pause, While i agree the front box was punched off, and the culptit was an ultra speedy lycra clad who must have had his/her? reasons.. While a busy rd that stretch is 2-3x the width even with parked cars to the side than further down where it narrows to medieval city dimensions. So even busses give cyclists plenty of room when passing

However i now think that the rear box may have been brushed off by a passing pedestrian and the earlier incident along with catching sight of a similar colour blue on a cyclist in the near distance awakened my inner boomer and perhaps a conspiracy was born..

Oxford City is awash with groups of tourists atm.. at least 2 groups were traversing the alley i was trying to park the bike in when the rear box was lost..

At least thats gonna let me sleep without worrying that the local lycra brigade is outside with pitchforks..

I wonder what transgression i committed in that speed cyclists mind, or in inadvertently and without realising it???

 

[soundwave]

it goes 40mph now *=+broken arms and legs

 

[guerney]

I wonder what transgression i committed in that speed cyclists mind, or in inadvertently and without realising it???

It's a psycho. Your fear and confusion is it's pleasure, and will never be enough because they are black holes. I never cycle without this now, just in case. I should buy handcuff zipties for citizen's arresterminations.

Pardon our interruption...

 

[thelarkbox]

Boxes re-mounted and a single hassle free shopping trip undertaken without incident..
No psychos in sight..

 

[guerney]

Boxes re-mounted and a single hassle free shopping trip undertaken without incident..
No psychos in sight..

Stick grids of outward facing drawing pins to the striking faces of your boxes using superglue + bicarbonate of soda? Or nasty sharp black inch long carpet tacks? You could keep cork tiles inside the boxes, to affix for safe handling. The psycho would need to purchase kevlar or cork gloves, if he doesn't own them already.

 

[guerney]

No psychos in sight..

Be prepared! Psychos enjoy turning up unexpectedly - I was woken this morning by the worst physician in the world (me) demanding I ease chest pains by doing some actual exercise, instead of pretending to pedal... so out I ventured into dark, and it was the perfect termperature for slow jogging uphill. First mile up, easy, mile down again, second time uphill for a mile was really quite hard and then a car passed me, did a violent U-turn and parked on my side of the road (right) with it's lights on full and engine running. As it U-tuned, a troublesome part of me I try to keep dead shouted "YEAH!!! COME ON THEN YOU FSCKER!!!" It loves this stuff. As obviously as possible, without showing what it was, I moved the red spray dye can from my left pocket to my right hand and prepared for physical confrontation. A big burly bloke with a crap beard glared at me over headlights as I approached. I glared back as I passed, and noted his uniform. He didn't make eye contact. When I eventualy made it about 15 yards away (slow jogging is exremely slow, especially uphill, in terms of gear step inches), I heard the car door open and slam closed, so I looked back. Nope, no need for battle, he was still in the car. Then he did it again a few steps later, before loitering for a short while and driving off. Was it a cop? I have no idea, might have been a psycho in security guard or cop uniform, or indeed a lone psycho cop. I completed the rest of that mile up, then a mile and a half down to buy and consume a Snickers bar, then half a mile uphill, which was brutal. Knackered but I suddenly feel young again. I'll slow jog some more later, ever watchful of psychos. A heart attack will kill me first.

I'm going to jog a mile and a bit uphill right now to buy donuts. My ebike is intentionally crap for exercise. A zero effort ebike is what I needed, and is what I have.

EDIT: Opted for Skyr and apples. I was overtaken slow jogging by a very fat woman walking her tiny pug.

 

[thelarkbox]

Eating cheese at night will give you nightmares for sure, but dreaming of exercise.. 'Shudder!' At least i hope it was a bad dream?

as for preventative measures, perhaps another mirror so i can cast my resting bastard face glance to folk behind me in an attempt to stop similar attacks from the rear in the future. And a 2nd empty action camera mount/case visibly pointing backwards too perhaps??

 

[guerney]

I might bicarbonate of soda + superglue nasty sharp looking vertical plastic spikes painted silver along the shaft of my GuerneySiderating Illumimaker™ ™℠ ®©, to dissuade grabbings by psychos in vehicles...

That time of morning (shortly after 3.40am), there are no witnesses.

I'll slow run another 2 miles later, a mile uphill and one down. 6 miles today so far, 3.5 of those miles were uphill. Because my ticker needs the stress, and what isn't challenged succumbs to entropy. Chest tightness has eased.

Your psycho could have been an ASBO tourist? Not on photographic crime databases in a foreign country, cops can't/don't investgate anyway... psycho ASBO tourists can cause deaths and escape abroad scott-free, their blood thirst satiated momentarily, facilitated by cheap flights and AirBnBs. It's a thing, saw it on the telly so it must be true.

 

[MikelBikel]

Pricey!

 

[guerney]

Pricey!

You'll start me thinking about soldering indicators to my ebike battery again. I've got most of the bits, but quite honestly adding yet more weight to the bike puts me off, and besides, nothing scary has happened lately which compels me to re-start thinking about considering the prospect of the possibility of installing indicators. Bound to though, sooner or later, isn't it? Will you be buying these? Aldi were selling a helmet with indicators some time ago, I wondered if there was enough separation between the lights for drivers to understand intended direction of cyclist travel. A massive helmet would solve the separation problem. So I didn't even buy them when a huge pile of the things went at the reduced price of something like £14.99. Would drivers see them in daylight anyway? As you know, we're generally invisible, would these teeny tiny puny ickle lights be too? Insecured with magnets?!??! Smashing idea. Aldi's were controlled via a wireless handlebar button set, there wasn't an accompanying app ( I think). As much as possible, I avoid having anything to do with anything which requires an app to function, and that includes me. If badly programmed, all it'd take is some newfangled security update or OS version to break it, and unless expensive app development keeps up, the app will become obsolete and so will one or more functions of those lights. They could kill the lights remotely to sell you new ones, like Sonos did with their speakers, or reduce function like GoCycle did for their ebikes. Plus it'd be yet more stuff to charge before going on a bike ride - there's loads to charge already: one AAA powered blinker, another AAA blinker with frikcin laser beams, one USB charged contant red with brighter and more numerous frickin laser beams, plus another constant red, plus multi-coloured flashing Aldi apoke lights on each wheel, red flashing LED sash, GoPro batteries, phone, laptop, tablet, powerbank, DSLR camera etc. etc. etc. I had to go through all that palaver eairler this evening and it takes a toll.

 

[guerney]

There weren't many cars lorries etc. last night, but what scant traffic there was, continued to be repelled by my GuerneySiderating Illumimaker™℠ ®©. Works on motorcyclists too - it was going so fast, I didn't hear it until it was alongside (end of short vid). 10/10 star review for this product! Go ahead make your day, make yours today!

 

[MikelBikel]

There was a rash of those a year ago going by the YT vids. Some bikes come with them. The light, indicators, alarm and horn one ticks all the boxes except no matching front lights, hehe

 

[guerney]

I wouldn't risk my life activating and turning with any of those - not enough separation between lights, and not bright enough in daylight. I was planning to bolt very bright and dual sided (for visibility fore and aft) large indicators on the ends of two flip out Oxford lollipops either side of the rear pannier rack. Still might someday. They'd fold in when folding or storing the bike. If their weight doesn't break the lollipops, or in use cause them to change angle.

 

[guerney]

I discovered a weakness of the GuerneySiderating Illumimaker™ ™℠ ®© last night: bindweed. Change of the GuerneySiderating Illumimaker™ ™℠ ®©'s angle, if knocked against lamposts and railings etc. doesn't change the angle of the handlebar - the otherwise wondrously designed GuerneySiderating Illumimaker™ ™℠ ®© gives way harmlessly without causing steering problems, but if it goes through bindweed, that stuff is tough and can yank and turn the handlebar to the right before it breaks,if you don't fold it in, when approaching high foliage infested with the stuff.

Rather than use the dual carriageway for the final part of my journey, I decided to go along the pavement for about a hundred yards... fortunately I wasn't going fast, and the bindweed broke off (you can hear it) but caused a wobble. I was intending to make a sort of push in notched joint, so that the Oxford lollipop is easily pulled out, for occurrances like this, and for if someone on the passenger side of a car grabs a hold - it waggles madly about so much, I doubt anyone would bother attempting that, but crazies are capable of crazy. Another good reason to avoid pavements, to go with people walking out of terraced houses right out in front, dog walkers, kids, toys, escooters, drivers or passengers exiting cars, cats, squirrels, foxes, badgers, birds, rats and other cyclists, rabbits sometimes, hedgehogs, frogs too, bagged and unbagged dog doo doo, slippy wet plastic bags which might have contained dog doo doo, confetti, condoms, big squishy and slippy worms and slugs, rotting discarded part eaten food, branches bricks sticks and stones, people walking out from between vehicles, nervous ill or drunk pedestrians who might lurch or wobble over in any direction, the horrible state of pavements, the madness of wheelie bin street clutter days, scrap metal and dead appliances left out, protuding tree roots etc. etc. It's faster and safer by road.

Bindweed / RHS

Hedge bindweed and field bindweed are both UK native wildflowers. They are beneficial to wildlife, with attractive white and pink funnel-shaped flowers. However, they are often unwelcome in gardens due to their spreading roots and twining stems.

www.rhs.org.uk