MisterDave

We were on the bottom all the way out of Manchester on the Rochdale, the climb to Oldham being one long chore of letting water down to re-float and continue, whilst fending off local toe-rags who were trying to steal from the boat. I'd suggest this section is best done early in the day, and not on any sort of holiday. Also, whatever you do, don't stop anywhere above Picaddilly and below lock 64. See previous thread http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=75981&hl= If I could also point out, at 60' you're going to be a tight fit in some of the locks. http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/calder/locks.htm

Passing between moving traffic isn't necessarily a problem, I've probably done a few thousand miles of that myself (ex motorcycle courier) without it causing any major incident. The guy filming does seem to abuse the advanced stop line at 0:45 though, and there was already a white people carrier filling half the bicycle box. I have a little urge to play devil's advocate on this, did the cyclist advance between the stationary traffic with the intent of occupying the bicycle box only to find it full of other vehicles leaving him nowhere safe to stop? I've had that happen to me on a bicycle more than once, found myself having to fit sideways across the front of the box in order to stay clear of other traffic.

They generally do, but some with a fixed rear sprocket only have a front one on the basis that resisting the rotation of the pedals will slow the rear wheel down, I believe that was the case here. Even if he'd had a rear brake to apply, chances are he would have locked the wheel and slid into the bus anyway, albeit at a slightly lower speed. It's the front brake that does 3/4 of the work! I'm not here to make excuses for bad cyclists, I'm just not sure that this particular video is the type of bad cyclist we should be concerned about, it's someone crashing due to mechanical failure rather than someone crashing due to riding like an idiot. There's plenty of idiot cyclist videos on youtube if you want them, along with idiots misbehaving in just about every other type of road vehicle.

I read a follow-up article to that video, apparently his brakes failed. You can see he stopped pedalling as the lights changed which suggests that he didn't intend to plough straight through into the bus. Still he's lucky to be alive to tell the tale!

It's stolen unless and until the court are presented with information proving that it was used on the main navigation channel, even then there is doubt as to the legality of its removal. It was taken from him with the intention of permanently depriving him of it (hence why they moved it to a location where they intend to dispose of it instead of arranging to have it stored nearby in order to return it), and that's the definition of theft. I don't accept as legitimate any rule or statute which says anything like "it's not theft when I do it because I say so" or "it's not theft because I've decided to refer to it as seizure", unless everyone can make rules like that. If the court takes the view that the boat WAS in the main navigable channel, there's still doubt as to the legality of them taking it from private land. If the court takes the view that the boat was NOT in the main navigable channel, then its removal was the taking of another person's property with the intent of permanently depriving that person of it. Just because it was (and still is) possible for him to get it back doesn't change what the original intent was.

If there's no justice these things could easily happen anyway, even if you obey all the rules. In the case that started this thread, we still don't know either way if the owner was obeying the relevant rules or not, but he's still had his boat stolen away under colour of law, so how is it any different? Spending time in prison is just one of those things that could happen, always a possibility when pushing back against tyranny, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and potentially a future nobel peace prize winner. Nice attempt at putting words in my mouth, but your ad hominem failed. Nowhere did I say I expected anyone to work for free for my benefit although I have spent plenty of my own time and money working free for the benefit of others and I very much appreciate when others have worked for my benefit. I'm aware the world is imperfect, I see it as my duty as a human being to try and make things better and to push back in any way I can against anything which would make things worse. Any so-called legal system which doesn't give both sides an equal chance is a kangaroo court not a justice system. I don't believe any man or woman should have to pay in advance for access to justice, no matter if they're a millionaire, a housewife, a homeless guy, an addict, an illegal immigrant or a bloke who just had his boat snatched.

If there's no justice there's no reason at all to obey ANY of the rules or laws. Going down that route is a slippery slope which will lead to mass disorder and the breakdown of society altogether. Maybe that's what's needed, for those mentally ill hoarders of money who have impoverished entire nations to have the money taken from them by a pitchfork-wielding mob so they can learn a little humility.

So you're suggesting anyone who doesn't have a wedge of money for a bond should be denied their day in court, the state can steal anyone's lawfully held possessions and only the rich can go to court and get their possessions back? That would be awful.

I once rode 15 miles the wrong direction home from work because the guy in front of me was filling the road with a haze of Castrol R and I couldn't stop following the smell. all the way thru Barnsley and half way round Sheffield. I think the guy was getting a bit nervous about being followed by the time I turned off. Someone should make a castorene air freshener, I'd buy it!

I bought an optical rpm meter second hand on ebay for a tenner, uses a bit of retro-reflective material stuck on the flywheel (or wherever you want to measure), shines a light at it and counts the reflections.

Years ago I was friends with some fairground folk (actually dated one for a little while until warned/chased off by her brother), they used to identify their van as "the blue one with the mollycroft roof". I'm not saying you're wrong, It may well be that the entire van style is referred to as a mollycroft elsewhere, I can only speak for what I've experienced.

Two names for the same thing. I think you're both right, although I've only ever heard mollycroft used to refer to this type of roofline on showmans wagons.

I'm all for tipping my hat to a bit of historical superstition, just for the fun of it, but there is a limit!

Computer fans don't fare too well in a cooker hood type environment, I managed to kill 2 good quality 105mm fans in about a month by using them in a cooker hood. By contrast, the one I fitted in a shower is still going strong years later.

Went to check on a friend's boat the other day as she hadn't been able to get to it all week, found it wasn't rocking at all, hardly moved even with me trying to rock it. Turns out it was sat on a deep layer of flotsam, as were the boats either side of it. Shuffled them around, dragged out all sorts of rubbish including a log 10 feet long and 21" wide, and all the boats started rocking nicely again. I wonder if maybe you had some debris under the boats which was dislodged when your neighbour moved.

Nothing wrong in keeping alive some harmless traditional superstitions, these "old wives tales" deserve to be preserved as part of our history, re-enacting them is a kind of homage to the past.

I was going to rename mine during this refit, but there were so many people quoting old superstitions at me about wasting beer or bubbly, rivetting an old penny under the gunwale, destroying anything with the old name on etc etc that I delayed my decision and ended up with the new hull survey carrying the boats old name, so I guess I'm stuck with a boat named after a Plantagenet folly which never saw a battle.

Pouring beer away might make the crew sad beyond telling!

Just happens I had a manual site open in another tab, is this what you seek? http://ebookbrowsee.net/bd14f-vsd-fsd-controller-101n02100-101n2600-operating-instructions-06-2013-dess100e102-pdf-d517343548

No, It's a BSA Tracker 125, unusual little thing I picked up as a solid lump of rust a few years ago, British bike industry's first attempt at badge engineering. Don't think there's many of them around anymore.