TZR250. Street legal and Stateside...

Damm what a score!

The Silk 700S

Georgous!

Whiteladies Road: a weekday dataset

Our last trip down Whiteladies road shows that on a weekend, yes, pedestrian shoppers did hold up through traffic. This implied that yes, the FirstBus/Showcase bus route plans to reduce pedestrian crossing options may benefit their schedules, but we were worried about the impact on us cars getting out from side roads.

This video is different as it's a visit by our expendable cyclist on a weekday morning, down the bus lane from Oakfield Road, and through the Triangle as far as University Road, where they head off. Commentary first, analysis later.

At 0:24 FH56CVV switches lanes early, but as everyone else in the RH lane who isn't turning right also goes left, they are forced to give way to the vehicles in front of them anyway.

From 0:29 to 0:40, a bike lane that even waltham forest would be proud of. Its worn-out nature hints that it's popular with larger vehicles, while the trees keep it bumpy.

At 04:40 A9VNG is in the ASL, but we suspect that it was in there when the lights change. Why the suspicion? One car in the pedestrian area and one in front in the yellow hatched "only enter when clear to exit" area stopping cross traffic from St Pauls Road and Tyndall's Park Road getting across. Incidentally, Tyndall's Park road (on the left) here is no left turn, St Paul's (on the right, into Clifton) is no right turn, so all congestion coming up from the Triangle is Whiteladies Road traffic. Note also this junction provides no time for pedestrians to cross when the traffic isn't actually allowed to drive -if only all major junctions in the city were like this, congestion would be much improved. The BBC offices are on the left, incidentally.

Following the cyclist who is commuting without helmet, body-armour or hi-viz clothing, we eventually discover what is holding up WL-road traffic, it's the "triangle" gyratory system, which our tax-dodger hits at 1:43. The underlying problem is that Whiteladies Road traffic is forced to give way to traffic coming from the right, which initially means traffic from Clifton. Further on, at 2:17 we get held up by traffic all coming into the city from the A4 or the Hotwells's Bridges and then up Jacob's Wells road.

There are four lanes here, one for parking, one turning right at the next junction, and two straight on, but that leftmost one is lost even to vans ignoring bus-lane signs, not just by the police car at 2:41 but by the taxi-rank at 2:53.

WN59UDP is held up by these taxis forcing them to wait with all the in-town traffic, so as soon as they can they cut left in front of the bicycle, through the pedestrians and up University Road -only to find that the Biffa refuse collection lorry is in the way and ignoring the important traffic being held up. Finally passing that, they can sprint up to Woodland Road, where as you recall the Evening Post was campaigning against two paid parking spaces going away, which we felt was overreacting as nobody parks their except arts students, and their tuition fee increases will eliminate that luxury.

However, today we can see that the paid parking area is also popular for parental dropoff outside Bristol Grammar School -and it actually makes for a nice, low-chaos dropoff area. Admittedly, there isn't enough of this short-stay parking right in front of the school, forcing some parents to stop in the double yellow lined areas, but the alternative would be parking on the other side of this (one-way) street, forcing the children to cross the road. Would you want your children to cross a busy road like this? Exactly. Parking on the double yellow lines outside the school entrance is the only safe place to drop your kids off and be sure they get to school alive.

Now, returning to the Whiteladies Road issue, what does the bus plan proposal change on this stretch? The Oakfield Road crossing will be moved further away from the road, so making it less useful to pedestrians trying to walk from Cotham to Clifton or bag. Plus one point. But, this makes it harder for cars to get out or over from these roads, so minus one point.

Heading in to town, the right hand turn to Clifton will be removed for all but buses. This will turn Oakfield road into the primary rat-run option, but as we've seen, the moving of the zebra crossing makes it trickier. What they aren't doing is extending the bus lane any further south, and they are leaving that toy bike lane in there. We say toy as its so half hearted that no rational cyclist will think they are welcome -what with the faded paint and tree roots, but its very presence implies that some people in the city do welcome cyclists. No, better to remove it and put a cyclists dismount sign up.

Entering the triangle is more informative. Congestion is caused here by traffic joining the road from other places (Clifton, Jacob's Wells Road), and whatever is slowing them down on their final journey. There are no pedestrian-only lights or zebra crossings to play with, so there's little that can be done to make pedestrians feel less welcome, no tricks to make the schedule more accurate.

And that's the key problem. The goals of the showcase route are faster bus journey times and a more predictable schedule. Removing and moving zebra crossings will only help with this out of hours, on weekends and midday, because on a weekday morning the problem is more fundamental: Erlang's Laws. Congestion is a result of the ingress rate of a queue being higher than the egress rate. The reason vehicles can't leave whiteladies road isn't that there are vast numbers of people struggling to turn up Cotham Hill (more on that another day), or any of the side roads, it is because the merging of multiple queues at the triangle creates a bottleneck which having one lane dedicated to bus stops and a taxi rank doesn't do much to help.

And do we care about mid-day firstbus schedules? No -and neither should anyone else. People using the bus at weekend and mid-day weekdays are either people who can't afford a car, people with bus passes, or people who have made some ideological decision to take a bus: passengers FirstBus can take for granted. If they want to make money, they need to get the commuter traffic, and quite frankly, changes to pedestrian crossings aren't going to do it. They may help us car commuters by reducing the number of pedestrians and cyclists, but given our dataset implies that the Whiteladies Road congestion is due to problems in the city centre, those crossing changes aren't going to help buses or our cars on whiteladies road at peak hours, which is when it matters to us as well as FirstBus.

Sorry FirstBus, but whatever datasets you have on congestion problems on Whiteladies Road, they were clearly collected by FirstBus or Council staff during their working hours, rather than during am or pm rush hours. This is the only explanation why your proposals don't just do nothing for us drivers while making pedestrians and cyclists suffer, they don't appear to help buses either.

That's the irony there. This proposal has already got the cycling campaign saying "oppose this it's anti-pedestrian and anti-cyclist", it's also anti-car, but we think it manages to be bus-neutral at the same time. That takes skill, that does.

Delivery Vans

A lot of people complain about delivery vans, but consider this: they are the price of internet shopping. You cannot buy things online and expect them to be delivered by bicycles, so vans it is.

Here we see a royal mail van, an ikea van, and a sainsbury's van edging through Meridian Road, Redland.

These people know the width of their vehicles. Even so, we suspect the IKEA van fears addresses in Montpelier.

This shows an interesting consequence of those people who say "I don't need a car", because they buy their IKEA "malmo" sofas online and have them delivered along with the supermarket supplies and some books from amazon. You may have avoided your own car, but this is the congestion you are creating instead.

Not that we wish to denounce on-line shopping and local delivery. Indeed, we will draw our readers' attention to Bath Ales, who, if you sign up for their email letter, will sell you 12x500ml of their Dark Hare beer for 12 pounds -very good value, with free delivery in the BS postal district, as well as bits of the BA area. One warning though, the van that does the delivery does say "Bath Ales" all over it. This means you had better be in when they deliver, otherwise your neighbours will note a Bath Ales van arriving, someone taking a crate of beer out and hiding it behind a dustbin, and before you get home they will be the ones enjoying a fine stout. A detail to be aware of.

BERBALOIKAH MEMBELI PROTON INSPIRA?

Adakah berbaloi memilik Proton Inspira dengan harga sekitar RM79,000 hingga RM93,000? Adakah nilainya menepati harganya dan juga citarasa pelanggan dan pengguna? Satu persoalan bagi PROTON untuk menjawab segala pertanyaan dengan membentangkan sebuah kualiti yang begitu membanggakan daripada Proton Inspira ini.

Ini adalah bahagian hadapan Proton Inspira, apa yang saya dapat lihat ianya ada dari model full line iaitu mempunyai aksesori penuh.

Kalau anda pernah lihat bahagian dalam Mitsubishi Lancer, ianya nampak lebih kurang sama dengan Proton Inspira ini. Mengikut sumber, unit pertama adalah dari Mitsubishi sendiri jadi anda perlu dapatkan unit itu :)

Nampak kurang menarik bahagian belakang kalau tak letak spoiler, apapun jika kereta ini diubahsuai, pastinya GEMPAK!

Radio jenama Clarion adalah radio yang digunakan Proton, sama seperti Proton Saga BLM yang menggunakan radio jenis ini. Bagi dentuman suaranya memang menakjubkan untuk spesifikasi standard! Jadi apa ditunggu lagi? Pilihan ditangan anda!!! Hehehe....

Mountains, museums and motors

AT one point, on a particularly gridlocked M6 near Lancaster, I actually thought going on another driving adventure was a bad idea.

Some of you might have spotted something I'd planned called The Mountains and Museums Run, which had it not got cancelled thanks to no promotion whatsoever, would have last weekend been the first ever Life On Cars event. It got shelved because most of the classic car nuts (rightly) decided that October's just too wet and wild to take their pride and joy out, but - given that I'd booked a few days off - a few mates and I decided to go anyway.

Designed to be done in just two days, it's a cracking route through the countryside, taking in two counties, two National Parks, three motoring museums and one pub with very tall ambitions. More importantly, it mixes some of Britain's most demanding roads, including the Buttertubs and Kirkstone mountain passes - to make the motoring extra memorable.

With the Mini long gone and the MGB nowhere near ready, it fell to the £100 Renault 5 to get me to the fells, and as soon as I got there it became instantly obvious that it was far faster than either of the two Minis my mates had brought along. For a car I bought originally as something to keep me moving while my own Mini was in winter hibernation earlier this year; it's really grown on me despite the dowdy styling. As well as being endlessly reliably, it's got far more poise and precision than any 1.4 hatchback really ought to!

What I did learn from my lessons in the Lakes? Firstly, that The Mountains and Museums Run can be done in less than two days with stops at Cars of the Stars, The Bond Museum and the Lakeland Motor Museum to spare. The route's here in all its glory, if you fancy giving it a go yourself, but I am planning on doing it as a proper event, when the weather's better, sometime next year.

But more importantly I've reminded myself that it doesn't really matter what you're behind the wheel of (though it helps), as long as you've got a group of mates behind you and a few miles of challenging mountain passes ahead. You might have to put up with a few gridlocked motorways on the way there, but it's worth it.

The smiles are back.

KELANTAN JUARA PIALA MALAYSIA 2010

TAHNIAH buat Pasukan Kelantan FA kerana berjaya merampas kembali Piala Malaysia dari tangan Pasukan Negeri Sembilan. Syabas buat Pasukan Kelantan! Walaupun Kelantan ketinggalan 1 gol 0 pada separuh masa pertama namun Kelantan bangkit pada separuh masa kedua dengan menyamakan kedudukan dan disusuli dengan jaringan cantik lantas terus memenangi perlawanan! Syabas diucapkan kepada Pasukan Kelantan dan penyokong Kelantan yang boleh dikira begitu setia (macam tengok penonton EPL beb!)...

Berita gembira buat penduduk Negeri Kelantan, Timbalan Menteri Besar Kelantan mengumumkan bahawa esok 31 Oktober 2010 adalah hari cuti peristiwa bagi Negeri Kelantan... Ingat eh Kelantan je...yang duduk Perak ke Papua New Genie tak terlibat okeh!

Nice Job SmokinNJokin!

Video. Some Fun RZ Lane Splitting.

javascript:void(0)

UWE to the Farm pub, by way of Purdown Camp

Someone posts us this (long and dull) video, with commentary.

They say:

You are always whining about bicycles in your way and how your road tax is wasted on bike lanes, but look at this. At 5pm I can get all the way from UWE to the Farm Pub, St Werburgh's, by bicycle, through fields, without using any tax-funded bike lane, public road or blocking any vans, fifteen minutes door to door. You try doing that in your white van. Apart from the 30s waiting for the lights to change on Muller Road so I can cross it, it's lovely and traffic free. So please, stop complaining so much.

Some of our team members also enjoy the fine beverages served by the farm pub; indeed, one of those white vans may be ours. We also agree, that at 17:00, to drive from UWE Frenchay to the Farm pub will take 30 minutes minimum, by either route:

1. A4174 to M32, round St Pauls Roundabout to Mina Road and then that new 20 mph zone to the pub.
2. Down to Stapleton Road then traffic lights and traffic jams to Mina Road.

Does this want to make us get out or van and start cycling? No. What it does is reinforce our demand for a new road from UWE to Lockleaze, and a re-opening of Boiling Wells Lane from Muller Road to St Werburgh's. This will stop both Lockleaze and Ashley Vale from being forgotten parts of the city.

PROTON SAGA BLM FACELIFT GRAFIK ARTS

Morning all~ Pagi2 ni just nak kongsi dengan semua tentang lakaran artis mengenai kereta Proton Saga BLM Facelift terbaru nanti yang akan dikeluarkan. Kalau sebelum ni gambar spyshot kami kurang jelas tapi kali ni lakarannya hampir menyerupai Proton Saga BLM Facelift yang akan dikeluarkan oleh PROTON HOLDINGS tidak lama lagi. Penambahbaikan seperti lampu hadapan dan belakang dan tambahan aksesori di bahagian dalam telah dibuat oleh PROTON. Boleh lihat posted sebelum ini tentang kereta Proton Saga BLM Facelift baru ini.

When the Protn Inspira meets the Mitsubishi Lancer !

It gets better towards the end!

Found it on youtube, if you are the creator and want credit for this video, kindly let me know. Thanks!

Reader Submittal. Wicked Landspeed Kawasaki Triple... and a hell of a trip.

From Travis Lawson:

So I just got done with a 5195 mile, 39 day adventure a few days ago. I rode my barely street legal 2001 XR400R from Durango CO to Portland OR then south to giant redwoods in Nor-Cal. From there to Reno, Las Vegas, all across AZ, NM and back to my home on the TX Gulf Coast. 2400 or so miles were done entirely off road on old obscure routes and Jeep trails.

I spent a couple days in Bonneville for Speed Week and took some great video and a couple of pictures of a really great guy from Woodland Park, CO named David Doubleday. He owns D&S Motorcycle and has campaigned an H2 he built himself at Bonneville for a few years now. This guy is fast! And all things considered he could be even faster with some more tweaking. This is one very fine example of a well built machine. The frame is a modded H2 with an FZR600 swinger, fork, wheels and brakes. The shock took days to set up but for the purpose of doing the "Ton" in a straight line it works great.  I think he told me it came off a Honda CBR. The tank is a Yamaha MX175 and fits very well. By the way this bike is street legal and plated and he does ride it regularly, but I bet it draws quite a crowd just tooling around town with stingers. Check it out!

I can't remember exactly his fastest times but I do know he broke 126 mph in the one mile course.

Later Travis

Whiteladies Road : offpeak issues

We sent our expendable cyclist on downhill run of Whiteladies Road on a Saturday afternoon. Note people with the orange bags. That means small-revenue-sainsburys shoppers, either locals or students. The supermarket relies on a high turnover of these poor pedestrian people to compensate for a lack of parking. However, these people then get in way of us who are driving to or from proper supermarkets.

Put differently: the pedestrians who walk and shop locally not only take up space in the supermarkets they go to, they slow down shoppers who shop elsewhere.

What this video does shows is that at off peak weekend times the congestion is caused by people walking around. Therefore, the GBBN proposal to remove the zebra crossing seen at 1:32 (and implicitly, crank back the crossing time allocated on the lights at 1:28, because now there will be a full sequence scheduling right and left turns as well as straight on) may benefit at this time of the week: the off peak times.

But rewind a bit. Note how all the cars pulling out from any side road rely on the goodwill of cars on Whiteladies Road to get out. Because you may as well while you are waiting -you would hope someone else was as generous back- and because it costs you nothing. If the pedestrian crossing options were cranked back, then not only does it make it harder for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the road -which clearly we are happy with- then it will also be harder for cars to cross the road, unless someone added more traffic lights at these side roads. And we don't want that, do we?

This makes us think that part of the FirstBus GBBN schedule is not just to improve scheduling by removing pedestrian/cyclists holding up cars and buses, its secretly trying to stop cars getting across the road too, because we take advantage of the stopped traffic. There's a price see. And, because the parked cars will be removed, it's harder for you to edge out when making a turn. Instead of being safely protected from bicycles by the first row of parked cars, now you either need to hang back in the side road (as if) or pull out in front of the bus/bike lane and have people whine at you for being in their way.

Returning to the video, note at 1:40 the car double parked on Cotham Hill forcing the other cars past it. Sometimes you need to do that, park next to your destination, nothing wrong there. But if the proposal to remove the zebra crossing goes away, vehicles turning into Cotham Hill from Whiteladies Road, especially those coming down the hill, would pull in faster. The zebra crossing is a form of traffic calming. Without it, it would become more dangerous to double park your car in a popular shopping street, or to overtake such double parked cars.

Again, this is why we are in a moral dilemma regarding the Proposed Bus Route. The key benefit for us would be if it reduced the number of pedestrians in our way, but even we recognise that a limited number of pedestrians actually helps cross traffic.

Bumped up for UPDATE: : Stunner of an RD with ultra rare Webco Heads.

UPDATE and EXTRA Pics!  Got some great info from the builder of this beauty!

 

Here is another set of pics of a bike we are proud of.

This is a 1973 Yamaha RD350.  It has Motocarrera pipes, Webco Heads, Benelli Gas Tank, Custom Seat and Front Fender, and all the work was done by Jeff and myself.

 

Thanks,

Brian

J&B Moto Co.

 More Pics:

I'm pretty sure I posted another pic of this bike a while ago but can't track it down at the moment. Those Ducati Mojave tanks sure do agree with the lines of an RD.

UPDATE: Wicked TZR!!

UPDATE: Jeff sent in some info on the build along with pics of another build (see next post).  Thanks Much!

It has a freshly rebuilt engine, tore down to the frame. The frame has been molded and repainted in satin black.  It has a custom made seat section.  And custom painted to resemble the 2005 Yamaha GP bike.  It is street legal.
All the work was done by my business partner, Jeff and myself.

Here is another set of pics of a bike we are proud of.

This is a 1973 Yamaha RD350.  It has Motocarrera pipes, Webco Heads, Benelli Gas Tank, Custom Seat and Front Fender, and all the work was done by Jeff and myself.

Thanks,

Brian

J&B Moto Co.

Jeff Metz sent in the bauty:
I just wanted to share my 1991 TZR 3XV with you.
Enjoyed your website!
J&B Moto Co.
Wrightsville, PA

2011 Honda V4 Crossover Sketch

2011 Honda V4 Crossover PictureContrast the motorcycle seen in this sketch with the 2011 Honda CBR250R. One is simple and functional, the other isn’t. Honda says the V4 crossover, “will have the flexibility and exciting attitude of a naked performance machine, with the more comfortable upright riding position and design cues inspired by adventure bikes.” That’s right, it’s a vehicle that looks

3D concept vehicles by David J

Cold-Levian on Deviantart. Some ships.







Keywords: three dimensional modeling digital composite render concept truck vehicles locomotive size beast automotive transportation designer david j cold levian futuristic sci-fi video game film movie transport concepts

2011 New Honda CBR250R Details

Honda CBR250R PictureHonda Motorcycles has unveiled and Details the 2011 CBR250R today in Thailand amongst much fanfare. As we told you yesterday, a bunch of Indian journalists were flown in to Thailand to get a foretaste of the motorcycle, clearly indicating that the CBR250R is on it way to India too. But there are no more speculations now, as the word is out from the horse’s mouth – Honda,

Disc of Doom

This came out of a Ducati Pantah. Pure art.

Mechanical falure at it's best!

In case you're wondering, that disc embedded in

the piston top is the valve.

The world's fastest postman

This has to be the quickest Postie Bike on the planet. The owner has worked the crap out of this motor and he is attempting to become the fastest on the salt flats for his class. For those not familiar, this is a Honda C, Australia Post service bike. I'll keep you posted (pardon the pun)!

HARGA CHEVROLET CAMARO COUPE 2010

Percaya atau tidak harga kereta Chevrolet Camaro Coupe atau Bumble Bee ini lebih murah dari kereta di Malaysia? Hurm....Memang benar! Harganya di US hanya RM 70,308 sahaja! Harganya lebih murah dari harga Proton Inspira, adakah kualitinya lebih baik atau lebih buruk dari Proton Inspira? Kalau harga sebegini di negara Malaysia ni sudah pasti kan ku sambar 15 biji! Hehehe....

M5 work

"Paul N" sends us this video of what the M5 was like on October 26 between Bristol and Cirencester.

As people say, where were the police? Yes, there was an accident up the road, but surely one or two could have been diverted to direct people to drive up the hard shoulder and then U-turn up the slip road? Without that, vehicles doing that -such as the skip lorry- are taking their lives into their own hands. We pay our taxes so that we can drive the wrong way up a motorway slip road safely!

Reader Ride. Land Speed Record Holding RD400

Mark Atkinson who also sent in this bike included a few pics of a fairly well know bike in the Yamaha 2-stroke circles.

The landspeed bike is mine. Ed Erlenbach built it originally, and has three records with it. The picture I sent you is the bikes first time at the salt flats. I never was able to make a pass under full power as it got hot. I am working on a system to keep it cool right now so next year I hope to break some records. The last time Ed had it on the dyno it made a little more than 100 HP, and it feels like it. It is magical when it comes on the pipe about 10,000 rpm. Unreal! I will send you another pic of some more of my smokers.


Thanks Mark that's outstanding.  I always wondered what happenned to Ed's bike after he got out of the 2-stroke game.

Ha!  Funny to see this pic from Murph!  He's been camped out in Bonneville and posting up a storm over on his blog for a while now.  Great Guy.  Check him out!

Reader Ride. An Unusual RD350LC From Sweden.

Jan Xeres Writes in:

OK, you asked for it! Enclosed are som pics of my RD.

First is the RD as it looks when it is in standard clothes. Then with a tank and seat unit that I bought from England but had to redo! It was meant to cover the standard tank but I discovered that it would just grind the paint down so I decided to build a bottom half of the tank. It is now made out of glass fibers and carbon fibers. I covered the whole unit with a 200g/sqm carbon fiber weave. The expansion chambers are from Nikkon. I made some carbon fiber silencers as well but I think the original aluminum ones look better...

Have a good one!

XMJan

Oh, yeah I'm from Eslov in Sweden...

Reader Ride. Nice Piar of Repli-Racers.

Keith Montgomery sendt in a bunch of pics including these nice Aprilia and Honda Repli Racers


1996 Aprilia RS250 "Reggianni" colors- one of my all time favorite bikes to own and ride.

1993 NSR250 SP

Nice shop too..

1978 YZ400 Landspeed Racer!

That is just bad-ass!

Quick and dirty courtesy of http://www.coconutcustoms.blogspot.com/

New link: road justice

We've added a link to a new site today, Road Justice.

This is a Canadian site which puts up photographs of the terrible thing cyclists to Vancouver, such as cycle around without helmets. They also have that hard taxpayer/cyclist split that we use, though they don't yet call them Tax Dodgers!

Road Justice! Welcome to the debate about the future of transport in the cities of the world! We have one concern though: are they some kind of spoof? I mean, to criticise a cyclist just for standing on the pavement, or not having a helmet? Yes, we hate them too, but there aren't actually laws against owning a bicycle -yet.

They also ask for money, which makes us wonder if they are trying to trick us out of the money we have left after income and petrol tax takes away most of our earnings for bike lanes and buses. We have had enough money stolen without them asking for more.

Anyway, the link is up there, we are keeping an eye on them to see if they stay consistent and aren't some kind of trick site put together by tax-dodging cyclists to discredit us, Bristol's premier traffic news outlet. The fancy web site design and the demands for money are warning signs. If we think they are spoof, we'll delete the cross-link before long. Credit for the Copenhagenize blog for bringing this site of fellow-travellers to our attention.

Korean Grand Prix 2010

687
.

acrylic on paper 8x12"

The 1st Korean Grand Prix

will probably remembered for the bad weather

the many laps behind the pace car

but most of all

for that Spanish driver that got lucky

good drive though Alonso

MORE PROTON SAGA FACELIFT PHOTOS!!!

The picture above shows the front where the headlight design has changed and very different from the proton saga blm lights on the market now.

Many people are waiting for the full picture ni Facelift Proton Saga BLM, now see for themselves how the actual appearance without any piece of yarn this Proton Saga BLM Facelift.

Southwell Street: the ongoing crisis

Our secret instrumentation of cyclists, with some followup chat, shows us how these people endanger pedestrians and patients on Southwell Street.

Look how they

1. Cycle along the "pedestrianized" bit of road on Southwell Street, so endangering anyone forced to walk along this bit of road by the no-pedestrian barriers around the car-park entrance.
2. Pop up on the real pavement to get around the gate completely blocking the road.
3. Stay on the pavement to get past the van V722LAE parked in the no parking area by the gate.
4. Leap onto the road and endanger pedestrians crossing the road, the delivery vans, and the cars dropping staff off.
5. Swerves into the oncoming lane to get past the Ginsters cornish pastry lorry.

In the past, someone suggested to us that we should make Southwell Street the official logo of Bristol traffic, as a combination of a gate to block bicycles and a pavement closed to pedestrians represented our city. Well, it does -these cyclists ignoring the hints that the NHS gives them -that cycling to school, work or the nearby university is wrong- show us the problems we face in our city. What else can we do to ban them?

Reader Ride. Cool old CZ From The Czech Republic.

James From Czechoslovak sends in his oldschool  CZ 175 1962 dirtbike.

He writes in:
Hi, my name is James and I come from the Czech Republic. I love old bikes and retro style. I prefer motorcycles manufactured in Czechoslovakia (Jawa, CZ). I really like your site. Every day, like watching pictures of bikes all over the world. I decided to also donate their bike. Not original, but built of scrap to ride the terrain around my home.

This is my CZ 175 Type 450 of 1962, adjusted for oldschool dirt bike. He has lots of adjustments for off-road driving. The engine has increased power from 10hp to 15hp, weight is + / - 100kg .

I love the old Jawa/CZ.  Some of the best looking engines built and they go like mad!  Still miss my old CZ250 dirtbike.  Scary scary motorcycle but oh so fun!

Fire up the... Suzuki Swift

UNDERESTIMATE this innocuous-looking little scamp at your own peril, because for all its supermarket-run styling Suzuki's Swift is the unlikely driving hit of the year.

You might struggle to spot the difference between this and the outgoing Suzuki supermini - thanks to the mildest of aesthetic updates, the two do look VERY similar - but the slightly frumpier proportions and the larger lights let you know this is the latest in a long line of small cars from the Japanese company. Whisper it quietly, but I actually preferred looking at its predecessor!

Part of the new look is a boot lip that's unusually higher than its small car rivals, which shouldn't bother the trendy younger buyers it's aimed at but could prove a problem if you're a pensioner struggling to lift a week's worth of shopping into the boot. It doesn't give off the same feeling of quality as Ford's Fiesta either; don't worry, the Swift's screwed together superbly, but it just doesn't show it off in the same way.

But put all that behind you and give it a go anyway, because on the road the Swift is far more fun than you'd ever expect it to be. It's balletic rather than ballistic and relies more on its finely-balanced suspension than its 1.2 litre engine to put a smile on your face, but the charming rasp from the exhaust and the wonderfully communicative steering egg you on into every corner.

One of the best things about is its flick-of-the-wrist gearchange, easily the most enjoyable of any car this side of Mazda's MX-5. Admittedly, the feel of the gearchange isn't going to be high up your list of priorities when you're looking for your next new car, but the difference between a duff one and something as smooth and rifle quick as this one can completely change the feeling from behind the wheel.

Amazingly, it's very nearly as much fun to drive as Citroen's DS3, a much more powerful motor costing almost twice the price.

Get past your small car prejudices and there's a hot hatch hit screaming to get out of the little Swift, and you'd be an idiot to overlook it.

As published in The Champion on October 28, 2010

PROTON SAGA BLM FACELIFT (SPYSHOT TERKINI!)

Inilah gambar2 yang kami terima dari sumber2 boleh dipercayai, kereta Proton Saga BLM Facelift yang terkini, kalau lihat dari lampu hadapan, mmg ada perubahan sedikit dan tgk plak cover depan memang sama macam Proton Persona Elegance baru tol tak?

Lampu bahagian belakang pula seperti ciri2 smoke lamp (memang mantap!)...


Cuba anda perhati kat stereng, ada butang kawalan tapi tak pasti untuk control radio ataupun tingkap... Memang ganas jugaklah kereta Proton Saga BLM Facelift nih!