Slix Week 3

We're covering Slix in Stokes Croft this week, and we've noticed that it attracts some interesting clientele. It also sells burgers and chicken.

Yesterday we looked at the corporate appeal of the area, with cars such as WP06XTR using the cycle lane as a convenient stop-off to do a bit of business in the area, or pick up a burger and chips.

These parked cars, though, are actually an inconvenience, as they restrict the ability of mini-cab drivers to pick-up, drop-off and park-up to re-fuel.

Slix is an essential part of a central Bristol taxi driver's life-style, and, we hear, a destination of choice for many of their passengers, as YY05WEF and FB57KDF illustrate.

UPDATE: Stupid Question (for me)... What is this? (Answer: It's a KR250 Tandem Twin)

Update:  Thank you Lawrence!  From the Comments:

Lawrence said...

That is a 1981/82 Kawasaki KR250 tandem twin. Here is a great article from Superbike Planet: http://www.superbikeplanet.com/kr250.htm And some more: http://motorbike-search-engine.co.uk/classic_bikes/kawasaki-kr250-history.php Keep up the good work, Lawrence

Had it in the archive a while and forgot where I got it... An inline twin, dry clutch, belt drive,monoshock rotary valve Kawasaki racebike...  Ummm... I'm stumped.

PROTON SAGA FACELIFTED R3 EDITION

Bahagian bumper hadapan dilengkapi dengan bumper jenis R3 dan bentuknya memang nampak lebih sporty, boleh tahan jugak lampu depan Saga Facelifted R3 ni...

Disk break belakang beb! Rasa2 boleh tak sarung kat Proton Saga BLM yang lama? Siap ada lubang tu kat disk break dia...

Spoiler R3 edition pula nampak macam spoiler Toyota Vios cuma bezanya spoiler ni nampak kecil sedikit dan tiada lampu break pada spoiler.

Muffler yang kelihatan lebih garang dan tiada lagi bentuk ekzos standard, confirm bunyi lebih menderum dan garang selepas ni... Untuk bahagian enjin pula spesifikasinya masih belum dapat diketahui tapi ada ura2 mengatakan ianya menggunakan enjin Campro Turbo, sejauh mana kebenarannya?

Breaking news: congestion in the city centre

"Mike" sends us a note to point out that the Evening Post has finally stopped going on about football stadiums and cyclists in shopping streets in nailsea, and instead focused on the key problem of the city: congestion caused by hundreds of students.

As usual, we got our coverage in days earlier. If somebody is now surprised that it takes a while to get out of town by the M32 at 17:00, they don't know the secret routes through Broadmead or St Pauls. Tourists.

Bristol Indymedia has some more coverage. While we are against students, obviously, some of them may go on to earn enough to afford decent cars -but with these proposed funding changes, they may be forced to walk, cycle or use public transport for many years after graduating.

The Trek Belleville: This Is Not A Review

I work at a great little bike shop here in Issaquah called the Bicycle Center. Bicycle Center is a Trek bicycle dealer, so I get to build up, test ride, and work on a whole lot of Trek bikes. We also work on other bikes and over the years I've worked in a range of shops where I've worked on and sold a wide variety of bikes. But I'm certainly not an unbiased reviewer and this is not an unbiased review. Got it? Good!

The Trek Belleville is not a bike for racing around, it's a bike for getting around. The Belleville is a product of Trek's Eco Design effort and I've seen enough behind-the-scenes stuff to know that this isn't just some token corporate green-washing PR thing. For example, when the Bellevilles or any of the other Eco series bikes come into the shop, they are packed not with the industry-standard foam & zip-ties but with string and reusable bags to protect the parts and lots of recycled cardboard. And that's the stuff the customer pretty much never sees. Which, I guess, is why I'm telling you this now. It's a cool facet of these bikes.

By the way, if you need a box to ship a bike somewhere, check your local bike shop. Any shop that deals in new bikes will probably have boxes and packing material they'll be happy to give away. And if your local shop is a Trek dealer, try to get an Eco series box & packing stuff. It's really nice.

The Belleville comes with fenders, racks, chain guard, a kickstand and generator lights. This is not the norm for bikes in the US market, where light weight tends to be a major selling point, shops make money selling accessories and a lot of customers enjoy making choices of what accessories they get. The Belleville is what it is. And what it is, with all that stuff on it and a steel frame, is heavy. Not insanely heavy, but it's sure no Madone!

While the go fast crowd won't have any interest in the Belleville, I also know that the retro & utility bike purists will find nits to pick about this bike. Some will bemoan the lack of a lugged frame, some will wish for a different rake on the front fork, some will complain that the 3-speed hub has too few gears. My main complaints with the bike involve the lack of adjust-ability in the handlebars, the kind-of-weird-looking recycling-friendly seat and the unusual curve of the top-tube on the men's model. But no one bike is perfect for everyone and I think it's wonderful that Trek makes a bike like the Belleville.

With an MSRP of $659.99, I think the Belleville is a very good value for somebody looking for a complete city bike. Here are links to a couple of real reviews of the bike:

Car Free Philly: Original Review & Update

Lovely Bicycle

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

My Bad Romance with historic vehicle tax

TODAY I'd like to begin a column covering all matters motoring with Lady Gaga. An unlikely icon of our times.

Weird and wonderful in almost every measure, Miss Poker Face wears dresses made from meat, makes bizarre statements in the pages of Heat magazine, and sings songs about the joys of getting utterly smashed after drinking a tad too much red wine. But she's not yet been invited into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, whereas Madonna has.

All of which brings me neatly onto my MGB, which the DLVA are currently reclassifying as an historic vehicle, meaning the amount of road tax I have to pay is nothing. The Government quite rightly agree that cars like mine are icons of the automotive world, and because they make our roads a prettier place they're happy to allow them a tax break.

But you'll still have to stump up to run the equally worthy Mazda MX-5, Ford Escort Cosworth and Ferrari F40 because they were made after the Government's cut off point for classic cars, which is January 1, 1973, meaning that like Lady Gaga they're arguably iconic but not in a way that's accepted in any vaguely official way.

There's also a mountain of miserable motors made before 1973 that arguably aren't exciting enough to warrant free road tax - you might not remember the Hillman Avenger, but if you do you'll know it's so ugly and desperately unattractive it can't possibly be considered a classic. Designating it an Historic Vehicle is about as stupid as slapping on an Historic Market Town sign in front of Milton Keynes.

Clearly, what we need is a new organisation which can decide up ‘n' coming classics on a case-by-case basis, and clear up once and for all that the Lotus Elise, for instance, is a classic car and the Hillman Avenger isn't. Ideally, it'd be led by

Top Gear's James May - a man we can trust with the noble task of overseeing the nation's classic cars - and guided by advice from Stirling Moss, petrolhead turned TV funnyman Steve Coogan and at least one person who works for Autocar. Trust me, it's a much better system than the one we've got now!

Don't hold your breath though...

Reader Ride! S3 Triple In The Snow!

Tony McGuire sends in his latest.

Hi again, Tony McGuire here in Yorkshire UK, thought id show you my 1975 Kawasaki S3A 400 triple, its wearing KH400 paintwork and Gibson Allspeed chambers but I'm not one for originality so bollocks to the purists!
Keep up the excellent blog !
Regards, Tony

Beautiful Bike and Beautiful color!  And I agree... While I do appreciate a perfect original for what it is, I still prefer them with a tasteful personal touch. Looking Great! Always a pleasure Tony!

Graff von Trips

701

acrylic on paper 8x12" sold

Graff Von Trips

Ferrari Dino 156 F1

Nurburgring 1961

PERBEZAAN PROTON SAGA BLM LAMA DAN FACELIFTED

Berikut adalah gambar2 perbandingan antara kereta Proton Saga BLM dan Proton Saga BLM Facelifted yang telah diubahsuai rekabentuknya.

Dari hadapan, Spot light dan bonet depan juga diubahsuai seakan rekaan terbaru untuk Proton Persona Elegance.

Lampu hadapan seakan-akan Honda, perghhh...>!!!!!

Cermin sisi juga mempunyai lampu signal, memang best sebab nampak lebih eksklusif!!

Dari pandangan belakang, ada spoiler dan lampu pulak signalnya sebelah lampu reverse. Juga sama macam Proton Persona Elegance dan Mercedez.. WOW!

Yeahhh yang dinantikan!!! Radio dilengkapi USB dan AUX sistem. Tapi nampak macam USB ni additional tambahan je, tak sekali dengan radio... Boleh la...~

Butang control sama seperti Proton Satria Neo, baru lah eksklusif!!!

Seat juga diubahsuai dari segi jahitan dan kainnya.

Butang kawalan untuk cermin di setiap pintu termasuk pintu belakang.

Sport rim pula nampak macam rim Proton Exora, tapi rasanya kalau dah beli sure korang akan tukar rim lain tol tak?

Penggunaan rekaan kotak tisu dipertingkat, mungkin ia digantikan dengan airbag sistem kot.. Jadi airbag akan ada dua lah, satu dibahagian pemandu dan penumpang sebelah pemandu...

So korang dah tengok kan apa yang diubah dalam kereta Proton Saga BLM Facelifted ni? Kalau ada nak komen boleh la komen..... Adios!

Slix Week 2

Documenting Stokes Croft is a full-time job.

Which is why we have a company car, just like anybody with a proper job. And we like to park-up on the pavement outside Bank to monitor the competition.

Not all cars are company cars, though.

There's no way to tell if T31DYA is parked in the cycle lane to grab a legitimate and corporately funded bite to eat in Slix (or Mrs Lovett's), or if it just belongs to a local from City Road picking up a few extra copies of the Big Issue to sell in Clifton.

The same is true for other cycle lane users, J44NUG, T364VCF and R790EDV.

One thing is certain: these cars are not there now, which at least proves that none of the drivers, even if they had their hair cut in 'Anointed Touch', ended up as take-aways from Mrs Lovett's. These drivers are safe.

PROTON SAGA YANG MISTIK DI EXPO THAILAND

Laporan dari Bangkok ni! Gambar ni diambil di Thailand International Expo 2010 yang diadakan di Bangkok Thailand. Fokus kita sudah tentulah pada kereta tempatan iaitu PROTON. Menurut sumber2 dipercayai, Proton Saga Facelifted yang gambarnya pernah disiarkan didalam blog ProtonClub sebelum ini dipercayai telah mengalami perubahan lagi namun gambaran yang jelas masih lagi belum dapat kita ketahui.... Sama2 kita nantikan, nanti kami akan update gambar2 terkini dari expo ini.

2011 Triumph Street Triple R Detail Review

2011 Triumph Street Triple RThe 2011 Street Triple R also features 41mm inverted front forks which are adjustable for preload, rebound and compression damping, allowing the rider to set the motorcycle up according to specific needs. The rear monoshock is also adjustable for preload and rebound damping, while the twin 308mm floating front discs are mated to powerful four-piston Nissin radial

Very Tasty Kawasaki H1

From the Kawi Triples Board. Love the seat.

Oldschool RD350/Daytona 400 hybrid.

From Jim Arellanes

This is a 350 frame modified with Daytona Special goodies, mid 80's

Nissan Leaf is European Car of the Year 2011

FOR a change I actually agree with fellow Champ columnist Jim Sharpe, of One Man and His Dog fame. Because, judging by this latest evidence, the tree huggers and greenies have won.

In order for the Nissan Leaf to be chosen as this year's European Car of the Year the judges, who are expert road testers from across Europe and therefore know far more about cars than I do, had to do something spectacular. They had to overlook the sporty Citroen DS3, the quirky Dacia Duster, the fun and frugal Vauxhall Meriva, the stylish Volvo V60 and S60, the spacious Ford C-Max and the gorgeous Alfa Giuletta.... and choose an electric hatchback costing £23,000 as their winner.

Regular readers might remember that last year I disagreed with the experts' opinion that the Volkswagen Polo, a worthy-but-dull supermini, was better than the radically packaged and intruiging little Toyota IQ, but this year really is proof that the official contest is a waste of time. For anyone who thinks this moment of madness is a one-off I refer you to the Talbot Horizon and Renault 9, which weren't particularly worthy winners either.

The Leaf might be built in Britain and boast of a greener, cleaner automotive future, but it's still a car which asks you to stump up the price of a Golf GTi for something which can't get you to Glasgow for that all important meeting because it'll run out of battery power and has all the visual appeal of a piece of lettuce.

I admire Nissan for at least trying to solve the problem of global warming, but the Leaf is a spectacularly stupid car.

Worry not, though, because Life On Cars' own Car of the Year award is on the way soon, and the Leaf isn't anywhere near the shortlist of cracking cars launched in the past year.

A Car of the Year special of the Life On Cars Magazine will be published next month.

Slix Week 1

We know that Stokes Croft is the centre of the universe.

And at the centre of Stokes Croft is that most favourite eatery, Slix.

Ignore the fact that it's next to Mrs Lovett's meat pie outlet, ignore any references to Sweeny Todd, or the fact that the Stoke's Croft is full of barber's shops. Probably more barbers than massage parlours. Even the venerable Croft features Harry Blades in the front room once a month at their heady "Barrymore's Pool Party" Nights - buzz cut for a tenner, anyone?

No, the interesting thing about this stretch of inner city Bristol is the way in which users of the Bike Lane here generally form a parked string of pearls on an otherwise unused piece of road.

Also interesting is the wide variety of patrons Slix appears to attract. So this week, in the spirit of a minor contribution to documenting the urban fabric of Bristol in 2010, we'll be celebrating a small selection of the trades that frequent the area.

MISTERI PROTON PROTOTYPE SEPERTI EXORA?

Kereta apakah gerangan halnya ini? Memanglah Proton tapi apakah ianya model atau hanya pengubahsuaian aksesori sahaja? Nampak seperti Proton Exora tapi bentuk bodynya kelihatan agak lain sedikit. Satu lagi kisah misteri yang perlu dirungkai oleh krew ProtonClub!

Berkemungkinan besar ianya adalah Proton Exora yang menggunakan enjin elektrik, ianya hanyalah jangkaan kami dan jika ianya benar maka rakyat Malaysia tidak lama lagi akan merasai jentera anda sendiri yang menggunakan kuasa elektrik sama seperti telefon bimbit anda! Mudah dan jimat! hehehehe.....~

PERODUA TINGKATKAN KELUARAN DI TIMUR MALAYSIA

Perodua melancarkan Viva Elite nya dan telah meningkatkan pengeluaran di Sabah dan Sarawak dengan harga RM42,000 seunit. Menurut Perodua MD Datuk Aminar Rashid Salleh, sebanyak 240,000 jualan telah berjaya dibuat untuk kereta Viva sejak tahun 2007. Ianya dijual kebanyakkannya di Timur Malaysia terutama Sabah dan Sarawak. Mungkin sebab org sana lebih berminat kereta kompak dan kecil seperti Viva ni kot...

Reminder :4x4 is useless on ice without studs or chains

Now that winter is here, can we drop a quick reminder to everyone driving around not to believe those "buy a 4x4 and cope with winter" adverts. Without studded tyres or chains, all four wheel drive will do is get you into trouble by hiding the problems on the uphill, only for them to surface on the descent. Here is some footage from Seattle last week:
Lots of these vehicles are 4WD, but once you've hit the brake pedal, that's useless. Winter tyres then studded tyres (legal in Washington State during winter) and chains are what you should be thinking of. Otherwise, stay at home. Don't walk down the sidewalks on roads like this either. If you have a 2WD car with traction control features, when that light starts flashing it means "chains on". No chains? Pull over, park on a road that isn't so steep, walk.

Not driving: parked

While a darkness falls over kingsdown as new yellow lines and pay-to-park machines pop up, Cliftonwood is holding out against the resident parking plans.

As they must! Were resident parking zones to pop up with their neat little white boxes showing where people can and cannot park, the middle of Ambra Vale would certainly not become a "designated" parking area, so vehicles like J6SRY would not be able to keep their car safe in the road, away from pedestrians who could damage it.

KTM Roadracer! I don't know anything about it but it's trick!

The nightmare of new police car regulations

LAST night I got pulled by the law for motoring offences. I just can't remember which ones because it was part of a slightly strange nightmare.

After a night eating strange and exotic new foods and getting reacquainted with the joys of a particularly enjoyable single malt I'd gone to bed and somehow, via the Land of Nod, ended up giving someone a lift in my MGB GT. Normally, I'd know this is impossible because it's a restoration project still several months away from its finished state, but because it was a dream it was completely and utterly believable. The good news is that, even if you're only driving it in a dream, it looks and sounds the business.

Unfortunately, a police officer parked up in marked BMW X5 clocked that it wasn't finished, pulled me over and booked me for offences I can't remember, and because this was a dream he also bypassed the boring business of taking me to court, swiping my driving licence off me there and then. Months of classic car motoring swiped from me.... and all because I'd eaten some scallops for supper. Luckily, that's when I woke up.

Surreal as it sounds, I'm worried it could inadvertently come true, because thanks to new agreements affecting the region's police forces being brought in, making the prospect of being pulled by a policeman in an X5 worryingly possible. Under the National Policing Improvement Agency's new arrangements, BMW's biggest off-roader, unfortunately, is one of a small choice of 4x4s on offer to the nation's 54 forces.

It's all part of plans to chop the choice on offer to all of Britain's police forces - including Merseyside Police and Lancashire Constabulary - by agreeing a set list of motor makers to provide the vehicles. The David Cameron in me ought to be praising the fact it's going to save more than £3m and luckily the choice is still large enough to prevent you being able to pick out the unmarked cars, but from a petrolhead point of view it's a crying shame, as it'll almost certainly mark the end of being pulled over by something memorable.

The Krays, for instance, could count on being pulled over by anything from an MG soft top sports car, through Lotus Cortinas and even going up to their criminal chariot of choice, the Jaguar MK2. The real Gene Hunts of the Seventies and Eighties could have booked crooks in Capris, Sunbeam Lotuses and Rover SD1s.

These days, though, you can forget any thoughts of being pulled over by an Alfa, Chrysler, or Lexus to name but three, because they're not on the list. But BMW's cars - including the X5 - are, so I can't rule out my nightmare of being pulled in my cherished classic turning true.

Alternatively, I could just try going to sleep on an empty stomach.

P.S: I know the police car pictured above is not a BMW X5, before any particular readers point it out...

Selfish Parents

The same time we were getting a video of one driver, X108YDY, prepared to fight the anti-car city and use the secret rat-runs of Kingsdown, we were also getting some shocking footage of parents walking their kids to school.

Some were clearly going on to cycle to work, so instead of driving their children to school in comfort and safety, they were being forced to walk alongside a bicycle -while the parents push them without even a helmet on!

Others were actually encouraging their children to cycle to school.

Such actions not only endanger the children, they threaten the bodywork of those of us who drive the wrong way down one-way streets as an alternative to traffic lights. Can't these parents see that we are in a hurry!

Friday Quiz

Tesco's in Lower Redland Road re-opened a while ago now.

But it may just be causing a few local problems.

PROTON EXORA ELECTRIC PROTOTYPE

Proton Exora dengan kuasa elektrik, pandu uji dibuat untuk melihat kehebatan kereta ini. Ternyata memang hebat! Berikut sedikit gambar yang dapat di paparkan....