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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

See the attached picture that I just took. I remember a debate about the quality of stands some time back. But as I don't drive or ride a bike I've forgotten the issues. Any thoughts?

Tags for Forum Posts: bike stands

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You beat me to it Pav, I was about to post the same thing. They have been like this for a few days actually (since Tues at least).

I can only imagine this was one of those big trucks going up and down Warham servicing the footpath work being carried out. One of them hooned down Pemberton earlier in the day, and I can see how one of them taking the corner a bit to quick or a bit to tight could easily find themselves struggling to make it and flattening the stands.

I would be pretty annoyed if that was my bike!!!

I've only heard the word "hoon" used before now. So I assumed it was a sarcastic comment about speedy Chris Huhne.

But seeing it written I'm glad to learn a new Australian word. Or is it perhaps originally Irish?

Er, Australasian, Alan. A Hoon is an uncouth individual, with particular reference to some drivers. As a born-and-bred Kiwi, I am obliged to acknowledge that the standard of motoring in NZ is um, not an example for the rest of the world ...

Thanks for the correction, Clive. The Oxford English Dictionary says: "Etymology: Origin unknown". (OED still available online using your Haringey Library card number. But type HAR followed by the number without any spaces.)

About New Zealand drivers, was it you who pointed out the brilliant New Zealand anti-drink driving ad?

the OED is not a good source for word origin. Many colloquilisms' origins are not known to it. It seems to have no connection to the spoken word as used by actual people!

Definitely Antipodean in origin Alan. A great word used often in Australian new feeds as Clive describes, especially in relation to driving/speeding. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jNxhnCeoMo

I tweeted this shortly after I presumed it happened. I'm surprised that the local scrap metal merchants haven't taken the stands. Whatever metal they're made of, they're solid.

Yep, I've been meaning to post about this too. I think only bike remaining.

I'd be interested to see how 'proper' bike stands (ie the tubular ones that most sensible boroughs use and which perhaps we'll get when the existing ones are replaced, as has been agreed) would have stood up to the impact. In particular, look how the second stand is completely bent at the bottom. But whatever the bike stand, I'm sure the result would have been the same - it does look as though whatever it was took the corner far too fast or was very large.

Did anyone see it happen?

I wonder whether the council will be pursuing the driver for damages? Or will council tax payers be picking up the tab for someone's ineptitude behind the wheel? This is an extreme example but the amount of broken pavements and knackered street furniture inflicted by pavement drivers must cost the council a fortune.

Now if there was a camera positioned nearby, say on a lamppost near Hewitt Rd they might just have been able to capture the vehicle who did this...... Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Thanks for the post. There is a quite a list of issues with these stands. One of them is that they are so thin and elegant that they're less visible. I understand they're designed to blend in with the background.

Which is great if one thinks bike stands are ugly and need to be made inconspicuous: not so great for visibility of the poorly sighted ... or drivers, it seems.

These low ones come to my knee height (see above with recent Councillor Karen Alexander at the foot of Hewitt Road). I reckon they're a trip hazard.

This evening, as a member of the council planning committee, I went on a site visit elsewhere and noted a row of unusually tall bikes stands, to about my hip-height.

Big difference: surely both heights can't be right?

I've already made the point elsewhere that, other things equal, a rectangular section is inherently less resistant to bending than is a circular profile.

Councillor
Member of Planning Committee

Thanks Clive. Just to say, they aren't elegant ! They are just badly designed.

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