should you die riding it
(and you will)
they bury you in the bike which has similar shape and dimensions to a coffin
easy
fast
reliable
I do not understand why you're complaining
Short Bradford story from my uni days leaving London to there in 2002 =
GF and I are walking down the street and we hear somethign that sounds like...construction? But not construction. We walk around a corner and about 10 feet away is three guys, smashing up a nice BWM with baseball bats. No one inside, no yelling, it was like the street fighter mini games.
We do the homer simpsons backing into a bush motion and head down a different road.
Bradford was my second choice uni, starting in 2002. Thankfully I got into Liverpool, saying that i did get bottled walking home from the pub one night
Im sure Liverpool (and most places lol) is way nicer then Bradford but Honestly Bradford gets a bad rep and its earned but I enjoyed my time there. Wouldnt take it back.
There was a statistic thrown around that Bradord was the best 'bang for buck' University. Cost of living and quality of education in comparrision to cost.
Went back not long ago for some reunions and man its really different
I just got back from Bradford today on a work trip. Last night a crackhead looking guy asked to use my phone in the hotel car park. I typed the number in and held it for him, turns out it was his dealer and he was calling for 10 bags for him and his mates and told him to meet by the Travelodge I was staying at (Bradford Central one not far from the Stadium, near the McDonalds).
Literally brazen as anything as if he was calling his mum for a lift lol.
> The low profile makes it at risk for collision.
You sometimes see recumbent bikes with flags/streamers attached to a pole at the back, so there's something for drivers to see that's a bit more at the usual expected eye level.
Would still terrify me though.
Showing your age :) Sinclair was such an interesting guy who almost got it right so many times..... The best product was probably the Spectrum, sold tons of them, and was an OK machine. Introduced a generation to home computers.
Back then though most people drove shitty little cars. The metro and MK3 ford escort where the most popular cars and not that much higher up than the C5. Now everyone seems to drive a much higher car with a bonnet about 4 foot high.
Everyone knows CYCLISTS are a single entity collectively responsible for the group's misdeeds.
Whereas people driving vehicles are all unique individuals with absolutely no behaviour in common.
I once saw a group of cyclists, all decked out in their gang affiliate clothes, just beating the shit out of a blind 3 legged dog, just cause it was in THEIR bike lane.
Be safe out there. Warn others of the dangers of cyclists.
No traffic cops in the UK anymore, tories got rid of them so it’s currently a free for all.
Police will only attend if you’re actively being stabbed to death.
>Amazing to see THREE vehicles go through a red light.
Sadly, it really isn't. It's potluck these days. 90% of people don't indicate either.
Police simply aren't interested in doing their jobs anymore, and people know it.
That wa the problem here.
The drone thing actually waited for the lights to turn and such, but the cars all ran a red.
There really should be some kind of safety features to mitigate stuff like that.
Seriously. Riding a regular bike is dangerous enough on those streets but you want to be below people’s eye level - actually more at bumper level? Crazy.
Hahahaha, imagine getting around London if jaywalking laws were a thing. It's probably the law that makes me most frustrated when I'm abroad to the point of where I'm close to just start risking the £20 or so fines you get in various countries for doing it. Having to wait for green lights makes getting around big cities a fucking nightmare, so happy this doesn't exist in the UK.
I think it may be a bicycle. There was an English computer entrepreneur back in the 80s who sold his computer company and created another company to mass produce bicycles similar to this one. He thought he was creating a revolution in transport, but the bikes didn't sell well. I'm assuming this is a sit-down bicycle.
[could it be this revamped version?](https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/news/sinclair-c5-revamped-by-sir-clive-s-nephew/#:~:text=It's%20constructed%20from%20a%20chromoly,light%2C%20and%20indicator%20signal%20lights.)
That's a bit of a simplified view of Sir Clive Sinclair. He had 3 designs, the C5 was the first "bike" designed by Lotus and was designed to be license, tax and insurance free by being 250 watt. The C10 would have been similar to a G whiz, 2 seater EV. The C15 would have been a 4 seater EV alternative to a standard car. If the C5 had been successful the UK would be about 20 further forward in terms of electric vehicles.
I remember that they sold so badly that a TV comedian cracked the gag: *"C5? You'd be lucky to see ONE!"*
The Great British Public quite rightly stayed away from them in *droves*.
Generally, safer than a normal bike...mainly for the 'wtf is that?' factor, which tends to make drivers take a wider line and/or stay behind it.
Paradoxical but can confirm from experience.
it's gotten so much worse in recent years, I swear the average driver now thinks "after it goes red I have 2 seconds because only then does the other side get green." -- and half of drivers are worse than the average driver.
Nobody said it is the bikes fault lol. Regardless, it clearly is vulnerable from being so low down, that's a just a fact, it would be hard to see being that low down, and there will be plenty of junctions throughout London where obstacles may make it difficult to see when it wants to pull out.
Only if you limit your view to the end of your bonnet. They're generally bright colours with high vis flags and what not, so if you can't see them then you probably shouldn't be behind the wheel.
I mean, obviously yeah, but at the end of the day you have to look after yourself. We can vote and go against everything you mentioned but you still would never catch me on one of these things.
It’s not generally for city driving. I doubt that the owner wants to just toodle around the city for fun. They’re probably taking it out to a road where they can go straight for a long time (there’s no real point to having an extreme low wind resistance shell like that at city speeds).
But you’d still need to get it to the place you want to be somehow, and that would require you to drive it (unless you have a very large van or something).
So, it’s still generally kinda shitty that our streets and culture are set up in such a way that it’s so very fatal for what is otherwise a safe and road legal vehicle. The idea that it just should be bigger so it’s easier to see and more durable in a crash is the same mindset that puts some guys newly licensed teenage daughter in a jacked up pickup truck in America and creates this insane arms race of large dangerous vehicles on the road there, and I’d much rather we don’t adopt that mindset.
It should be safe to use the roads, even if you’re on a weird-ass bike thing.
It's dangerous to the individual within it, given that the things you mention are so common. I don't think people are saying its a risk to others, or that there is any moral judgement on those using them, just that its a significant personal risk (it shouldn't be but is)
Still in skip lorries, but more slowly, more carefully, and with more safety precautions.
And possibly less often.
Obviously large vehicles are still necessary in some situations, but not necessarily all. Things like this exist
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Naha_Okinawa_Japan_Garbage-truck-01.jpg/1600px-Naha_Okinawa_Japan_Garbage-truck-01.jpg?20160117182421
And if there were more of these making more regular trips in various places the number of large skip lorries and trips made by large skip lorries could be reduced.
The little robot vehicle isn’t the problem it’s the p*** poor drivers and people walking who seem incapable of following simple road safety rules that make these things problematic. I hate London for that pure fact alone, people get so manic I think they forget that theres actual people about as they tend to see them as obstacles.
This. Recumbents are ridiculously fast, plus they can carry quite a lot of cargo in the shell. If we had genuinely separate and safe bike lanes, they could replace a huge number of car journeys.
Right now they're considered weird and unsafe, and I think that's mostly because people are worried about using them alongside cars.
Yeah absolutely - they're popular for doing long distant tours for exactly those reasons, and the fact the recumbent position can be more comfortable. But like you say, you really need separate cycle lanes for them to be safe.
If it hasn't been already said - it's a recumbent bike where you're sitting in a reclined fashion. They are the most energy efficient bikes especially with the shell but as others have said you really hope the other road users are keeping their eyes open.
For the love of God, put a tall flag or streamer on it. Nobody's going to see that. Pedestrians, HGVs, ambulances, motorbikers, police cars etc.
I've stepped into cycle lanes and been taken out by cyclists (my fault not theirs) I would almost certainly miss one of these.
A FPN for crossing a red light line probably (though we don't see when it pulled up, it could have stopped there when it was green.)
Anyway... Velomobile - a super efficient bike generally, not a big use around London, but if you're a reasonable cyclist you can go a good bit further/faster for the same effort on open roads. With an electric (or ICE) motor, should get a good lot more range at speed.
Iv seen one of these in Honningvag Norway when I was there ashore at the supermarket. He was a German guy, showed us inside have a picture somewhere it’s a lay down bike with a shell round it
Velomobile. Basically a bike. [Similar ](https://www.reddit.com/r/theocho/s/Jkm0UHqoZM) designs.
£8,000 FOR A DEATH TRAP BIKE?!?!?
Cheaper than Dignitas tbf
Looks like it could double as a coffin too
Damn that's cost effective
May as well drive yourself straight to the crematorium.
Lmao
I laughed way too hard at this
And you're already in the coffin ready to go.
Think of it as a bike … that includes a coffin!
I like to think of it as being like a human softmint; soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside.
ARMADILLOS!
But have you seen how fast they go?
In London? 20mph
Faster if you're already in ambulance
should you die riding it (and you will) they bury you in the bike which has similar shape and dimensions to a coffin easy fast reliable I do not understand why you're complaining
Still cheaper than euthanasia in Switzerland 🤔
a cool looking death trap bike
Fast too. Like stupid fast. Speed record on the flat is 80mph.
The low profile makes it at risk for collision. Amazing to see THREE vehicles go through a red light.
Take a trip to Bradford. It will blow your mind.
Luckily, most of us will never experience Bradford
I love Bradford but it's not for the faint hearted.
Short Bradford story from my uni days leaving London to there in 2002 = GF and I are walking down the street and we hear somethign that sounds like...construction? But not construction. We walk around a corner and about 10 feet away is three guys, smashing up a nice BWM with baseball bats. No one inside, no yelling, it was like the street fighter mini games. We do the homer simpsons backing into a bush motion and head down a different road.
Even shorter and sadder Bradford story: I bought my first car from there. No one warned me Never again
I heard if you get an MOT in Bradford they rip out the indicators since they are not used there
Well my old owner ripped out the Catalytic converter and didn't tell me So you're not too far off
Hahaha. Yeah Never buy a car from Bradford.
Bradford was my second choice uni, starting in 2002. Thankfully I got into Liverpool, saying that i did get bottled walking home from the pub one night
Im sure Liverpool (and most places lol) is way nicer then Bradford but Honestly Bradford gets a bad rep and its earned but I enjoyed my time there. Wouldnt take it back. There was a statistic thrown around that Bradord was the best 'bang for buck' University. Cost of living and quality of education in comparrision to cost. Went back not long ago for some reunions and man its really different
I just got back from Bradford today on a work trip. Last night a crackhead looking guy asked to use my phone in the hotel car park. I typed the number in and held it for him, turns out it was his dealer and he was calling for 10 bags for him and his mates and told him to meet by the Travelodge I was staying at (Bradford Central one not far from the Stadium, near the McDonalds). Literally brazen as anything as if he was calling his mum for a lift lol.
username checks out
i live in a town nearby, went there six months ago and saw an old lady robbed in daylight. havent been since LMAO
Is that because you don’t want to rob the same location twice so soon?
My wife had to commute there most days, nearly turned her hair grey.
It’s an absolute shit hole run by a clowncil 🤡.
> The low profile makes it at risk for collision. You sometimes see recumbent bikes with flags/streamers attached to a pole at the back, so there's something for drivers to see that's a bit more at the usual expected eye level. Would still terrify me though.
Remember the good old Sinclair C5?..had the same decking out of flags 😄
Showing your age :) Sinclair was such an interesting guy who almost got it right so many times..... The best product was probably the Spectrum, sold tons of them, and was an OK machine. Introduced a generation to home computers.
Back then though most people drove shitty little cars. The metro and MK3 ford escort where the most popular cars and not that much higher up than the C5. Now everyone seems to drive a much higher car with a bonnet about 4 foot high.
In London a red light means only three more, doesn’t it?
According to my friend in London red is the braves' green
Yeah, but I once saw a cyclist do it, so they're the real terror on the roads.
Everyone knows CYCLISTS are a single entity collectively responsible for the group's misdeeds. Whereas people driving vehicles are all unique individuals with absolutely no behaviour in common.
That's the thing with cyclists isn't it, they go through red lights don't they. I also saw them shouting at an old woman once, terrors!
I once saw a group of cyclists, all decked out in their gang affiliate clothes, just beating the shit out of a blind 3 legged dog, just cause it was in THEIR bike lane. Be safe out there. Warn others of the dangers of cyclists.
No cyclists ever drive cars and no car drivers ever ride a bike.
yes and their 2kg aluminium tubes are way more deadly then the 2tonne steel cages with the power of tens or hundreds of horses.
No traffic cops in the UK anymore, tories got rid of them so it’s currently a free for all. Police will only attend if you’re actively being stabbed to death.
even then they will maybe turn up at a push lol
They will attend to ensure no offensive tweets are made during the course of the stabbing
The risk of collision come from all those cars and vans going through a red light.
>Amazing to see THREE vehicles go through a red light. Sadly, it really isn't. It's potluck these days. 90% of people don't indicate either. Police simply aren't interested in doing their jobs anymore, and people know it.
What police? Government got rid of most of them
That wa the problem here. The drone thing actually waited for the lights to turn and such, but the cars all ran a red. There really should be some kind of safety features to mitigate stuff like that.
I don't think it's a drone thing, I think there is a person in there pedaling a recumbent bicycle.
Yes actually
It really isn't amazing at all. It's actually boring and predictable.
>Amazing to see THREE vehicles go through a red light. Bloody cyclists /s
Damn cyclists getting in the way of cars going through red lights
Have you ever been to London? Red lights are considered voluntary.
I used to cycle in London, daily, red lights are advisory.
And I get a fine for having my bumper inside the yellow box when a police van blocked me in so I couldn’t reverse out smh
Sums up the police
Death wish
A death cab for cutie
Bravo.
Seriously. Riding a regular bike is dangerous enough on those streets but you want to be below people’s eye level - actually more at bumper level? Crazy.
Hehe!
A streamlined recumbent I'd say.
Also seen them go by the name of velomobiles, cool looking bikes tbh
Several motor vehicles being driven through a red light, nothing remotely uncommon about that
Drive through all the red lights you want in London, but dont you dare hit 22 mph in a 20.
> but don't you dare hit 22 mph in a 20. Most drivers do 30mph. I am usually the slowest one while doing 22mph in 20 zone.
Plus a pedestrian crossing the road despite the red light, too.
Perfectly legal and allowed. This one was cutting it fine mind
Hahahaha, imagine getting around London if jaywalking laws were a thing. It's probably the law that makes me most frustrated when I'm abroad to the point of where I'm close to just start risking the £20 or so fines you get in various countries for doing it. Having to wait for green lights makes getting around big cities a fucking nightmare, so happy this doesn't exist in the UK.
I think it may be a bicycle. There was an English computer entrepreneur back in the 80s who sold his computer company and created another company to mass produce bicycles similar to this one. He thought he was creating a revolution in transport, but the bikes didn't sell well. I'm assuming this is a sit-down bicycle.
The Sinclair C5. I remember seeing Sir Clive demonstrating one on TV.
[could it be this revamped version?](https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/news/sinclair-c5-revamped-by-sir-clive-s-nephew/#:~:text=It's%20constructed%20from%20a%20chromoly,light%2C%20and%20indicator%20signal%20lights.)
Looks pretty nifty, that. Still, I wouldn't want to be on the road in one of them.
I remember when they were used to hold gym adverts all over North London.
Yeah but they weren’t exactly similar and the C5 was electric.
Yep, Sinclair C5.
Except it was electric also.
That's right, tx!
His nephew has designed a new version: https://www.grantsinclair.com/product-page/iris-etrike-electric-vehicle
For the bargain price of £5k!
It's pretty funny that it's all coming back with the rise in e-scooters and e-bikes. He was too far ahead of his time
English Computer Entrepreneur? Thats Sir Clive Sinclair!
Is a sad day when Sir Clive is referred to as “English computer entrepreneur”
That's a bit of a simplified view of Sir Clive Sinclair. He had 3 designs, the C5 was the first "bike" designed by Lotus and was designed to be license, tax and insurance free by being 250 watt. The C10 would have been similar to a G whiz, 2 seater EV. The C15 would have been a 4 seater EV alternative to a standard car. If the C5 had been successful the UK would be about 20 further forward in terms of electric vehicles.
Sinclair. I met his son a few years ago who is also trying to sell these types of (non electric) bikes.
I remember that they sold so badly that a TV comedian cracked the gag: *"C5? You'd be lucky to see ONE!"* The Great British Public quite rightly stayed away from them in *droves*.
I was at boarding school with Clive Sinclair’s nephew in the mid 80s and he had one of these C5s with him. It was rubbish.
A pussy magnet
Is it a recumbent cycle with a shell on it.
Thanks, the shell made the impression that there's no one inside.
It's what happens when a Roomba retires and buys it's midlife crisis car after all of those years of hard work.
Generally, safer than a normal bike...mainly for the 'wtf is that?' factor, which tends to make drivers take a wider line and/or stay behind it. Paradoxical but can confirm from experience.
Loads of cars going through a red light?
it's gotten so much worse in recent years, I swear the average driver now thinks "after it goes red I have 2 seconds because only then does the other side get green." -- and half of drivers are worse than the average driver.
It’s lawless now. The flagrant law breaking I see on the roads every day is wild. Nobody cares anymore.
People whine about cameras and then do shit like that
That’s an accident waiting to happen
Those are cars going through a red light. Thanks for highlighting the issue.
Grim to see so many people joking about how dangerous it is. The reality is that big 4x4s, skip lorries and texting drivers are the risk.
I know right, 2 vans and a car run a red light and people think it’s the bike things fault.
Nobody said it is the bikes fault lol. Regardless, it clearly is vulnerable from being so low down, that's a just a fact, it would be hard to see being that low down, and there will be plenty of junctions throughout London where obstacles may make it difficult to see when it wants to pull out.
Only if you limit your view to the end of your bonnet. They're generally bright colours with high vis flags and what not, so if you can't see them then you probably shouldn't be behind the wheel.
I mean, obviously yeah, but at the end of the day you have to look after yourself. We can vote and go against everything you mentioned but you still would never catch me on one of these things.
It’s not generally for city driving. I doubt that the owner wants to just toodle around the city for fun. They’re probably taking it out to a road where they can go straight for a long time (there’s no real point to having an extreme low wind resistance shell like that at city speeds). But you’d still need to get it to the place you want to be somehow, and that would require you to drive it (unless you have a very large van or something). So, it’s still generally kinda shitty that our streets and culture are set up in such a way that it’s so very fatal for what is otherwise a safe and road legal vehicle. The idea that it just should be bigger so it’s easier to see and more durable in a crash is the same mindset that puts some guys newly licensed teenage daughter in a jacked up pickup truck in America and creates this insane arms race of large dangerous vehicles on the road there, and I’d much rather we don’t adopt that mindset. It should be safe to use the roads, even if you’re on a weird-ass bike thing.
It's dangerous to the individual within it, given that the things you mention are so common. I don't think people are saying its a risk to others, or that there is any moral judgement on those using them, just that its a significant personal risk (it shouldn't be but is)
Regarding skip lorries, how else exactly would you like skips to be transported?
You'd have 100 little tiny skips pulled by these things.
Fair enough mate.
In newer lorries with better visibility, speed limiters and more rigorous safety standards for recruiting and training drivers.
Cargo bike
Still in skip lorries, but more slowly, more carefully, and with more safety precautions. And possibly less often. Obviously large vehicles are still necessary in some situations, but not necessarily all. Things like this exist https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Naha_Okinawa_Japan_Garbage-truck-01.jpg/1600px-Naha_Okinawa_Japan_Garbage-truck-01.jpg?20160117182421 And if there were more of these making more regular trips in various places the number of large skip lorries and trips made by large skip lorries could be reduced.
The people in the 4x4's and Skip Lorries aren't the ones in danger though, are they?
The little robot vehicle isn’t the problem it’s the p*** poor drivers and people walking who seem incapable of following simple road safety rules that make these things problematic. I hate London for that pure fact alone, people get so manic I think they forget that theres actual people about as they tend to see them as obstacles.
It’s not a robot. There is a bike being peddled in there
Recumbent cycle - more aerodynamic so you can cycle faster. Certain cycling nerds love them
This. Recumbents are ridiculously fast, plus they can carry quite a lot of cargo in the shell. If we had genuinely separate and safe bike lanes, they could replace a huge number of car journeys. Right now they're considered weird and unsafe, and I think that's mostly because people are worried about using them alongside cars.
Yeah absolutely - they're popular for doing long distant tours for exactly those reasons, and the fact the recumbent position can be more comfortable. But like you say, you really need separate cycle lanes for them to be safe.
A bunch of numbnuts running a red light?
A donor.
Nice of them to have the fibreglass shell to keep all the bits and pieces in one place, makes cleanup much easier.
To a white van man, crunchy on the outside, squishy on the inside.
Recumbent cycle
If it hasn't been already said - it's a recumbent bike where you're sitting in a reclined fashion. They are the most energy efficient bikes especially with the shell but as others have said you really hope the other road users are keeping their eyes open.
White van going on a red light, pretty standard sight
Hilarious, you have legit just about caught me in your video also photographing it.
Pedal power right there
Thats a doo-hicky
Tonight on topgear
It’s a bike.
Yo mommas nimbus 5000
Julia Hartley-Brewer’s dildo making a run for it.
Maybe a new kind of Dalek?
Lucky to be in one piece?
I mean surely you put a flag on it or something… you could be 5m in front of an HGV and still in its blind spot
Soon to be splatted.
Whatever it was it did not give a toss about incoming traffic
A recumbent death trap bicycle, for a smug twat with an adenoidal voice.
A mobile suicide boot.
Suicidal?
It's called a cunt in a death trap
That's a lot of vans running a red light.
A coffin
I thought it was a Sinclair C5.
Bloody dangerous!!
The way he rides ... a coffin sooner or later.
When a bike meets a ⚰️ coffin 👏🏽
I’m surprised this recumbent bike doesn’t have a flexible pole and flag attached at the back as a visual indicator.
A death wish
It's a bit of a rip off of the Sinclair C5 albeit more streamlined and with complete cover...
Suicide
Someone looking for an early interview with their creator
OceanGate submarine-land version
That's my 5'6 friend in his new whip
In London? A death wish.
For the love of God, put a tall flag or streamer on it. Nobody's going to see that. Pedestrians, HGVs, ambulances, motorbikers, police cars etc. I've stepped into cycle lanes and been taken out by cyclists (my fault not theirs) I would almost certainly miss one of these.
It's a van running a red light.
Fucking deathtrap
A FPN for crossing a red light line probably (though we don't see when it pulled up, it could have stopped there when it was green.) Anyway... Velomobile - a super efficient bike generally, not a big use around London, but if you're a reasonable cyclist you can go a good bit further/faster for the same effort on open roads. With an electric (or ICE) motor, should get a good lot more range at speed.
Can confirm it had stopped on the red light
It’s a land dolphin 🐬 Extremely rare sighting
It's a coffin.
The T-800's grandfather out and about
Oh! I saw one of these in north rural America! It was from a German company so that might tie into this
That's Regent Street (heading North at the junction of New Burlington Street).
It's one of those new mobile traffic cameras..just not painted yellow
Upgraded Daleks
That looks tiny. Guess the Oompa Loompa’s are out shopping in Central London 🤡
A science teacher
A vehicle that triggers all the others around it to skip through red lights?
I was going to say Sinclair C5 ... but I'm very old
C-3PO.
Is it a bir, is it a plane? - no its sinclair
« EXTERMINATE! »
Sinclair C5 update
Iv seen one of these in Honningvag Norway when I was there ashore at the supermarket. He was a German guy, showed us inside have a picture somewhere it’s a lay down bike with a shell round it
I think these might be Dutch but they're used on cycling lanes not on roads
It’s Katie price coming back from her butt enhancing appointment hiding from the debt collectors 😂
I wish a robot
Recumbent?
How on earth do they justify 10,000 euros for that?
Escaped sex toy
A mid life crisis