Nice wheel. Well, it was once anyway.

Road Tubeless is great.
It’s that simple. The tubeless setup I previously detailed ran straight and true for several weeks. It was fast, grippy and light.

Then the crash happened.

Briefly

I was on a very fast steep descent on a wet day with a gale howling and entering a corner. What could possibly go wrong?

Going along at 55kph I went through the first corner of the descent from Sallygap towards Rathfarnham. The wind which had been behind me was now coming from the side, and a stronger gust surprised me. Totally side-on now it pushed me, fully sideways across the road. With no other traffic around I was able to attempt all the proper corrections in safe haste – counter steering, steering into corner, braking without locking up. I threw the literal rulebook at the bike.

Nothing worked and I hit the lip of the ditch sideways on. The rear wheel dug in while the momentum carried the bike on and flipped me bodily over the ditch.

Dried up sealant filling gaps around spoke hole.

The Result

All of the equipment was fine bar one scratch on the chainstay and a catastrophically failed rear wheel. As can be seen from the photos the wheel is completely warped beyond repair.

The rim seam burst and the air-tight seals around the spoke holes burst open. But there it stopped. Sitting there in a ditch I watched the Stan’s No-Tubes sealant bubble forth through the split in the rim and the spoke holes. At first I wondered what the hell it was, then remembering, I watched as it stopped bubbling 20 seconds later. That was it. Sealed.

Burst seam on the rim, now sealed.

The accident was four weeks before these photos were taken. The tires have remained sufficiently pumped up to be used (although the wheels’ buckled state might have a say in that).

Please Note

Throughout this post the pneumatic buffers which run between a bicycle’s wheels and the road surface have been referred to as “tires”. If you prefer “tyres” then good for you, you are staying true to the roots of the English language. But language moves on, so get with the programme, and stuff.

To write something critical on the internet is futile – a metaphorical scream into a pillow, a cathartic reaction. Now, bear in mind that what follows is far from revelatory; the fact that cars and bicycles collide can hardly be considered a secret. The fact remains that we continue to accept a traffic environment that allows this happen. What the Inquisition will describe is a minor altercation, but multiply this out across populations and infinite other complicating factors and sadly, injuries and fatalities will eventually occur.

Picture a scenario.
You are a cyclist travelling between two lanes of traffic, on your way to your destination and using the correct road positioning. As you ride between these two lanes cars pass on either side of you. You are, in essence, part of the traffic flow. All is as it should be considering your country subscribes to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which clearly states that the bicycle is a legitmate means of road travel, equal to any other.

Now, as you proceed, minding your own business, you are passed on your outside by a car blaring its horn. As this car passes, it slows so the driver can gesticulate and inform you that they wish to proceed with due care on the footpath/get off their road/fuck off and die under a truck. Then, moving ahead, they pull in on top of you, suggesting by doing so, that they would like to impress upon you their unimpeachable rectitude. Just as they would like to impress their wheels on you, all over your head.

The first time this happens, you might be taken aback by the naked aggression, shocked that a vehicle was used in such a potentially lethal manner, simply because someone didn’t want to share THEIR road. You might also question your road positioning and awareness.

But every time it happens after that, you are always in the right. You are not impeding their progress, just holding your own position within the flow. These drivers obviously want you off their roads, they just see you as a second class road user and long for some kind of transportation apartheid.

No matter what, this is an infringement of a cyclist’s rights under international law. Not that this fact will help; you aren’t exactly going to go crying to the police that a bad person shouted at you because you were on a a bike, are you?

But the feeling of being right is reassuring. Even if someone is trying to impress their views all over your face.

The Problem

Still, clearly the initial hypothetical driver felt he had some legitimate grievance, namely that a cyclist should never take precedence over a car. Excepting the fact that he may just have been a contrarian looking for confrontation we are left with the obvious assumption that the driver in question sees traffic regulations differently to how they actually operate in Ireland (or wherever you are reading this).

So how to get a foreigner driving in Ireland?

If you are from another EU country, then welcome to our roads, where you may speed and cause carnage before returning home in the dead of night on a last minute flight.

Add to that the following countries who may partake in the pandemonium on our roads, for 12 months, without needing to exchange your licence for an Irish one:

• Australia
• Gibraltar
• Guernsey
• Isle of Man
• Japan
• Jersey
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Switzerland

Now, if you are a proper foreigner with a full licence, you also have 12 months grace after which you must undergo a theory test, do time in the purgatory of learner status and then complete your full test.

How there is no immediate equivalency test, or identification sticker, as with learners, is baffling. In other words, you may carry on as normal, obeying any rules you feel apply for at least 12 months. Then, you can do the test, or leave because you have killed someone.

The Side Swipe; a classic, this remains the favoured takedown move by bad drivers worldwide. If you live in one of those, frankly barking mad, countries that drive on the right look at this diagram through a mirror.

A Word to the Wise

The injustice of cycling increases exponentially in relation to the proximity of a cyclepath. If you are going straight on but the cyclelane goes left or right only – good luck! Uneducated traffic will push you from your chosen path like motorised sheepdogs herding a flock. Nevermind the fact that mandatory cyclelane usage which denigrates pedal traffic to second class status stands contrary to the Vienna Convention. They just want you off their road.

The Convention Signatories

The Geneva Convention on Road Traffic was drafted in 1949 and only three signatories did not renew, meaning it is still in force there but not replaced by the newer 1968 convention. Which three troglodytes of transportation? US, Australia and New Zealand. Take a bow, ye cretins.

Who did renew and signed the 1968 Convention?
The following:

• Aden Colony British Guyana (ADN)
• Albania (AL)
• Alderney (GBA)
• Algeria (DZ)
• Argentina (RA)
• Austria (A)
• Bahamas
• Bahamas (BS)
• Bailwick of Guernsey (GBG)
• Bangladesh (BD)
• Barbados (BDS)
• Belgian Congo (RCB)
• Belgium (B)
• Benin (DY)
• Botswana (RB)
• Brazil (BR)
• British Honduras (BH)
• Brune (BRU)
• Bulgaria (BG)
• Côte d’Ivoire (CI)
• Cambodia (K)
• Cameroons under French mandate
• Canada (CDN)
• Central African Republic (RCA)
• Chile (RCH)
• China (RC)
• Costa Rica (CR)
• Cuba (geen letters)
• Cyprus (CY)
• Czech Republic (CZ)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo (CGO)
• Denmark (DK)
• Dominican Republic (DOM)
• Ecuador (EC)
• Egypt (ET)
• Estonia (EST)
• Faroe Islands (FO)
• Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
• Fiji (FJI)
• Finland (SF)
• France including French overseas territories (F)
• Gambia (WAG)
• Georgia (GE)
• Germany (D)
• Ghana (GH)
• Gibraltar (GBZ)
• Greece (GR)
• Grenada (WG)
• Guatemala (GCA)
• Haiti (RH)
• Holy See (V)
• Hong Kong (HK)
• Hungary (H)
• Iceland (IS)
• India (IND)
• Indonesia (RI)
• Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR)
• Ireland (IRL)
• Isle of Man (GBM)
• Israël (IL)
• Italy (I)
• Jamaica (JA)
• Japan (J)
• Jordan (HKJ)
• Kazakhstan (KAZ)
• Kenya (EAK)
• Kyrgyzstan (KS)
• Lao, People’s Democratic Republic (LAO)
• Latvia (LV)
• Lebanon (RL)
• Lesotho (LS)
• Lithuania (LT)
• Luxembourg (L)
• Madagascar (RM)
• Malawi (MW)
• Malaysia (MAL)
• Mali (RMM)
• Malta (M)
• Mauritius (MS)
• Mexico (MEX)
• Monaco (geen letters)
• Morocco (MA)
• Myanmar (BUR)
• Namibia (NAM)
• Netherlands (NL)
• Netherlands Antilles (NA)
• Netherlands New Guinea
• Nicaragua (NIC)
• Niger (NG)
• Nigeria (WAN)
• North Borneo
• Norway (N)
• Okinawa
• Pakistan (PAK)
• Papua New Guinea (PNG)
• Paraguay (PY)
• Participants Geneva Convention 2
• Peru (PE)
• Philippines (PI)
• Poland (PL)
• Portugal (P) all overseas provinces excluding Macau
• Principality of Andorra (AND)
• Republic of Korea (ROK)
• Romania (R)
• Russian Federation (SU)
• San Marino (RSM)
• Senegal (SN)
• Serbia (SRB)
• Seychelles (SY)
• Sierra Leone (WAL)
• Singapore (SGP)
• Slovakia (SK)
• South Africa (ZA)
• South West Africa
• Southern Rhodesia (RSR)
• Spain including African localities and provinces (E)
• Sri Lanka (CL)
• St. Lucia (WL)
• St. Vincent (WV)
• States of Jersey (GBJ)
• Surinam (SME)
• Swaziland (SD)
• Sweden (S)
• Switzerland (CH)
• Syrian Arab Republic (SYR)
• Tanganyika (EAT)
• Thailand (T)
• The Trust Territory of Western Samoa (WS)
• Togo (TG)
• Trinidad and Tobago ( TT)
• Trust Territory of Rwanda/ Urundi (RWA)
• Tunisia (TN)
• Turkey (TR)
• Uganda (EAU)
• Ukraine (UA)
• United Arab Emirates (UAE)
• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (GB)
• Uruguay (U)
• Venezuela (YV)
• Winward Islands
• Zambia (RNR)
• Zanzibar (EAZ)
• Zimbabwe (ZW)

Bibliography
The Vienna and Geneva Conventions on Road Traffic
Foreign Drivers coming to Ireland