I can't lower the seat - it seem to be stuck.

[Fredxx]

Why? Most of it's ingredient is mineral oil, which is pretty inert and a good insulator. Water repelling properties will hinder corrosion of components and solder.

[Nobby Anderson]

Speaking as someone who makes a living packaging electronics in mineral oil, I can tell you that it's far from benign. It attacks many plastics, not chemically as such but it's absorbed and alters their mechanical properties quite significantly. It can make them swell significantly, and/or brittle, and don't mention the effect on commong rubbery compounds like some nitriles.

Some nylons, for example, have a quite high proportion of water in their structure. The mineral oil can displace the water and all hell breaks loose.

It's usually a good insulator, granted. Until it isn't!

Nobby

[PeterC]

I still have some LPS1 left from about 25 years ago. It's better than WD40 and doesn't attack very much. It's no longer made, unfortunately, so I use it very sparingly for things where nothing else will do.

[Rob Morley]

The interweb suggests it's still made and distributed in the USA, but the supposed UK distributors have no mention of it that I can find except a link back to lpslabs.com

[PeterC]

Yes, that's the promble.

It was expensive in aerosol cans so (at work) I enquired about buying it in bulk. The cost for 1 gal./5li (can't remeber which now) was about 5% less than in the cans!

Also have a drop of LPS3 left - that's v. good on exterior metal.

[Roger Thorpe]

LPS3 used to be my favourite chain lubricant, which prompted me to google a bit and came up with Cromwell as a supplier (for LPS 1 too)

[PeterC]

Looks as if a lot of the products are Thermaplex and have LPS on also. Some interesting possibilities there.

[Tom Crispin]

I turned the handlebars through 90 degress and bungeed the 20" wheel bike to my rear rack with the front wheel on the left and the rear wheel on the right. The only difficulty was that my heel made contact with the front wheel, so I had to move my foot forward.

In what way does it sound dangerous, and in what way does it sound like an overload?

[Ian White]

They're expanding into new markets now, like "WD40 Pour Homme"... now available in Aftershave, Shower Gel, or of course Classic Aerosol.

[PeterC]

Some Asian riders seem to manage with things like settees or loadsa 5 gallon containers strapped on a bike - I worry with 15kg on the back!

[Arfa Daily]

Because I've been servicing electronic equipment for more than 35 years, and I'm telling you so. If you bring WD40 anywhere near electronic equipment with mechanics in it - that's moving parts of rubber and plastic such as might be found in a cassette deck, or a CD / DVD deck - you will royally f*ck them. If you don't believe me, give it a try, and then explain to the nice man in the shop why he's wrong ... :-)

Arfa

[Arfa Daily]

Well, it seemed to me that it would have to go across-wise in something like the manner you describe, which then makes you a lot 'wider' to other road users, but not necessarily in a visible way. I know that we should all be very observant when encountering cyclists whilst driving our cars, but there is a range of variables that might be considered 'normal', and I would contend that a cycle with another one strapped on the back, would not fall into that category, and might take a driver by surprise as he calculated clearances etc for overtaking said cyclist. The situation would be even worse if it was dusk or raining.

Also, if your foot is making contact with the 'cargo' such that you have to move your foot on the pedal to avoid this, then I might be inclined to consider this as not being fully in control of the cycle. The police consider all sorts of apparently innocuous activities whilst driving a car, to represent "not being properly in control". It would be interesting to see how they would view your 'abnormal load'

I suggested that it might be an 'overload' because a cycle - even a child's one - is quite a heavy lump and, bungeed to a rear rack, I would have thought that it would have made for quite an unstable ride, given the odd weight distribution with its high c of g and transverse carrying configuration.

I just felt that when I see some of the dangerous manoeuvres that some cyclists get up to, which represent a serious hazard to both themselves and other road users, the last thing I would want to encounter driving through my village, was a cyclist with an 'odd' load on the back ... ??

Arfa

[Tom Crispin]

Don't you think that a cyclist with a bike strapped to a rear rack is

*more* visible than a cyclist without a bike strapped to a rear rack? It was an assumption that I made, perhaps it was a wrong assumption.

It is not for the police to decide what an abnormal load is or is not, all they can do is interpret the law. As far as I know there is no width restriction on bicycle loads, though there is a law which restricts the carriage of a second person on a bicycle for which there has been no special adaptation.

I do not believe that there is any restriction on the part of the foot that sits on a bicycle pedal. Indeed, I have a friend who has an entire leg missing - I would hate to think that he might be committing an offence by cycling.

The child's bike's weight is 19.4lbs. With me sitting on the saddle about 12" higher than the bike strapped to the rear rack, and only my lower leg below the bike, I expect the centre of gravity is lower than usual.

I think that you will find that it is motorists that present a serious hazard to cyclists, and not cyclists themselves: although not unheard of, it is exceptionally rare for a cyclist to cause a death to another road user.

If you were driving through your village and you encountered a cyclist with another bicycle strapped to their rear rack, would it cause you to take more care or less care around that cyclist?

My anecdotal evidence is that motorists either stayed behind me or passed with an exceptionally wide margin. This made me feel absolutely safe on my journey to work through London's rush hour traffic.

[PeterC]

I find it useful for where I don't want proper lubrication. I've some hedge sheras that have the 'twist'n'lock' extensible handles; these can get stiff to turn and so don't lock properly. Oil would make them slip, but WD40 eases operation whilst having no load-bearing lubrication.

[Nobby Anderson]

Strapped? Hey, I've got a bike *bolted* to my read rack, and sometimes I have the feeling I'm invisible :-P

Nobby

[<me9]

Quite a heavy adult sized bicycle shaped object would weigh in at less than

20kg. The rider could be 90kg or more. the weight of a child sized bike would be minimal.

In my younger days I would often see bikes used for transporting coal. 2 (hundredweight) bags was quite usual. 5 bags was not uncommon, weighing quareter of a ton.

[Arfa Daily]

There is no law as such, which says that it is illegal to eat an apple whilst driving a car, but if a police officer decides for whatever reason that as a result of eating said apple, you are not "properly in control of the vehicle", then he can decide that you have committed an offence based on that. I don't know, however, whether the same 'interpretation' of any laws can be applied to cyclists. As road users, allbeit unlicensed ones who don't pay any road tax, I think that they should be subject to similar treatment as car drivers, but I'm sure that wouldn't be the case ...

Ah, I see you are a 'Cyclist' with a capital C. That explains much ... Whilst I am sure that many motorists represent an (unwitting) danger to cyclists, it can equally be said that many cyclists are an utter menace on the roads, believing as they do, that they have a divine right to be on the road with greater status than other road users, and to use any part of the road / footpath / traffic control systems, to expedite their journey in any way they see fit. Woe betide any motorist who has the temerity to sound his horn at one of these cyclists, for cutting him up. I have been gestured at and shouted and sworn at for committing this cardinal sin ...

I don't suggest for one moment that you are, in general, a dangerous cyclist, and I am sure that you took plenty of care on your journey. Whilst I accept that in places such as India, everything from a single rider to half a car is carried as the norm on a pushbike or moped, that isn't the case here. Certainly, provided that I saw your unusual load, I would give you a wide(r) berth, but these days, there are so many 'legitimate' hazards on our roads - speed bumps, speed cameras, chicanes, a forest of general road signs, idiots in invalid carriages tooling down the road, kids that have never been taught by their half-educated parents, that cars are hard, and so on - to contend with, that overall attention is already diverted in many different directions, without having to take on board cyclists with 'abnormal' loads (my definition of the word). So in querying the 'safety' of your unusually loaded cycle, I was, to some extent, playing devil's advocate.

Arfa

[Tom Crispin]

This is nonsense.

It is not for the police to determine guilt or otherwise - that is for the courts. However, the police, in consultation with the alleged offender, *might* agree guilt between them and the alleged offender may choose to pay a fixed penalty for a limited number of offences.

Cyclists are dealt with very severely in proportion to the danger they pose to others.

I would call it a divine right, but under law cyclists do have a right to use the road, except motorways and a few other roads and tunnels, without let or hinderance.

I would be very careful about a blanket label of the elderly and those with a disability who use a "invalid carriage" as "idiots".

[Tom Crispin]

Should be: I would *not* call it a divine right

[Tom Crispin]

Cyclists have an unlicensed right to use the road; motorists do not.

Cyclists are explicitily banned from using the footway by the side of the road, unless there is a specific regulation allowing cyclists to use the footway. However, official guidance to the police and other enforcement authorities is to use discretion when dealing with cyclists on the footway, especially those cycling with consideration for other footway users and out of fear of using the road.

Cyclists must, like any other road user, obey traffic control signals. However, cyclists do have the option of dismounting and waking their bike across a junction.

In a constant stream of motor traffic, it is unusual to see motorists stop at traffic signals when they change. It is common for three or more vehicles to continue through the junction. I do not judge cyclists who do the same to be any better or worse than those motorists, though I do have a serious issue with the minority of cyclists who cycle through traffic control signals during the pedestrian phase.