12 years of Popup Bikes

It is now over 12 years since Popup Bikes first opened its doors. I visited it within a couple of months of the opening and wrote a post about it. The place started out aiming at coffee and cycle parking with some bike repair and has evolved into a thriving bike repair operation with coffee. Unlike many mainstream cycle shops in Manchester, Popup has not only survived lockdown it has flourished with a workshop that is busier than ever.

 The workshop soon grew in size and moved down to the far end of the arch.

 The slope now accommodates stock, customer bike parking and the latest acquisition, a mobile workshop in an electrically assisted trailer

There is not just freshly made coffee and snacks now, there is also ground coffee for sale.

 And the cafe area has been improved, though sadly the lawnmower has gone...

I can thoroughly recommend Popup Bikes. Three of my machines have been serviced there and that included a major rebuild of my touring bike and they always do a really good job. May the place thrive for another 12 years!

Why has there been 14 months of inaction on the Irwell Towpath in Ordsall?

Has my ranting and raving on Twitter finally forced some action on the Irwell Towpath?

Hi @OfficialTfGM @urbanvision_uk @SalfordCouncil @VisitSalford
When are you going to fix this cycle route? https://t.co/mJcvjHzCdc pic.twitter.com/EXY8pTXjwZ

— MadCycleLanes of MCR (@MadCycleLaneMCR) March 5, 2017

This path has been closed since December 2015



This morning was the first time in 14 months I have seen work being carried out on the path.



Rubble was being lifted into the area of the collapsed path and raked into position.



On returning this evening it was clear that this was not a long term repair of the towpath but a short term cludge.



Bags of rocks have been placed in the river to provide an outer edge and rubble has been put in between the bags and the remaining path to build the area up towards path level.



The fact that this is a short term measure begs the question as to why it has take over 14 months to get this far?

Bridgewater Way Ice Update

It seems my various emails to TfGM and others about the ice on the Bridgewater Way payed off.

By the time it had warmed up enough for me to use the route again on the Friday there were clear signs that an extensive salting had been carried out.





In the exchange of emails that went round I was given the following contact information for the maintenance of the Bridgewater Way:-

By email to - Bridgewatercanal@peel.co.uk

Telephone - 0161 629 8200 between 2pm and 4pm Monday to Friday.

Emergency Telephone - out of office hours 0161 877 3628

Please note only emergency calls will be dealt with on this number.

Write to - The Bridgewater Canal Company Limited, Peel Dome, intu Trafford Centre, TRaffordCITY Manchester M17 8PL, UK

Though I would copy any emails to TfGM's cycling team, so they know what's going on...

Broken Bollards, Temporary Plastic Crap

The top set of plastic bollards on Middlewood Street have now gone, thanks to the efforts of passing drivers, most likely in HGVs.

These Jislon plastic traffic islands with bollards were only installed ten months ago, so they haven't even lasted a year.



The two bollards are still lying in the grass verge amongst the rubbish.



The remaining island is now badly scared and bits of plastic can be found in the cycle lane, evidence of the many drivers who either can't see where they are going or don't care where they drive.



Previously there was one...



Originally there were two...



The councils and TfGM love these plastic islands and armadillos because they are cheap. However, they are quickly damaged by traffic and would become an expensive maintenance burden, if only they cared about cycle route maintenance...

Irwell River Park Railing Repairs

Today there has been further repair work on the Ordsall section of the Irwell River Park path.

For the past two months or so there have been two big gaps in the railings on the Ordsall section of the path.



This evening the gaps had been filled with nice new sections of railings, in time for the dark winter ride home.

Irwell River Path - complaints work!

This morning my ride to work was interrupted by two pink & yellow vehicles in the cycle lane and on the pavement.



As soon as I got level with them I realised that there may have been progress on the path maintenance.



Sure enough, down under the bridge was a little pink street cleaning machine and several operatives dressed in yellow trying to remove the silt from the Irwell River Path.



By the time I returned in the evening the vast majority of the silt had been removed and the path was left with just a thin layer of sand...



There were patches that had been missed.





With piles of sand in the corners.



However, the vast majority of the silt had been removed.



And the look of the path has been considerably improved.



This has taken two emails and two blog posts with pictures, but it just goes to show that suitably targeted complaints do work, so get complaining about problems in your area!!

Irwell River Path - where is the path maintenance?

Well over a month ago I reported the coating of mud and silt on the Irwell River Path to several officers at Salford Council.

Over a month later I emailed them again to ask why they had done nothing about it....

I won't publish the embarasing email chain on this blog, but needless to say there has been no work done at all here, despite what some might claim.



Whilst some of the finer silts have been blown away by the wind, the mud still remains in many places.



On a wet morning the mix of fine sant and mud sticks to the bike and provides a nasty grinding paste for your brakes to eat into your wheel rims. It also sticks to the inside of mudguards and generally gets everywhere, no doubt shortening the life of various bike components.



Further along even this patch of crap has yet to wash away in the rain.



However, it's not the only part of the path that is being neglected.

All that gardening work earlier in the year that involved the closure of the path? Nothing but a patch of weeds.



A bit further west, mind how you go as the railings have gone...



All this work on the Irwell River Park seems to be going to waste. It seems to be easy to gain capital grants for major pieces of work. However, once that initial work is done there seems to be no money to carry out routine path maintenance.

This is not just a problem with the Irwell River Park. The Trans Pennine Trail is nothing but a muddy track in places, only suitable for mountain bikes. Maintenance is a serious problem for the National Cycle Network and other bike routes. I will post more about other routes in the coming weeks.

Fallowfield Loop - Broom Lane Bridge Puddle...

If you ever find yourself faced with this puddle under the Broom Lane Bridge on the Fallowfield Loop, then think twice before cycling through.

I discovered that this is a lot deeper than it looks. The tide marks on my bike showed that this was around 50cm deep, once I'd cycled through it.



From the other side it looked a lot less inviting.



The shoes took a whole day to dry out...


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Irwell River Path Mud

The Irwell River Path is very muddy in places following the floods.



The worst place is under the Ring Road, A6042 Bridge where the mud is several cm deep.





It is quite slippery and not nice for anyone who has to then take their muddy bike indoors.


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