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How hard is it to be a woman in the cycling industry? Shockjock engineer devotes entire Youtube video to trying to discredit female Cycling Weekly tech editor

Bizarre tirade from Hambini perfectly proves point originally made by Michelle Arthurs-Brennan when she called him out for sexist remarks

How hard is it to be a woman in the cycling industry? Well, a new video from engineer and YouTuber Hambini in which he seeks to discredit Cycling Weekly technical editor Michelle Arthurs-Brennan unintentionally underlines the point that it can be very hard indeed.

Clearly Hambini, who has more than 45,000 subscribers on the platform, has put a lot of time into producing the video, which has been viewed over 30,000 times – including trawling through Arthurs-Brennan’s social media accounts and personal website, as well as her posts published on Cycling Weekly.

According to his website Hambini works as an aerospace engineer and has sidelines in designing and making bottom brackets as well as producing his YouTube videos, with one uploaded recently criticising a Cycling Weekly article regarding testing of aero helmets.

As we reported on our live blog on Thursday, Arthurs-Brennan had taken strong exception to his reference to engineering tolerances in a caption to a picture of her. In a post on her personal website, she refers to it as “The ‘asks 44k people to comment on my vagina’ one.”

Hambini, who believes that he is blocked from commenting on Cycling Weekly videos on YouTube because of his skin colour, seeks in his latest video to refute the accusations of sexism that have been directed at him in the wake of Arthurs-Brennan’s tweet – although the title he has given it, Feminist Cycling Journalist is clinically roasted by autistic Engineer in a suit would suggest to many that the fact she is a woman is a big part of his issues with her.

Referring to the journalist more than once in the video as “a girl,” among the accusations he makes against her are that she was guilty of “irresponsible behaviour” by tweeting that she had intended to ride from London to Brighton and back, which he claimed was against social distancing guidelines.

The tweet made by Arthurs-Brennan to which he refers was dated Saturday 21 March – two days before the UK entered lockdown, with cycling alone or with members of the household one of the forms of exercise that is permitted.

Moreover, the ride she did end up taking was confined to roads on the Kent and East Sussex borders, and covered 62 miles, which pre-lockdown, would not strike anyone as being excessive, particularly for a Category 1 racer.

Among other things, Hambini also flags up the infamous ‘Token attractive woman’ caption that accompanied a photograph illustrating an article published by Cycling Weekly in August 2017 – one that Arthurs-Brennan was certainly not involved in, and for which the magazine subsequently apologised.

Towards the end of the video, Hambini takes quotes relating to female anatomy and sex life from a post Arthurs-Brennan published on her personal website entitled Nine bloopers of being a woman in the cycling industry.

Then, providing no context, he throws them back at her in what can only seem an attempt to demonstrate that because Arthurs-Brennan used those words herself, she can’t accuse others of sexism, something that many people – and not just women – would see as a bit of a headscratcher.

Hambini also claims, “I asked an NHS doctor with a speciality in psychology to have a look through this and she was of the opinion that she [Arthurs-Brennan] was a feminist attention seeker.”

That “opinion”– any ethical considerations from a medical professional point of view apart – presumably helped embolden Hambini to posit, “If you were genuinely troubled by sexism, would you actually post this on your website?

Early on in the video, for no apparent reason, Hambini posts a picture, taken from her Twitter account, of Arthurs-Brennan, sitting on a train, wearing a dress.

“If you are going to comment on her appearance,” he says, “you might find a screenshot with her user name on Twitter that she’s taken later on today. I hope some of you that you won’t care but I’m just pointing that out.”

That certainly seems to go well beyond any criticism, valid or otherwise, of someone’s credentials as a journalist.

Editor's note: The old internet adage says 'don't feed the troll' so we thought long and hard about reporting on Hambini's latest video, but given that this particular troll has 45,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel and seems intent on proving the point that some people will go out of their way to make life hard for female cycling journalists we felt we didn't have a choice.

We also considered carefully whether we should embed, or even link, his video on this article. We decided on the former so our readers can see the video for themselves and form their own opinion as well as commenting on it should they wish to do so.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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102 comments

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Alankk | 4 years ago
5 likes

The video in question, Hambini’s focus was slating the incompentence and misleading garbage of Aerocoach’s aerodynamic knowledge Xavier Disley. The side note of Micelle Arthurs-Brennan along with James Bracey, the two cycling weekly staff was for going along with it. How the police was involved to threaten Mr Hambini is a very low tactic and now this cherry picking ‘article’ that completely side step the whole point of his criticism is very disappointing. Road.cc shame on you.

 

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check12 replied to Alankk | 4 years ago
1 like

yes, seeing as the video was only on youtube for less than a week, i do wonder how many people actually saw the video, I did, and if i remember correctly, hambini said when he progressed the power point to the bit with the H7 M7 (or whatever it was i can't remeber and cant be arsed finding out) ops, better skip that bit incase there are an engineers watching, and it was only on screen for maybe 5 seconds max, the talk around that slide was about hambini saying he doesn't think disley gets aero very well, and calling out disley's -the velodrome is the same as the outside- (paraphrased) comment, hambini's issue with that is that velodrome air is low yaw and not transient it's steady state (more or less) and real world outside a velodrome is turbulant/transient and higher yaw, my personal opinion is that disley will probably make you faster, help you with clothing / helmet selection etc. but the you are X mph faster for same power will be wrong when you get outside of the velodrome, but Hambini and Disley are probably more qualified than me to make those statements and I'd say Hambini is more qualified than Disley.

 

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OldCanuck | 4 years ago
3 likes

The paragraph above that Hambini believes he is blocked from Cycling Weekly because of his skin colour misses the intended irony.    i.e.  He is being accused of "sexism" so he responded in an equally knee-jerk fashion with an accusation of "racism".    I don't think either accusation should be taken seriously.

Hambini seems equally rude and insulting to anbody and everybody who offends his sense of engineering ethics.   Having watched and discovered his videos after watching the Cycling Weekly test (and reading comments) I wish he would tone it down on all fronts, since his rants take away from some very good info.    But to accuse him of sexism is totally wrong because he treated this journalist as he treats any supposed "tech expert" or engineer who doesn't meet his standards.    The journalist posted a testing video with dubious testing methods and was offended after she was criticized (for legitimate reasons) then treated as badly as anybody else.   

You can criticize Hambini for being an ass and a jerk but crying "sexism" for being treated equally badly as any of Hambini's rant targets is wrong, in my opinion.

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jamesppics | 4 years ago
2 likes

Find it hard to take seriously a QA Engineer with no understanding of selection bias

 

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Argos74 | 4 years ago
3 likes

I'm one of those 45,000 subscribers, and I'm a fan of his outspoken views on a technical level. But using ad hominem attacks on a lady cyclist (and journalist), specifically targeting her gender is wrong.

44,999 (okay it's now showing 46.5k subscribers after I just unsubscribed, but he's just gained subscribers arising from this furore, I'd rather not count myself among them).

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brooksby | 4 years ago
3 likes

How come so many of the comments on this story are very-low-post-count commenters I've never seen before all arguing amongst themselves?

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Harmanhead | 4 years ago
3 likes

I watch hambini and I watch cycling weekly vids. I watch em all and I like em all. Chill and ride ya bike

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Brent-Norh-Sea | 4 years ago
7 likes

@Simon, reach road.cc drifting from video and video and while I can appreciate the journalistic solidarity you display and you are focussing on the emotional aspect of an excessive swering / poor taste jokes... BUT nothing unique to this femalte journalist. over last few days I discover Hambini and he is "tough" to anyone that deliver poor manufacturing (and in some cases poor engineering like when Cervelo increase BB tolerances wayyyyyy beyond what any 1st year mech Engnineering studdent know be a 101 rule). 
The root here is that this particular video was a TERRIBLE journalistic attempt to make science, then, consiously or not to misslead readers. This is the problem and we are totally ignoring it. I don't care this unknown journalist to be a male or female, that was missleading information and having the head of an aerodinamic department exposing it was a positive thing even if the form was exaggeratingly rough but in no way treating a female differently from her male collegues 

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Compact Corned Beef replied to Brent-Norh-Sea | 4 years ago
6 likes

Brent-Norh-Sea - the story is the unwarranted personal attack that comes hard on the heels of a sexist quip in poor taste.

Cycling Weekly's video may be sketchy, science-wise, but as been pointed out elsewhere no-one in the cycling media has a multi-million pound wind tunnel with swirl-inducing louvres to hand and few, if any, have the level of aerodynamic expertise Hambini has. And if that means that publications like Cycling Weekly do the best they can with the resources they have have - in order to add some sort of context to manufacturer's claims of aero efficiency - then fair enough. What's the alternative? Take a manufacturer's claims at face value. If you're a fan of Hambini, you'll know how little stock he takes in that approach!

If Hambini had indeed treated all the video participants equally, then that would still be shitty, but to invite comments on the sexual anatomy of a woman while everyone else gets garden-variety insults - not the same. If he had said "ignorant muppets the lot of them" then no problem.

But he was wrong, and has doubled down on being wrong with a misguided follow-up. An apology for overstepping the mark, or simply wiping the video, would go a long way towards making him look less a malicious troll and more like the informed specialist his earlier videos showcase.

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Gizzard replied to Compact Corned Beef | 4 years ago
4 likes

Your response darts around the issue, Compact Corned Beef. That these "technical writers" lack expertise in aerodynamics means they are essentially incapable of challenging the claims made by manufacturers. I've spotted that a certain other cycling information channel gets academics (you know, actual scientists from that specific discipline!) on their videos to talk about sciences.

Also, Mr Aerocoach's "sexual anatomy" was directly mentioned as being on his head. I find claims that Ms Arthurs Brennan has been treated with some special malice risible; the whole thing comes over as a smokescreen to distract away from the fact that these publications aren't capable of fullfilling the tasks they claim to perform.

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Compact Corned Beef replied to Gizzard | 4 years ago
3 likes

The issue of technical expertise - or not - in the press is not the issue here. The article we are commenting under is about an unwarranted personal attack.

And to say that Arthurs-Brennan hasn't been singled out is wrong. Or did I miss the videos dedicated to personally attacking Disley and Bracey?

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Gizzard replied to Compact Corned Beef | 4 years ago
4 likes

"Unwarranted personal attack" - Oh no, Hambini made rude remarks about people who are best described as incompetent. By your own admission. If we are being generous. Given that those people are touting themselves as advisors to assist me in spending my funds wisely, I don't think they're exactly unwarranted, either.

Nice way to move try and move the goalposts. Hambini making a video defending himself from dishonest accusations of "sexism" is "singling someone out". Yeah, whatever.

 

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Compact Corned Beef replied to Gizzard | 4 years ago
1 like

Well, I do think he was sexist, so we're at a bit of an impasse there, aren't we?

And maybe take another look at the title of the video.

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Gizzard replied to Compact Corned Beef | 4 years ago
2 likes

I'm sure you do, but then given you've also previously engaged in apologia for gross incompetence during this chat, I'm happy to leave it to readers as to which of us is less trustworthy.

Also, as it looks like you're about to try and fall back on that last ditch position of shouting "It says feminism means equality in the dictionary - ha! Checkmate!". You might want to reconsider, given that many people have had about ten years experience that feminism simply means advocacy and any similarity to equality, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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Compact Corned Beef replied to Gizzard | 4 years ago
1 like

Fair enough! Future readers who stumble on this thread can make their own minds up. Looks like we're the only ones left here in any case.

And I'm happy to say I'm a feminist, for what it's worth.

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Chapo replied to Compact Corned Beef | 4 years ago
2 likes

For what it's worth - what is your definition of feminism? And at what point you felt a line was crossed?

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Compact Corned Beef replied to Chapo | 4 years ago
3 likes

Alright, I'll bite  1 - but it's more of a personal take than a definition:

Eliminating harmful bias and behaviour that seeks to pigeonhole both sexes with pre-existing expectations and roles. Ensuring equality of opportunity to men/boys and women/girls from the get-go.

Bit wishy-washy, but there it is. I'd prefer to live in a world where a female engineer wasn't a rarity and a young man doesn't get told he's 'being gay' for wanting be a nurse. My version of feminism means women can be angry without snide comments about 'being on the blob' and where schoolgirls aren't catcalled by grown men. And perhaps most importantly (to me) that young men don't feel so hidebound by the need to *BE A MAN* and all the baggage that entails that suicide is the biggest cause of death for men under 45 in the UK.

Some will argue that's too broad a sweep, and maybe it is, but I'm not sure 'Compact Corned Beef-ism' will ever catch on.

And firstly at the H7/M7 comment - especially asking the viewers to pile in. It may have been tounge-in-cheek but saying essentially 'come on lads, lets banter about this lass's baggy vagina' in a public forum isn't ok. The follow-up video was just silly.

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Chapo replied to Compact Corned Beef | 4 years ago
3 likes

For sure a modern society seeks to promote equal opportunity. But do not confuse  equal opportunity with an equal outcome. Industry should seek to employ the best candidates and not to hire on the basis of balancing a gender distribution.

The rarity of a female engineer isn't sexism. It's genders expressing a natural preference for a profession. 

Science, Engineering and Technology is an industry where it should be constantly scrutinized and challenged. Because only by this process - it develops and improves. There were some very valid questions about that CW helmet test. Unfortunately, they are now over-shadowed.

There are several crude comments spanning over several months under the Hambini Eng channel. Firstly, if we are to live in a equal society - then it shouldn't be the comment targeting a woman which bring matters to attention. 

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Compact Corned Beef replied to Chapo | 4 years ago
0 likes

Well, I think we've a fair way to go before we achieve equal opportunity - but I wouldn't be surprised to see a considerable degree of self-selection (more female nurses for instance) even if it were achieved - but to say there are more x than y because of inherent preference now is premature.

And yes, there are inherent issues with the CW test, but they've been overshadowed, as you say, because Hambini made a mistake and then went on a bit of a rant when challenged.

As for this particular comment being the one that caused issues - well, we don't live in an equal society, so not too surprising. Then again, perhaps this had been brewing for a while because Hambini has been leaning more heavily into shock-jock mode.

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Chapo replied to Compact Corned Beef | 4 years ago
4 likes
Compact Corned Beef wrote:

To say there are more x than y because of inherent preference now is premature.

As for this particular comment being the one that caused issues  - well, we don't live in an equal society

Gender biased professions are inherent gender preferences and / or natural selection.

Claiming mysogony, broadcasting it across social media platforms and calling the police has nothing to do with sexual equality, equal opportunity or equal outcomes and everything to do with seeking approval of  one's own personal justice. 

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gusstrang replied to Compact Corned Beef | 4 years ago
1 like

Exactly - it is the H7/M7 comment that is unacceptable and he should have apologised - the rest is spurious. 

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kevvjj replied to gusstrang | 4 years ago
2 likes
gusstrang wrote:

Exactly - it is the H7/M7 comment that is unacceptable and he should have apologised - the rest is spurious. 

Exactly.

The journalism is irrelevant.

Would those defending Hambini be happy for a picture of the most important woman in their life to be posted on social media and then inviting comments on the size of her vagina?

Thought not.

This is what the furore is about. Nothing else. Just this.

Hambini needs to apologise.

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Brent-Norh-Sea replied to Compact Corned Beef | 4 years ago
2 likes

I would agree with you, I would welcome a statment refocussing on the core of the video, saying "sorry than one comment perceived as sexist (and not as funny as I initially tought) deviate attention from the key point:  this journalist is technically totally uber incompetent and now doubled with a person insulting all the people in this country fighting against Covid-19 by playing with the limits of the law (and now faking her Strava profile errasing 1200 km she did since the lock-down started)".

I always  though the difference between humor (good or bad) and bullying was the consistency you treat anyone. Several times he is not funny (or not my humor), others he is, but he is consistent. 

Now regarding the difficulties in doing proper testing, you can't have a questionable expert as aerocoach team, get SwissSide people. you don't need to have NASA infrastructure to have a better protocol than theirs where they change multiple parameters and Please make a proper equipment selection and STOP including marketing punchlines to please the brands sponsoring your magazine (and I understand the dilema). Several disclaimer could have put boundaries to their test "the velodrome is an relatively controlled environment and repeatable, does it mimic 100% real conditions, no but it may give us an idea"... 

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Compact Corned Beef replied to Brent-Norh-Sea | 4 years ago
2 likes

Agreed on the disclaimer - that would have been a useful addition (especially since Hambini has been doing a lot to educate and inform cycling enthusiasts on the pitfalls of 'classic' testing). Not sure about the SwissSide guys, I imagine their consulting rates are a tad higher than Aerocoach! That said, I'm certainly no expert, but I'd favour a Hadron over an Aeox... even if the actual difference to me pottering about on box sections would be about 1/3 kmh.

Re. the 'cycling a lot outside' stuff... to me, it doesn't matter. I have the greatest respect for people on the frontlines of care (my wife's dad is just out of hospital, as it happens, barely scraped through Covid) but one or two people pootling about country lanes isn't going to make much, if any, difference. I'm incandescant about people doing 140 mph in London, or having house parties, mind.

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edster99 replied to Compact Corned Beef | 4 years ago
3 likes

If you know the test you are going to do is going to be so crap as to be pointless in 'adding context to the manufacturers' claims' then perhaps you shouldn't.  Perhaps you should ask the manufacturers to prove their claims.

 

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edster99 replied to Brent-Norh-Sea | 4 years ago
6 likes

He's certainly an arse, and he swears and does the 'shock-jock' thing more than I like, and to be honest I've started to go off him for being just a little bit too much like hard work.  But : he doesn't single out anyone for any specific characteristic other than the quality (or lack of ) of what they deliver, be it bike frames or aerodynamic tests.  I had seen the CW video before all this furore broke and thought at the time that it was embarrassingly inept.    And I've seen Hambini giving all sorts of people highly abusive commentary on other stuff and it wasn't because they were male or female.  He is one of those irritating people who shouts 'inconvenient truths' that you don't like, in a way you don't like, but its hard to ignore because deep down you know what he is saying is correct.  Maybe he was a bit sexist / misogynistic : but that was a sidebar to his main reason for having a go which was they truly awful video.

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Chapo | 4 years ago
12 likes

"Why does the cycling industry find it SO hard to attract women in key positions?"

That's just plain misdirection.

Misogyny is an easy conclusion to jump to and makes everything simpler - if it were actually true.

You have to look at the grassroots of the problem. The answer is cycling is an industry driven by engineering and technology. Just look at the courses filling up in any university engineering or technology lecture theatre to see the gender divide. Male Engineering / Technology graduates outnumber their female counter-parts 5:1 year upon year. Plain and simple.

Incidentally, females outnumber men in medicine 4:1. And these students will more than likely embark on a career in care.

So you can see already the nature of industries - draw from specific genders.

I think it would be fair to say bicycle engineering and design is a male dominated industry. But make that through no fault of it's own. 

If you read the article (carefully) by MAB "Nine bloopers of being a woman in the cycling industry" in the link above - it does lots to say "I am a woman in the cycling industry" but literally nothing to highlight sexism specifically within the cycling industry.

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markifi replied to Chapo | 4 years ago
6 likes

You and dobby156 win this comment section for me and I wish I could give each of you ten likes.

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Compact Corned Beef replied to Chapo | 4 years ago
1 like

There's a world of difference between 'grass roots uptake = more men in industry' and 'shitty behaviour by men = discouraging the women in industry' that you've missed there.

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Chapo replied to Compact Corned Beef | 4 years ago
3 likes
Compact Corned Beef wrote:

There's a world of difference between 'grass roots uptake = more men in industry' and 'shitty behaviour by men = discouraging the women in industry' that you've missed there.

Though you clearly believe it to be true - shitty behaviour is not gender specific.

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