Search found 66 matches

by Abu Milhem
3 Mar 2019, 7:06pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Where is the best place to buy bike tools?
Replies: 40
Views: 4622

Re: Where is the best place to buy bike tools?

Another shout for Webbline here. Spend good money on cone spanners and make sure they are properly hardened. My favourites are Park Tools. A good quality cable and housing cutter is also essential. I have found the following very useful in no particular order of importance:
4th hand brake tool (to tension brake cable)
Chain whips
Pedal spanner (a lot of rubbishy ones out there)
Spokeys
Wheel trueing stand
The rest are old fashioned relative to current bike technology and I wont bore you with listing them;
See for yourself:
The workshop
The workshop
by Abu Milhem
3 Mar 2019, 6:25pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Dishing/centring/alignment tools for building wheels – recommendations?
Replies: 72
Views: 5075

Re: Dishing/centring/alignment tools for building wheels – recommendations?

I used to have a Minoura cheapie that was perfectly serviceable but I lost that and did without. Recently I felt I wanted an upgrade from the wobbly but acceptable Minoura truing stand that I have also used for about 30 years so I settled on a sturdy but crude model by Alf Webb and treated myself to one of their a dishing tools. It is effective, sturdy, heavy and quite precise enough. All steel and no plastic anywhere. That and a pair of Spokeys and I am sorted now. I often make my own tools and workshop furniture but felt that this was worth it.
by Abu Milhem
21 Nov 2018, 9:34pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Are bikes as good as they were?
Replies: 77
Views: 4187

Re: Are bikes as good as they were?

I don't know. I have not bought a 'bike' since 1995. Since then I have only bought frames and my choice for components ends at at about 1995 with the beginning of the end of Suntour as manufactured by Maeda Industries. I only use old new stock. I am quite at home with old fashioned headsets in steel and Duralumin, loose ball cup and cone BBs and ditto hubs. I build all my own wheels and wouldn't be interested in any technology that I couldn't completely strip down and service myself. I have garnered enough new old stock freewheels and cassettes (7 speed is my limit) to see me and my fleet out. I will soon be taking delivery of a 650B frame to suit a pair of 1978 Mavic Mod 4s on Campag Super Record hubs that are lovely. Spring should be fun.
by Abu Milhem
21 Nov 2018, 9:09pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Dooring - Have You Experienced It?
Replies: 30
Views: 2251

Re: Dooring - Have You Experienced It?

Yes. 24 years ago in October. Cycling up Caledonian road London N1. I was doored by a driver who'd parked on the left. Fortunately I was not going fast as it was uphill. I went to hospital by ambulance (their choice) with a flesh wound and lost some blood. Damaged bicycle (slight) and torn shirt but Goretex jacket unscathed. Xray revealed no further damage to me. There was a witness who helped me and the driver was polite, solicitous and guarded. Police were involved to the extent of taking statements and recording it. CTC were very helpful resulting in a successful claim against the driver for both actual losses and personal injury.

The success that I had in that case encouraged me to claim against TfL 3 years ago when I broke an ankle getting off a bus at a stop with a dislodged kerbstone. Settled by a no win no fee arrangement by the same solicitors that the CTC continues to use now.
by Abu Milhem
11 Sep 2018, 2:07pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Chris Juden's talk at the 2017 York Rally
Replies: 88
Views: 5410

Re: Chris Juden's talk at the 2017 York Rally

Brucey wrote:It is worth noting that the pairing that most tourists have used (more than any other over the last ~20 years) of 9s 'road' STIs with a 9s MTB cassette is one that Shimano never actually endorsed; there is a small difference in the cable pulls of 'road' and 'MTB' 9s shifters so that in principle they are not perfectly compatible.

The difference seems to be in the middle of the cassette, and is to do with the ramp transitions in 9s cassettes; there is a point at which sprockets with two ramps transition to sprockets with three ramps and of course most of the ramps do not line up in that one shift. To help this shift along, there is one slightly longer cable pull in the shifter (even though the sprockets are uniformly spaced). Because MTN cassettes are built different to 'road' cassettes the long pull in the shifter is in a different place depending on which kind of cassette is in use. The reality is that in most such setups, there is a tiny hesitation in 'the bad shift', so slight that most folk don't even notice. If they made their sprockets slightly differently, there wouldn't even be a theoretical problem.

That the folk at shimano neither know nor care about the lot of the dropped bar tourist is pretty evident from the bits they offer. In fact things have been getting worse; most of their 'road triple' models have been discontinued and those that remain mostly no longer have a 74mm BCD which will accept a really small inside chainring. Sorry shimano, a 30T inside chainring on a triple isn't small enough for most tourists....

BTW you can tour on anything, but most people have a good idea of what you mean when you say 'touring bike', there is no real need for additional qualifiers.

cheers


I agree with your message and share your view that British 'cycletourists' (grizzled, lean (not me), tanned, a bit curmudgeonly, slightly unhinged but amiable with it, 700C, steel frame, a bit Mercian, tea/ ale drinking and fruit cake gnawing yada yada) have always had a 'make do' approach to their bikes. It suits this likeable breed. I recognised this a long time ago (1985ish) and have only bought frames since (new,used and otherwise) which I have built up into subtle variants of the touring idea (urban, rough stuff, Audax) but all with drops and all with Suntour Command (3 x 7) - a design that I find wonderful and (still when I find them on Ebay) far cheaper and less picky than STI. Setting the RH to friction is easy. My next bike will be a 650B tourer (frame builder is busy now) for urban and rural use on 584 x 37 tyres with a 26/38/48 and 13-32 gearing. Drop bars, SPD/ Platform pedals, hub dynamo, saddlebag and the obligatory Suntour command shifters. Suntour SE on the rear and old stock XC cantilevers on the front, probably. Depends on what I find in the box in the workshop. 1978 vintage Mavic rimmed Campag Record hub wheelset. It will be a familiar and enjoyable ride. This isn't an approach that could ever be popular but not uncommon in the coterie described earlier.
by Abu Milhem
11 Sep 2018, 1:22pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Cycle to cycle communication
Replies: 21
Views: 1400

Re: Cycle to cycle communication

FrenchMarigold wrote:My husband and I (in our 70s) have just have bought electric bikes and are getting out far more (and going further) and have realised we could do with a bike to bike communication system. Everything online seems to be produced abroad, costs an arm and a leg and even more in custom duties. There is definitely a gap in the UK market. I have read similar comments on other forums but they are always based in the US or Australia where several system are available. Can anyone on here help?


Anything labelled PMR446 will be legal in the UK and in many other CEPT countries. They work well but have a limited range. Commercial ones are heavy as they are designed for rugged use; consumer ones are lighter and cheaper but the only issue I have found with them is that the displays are, as a rule, tiny so it is hard to see what channel you are on.With these it pays to RTFM!
by Abu Milhem
23 Jan 2018, 8:52pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Lycra Lout Surprise
Replies: 42
Views: 5546

Re: Lycra Lout Surprise

snibgo wrote:To supply some balance: after I was attacked in the street last year, I was grateful that the police quickly identified the culprits, gathered evidence and took them to court.


Some balance on the topic you raise. I was attacked in the street in central London about 10 years ago and apart from the police officer who accompanied me to hospital where I was patched up the Met investigation was a shambles. CID were a disgrace to any organisation for their sheer lack of competence in arranging simple things and being borderline offensive into the bargain. I gave up and chalked it up to experience. Norfolk police when I had some non-bike related business with them were courteous, helpful and effective (it related to a piano and scenes worthy of a Jacques Tati film but that is a story for another time).
by Abu Milhem
28 Nov 2017, 10:30pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: NO LYCRA PLEASE
Replies: 40
Views: 5187

Re: NO LYCRA PLEASE

atoz wrote:
malvandy wrote:I have been wearing Lycra ever since it became commercially available to joe public. It is comfortable & fit for purpose when it comes to cycling along with a few other activities/sports, no problem there. I have found it unsuitable to walk around in lycra whilst shopping or visiting a café. Just to feel more comfortable & to avoid any sniggering glances I slip on a pair of over trousers or jogging bottoms. The hunt is on to find something I can wear that is comfortable to cycle with & look like normal clothing . Bearing in mind winter is coming on so long trousers would be needed for now. In summer I can wear my MTB baggies.
What do you guys wear when not clad in Lycra.


I've been wearing the stuff since the early 1980's. Given I am now in my fifties and can still get away with wearing it, I'm not likely to stop now.

You see people trying to conceal the lycra by wearing baggies over the top, but it looks naff.

I take the point about shopping, but I wear the stuff anyway. After all you see women shopping in workout/gym kit, so why can't I do a bit of shopping in the lycra? As for the odd comment- who cares? That's their hangup, not mine.


Thank goodness for a sensible comment. Why get on a lightweight bike in the most appropriate clothes and then carry around a pannier with clothes to change into?
Doing all this panders to dreadful people who would seek to exclude people that don't fit their view of how people should be. It is odious body fascism and shouldn't be encouraged by cyclists or anyone else for that matter. Wear what you like and ignore the repulsiveness of others' attitudes.
by Abu Milhem
11 Sep 2017, 9:13am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: The nights are drawing in, bike lights
Replies: 97
Views: 5396

Re: The nights are drawing in, bike lights

I have run hub dynamo lights for 25-30 years on 4 bikes, a trike and two tandems and none of the systems I have used has lasted less than 5-6 years and many far longer than that. A SON hub dynamo from 1999 is still going strong. That is why I have invested in 2 more. The lights being far lighter than battery versions don't seem to suffer vibration as badly as battery ones do. I've upgraded to LED over the years and I have had one casing failure which was repaired with epoxy adhesive. I haven't used battery systems for years as they are far too unreliable and inconvenient for commuting. Dynamo lighting, bi-wired and firmly secured to the frame with an annual check in August are a fit and forget solution.
by Abu Milhem
16 Aug 2017, 6:19am
Forum: On the road
Topic: My first year of Commuting
Replies: 24
Views: 6786

Re: My first year of Commuting

Well done!

I'm approaching my 35th year of cycle commuting in the centre of London. The ride to work is the best part of my day. I find I enjoy it more than the ride home. Even though I have a free pass for TfL services I barely use it, the bike is always quicker and more pleasant. As my ride is only 4km I don't bother with cycle specific clothing nor a helmet. I have about 5 different routes that I use ranging from busy to quieter back streets.

Although it is cheering to see so many riders out on the streets I have distinct memories of cycling around London from the late 1960s to the 80s when I was often the only person on a bike on many of the streets...happy days, with more to come before I retire.
by Abu Milhem
14 Jun 2017, 10:39pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Can you patch tyres?
Replies: 14
Views: 960

Re: Can you patch tyres?

You certainly can patch tyres very effectively. I do regularly for tyres up to 5-6 bar. The secret is to use Velox rim tape on the inside of the tyre. Cut a small rectangular patch, chamfer the corners; prime with patch glue and let dry. Then apply glue to the inside of the casing and proceed as with a tube patch. Actually any densely woven textile in cotton or polycotton will do the job as will recycled Velox rim tape. I have use the pocket flap from a pair of terylene shorts in desperation before; it worked fine. Keep a length of Velox with you and a sharp knife/ scissors.
by Abu Milhem
14 Jun 2017, 10:09pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Stuck Seatpost
Replies: 21
Views: 3441

Re: Stuck Seatpost

I have found the most painless method (3 year stuck seatpost in a tandem frame so v. expensive and heavy) was using temperature difference. Wrap the seat tube with ice blocks or freeze pack and get frame very cold indeed. Takes a couple of days changing the packs regularly depending on the time of year. Then apply heat with a poultice (tea towels soaked in boiling water) around the tube. The steel being thinner than the seat post and closest to the heat expands marginally more quickly. Then twist saddle immediately and that did the trick for me. Cheap, simple and effective without excessive force, time or esoteric tools. I grease seat posts regularly (annually) and all mine are very close fitting indeed. I don't use copper grease formulations.
by Abu Milhem
14 Jun 2017, 9:30pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Free drinking water - what are your rights?
Replies: 93
Views: 19299

Re: Free drinking water - what are your rights?

I know what you mean about a mean minded landlord. When I was the victim of an unprovoked attack by two vile young men outside a pub in London the landlady refused to let me come into the pub and sit down while waited for the ambulance. It was -3 outside and I was not on my bike because I thought it would be safer!
by Abu Milhem
28 Jan 2017, 10:24am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Something useful to mention...
Replies: 4
Views: 951

Re: Something useful to mention...

Similar. Looking at the images I took of it I see that it is a product made/ marketed by Fixtation. I just hope that it is not vandalised and that it is maintained. Having said that Liverpool St. is very well covered by CCTV and the repair stand is on the side opposite a City Police station. Long may the repair stand last and be one of the first of many. The only downside is that it is located where the greatest number of smokers take refuge from wind and crowds.