Search found 436 matches

by boris
2 Feb 2022, 1:28am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: E-Bikes banned from Caledonian Sleeper - ban now overturned
Replies: 44
Views: 3151

Re: E-Bikes banned from Caledonian Sleeper

https://youtu.be/AFvmgSbbcHs

i was having dinner with the Mrs one evening when a single 18650 exploded in the room . We were impressed.
by boris
30 Sep 2021, 5:03pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Help Save the Monsal Trail!
Replies: 22
Views: 3148

Re: Help Save the Monsal Trail!

Your Holiness,

I have signed this as I love the trail, having ridden it many times since before it was done-up. It is wonderful.

I would like to know how many tons of freight a railway would take off the roads , though, and how much money it would make.
by boris
25 Jul 2021, 8:06pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Cycle route apps that 'talk'
Replies: 27
Views: 1157

Re: Cycle route apps that 'talk'

For several years I have been using Osmand, recently Osmand+ with Brouter to do the cycle routing. It all works very well . Brouter is better than any other router I have used. The big advantage is that a whole country (or several ) of maps is stored in your phone so you have no concern about finding a signal or WiFi. I wear a blue-tooth ear pieceso that as I am cycling Mrs Osman shouts commands and warnings in my ear. There is then little need to look at the screen, which can be difficult in daylight and keeping the screen on uses battery. It can be free to use Osmand and is quite cheap for the paid version which is about £7 per year.
by boris
14 May 2021, 5:54pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Campag square taper bottom bracket
Replies: 10
Views: 595

Re: Campag square taper bottom bracket

For a while I used a Campag Chorus 8speed double chainset mounted on a Shimano UN52 bottom bracket. I got problems with the positioning of the front and back changers, so I got a campag bb instead and , as the above comments would predict, all worked better. I think the campag chainset could not get close enough to the frame The UN52 was 111mm if I remember correctly. Maybe a 107 would have worked, but I was using what I had.
by boris
26 Nov 2020, 1:38pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Royal Parks Consultation ( update November 2020 )
Replies: 4
Views: 3143

Re: Royal Parks Consultation ( update November 2020 )

Richmond Park: On weekdays, restricting all through-traffic between Broomfield Hill Car Park and Robin Hood Car Park and a full-time closure of the vehicle link between Sheen Gate and Sheen Cross.

If traffic is going through the roundabout at sheen cross at busy times I am thinking that a cyclist going straight over to white lodge might find that even more dangerous without the hope of cars interacting at the cross roads and stopping each other there. If so they might take the gravel path to priory lane but then still have get across the traffic somehow to progress south. Last time I looked there were no bike/ped crossing lights at Roehampton Gate.
by boris
15 Aug 2020, 2:42pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: West Midlands Strategy and the "Starley Network"
Replies: 3
Views: 1070

Re: West Midlands Strategy and the "Starley Network"

Half million pounds per mile should make a big difference and the cycle network could be properly done with priority at junctions etc, but most of us must be thinking it will be £200milion of hire bikes which I will never need and tankers full of green paint and 'cycle lane ends' signs.

There are currently cycling signs along the A38 and A50 at junctions and slip-roads which must be meant as a joke. For most of their length they are substandard motorways with no hard shoulders. The right to cycle on such roads could be re-established with separate paved tracks built on the verges. Then we have to see if they have a smooth surface and are maintained long-term.

I'll believe it when I see it. Cycle facilities in UK are so often dangerously faulty that the network as a whole has to be used with scepticism.
by boris
30 Jun 2020, 6:50pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: GPS screen magnifying
Replies: 20
Views: 1657

Re: GPS screen magnifying

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/voltX-Constructor-SAFETY-READERS-Full-Lens-Reading-Safety-Glasses-CE-EN166f/283921539503?hash=item421b0ae1af:g:4IYAAOSweLte7sfq

You can also get them with full lens correction. I am 1D long-sighted; so I needed reading glasses a bit earlier than other people. If I wear these 1D wrap-arounds I can see most things and have perfect distance vision. Bifocals with more power I don't really like because they put the road immediately in front of me out of focus. You can buy adhesive tiny lenses that you stick on the bottom of one plain lens so you have one eye to read with and the other for looking ahead with a full field.
by boris
19 Jun 2020, 5:47pm
Forum: Helmets & helmet discussion
Topic: Four year old killed by bike helmet.
Replies: 199
Views: 14107

Re: Four year old killed by bike helmet.

Anti-helmetism is hardly ever that. The helmet zealots want compulsion by law and by every other means , with some pretty nasty implications. So they have to be contradicted wherever possible by anyone that can bothered to argue with them. Thank you to all those that do , on behalf of us all.
by boris
19 Jun 2020, 12:28pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: "These headsets last forever"?
Replies: 84
Views: 3361

Re: "These headsets last forever"?

mikeymo wrote:
boris wrote:I kept the upper race and the ball bearings of a headset from my 1979 Peugeot PY11 . The frame broke properly 2 years ago so I put any usable bits in my box and opened the Headset to see how it could have survived 40years of rough riding. The bearings and bearing surfaces were immaculate . The original grease still all there.High quality steel properly made. It looked as though another 40years would not have troubled it. I think most manufacturers now would regard such longevity as a manufacturing fault. By the way , the headset looked like a Stronglight steel 1inch.

I also have a Raleigh Banana 1980s basic quality 'racer' which I and two sons have hammered on and off-road and again the headset is fine. Not light, but apparently unbreakable.


Was the Peugeot a threaded headset? We had a long discussion a while ago about the difference between threaded and threadless headset bearings, and the ways in which water does or doesn't get into the bearing, due to the design. The conclusion was, I think, that the construction of threaded headsets is that they are far more immune to water ingress.



Yes , both threaded . I'll try to find a picture of something similar.The Raleigh bottom bracket wore out after about 20years of awful abuse.
by boris
19 Jun 2020, 12:23pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Anyone found the roads less busy and/or motorists driving better?
Replies: 269
Views: 16133

Re: Anyone found the roads less busy and/or motorists driving better?

I never thought of that. Good idea. Or turn the radio up ,maybe on classic FM, and drop a window.
by boris
17 Jun 2020, 3:24pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: "These headsets last forever"?
Replies: 84
Views: 3361

Re: "These headsets last forever"?

I kept the upper race and the ball bearings of a headset from my 1979 Peugeot PY11 . The frame broke properly 2 years ago so I put any usable bits in my box and opened the Headset to see how it could have survived 40years of rough riding. The bearings and bearing surfaces were immaculate . The original grease still all there.High quality steel properly made. It looked as though another 40years would not have troubled it. I think most manufacturers now would regard such longevity as a manufacturing fault. By the way , the headset looked like a Stronglight steel 1inch.

I also have a Raleigh Banana 1980s basic quality 'racer' which I and two sons have hammered on and off-road and again the headset is fine. Not light, but apparently unbreakable.
by boris
17 Jun 2020, 2:33pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Pink is back- quel horreur
Replies: 28
Views: 1165

Re: Pink is back- quel horreur

PS This article seems the best researched

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historical_sources_for_pink_and_blue_as_gender_signifiers

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https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/05/01/pink-blue/

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/10/pink-used-common-color-boys-blue-girls/

Before WW2 if there was any colour preference in USA and UK it was pink for men and pale blue for women. It is my impression that it still is in Italy.

I wore a pink tie at work in an attempt to brighten my appearance; noticed that I was seeing a lot of gay people because the word had gone round. That's a bit awkward, because I didn't want to deny it as then I'd be upsetting people. So I just chose a more neutral tie.

Because of the Giro a pink cycle shirt must be perfectly acceptable for anyone.
by boris
17 Jun 2020, 1:45pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Gentlemen's underwear
Replies: 16
Views: 1219

Re: Gentlemen's underwear

For rides under 10miles I wear a pair of autograph premium cotton trunks inside another pair of autograph microskin from MandS. These work very well for me. They are rather thin so 2pairs is better, and chafing is reduced by having 2 layers and some leg. The seams are very flat and no problem, although I would expect problems if I rode thousands of miles with them.
by boris
25 May 2020, 12:07pm
Forum: Family Cycling
Topic: Islabike touch up paint
Replies: 13
Views: 8350

Re: Islabike touch up paint

I have always used nail-varnish, in a rough match or clear just to waterproof the scratch. And/Or cover it with a sticker .Image
by boris
2 Feb 2020, 11:01am
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Bike Storage over winter
Replies: 17
Views: 1202

Re: Bike Storage over winter

£450 made me jump. A local bike shop surely would put them in a corner till you get back for perhaps the cost of a service when you pick them up. (You would be better asking well away from that London.) Lithium batteries, as long as they are at least half charged and disconnected will be fine and lose little charge and practically no capacity. I got out some 18650s I haven't touched for years and they were fine.
There may be an expert on here who will comment. Trickle charge is for lead-acid or every few months top-up for NiMH. Not for your ebikes, unless they are ancient and have the aforementioned batteries.