Search found 134 matches

by martin113
11 Oct 2018, 5:53pm
Forum: Health and fitness
Topic: Peroneal tendinopathy
Replies: 55
Views: 6219

Re: Peroneal tendinopathy

Interested to hear your case Goddardsharon482. I was diagnosed with peroneal tendinitis in July by a local sports physio. My GP said I had plantafasciaitis but the physio went straight to the correct diagnosis as the pain is all on the outside of the right foot and around the outside of the right ankle. Mine came on over many months and I am bemused about how it happened. The physio's theory is that it may have been due to over tightening the ratchet on my road shoe, the ratchet sits right on top of where the tendon joins the 5th metatarsal. I was doing about 80 miles a week January to June, riding twice a week and I do like to tighten my shoes so it is a plausible explanation. A good podiatrist that I saw says it may have been caused by my heal being turned inwards so that I am walking on the outside of the right foot. I now have orthotics to correct that. I also used to do country walks and the pain was worst after long walks, certainly not after cycling.

I now can't walk more than a 100 yards or so without being in pain. I have had to use a mobility scooter or crutches. I have had to give up cycling though I get around town by riding flat pedals with my foot half on and half off but I wouldn't want to do any serious miles like that. I spend a large amount of time on the sofa resting the foot, can't get serious work done on my allotment and in three months I can't say I have seen any improvement. GPs and the physio just tell me it takes a lot of time. Basically I am really disabled and life is extremely difficult and I just get told to be patient and wait. The physio said don't do stretches as it will aggravate the condition.

Could you update us on how you are doing as you haven't posted since August? I would be interested to hear how it has gone further down the line.
by martin113
18 Aug 2018, 4:50pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Downloading Eurovelo routes
Replies: 4
Views: 1408

Re: Downloading Eurovelo routes

Eureka. Done. Thank you very much and a useful resource for future routes as well.
by martin113
18 Aug 2018, 3:42pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Downloading Eurovelo routes
Replies: 4
Views: 1408

Downloading Eurovelo routes

Does anyone know how to download a particular Eurovelo route in GPX format? I can't find on the Eeurovelo website that you can do it.
by martin113
11 Jul 2018, 9:05am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Blackburn Outpost handlebar roll
Replies: 1
Views: 318

Blackburn Outpost handlebar roll

Has anyone use this bit of kit? http://www.wiggle.co.uk/blackburn-outpo ... ar-roll-1/

Seems to me the drybag that comes with it is going to be too big for a road bike with drops, but the advantage of the harness is you could use your own drybag, even have different sized drybags for winter and summer. The weight is a bit high for bikepacking bags, probably due to the fixed bracket on the bars, but the flexibility of what you put in the harness appeals to me.

Any experiences of using it?
by martin113
6 Jul 2018, 8:19am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Sora shifters technical advice needed
Replies: 8
Views: 612

Sora shifters technical advice needed

I have Sora nine speed shifters on my touring/audax bike. They work with a Sora front mech and an XT rear mech, triple chainset. The gear cables come out of the side of the shifters and loop around in front of the handlebars and make a bar bag impossible to use. I am looking to change my touring set up and really want to use a bar bag or bikepacking roll on the handlebars. I am told Sora nine speed shifters now come with internal routing so I could do away with the loops of cable getting in the way and route them under the bar tape. I have searched but am not sure what I am looking for. There is a 3400 and a 3500 but looking at the photos they both seem to have the exit on the side of the shifters for the cables. Can anyone point me in the right direction please. I was told the new internally routed Sora came in in late 2017.
by martin113
18 Feb 2017, 7:50pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Horncastle Lincolnshire
Replies: 5
Views: 570

Horncastle Lincolnshire

Can anyone recommend a good lunch stop in Horncastle for a bite to eat for a bunch of touring cyclists, but nothing fancy or expensive?
by martin113
2 Feb 2017, 11:44pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Shetland - how to get there
Replies: 15
Views: 1810

Re: Shetland - how to get there

Train to Inverness, then the bike bus to Durness. Have a look at Cape Wrath. Ride to Thurso for ferry to Orkney. Check out the dig at the Ness of Brodgar, Maes Howe, Skara Brae, the ring of Brodgar, the stones of Stenness, Rackwick Bay on Hoy, and Papa Westray. Then move on to Shetland.
by martin113
1 Dec 2016, 7:34am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Stratford
Replies: 4
Views: 1244

Stratford

Can anyone recommend some good circular routes around Stratford upon Avon of about 40 to 50 miles? Starting near Stratford but not necessarily in it, possibly starting in local villages? Thanks.
by martin113
4 Nov 2016, 5:43pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Battery pack for charging phone
Replies: 4
Views: 1294

Battery pack for charging phone

I have New Trent battery pack which I use for charging my phone and gps when camping touring. It is ancient technology now as I have had it for about 6 years and it weighs a whopping 280gm. I have just come across the Brunton Pulse charger in Go Outdoors which weighs a mere 57gm. As a tourer who counts every gramme this is very tempting. But the question is how can I know in advance that I will get the four and a half charges of my Samsung Galaxy phone that I get off my New Trent? The technical specs on the New Trent are polymerLi-ion: input 5v 2A, output 11.1 Ah, 3.7v (41Wh). The technical specs for the Brunton gives Lithium polymer battery 1500 mAh.

My question as a non-technical idiot at these things is: how do I compare 11.1Ah against 1500mAh to decide which is the more powerful? Is the 1500 a more powerful battery than the 11.1?

Answers much appreciated.
by martin113
6 Aug 2016, 6:42am
Forum: Using the Forum - request help : report difficulties
Topic: Is there a key to the symbols used on this forum ?
Replies: 1
Views: 10465

Is there a key to the symbols used on this forum ?

Is there a key to the symbols used on the forum? On the left of each thread in the listings there is a circle with lines in. What is it doing there and what is the meaning of it when it's scrolling?
by martin113
2 Aug 2016, 5:34am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Lower gears
Replies: 35
Views: 3544

Re: Lower gears

[quote]Freeflow wrote:

Hurrah. If your chainset is 6603 you have the ability to go down to take the small chainring down to 24 tooth. I have used a 6603 chainset at 52/39/24 in the past and found it to work fairly well. It was necessary to very carefully setup the change down from middle to small to avoid the chain shipping. If you don't want to do this then use a dog tooth.[quote]

This is a new idea which hasn't popped up here before and it does change things. If I can use a 24t ring without changing the front mech that gets me a long way. When you say "fairly well" how glitchy was it? Was it really reliable or was the chain regularly shipping? Would a 26t work better? Combining a 26 ring with a 34 sprocket would get me to exactly where I want to be.
by martin113
1 Aug 2016, 11:52am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Lower gears
Replies: 35
Views: 3544

Re: Lower gears

Unless you would prefer having an XT label, I would go for a RD-M592 9 speed SGS (i.e. long cage) rear mech, which is widely available (e.g. from crc). I would go for it because it is shadow, it is designed for 36T, and it has the correct cable pull ratio for indexing with your 10 speed road shifter.


Thanks for all the help. So I have the Ultegra 6603, which involves a mighty amount of silver on the bike. I could go for the M592 9 speed SGS or the M591. Given the state of my knees I either get some low gears or leave this bike at home and I would definitely prefer the first option. The M592 will let me use a 36t sprocket but it is black and ugly and is going to spoil the look of an eye-wateringly nice bike (hope I'm not offending anyone here). I could live with that if I have to. The M591 comes in a silver version and will suit the bike much better but will only go to a 34t sprocket. But there is a review I found saying that it could be stretched to a 36t at a pinch.

Recordacefromnew, You mention "an XT label". I have seen an XT M772 9 speed which has some nice silver in it. http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... lsrc=aw.ds
Would this suit the 10 speed shifter and go to a 36t sprocket? And would I need the medium or the long cage? Thanks for helping a completely non-tech rookie here.
by martin113
29 Jul 2016, 6:34pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Lower gears
Replies: 35
Views: 3544

Re: Lower gears

Thanks for the help but can anyone tell me how to find out which Ultegra shifters I have already on the bike? The specs that came with the bike just give Ultegra sti, no model number. Will it be on the shifters somewhere?
by martin113
27 Jul 2016, 6:37pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Lower gears
Replies: 35
Views: 3544

Re: Lower gears

OK, thanks for the help so far.

It looks like I might not be able to do anything about the front set up. All these references to different Ultegra front chainsets 6700 and 6703, how do I find out which I've got? Same question with the shifters.

Maybe I have to come round to the idea of leaving the front set up as is but changing the rear mech to accommodate a cassette with a nice big sprocket, so as to try and achieve a lowest gear of around 20 inches. My 30t front ring and a 36 rear sprocket gets me to 22 inches, which is a decent drop under my present 29 inches (thanks Whoof). But the posts about using a mtb 9 speed rear mech with my Ultegra 10 speed shifters has confused me. Can anyone tell me in easy language whether an XT would work? Better still, is there a decent mtb rear mech which would work and not be so expensive as XT?
by martin113
26 Jul 2016, 10:56pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Lower gears
Replies: 35
Views: 3544

Lower gears

I'm getting old and I need to twiddle some lower gears on the hills. I've adjusted all my other bikes and managed to achieve some lovely low gears but thone bikes are all 9 speed. My Trek Madone is proving more difficult. This has a triple crankset, 30- 39- 52, and a ten speed cassette 12 - 27. The whole groupset is Ultegra.

Can anyone answer these questions:

1. What is the smallest chain ring I could put on that triple crankset?

2. Is there a cassette I could use which would give me a larger than 27 tooth sprocket? I'm not bothered about losing the high gears.

I should say I don't want to go for massive changes such as new rear mech, etc, just tinkering. Thanks.