Cycling UK Forum

Interestingly it looks like this Gravestone also features in a book about anonymous photographs;

Here is the review (look towards the end of the review), and here is the book on Amazon.

Mick F wrote:I'll bet Scuba divers drive 4X4's.

Have you ever tried cycling to a dive site in a drysuit with a weightbelt and twin-cylinders? Plus the fins don't work too well with SPD's. Positives are that you don't mind if it rains, though.

Oh god. It's like some sort of wierd parallel universe.

(I'm a member of both forums so I have to keep quiet here )

Sorry to hear about that.

Working on the outskirts of Leeds myself, I do notice that things seem to be taking a bit of a strange turn. Many businesses closing, although others opening.

Interesting article here - http://www.guardian.co.uk/leeds/2011/fe ... s-increase

Although Leeds City Council seem to be pushing Cycling in the city - but with the Tory cuts affecting all councils, I was going to suggest if this was something the City Council could help with (especially with so many empty shops in the City Centre) but I'm sure you've probably tried that?

EDIT - Is it possible to combine it with another business - a bit like Look Mum No Hands (http://www.lookmumnohands.com/) in London - a cafe / workshop co-operative?

I caught TP Express with a friend from York to Scarborough last year with my bike. (Booked via East Coast website to get Cycle reservation) to go there on the train and then ride back home. Both had seat reservations and bike reservations.

Travelled on a Saturday, when we were boarding the train the guards were singularly unhelpful and one of them told us he'd locked the carriage that the bike rack was in. So we went to the disabled bit between First Class and the Driver (where the big revolving toilet door is) and stood with the bikes there.

I'd always get one just to make sure if you can - they don't cost anything and it's better than being disappointed, having seen someone get turned away on an East Coast train in Newcastle even though he had a ticket (and there was no bikes on board) because he didn't have a reservation. We'd cycled 188 miles from Edinburgh. I think sense of humour failure is an understatement.

I think it's all dependent on the guard you get and how much of a mood they're in.

+1 for the Specialized Tahoe shoes.

During the summer I use them every day (or nearly every day) and they're brilliant. Comfy and look enough like trainers that you can get away with wearing them all over the place.

During the winter I use Shimano SH-MW80's which are brilliant and don't need an overshoe. I've ridden in -16C in them (before Christmas) and not had cold feet yet.

Thanks all. Much appreciated. I shall take a look at the documentation on Halo's site.

The front hubs are Halo Spinmaster (http://www.halorims.com/products-detail ... d=HUHA6RF4) and it says they're sealed bearings.

The rear hubs are Spinmaster Pro's (http://www.halorims.com/products-detail ... d=HUHAMS2K) which it also says are sealed bearings.

So does a sealed bearing mean that they should be maintenance free or does it just mean the bearings are captured and a complete unit (like a cartridge) but still needs a bit of TLC - ie. de/regreasing every so often.

Looking at the CAD diagram on that site, the bearing does indeed seem to be almost a module instead of usual cup/cone arrangement.

Hi All,

Been away for a bit (but still riding loads) but I have a quick (ish) question.

I got some new wheels last year (Halo Aerorage - great wheels) after a spoke went ping on the wheels the bike came with and the LBS said the spokes were aerodynamic/flat and special order. To be honest, with the wind shear I got with the aero spokes on a cross wind, I couldn't wait to relegate them to spare - any excuse. LBS moved my rear cassette over onto the new freewheel and away we went.

Anyway the Halo wheels have done around 1700 miles so far, flawlessly.

I've not greased them *at all* yet and they're been through all weathers, and I obviously keep the bike clean so it gets sprayed with a hose, and the drivetrain is always kept clean and lubricated. However, I've noticed the front wheel now seems to have a very slight grind / creak when I swing from right to left or left to right, and it only seems to appear after about 10-15 minutes of riding. At first I thought it was the mudguard rattling, but removing and re-fitting that didn't cure the issue.

The Halo front wheel has sealed bearings (so should they need greasing at all?) although I don't think the rear one is.

So the questions are;
a) Should I grease the bearings at front and back?
b) What should I use?
c) Could I just put a few drops of chain oil in and rotate to get me by until I get some grease or would that cause more harm than good?

cheers all!

Just an update. Beware the Miche wheels - the Aero spokes are a non-standard width and colour, and as such my local bike shop (who had hundreds of boxes of spokes) didn't have any that fitted or matched, and only one reseller stocks them and you can only contact that reseller via Email. So it will take a couple of weeks to fix the spoke on the wheel.

I'm glad I bought a new set of wheels now

I've a 2010 CK7 blue sora triple (replacing the grey one I used to have, but broke!) which I got in June.

I've had the Vittoria's on it (which seemed to be puncture magnets) but more recently I've had Schwalbe Marathon Pluses (25's but seemed much bigger, although the 25's are rare and I had to hunt around for them) on it although the Marathon Pluses are a little bit twitchy on the edge of the tread on corners and are very heavy and a bit 'marshmallowy', although in 600 miles I didn't have a puncture, so they work!
But currently I have Continental GP4000 Reflex (the ones with the reflective sidewall) which are 700x25 and are perfect - no issues at all. Very light and only one puncture caused by mal-fitting rim tape on the new wheels!

I reckon 27's or 28's are probably the max you can get away with with the clearance of the aero brakes without having to mess around with brake cables - the mudguards aren't really the issue here with me - loads of clearance. (You can adjust the mudguards btw to give them some more room)

It depends on which brakes you have - the CK7 classic comes with the shimano brakes, and the blue comes with the Miche brakes. The Shimano brakes might give you a bit more clearance from memory. The Miche brakes hardly move when you flip the lever!

The Miche brake pads were also pants so they came off pretty much the weekend I got the bike (It was like riding with the non-existant brakes from a 1960's hillman imp) and were replaced with Ashima Aero 3-compound brake pads which are brill!

One thing to keep an eye on with your CK7 if you have the Miche wheelset is the spokes. I had a rear wheel spoke failure yesterday morning - the rear wheel had been 'clicking' for a week or so, and I noticed the wheel going out of true as it was catching on the brake pad. It had gone out of true a couple of times before but this time before I even got the chance to break out the spoke key, just pinching the spokes to check the tension was enough to pop the spoke out of the hub! The head end at the hub had just folded in on itself and worked it's way through the hub edge and came out. They had to file the holes on the hub to get the bladed spokes in and I reckon it causes a weak point.

As it was, I've dropped the wheel in to get it re-spoked, but I ended up getting a new set of wheels anyway as I've never been happy with the flat bladed aero spokes as they just seem to suffer from cross winds terribly, and the Miche wheels are very heavy - the new Halo AeroRage ones I've fitted to it now are nearly 400g lighter in total! The Miche's will end up being spare / turbo trainer wheels

Nutsey wrote:

tooley92 wrote:

Nutsey wrote:I'm guess I'm lucky I like black tea and brown sugar

Even easier for me - black coffee, no sugar

Although I do put proper milk in my thermos for day rides, and top up in tearooms where teapots are refreshingly big.


I never thought I would be discussing tea rooms and thermos flasks a few years ago

Hehe. I've been swayed by the CTC to pick tea rooms that also provide you with a pot of water with your teapot too

In fact, I had a rather nice cream tea on a ride a few weeks ago. The Scones were lovely.

Mick F wrote:I'm a tea-drinker and love to have tea made properly with fresh milk. Anything else is awful. I'd rather drink plain water.

I have to say I'm with you there. I stopped in a Novotel in Amiens, France, a couple of weeks ago and the milk in the rooms on the little tea making kit was a little pot of condensed milk. We went to a nearby McDonalds just to buy some fresh milk as the Super U was closed!

goatwarden wrote:
Whilst, in the interest of maintaining quality of service, etc. I don't really have a problem with this type of policy, isn't it illegal in the UK for manufacturers to dictate retail price for goods they supply to retaillers?

I believe price fixing is illegal, but only in a cartel;

"Competition law prohibits almost any attempt to fix prices - for example, you cannot:

-agree prices with your competitors, eg you can't agree to work from a shared minimum price list
-share markets or limit production to raise prices, eg if two contracts are put out to tender you can't agree that you'll bid for one and let your competitor bid for the other
-impose minimum prices on different distributors such as shops
-agree with your competitors what purchase price you will offer your suppliers
-cut prices below cost in order to force a smaller or weaker competitor out of the market

The law doesn't just cover formal agreements. It also includes other activities with a price-fixing effect. For example, you shouldn't discuss your pricing plans with your competitors. If you then all 'happen' to raise your prices, you are fixing prices."

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1073792322&type=RESOURCES&lang=en

Interestingly, I've always had a bee in my bonnet about Apple and price fixing. Their products cost the same in every shop you buy it in - there's no discounting anywhere in the high street which is very strange. No other manufacturer has such a control over the marketplace. For example - a Sony camera tends to vary across different retailers, however, an Apple iPod Touch 16Gb will cost the same price in nearly all high street shops.

Trek are the other main manufacturer who do not allow their bikes to be posted. (Specialized are OK with it as one of my colleagues just purchased a rather nice Allez from a web based retailer).

Wierd, though, because the bikes have to get to the shop somehow and that's usually by post.....