Cycling UK Forum

By their natural geometry bike frames are stiff vertically but flexible laterally. If you can design a frame which is stiff laterally but more flexible vertically that may prove beneficial to the rider. Good luck!

I used to have a Moulton TSR2 with the belt drive and a Sturmey S2C (later a SRAM Automatix) 2-speed hub gear / coaster. The bike predominantly rode a 5-mile flat commute to my previous office, and sometimes to the shops. It rarely went on journeys of more than ten miles. In this application it work...

Gents, OP here. Thanks very much for the continuing contemplation on this - some on topic and some not so much, but all interesting! I think I will investigate the front hub brake further and consider how to make it work on a leading link fork. The advantages of the front brake for me are: easy to s...

The point about technique is that a *wrong* way also exists - and that is dragging the brakes all the way down. This is the "intuitively" safest way - if one does not know the full physics of the situation :) (or of course if your wheels/brakes are heat-proof. Or it's just damn cold.) And...

Good stuff gents, many thanks. As ever much to chew on. Re descending and braking techniques, on a 'typical' French mountain there's not much that one can do different: the bike accelerates to a maximum velocity of perhaps 40-50mph and then you brake for the corner. That bit at the top of the Tourma...

Hi all, I've been riding my newish Moulton Jubilee for 18 months or so now and it's a fabulous bike, subject to a few idiosyncrasies that we have covered previously on this forum. There is however one serious issue that troubles me greatly - front wheel overheating blowouts. I toured in the Pyrenees...

We have three of these racks on various bikes. My cheap Aldi Ortlieb-copies work fine but for touring we use Carradice Carradry panniers. In full disclosure we changed the hooks on the Carradice panniers for Rixen & Kaul clips which were less awkward on the lower pannier rail. I note that Carrad...

squeaker wrote:

Mick F wrote:How does it "self lubricate"?

IIRC, the bearing material is a matrix of, essentially, hard porous bearing material with 'solid' lubricant in the pores.

Yep, apparently an Oilite bearing.

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

FWIW the improved pivot on my Jubilee (same as the SST I think) is self-lubricating, but I fight a constant battle against creaking. If the bolts are too loose the back end moves, if they're too tight the thing creaks. Sometimes the creak goes away for a month or so following loosening / tightening,...

Thanks gents. Much as I suspected, not a lot of real-world difference. Yes I appreciate the lack of novelty in the 650b wheel size, it was a bit of a surprise to me when it started to become fashionable again. I remember also the brief fashion for 650c wheels (571 BSD) on road bikes in about 1996. N...

The wheel strength thing has veered somewhat off topic I think, and if strong wheels are the goal, small wheels are an answer. However they come with some issues. Overheating is one, and comfort combined with good roadholding combined with low rolling resistance is another. So we're back to needing ...

Morning all, My touring / commuting bike - The Battleship - has 26" (559) wheels with 50mm tyres. While slogging to work in a headwind recently, I wondered whether its next set of wheels (there is a long and complicated set of reasons for thinking about new wheels) should be the fashionable 650...

Suspension with no drawbacks

Browning Automatic transmission: hinged triple chainrings that shifted the chain without a front derailleur. About 1986?

Mike Sales wrote:

speedsixdave wrote: Admittedly if the little rubber tube inside perishes and you don't have a spare, you're walking home.

Replacement Woods cores are available that do not have the rubber tube. They work in a different way which is also easier to pump.

Come on then! All aboard the Woods Bus!