Search found 426 matches

by cycloret
1 Aug 2016, 7:32pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: where I can get a 9 speed triple f/mech
Replies: 10
Views: 1095

Re: where I can get a 9 speed triple f/mech

Is eBay any use? It shows the Claris you mentioned

From Tweek Cycles a Claris FD-2403 braze-on 8 speed triple. I'm surprised this wont work.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-FD-24 ... SwxN5WV91O

There's a Sora 3500
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-Sora- ... e7XRiiTlng
by cycloret
22 Jul 2016, 6:37pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Puncture puzzle
Replies: 10
Views: 845

Re: Puncture puzzle

On some new wheels I've had mystifying punctures, eventually traced to the rim tape being too thin. The tape wasn't firm enough to prevent herniation of an inflated inner tube down a spoke hole.
by cycloret
21 Jul 2016, 7:11pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Triple chainset choices?
Replies: 45
Views: 4298

Re: Triple chainset choices?

Vetus Ossa wrote:Some excellent ideas there, thanks to all those that replied.

cycloret wrote:You don't have to have a triple, one of my bikes has STI 50/34 Ultegra compact with Mars 10 speed 11-34 (from SJS cycles) giving a low of 26.3 to 119.3 high gear inches, though most of the rest have triples.

As scottg mentioned there's the Sugino OX-601. I bought a TA Carmina chainset a while back to have in stock for my old age. At 71, for now it's still in the box.

Wanting to change to smaller chainset, has anyone had a problem with a braze-on FD and not being able to get it low enough in the slot?


I like this idea a lot as it seems the easier option, and I can live with the bigger jumps between gears, it's the lower gears that matter most to me.
I can't see my standard ultegra rear mech working with that cassette though, what do you use please?


I'm using a Shimano XTR RD-M972 RD though I suspect so would a RD-M772, both are 9 speed RDs. It's not the RD which determines the number of speeds but the STI levers. I have 10 speed Ultegra levers and have all 10 gears available on the Mars cassette.

IRC Shimano started to differentiate between MTB and Road RDs when they introduced 10 speed which doesn't cater for the older cyclist wanting to ride a STI road bike with easier gearing. Either you have to have smaller chainrings or larger gears on the cassette. Spa cycles, SJS cycles and ebay are you friends, oh and several hours looking at compatibility in the technical specifications of stuff on Shimano's website.

I have one bike I've made up with a Campag 50-34 compact and Campag 13-29, it's the lowest I could manage. It remains for me to find out if I've made a mistake moving from Shimano with the hills around here.
by cycloret
20 Jul 2016, 11:26pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Triple chainset choices?
Replies: 45
Views: 4298

Re: Triple chainset choices?

You don't have to have a triple, one of my bikes has STI 50/34 Ultegra compact with Mars 10 speed 11-34 (from SJS cycles) giving a low of 26.3 to 119.3 high gear inches, though most of the rest have triples.

As scottg mentioned there's the Sugino OX-601. I bought a TA Carmina chainset a while back to have in stock for my old age. At 71, for now it's still in the box.

Wanting to change to smaller chainset, has anyone had a problem with a braze-on FD and not being able to get it low enough in the slot?
by cycloret
18 Jul 2016, 11:39pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: York-Harrogate cyclepath
Replies: 3
Views: 1573

Re: York-Harrogate cyclepath

From Starbeck in Harrogate you can access the railpath/Beryl Burton Way to Knaresborough then cycle down by the river Nidd and under the iconic railway bridge. Go right on B6163 to cross bridge over the Nidd and up the hill, walk if necessary. Continue on to meet busy A658, dismount and walk across the road. There is a gap in the hedge to gain access to a traffic free road which ends at a gate by the A661. Turn Left and walk 100 metres then across for road to Follifoot then Spofforth. The A661 in Spofforth can be busy but it's not far even on the pavement to get to the Harland Way cyclepath for Wetherby.

Follow Road the other side of Morrisons Petrol Station to pick up the Harland Way again to Thorp Arch Trading Estate then on to Wighill > Healaugh > Askham Bryan. There's a busy roundabout to cross near Copmanthorpe but you can cross the A1237 on foot to access the cyclepath by the side of the A64. It's then virtually traffic free into York Centre.

Part of this route I used on a recent Morecambe to Filey holiday.
https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/359419 ... frish2016/
by cycloret
6 Jul 2016, 7:57pm
Forum: Racing, Olympics, TdF, Competitive cycling
Topic: ITV4 TDF Commentators Have Changed!
Replies: 64
Views: 49143

Re: ITV4 TDF Commentators Have Changed!

Just my preference but whilst I'm thinking Ned Boulting and David Millar are doing a reasonable job, I did prefer the Phil and Paul combination. I did look on the first day for a free web feed of their NBC TdeF coverage but drew a blank. On the plus side David Millar's experience of riding in the race peleton is more recent than Paul Sherwin's.
by cycloret
5 Jul 2016, 12:00am
Forum: Racing, Olympics, TdF, Competitive cycling
Topic: ITV4 TDF Commentators Have Changed!
Replies: 64
Views: 49143

Re: ITV4 TDF Commentators Have Changed!

As mentioned earlier and from what I read on the web, apparently Liggett and Sherwen have been employed for years by NBC, not Ch4 or ITV who just took the feed of their commentary. So the program that we've watched in the UK didn't directly employ them and this was probably the reason why we never saw them in front of the camera as far as I can remember. With hindsight I remember the hand over would include the words "..we'll pick up the commentary ...". It seems Phil avoided saying much of a hello to the UK viewers because he had been already commentating to the USA audience and him saying hello would seem strange to them.

I gather that ITV weren't happy with these arrangement but I'm not sure what precipitated the decision to ditch them. A bonus occurred today when David Brailsford was invited into the commentary box to talk with Ned, something I suspect that couldn't have happened in the past. Phil and Paul are probably not in France any more than Murray Walker was for many foreign F1 Grand Prixs.
by cycloret
27 Jun 2016, 6:52pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: Highland Midges?
Replies: 10
Views: 5272

Re: Highland Midges?

Before my Lejog in 2010 I bought some Pyramid Ecoguard Xtreme, seemly now called Piramid Trek Sensitive and a head net.The insect repellent is DEET free and the reviews on Amazon give it a high positive rating.
http://www.travelpharm.com/repellents-c ... 20ml-p7924

However, mending a puncture near Spean Bridge after some light rain, I got multiple bites on my thigh which remained intensely itchy for a couple of days. I hadn't applied any insect repellent beforehand. Be warned, puncture+no insect repellent=bites.
by cycloret
14 Jun 2016, 11:50pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Coast to coast
Replies: 6
Views: 886

Re: Coast to coast

There's too much climbing for me on Way of the Roses route, and reading of the deaths of cyclists on the B6265 Grassington to Pately Bridge road doesn't help, it seems like a route for masochists at best. I suppose if you've ridden it you'll have some sense of achievement. If it hadn't been for the delay in opening the Ripley to Bilton cycleway, I wonder if the officially adopted route would be different. Given a blank canvas, I'd say many cyclists could come up with an alternative interesting and less challenging route. You should easily be able to find a flatter coast to coast than following the Way of the Roses.

In 2011 I cycled my own version of the WofR, I consider it was flatter and a safer route apart from at one point I had to cross the busy A64.
http://www.bikemap.net/en/route/790457- ... 54/terrain
Soon I'm about to cycle from Morecambe again, this time ending at Filey.

WofR climbing looks to be 1770 meters (5872 feet)
my 2011 route 1510 meters (4954 feet)
my forthcoming Morecambe to Filey trip is 1000 meters (3280 feet)

Edit: Trip completed. So instead of ending up at Bridlington, I finished in Filey which was straightforward and relatively easy. I'm going to add and tweek the bikemap route in the next couple of weeks.The off road section around Dunnington wasn't great, it had rained a few days earlier, but there's no ideal alternative. Next time I'm cycling Morecambe to Scarborough, probably in 2017. Surely anything is better than the standard WofR route.
https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/359419 ... frish2016/
by cycloret
9 Mar 2016, 9:23pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Holdsworth frame builders
Replies: 9
Views: 2339

Re: Holdsworth frame builders

If you are collecting Holdsworth frame numbers, my Mistral's frame number is 045643, it's a 25.5" frame in spruce green. I kept the label, it says Holdsworthy and Assembly no.101794. I believe it to uses 531 butted Reynolds tubing which from a website catalogue I found, suggests it was made around 1982, by 1983 the catalogue give 531ST being used.

I bought it with insurance money after my Evan's sourced Dawes Galaxy was stolen around 1982 and commuted to work on it for about 8 years before I bought a Cannondale. My Mistral was repainted in the 1990s by Bob Jackson's and I rode a C2C on it in 2011.

Edit:On the label before the frame number is hand written what looks like C32. I am not sure what this means but the seat post is 32mm. Also hand written is the Colour: SPRUCIE
by cycloret
28 Sep 2015, 8:16pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Gear changes at the end of hill climbs.
Replies: 15
Views: 2031

Re: Gear changes at the end of hill climbs.

In my experience it's easier under load to change gears at the rear than the front. Certainly I've been in the situation on a hills where I've been unable to change down at the front because there's been too much tension in the chain, as 531colin also describes. If there's a flatter part of the climb you have a brief opportunity to effect a front change.

I suspect we've all been there, you discover part way up a climb that you're in the wrong gear and are unable to change gear - often at the front, and you have to do a Wiggo/Mark Cavendish impersonation, out of the saddle giving it 110%.
by cycloret
27 Sep 2015, 9:32pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: ALDI's biggest ever bike stuff sale
Replies: 140
Views: 10123

Re: ALDI's biggest ever bike stuff sale

I fancied a Garmin Edge 500 but I should have known, you need to be there when Aldi opens. By the time I arrived midday all of their 8 had been sold. The jerseys looked OK but I have enough cycling clothing already.

Returning home I got thinking and turned to eBay. By chance someone had 8 Edge 500s for sale ( 8, strange co-incidence that?) of which 4 it seemed had already been sold in the last hour. At £20 extra on top of the Aldi price nevertheless I bought one. Though a discontinued model the Edge 500 suited me and was still cheaper than it would have been originally.
by cycloret
23 Jul 2015, 6:03pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Triple FD for Stronglight Impact Triple
Replies: 11
Views: 1866

Re: Triple FD for Stronglight Impact Triple

Here a FD 5603 works with a Stronglight Impact Triple 46/36/24 Zephyr chainrings and 12-27 cassette.
by cycloret
19 Jul 2015, 7:08pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: Cornwall and Devon
Replies: 28
Views: 11734

Re: Cornwall and Devon

The routes you first suggested look similar to my LEJOG in 2010. I chose quiet roads where possible and though they might not have been the quickest I could relax and enjoy the scenery. I used a variety of sources when planning my LEJOG which I mention in my Journal, see 3rd link below. I purchased the CTC LEJOG leaflet a few weeks before my start and strange as it seems now, I only found this website after I'd completed my LEJOG.

Day 1 LE to Lanlivery http://www.bikemap.net/route/624719#
Day 2 Lanlivery to Topsham http://www.bikemap.net/route/625043#

Michael's 2010 LEJOG
http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk/index. ... &Itemid=93
by cycloret
30 Oct 2014, 10:10pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Attacked Locks
Replies: 19
Views: 2459

Re: Attacked Locks

Has anyone any experience of using an Siren alarm padlock in addition to a normal cycle lock? Whilst it is possible to cover the holes where the sound comes out, someone would need to be an octopus to continue working to steal your bike.

I bought one of these at a motorcarvan show a while back but have less need of a bike lock since I retired. Similar ones appear to be available on eBay but at the show the salesman implied that other alarm locks weren't of the same quality as his. He would say that wouldn't he!
http://www.pureessencerobertas.co.uk/index.html