Cycling UK Forum

In medieval times when our local wolds were open pasture, areas or parcels of land would be rented out to local farmers for grazing. Each parcel of land was called a gait. There is still a Gait Inn in the village of Millington. Could the fens have been put to a similar use.

I have a 1985 Lady Galaxy running 700x32 tyres. Actual tyre width is 30mm and this leaves me with fag paper clearances between the chain stays. Could possibly take 32mm at a pinch. There seems to be a lot of differences in clearances between different builds.

I worked as a software developer for over 45 years in both commercial and academic environments, and in that time I've used a lot of operating systems and desktops. When I retired 12 years ago I switched my home PCs to Linux as I no longer needed MS Windows for work. The American business model is t...

jawaka, do not despair. Planning and undertaking tours as you get older is a matter changing your expectations. Reduce the distance and the amount of climbing. Last year at the age of 75 I made a solo trip to the alps, but whereas 10 years ago I would have undertaken a long A to B tour taking in as ...

I have been using a custom built 'mini-velo' for touring holidays for about 15 years. A lot easier for man handling on and off trains and manoeuvring in cramped luggage compartments. The small wheels stand up to a fair amount of abuse from baggage handlers. Mine has survived about 16 international f...

Hi dhowes. I am the same age and have similar problems. I did look at ladies frames but the trouble was they tended to have a steep seat tube and a short reach. As I had a Surly Cross Check I arranged for a local frame builder to fit a dropped top tube. If you have a steel Spa Tourer, which I believ...

Seeking new and different activities during the lockdown I decided to digitise my archive of 35mm slides, some of which go back over 60 years, Amongst the slides was one shown below. Taken in 1963 it shows myself with friends on a rough stuff ride in the winter. One modification I had completely for...

I bought a Ti Tourer frame some 7 years back and built it up as Audax/Light Tourer/AllRoad bike. I decided on the tourer as it would take wider tyres. I did not particularly select the lightest components but did opt for carbon forks. Wheels are 32mm Gatorskin on Mavic A119 rims. With a B17 saddle a...

One of the stalwarts of the RSF was Fred Wright. His wife, Pat LLoyd wrote a book about their exploits - "Mud on my Wheels". A nice little read with some pics of the bikes they used. Still available on the web if you hunt around.

Although I do not regard myself as an early pioneer I did ride quite a bit of rough stuff in the late 1950's and early 60's. Not with the RSF but with my local Clarion section. At the time I only had one bike, a Holdsworth Typhoon. It was set up as what would now be described as 1x5. In those days h...

Occasionally Lidl have stainless pans on offer much cheaper then the main brands. Most of these pans are induction compatable. I've bought a couple and not had any problems on our induction hob. Worth keeping a lookout.

'm thinking that's a 27" wheel touring type frame built with canti bosses moved down a bit for the 650b's,a nice machine for the job though :) You may be right re the frame. I came across this catalogue page listing a Jim Guard CLUBMAN frameset. Just add canti bosses and you have what could be...

Unfortunately nothing on-line and my scanner is not working. Just to add a bit more info... The man who designed the bike and wrote the article was John Findley Scott from Denver. In the US he is credited with building the world's first known mountain bike in 1953. In the mid 1970s Scott loaned Gar...

Thanks for digging out the photo. As an aside, I presume the small 'rack' at the back is actually intended (at least primarily) as a saddlebag support rather than to carry a load directly on top? As the author of the article does not mention the rack it is pure speculation as to its use. It looks t...

gravel_bike.png This is the gravel bike which first appeared in the September 1963 RSF Journal. The frame was custom built by Jim Guard of Southampton and the design was influenced by both the rough-stuff touring bikes in use at the time, and the French randonneur bikes which utilized wide 650B tyr...