Cycling UK Forum

Jdsk wrote: ↑8 Apr 2024, 6:15pm

rareposter wrote: ↑8 Apr 2024, 6:06pm

rogerzilla wrote: ↑8 Apr 2024, 5:57pm Because 90% of Brits would refuse to use km. It's not a vote-winner.

That plus the vast expense of replacing all existing road signage, street markings etc with the equivalent in km / kph and so on.
Also most cars sold in the UK prioritise the mph reading on the speedo display although with modern digital displays, the driver can choose settings.

Australia changed. Ireland changed. Sweden even changed which side of the road.

I think that my country could probably handle it. The first step would probably be to elect a competent government.

Or is there something special about the UK which would cause us to fail where others have succeeded?

Jonathan

It would be the ten years of research to reinvent the wheel that would cause failure! How many times have we been late to the party because we had to do our own research even after others have already succesfully done something? One of the most pertinent to this group is obviously cycle infrastructure.

the app i was using no longer shows the relevant information so not sure where i'm at now

I have visited 130 of the 259 parish districts, its the south and east where i have little or no coverage! Think i need a longer trip to tick some boxes!

tempting?


The weather may have deterred some but a good crowd today nevertheless

It's easy to kill disc pads in the Peak District, rim blocks last better! My record was new pads in the morning, killed completely by the end of a Derbyshire loop. You certainly can get some impressive heat on some Derbyshire descents, my rotors are constantly warm enough to cause discolouration. (i've had puncture heat induced blowouts with rim brakes, something you wont get with discs) Of course the silly little 140 rotors used on modern road bikes are not fit for purpose, even 160mm aren't really up to serious downhill use, my CX/touring machine rocks 180 front, 160 rear - the front still gets 'burnt' but less than the smaller rotors.

My 'technique', if you can call it that, for minimising wear and heat build up is to let the bike run as much as possible, use the stoppers to scrub off a lot of speed ahead of turns and you'd be surprised how effective just sitting up acts as an air brake. On steeper descents, hanging your weight off the rear of the saddle means the rear brake takes a bit more of the strain and helps negate tipping forward under braking. TBH its easier to demonstrate than describe.

I have a pair of these calipers, i don't even recognise the part!

Brucey wrote: ↑6 Apr 2024, 6:41pm I once had a nightmare day in which I ran out of tubes and even patches. The culprit turned out to be a sliver of metal so small I could hardly see it when it was out. Unbelievably this didn't ever poke out of its new home in the tyre until you rode on it, and then it would give you a slow puncture every time. I probably had about ten punctures as a result of this one object, and I nearly lost my mind before I finally found it.

i think we can all relate to that, its happened to me, 3 tubes, all my patches and a walk home later discovered it was a damaged sidewall with a sharp edge, passed the visual and finger check but pretty much as soon as you sat on the bike - pssssssttt!

Brucey wrote: ↑6 Apr 2024, 5:32pm I long ago concluded that there were few 'special tools' I couldn't make improved versions of using just an angle grinder, drill, and welding set.

Which is all very well if you have those skills and bits of kit. The reality is that not many people can weld and skills with grinders and drills run the full gamut too. This very disparity of skills is why some few very skilled individuals can earn a crust as toolmakers. If i need/want a hammer i don't make one from scratch, its not economically viable to do so even if i had the right tools to do it, nope, i pop down to my local tool store and buy one. And so if Mr Shimano decides to use Torx 28 on everything i'll go out and buy one so that i can work on those parts, i don't buy tools willy nilly.

My toolbox has loads of 'obsolete' kit in it, even in the 70's/80's there was a huge variation in tool requirement between brands and even within brands. I think i've got 6 similar but different crank pullers, at least 4 different size cone spanners, oodles of headset spanners and more variations of BB tools than is right. (maybe i should have a clearout of old tools from the main box, i won't get rid as i do have bikes that still need some of this stuff!) My modern components rarely need anything more than a hex key set for most adjustment/repairs but when there is a special tool required, well expect a high price tag.

Well its time, tomorrow sees the first tea & cake charity day at Hill village hall near Thornbury Glos! A previously, its open exclusively for cyclists from 12 until 1 then once the volunteers have recovered its open to allcomers from 2 until the cake runs out!

https://www.facebook.com/HILLVILLAGEHALL

If you can't make tomorrow pencil it in for the first Sunday of the month right across the summer!

some of the smart new signs erected over the last few weeks photographed today. Very informative and they even have distances! But the last picture says it all. I rode down Yeo Bank Lane to the farm today, there is no indication that the missing 100m stretch is currently being worked on, no machinery, contractors or materials are in evidence. I'm not holding my breath for 'Spring 2024'

SimonCelsa wrote: ↑4 Apr 2024, 6:49pm I run exclusively 8 speed (plus one fixed gear bike), bar end shifters, rim brakes, flat pedals with traditonal bearings,square taper BB's. alloy rims and stainless spokes. Cheap as chips!!

My longest serving component is the triple front mech on my Specialized hybrid, about 14 yr old and just over 30,000 miles, still going strong.

Don't buy bling!!

I have whole bikes older than your front mech! In fact more than one, my Airnimal turns 21 this year and my oldest bike dates from 1978, its had more coats of paint than new bearings but otoh even when new i doubt it did more than 5000km a year. The Mares has usually done about twice that, not much by some standards but i make that @ 43,000 miles from new.

I'll admit i do have a few bits of bling on different bikes but the stuff on the Mares was bought on quality/longevity, apart from consumables i've not spent anything on this bike in 7 years so i'm not complaining about needing to replace stuff, after all bits do wear out. The gripe is with the lack of availability and cost of parts, for example, when did bar tape go from a fiver to over a tenner? And as for keeping stuff in stock, my local LBS don't keep stock of even the most basic headset bearings, how the hell do they do servicing?

MrsHJ wrote: ↑4 Apr 2024, 7:02pm Horrendous crash to day. I hope everyone recovers but I can’t remember a race where 3 main contenders were all out at he same spot ((Remco, Primoz, Jonas). The Basque Itzulia tour seems to have been particularly crash prone.

There do seem to be a lot of bad crashes this year in both mens and womens top flight races affected a lot of the top riders. And some of the injuries have been horrendous. Mark Cavendish recently suggested that the relative inexperience of a lot of the peloton, as he put it, a lack of respect, is possibly a contributory factor. Not sure what could be done to reduce the carnage, controversial thought here, ban disc brakes, you have to learn much more bike control when your stopping distance is longer!

I'm looking at doing a short camping tour of the Dales/Moors around a visit to York Rally in late June. I've not looked at any sort of route yet, well after a lifetime of exploring GOC i have a pretty good idea on the roads but i've never camped with a bike more than the odd night. General thoughts are Hawes, Kirkby Stephen, Richmondshire, Stokesley, Scarborough.

Suggestions please, camp sites don't need to be exactly those places but being a bit soft these days my minimum requirement is a pub nearby and showers.

wjhall wrote: ↑4 Apr 2024, 8:37am

rjb wrote: ↑3 Apr 2024, 11:05am Latest update of this ongoing saga, missed the Easter opening again.
https://www.kingstonseymour.org.uk/news ... -not-open/

Kingston Seymour parish council does seem to have been consistently the best source of information, but even here there is ambiguity. Describing it as a construction site could mean that legal matters have been settled, and work is progressing on the north side, but it could mean that construction works on the south side are still in progress.

Construction on the south side appeared to be complete as long ago as 2022 (I did a sneak explore all the way through to the blocked Wick Road access last Spring), the 'missing' bit is the hundred metres or so from Yeo Bank Lane to the sluice crossing on the north side.

Bit of background first. I built my all road tourer back in 2015, parts hang off a Focus Mares AX frameset, since then its done a lot of miles on all terrains and weather conditions, from full on camping trips to long day rides. I'll admit that i've perhaps been a bit remiss with servicing at times but its never let me down and last autumn i thought i'd give it the deep strip service it so rightly deserved.

Now admittedly some of the parts are a bit over the top, Campag SR chainset, Chorus carbon shifters and so on but i had no reason to suspect what followed. A couple of stuck bolts were par for the course but a stuck crank bolt meant a trip to Argos for removal and confirmation that both BB and headset bearings needed replacement. No big issue but the project lay dormant until last month. Now i've been doing this stuff for nigh on 50 years so i kind of know what i'm doing but this rebuild has turned into something of a saga! Yep, everytime i look at a job i seem to need special tools, simple parts have ridiculous prices and finding a shop that actually stocks anything - well its no wonder people just buy new.

Luckily the only major parts that i needed to source were a rear mech (stolen for another bike) and mudguards (the originals shaken to bits!) Its the little bits that have really been adding up, bearings, circlips, cable adjusters etc Some consumables i had in stock but i've laid out @ £200 so far on parts. I've not even gone like for like on everything, the crank bearings for SR are £120/pr, regular Chorus are £26 neither of which come with the washers and circlips that you will almost certainly need to do the job.

And then there are the tools, okay they will get used more than this once but i've spent another £60 on bearing pullers & setters. A few bits to smarten things up,new pump, tyres, TPU tubes, bar tape etc and thats farewell to another ton and most of it i've had to order ont' web as none of the LBS's even have the mudguards in stock, let alone widgets for Campag! I'm sure parts weren't this expensive or elusive the last time i rebuilt one of my machines, i literally could have bought a new entry level bike for what i've spent keeping an old one running.

So when did you discover the soaring cost of keeping your bikes on the road?

rjb wrote: ↑3 Apr 2024, 11:05am Latest update of this ongoing saga, missed the Easter opening again.
https://www.kingstonseymour.org.uk/news ... -not-open/

I'll take a shufti when next i'm there, maybe as soon as tomorrow!