Cycling UK Forum

China or glass is, alas, still the best thing to drink hot drinks out of, but of the other options I personally prefer metal (whether a Ti or an enamelware mug) - you run the risk of burning your lips if you don't let it cool down, but there's no taint like you can sometimes get from silicone or pla...

Another +1 to that map; one might quibble about the use of rainbow colour-coding, and the auto-scaling threw me a bit the first time I moved it around, but that's a very useful tool.

Seconding Walz caps as being good quality; I'm particularly fond of their wool ones for cooler weather. Their regular caps are cotton/poly and come in S/M and L/XL; not particularly cheap, though I've had mine for years and they still look pretty much new. I like my Rapha caps as they're 100% cotton...

Good cup and cone BBs are available NOS. New ones tend to be the lowest grade of BSO rubbish. The troubles with cup and cone BBs are that you need three huge, now rare, tools to fit them properly and they are prone to water ingress, which ruins them. When the remaining supply of UN55 runs out, try ...

Ride quality's a personal thing, but as I said I'm 6'5" and I really enjoy riding my Brompton - before lockdown I was putting a couple of thousand miles a year on it, and on a smiles per mile basis it's possibly my favourite bike. It does ride differently to my full-size bikes - I wouldn't want...

I'd try a Brompton test ride before dismissing them on grounds of fit; I'm 6'5" and ride an M-type with the telescopic seatpost without problems. The handling's still the right side of nippy rather than twitchy for me, but adding a bag on the front calms it down even further if necessary.

As per the title, really; I'm looking for a tent for some solo overnighters or weekend trips suitable for a 6'5" camper. Looking at specs online, the Wild Country Zephyros 2 and Vango Cairngorm 200 seem like they might fit the bill - any first-hand experience/other recommendations from equally ...

Once the weather starts to turn, I find the benefits of wicking materials become irrelevant, especially when staying warm is your main concern. This type of thing Depends on how hot you run - if I'm cycling for more than an hour or so, I will sweat enough even in cold temperatures to soak a non-wic...

A cassock hides many sartorial sins, but is alas less practical on the bike...

(My father was a parish priest, and had a collection of black shoes. He mostly walked or drove on his pastoral visits, I'm afraid, so no tips there!)

I wouldn't expect any pair of leather shoes to survive a year's daily wear in all weathers, at least not without a resole, and most SPD soles can't be replaced. I'm pretty hard on shoes - I walked a couple of miles most days (at least pre-lockdown!) - but on my most-worn pairs I'd expect to have to ...

I find cotton ok, as long as it's not too cold, wet, and windy; fine for high summer, but rather iffier for autumn. Linen's slightly better, but still takes a while to dry. The gear I wear depends on what kind of touring I'm doing: if I'm just going A-B and exploring at my destination, I usually wea...

Mick F wrote:Not sure about how to clean them generally, but they do air out ok after getting home.

Advice I've been given in the past wrt leather gloves is to wash them with mild hand soap whilst wearing them, then remove and let dry away from direct heat. Apply leather balm once dry.

I would also prefer a framebuilder with plenty of experience of building light, narrow tubed steel frames, i.e. one with an instinctive feel based on lots of experience both of their own and of those who taught them, as well as on customer feedback, for what blend of tubing and tube profiles would ...

Seen on social media, and possibly of interest to some here: someone has (with permission) put together scans of all the past RIvendell Bike Works' Rivendell Reader issues and has put them up online at http://notfine.com/rivreader/ Interesting as historical documents to see how things have changed o...

The Ooni is a thing of loveliness - if you're a home-made-pizza nerd, they're brilliant - but I wouldn't want to take one cycle camping... Portable enough for car camping, mind.