Cycling UK Forum

Thanks, Cunobelin, these look very interesting. She’s looking at the website as I write this. Traditional swept-back bars might also help.

Asking for a friend...she’s got arthritis between thumb and forefinger and it’s beginning to be a real handicap. She’s tried bar ends on straight bars and I’ve suggested butterfly bars. I’d be glad of any observations.
Apologies if this is a health and fitness issue and should be elsewhere.

Thanks for all helpful and interesting comments. Fortunately, and hoping I’m not speaking too soon, I don’t have any health issues and I’m not on any medication. Neither is my mother, and she’s 94! A recent check-up gave me the all-clear. No back problems. Knee replacement 4 years ago, no problems s...

Thanks for replies. Antonish, I feel pretty good an hour or two after a ride, and I’m usually good to go again the next day. I just don’t expect the old legs to start aching, mostly in the thighs, so soon after starting.
You’re probably right. Good days and bad days. I’m impressed by the 100k audax.

My legs have started to ache at the start of a ride. I would expect this to happen after 30-40 miles, but now it happens in a mile or two and doesn’t stop. I can still do the 30 miles without loss of energy or breath. It’s just not so much fun when your legs ache all the time. I’m 73. Should I just ...

Both the Ridgeway and the Wessex Ridgeway are mostly chalk drove roads. They're both scarred with deep (sometimes knee-deep) ruts caused by heavy off-road vehicles. In dry weather, the chalk sets hard as concrete, and after rain it becomes treacherously slick. Hard going but good fun, and the views ...

Anyone used Warmshowers.org recently? I’m thinking of touring in Europe this summer and don’t really want to camp anymore, on account of suddenly becoming 73. I’m a bloke and will be travelling alone. I’d be grateful for any comments.
Possibly Holland to Denmark, probably France.

Oh, and there has been no extra-curricular activity in my living room for I don’t know how long.

Ok. There was no radiator involved. My bike doesn’t take tea, only Muc-Off dry lube. I didn’t sing on the way home on account of not wanting to swallow gnats and flies ( the farmers are muck-spreading round here). There is no evidence of a break-in ( the bike, being the most valuable object, would h...

Came back four days ago from a short local ride ( to choir practice, if you want to know) with everything working perfectly. Dismounted, pushed the bike into its stable (my living room) and made tea. Today I set out on a long afternoon ride and within half-a-mile discovered that the rear brake had d...

I lived in and around Bath for many years. All cities have a traffic problem, but, as has been suggested, Bath has particular issues. There are problems with the construction of a ring road or by-pass because of the geography of the area. The city is at a nexus of traffic flow and is close to a moto...

Last year I bought a nearly-new (used once) Schmidt dynohub fitted into a 28-spoke front wheel from my LBS. I did a two-week trip through Brittany and across the Loire to Machecoul, loaded with panniers front and rear, though I kept the front ones light. In Morlaix, a spoke broke in the front wheel....

I've had my Cinelli Hobootleg for nearly ten years, we've done a lot of miles together and I'm very fond of it. It'll go anywhere. It's an all-day kind of bike. But it was a heavy beast to start with, weighing in at 12.6 kg. You can imagine what that feels like when loaded with camping or touring ge...

Well, I looked at the sample from Zinn and was alarmed to see that he recommends replacing handlebars and stem every four years.
I know some cyclists who replace their knees more frequently than that.
My hard-ridden Cinelli is seven years old. New bars and stem for Christmas, then?

Just returned from a week in Toulouse, where I was interested to see widespread bike use in a busy city. There did not seem to be many specific cycle routes, yet cyclists whizzed around in a nonchalant way on orthodox bikes, lightweights, Mixtes, Dutch Bikes, old bikes, B’twins from Decathlon and lo...