Cycling UK Forum

I was considering bailing to Spain. I’ll let the Brexit dust settle, see where we’re at after we’re out, then take it from there. I’ve nothing against the U.K. I just prefer it if the weather is warmer for longer, each year.

Well at least BoJo has a proper mandate to get stuff done, without interference from hand wringers. I’m not 100 percent comfortable with everything the Conservatives have planned, but it’s a lot better than what Labour had in mind.

mjr wrote:I'd ride much further out (a car door and a bit more) but I don't think it would have avoided that one. Taxi drivers are meant to be better drivers than normals but there's still much variation in it.

That’s one way of putting it.

Taxi ‘Uees’ account for 5 of the 6 bike wrecking crashes I’ve suffered. The bloody things can ( and do ) turn on a sixpence, usually with no warning or indication. When I couriered in London, Black cab avoidance, was a really crucial skill. I ended up across the bonnet on more than one occasion. I h...

Don’t be too quick to dismiss the cable before pulling apart, did you replace outer as well as the inner cables, on one bike I had where the cable became sticky the problem was the cable guide under the bottom bracket had worn. New cables can fray as well. Quite right, as the outers get worn, the s...

A large number of ‘branded’ frames are made in the Giant factory in Taichung ( Taiwan ) and ( until Trump’s trade war ) China. The materials and moulds tend to be proprietary, with each company’s frames, made in each company’s moulds. But the quality inevitably sufferers when you mass manufacture, a...

This is typical of the Sora shifters. The ratchets start to ‘bur’ ( they shed bits of plastic ). They aren’t designed to be stripped down easily, it’s easier to replace them, however they can be stripped, and the bits replaced. eBay et.al. is a good resource.

Do “apostrophe’s” what matter?

It’s super tempting at that price. A quick swap to the 11 speed R7000 Groupset I have on my favourite ( but sadly dying ) winter bike, with a wheelset swap ( off the same bike) and that’s a serious bargain winter / sportive bike right there.

Good on you, you’re right, you can normally get where you’re going during ‘rush hour’ quicker by bike. As soon as you get used to the odd bit of crappy weather, you’ll be amazed how commuting by bike saves money.

The addiction is to the endorphins / dopamine / 5 HT, flooding the brain. Elevated levels of these substances makes us feel good, unfortunately, the amount of exercise required to cause the production, doesn’t do our bodies any favours.

It’s a compression plug. Torque it up to 7 Nm then it should stay in place. It’s an anchor point to tension your headset with.

If you’re spinning out a 50-11, on the flat, I’ll eat my bibs. There’s another option, 53-39 ( sometimes called a ‘standard’).

"Car left" or right, as may be, is the one used for that round here. Or simply "on the left/right" (which I dislike as a call to others warning them that you're passing them, but is fine within a group IMO). And this is pretty much why I really can’t be buttocked with leading ri...

That's my thinking too. IME/O many people in CTC groups are too ready to call at the sight of a car when there's no action to be taken or need to know about it (and too rarely call for holes). Audax groups I reckon are better in both respects. Given that, I can't understand why you'd need to be inf...