Cycling UK Forum

PH

JohnR wrote: ↑8 Apr 2024, 8:36am I tried, out of curiosity, a pair of Endura MTB shoes. They felt like bits of wood fixed under my feet. My feet told me that one ride was enough and those shoes went to a charity shop.

The Endura Hummvees* are my favorite cycling shoe, which goes to show how personal such preferences are.
There's also an element of matching the shoes to the pedals, some riders are more fussed about it than others. I thought it didn't matter till I toured with pedals and shoes I'd ridden hundreds of miles with, but never together. They didn't work, uncomfortable feet after a few hours and slippery when wet.

* There are other Endura MTB shoes, but I suspect it's these JohnR refers to as they're the most popular and have been around for years.

PH

Ceramic pads are supposed to be best for heat dissipation, at the cost of longevity. the hard wearing sintered ones are probably the worst for heat and the longest lasting. Discobrakes have a chart of their compounds attributes, they'll apply broadly to other makes as well, thought the compounds might not be identical. Pads with fins might help, I haven't tried them but that's their purpose.
https://www.discobrakes.com/index.php?s ... =compounds&

I don't find the peak District hills that much of an issue, with some notable exceptions. Most of them are short, so it's a matter of keeping speeds manageable.

PH

Those Carradice panniers for under forty quid look a real bargain, if I'd have seen them I'd have snapped them up, I wouldn't have been able to resist. But however cheap, they would have been an unnecessary expense, I don't need more panniers, I'd have just fallen into the trap of confusing cost and value. My top value items have been those that have best met my expectations, the cost, high or low, is almost irrelevant to that. So, while I agree that cycling doesn't have to be expensive, you have to determine for yourself what represents value.

PH

That's a lovely symmetrical hill in the diagram above, life isn't like that. Any ride I do into the Peak District will have at least two thirds of the climbing in the first half. I'll be charging the capacitors after I've needed them. There's already lightweight, small battery road style bikes available that are pleasant to ride unassisted most of the time but with enough capacity to assist on hilly sections, I don't see any advantage of a recharge system over those.

PH

ANTONISH wrote: ↑29 Mar 2024, 10:26am I don't like the idea of a chargeable GPS device - I prefer replaceable batteries - only a couple of minutes to swap for a fresh pair of AA when the power goes.

Preference is the right way to describe it, It all works and it all has some issues. One of the most often reported problems with the Etrex is faulty battery connections, made worse by size variations when using rechargeables, I used to need bits of tinfoil with some batteries and not others. The weak spot on some internal battery models is the Micro USB port, thankfully the USB C port is more robust. I haven't had to think about battery consumption during a ride with either the Etrex or the Explore, only with the Touring that came between them, even then it was a minor inconvenience rather than a deal breaker.

PH

Sooper8 wrote: ↑5 Apr 2024, 6:45pm I've had great experience with (second hand) Quad lock and poncho (rain cover) after a few years of not finding anything practical enough

Likewise (Except the secondhand bit)
I do deliveroo and the like so the phone and holder/s don't have an easy life and it's been faultless. My phone doesn't come out of the case it's a pretty good edge and back protector, covering everything except the screen. It isn't the sort of case I'd be wanting to attach and remove too often, which might be a consideration. Phone is a Huawei P30, smaller than a Pixel 7a, but not by much.
OK, I haven't tried all the alternatives, and occasional use might not warrant the cost, but the Quadlock's reputation is well deserved IMO.

PH

Nearholmer wrote: ↑4 Apr 2024, 6:23pm Agree and, as I said above, I’ll advise anyone to cycle for fitness, it’s just that I seriously doubt the usefulness of cycling as a weight-loss strategy in itself. I reckon it improves wind and limb,but is a poor way to loose belly.

There is another element to that, though it cuts both ways, it's simply that cycling is more fun when you have less weight to cart around.
Lose a bit of weight and that hill doesn't seem as steep, or the extra 5 miles isn't challenge... so you cycle more, which might cause you to lose a bit more weight (Or at the very least motivate you to continue with whatever caused the first loss), which increases the enjoyment...

PH

Psamathe wrote: ↑2 Apr 2024, 5:30pm It's one of the problems I can foresee with any retrospective changes in that the developer can claim that they sold the property below market freehold value on the basis that they'd be receiving ground rent, in effect like and extra mortgage. That may or may not be true and impossible to tell after the event given the value of a property is somewhat intangible and at the end of the day is what somebody will pay. But take the ground rent away from the developer retrospectively and they can claim ground rent was a long term way to make-up for the below market price of the property - and who can prove otherwise?

Ian

Have you read the bill? It isn't some communist manifesto to steal from the rich and give to the poor, it's a mild reform to a feudal system that we should only know about from history books. No developer is going to be deprived of the value of what they've built, or the ground it's built on, and those values will not be hard to determine. Some generationally wealthy will be shocked that they can only sell something once and not repeatedly, they're not on my sympathy list.

PH

carlislemike wrote: ↑27 Mar 2024, 3:11pm Tempted by using it as default and I think I can use my saved Cycle Travel routes on it. Simple question, can I load CT routes onto Garmin or other devices?

With a Garmin Explore 2*, from PC** to phone to Explore, at home with wi-fi it couldn't be simpler. Have Garmin Connect on the phone, have that open and the Garmin turned on, check the phone recognises the Garmin, save the route in CT > GPX > Send to Garmin Connect and it's all done. It sometimes takes a couple of minutes to show, though you can hurry it along by pressing "sync" on the Connect app.

* Probably on other models as well, I'll stick to commenting on the ones I have.
** Probably with a Mac as well, but again I'll stick to what I know

PH

re_cycler wrote: ↑25 Mar 2024, 5:38pm Is it purely a case that the pedals need to be rotated, even if there is no effort used, to meet the legal requirement ?

The EAPC classification states that cycles need to have pedals fitted that are capable of propelling them. There's nothing that stipulates how much effort the rider must contribute while being electrically assisted, so you do get bikes where the contribution from the rider's pedalling is negligible.

PH

What sort of touring and other use? Schwalbe's Marathon range are all touring tyres*, that there's a dozen variations from the toughest Plus to the fastest Efficiency is an indication of how varied touring cyclists needs are. I think you need to narrow your criteria, otherwise you may get loads of inappropriate recommendations. If avoiding punctures really is your number one priority, then the Plus (Or similar from other manufacturers) deserves to be top of the list, for any other criteria, there are better tyres.

*Though not all Schwalbe tyres that look suitable for touring carry the Marathon name.

PH

Mike Sales wrote: ↑23 Mar 2024, 4:31pm I imagine that they have a lot more knowledge of the subject than thee and me.

I'm sure they do, but knowledge and good ideas are not enough to get you elected. If they were we wouldn't be in this position. If you need an example of that, look at all the good ideas and level of knowledge within the Green Party and compare that with their electoral success.

PH

Mike Sales wrote: ↑23 Mar 2024, 1:36pm The police are enlisting vigilantes.

No they're not.
They're coming up with alternative ways to gather evidence. There is no intention of changing the way crimes are judged and punished.

PH

Mike Sales wrote: ↑23 Mar 2024, 2:19pm Some ideas from a patriotic millionaire.

It's what I said a couple of posts ago, the idea of taxing wealth rather than income. The problem is that no one has come up with a mechanism to do it. If someone's wealth is growing assets rather than income, how do you tax that? If the answer involves them relinquishing control of all or part of the asset, that's socialism. The idea of that level of state intervention scares people so much that no one proposing it stands a chance of being elected.

PH

Nearholmer wrote: ↑22 Mar 2024, 9:48am Personally, I’m in favour of progressive income tax (higher rates for higher bands of income), but would rather see that done overtly than by the semi-covert erosion of allowances, even if the net result is the same.

Better to find a mechanism to tax wealth rather than income, if you're wealthy enough you don't have much need for taxable income.

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