Cycling UK Forum

Thanks Brucey, that's all very useful info. And fascinating to read, too. Thanks.

Ah, that's interesting. I'm clueless with metallurgy so it's good to know that stainless is not as strong as hi-ten (as the name suggests I guess). When I sort the fork situation with the donor bike I'll look into tapping the threads out. I'm sure there will be room to do that, and it's a good idea, as the review you've quote, horizon, suggests. Many thanks.

Thanks both of you. In answer to Roadster's questions, the rack was mounted on its own eyelets - there are separate ones for the mudguards. We used to have a different rack, I'm fairly sure alloy too, which came with a child seat - a Beto I think - so I figure they are used for that purpose (in any case, if you try to look for steel racks to do the job, such as Tubus, they advise you against it as their tubes are hollow and can't withstand the clamping stresses apparently - what to do?)

Nsew, that's a good point. I'll do that just to check. One was less tight than I'd expected on removal, but the others all seemed pretty snug - and no, no-one else has used it.

With this all in mind, does anyone have a good suggestion for a rack which CAN handle a child seat? To complicate things, we use a GMG 911 seat, now sadly discontinued, which is great but turns out has pretty specific requirements in terms of the placement of the horizontal struts on the top of the rack and the width of the rack itself. I'd want a rack rated at 25kg at least, preferably more. The only contender I could think of which seems like it must be strong enough and isn't a weird shape / closed at the top is the Thorn expedition rack, or whatever it's called, but it does look like a piece of Meccano. Too bad the Tubus racks can't support a child seat, even if I could afford them.

I'm building up a new (second-hand) bike for my wife, mainly using parts from her existing one which is now in limbo after she somehow bent one of its forks almost completely straight. On disassembling the rear rack, I discovered that several of the mounting bolts were slightly bent. They wouldn't have been when I'd originally installed it, so I figure this must mean the rack has been overloaded (?) - and if so, that it might have been compromised, or at least that the same or worse could happen if I install it again. The 'or worse' option is the failure of the bolts when our child seat is on the back....

Has anyone else had this happen, and might there be any other reason for it other than overloading? I used stainless allen bolts, nothing special.
The rack which is a generic Bor Yueh alu one we've had for ages, on and off both our bikes, which we've kept mainly because it fits the child seat where no other sturdy-enough racks seem to, as the graveyard of almost-new racks in our shed attests to.

simonineaston wrote:

badams wrote:Found, totally unmarked, thanks to the good people of Norwich!

Horray!

Thanks! Sending good karma to all whose bikes are still missing!

badams wrote:We had our Bakfiets stolen from our garden last night. If you see one coming up for sale here or anywhere else, think twice as it could be ours! We're in Norwich; think it was probably kids looking for some fun, and doubtless they have trashed it by now, but just in case, if you happen to be in or near Norwich, please look out for it! We are just wondering how we are going to do school runs, trips into town, etc without it... it was part of the family.

Here's what it looks like. Even had three kids' helmets in it. Pretty low even for a bike thief.

Bakfiets_Long_1.3_grande.jpg

Found, totally unmarked, thanks to the good people of Norwich!

We had our Bakfiets stolen from our garden last night. If you see one coming up for sale here or anywhere else, think twice as it could be ours! We're in Norwich; think it was probably kids looking for some fun, and doubtless they have trashed it by now, but just in case, if you happen to be in or near Norwich, please look out for it! We are just wondering how we are going to do school runs, trips into town, etc without it... it was part of the family.

Here's what it looks like. Even had three kids' helmets in it. Pretty low even for a bike thief.

Sorry Mick F, that was meant for rualexander - I hadn't seen your post. But thank you too, though I do think I'll stick to the B road route that rualexander originally suggested: I don't mind extra miles if it means more peace and fewer range rovers!

Ah, that's what I thought. Thanks though - seems like it could be an OK route. If you ever need routes in Norfolk, let me know!

I've looked into the B-road route that rualexander recommended and it looks perfect; thanks very much. Thinking about my route back again and starting to wonder if it wouldn't be more fun to go onto Carlisle and return home from there by train, rather than retracing my steps. Don't suppose anyone has any tips about that part of the route (Hawick to Carlisle, avoiding nasty A roads, etc)? Will be a fair bit more hilly, I can see!

Thanks very much rualexander.... great to have a cafe tip-off too!

Good point beardy. I don't really know. I tend to think to myself i average at 15mph but then usually surprise myself - I guess a bit of a game where I think that's how quick I'll be and then am pleasantly surprised, rather than aiming higher and being disappointed! But I think yes, you're probably right, depending on how hilly it is, somewhere between 10 and 15 mph is probably realistic. So maths-wise my journey would work... just whether it would legs-wise...

Hm, ok, thanks. It'll be April so not much better. I'm not a roadie by any means; will be loaded too, so probably ~15 mph av. Will think about it more. thanks very much!

Thank you Paulatic and thirdcrank. I take your point about the bordersishness of the Borders... hm.
Thanks Paulatic for the tip about the A road too... I did wonder if it might be ok. Seems less demanding incline-wise too. But do you think allowing 5 hours, it'd be doable? It'd mean leaving at 5am, admittedly.

I'm doing something for work in Berwick-upon-Tweed soon, and have been invited to take part in something in Hawick the next day. They've suggested I hire a car but it got me thinking.... perhaps I could just take my bike and cycle it. So on the off-chance that anyone has cycled between Berwick and Hawick before, or a nearby route, I'd really appreciate your thoughts about the best route and whether it is realistic to do it in a few hours. It is perhaps a bit daft as I'd have to be in Hawick by 11am, but in terms of distance the route I've found (a 'balanced' route from cyclestreets.net which largely avoids the A698) would suggest that it is possible (45miles ish) and it doesn't seem to be too crazily hilly but that of course only tells half the story, so if anyone has any knowledge of the roads round there, it'd be great to hear what they're like (on first inspection the A698 didn't seem too bad to me, on paper, but it sounds as though it has a nasty reputation so it's that kind of thing which would be useful too). Plus, I'm from Norfolk so, er, not exactly well-acquainted with massive hills.

Hope someone might be able to help!
thanks, adam