Cycling UK Forum

Here are some pics of my two. [img] IMG_9911.JPG [/img] [img] IMG_9916.JPG [/img][img] IMG_9917.JPG [/img][img] IMG_9918.JPG [/img][img] IMG_9925.JPG [/img] Note the wear on the top edge of the inner cage plate - frequent close encounters with the freewheel. An illustration of CJ's point about the t...

This morning I've managed to disinter both my 1975 'original' Rally mechs. The outer cage plate on both is stamped 13-36 = 36-54 (not 53). They're identical except for the cable clamp screws. One of these has a plain hexagonal head, on the other the head is slotted. The latter doesn't look quite rig...

I was fortunate to have two of the 'original' (I'm pretty sure) version of the Rally, fitted as new equipment to a Jack Taylor 'Super Clubman' I bought in 1975, and a Bob Jackson tandem bought a year later. The original gearing with the former was 52/40 with 14-28; the latter 52/36 (soon changed to ...

I think I was in the first cohort to use the new aerosol inhalers in the mid-60s, and have used salbutamol (Ventolin) ever since. One thing noticeable since the CFC propellants were replaced by non-CFC is that the small hole in the plastic dispenser clogs up much more easily, and needs washing out r...

Farm mud on the road usually comes from tractor tyres, which of course means some work is going on in the fields and the soil is wet.I have known a few farmers and without exception they try to avoid working the land when the soil is wet. In non-arable, livestock-dominated areas such as most of Dev...

Somerset? The worst Somerset has to offer is squeaky clean compared with the average narrow lane in mid-Devon. The combination of high banks, no verges, no roadside ditches or other drainage, runoff at every fieldgate, steep gradients running across the contour, more adopted mileage to maintain than...

Not entirely does that work, for how many miles of motorway or strategic roads network are permissive? Is it only walking and cycling routes that get left to the whim of landowners? New motorways and strategic roads are adopted as Public Highways, and thereafter become public responsibilities, thro...

No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that if I were on that particular track it would be as a recreational rider. I don't live or work up there so would not be commuting on it. If it was used by commuters I would like to hear that and if I did hear that my views about the boardwalk section would be ...

What I have been trying to elicit is whether that track, when it was in use, was of much use for utility purposes. Given the location, it would be reasonable to assume that the only likely utility use would be for residents of Thelkeld commuting into Keswick. Although that would mean first crossing...

A gentle reminder (In case this is wandering off too far into the hypothetical) that the National Park actually wants to tarmac this stretch, it doesn't have to be persuaded. So the only question for cyclists is whether any objections to tarmac are substantial enough to justify lobbying for an alter...

Link?

Walking along a local towpath in the dark I was puzzled by an approaching array of flashing white and red light, apparently moving erratically. It was only when they were a few yards from me, at which point I was beginning to get the heebie-jeebies, that I realised it was two black labradors, each b...

This is a former railway, so presumably the trackbed it still there? In which case there wouldn't be a problem with treeroots, I imagine, as the trackbed would be sufficient foundation - but I'm only guessing.

.. I understand fixed hub gears with two or more ratios are available, anybody used one? Not used one myself, but my father used to talk with awe about a 4(?)sp Sturmey Archer fixed which one of his CTC clubmates had in the 1930s. Apparently they were temperamental, and Jack Lauterwasser was said t...

There may well be other local issues involved here, but the opposition to tarmacing this stretch strikes me as a wee bit puritanical. Although it passes through pleasant woodland, the 'rurality' of the immediate surroundings is already severely compromised by the proximity of the A66, and is defined...