Cycling UK Forum

Had mine. Rode there and back to get it. Nice day. Feeling mildly ropey today, but nothing a paracetamol wouldn’t fix if I could be buttocked to take one

Read the section on stoves in Three Men in a Boat. Tells you all you need to know.

Pedal power is interesting, but there is a huge gap between the needs of racers, where hydrofoil canoes are probably the way to go, and the pedal power of touring boats (which interests me). Gear ratios , prop angles etc, and not least how you get the drive from pedals to prop.

I think the idea of to separate threads is great -just not separating the discussion into two partisan echo chambers. Instead, I propose: one thread, for the discussion of the efficacy and desirability of helmets, as per the present discussion, and another for those wishing to wear helmets and who wish to discuss the pros and cons of different models, design features etc etc, free from partisan objections from either side.

Us recumbent pilots have a similar need for a wide spread of ratios. I find Sugino, Sunrace, still make decent triples, and you can always buy a set of bare cranks, and suitable bolts and spacers to build up your own using rings from TA or others. (Although this is a route I have not personally tried yet.)

As for mechs, a front mech doesn’t get nearly the same use as a rear, so good quality second hand ones are not too hard to find. When wrestling with the set up, don’t forget the importance of B.B. axle width, and remember that a B.B. spacer ring can work magic - the aim being to get the chainweels positioned centrally within the range of movement of the shifter mechs cage.

3x is by no means extinct. Few things in cycling ever are!

Agreed, it’s a very special’character’ in the bike world. I once said to Peter Stull that the Linear is not so much a bike as a system for building bikes. I like to think my remark inspired his later redesign of the short wheelbase version -but I doubt it! There was a SWB by the way, but it was short-lived as it had poor geometry and consequently terrible handling. Peter’s modern version on the other hand has gathered rave reviews.

I was once on tour in Norfolk and came across a local history exhibition which included a photo of a famous local entrepreneur seated on his 1920s Mochet Velocar. Finished in black and chrome with balloon tyres, it was a recognisable cousin of my Linear with its 2” Big Apples, and black and silver finish. The guy’s recumbent grin was also instantly relatable . . .

I’m not sure I would worry so much. Bikes can carry staggering amounts of weight in the form of cargo. Huge amounts of the supplies for Ho Chi Min’s victorious army in Vietnam was transported by bike after all. (Although often pushing rather than riding!). A reasonable quality second hand MTB, or something like a Pashley roadster, or a ‘Dutch bike’ which tend to be built in the old school style, should be fine I would have thought. As with any bike, check weekly for broken spokes, loose nuts etc, and many carefree miles should be yours.

Brucey wrote:a very common problem with V brakes is that the cable run to the brake fouls on something or is strained in one direction; if so this messes with the brake centring in an apparently unpredictable fashion.

Yup, had that one too!

And while I’m being splenetic, what about that time when naughty Weinemann put a hexagonal stub on the front of their side-pull caliper bolt, and surrounded it with a plastic bezel so you had to use their special ‘negative allen key’ tool to centre them?

Those plastic bezels got sawn off pretty quick!

Could go as far back as the 1980s. Pretty sure mine does!

To the roadie on the Bath-Bristol path this afternoon travelling at speed in the vicinity of Saltford, shouting at other cyclists to 'Keep Left! Keep Left!' . . .

. . . I really hope you had nothing to do with the child I encountered shortly after, in the direction from which you had come, limping, crying, and nursing a grazed elbow . . .

When I first discovered v-brakes I thought they were great -so logical and simple!

Then I discovered how hard it is to get and keep the b*****rs centred.

First there's adjusting the fiddly screws that, like derrailleur limit screws, are an obscure bicycle engineer's joke, being specially designed to fit a screwdriver that does not exist.

Then you despair and start bending the springs to adjust the tension quicker, or dismantling them and trying the alternative location holes . . .

. . . and dismantling them again to see if it's corrosion or dirt making one of the pivots sticky . . .

. . . then concluding it's friction in the noodle pipe . . . or the brake cable . . .

And by the time you've fixed all those, one or other of them will have gone wrong again.

Bah, Humbug!

I come down firmly on the ‘yes’ side in answer to the thread title question. Not because of any sweeping generalisations about the characters of motorists, but for an even more depressing reason.

It’s called ‘systemic violence’. The whole motor/road system is based on an assumption that is at root, an act of aggression. In the U.K. in particular we have become inured to the idea that the motorist has a right to proceed at nearly all times and places, and that everybody else should get out of the way. It’s dressed up as a safety thing, but actually, it’s just naked aggression embedded into an accepted social hierarchy. The flip side of ‘Keep out of the way of cars it’s for your own safety’ Is ‘Gerrout of my way or I’ll smash yer, and if I didn’t see you it’s your fault.’

You will see pedestrians crossing a side road for example, suddenly skip out of the way mouthing apologies, if even a slow moving car appears. They have totally internalised the hierarchy of aggression and show their tails to the ‘top wolf’ in an act of submission.

Kenneth Graham had it bang to rights in Wind in the Willows, creating the immortal Mister Toad as the poster animal of these attitudes. We think of Toad as a lovable rogue, but in real life he is a blood drenched, amoral killer and maimer.

Until we take these immoral assumptions out of our culture, driving will continue to be an act of aggression, no matter how innocent the journey, or how pleasant the driver.

I know, it’s a big ask.

I said it was depressing.

Weell, while all the issues you mention do exist, I have to say it sounds like you have been extraordinarily unlucky in your experiences of disc brakes!

Thanks Brucey, your reply is helpful. I note the calipers I recently fitted, designed specifically for road touring (they say), have uprated piston seals.

Boiling of hydraulic fluid would appear to be a concern with long mountain descents, not that I do many of those, but I did fit the Shimano ‘Ice Tech’ sandwich discs. I am aware that wear on a laminated product like that will need to be watched. I also run a 180 disc up front for similar reason.

And now I feel vindicated in my choice of cable actuated or cable hydraulic.

Pads throwing their friction material I have heard of, but only with dodgy aftermarket off-brand parts. I also watch pad wear carefully.

While the bb7s may possibly melt their adjuster knobs, I don’t see that as much of an issue. The outside one turns flats that can be gripped and turned with pliers. How do I know this? I keep knocking mine off on the bloody bollard forests that grow around here. Fortunately they are cheap to replace. Also, the back ones are pointless as you can barely turn them through the spokes with your fingers. I gave up trying years ago and always adjust the fixed pad with a star-bit screwdriver!

As for calipers cracking in two, well, yeah, possible, but then I’ve seen a good pair of Weinemann side-pulls do the same!

On the subject of brake power and modulation I have to agree that ultimate braking force is not the criterion for a good brake. I once rode a rim brakes bike left at our house back to its owner. On arrival I told them on no account to ride it, and to get different pads fitted. The pads were so grabby there was literally no modulation, it was either ‘go’ or ‘dead stop’. Not being aware of this, I took a trip over the bars seconds after starting.

I deliberately run a comparatively feeble back brake on my short wheelbase bent, as the loading is very light at the back, and too much brake can easily skid it. Same with the front wheel on my long wheelbase bike, where the loads are reversed. No point having a load of Newtons you can’t safely use. The brakes will stop the bike in both cases, but not so sharply as the loaded wheel. I put those Shimano spring thingies (power modulators I think they are called) on a v-brake mountain bike for the same reason. Pros sneered at them but for road use they turn a very strong grabby ‘buckaroo’ brake into one that will still give you full force, but not throw you off if you grab it too hard in a panic.

I used to love my downtube shifters! Having to tighten them up every few miles helped pass the time on long boring rides!!