Cycling UK Forum

There's a brillaint cycle shop in Oxford at the Magdelen Bridge end of the Cowley Road, perhepas its called Oxford cycles. They are certainly to be recomended by experience, they cover all aspect of cycling offering only the most reputable of brands.

Godd luck, Marc

your best bet is evans cycles there have stores all over london and a huge range of bikes. check out there website

That's their loss then, as I'll take my business elsewhere when the renewal comes up next year...

And if they wish to take this message as some Real Data about their business then that's fine by me!

Pete.

Pletcher (Swiss?) made an excellent alloy map holder that used the handlebar stem's expander bolt to clamp it in position. The map was then held by a spring loaded piece of plastic. Still available, but not easily fitted to Ahead stems, or recessed expander bolts - hence the need to use CJ's MapTrap. I see no need to reinvent the wheel.
I do see folk trying to read/reprogram their handheld GPS unit while riding. Maybe they need some suitable design to assist them.

i sent my bike back from lille to waterloo on sat 11/09/2004(24HR DELIVERY SERVICE) and when i got to waterloo on the sunday no one new where it was.i phoned on the monday and was told it was at ashford in the managers office.it finally arrived at waterloo 72hours late and with about £75 worth of gear missing have i got a case for a claim

Unwrapping a new cannondale T2000 touring bike,packing clothes,money,credit card,saying Happy Christmas to teenager,dog,man,then bye bye,and heading off to Ireland for as long as it takes me .........

I would like to see something that holds the map flat, doesn't leak(!) and has a waterproof pocket large enough for an extra 3 closed OS Landranger size maps.

Last year I was cycle camping in the lower Pyrenees. Stunning, if not freezing cold at night and no shops open for Xmas or Boxing day.

This year I fancy Gran Canaria as there's guaranteed sunshine, big mountains and beech... and two campsites I think.

Don't be too put off. The CJ maptrap is OK - while it lasts. Mine broke because the material used was (IMO) too brittle. It couldn't take the knocks.
Polycarbonate might have been a better choice.

With any product (even quite a good one like CJ's) theres always room for a re-think - or an entirely new approach.

CJ. Thanks so much for the detailed instructions. I had no trouble at all disengaging the brakes, as it was indeed straightforward. It all went awry though when I attempted to pull the casing away from the hub. I felt that there was too much resistence and that by persisting I'd break something.

I live 12 miles from town (and nearest bicycle shop) and have just taken the bike in on the train, and left it in my office. I'll take it to cycle shop tomorrow. The cycle mechanic said that he would repair it as I wait and guide me through the process of wheel removal. I'll consolidate this with having a go myself, again, using your instructions.

I am certain that it will be straightforward, but I think I need to see someone else do it first. But thank you for your help.

Sure we know there are differences, but to get a different premium we have to make a case to the insurers.

I'm guessing here (I'm at HQ but not on insurance) but I should imagine that lower premium was a guess, an offer designed to allow the aquisition of data (claims experience) upon which a more educated guess could be made regarding the true risk of insuring those sorts of cycles.

If very few trikes and bents took advantage of that lower premium during that initial trial period, there would have been insufficient data for those types. Evidently there were enough tandems though.

Insurers always fight shy of the unusual. They are more comfortable with stuff when there's a lot of it about - even if it gets nicked a lot - since that yeilds big numbers that they can be confident of. It's no good guessing and hoping and applying common sense. Unless you can PROVE your risk is lower, the insurers won't take a chance on it.

In that case it sounds like the cable is simply suffering from fatigue where it wraps and unwraps around its circular groove in the lever mechanism. I guess you use the gears a little more intensively than Campag expect. Uncertain shifting may indicate that cable is now part frayed.

It could be worth checking the setting of your gear stops, for bottom sprocket and big ring. If the stops are set a bit tight, there could be excess tension on the cable as it makes those end-of-stroke shifts.

Alternatively, if your cable casings are not too well installed, they may have always suffered from a bit too much friction, meaning more cable force on all shifts, which would both cause uncertain indexing and contribute in a cumulative way to premature cable fatigue.

In industrial applications, it's bad practice to wind a cable round a drum less than 20 times the cable diameter. Bicycle gear shifters generally involve much tighter curves than that in order to minimise bulk and weight in the lever, so early cable fatigue can be expected. Unlike brakes, gears are not safety-critical, and changing cables rather often is a price most sporting cyclists are prepared to pay for lighter, neater bikes.

This job is a lot easier with the bike upside-down. After unscrewing wheelnuts you've got to remove the bolt that secures the brake reaction arm to a clip around the chainstay, unhook the gear cable and then the wheel can usually be lifted far enough away from the bike (and twisted around to rest alongside it) to change a tyre or tube without disconnecting the brake cable. But if you have to do that, it's pretty clear how it goes.

Unhooking the gear cable is not so obvious. First put the hub in top gear - whatever makes the gear cable slackest. Then pull the cable casing away from the hub, i.e. toward the bottom-bracket, clear of the "cassette-joint" (thing that supports the cable on the hub). Sometimes a ferrule on the end of that casing gets left behind in the casing socket on the end of the cassette joint. If that happens poke it out by sliding a screwdriver along the slot in the side of that socket and poke it back onto the casing end - then the cable can simply be pulled sideways and out through that slot. Now let the cable slacken, lift it out of the groove in the hub end of the casette joint and rotate the cable anchor bolt (in which the cable is clamped by a nut) so it can be unhooked from its slot. Carefully observe the orientation of this, so you can reverse the process later.

Been there - done that - got the patent!

See the Maptrap sold by CTC Shop.

Illuminated? Nah, use a headtorch.

On Christmas Day I would certainly like to be unwrapping a new road bike. I have already been leaving hints to the prospective Mrs Jim Davis by leaving catalogues and cycling magazines open at the relevant adverts but she keeps countering this by leaving Jewellers shop catalogues around everywhere. It just results in tense stand-offs and an untidy flat.

If I were cycling on Christmas day it would be in the Surrey Hills close to where I live as a lot of the roads there are rat runs normally thus they can be appreciated a bit more during the yuletide without rats or school run mums.

Cycling around London might be fun without the huge amounts of commuters. Basically, I would use the opportunity to go to a place that is bedlam during a normal working week.