Cycling UK Forum

A recent thread made me realise that my 14 year old aluminium frame will not last forever, in fact it may be getting to the end of it's life. Since finding this out I've been looking for cracks in the frame, luckily found none yet. My questions are
Do frames usually fail at the welds or in the length of the tube?
Where on the frame is it most likely to fail?
Do aluminium or steel frames fail differently?

After getting really bad service from the LBS I have done all my own maintenance.
At the time I had no bike tools so had the shop put on a new chain and cassette. After the new parts were fitted I had trouble with gear changing and after the third visit to the shop to get them to adjust it I gave up, thinking I can hardly make it worse if I do it myself.
Since then I've bought a few tools and do everything myself but build wheels. I'd like to have a go but without someone skilled on hand for guidance I'll stick to buying them.
I have trued a wheel, having made myself a jig and followed on line instructions.
Nowadays part of the enjoyment of cycling is keeping our old bikes running reliably.

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice. I've been doing as suggested i.e. getting the bead of the tyre into bottom of rim etc. and previously tyres have gone on and come of with no difficulty. In fact on my wife's bike I don't really need any levers. I wonder if the tyre is slightly smaller than the one it's just replaced, although they are both the same make and type? They're not exotic, just fairly low cost ones from Decathalon, maybe it's a case of you get what you pay for and I ought to buy better tyres or get stronger thumbs.

Can anyone recommend a really strong set of tyre levers. My last set were plastic but reinforced with something and pretty strong. I've had them for years but one finally gave up trying to get a newish tyre off the rim. The last set didn't have a makers name on them so don't know what took for. I've seen aluminium ones but I'd suspect they'd bend.

I always thought police officers had to be made of much sterner stuff. How many people have had the micky taken out of them at work over something stupid they've done and just got over it. These things eventually die down and get largely forgotten. Sometimes it leads to a nickname as more permanent reminder but that's all. I think this guy may have had the wrong character for a policeman. He'd been in the force for 16 years so I wonder how he coped with abuse from an ungrateful public?
Nice pay out so I expect he's laughing all the way to the bank.

I haven't looked but pretty sure they'll only be available on line.

Brucey, was it very noisy ? I ask because last year a fully enclosed bike passed me and I heard him long before he passed. It was a fairly bumpy road but the panels seem to amplify the sound. I get passed quite a lot so something of a judge

Has anyone tried these? They seem a good price for full length mudguards but the advert doesn't mention the width. I'm running on 1.75 tyres so don't need them massively wide but don't want them too narrow either. I don't think Ill find them in store to take a look.

I had a problem with gear changing, both up and down. I'd changed inner and outer cables with no improvement. I noticed that the bearings in the jockey wheel had lots of play in it so bought a new pair, problem solved, now still changing perfectly after 8000 miles on a mix of tracks and road.

What makes you think it'll be fixed? You have more confidence than I do. We need the police for sure but there is a disconnect between the police view of what is OK for them to do and what is OK for the rest of us. A programme was shown on TV last night about the Police use of guns which was quite shocking. The Police policy used to be to use the gun to disable the criminal, now they are trained to kill. When was all this agreed? and by whom?
I am aware that the Police do a very difficult job but secrecy and cover up's don't do anything to get the support from the public.
My oldest friend in the UK is an ex Policeman, having retired 15 years ago. He says that he doesn't recognise the force of today and wouldn't want to be part of it.

Let us know when you lose your weight and how many weeks it takes. I think weight loss it quicker at the start of a diet but slows later on. I'm around 6'-0" and weigh between 12.5 to 13.5 stone. The increase occurs in the winter months, a mixture of 'comfort' eating and less miles on the bike. I'm not sure I'd have the willpower to diet so good luck, I hope you lose your 'panniers'

I think electric bikes are bikes and I'd get one if my Knees give up but I think they can be dangerous in the wrong hands.
I know you have to peddle to get the assistance but around here we have a twisty, hilly bike track and the power assistance enables the riders to go up the hills and hit the sharp bends much faster than is safe. I been taken off my bike once and ridden into the bushes twice to avoid them.
I suspect they enable people to get onto bikes who haven't cycled for years and the mix of a lack of experience and the power gets them into dangerous situations.
I wouldn't want to force some sort of restriction on their use but they can be a problem.

The problem with running a pre '70's car is that unless you can do the work yourself it can cost a fortune to keep up the with rust and mechanical issues. I also think the cost of buying old cars is rising, maybe people think that it will save them money to run one and also be a good investment. I've seen youtube videos of car renovations by amateurs and some of the welding is positively lethal, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing!
I remember in my younger days spending many weekends keeping the family banger going and nowadays avoid doing anything on a car. Part of this is due to being very nervous of newer car electrics. I like to see an old car on the road though, and admire the owners resolve to keep them going.

As I read it from the replies, there are no distinct advantages from noisy freewheels, also that some like them and some, like me, don't. Could it be a marketing thing? I've read that 'sporty' have their exhaust system designed to appeal to the people who buy this sort of car although the car could easily be made quieter with no loss of power. I assume they've researched their target market and the majority like the noise.

I've noticed that when coasting down hills my bike is almost silent but when a road bikes pass me they make a loud clicking sound from the freewheel. I wonder what the advantage of this type of freewheel is and what's different about mine, personally I like my bike to run as silently as I can make it.