Cycling UK Forum

The fold is simply the best and that is the whole point when it comes to folding bikes. This enables me to put it on a train/bus/lorry cab/car without drama

Exactly. A couple of years back I took my Brompton on a business trip to Amsterdam, via Eurostar. Tiny Clanger (as he is called) took me to the station; across London; and then to the hotel. Then, after the conference ended, we went for a ~45 mile ride into the country, stopping for an al fresco meal at a restaurant (where demonstrating the fold generated a spontaneous round of applause from the folk at the next table). Got back about midnight, then home the next day.

Was this the ideal mount for a 45 mile micro-tour? No. But I couldn't have done it using any of my other bicycles, and I'd rather have done it than not!

I've said this before: IMHO vehicle doors should be prohibited by law from opening outwards (more than some small amount). There is no technological reason why they have to do so (sliding doors are even making somewhat of a comeback). Such legislation would be in line with recent requirements ('soft' vehicle fronts for pedestrian safety, seat belts in coaches, etc.) and would, over the course of 10-15 years, entirely eliminate the risk of dooring. Doesn't stop somebody getting out of their vehicle into your path, but makes the odds more even

It sounds like your server is not sending the correct MIME type for the gpx file, so your browser does not know what to do with it. I beleive the MIME type should be application/gpx+xml

I have said this before, but the surely the best approach would be to prohibit new vehicles from having outward-opening doors (by a change in the 'construction & use' regulations, or the EU equivalent). It would take about 10 years for most of the vehicle fleet to become essentially dooring-proof.

The important thing - the really important thing - is fitness for purpose:

The Lighthouse Keeper's Bicycle
Was covered in rust and mud
The rattles were indescribable,
It shuddered from hub to hub;
But twice a night he pedals the track,
Five miles there and five miles back,
through hurricane, storm and ice until
He reaches the village Pub.

The Lighthouse Keeper's Bicycle
Was caked with salt and tar,
The brakes they were derisible,
one mudguard swung ajar;
But he beat up the track, in the North wind's teeth
(with the handlebars pointing North by East)
through hurricane, storm and ice until
His fist closed round a Jar

In the interest of Science, you should do an equivalent experiment looking at the weight loss of your washing as it dries, to find out which is making the larger contribution to the dampness. You could use a selection of calibrated underwear...

I've got two wood burners, the first of which went in about 15 years ago. I'm one of the few remaining New Forest commoners who still own and exercise the common of fuel wood - I think there are 99 of us left. My assignment in 1 1/2 cords. This is cut and stacked as cordwood on the forest for us to collect (well it used to be cordwood, but now everything is mechanised and we get 2.2m standard lengths). The wood is usually felled in winter, and lies in the stacks until about October, when the allocations are made. The wood must be collected by the assignment holder before the end of the year.The neighbours and I used to hire a trailer & haul it manually, but with the longer logs this isn't feasible, so we hire a man with a logging truck and grab (which is very entertaining to watch). This year I chainsawed the logs over the Christmas break, and I've been splitting them in batches on dry weekends. Not many of those! However I got a good lot done this afternoon.
The split logs are stacked in my woodshed, and I will be starting to burn them sometime next winter. Usually I have a few weeks of '2 year old' logs left before starting on the new season, by which time I'll be organising collection of the next years allocation.
The woodshed is built onto the north side of the garage - you can see it propping up my bike here: http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3832&start=735#p308774. The front is open and the sides are slatted to allow plenty of ventilation, and a plastic covered roof keeps the rain off. The roof is hinged and lifts up to make stacking easier without banging my head!
This gets the wood pretty well dry. Other tips and comments...

It's easier to split the logs fairly soon after sawing - say six weeks at most
When sawing, clear away the sawdust Immediately after sawing. If you leave it overnight the dew will glue it to the ground
Even wood which is soaking wet will be substantially dry to the touch once split and kept under cover for a week, providing the air can get to it
Smaller logs dry faster, but even small logs are better split, as the bark keeps the water in
After a few months the logs will shrink a bit, which can destabilise the stack. I check every so often and thump any logs showing a tendency to slip out back into the stack
If your wood is dry, and the stove run adequately hot, the chimney sweepings will be fine, black soot, with no trace of shininess or tendency to stick together. Ask your sweep if you are doing it right!

My stoves provide heating only, and I have oil as a backup and to provide hot water in winter (solar hot water for the summer). Typically I'm using only 800 litres of oil a year, though I work full time so the house is unoccupied most of the day.

Redvee wrote:Bringing things a bit upto date: I was at Filton when Concorde touched down for the last time and was in Mangotsfield when A380 made its first visit to Filton, even though it was a few miles away it was still a lot bigger than expected.

Last year I was lucky enough to visit Airbus at Toulouse for a meeting. We got to do the A380 assembly building tour, which was interesting enough, but being there on real aircraft business (de-icing systems) we got to go airside and walk round the prototype. From beneath, it's HUGE!

Possibly the law should require all side-mounted motor vehicle doors to be sliding, or inward-opening, or otherwise capable of being opened without at any time projecting more than (say) 15cm from their closed position? Outward-opening hinged doors are clearly hazardous.

If you come out of the station on the North (city) side, and turn left, just under the road bridge (Central Bridge) there is a little shared path on your right, which takes you up to Millbrook Road East. This is a pretty lightly trafficed access road: at the end of it a shared path takes you on to the shared path/cyclepath that parallels Millbrook Road. Turn left onto Third Avenue at the Regents Park Road lights, and follow it onto the estate. Not completely off road, but quiet enough. The trickiest bit would probably be the roads on the industrial estate, especially in the rush hour at this time of year.

Maybe this will suit you

LollyKat wrote:

my starter is just coming up to its 12th birthday

Old enough not to need pedal reflectors, then!

Anyone interested in the Art and Science of cookery should read http://www.amazon.co.uk/McGee-Food-Cooking-Encyclopedia-Kitchen/dp/0340831499 - full of all sorts of fascinating information, including scanning electron micrographs of cheese, so you can see exactly what you are grating (or not, as the case may be)

I used an offcut of the rubber sheet sold for lining garden ponds - it has just the right combination of stiffness and flexibility

I fitted the smaller Hesling chain case to my Giant http://www.dutchbikebits.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=48&product_id=75 with good results. I wrote a short review of my experiences on the shop product page.

Max

I also have a Giant Expression (7-speed) which I bought as a winter commuter/shopping/pub bike. Although it 'feels' much slower than the Mercian, especially up hill, it doesn't seem to make that much actual difference to journey times. Odd. To improve it for its new role, I made the following changes:

• Fitted a Mountain Mirrycle mirror to the handlebar
• Replaced the pannier rack with a cheap alternative rack, made using wire of the size I can attach some tatty (but still perfectly usable) 30 year old Carradice panniers to. These now live permanently on this bike. I recycled the bungie straps from the supplied rack, making brackets that hold them on permanently
• Fitted a 'frame lock' to the unused rear brake mounts (the bike has hub brakes). The associated cable can be run through the pannier handle loops to secure the panniers as well as the bike
• Replaced the supplied partial chain guard with one of these: http://www.dutchbikebits.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=43&product_id=75
• Fitted (bottle) dynamo lights: A B&M IQ Cyo in front & a B&M mudguard mounted rear light
• Swapped the plastic pedals, which I found too slippy, for some better quality metal pedals, but these are also still a bit too slippy. I don't want to use foot retention on this bike.

The result is a surprisingly good approach to a 'Dutch' style bike, but with a better gear range. OTOH I've probably spent as much as buying the real thing & upgrading the gears...
I think your LBS made a good call when asked for an OF'sB!

Indeed it was a grand day out. I arrived a bit later than intended, having had to find the de-icing spray for the car windscreen (first time this year) but the weather on the ride could not have been better. There must have been HUNDREDS of riders! Very well done to all concerened. Baring accidents, I'll be back next year.

On a more serious note: does anybody know what happened to the rider who was injured at Newbridge? When I passed there was an ambulance in attendance and a few riders marshalling traffic, so I didn't stop. I hope whoever it is is OK