Cycling UK Forum

Once bought two pairs slighly worn marathon XR tyres from a gent on a town bridge once for the total sum of fifteen pounds.. that's 3.50 per tyre! And having fitted the first pair i can see why... still, its not so bad if you refere to them as 'training tyres'. Only 20,000 miles to go and then i can move onto the second pair..

What's the seat post made from? If its alloy or steel you may be able to make the diameter of the seat post bigger by hitting it with a hammer and punch across its surface. The punch will distort the metal, making a dent, but the metal around each dent would be pushed up. If you continue to make punch strikes along the surface of the metal the diameter of the seat post should increase... personally i'l never tried it What i have done is simply wrapped lots of electrical tape around the seat post until the diameter was slightly larger than i wanted and then just pushed the seat post in and tighten the clamp. Under pressure the tape became a sticky mess, but the seat post was held securely

i know that route ~ its okay, with sweeping bends rather than tight corners, and some really nice views. Last time traffic was light ~ most seem to be holiday makers so will stick to the faster moving A3052 and A358. The last time i did it, there was a great B&B at Southleigh, not too far from the route. If in doubt fit a zounds horn and blast it before each blind corner... don't forget to pump it up at every rest stop for the best noise... best leave your ear phones for the rest stop too, that bud bud bud bud bass beat might not be coming from your mp3 players but a fast approaching boy racer, who has taken to using the back roads, due to having no insurance, M.O.T or driving license.. If you have the time, try climbing Seaton hill (b3175). Its a great little change for the legs and the view at the top across the valley is worth it (except perhaps in the rain and the mist )

Although to be fair, its unlikely that any pedal will suddenly need adjusting on any tour lasting less than a month... just check the pedals over, along with the rest of the bike a month* before the tour, and make any adjustments then, in the comfort of your garage, shed or kitchen at a time that suits... which is far better than trying to make adjustments out in the car park of a hostel, or campsite...

If it makes you feel better my Dad's got the same model of pedals on his bike... they came loose in 1982 and the bearings were only tighten in 2007 when i got bored one rainy night in January... despite the amount of miles that they'd done with the bearings loose, the cone nuts weren't in bad shape at all..

(* A month before may seem like ages before a tour, but it allows you plenty of time to get any spare or replacement parts, and allows the shake down of any adjustments. Commandment number 7 of bicycle touring... thou shall not make any last minute adjustments to one's bicycle on the start of any tour)

[quote]- As with any internally geared hub, you have to stop pedalling before changing to guarantee it will shift smoothly and you don't eventually break it[/quote].

Indeed, i used to think the same, until i started testing the NuVinci 360n. This hub really doesn't mind shifting when you're pedalling. Of course there's the weight of this hub to consider, as well as the fact that there's still no offical effeciency figures quoted, but currently for my journeys under forty miles, over rolling terrain, unloaded, it seems up to the job, and shifts smoother than my friends rohloff. Is it just me or am i starting to believe that there is no ideal hub?

And if i could use this thread as a bit of a soap box, it would be great if hub designers could stop trying to push more and more gears into a hub, but rather concentrate on making the selecting mechanism for the gears as part of the hub, rather than the speed controller (that way the tension of the gear cable, and its position would be less critical, and the hub would last longer) as well as making the hub stronger so that ratios below 1.7 could be used (because then you could use a dual drive or double chain wheel to increase the range, suitable for loaded touring over steep terrain).

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For me, its any bike for which there is still a reasonably large amount of second hand, lightly used, and cheap spares available. The moment that you find that 'whatever' has broken, worn out, or fallen off and that you're unable to find a replacement is the time when you realise that your bike might not be as long lasting as you first thought...

Probably the worlds most robust, long lasting bicycle, is the one you own right now, providing you've also got a shed full of replacement bits, tyres, wheels, saddles and perhaps even a spare frame or two. And a lock

Thanks for the tip ~ sadly these are too worn even for me. Theres two wear grooves, a wobbly one mid way around and another right at the top of the cone ~ looks like the pedals have been run very loose for some time, and now there's not enough metal to remove.

If anyone has some spare kona flat pedal cone nuts that they're not going to use, keep them. They may be worth a fortune. But if you do want to sell them, then i'm interested. The other idea is to get out my big bearing catalogue and see if theres a bearing of the right size that will sit over the spindle and fit inside the pedal body..

As an aside, if you scroll the screen down there should be a converted 26" wheeled tourer with photos showing some clever use of the ergo hand grips: http://gypsybytrade.wordpress.com/the-b ... gh-sierra/

thanks,
cycle tramp

The cone nuts on adjustable pedal bearings are the first things to suffer should the bearings get loose.. however i've spent over an hour trying to google a supplier of spare cone nuts for pedals and still haven't found one... some one must be selling these things, surely?

Would you be more inclined to purchase a Shimano Alfine 8 speed hub if it was factory fitted with an oil port (for ease of replacing the oil in the hub) compared with any other hub at the same price?

If the answer is yes, simply post a reply, and if we get alot of positive replies, like a couple or so pages, i'll post the whole thing across to their product developement team.

Thanks for reading this,
mat cycle tramp

(Should like to point out that i have nothing to do with Shimano what so ever, and am currently breaking in a Nu-Vinci 360N hub. Might try one of those i-motion 9 hubs on my next bike... its just i got to wondering if there is a suppressed demand from cyclists for an eight speed hub complete with an oil port ?)

Is there any way you can try a Nu-Vinci 360N hub before you buy an alfine unit? Have to admit that i bought one after trying St John St Cycles test bike, and i think i might be falling in love with it..

i'm jealous, all over again. In 2007 sustrans organised a camping week, in which we all rode around the Bristol Channel (except for the wet bit ~ a ferry was chartered for the Swansea to Illfracombe leg). One of the riders had one of these. It was fitted with grease nipples on the seat tube, front and rear racks, drum brakes, huge multi purpose tyres, mudguards, dynamo, and north road bars. He'd also fitted it with a triple chainset and a six speed freewheel attached to a three speed hub. He also left the cantilever brakes on, but engineered it so that they looked broken, and therefore not fit to steal. Needless to say i took lots of photos of it. If i can find them, i'll try and scan them for you..

The bike seemed to ride just fine.. both when it was loaded with all his camping equipement and when it wasn't. The trip took in the usual sustrans trails, tracks and side roads, plus some bumpy muddy off roading as well. You may have found your next train friendly off road tourer. You lucky person, you.

p.s. the cantilever brake set look interesting.. please be kind enough to drop me a line should they make it onto the bicycle bits for sale page

Valbrona wrote:There is every point in using 26" if you are just not that tall. If smaller people use smaller frames, why don't smaller people also use smaller wheels?

Oh gosh, yes indeed. Lots of points. i just thought i'd flag up the quote, as it seemed rather a strange one to find in a magazine that caters for so many different types of cyclists..
And if anyone like Wes Williams really wants to know why i ride a 'small wheeled bike' (not too sure what he'd make of the bickerton then..?) here's my answers.

i) lots of really good quality/ little used second hand 26" wheels coming onto the market from mountain bikers looking to get 29" wheeled mountain bikes

ii) still got a load of 26" wheels and tyres in the garage that i haven't worn out yet, and i'm not sure that any performance increase offered to me by a larger size wheel would be worth the economic or the environmental cost of me changing my equipement

iii) still an amazing rim & tyre choice for 26" wheels

iv) i use hub gears so i get a smaller lowest gear with a 26" compaired with a 29" wheel or even a 700c wheel

v) some of my front wheels have 36 spokes, making them stronger than the equivalent 700c or 29" wheel

'So there's no point is going down to 26 inch unless you are physically too short for a well designed 700c frame'
page 56 Q&A june/july 2012 issue of cycle....

i notice that The lazy Rando (http://thelazyrando.wordpress.com/) has elected to sell his 700c wheel equipped surly long haul trucker, and yet keep his 26" wheel equipped surly long haul trucker... complete with the two inch wide tyres... interesting..

'Smoother ride equals more pleasure'
page 56 Q&A june/july 2012 issue of cycle

Ho ho ho..
cycle tramp