Cycling UK Forum

PD-T421 pedals are flat/SPD with spanner flats and reflectors. A bit plastic-y, and no grip pegs though.
(T8000 user)

Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑18 Aug 2023, 4:10pm It was certainly a wet and muddy activity this May.

but were you lounging about outside the tent?

philsknees wrote: ↑8 Sep 2023, 1:10pm(I think "mineral oil" translates to methylated spirit over here?)

Mineral oil is more likely to be turps or white spirit.
Meths is alcohol, nothing oily about it.

peterh11 wrote: ↑4 Sep 2023, 9:10amI stopped using the IQ-X after the stand light failed and I couldn’t get the unit apart to fix it.

Dynamo lights can very rarely be opened up easily, and are often glued closed.
It's German bike regulations that are to blame - the STVZO approval is limited to the supplied LED as originally mounted. Any change is likely to change the beam pattern of the light, so it's not allowed.

That Fischer clamp is the type usually used at the rear.
I'd expect a clamp for the front fork blades to be rare. Using one is fairly dodgy as the fork blades are tapered so the clamps loosen and move downwards with any movement, and the consequences of getting the dynamo in the spokes can be high.

Creaking whilst pedalling lightly would point me at the saddle, seatpost and clamps.
Does it happen when turning the pedals with no pressure?

I'd recommend the non-T Cyo Premium, which (IMO) hits the price/light quality sweet spot for those lights currently available. (model number 1752+letters)

The non-premium Cyo (aka Cyo 60) is a little less bright, but the main drawback is that the beam is a fair bit narrower (model number 175+letters).

I don't like the daylight running lights (="T") models. The daylight LEDs (the 4 slung under gregoryoftours' light) use as much power as the main beam LED, and I don't want 7 or so watts of dynamo drag all of the time, rather than just when I'm getting some useful light out of it. You can turn the light off, but then the Senso function won't work, and I find that useful enough that my dynamo lights spend all of the time in Senso mode.

The IQ-X and IQ-XS don't have a non-daylight running lights option, and there's the somewhat dodgy soft switch mentioned by PH. I dare say it's OK if you have the light turned on 100% of the time or never leave the bike unused for long enough for the standlight capacitor to discharge, but I have heard tell of people not being able to turn the light on until they are riding, or have ridden far enough to put some charge in the capacitor if the switch isn't reachable from the saddle.

I notice that the Cyo has dropped off the B+M website, so I expect it won't be available for too much longer. So has the Luxos U (with USB output, and a poor reputation for reliability).

In other news...
B+M are meant to be introducing a new IQ-XL light "soon " that's properly bright, almost like a car - 300 lux low beam, 250 lux high beam, with a handlebar switch to toggle between them. €300, and with daylight running lights though

SON are also introducing a new light (Edelux USB-FL) with a similar high/low beam switch. It apparently won't be all that much brighter than the B+M IQ-X, but the gimmick is USB power up to 7.5 watts via a handlebar switch socket, even with the lights running. Just the thing for those who navigate by smartphone?

Cycling is prohibited on M or (M) roads, and a small number of other roads, all of which you will need to pass a "no cycling" sign to access (circular, red border, black bike on white background).

Other that that, it's a matter of your judgement.

There isn't much practical difference between being hit from behind by a car doing 65 on a single carriageway A or B road, and one on a dual carriageway doing 70 or 80 - you probably get killed either way.
On the other hand, sight lines are generally better on duals, and there's much more overtaking space unless it's particularly busy.

On the being stopped front, if it's busy enough the be really dodgy*, it's even more dodgy for the police to try to pull you over for a talking to (or advice, as they would put it).

* One of my memories is of passing a cyclist on the Huntingdon to Grantham stretch of the A1, at about 19:00 on a Friday with nose to tail cars in both lanes doing a steady 75, on 3 or 4 occasions in June/July 1988.

My impression is that paint that's been maturing for a year or two is considerably less delicate than new paint.

That's based on the differences between a new frame (that's not a standard frame from stock) and a frame that's come back from repair and hasn't been built up for a year or three (parts transferred to a different frame before sending it off).

Stradageek wrote: ↑29 Aug 2023, 8:29am My rule is 'one puncture' - even if the tyre looks worn, repair it, 'another puncture in quick succession' - replace it.

Of course this rule is superseded if there are clear signs of significant damage or wear

I would be inclined to treat a second puncture in quick succession as evidence the you hadn't successfully removed the cause of the first puncture, rather than end of life.

I gernerally have a feel of how thick the remaining tread is whilst swapping tubes after a puncture. With relatively smooth tyres the extra thickness either side of the centreline of a worn tyre is fairly obvious.

Mr Tom wrote: ↑29 Aug 2023, 8:32amI thought it was sand on the tyre in your photo, I didn't realise that WAS the tyre! I remember a guy in a bike shop telling me he'd seen people were riding on Schwalbe tyres worn down to where the blue puncture strip was visible.

The slightly blue bit indicated by the red ring is a puncture repair patch on the inner tube that had worn through, giving the puncture that caused me to find the state of the tyre.

It's a drawback with proper mudguards - the tyre isn't visible unless you turn the bike upside down or remove the wheel, and if you don't take the wheel out except for punctures, the wear can get very bad.
I have had tyres have their first puncture at a similar state. (It's just luck rather than good tyres.)

Provided that the fabric of the tyre is undamaged (as checked from the inside of the tyre), it is OK to use.
The cuts shown may theoretically make subsequent punctures more likely, in that if a fragment of glass finds the hole, there won't be much resistance. Generally, they find a different bit of tyre to stab.
The upper tyre is worn enough to be noticably short of grip on grass or mud. Should be OK on the road though.

This tyre is worn to the unusable state. Generally, I get prompted to check the state of wear by a puncture before they get this bad.

Carlton green wrote: ↑27 Mar 2020, 12:03pm ’I never go for a walk without taking my bike’ was sort of a motto of the early Rough Suff Fellowship members and to me it is quite remarkable where they managed to take their bikes to. From what I see of those early bikes they weren’t remotely like todays Mountain Bikes yet they managed with them, how?

I think, in part at least, by not being reluctant to engage the 24" gear, doubtless assisted by footwear of a more general application than is normal these days.

I have seen photos of a RSF ride that went up Helvellyn via Striding Edge, negotiating the more difficult bits by passing the bikes up from person to person.

Andy Wilkinson is (or has been) a one bike for everything man, if wheel and handlebar changes are allowed.
Same bike for rough-stuff, touring, and setting a national 24 hour TT record.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/andy ... bike-29431

maximus meridius wrote: ↑20 Aug 2023, 10:53pmFrom previous searches I'd somehow got the idea that quill stems and vertical rear drop outs weren't ever seen together, at least on Dawes Galaxies. Seems I was wrong:

Vertical dropouts preceded threadless stems by quite a while. I've a 6 speed (126 mm oln) Raleigh Randooneur that's vertical dropouts.