Cycling UK Forum

I assembled mine in about 5 mins this evening. Now, I've never owned a bike maint stand before so I can't make comparisons. I've never been inclined to part with 100 quid for such a luxury but for 30 quid this stand is just fine and certainly beats the hell out of my loop of rope dangling from the shed roof and looped under the saddle.

I was a Thermarest person until (a) I started to suffer discomfort when sleeping and (b) until I borrowed a EXPED Synmat 7, with integrated pump (about 650gms compared to the Thermarest 440gms). I now have a Synmat 7 and I'm much more comfortable and warmer - Thermarest is going on eBay soon! Whilst on a recent trip, a fellow camper showed me his EXPED Synmat 7 UL. This is inflated by blowing into it rather than a pump. It was lighter and more compact when packed than the standard Synmat 7 (more like the thermarest's packed volume and weight I would guess). If Santa is kind to me, I'll be getting the Synmat 7 UL, but if not, I'll gladly stick to the ordinary Synmat 7 and I'll Never got back to the Thermarest.

horizon wrote:1999.

Thanks Horizon - a fountain of knowledge as usual! The ebay advert is now listed correctly and the bike concerned is in 653 tubing. Any views on this tubing versus the current model's Aluminium tube-set? The ebay advert has a 'buy-it-now' price of 550 GBP - seems too much to me: what say you/and other forum members?

LollyKat wrote:This Galaxy in Yorkshire looks as if it might be small enough if you used an ordinary seat post. Worth enquiring, perhaps?

Small world isn't it? I posted that link on the Bikes for Sale forum yesterday, and yes, would do me nicely, but fuel costs from Hampshire to W Yorkshire negate the good price.

Thanks for the thought though, and the Magura brakes would have been just grand too - (sigh!)

I'm looking for a steel tandem with a rear 18" frame and drops - there aren't too many around. A Dawes tandem has just (incorrectly) been listed on eBay as a Galaxy, but it's a Double Edge - it looks like it's made from steel though - anyone any idea if this is possible, and if so, when did Dawes make the shift on this model from steel to aluminium?

I use a Garmin GPSMap 60 series because it uses disposable AA batteries, therefore I don't need to worry about taking a charger and finding a mains source. I got my GPSMap for 100 GBP off eBay complete with road maps for GB and Europe. It's a rugged device and has been through many a rain storm and dropped a number of times and survived with only superficial case damage - wonderful tool.

I was with ManyBikes on this trip - as was said, going through Monte Carlo was hell - screaming traffic in tunnels everywhere. To be fair though we were only 'cut up' once - by a British plated Range Rover! Anyway, we met another couple who had bypassed Monte Carlo by taking a more alpine route to the North of Monaco - don't know the details though but it obviously exists. Oh, and don't like us, take the 'promenade walk' from Monte carlo to Menton - it's a steep path with goodness knows how many steps and we spent 2 sweaty hours and a day's worth of energy carrying loaded bikes across beeches and up/down steps in 30c heat - silly us

cadseen wrote:Cheers,
I avoid things with batterys, wireless will have 2 batteries

Hope you never need a pace-maker then

I've toured in France three times in the last couple of years and not had any problems because I'm careful about where I leave the bike i.e. mostly rural/small towns - in fact, never cities. Anyway, the passport, tickets, camera etc are in a barbag which I always take with me. I cover the (Altura) panniers with Altura hi-viz covers (now llokingtravel weary andtowards the tatty) and place my tent roll across the rear rack to cover the panniers. Anyone wanting to remove the panniers would have to unstrap the tent first. If the would-be thief only wants to open the panniers, the hi-viz covers are in the way.

Extra security could be had by maybe attaching a movement activated alarm and so on and so on. Such paranoia could spoil the trip. Theft for me has been the urban myth, but I'm not complacent.

bigjim wrote:I don't understand why anybody would pay for parking when you have a bike. I leave my car in a decent residential neighbourhood and cycle away. Left it for 2 weeks at a time with no problems. My car is not worth that much but if it was, thats what insurance is for.

Simple answer: peace of mind. Your philosophy is OK for UK areas you're familiar with I'm sure, but exactly how do you determine 'peaceful neighbourhood' in a country/area that you're visiting for the first time. And a fat lot of good insurance is when after a 500 mile testing tour you come back to a wrecked car in a foreign country where knowledge of the language is sparse.

Thanks to others for their other experiences/ideas.

A last minute decision to take the tandem off somewhere warm for a two week cycle camp left us with the usual question of how to get to a warm destination quickly (tandems and trains don't go together). It was far too late to book the EBE so we contacted a Brit run campsite in Airvault, France and made arrangements to park the car (with tandem on roof rack) and then peddle off for a couple of weeks - 1.5 euro a day for safe parking was a good deal.

Have others found and/or made use of similar arrangements in France or other nearby countries/UK as this method of getting the tandem to a distant location worked well for us?

Maybe 'cos I'm getting older but I now prefer an Exped Synmat to the Thermarest as they are for me, a lot more comfortable although heavier and much better insulation from the ground. The Synmat chair is rather heavy duty so I use my Thermarest Trekker chair instead. It's a bit of a squeeze to get the Synmat in, but the Trekker chair is so much lighter than the Exped one.
+1 for the 'wait until after the 1st trip to spend'

I've cycle camped in France a good few times and managed to get things charged easily by (a) asking Brits with caravans/campers if they'd help (and never had a 'no' nor a scowl), (b) the reception office (and my French is non-existant so holding up the item along with the charger plus travel adaptor works fine) (c) on the odd ocassion, the bathroom shaver points (but always be cautious for theives I guess) and finally (d) sometimes the older power poles will just take the travel adaptor and might well be switched on by default. Never had to pay for electricity yet. Reverse polarity is not a problem for plain old double insulated AC adaptors as used for charging phones, laaptops etc. France - a great place for cycling - enjoy the trip.

I must be very lucky then? I built a new conservatory over the winter and it's fully operational and I did the second bike clean just a few days ago. The first bike clean was on my good lady's bike as her request, so precedence set then! That's tandem riding for you - mutual interests (but not mutual bike maintenance).

As the papers are saying, what he stood for is most definitely not dead. Until 9/11 I guess I lived in blissful ignorance of what those not in the western world thought of us.

After 9/11 I asked myself why would someone hate westerners so much? And then I started to look around me with a different set of eyes and started to get a bit of a feel for why, but the papers and western governments don't talk about that much. As for the freedom of the press, I don't see much said about the 'other side's' point of view, so it really is difficult to get a balanced view, just a simple view as portrayed by the western media.

Oops, am I on an MI5 watch list now?