Cycling UK Forum

Looks like a fair mix of good and bad experiences here, but to add mine to the pile:
1. Try to avoid travelling peak week-day times and especially sunny week-ends.
2. DEFINITELY book if you can and going too a rail ticket office seems easier than on-line. Get to know the best booking office clerk in your local station - some are more expert than others when it comes to bike bookings
3. Be prepared to remove your panniers etc to get the bike into a small space
4. Be prepared to accept the odd knock and scrape to your bike.
5. Leave some flex in your schedule in case you have to wait for the next train (one sunny sunday, the first train was so full you couldn't get more pasengers on, let alone a bike!)

Overall, I've found rail staff helpful and they'll get you on board if they can. Arriva trains and National Express were very helpful but that's down to the individual rather than the company I suspect.

Hi Mick,
Malta was always a good run ashore but I guess it's changed a lot since my last visit in the 70's? Has the Marsovin improved? We used to say the bottle ws worth more than the contents of the cheapest wine, but that was probably an unfair assessment made by the average matelot who didn't always find time to see the wonderfuly culture and history of the place.

Actuallly Jonty, I drive a sub 1000 pound car and am not averse to charity shop clothes or cheap razors, but that was so I could buy a decent tandem for us both at more thousands than you'd care to think about - got to get your priorities right eh?

Getting back to the topic though. Two and a half years ago I had the opportunity to try premature retirement (laid off), so wife and I cycled lots of places. we both lost weight and were oh so fit until some beggar gave me a job 6 months ago. I'm now just a few months short of 60, have put on weight and don't cycle anywhere near as much as I could or would like to, so guess what, stuff the job even though financially I'll regret it, but my health and well-being are worth more than dosh in the bank where it's always tempting me to buy things that I never knew I needed, let alone can find a use for. So hopefully I'll make an octagenarian cyclist too, but even if I don't, I'll undoubtdly last longer than if I'd not given it a go.

My wife loves her pilot 1.2 and would like to use it for light touring - have any of you put a rear rack on with panniers (and which ones?).

I fitted Giant Defy black fenders to the pilot and they go very nicely with the burgundy frame.

You could try tracking a few galaxies on ebay to get an idea of price. I'd be suprised if something like that went for less than 400-450 GBP

There's lots of discussion on this topic, so crack out a search and enjoy the differing views. I've done a 1200 mile trip in Europe just with pages torn from a road atlas plus hand-held compass and not had any navigation difficulties. On the other hand when doing LeJog, I plotted every twist and turn down the many country lanes on my Garmin 60GPSMap and thoroughly enjoyed NOT having to refer to paper maps at multi-exits at junctions, town centres and so on. If you cycle camp, think about getting a GPS with disposable batteries or one that can take an external battery supply as you may not always be in a position to re-charge the GPS. And what if you want to change your pre-plotted route half way through? Can you do this without the aid of a computer (more weight to carry). Again, I've travelled with a small netbook for this purpose and made great use of mobile internet access for B&B booking on the hoof and to knock out alternative routes to download to the GPS for the next day's journey. In summary, I like having a GPS in my bike kit but I don't use it all the time, just most of the time.

I've been using a couple of ASDA 12 function wired ones made by Bell on my tandem for the past four years. They currently sell for £7 each. after a few years I did notice a bit of 'fogging' on one of them after a torrential down-pour and I just ruined both of them by forgetting to put my usual cling-film over them whilst the tandem was on the roof-rack. It rained hard on that occasion and I guess the 70MPH wind pressure did for them

whilst back in ASDA to get another two, I noticed the Bell range now has a wireless version at £20 but I've no experience of that one.

One aspect to look out for with cheapie wireless, is their susceptibility to interference from electronic devices such as adjacent flashing LED lights, and GPS and in my case, my computer's VDU (odo spotted doing a 100mph when placed alongside!)

Funny Old World isn't it? I have a Dawes KaraKum - it came with Butterfly Bars, which I suspect could be of a lesser quality than some that are available. Anyway, a couple of thousand miles later I went to straight bars with bar-end grips. I found this more comfortable all round (back, and wrists mainly) and I was able to fit more 'kit' such as a GPS and Bar Bag on the straights (possible on butterfly bars but there really wasn't a great deal of real estate for accessories on them).

After another couple of thousand with the straights, and noticing that 90% of my local CTC touring group have drops, I thought I'd give drops a go. A couple of thousands miles on my Super Galaxy with drops, bar-end shifters (and my first ever Brooks!) and I'm now in a position to comment on all three. At least you'd think so, but I'm not clear at all. All three could be made comfortable with right adjustment and appropriate component selection I suspect, so for me it's come down to looks. The current winner on this count is Drops on the Galaxy, bit give me a few more thousand miles and I'll probably have an altered view: might even give a trike a go

I can't comment on the range of different panniers mentioned in this thread, other than the ones I've used which are Altura Dryliners. I have not found it necessary to pack the contents in plastic bags although I do use the Altura flourescent covers, both for visibility and to minimise dirty and abrasion on the panniers. So far they have proved 100% water tight and judging by the state of the covers, I'd recommend these to anyone.

I suppose the downside is that the flourescent covers will keep my Dryliners going for ever and I'll never need to buy replacments of the like mentioned elsewhere in this thread !

Doh! I missed that obvious last point. I now have a nice pair of 700c Giant Defy Fenders neatly in place - onlt a tiny bit of fettling required.

My wife has 650c wheels on her Trek road bike and I can't seem to find mudguards, slim or otherwise, that are specified for this size. Getting to my local LBS is not easy at the moment, so I'm wondering if anyone knows of a good web-site for said items?

What about 700c guards - is fitting these going to work without to much fetteling? Any suggestions gratefully received.

I wear a helmet on the very odd ocassion that I think I might fall off my bike (and no, that's not when I go to the pub). This, on the basis that at all other times if me and the bike part company, it's because I've been knocked off the bike and the helmet is not likely to save me due to the force of such an impact being beyond the capabilities of a helmet. In the meantime I enjoy the air-thru-hair freedom and the abiility to regulate my body heat with a conventional cap that is quickly donned/removed as needed. I'd rather be comfortable and able to concentrate more on what I'm doing, that be irritated by a helmet , loose concentration and have a pile-up.

Each to their own though - if you feel better wearing a helmet, then that's fine and you get my whole-hearted support.

Don't know about you, but I'm always loosing the little black endcaps that go over the cut ends of mudguard stays (and of course it's always the lower front ones that snag my toes when wearing cycling sandals - ouch!).
So:
a. what's the proper name for these?
b. where can I get replacements?
c. what might I use as an alternative?

Thanks in anticipation of your replies, both humorous and sensible of course.

Our custom built tandem was supplied by MSG Bikes in west sussex who were extremely thorough in their choice of components, including a a 'sit-bone' measurment for my lady stoker. The saddle provided was an SQLab 602 which comes in various sizes to suit. She has other saddles on other bikes but prefers the 602 out of them all but not having NOT tried those mention previously in this thread, a comparison can't be made.

I subsequently bought one for my own use and it is my most comfortable saddle to date. They are not cheap (£70 ish) but I got mine for £9 off eBay (amazing).

This link takes you to the German site and provides some background reading http://www.sq-lab.com/content/blogcateg ... 9/lang,en/

If you are near MSG Bikes why not pop in to discuss - or give them a ring: Shelagh is a tandem cyclist herself and Alastair is an absolute mine of knowledge on all things.

as previously mentioned, sports direct do Karrimor cycling kit - I've bought my last two s/s jerseys there for under a tenner and both have done me well for the last two trips (about 30 days cycling). Trouble is, they seem to be popular, so getting what you want may not be straight forward.

Silly me, now I've told everyone what bargains can be had, now I'll never be able to get stuff - best go camp outside tonight