Cycling UK Forum

Thanks for the help and advice.

I've been to the Lakes once, when I was a young lad, so Windermere was my choice to start getting to know them. We expect it to be busier than Oxford street in the run up to Xmas..
-so we won't be going west any further than coniston this time round, we'll leave that until the next time

the suggestion about the ferry sounds good, we were going to do that after looking at the OS maps we've bought

cheers

arthur

Hi

Myself and my partner are off to Windermere for 3-4 days in a weeks time and will be taking the road bikes (mine's a Claude Butler San Remo -12 speed I think) so we're not looking at offroad or really conky stuff.

Anyone got any suggestions for some nice rides, not too strenuous, probably about 15-30 miles on tarmac?

As a guide, we've just returned from the Loire where we were averaging about 30 miles a day, but obviously that's a little flatter

BTW we can travel further than straight out of Windermere as we have a car with a roof rack, although we're not planning on going further than Coniston and Ullswater...

Thanks all in advance...

At last the letter!
The accident rate -as presented it doesn't take into account the countrywide volume of cars compared to the overall volume of m/cs. I would imagine you are far more likely to be involved in an accident with a car than a motorcycle, whether on foot or on your pushbike. I'd like to see the figures for that.
Nor does the letter actually give a percentage for the number of m/c users in the years given along with the rise in accident rates - could it be that the number of users has also risen?
As for environmental impact, all new motorcycle meet all current (and in some cases) future applicable emissions laws. If you look at a "big bike" - say a 1000cc compared to a a big car- ie a 4X4, I think you'll probably find a comparable mpg. Also, in traffic congestion a m/c is more likely to be moving, whereas most cars will be doing 0mpg.
On a personal level, my 500cc emissions compliant machine returns a better mpg than my Toyota Yaris (60+mpg compared to 47 mpg).

I find this whole thing distasteful. As a CTC member why do I have to read the letter signed by CTC on a motorcycle website?

I thought CTC was about choice - the choice to wear a helmet or not, the choice to ride in a cycle lane or not. My choice as a motorcyclist to purchase, insure and ride whatever road legal machine I like should remain, and as such I will now have to consider whether I should remain as a member of CTC.

James Wyburd wrote:The 1 August letter from the CTC and others to which I referred is subject to a long [and not unfair] report in Motorcycling News [Pages 4 & 5, 5 Sept edition].
Should the CTC executive/staff be involving themselves in a such campaign without telling members, and without posting the letter on the CTC web site? I think not, and believe most members will agree.

That's where I first heard the news before. However, I take everything I read in MCN with a pince of salt. I'd like to hear what CTC have to say on this.
As I said in a previous post:

If CTC is thinking about influencing, or attempting to influence government policy into "downsizing motorcycles" then I'd love to read about it.

So is there a copy of the letter to view?

James Wyburd wrote:The 1 August letter says the government must "insist" on the downsizing of motorcycles and embarks on a long political tirade against motorcycles.

glueman wrote: It does seem though that you are primarily a motorcyclist who has picked up some headline from one of the mags. I'd take it with a pinch of salt. ...
Motorcyclists sometime come on the board in a huff but disappear again once they know the truth. .

Yes, I am a cyclist and a motorcyclist (and a car driver and a pedestrian, but I count the first two modes of transport as my main forms of getting around).
Can someone point me in the right direction as to where this letter might be viewed? If CTC is thinking about influencing, or attempting to influence government policy into "downsizing motorcycles" then I'd love to read about it.

I originally had some 23mm tyres fitted to my CB San Remo, but after suffering 5 punctures in 3 weeks on my commute I swapped them to Marathon Plus 25mm (strangely the bike shop said I could either get Marathon Plus at 25mm or Marathon at 28mm).

The marathons are great and loads faster - if you take into account it takes an extra half hour to change the tube

So far since changing over I've done about 700 puncture free miles on most types of surface (some of my commute is light off-road), and looking forward to another 700 - my other bike has 28mm marathons fitted and the first set wore out without a single puncture... the new set are going strong after 2 years puncture free

I keep em pumped to about 70PSI, and they handle everything. As I'm not a fast rider I'm only concerned with a trouble free ride.


Happy days..

How's my cycling?

Call 0800 SWEET

the 18 miles I did home tonight felt tough after a day at work, don't know whether I'll manage it in the winter-
but the ride in this morning was good, as I caught just about the only sunshine of the day as it rose above the clouds.

some days are harder than others, I'd gladly swap my 36 mile round trip for a shorter commute, under 24 miles in total would do me I reckon....

I've been cycling a once or twice to work each week since buying a Claude Butler San Remo in May; it's a 36 mile round trip down some nice quiet lanes- I don't think I could manage it more than twice in one week, as I'm not very fast and I don't use clipless pedals/ toeclips, - still takes me about 1h30m to travel the 18 miles.
The rest of the time I use my motorbike, so still out in all weathers!
I'm not sure about riding during the winter - I'd have to have much better lights - I know someone has mention Dinotte LEDS - anyone else any other suggestions? - I'd prefer LEDS with different levels of brightness available as some of my ride is traffic free.
Also suggestions on hi-vis gear?- all my kit is dark, so I don't want to fork out on new stuff - I could always use one of my motorbike hi vis vests.

Hi Horizon
Thanks for the reply - very helpful!

Looks like we'll take the MTBS - we're going by car although it's only small so it'll be just two cycles we take.
We're not touring, just doing short day rides, so it sounds like the MTBs will be a good choice. We're not really elite cyclists so the lower gears will suit better - on my roadbike i only have a twin ring anyway, and neither of us ride clipless.

Cheers.

Hi everyone

Myself and my partner are going to the Auvergne region this september - we'll be near Tauves/ Clermont Ferrand / La Bourboule - Puy de Dome.

We'd be grateful if anyone could let us know what sort of terrain faces us.

Specifically we're trying to decide what sort of bikes we're going to take with us. We have skinny tyre basic drop bar road bikes, and front sus hard tail mtbs with full knobblies.

So the question is - what type of bike would you take?

We know there's marked MTB trails and cable cars in the area, we've done road cycling and MTBing/VTTing in France before.

All help and suggestions appreciated.
BTW we're not very fast/ extreme cyclists so on a road bike we'll do 20-30 miles and on a MTB we'll do 10-15 miles which is enough for us

Cheers all.

Arthur Foot + Peggy Leg (literally)

Had a funny feeling from the steering once, heading downhill.. then it became apparent the handlebars had come away from the frame.... managed to brake before i lost the front end...

and after 3 punctures and no more tubes and a desire just to get to work, cycled 7 miles on the rear rim standing up mainly, leaning over the front bars - wheel was ok, got marathon plus tyres on now...