Cycling UK Forum

namder wrote:Believe me or believe me not! I was cycling along a remote mountain track in southern Spain and came across a couple having sex. They were both fully dressed, she bent forward with her skirt over her head and he at the rear. I demounted !! and walked quietly past them. Either they didn't notice me or didn't care.

To quote Chaucer: Damian gan pullen up the smok an in he throng - Merchant's Tale

What else could you do? No, don't answer that!

thirdcrank wrote:When i was a teenager, our all-night rides were really exciting affairs, just for the thrill of it all, not because we did anything particularly exciting apart from staying up all night riding bikes. When retirement was approaching and I mused about the things I'd have time to do, I briefly thought about some all night rides but for some reason, it didn't seem quite the same. So, I've done various long rides which finished - by plan or bad planning - during the night, but no all-night rides.

Over the years, I've seen all sorts when riding at night: perhaps the most memorable was the Hale Bopp comet which put in a prolonged appearance not long before I retired.

This (Hale Bopp) was a constant companion in the night sky when as a family (partner with daughter 2 in child seat and me with daughter 1 on a tandem) we used to cycle 9 miles down country lanes from Diss station in Norfolk every Friday evening (to a cottage we had then) between 10 and 11pm. Flat, quiet and beautiful. I also learned how to fix a puncture in complete darkness on a bike with a small child fast asleep in a baby seat. True, a car would have been simpler but we could not afford one then and besides, the experience and the learned self reliance are worth far, far more.

Which led me to wonder if anyone has done extended cycle touring at night...?

Derby to Market Weighton in June to get to York Rally - when I reckon it was worth the bother - via Southwell and Bawtry. From 5 pm to 4.50 am without a map, satnav or phone 1990s. A lovely ride in fine weather

To echo an earlier poster; I too often switch off the dynamo in moonlight on quiet country lanes. I like the feeling of being cocooned by darkness at road level so that you are less aware of your own corporeal reality and focussed instead on interpreting the way ahead, the horizon and the darkness. Feeling but not hearing the wingbeat of an owl swooping low over your head. Stopping to admire the moon for more time than is sensible. A quiet and undisturbed dump in a hedgerow. These are all particular night time pleasures.

Even in deep and very late Autumn (the winter solstice being but two days away) I ache for the joys of the Dunwich Dynamo at t'other solstice (near enough). See you next July!

Once, on the off chance, I rode out on my trike from South Norfolk to join a trundler's get together at a pub in Rumburgh - Suffolk/ Norfolk border - for a TA (Tricycle Association) Sunday lunch. Nearing the village I saw a group of other tricycle riders on a road merging from the left. Not in itself extraordinary - they were headed in the same direction but from Norwich. However, they had not expected a trike rider from my direction and their surprise was such that the leader and about a dozen following riders looked at me a little too long and promptly ended up in the ditch in an unseemly jumble of legs, lycra and too many wheels. They were all alright but I spent half an hour re-trueing their wheels so that they could all carry on to the pub. Fair play to the TA, though, the incident received a write up in the next Gazette.

I sympathise. I went down the Thule route quite satisfactorily for several years with replacement feet on 3 different cars (although I had to update the bars to one of Thule's new designs at one stage) and all my bike racks continued to be used. I have had to go down the OEM route now because the last set of Thule feet simply would not stay on the car - the entire rack+2 bikes nearly came off on the M4 last year but for an eagle eyed driver who spotted it coming loose. Fortunately my wildly expensive tandem rack was upgradeable at modest cost to the new bars but all my old racks are now next to useless as the branded bars are too fat to accommodate the U bolts originally intended for rectangular steel bars. It would be possible to re-engineer some of the bike racks to suit the alu bars but it is a lot of faff - which I may have to get around to soon. However, as my son spends all of his free time either fencing, playing hockey, trampolining, playing netball or swimming we have less use for them and fewer opportunities for bike rides. So it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut used to say...

Framed wrote:I have an excellent 4-bike roof rack type carrier with fixings made for cars with roof-rim gutters. The fixings are removable, but now having had to change to a newer car, I've tried everywhere I can think of to buy replacement mountings, for modern cars without gutters. I'm told by retailers "You'll never be able to get those, just buy a new rack, -we've got some good ones!" As my rack is excellent and in perfect condition, and I wholeheartedly believe in recycling (no pun intended!) I'm determined not to give in and scrap it if it's possible to obtain the correct fixings. (Am not able to do welding or metalwork of any kind, so no DIY possible)

Mick F wrote:I think it was a sad day when we moved away from 27". They look so much more graceful.

The writing was on the wall when I bought my Mercian frame in 1986. I could have had 27" if I'd wanted, but I knew that the days of 27" were numbered. My previous bike - Raleigh Clubman 12sp - that I bought in 1984 (or was it 1983?) came with 27" Weinmans. That was only two years or so before I went for a Mercian frame, so Raleigh were still making bike with 27" then.

When was the first Raleigh "racing" bike with 700c as standard?

Oh Mick! Another Raleigh Clubman 12 rider. I bought mine in May 1983 after reading a review of it in Cycletouring. I still have the old Campag 980 derailleur off it - I used to use it a tensioner on a Mercian Tandem frame until 2 years ago. It was my commuter in London and tourer at weekends and I did the London to Brighton on it in 1984. I remember it fondly. My then partner had a Lady Clubman. Sound bike and a good ride (the bike not my then partner!)

...on a 1930s tandem. Does anyone know what the correct procedure is? I rode it solo for about 12 miles last week and have discovered an alarming level of play in the h/s along with vague steering - as you'd expect.

This works and is not hazardous. Wrap freezer packs around the frame and seatpost with toestraps and then wrap these in turn in any insulating material so that you cool both frame and seatpost. Change with fresh blocks after about 4 hours. After 8 hours boil a saucepan of water and immerse a heavy dishcloth or floorcloth in it. Working swiftly remove, insulant and freezer blocks from frame and immediately wrap boiling hot dishrag around where the freezer blocks have been. Then immediately twist the seatpost and it should break free (by the way, max leverage comes from seatpost in vice and turn frame. The theory is that the steel will expand quickly as it is thin and the aluminium being thicker (usually) should expand a little more slowly as well as being the second material to receive heat. Simple and thought through physics, uses cheap tools avilable in many homes, infinitely repeatable, non corrosive, quick in execution, very little risk of damage and you might be able to reuse the seatpost. What is not to like in that

I have used a Bob Yak and panniers on a tandem on different camping tours and firmly prefer the trailer - makes life simpler. It also works on trains. The trailer with the yoke folded back fits between pairs of facing seats - even on commuter trains. Even easier if you take the wheel out and the bag up on the luggage rack - that thing that many passengers now seem to have forgotten exists. If you want to borrow the Yak (with bag) for a trial then you are welcome to collect, borrow and return it anytime between now and the end of August but I am in East Anglia - PM if interested. You will also have to invest in a BOB QR skewer as I only use BOB Nutz on my machines and I have no idea where the original is.

A left field answer here: when I last spoke to George Longstaff (commissioning a trike and a tandem frame at the time I recall) he told me of a nature photographer who commissioned a trike (ATB spec) from him with an attachment that would allow the whole machine to be used as tripod (brakes locked in use as a tripod). I thought it ingenious and a nice piece of lateral thinking. When I have carried a large Velbon on the bike I have used 3 leather toe straps to rope it on along the top of the pannier rack. I took the head off and carried that in a pannier. 645 camera in the bar bag which was the safest place I could think of.

I'd certainly support you building up your own tandem; I have built up two from frames only as well as the wheels. It does take a lot of time and there is a great deal to learn. Finding all the right bits can be difficult and expensive - tandem specific kit is not widely available. Given the size and weight of your team you will need the very best. You need an excellent local bike shop with a mechanic who has good experience with tandems. After all that it is straightforward enough.

I haven't yet at 57. I had a rotten start in cycling as a child - there were very few opportunities and places to cycle in Beirut where I was brought up so I didn't start riding regularly until living in London in my late 20s. I can't see me stopping anytime soon. Perfectly happy with my own company or with my son on the back of a tandem. I have tried club rides and other organised rides and they are generally not my cup of tea although I have enjoyed rides with the TA (not the Territorials - the other ones) and still ride with the local tandem club section.

I agree many of the points raised above but I think ill health must be a difficult one to get over.

I found the easiest to carry was some cut lengths of 15 and 22mm armaflex (preformed pipe lagging) and a packet of zip ties plus a pedal spanner. At the airport put the lagging round the frame tubes and stays - I did not bother with the forks. I reversed the pedals and tied the cranks out of the way with a zt. Let half the air out of the tyres and passed over the bike and a tandem similarly trussed. No problems out or back to San Francisco. This was at least a decade ago and I don't know if things have changed since. I have heard some carriers get tiresome about bikes- sort of why I don't fly anymore - too tedious by half.

When I am remote from tyre levers (I have some excellent yellow ones branded 'Pedros' - bought on tour from a specialist chain bike shop and recommended by the mechanic - they are the best I have ever used) I have found round ended steel teaspoons work very well and the spoon bowl will hook under the spoke quite satisfactorily - thoroughly tested and recommended. Black resin tyre levers are rubbish in my experience and I don't like Park Tools levers either. Steel ones aren't too impressive I've found.
The best thing I can recommend are home cut patches from patch strip - just remember to trim the corners before applying. I find having a roll of cotton rim tape (Velox) is very useful for repairing tyre casings if badly damaged. I buy puncture repair kits for the boxes mainly - always useful for tiny odds and ends