Cycling UK Forum

you could try the Clerkenwell screw company in London EC1. Great for a visit and they have a wide selection of security fixings - used to have a catalogue for those alone (hex with pin, torx with pin, snake eyes and tri wings to name but 4). I have no idea what they are like on mail order as I live around the corner from them. Generally they have a modest minimum service charge for small orders which might cover your requirements. They have been around here for as long as I have which is about 30 years. Good luck!

Regards,

Richard

DougieB wrote:ha ha, I'm very low-tech. 8 speed only. but I may try the pencil idea, as I'm going to be doing some sketching on my trip.

so, I've taken a spoke out of the front wheel and had it measured at the shop (292 mm). I hand-tightened a new one into the wheel, and then gradually used a spoke spanner to screw it in further a half turn at a time. I tried to get the same amount of pull/lateral-movement in the new spoke as are in the existing spokes. the wheel didn't go out of true when I removed the spoke originally (36h). it didn't seem very scientific, or difficult. which makes me wonder if I've done it correctly ? I've marked the new spoke, just incase.

cheers

A sensible approach. I'd only add that if the wheel does go out of true when a spoke breaks then I'd advise a more modest turn increment than half a turn - more like a quarter (for lateral truth) and don't forget to tighten and loosen the 1 or 2 spokes on either side of the replacement as a group. Practice in advance is excellent advice and so is the endorsement of the Spokey. I've built over 20 wheels with one of those and it is still going strong

I have used a tandem with kiddy cranks for years for 3 children both to and from school and elsewhere both in the centre of London and in the countryside. The only comments we get are 'cool' and one occasion 'respect!' No one has ever thought it weird. I wasn't sure if I was getting disapproving looks when I took my (just) 7 year old son out on his solo (a beautiful new Islabike) for a 20 miler on the local roads (rural Essex for reference. It is just a feeling I got at the time. He enjoyed it thoroughly. We would expect him to be cycling on his own to and from school in the next 2-3 years or so which is why I am switching slowly from the tandem to us on two solos. I am more worried about him remembering to lock his bike when out on his own. We still use the tandem for longer trips.

My son (recently turned 7) is on his 3rd Islabike (Cnoc 16, Beinn 20 and now 24 with racing tyres) after starting out learning to pedal and brake on a 35 year old Pashley Pickle tricycle(longest ride he achieved on that was on disused railway paths at 7-8 miles at the age of 4). Every one of his early bikes has sold very well and they have all worked perfectly. He also rides tandem with me for longer 20m + rides or when cycle camping. I've never found Islabikes staff rude at Mildenhall but they are certainly a no nonsense crowd. Coming from the North East this does not bother me in the slightest. The other lovely bike I once had for an older daughter was a much updated and modified Universal (Polish origin, I think) which although crude was light enough and rode very well on new wheels.

Stabilisers were not used for any of my 3 children. I found that the Pashley Pickle tricycle was a far better introduction to the basic skills so that balancing on a solo was the only new skill to learn. Gears came much later.

As you see there are a lot of consistent recommendations in the replies.

Best of luck with whatever you choose.

If they are still going then try Bicycle Magic in Greatorex Street on the east side of the City - not far from Aldgate East. Pretty good value last time I tried and very helpful. [/http://www.bicyclemagic.com/workshop.php]

Good luck

Assuming that CT have ISO14001 accreditation it might be instructive to see if their EMS/EMP includes any reference to encouraging environmentally responsible transportation choices by their staff. They wouldn't be the first organisation to screw up on this one...

This is typical of most companies/organisations; the Carbon Trust is clearly no exception. As I work in an especially carbon sensitive industry I shall make sure that CT's cringing attitude to vicarious liability is well exposed in the CPD courses I run. I shall of course quote the source verbatim - there can't be any harm in that surely?

When my son and I go camping, on a tandem, our ludicrously cheap but effective Karrimor tent travels in it's own well sized stuffsac on top of the rack on the tandem with 1 long strap in an x-pattern - along with the saddlebag (clothes/personal effects) above, the bar bag (camera, wallet, maps (what no GPS?), phone at t'other end, the front panniers (sleeping bags, liners, pillows and thermarests) and rear panniers (food in one and all cooking stuff in'tother). Always impressive on the road. I usually thank my lucky stars that we live in East Anglia and don't have to cart all this up and down hills all day - bearing in mind that my stoker is only 6 years old.

Contact Barry Mason of Southwark Cyclists - he arranges bike transport for the Dunwich Dynamo on a routine basis. Accordingly he may have contacts that he is prepared to share? Good luck. Otherwise it is 8-10 cars with begged or borrowed bike racks perhaps...

Almost the most important piece of information I have found since discovering that the nobbly coated liquorice allsorts are called "Spogs"![/quote]

I'm ashamed to admit that I found a website on the subject of laces where I found this nugget of information and subsequently saw it arise as a recent question in the current series of 'Mastermind'. But then you see I have always been attracted by stunningly useless but utterly precise bits of information

I thought 'cycling in the dark'. A splendid idea, I do it all the time - whenever there is a clear night and a full moon. Winter is a fantastic time as the trees are leaveless. Naturally, it is completely illegal and not without risk but then so are many very enjoyable things. I use my judgement on location and time - between 3 and 4 am is good and the Dunwich Dynamo is an excellent opportunity - but only when there isn't anyone else about. Moonlight shadows and the shape of the landscape without a bike light are wonderful. There is also a completely different consciousness that steals over you when cycling with limited perception. Fear is part of it, I suppose...

The technical term for the tubes of plastic/metal that laces end in are called 'aiglets'. Finding replacements or new stock is very difficult. You could try Twistlink in Nuneaton (website under construction) but I am sure they are trade only. Laces with CTC logotype woven into them anyone? My favourites are burning and shaping when hot or heatshrink but the latter is not really stiff enough for relacing (you don't polish your black leather touring shoes once a fortnight? Shame!). Crimping brass/aluminium tube with a pair of side cutters is best but I rarely find this material except as scrap/salvage. You are right, though. Selling simple shoelace kits with unaigletted ends for use with a pair of pliers would certainly attract me as I do go through a lot of laces. The aftermarket is very poorly served these days. God, why am I writing all this? I must be mad.

CREPELLO wrote:Does anyone know how to finish the ends of shoe laces that have been cut short? You know how quite often laces are often too long and especially with cycling shoes, the laces can end up rubbing the chain/set, even getting caught.

So is there a good neat way of finishing cut shoe laces, that is neater than rolling them in super glue or melting the ends? Is there a widget that can do the job properly? If there isn't, the person that can invent one could be a very rich person.

Right, I'm off to the workshop

My kit is based on many years of experience: it is also very cheap to put together

- 2 yellow heavy duty plastic tyre levers (sold by Evans a year or two ago and they really work well - easy to find when you drop them in the hedgerow at dusk)
- Patch strip and a lightweight retractable craft knife with snap off blades for shaping larger patches (see below) - and for chamfering the corners
- A square of 180 grit wet and dry glued onto a small piece of ply - also used as a cutting board - see above for preparing the tyre but actually the roadway surface will do at a pinch.
- A small ziploc bag with prepared patches - honestly - old fashioned patch strip is way better than all those feather edge things
tube of adhesive
- A tiny roll of Velox(woven cotton) rim tape to repair the tyre in case of casing damage (just prime a patch of rim tape glue side and then reapply adhesive to stick onto inside of casing. These have saved my oh so precious Wolber 650Bs on more than one occasion.
I've never bothered with chalk except when playing pool/snooker/billiards.
All the above will fit happily into a mesh drawstring bag (the type you get with washing powder tablets) or a Brooks tool bag - nicer

I always repair my punctures at the roadside - I never have time at home. Sometimes I do wonder at what I get up to, though. I recall repairing a puncture at 11pm'ish on a by road in Norfolk in early April in complete and utter darkness with only a dynamo light that I could not use as my daughter was fast asleep in a child seat on the bike in question. I did it though - following my father's advice that the best way to find a puncture accurately is to move the tyre past your cheekbone just below your eye - your ear will pick it up on the way past - if that makes any sense.

thirdcrank wrote:As an utterly useless bit of info, the classic touring chainset must be the TA Cyclotouriste, helpfully listed on their website under 'transmission classique."

Your budget won't quite stretch to a set of chainring bolts at thirty quid and five crank to outer bolts at a fiver each.

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php ... set_spares

OTOH, this may get some sort of a debate going.

Be careful with TA Cyclotouriste - I speak as a diehard fan with loads of them on several bikes as well as lots of spares - the RH crank will scrape the outer plate of most modern mechs (it normally requires a flat outer plate such as found on older French makes like Simplex, Huret and Mavic). You can adjust modern mechs to work but it is a very precise setting and you will often find that you can't change to the big ring easily. The other issue is that you will need a longer bottom bracket spindle and good ones of these are getting harder to find. No doubt about it - they look wonderful and polish up beautifully with a bit of Autosol. They also age gracefully. Others to consider that uses Cyclotouriste rings are either the Stronglight 49D (I like these too and have several BUT you need a specific and rare extractor 23.5mm diameter thread IIRC) or the also rare Sugino PX (that's on my tricycle). I have also once seen a cottered steel pair of cranks that accepted Cyclotouriste rings. What I like about the TA sets is that they are so adaptable and are gold dust to a tinkerer like me...the most exotic I've made up so far is a quad (4 chainrings) to suit straight through drive on a tandem. It works perfectly and looks right as well as purposeful. Ok, I'll admit it, I am old fashioned...my commuter still has 35 year old pairs of Mafac cantilever brakes on it and they are 20 years older than the frame!

snibgo wrote:

DavidT wrote:Perhaps they are just wanting to increase awareness?

That would be a good aim, accomplished by an informative (NOT accusatory) leaflet. It could be handed with a smile and "Thank you for walking your bike" or a frown and "Please dismount" as appropriate.

Handing a leaflet that accuses an innocent person of committing an offense is, at best, a stupid thing to do. Such behaviour increases hostility towards police.

I echo this in the context of TV licensing who write on a tiresomely regular basis contextualising me as a criminal (contextualising in the sense that I have a name, an address, and I used to have TV 10 years ago but then the watcher and I split up, and that most people who don't have TV licenses tend to have TVs -so they say). It certainly increases my hostility to an organisation to whom I owe nothing - not even a legal duty to tell them anything. Oh dear this is a boring rant.