Cycling UK Forum

colin54 wrote: ↑13 Jul 2022, 9:24pm ...
Some information here.
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Here's three videos of comedian Alexei Sayle cycling around MK to give you a flavour of it,
(contains swearing).
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Edit , Stevenage the next large town north of Welwyn GC also has a network of separate paths.

Thanks. I'm a fan of the fat git in the tight suit.

We looked at bits of Stevenage and hated it. Yes, we saw the small number of paths on the map, nice if those are the only places you cycle. Almost nobody was using the one we saw near the centre, even at rush hour times. I took a photo of some bike parking stands behind a "no cycling" sign there.

Nearholmer wrote: ↑13 Jul 2022, 9:19pm MK is the nearest place to paradise that you will find in the U.K. in terms of utility cycling, not perfect, but as good as you’ll find.
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I see a fair few people with trailers for children and dogs, but I think if you were to park one at a bike stand you’d need a decent length tether.
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Best thing you can do is come and have a look (PM me for a guided tour).
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A key point is to choose a location to live that is properly on the path network - Bletchley is poorly served by paths because it existed before the network is created, for instance, and is a target of the “gap filling” plan.

To say I’m an enthusiast of our path network might be an understatement!

Oh, helmets? On the paths, maybe 20% of cyclists.

Brilliant. Thanks. Sorry for the delay in replying - notification wasn't working but I was - busy.

Trailers is reassuring. I'd add shopping to kids and dogs. Low helmet use is good, contrary to another poster it says a lot about how safe people find the infrastructure, particularly in the UK cycling culture.

Thanks for the tour offer. I did go there and spent a pleasant afternoon following my nose and a navi from Poundland mostly down the green bit to the south, but sampling more urban areas too.

Thanks for the tip about Bletchley. That's a part we didn't visit.

I do this all the time in Germany. Just hold the bike and wheel it on. Stand next to it slightly back if going up, forward going down. Apply BOTH brakes. If there are lots of people in a hurry who want to walk past you, use the lift.

I use a Cinq Plug device connected to my SON dynamo. It works. The current model is better. All these dynamo-connected devices work only when the lights are off. The Plug is quite expensive. A fast charge battery pack might be more useful.

See: https://tout-terrain.de/de/die-produkte ... plug5-pure

There are lots of sensible suggestions here.

I once had a helmet that was slightly too small for me. It caused headaches. Check that yours is not too tight. It should have some adjustment.

I would reiterate the advice to let the bike carry the load in panniers or some other bag attached securely to the bike. A rucksack is a bad idea but commonly seen in UK because bikes are sold without racks or baskets.

Cycling in the wet and cold is quite doable with the right clothing, but it can take some experimenting to find what works for you, e.g. thickness of gloves. Waterproof zip-on overshoes are very useful. They keep your feet warm too.

If you cycle in the dark and the roads are wet, you might want to choose a route with little traffic. Oncoming headlights reflect off the wet road straight into your eyes and you can see almost nothing. Your lights bounce off the shiny wet road away from you, not back at you, so even powerful lights are of little use against the glare of car headlamps.

For reliability go for (already mentioned) puncture resistant tyres. Choose a bike with hub gears and some kind of cover over the whole chain. You can change a hub gear when stopped. Mudguards are a must. This kind of bike is not very common in Britain.

Cycle in a low gear and learn to spin the pedals quickly. This takes practice. It is much kinder to your knees and gives you more flexibility in speed. If you have hills, make sure your bike has very low gears. You will need them when you start.

Do you work with anyone who lives nearby and would also be interested in trying cycling? Riding together is much more fun.

I wish you all the best.

Do you live in Milton Keynes or Welwyn Garden City?

My wife and I are thinking of moving house. We use bikes a lot for everyday transport and recreation where we live. We are interested in these two places. I have seen a few sets of statistics from Cycling UK and Sustrans but they do not cover these places. The UK seems to lack anything as comprehensive as the German ADFC Fahrradklima Test. So, please help:

+ What is it like to cycle there for shopping, visits, etc?
+ Does everyone wear a helmet?
+ I can see separated facilities on the map. How good are they?
+ Are the cycle facilities joined up?
+ Are cycle tracks suitable for a two-wheeled trailer? (potholes, kerbs, barriers)
+ Does the railway station have lockable parking facilities?
+ Does the local authority fix things quickly?

If any places near these two have exceptional cycling facilities please mention them.

Thank you!

The jaws of Mole wrenches are the wrong shape. I have an American Vise-Grip, which is much better. It also cuts wire. The release lever also works the right way round. I've had mine for over 40 years. We use it for cracking nuts, too.

The other tool is the VAR tyre lever. I threw away all the others I had. It even makes fitting 16" Brompton tyres easy.

The third is not a tool: Loctite goes on all my screw threads. They never come undone until I want them undone.

The fourth is a philosophy: buy good tools once. If you buy cheap ones, you'll buy them again, and again...

And tools to throw away? The multi-spanners that used to come with Raleigh bikes and the dumb-bell multi-spanners too - made of some soft goo and too chunky to fit in the space around the nut.

The Brompton of that vintage stored outside will likely need a thorough service, including the hub gear. I too have a 3-speed SRAM model bought in 2004 and used for commuting since then. The shifter is horrid and needs too much tension to reliably engage 1st gear. You will probably have to dismantle the gear, clean out all the dried grease and then re-grease and oil it. It is a daft design that can't just be oiled like a Sturmey-Archer or Rohloff. If you can't do this yourself, you may want to factor in a workshop visit in the price you are willing to pay. Also, if it was ridden much in the rain or over dirt and the chain was not cleaned much or replaced you may have to replace the chainring, which also likely means the cranks on an old model - Bromptons pick up dirt in the chain as it is so low and make grinding paste to wear away the transmission.

I just bought a Burley Travoy. I know you can turn it over. I also know that you can ride carefully and it is stable enough. I have not used it enough yet but the first impression is good - not perfect. You can find a video on Youtube of someone who moved house (well, flat) with it. For shopping it is ideal. It folds flat so is also good if you live in a small space. You would need to check that the coupling works for you: you need enough free seatpost at the right height. I'm about to take a large dead microwave oven in its original large box to the local tip in mine. Should work...

Round here the cheapest way to use a cargo bike (not have) is to borrow the local bike club's loan machine. But I live in Düsseldorf and the local bike club is the ADFC. Maybe an idea for Britain? The sharing economy.

A friend of mine has a cheap Chinese job with electric boost. It's the type with a big box at the front and a seat in it. He carries his wife and cat in it. He reckons it was about the best thing he ever bought for fun/cost ratio.

If anyone here has a Teasi - UPDATE NOW. Support and updates cease on 31 December 2021. See my post:

viewtopic.php?p=1657707#p1657707

Peter Lancashire, Düsseldorf

Support and updates for Teasi will cease on 31 December 2021. UPDATE NOW. See my post:

viewtopic.php?p=1657707#p1657707

Peter Lancashire / Düsseldorf

Teasi support and updates end on 31 December 2021. UPDATE NOW. See my post for details:

viewtopic.php?p=1657707#p1657707

Peter Lancashire, Düsseldorf

For anyone here who has a Teasi navigation device: the company will cease support for them at the end of December 2021. They cite the competition from phones as the reason.

You have until 31 December 2021 to update the software and maps to the latest versions.

I updated my Teasi One 3 (the pre-compass model with less memory) from Caph to Edasich. The system runs noticeably faster. I can't say if it affects battery life. Other reports on https://gpsradler.de/ confirm my impression (in German).

You can download all the maps with the Tahuna (Teasi) software. The best way to do this is with the Teasi /not/ connected so it downloads to the computer only. If the Teasi is connected it will also put them on the device. I downloaded all the maps for the whole world. It takes a very long time as the server is quite slow.

I have also downloaded all the online documentation I can find on the Teasi / Tahuna website. Ask here if you have a question.

I plan to keep using my Teasi until the battery dies or I get fed up with powerpacks / the USB output on my Plug 2. The mapping here in Germany is excellent. I find the Teasi works well for my uses. Britain is mapped far less well in OSM, particularly footpaths. In Germany much public mapping data has been donated to OSM. You will find every building here in many places- not in Britain.

Peter Lancashire / Düsseldorf / tout terrain 5th Avenue Rohloff.

plancashire wrote:I have just sent my Supernova front light off to the manufacturers in Gundelfingen for repair (see my avatar picture!). It stopped providing current to the rear light. It is under 5 years old, so it could be a guarantee case. Diagnosing the fault and separating the cables (partly internal) from the bike was a huge challenge, but that's another story. I'll let you know what happens and my solution for maintainable cabling.

They repaired it for free and added new cables (very high quality silicone insulated), also for free. It took a while but the service was good.

I have reinstalled it. All cabling now goes via a connector block thrust up into the steerer tube. There's a Plug USB charger in parallel with the dynamo and front light, so the cabling is a bit dense as I've also folded up some spare in there. It works just fine. To sort it out I had to buy new spade connectors for the dynamo and heatshrink to cover up the connections. Soldering was also necessary - not a problem for me as I was once trained to do it to mil standard.

Conclusion: I'd recommend Supernova - they stand behind their products.

The Teasi can use raster maps but I have never tried them. I don't know if the OS maps are compatible. I find the native maps in the device fine here in Germany.

People complain about the Teasi Tool software that runs on a PC or Mac. It is essential only for updating the software and downloading the maps then putting them on the device. You can copy your recorded tours to the computer and save routes (or tours) on the Teasi by copying GPX files to and from the right folders, as explained in the instructions. I do it that way.

When using routes the quality of the route makes a difference to how the Teasi works and gives instructions. I have just cycled parts of the Ruhrtal Radweg using the provided route file. It seems to be something somebody recorded with komoot, so it has times in it (not needed) and far too many points, so it takes the Teasi ages to digest it - be patient: it does work. If doing it again I'd run the GPX file through a smoother to reduce the number of points.

When you are recording you can add "favourites" as waypoints - they are saved with the route and also in your list of favourites. On the route they show in green, favourites as dark red. Similarly, a tour you are following can have waypoints in it which could mark points of interest etc. The Teasi can show several screens of text and also photos with tours and waypoints. The Teasi Tool makes this a bit easier. It also has a neat trick where photos you took (without geolocation) can be placed on the route using the route and photo timestamps.

The Teasi routing itself can be a bit odd but that may be because the OpenStreetMap data are not perfect. My wife was quite impressed that it directed us through Duisburg to find Tiger and Turtle with no problems. It then took us home. German OSM for bikes is good. If it is not good enough in UK, record with the Teasi and fix OSM yourself!

Have fun.