Cycling UK Forum

Have a look in Facebook marketplace.... just saw this:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... 194036220/

Looks a bit of a bargain if you live in that neck of the woods!

Have a look in Facebook marketplace.... just saw this:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... 194036220/

Looks a bit of a bargain if you live in that neck of the woods!

As Brucey says, that’s mainly surface rust. I’d be inclined to strip the frame down, give it a damn good wash and then use t-cut and car wax polish, and with lots of clean rags buff it up to a good shine...lots of scuffs and marks will disappear. A small tin of humbrol matched as near as possible can be used to touch up the worst paint chips; and reassemble replacing any rusty bolts with new. This will make it look massively better and keep the patina of a well used bike. I’ve adopted this approach to several old rusty bikes and it’s amazing how well they come up...the touched up paint chips just fade into the background and what you see is a well looked after ‘old’ bike. You can then just maintain it in that condition as it will no doubt get chipped and scratched again in the future.

This paintwork on this Marin was marked, chipped and filthy when I got it...after giving it a once over as described above it came up really nice...

I’ve got a steel Dahon speed tr which I bought used for £400 in as new condition. Its got very good quality components and is lovely to ride, very smooth and with a great gear range. It also takes full size panniers on the rear. They do come up on gumtree eBay etc and If you can get one, then I would highly recommend. Only downside is that they’re a bit heavy.

I also had a cheaper aluminium Dahon vitesse which we used daily for years without fuss, a good basic fairly light 20” folder, and which we sold for the same price as we bought it!

20” wheeled folders do ride quite ‘normally’. I’ve only tried a Brompton once and it was a bit twitchy, although I’m sure you’d get used to it and it would be fine.

This shop, CH White .. https://foldingbike.biz/ is a folder specialist with a full range of spares..may be worth talking to them.

I recently bought a couple of ‘dd hammocks’ folding stools..very light and compact, but not for ‘ample’ behinds!!..okay for us little un’s especially if you use a camping pillow or fleece on the seat, then very comfy.

35cm x 7cm pack size and only 310 grams, £15.00!

I use 2” wide Schwalbe land cruisers. They have a decent tread for off road but a continuous central tread which makes them smooth and fast on tarmac. If you go for something too smooth, you may regret it.... as I find it’s nice to mix up tarmac with towpath or unsurfaced sustrans trails. They’re pretty cheap as well. I also have some big apples which are nice and smooth but I find the land cruisers quicker and more comfy!

Well, foxyrider, that’s a bit rude!..I can assure you that I have plenty of functioning brain cells and I’m certainly not hip at 62 years of age!!

Nothings ‘high up’, except the saddlebag. People have toured for years with saddlebags ‘high up’.The front bag is a Brompton bag fixed to the bike which has a Brompton frame fitting welded on to the head tube...thousands of Brompton cyclists cant all be lacking brain cells!! The Brompton bag doesn’t impact upon the bike’s handling and steering in the same way as a traditional bar mounted handlebar bag does.

I tour with traditional panniers when appropriate but find that bike packing gear is great for light weight touring off- road or on poorly surfaced tracks, as they don’t rattle and shake like panniers do. It’s just basically dry bags tightly strapped to the bars/saddle so that they don’t move..and containing lightweight bulky equipment which doesn’t affect handling.

Perhaps you should be a bit more open-minded and try out a different system? I think there’s room for different types of touring set ups. It’s nothing to do with being hip!

Ha ha, yes it does, but it’s only intended for one or two nights and we seem to have all the essentials covered! It’s important to keep the weight low as hills can be a bit of a slog at the best of times on a tandem!

..or should that be tadempacking!?

In the murk of a freezing cold, slushy winter day, I’ve been dreaming of better weather when we can go off exploring for one or two nights.

Today has been spent experimenting and refining a light(ish) set up for cycle camping, primarily based upon a Brompton basket bag, which we inherited with the bike, together with various bike packing bags which we already had, mostly courtesy of Alpkit.

What we’ve got is:

Brompton basket bag - 2 x sleeping bags (snugpac and decathlon); 2 x short inflatable sleeping mats (alpkit); 2 alpkit pillows; 2 x jackets; 2 x collapsible plates and sporks, wash bag

Alpkit possum small frame bag - tools, spares, snacks, phone, windproofs

Alpkit dry bag (on stokers bar) - tent (msr elixir 2)

Blackburn cargo cage on back of seatpost - Alpkit brukit stove, gas and 2 collapsible cups

Alpkit seatpack - spare clothes, camping towels, food, with 2 x dd hammocks collapsible stools attached underneath.

2 x bottle cages and water bottles (not shown)

Had a quick ride up the lane and everything seems quiet and secure...can’t wait for camping season now, COVID permitting.

Like the mudguards

Mudguards are mudhugger 29ers

The gears are all original 3 x 8 shimano lx gears with a really nice white brothers crank, luckily in really good nick...just fitted a new chain. They work really well and have a good range. The brakes are new tektro cr 720 cantilevers operated by the original non-v levers. I wasn’t sure what to expect with these, but they’re really good, probably as good as v brakes. The only minor negative is that the canti arms stick out a bit and if you aren’t using spd pedals, then occasionally your heel clips them.

By the way, lovely bikes the old Rocky Mountains!

My bike has a quill to ahead converter with a 1 1/8
31.8 mm riser stem fitted with on one Mike bars. This is high enough for me, but you could use a stem riser on the ‘converter’ then fit the riser stem to that, if you see what I mean!

I used some 1 1/8 spacers and the cantilever brake hanger to ‘fill the gap’ below the new riser stem so that it looks better.

Have a look at eg Gumtree or
Facebook market place. People often buy the the latest fashion or wrong size especially if buying on line! I just bought a Lusso aqua repel soft shell on Facebook market place for £25.00.posted...rrp £120!! It looks hardly used. Tried it today with just a base layer...it’s excellent, very windproof and breathable. I’ve bought Lusso stuff for years..fantastic quality, reasonably priced and made in Manchester.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/road.cc/co ... cket%3Famp

..and my 1995 Marin Eldridge Grade rough stuff tourer with land-cruisers, full guards and front rack. I absolutely love this bike. It’s so well balanced and a very comfy ride, on or off road.

Nice Longitude that, what tyres are they..land cruisers? Here’s mine but with more of an off-road build...on top of the Berwyns! Very versatile bikes.