Cycling UK Forum

For the most modern of the Shimano freehub systems - Hyperglide (HG), this is tricky since the cogs are designed to work with particular others 'next door'. Nevertheless there is information on line about how you can do this. I think Sheldon Brown posted details. For the older Uniglide (UG) system, still often available second hand and NOS, it is much easier and you can put any cogs in any position (but you can't mix all Dura Ace cogs with others). The big disadvantage with UG is that the last (smallest) cog is special and screws on to hold the others in place. This means that you need two chain whips to undo a UG hub. UG cogs fit onto HG hubs (apart from the screw-on one - you would still need the HG screw-in retainer and the last cog), but HG don't fit UG. Hope this is helpful.

Hi. I found this old thread. It might help. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=33329&start=15

I need some new panniers for commuting. They don't have to hold a lot - a laptop, work clothes (very rarely a suit and shoes), waterproof, a few tools, spare tube and bike locks. I want two separate bags so that on days when I don't have much to carry, I only need use one. I have been using a rucksack, but it's getting too hot for that now. I used to have a pair, bought from Halfords as I recall, that lasted eight years before finally falling apart after much repair. Total waterproofing is not needed as I put everything in plastic bags inside. Definitely a soft bag, colour probably black or blue.

So, I would be grateful for advice. I do not want to spend more than £50 and would consider second hand ones in reasonable condition. Many thanks!

I think you are right regarding "passing" (not "overtaking") bicycles. The Highway Code seems quite clear on the distinction - for instance:
Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid.
This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 26
(My underlining.)
But in towns, especially with cycle lanes of what ever sort, road layouts seem designed to promote the view that "passing" a cyclist isn't "overtaking".

I think what you say is true when navigating a ship, where the point of reference is the ship. However, at a road roundabout, surely the point of reference is the centre of the roundabout? If going straight on is zero degrees, is a right turn +90 degrees and a left turn -90 degrees? (Assuming we are dealing with a roundabout on a four-way junction.) Or would you follow navigation practice and have turning left on to the first exit being a turn on to a course of 270 degrees?
In the UK, i.e. driving on the left, going clockwise around the roundabout, surely it is more natural to say that a left turn is a ninety degree turn and a right turn is 270 degrees? In which case straight on is 180 and going back the way you came from is 360 degrees. This is in line with geometry, where the included angle between two lines increases from zero to 90 to 180 and so on to 270 to 360 degrees.

Interesting to note the law relating to double white lines:

Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid.
This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 26

So, if you were going at 10mph or less, the van was in the right (although there will be something in the Highway Code about being able to see where you are going when you overtake ...).

I was surprised to learn this a couple of weeks ago in a children's TV quiz show when the question was 'when can you cross double white lines if you're driving?' All the children (and me) answered 'never'; but the correct answer was 'to overtake a bicycle'. (The horse and road maintenance vehicles were not mentioned, nor the 10mph or less.)

This topic does not seem to have been covered in the past, according to my searches.
I have an old Milremo Professional saddle which has its plastic carcass covered in (what I assume is) real leather. I bought the saddle second hand and have had it for a couple of years before recently starting to use it. After a few days the colour has virtually disappeared from the contact areas of the saddle. Is there a dye available that will restore the saddle to something like its original colour?
Thanks

The Cane Creek ones seem good. I have just put a pair on Dura Ace 1st Gen (non-aero) levers and they are fine. A good fit and not too difficult to get on.
Having some difficulty with the GrandBois site. Pictures look interesting, but I don't read Japanese so navigating the site is a lottery. Interestingly, Google Translate refuses to translate, saying it's already in English - perhaps on the strength of a couple of English words on the page.

Thanks. For some reason R2's links are invisible in my Tapatalk app, but I can see them if I open the CTC forum in a browser.

Useful recommendations for TF2. But which one? It appears to be a general brand used by Weldtite to cover a range of at least six different bicycle lubrication products.

(Usual disclaimer - Lidl is nothing to do with me. In fact I rather dislike the company because of their poor labour practices and because they once fined me £45 for using their car park for half an hour longer than they thought I needed while spending £125 with them. But, if swallowing my pride means saving a few £££...)

You might like to be aware that Lidl is selling some bike-related goods this week. The bike work stand seems good value at £30 - it looks the same as, or at least very similar to, one I paid £50 for on eBay a couple of years ago. The chain wash kits @ £3.99 look very much like ones that are usually about £8 from bike shops or on-line. And, for those that continue to commute in the winter, or ride in the dark, £5.99 for a rechargeable LED lighting set is good, even if it only lasts one winter. (Realistically this set is probably for lit roads rather than dark lanes - i.e. to be seen rather than to see.) There are some tools, but personally I wouldn't buy them as (IMHO) cheap tools are usually made from a steel more akin to chocolate than metal. But again, they might be worth having in your pocket even if they only last a short while.

Nice day here in Nottingham - home of Raleigh - visiting University with my daughter. No bicycling involved though.

Lewisg wrote:Would anybody mind providing me with a simpletons guide to which crankset/parts I need to look for to go with my Lambert porthole chainring (obviously excepting Lambert cranks)!?

I've seen TAs recommended and they certainly seem the best choice but does it have to be a 5-hole crank? Similar guidance for the inner chainring etc etc.

I don't know if I'm saying what is already well known, but the Lambert / Viscount crank (the drive side one anyway) that fits the porthole chainring has the five fixing holes on a 50.4 mm pitch circle diameter (pcd) - i.e. the circle, centred on the centre of the spindle, on which the holes lie. I don't know why it's 50.4mm. This is just a whisker under the metric equivalent of two inches (which would be 50.8mm). Indeed, the cranks that fit this standard are sometimes described as 50.8 or even 51mm pcd. Back in the day, it was quite a common standard, particularly for cranksets intended for touring, perhaps because it was easier to fit a small third chainring if the spider was small?
As you say, TA made a popular crankset ('Cyclotouriste') with the 50.4 pcd. Stronglight was another - I think their offering is the '49D' model (confusing eh?). These are often seen on eBay, although the price is creeping up and you might expect to pay £40 or more for a decent used set. Stronglight is more desirable than the TA version, but looks less like a Viscount crank because of the different fluting. Quite a few other manufacturers made cranks that will fit the Viscount chain rings - I have a Zeus one for instance and even Shimano for a brief period produced a version in the early Deore group. All these are alloy, there were also steel versions produced (Williams?)
With regard to fixing all this together, to assemble fully a Lambert / Viscount double chainset requires seventeen fixings of three different sorts, counting each assembly of screw, nut, washers and spacer (as required) as one fixing. And of course, you need two sizes of Allen key, a spanner and a screw driver. Apart from the fitting of the crank to the large chainwheel, hese are likely to be different from any of the fixings used by TA, Stronglight &c.
A big question is however, what bottom bracket spindle you will fit the crank to. If everything is Viscount from the same era, there is a reasonable chance that the tapers will be compatible and give you the correct chainline. However, Lambert / Viscount changed tapers from time to time, including the notorious untapered early version, and there is no guarantee that a particular manufacturer's crank will fit well with a Viscount spindle, or vice versa. But I'll leave it to someone else to talk tapers.
Hope this is helpful or interesting.

StellaLdn. wrote:Glad to hear. Sorry for not asking; I assumed you're fine as you'd probably said something if it weren't the case. Goes to show how delicate fillet brazing really is.

I reckon 35+ years isn't bad for a lightweight frame. And how many are still fine? My lugged Aerospace 400 broke first (cracked across the bb shell). Another non-life threatening failure. How many CF frames will last as long, used daily on London's roads in all weathers?

Lewisg wrote:Sorry to hear about the bike Cusqueno. I trust you weren't hurt?

Thanks for asking. I was going steadily on a straight stretch, just after pulling away from some lights, when I heard squeaking I didn't recognise. Once I looked down and saw what had happened I pulled over quickly (but smoothly!). So no harm to me.