Cycling UK Forum

bigphil

I tend to echo what si says. I was a drop handlebars only man for years but now I have both. Bar ends certainly make a big difference in allowing a change of position. Climbing style can have an effect on this. If you are a sit and twiddle climber, then you may do a lot of your climbing with hands in the middle of the bars. Standing on the pedals needs a more forward position and bar ends are a help with straight bars. I have heard it said that bar ends are never fitted as original equipment on bikes for sale in the US to avoid litigation.

I think that part of the reason there are so many drop bar diehards in the UK is that years ago people rode the same bike for racing and club riding. It was common to ride to a race using everyday wheels with the wheels for the race carried on either side of the front wheel. Drops have become something of a tradition.

Finally, some mtb flat bars seem unnecessarily wide for road use. I have heard it said that wide bars give better control off-road. I have no idea about that but they can be a nuisance on road. I have a Cannondale with them and I sawed quite a bit off each end.

I really cannot let this one go without congratlating whoever it was who thought of using Google Earth. Like the Great Wall of China which is supposed to be visible from outer space (and I do know that it isn't) many of the potholes in the badly neglected roads of Leeds are visble, if not from space, certainly from a great height. Leeds cyclists will be able to use this system without having to zoom in to the finer details.

nurgles

I am glad this did get some tech advice, especially as it came from somebody who knows what he is talking about. If there is no need to remove it for things like punctures, there is a lot to be said for leaving well alone; your next posting might be looking for advice on putting it back.

It was CJ who alerted me some years ago to the fact that a new bike is supposed to come with instructions, although it seems pretty well up to the manufacturer to decide what is included. Have you tried contacting them through the www?

Incentally, torcx fasteners are widely used in motor car and if you want the right tool for the job you will get it from Halfords or similar pretty cheap - better than spoiling the fastener.

Because of the angle between the headlamps and a driver's eyes, pedal reflectors (and anything reflective around the feet or ankles) will remain highly visible much closer than something higher up. Pedal reflectors at night are also a legal requirement on bikes made after 1985.

nurgles

I would hate to see this drop off the edge without you getting it sorted. It looks as though none of the regulars has one. I see it is a folder with monoblade. Can you be more specific about the problem?

Was there no instruction book? Or was it the typical American waste-of-time with advice to consult a lawyer before riding it and to get a professional dealer/mechanic to inflate the tyres? (All in 27 languages.)

It is pretty obvious to any driver stuck in a queue that cyclists tend to move faster, which is one of the reasons they get so wound up when you do. Actually, in some cases, even I can walk faster than queueing traffic over quite some distance.

Incidentally, the boot was on the other foot recently when I was stuck in traffic while driving. A teenage lad who was no "cyclist" and riding a battered mixte, pedalling only when absolutely necessary, sailed past me. The only consolation was that he used an advanced stop line fought for by your obedient servant to leave us all behind.

In this week's Friday newsletter, there is a link to a youtube video on how to repair a puncture. Some parts are very detailed (like showing what three typical tyres levers should look like) but when it gets to the bit where the problems tend to occur - replacing the cover, especially getting the last few difficult inches over - it happens more or less by magic.

I thought of pointing this out to YR, the editor, but the link for raising things is to this forum. Now, we all know that this forum is provided for us to chat among ourselves, and the people at CTC HQ do not have the time to look at issues raised on here.

The logical conclusion, which I am sure is not intended, is that nobody really cares whether you know how to fix a puncture or not. In my opinion.

Fascinating.

And what a fortuitous way for the CTC membership to discover what is happening.

wheaton

Lycra cycling shorts are not all black and shiny.

Originally, racing shorts were black wool (or cheaper imitations in cotton etc.) Lycra is now available in all sorts of colours, especially in copies of trade team strips. (For some reason, while soccer fans always must have the latest third change strip or whatever, cyclists often go for long outdated stuff. Perhaps they are mean, perhaps they like to look like old hands) So, although the bog standard colour is still black, there is all sorts in lycra, if you look.

Seak

What's that then? A hole in the road will open and swallow the whole of Leeds City Council?

g36

I fear you may be crying into the wind, so to speak. I raised this very point a week ago, albeit from a poser's viewpoint, rather than the outdoor perspective. We will just have to keep a weather eye open, or something like that.

I have just watched the video on mending a puncture fom the link in this week's CTC newsletter. When it gets to the difficult bit - replacing the cover - magic appears to take over.

I am glad to see that naughty words are allowed without @ or * (or is that an admin privilege? I am too polite to test it for myself.

a-k

I first lobbied the govt., about flashing LED legislation in the mid-1990s when Michael Heseltine (remember Hezzer??) launched a campaign to reduce red tape. Incidentally, my letter was lost in the red tape.

When they finally launched the consultation several years ago which led to the current liberalisation (sort of) I made a submission. I regret I cannot find it now. Amongst other things, I pointed out that in the UK cycle lighting is almost exclusively added after purchase and it is unfair to expect cyclists and potential cyclists to understand a lot of legal niceties. I suggested to talk of the govt., encouraging cycling when this sort of thing prevailed was humbug. The problem with cycle lighting, as I pointed out to them, is not people cycling with illegal lamps - it is people cycling without any lamps at all. (I also pointed out that since they had lost my first letter the only substantial thing they had done was to change the name from Department of Transport to Department [b]for[/b] Transport.) We pay people a lot of money to mess about like this.

The first quote is just semantics. A cycle lane is never compulsory for cyclists in the active sense that you must use it. Sometimes, however, cyclists have no choice because the main carriageway is prohibited to them. The Highway Code, only advisory but also persuasive, recommends using cycle facilities. I.e. if you don't, it may be evidence of something else such as inconsiderate cycling*, and it may be used to decide liability in a civil (compo) claim.

The second quote is true. It is just that its implementation is generally very poor. Cycling officers tend to have junior sub-underling status, when compared with the big misters who plan for motor traffic. The top brass were generally trained in the 1960's and only pay lip service to the promotion of cycling. Some plans have been in the 'ready to go' stage for years, right back to the days when they were trying to eliminate cycling. It is rare for cyclists to be sympathetically considered right from the start of a big scheme.

Cyclists who do Right to Ride work who might reasonably expect to be consulted by their highway authority, find that instead they are waging a running battle for true recognition by the real decisionmakers. Cycling officers can end up as little more than scapegoats, to absorb the energies of cycle campaigners and deflect their campaigning.

(Sorry if this sounds defeatist but I did the CRN/RtR job for a while in Leeds in the period when the National Cycling Campaign was at its height -1995-2000 and I found I was just wasting my precious time.)

* The basis of the Telford case, I believe.