Cycling UK Forum

I fell foul of this on a tour of Brittany last year. All the campsites I tried were closed. However, just as I was pulling away from one supposedly-closed municipale site, I decided to try my pigeon French on the respectable-looking group of people that were camped there. They looked genuinely shocked that I was worried about whether it was closed or not - I got the impression that camping in municipales during their closed season is definitely not a problem.

I've got Bike Hub on my phone, but I tend not to use it. The problem is that the user-interface is a bit clunky - it's not that easy to enter your destination. This isn't a major problem, but it's enough to make me use something else instead. Are you going to get a data-package with your PAYG phone? If not, you'll have a problem with Bike Hub because it's internet-based - you have to use data to download your maps and directions each time you use it.

Personally, I stick with two alternative options for navigation: Google Maps, and CoPilot. Google Maps is free and excellent. You can download the map areas you need onto your phone's memory. (I.e. you can do it whilst your phone is connected to your home wifi, thereby avoiding the need to use data whilst on the tour.) CoPilot is one of the better commercial sat nav programmes - I'll 'fess up here: I'm using a pirated copy, but I'd encourage anyone to purchase a legit version as it's very good.

Both Google Maps and CoPilot allow you to select routing for bikes, but I don't think they are very good - they tend to use the roads rather than cycle paths.

By the way - a tip for your selection of phone... Go for the Orange San Francisco, which can be purchased cheaply from Argos and online. Once you've bought it, go onto the following forum and learn how to update the phone software (which with Android phone is known as the 'ROM') and you will have a phone for around £100 which gives the iPhone a run for its money:

http://android.modaco.com/forum/453-zte-blade-libra-blademodacocom/

Nettled Shin wrote:I'm sure having nothing between your legs must affect handling. A saddle doesn't just take downward pressure, but also sideways pressure from your inner thighs, which is used to set or limit the bicycle lean...that's partly why your bike rocks more when riding out of the saddle.

I read a lot of discussions along these lines when I was trying to decide whether or not to buy one of these. The theory made sense and I was a bit concerned about whether I'd be messing up the ride, but in the end I just decided to give it a go. Once I got it, I only had one snag to deal with - filing out the slot to allow it to point downwards enough so as not to poke me in the backs of the thighs. However, the supposed handling problem was indeed an old-wives tale. I've been riding bikes all my life, and if the handling had been compromised, I'd immediately feel it. But it rides exactly the same, even when I have to do a last minute sharp correction at speed, e.g. when I've been day-dreaming and gone off-line. It's not a 'saddleless' saddle - it's a 'noseless' saddle. There's still something between your legs you can put thigh pressure on when you need to.

jdudleyuk wrote:I need a comfortable saddle that won't make me infertile after two weeks cycling @ 70+ miles a day lol.
Im fairly skinny and so have quite a bony ass if that makes any diff?

I'm also a bony-arsed cyclist. I've never been off bikes since my paper-round when I was a kid, and I've never bothered with fancy saddles - I just used whatever was on a bike when I bought it. So long as it was angled correctly it would be fine, and the worst I'd get was a day or two of very minor discomfort after getting back on after a long lay-off.

However, I recently read about the potential for soft-tissue damage from saddles, so I bought a noseless one. (I went for the ISM Sport.) I'd heard scare stories about how they hurt the back of your thighs and didn't allow you to control the bike in corners. Mine DID hurt the back of my thighs, but only until I'd taken a metal file and elongated a slot in the saddle-clamp, allowing it to be angled down sufficiently so the front 'points' weren't digging in to me. The stuff about not being able to control the bike in corners is just an old wives tale.

Most comfortable saddle I've ever owned. The job of a saddle is to support your two sit bones - this does that with a lovely gel pad, but doesn't touch anywhere else. Job done.

You sound like you're more at the sporting end of cycling than me. Therefore, it would make sense for you to get a 'bike fit' from someone who knows their bike ergonomics. Making an adjustment in one interface can also necessitate an adjustment elsewhere.

For me, the decision between clips and cleats was easy - I use my bike for exercise and transport, and like to wear my everyday footwear on it, so I use toe-clips. Always have. I'm sure they're not as efficient as cleats, but that's not important to me as it doesn't matter if someone beats me to Tesco.

I also find a paper map to be a far more powerful tool for planning a route than using a GPS. However, there will always be that odd awkward moment when you're in the middle of nowhere and the map and reality just don't mesh. On a recent tour round Brittany this happened - I just wasn't sure whether I was supposed to be riding up what looked like someone's drive, and couldn't make head nor tail of my surroundings.

So I used the GPS on my phone. You're going to bring a phone anyway, so just make sure it's got a GPS programme on it, which has the map data pre-loaded on the memory card. For short bursts, getting you out of holes, it's fantastic, and doesn't use too much battery, but I've bought 4 spare batteries for mine so I can do what I like for a week.

The king of the budget smartphones is the Orange San Francisco. Mine cost £70 from a couple of years ago, and it still more-or-less keeps up with the latest expensive offerings, provided you keep the software updated. I think they're about £100 in Argos now.

Big T wrote:So you failed to help a fellow cyclist in trouble, even though you had the means to do so? Shame on you.

I'd always stop to help, and have in the past been helped out by others where I been stuck. Doesn't matter if they're full on lycra-clad or "bloke on a bike", I'd still help out if i could.

I don't subscribe to the notion that anyone else who does an activity that I do must, for that reason, be treated as a friend. My default position with anyone, regardless of what activities they carry out, is to treat them as a potential friend, and offer assistance where I can. On this occasion, these two men had acted in such a way that moved me from my default position to an "I don't care about you" position.

(Apologies if you think I'm having a go at lycra, beer-bellies, mountain bikes or whatever other issue you may have identifed with. Those were insignificant details which I latched onto because I was embittered. I'm human. My real issue with these two was that they had ignored my greeting for an excrutiating 15 seconds, whilst I stood directly in front of them, having allowed them to come through a fence before me. The thought that they may have pushed their bikes 10 miles back to Plymouth does not prick my conscience one iota.)

Here's a little tale to cheer you up Andy:

Last spring, I was doing my regular trip up the local cycle path from Plymouth onto Dartmoor. At the end of the track, there's a bit where you go through a gate in the fence out onto the road, where I do a final couple of miles up a steep hill. On this particular day, there were a couple of guys coming through the gate in the other direction, so I pulled over to one side to let them through first. It took a while for them to come through, so not wanting to stand there in silence, I gave them an "alright, how's it going?" Silence. I was really annoyed by this, and spent the rest of the ride ruminating on what a pair of prats they looked - wrap-around shades, fully lycra clad, with beer-bellies on spotless full-suspension mountain bikes which were totally unsuited for this smooth flat track.

On my way back, about half an hour later, I spotted them in the distance, at the side of the track, with one of the bikes upside down with the back wheel off. They were stood round, hands on hips, looking forlornly up the path towards me - it was fairly clear they didn't have either the tools or know-how to deal with their puncture or whatever.

I slowed down so I could savour every second. As I drew near, one of them stepped forward and started to say something. I flashed them both my cheeriest smile, gave them a friendly nod and rolled on past in silence.

I can't stand bells. I occasionally go out on a mixed-use track with a mate who rings his bloody bell every time we come up to anyone walking in front of us. I cringe... Bells may be used with the noblest intentions, but it just sounds like you think you own the path and you're demanding that the impudent peasants get out of your way. If you say "excuse me - mind if I squeeze through on your right", not only do you convey that you're being friendly/reasonable, you also avoid the inedifying spectacle of a group of pedestrians bumping into each other trying to work out which way to go to avoid being run over.

Here's a blog someone's made packrafting and folding biking in Scotland:
http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/foru ... =4&t=85726

andrew_s wrote:

DevonDamo wrote:a return ferry day-trip from Plymouth to Roscoff
You don't need to carry too much stuff .... Better to find one of the secret corners of the ferry and park your thermarest and sleeping bag.

Are not these two statements mutually exclusive?

No.

This year I did a few very quick trips round France. You and your bike can get a return ferry day-trip from Plymouth to Roscoff for £23. You arrive in France at 7am and depart back to blighty at 11pm. That's a nice long cheap day in France. I did a circular tour, taking in the brilliant workers' meals in the village restaurants - 4 courses and all the wine you want for 11 euros. You don't need to carry too much stuff, and it's a little adventure getting round and seeing as much as you can before getting back for the ferry. I foolishly booked a cabin on my first trip, but discovered that was a mistake as they blast music into your cabin to get you out around 2 hours before you arrive back in Plymouth! Better to find one of the secret corners of the ferry and park your thermarest and sleeping bag.

Ribblehead wrote:Is this any good?http://www.instructables.com/id/Convert-a-3xAAA-flashlight-to-a-Lithium-18650-cell/

I've just attempted the above modification with a very similar torch to the Aldi one, and it's not possible. Even once you've pulled out all the plastic etc., there's still not enough room at the back of the torch to accommodate an 18650 battery. I assume it's because these torches have a circuit board on the switch to run the hi/lo/flash functions, which doesn't leave enough room for a bigger battery. The torch in the above link probably just has a simple on/off switch.

Another vote for the Lidl box set. I'm really pleased with mine - the quality is really good, and it's got a huge range of tools.

I haven't seen any on sale in either Lidl or Aldi since I bought mine around 8 months ago, so I reckon they'll be along again in the near future.

My limited experience has been of upgrading the v-brakes on my cheapo Claud Butler to XTs (rear) and XTRs (front.) I can't remember which brand were originally on there, but they were poor in two respects - firstly the levers/adjusters were made out of lead. Secondly, the little grub screws that you use to centre the brake arms (by equalising the spring pressure on each side) had stripped it's threads and no longer worked. The new brakes are better in that they are all metal, however the thread had stripped in the XTR brake arm (that clamps your cable), so I had to replace it with a nut and bolt. The XTR also screams like a banshee when it's wet. Performance-wise, I don't recall my world changing when the new brakes went on.

I wouldn't bother upgrading your brakes unless there's something functionally wrong with the old ones. So long as they're in good condition, with good quality pads and well-adjusted, they should do the job. Moving to hydraulic discs on the other hand makes a huge transformation, but I'm sure I'll be shot down for suggesting such a thing, and it would probably be cheaper to change your entire bike.