Cycling UK Forum

JerseyJoe wrote: ↑7 May 2024, 2:45pm Cavendish riding the tour this year or is he officially "retired"?

unless he is injured beforehand he will be there, seems to be keeping out of trouble so far

avoid the Rhein - its busy, expensive and largely boring, there are much nicer places to go. Once you've got yourselves to the German rail network the whole country is your oyster. I've covered most of the country to some extent and each region has its own attractions. Do you want mountains, seascapes, gentle riding, a themed trip or mix things up a bit - i've done them all.

The Baltic coast is nice, no major climbing, plenty of campsites/accomodation and a wide variety of attractions, start from Hamburg/Luebeck and head east to Rugen or get the train to Sassnitz and ride back. Another great trip was starting from Kassel and following the rivers east before looping to the headwaters of the Main and following that back to Frankfurt. Otherwise pick an area eg the Eifel Mountains and just explore - there are bike routes and stuff to do aplenty, this works well in hillier terrain as you could stay in one spot and do day rides unemcumbered by luggage.

Talk to SJS Cycles in Bridgewater - they are experts in this sort of stuff

Go to your local IBS, they will have experience of the local terrain, bike suitability and it won't (usually) be tainted by OGS (old g@t syndrome) as much of the replies are on this forum.

I won't offer an opinion just because there are so many variables and i don't know enough about your situation to make an informed opinion. (i made my living selling bikes for over 20 years, i was pretty good at matching riders to bikes, my job depended on it!)

geocycle wrote: ↑29 Apr 2024, 9:34am Are the shimano cables 1.2 mm whereas the outer are designed for thinner cables eg Clarks?

neither, they are all Campagnolo

the snail wrote: ↑28 Apr 2024, 2:14pm

foxyrider wrote: ↑24 Apr 2024, 7:37pm ... Back in the mists of time we didn't know any better and you used the same spiral outer cable for gears and brakes...

Because there was no point- if you're not using indexed gears, or a long cable run to a rear disc brake, then a bit of compression in the cable doesn't matter.

It wasn't that there was no point, the stuff didn't exist. Having fitted modern brake outer on my 70's road bike i can tell you that it does make quite a difference in performance.

Just to restate, its got new cables and compressionless outer, its not a cable issue. Oh and its not the HyRd brake but a Shimano single piston.

I will take the brake apart and have a go at the piston, it could be that although it seems to work okay.

for my two centimes i'd be looking at the cyclo cross (CX) machines out there, the lower tier models are usually Al frame/fork withmudguard and rack mounts and the ability to run some pretty big tyres. This is in fact what my 'dedicated' touring bike is, i've used it for full on camping trips on a multitude of surfaces, its very stable and not excessively heavy. It currently has 37mm tyres fitted but i think i'll be reverting to 28's when they expire, the fat tyres are so slow! Yes, i've customised it to my preferences, the off the peg saddle for example didn't cut it for me and i prefer a flat top bar to a round section etc, etc.

Mine is a Focus Mares but the likes of Trek, Cube, Specialized and so on usually have CX models hiding in their range.

I'm a little older than the OP, riding straight bars for more than a few minutes puts me in quite some pain, so, of my current fleet, only the E-Mtn doesn't have drop bars! They might be out of fashion but rather than single grip straights, multi position 'butterfly' style bars could be the way to go if you really want to move away from drops. Make sure any bike fitter knows you aren't looking for a slammed racing set up.

Before we go any further i'd like to state that i hate disc brakes!

Now that's out of the way, the issue. Last week i finished rebuilding my CX/touring bike, Its had new frame bearings, all the consumables have been replaced, mudguards and rear mech replaced, its looking pretty good and even made it onto GCN this week. The only fly is the braking, its never been great from new, it had HY/RD's on for some time, i upgraded the front rotor to 180mm but they were never great so i reverted to the Shimano cables that it came with. I had got to a point of acceptable performance before the strip down, no noise to speak of and as long as i kept on top of the pad adjustment (at least once a week), stopping power was similar to old school single pivot rim brakes.

The first couple of rides after the rebuild suggested i'd got everything dialled in again but the last two rides the front brake has devoped an annoying quirk, vis it drags on the disc at slower speeds, a dab on the lever clears it but it soon returns. I've stripped the brake down, changed the pads, checked the flatness of the rotor, realigned the brake on the fork and voila, no drag/rubbing. A couple of hours into todays ride and its back.

Any ideas? The first two rides were bone dry but the latest have both been a bit humid although actual rain has been scant. The pads are a mixed compound. The rear brake has no issue beyond poor performance.

Angstrom wrote: ↑23 Apr 2024, 9:02pm
What region would you advise me to pitch for a 2-week tour in quiet country, beautiful scenery and small towns/villages that would change her prejudice against touring in UK. Anywhere but Cornwall? (We don't mind a bit of ups and downs).

Thank you.

A bit further afield than the south east but a trip up to Lincolnshire / Yorkshire would tick all your boxes, quiet, traffic free lanes, loads to see and much cheaper than the South East.

nirakaro wrote: ↑24 Apr 2024, 4:12pm My Big Agnes tent has done a decade or more of sterling service, but the tape on the groundsheet seam is falling apart, and needs replaced. Advice on the best procedure/products?

Alpkit do all sorts of repairs through certain of their outlets. I'm sure there are plenty of smaller operations doing such repairs/maintenance if you do a simple search.

simonineaston wrote: ↑24 Apr 2024, 8:07am My Question was about brake cables. I’ve edited the subject line accordingly. And in the interest of enquiry, I’ve ordered some “compressionless” cable outer too!

I wouldn't use anything else, its a game changer for braking performance. Back in the mists of time we didn't know any better and you used the same spiral outer cable for gears and brakes, there wasn't a choice, now they are different diameters and different 'layup' to optimise performance.

gregoryoftours wrote: ↑21 Apr 2024, 9:21pm Many gear stops in Shimano shifters do require a ferrule, if in doubt check the product manual. If designed for a ferrule, not using one will likely end up with the hole for the inner cable to pass through jamming up with the longitudinal gear housing strands because the diameter is too big.

Brake cables are another matter, many designed for use sans ferrule, but also not as critical an issue as the outer is spiral wound.

think you are getting a bit confused, decent brake outer will be longitudale to help prevent compression, gear outer, IME is usually spiral wound

Jdsk wrote: ↑8 Apr 2024, 6:15pm

rareposter wrote: ↑8 Apr 2024, 6:06pm

rogerzilla wrote: ↑8 Apr 2024, 5:57pm Because 90% of Brits would refuse to use km. It's not a vote-winner.

That plus the vast expense of replacing all existing road signage, street markings etc with the equivalent in km / kph and so on.
Also most cars sold in the UK prioritise the mph reading on the speedo display although with modern digital displays, the driver can choose settings.

Australia changed. Ireland changed. Sweden even changed which side of the road.

I think that my country could probably handle it. The first step would probably be to elect a competent government.

Or is there something special about the UK which would cause us to fail where others have succeeded?

Jonathan

It would be the ten years of research to reinvent the wheel that would cause failure! How many times have we been late to the party because we had to do our own research even after others have already succesfully done something? One of the most pertinent to this group is obviously cycle infrastructure.

the app i was using no longer shows the relevant information so not sure where i'm at now

I have visited 130 of the 259 parish districts, its the south and east where i have little or no coverage! Think i need a longer trip to tick some boxes!