Cycling UK Forum

Hello everyone, seems like ages since I’ve been in this forum.

I run tandem sessions for visually impaired kids with my cycle club. We have a tandem with a seat height low enough for the shortest child, but the cranks are too long. I was thinking of fitting crank shorteners, could anyone recommend a particular brand / design please?

PS I should point out that it's an older tandem that was a free gift and doesn't really justify new cranks, especially as they are tandem stoker cranks.

Thanks,

Whippet ( Kevin )

Thought I’d share my story which is also fairly positive.
Diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in May 2021, it had already spread throughout my lymphatic system. My PSA was 5,000 ( yes, really ) and it felt like a death sentence at the time. I went through chemo, radio and will now always be on hormone therapy. As well as my wife and many good friends, cycling has been my saviour. Back to time trialling this summer and plan to do a 200k audax in November. PSA currently 0.04, so it’s nicely paused at the moment.

Well, thanks to all your advice, the tour was an absolute cracker.

Newbury to Bath on Friday: the route was perfect as far as Burbage, and then we had a slightly busier A road before it improved again after Pewsey. Cold rain in late morning was alleviated with a stop for lunch at the Black Swan in Devizes, a brilliant pub and very bike friendly ( they let us store the bikes behind their huge carriage gates ). As we were only 100 yards from the Wadworth brewery, we all washed down our fish and chips with 6X. The short canal section past Calne Hill Locks was passable on road tyres, although I’m sure my 32mm’s were more comfortable than 25mm. After Bradford on Avon it was exactly the same for the tow path all the way to Bath. I’d definitely recommend it. Premier Inn was super central and ideal for storing the bikes in our rooms. Bath has a great variety of pubs and restaurants too.

Saturday saw a short ride to a cafe on the floating harbour in Bristol before returning for a tourist afternoon in Bath. We took the railway cycle path which was excellent. So we have managed to tour around Bath and Bristol and not climb any hills.

Sunday was the same route back, and like Friday, we had a tail wind. Stopped into the same Devizes pub for lunch.

The perfect mini tour for me.

Thanks again guys. Leaving this morning, really looking forward to it. I’m hoping the rain will be warm

Thanks Bice, I’ll create an alternative BoA to Bath route as a back up. What’s the two tunnels route?

Thanks for all the input, I decided to use the canal from BoA to Bristol after all. I've managed to remove 200m of climbing which I'm very pleased about.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42370049

simonineaston wrote: ↑7 Apr 2023, 11:59am I last used that route in '21 when I collected a Moulton from BoA so I have a reasonable level of confidence it won't have changed. It's good, packed gravel, or earth, all the way and is readily navigable by any sort of bike / tyre combination, in good condition, in my view.

That’s great to know thanks Simon, I’m altering it to take the canal path from BoA to Bath. Even better, I’d love to check out some Moultons!!

That’s great feedback thanks Simon and Jon. What’s the towpath surface like between BoA and Bath please. Could it be ridden in reasonable comfort on a road bike with 25mm tyres ( not me, but probably some of the other riders ).

Would someone be able to give me feedback on this route from Newbury to Bath please? I’m running a tour to Bath for my club in a few weeks and would like to avoid any glaring mistakes. Assume that we will have to stick to tarmac ( hence I’ve diverted RWGPS where it wanted to take me along the cancel path, except for Calne Hill Locks ).

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42370049

Thanks

Kevin

He remained incredibly sharpe and witty on the radio right into old age. In a very talented man.

I always have ( and love ) Whippets. Nothing to do with my body shape

I hope the Mercian gets well wiped down afterwards. Wouldn’t like sweat to take its toll on such a cracking bike.

I had a Texas TI 30 and school in the late 70’s. It’s main advantage was that there was room to store a cigarette in the battery compartment.

Yes, the papers might well be hostile but they are largely irrelevant in the modern world. Their circulations have plummeted and they are only surviving by the skin of their teeth. The media that matters is TV / the BBC and the internet, who I’d say were less hostile / possibly more hostile to the Conservatives.

I was surprised just how well my Commando handled when I bought one 12 years ago.