Cycling UK Forum

Here's mine, how big is yours?




Click to enlarge!

Hi mick,
Reminded me of a similar revolutionary product in the late 1960's. A plastic sleeve which was pushed onto drop handlebars instead of the usual sticky cloth tape. It was a nightmare to get on, i remember having to use a lot of neat washing up liquid to lubricate it and like you my arms, wrists and palms were extremely sore by the time i finished. Then to cap it all off the first time i used them in the rain (apart from the bubbles) i found them so hard that they rubbed my palms raw!. I had to cut them off as there was no other way of removing them. Mine were in a bright lime green colour. Anyone else remeber these?
Roger

I made a tool using 6 X m5 allen bolts. I used some 1/8 inch thick tough plastic sheet but you could use anything to hand. I still use it occasionally as i discovered when i removed the Fag BB that it is enclosed in a polyamide case so it was an easy job to drill a small hole in the sleeve and then inject grease (using a syringe) into the body to completely fill it and eject the old grease. This gives the unit a new lease of life.

I have had problems with my neck in the past and was recommended to read the following book. "Treat Your Own Neck" by the new zealand physiotherapist Robin Mckenzie. It cost about £9 and i found it excellent help.
The ISBN number is 0-473-00209-4 He has also written a companion book entitled "Treat your own back"
Its worth googling these for an unbiased opinion.
Best of luck

As thirdcrank says they usually operate a rolling road closure. I have watched it pass through somerset on the previous 2 years and have had a great day out. When the road reopens ( Not obvious - just assume its after the bunch and following cars pass) you may find a bunch of local boy racers following and you can then follow along almost traffic free roads for several miles if you are on the same route. Last year they reopened the road straight after the bunch went through but there were still tour riders well of the back and they were being sheperded by a police motor cyclist. Not often you get overtaken by tour riders on the road.

I forgot to mention that i also loop the carry strap around the bars as a secondary retention (just in case!).

As autumn is creeping up on us and the darker evenings approach i modified an old Cateye HL500 light bracket to take a Tesco torch as well as still being able to hold the original cateye unit. There are probably hundreds if not thousands of these Cateye lights lurking in peoples bike cupboards as they were very popular in their day. The only tools needed were a 2mm drill and a needle file. I also needed a reusable cable tie to secure the torch. This is how i did it.
Roger

Hi Mick, you could add this one to your list. Edithmead church (1/2 mile off A38 out of Highbridge going North). A tin shed like Mary,s station at Baldrine. Click to make bigger. (how do you post pics in the bigger size?)

On the chopper Mick?

I like the Mike Burrows method, cheap and cheerful. Cleaning similar to Mick F, but then dry the chain, heat until too hot to touch then dunk it in a jar of thick oil of sae90 quality, (I use ep90) leave for a couple of minutes then remove, drain for 1 hour, wipe off the surplus and refit.
Downside of this is that the ep90 does have a sulpherous odour, and it is messy, and you will need to repeat every 1000 miles or so.

One other solution has been advocated by chris bell of highpath transmision which involves replacing the rear mech cable adjuster with a longer adjuster (eg a brake cable adjuster) which goes right through the top of the mech and exits some mm below the cable exit point. This is easy for older shimano mechs but newer ones have a plug fitted which would have to be removed. Again this would be a trial and effort adjustment because it would have to cover 2 functions, ie indexing adjustment and cable adjustment. I see his web site is being rebuilt so the original pages that showed this are not currently available. The following comment was part of the original text:-

" Replace the cable adjuster with a much longer one to make the pitch adjustable. It is normal when the adjuster is fully out, less when halfway, and even less when screwed in all the way. (The adjuster now does two jobs - large changes affect the pitch but small changes continue to fine-tune the indexing as before.)

Advanced indexing techniques
Tricks like these alter the pitch of a rear mech by changing the route the cable takes across its parallelogram. They are useful if you mix equipment from different makes and vintages."

I found this weather radar site after being mentioned on the Cricket test match commentary during a rain interval. I have found it very useful for a short term forecast, ie a couple of hours ahead. Not perfect but reasonably accurate IMHO. I always check before going out on the bike if the weather is a bit iffy. One thing it illustrates well is how under certain conditions showers can organise themselves into narrow bands that can give the impression that you are under continuous rain for several hours whilst adjacent areas only a few miles away can be totally dry.
http://www.raintoday.co.uk/

Sounds just like me. I started building a Stuart horizontal steam engine several years ago but found it was compromising the time spent on my bike. Now where did i put my glasses

If down in somerset you must try this tea shop near Taunton. Home made cakes are superb and you should see the size of the cheese and ham scones. http://www.currymalletstores.co.uk/index.cfm
Voted best cyclist tea shop in somerset in 2008

I had exactly the opposite experience to Mick F. I was a shift worker and cycled to work in all weathers approx 7 miles each way often in the dark. I had 2 soubitez bottom bracket dynamo's which wore out after 6 months use each. They were also prone to slippage as well. I changed to a Sanyo bottom bracket dynamo which was excellent in all respects and which is still working several years later.

Just goes to show that Somerset grime and mud is environmentally more friendly than the Devon variety