Cycling UK Forum

FairFX. They used to be free but now about £10. I load mine up with £1k any time I can get 1.20 to £1 on it.......like about now!
They make their money on the exchange - no more fees whether you withdraw cash or use the card for purchases.....and their exchange rates usually beat anyone elses.

FairFX £ cards work differently and are not such good value.

They (FairFX) also do a $$$ card which would work similar to the Euro card, and I would have one ...but I have a US bank a/c so don't need one.

Check out FairFX.com if interested.

Look on the German site of eBay. I got a NEW 'The Plug' for 31 Euros a couple of months ago.

Haven't got around to fitting it yet as I have another contraption wired-up to the dyno at the moment.....waiting for that to fail then I'll use The Plug!

For anyone who hasn't seen it, this video is quite funny:
http://youtu.be/GMCkuqL9IcM

Sample quote: "Is this the lightest bell you have?"
---------------------------------------------------------

Excellent vid!!!! That's cyclists!!!!

I have a 38lbs heavy-duty (Silkroad) touring bike....and a 24lbs Giant FCR 1............both flat-barred....similar riding position. When riding the FCR, I'm 20-25% faster on the same circuits here in the Yorkshire Dales (hilly!). Circuits are 20-60 miles. The touring bike is way more comfortable........but I get around much faster on the FCR so spend less time on the unforgiving alu frame/forks (and vasectomy-not-needed Toupe saddle).

Get a pair of bike gloves from Aldi the next time they are selling them. Excellent and cheap.

I find cycling into the wind very depressing. As I mainly ride in the Dales, one invisible force - gravity - is enough for me to contend with, another one - wind - really p***** me off.

The only way I can handle it is to keep telling myself that, however difficult it may be....it's good exercise!

I started off with the North America map....as I bought my 705 in the States.......when I came back to Europe last Autumn, I bought the 2012 Europe map.

I use connect.garmin.com to map a ride and load it to my 705.

You might find this site useful if you want to hook some bike paths together. Zoom out to get the bigger picture, then zoom in on any marker to get more details.

http://www.traillink.com/viewnationalma ... 2071716470

irc....yep, that was me! I remember you, you stopped off at that diner I was having breakfast in. Small world!

PM me, I'd be interested to know which way you went....you took a couple of photos of the bikes if I remember rightly....maybe you could flick them on to me.



As irc says, the GAP and C&O will avoid the hills in west Pa. I didn't know about the trails until I finished the coast to coast.....but came back west on them to visit a friend in Pittsburgh. The GAP was in good condition, but you needed a mountain bike for the canal in places. It was very wet, muddy, and rough.......but they'd had a lot of flooding in that area at that time and the towpath needed repairing in places.
If you don't take the GAP and towpath, the hills in west Pa. and W. Va. will come as a shock!

My favourite part of the trip was Hwy 30 through Nebraska......flat, good surface, hardly any traffic, small towns every 10/12 miles, very friendly people.
My least favourite was Iowa....bad roads, cracks every 20ft, no shoulder, traffic, and incessant up and downs. If you must go through Iowa, go across the north part - it's flatter from what I hear.

I was worried about my lack of cycling for the last 2 years......but...last summer, set off from Oregon coast and finished in Delaware 39 days and 3340 miles later....no plans, no route, just headed east. Took it steady to start with and felt good after a week. Averaged nearly 100 miles a day.......I carried full camping gear on a heavy-duty touring bike with fat tyres.......and I'm overweight, ex-smoker, and drink like a fish. USA west to east is easy until you hit the Appalachians. Gradients are steady in the Rockies, most of the rest is flat, and you should have a tailwind most of the way.

Yes, that's what I figured...........I've emailed the gizmo sellers and told them it's er....not working as it should. I'll wait to see if they're willing to replace the item. Fortunately for me, they are not a million miles from me.

Shunt?

It worked fine for a while.......and it's made in Germany.....Vorsprung Durch Technic and all that.....figured it would be OK. Lol

I bought one of these.............

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BICYCLE-DYNAM ... 19cbe262be

It's a switch that gets power from the dynamo and then feeds it to a USB and a light with a wire to each.

When I have it switched to the USB......it powers the GPS.........BUT whether the GPS is connected or not - the dynamo drags when that switch is set to USB..

When I have the switch set on 'light', the dynamo does NOT drag. (I don't have the 'light' wire connected to anything).

So even if I'm not powering anything and nothing is connected from that switch....the dynamo drags when switch is set to USB but not when switch is set to 'light.

(The switch can only run one at once, not both together, but as I don't use lights, that's not a problem.)

A few weeks ago I hooked-up my SON hub dynamo to a GPS on my bike, and it works fine. A few days ago I noticed the hub 'drags' when it's connected now - it didn't before, I checked it.

It still powers/charges the GPS, as it did before.


Now there's a very noticeable difference between the hub being hooked-up, and when the wires are disconnected. When the wires are disconnected, the wheel spins much more freely. It used to spin freely when it was hooked up....but something has recently changed, and I can't figure it out.

Any ideas as to why this might be? Could the dynamo be faulty? It's only 2 years old and I thought they were pretty much maintenance-free.

SEVENTEEZLAD..........thanks for that link. That was pretty much what I was looking for.