Cycling UK Forum

Audax is a Latin word so will be pronounced pronounced owdaks

reohn2 wrote:I'm just sick of being treated like some kind of second class citizen when cycling by an element of the the population and not always a definable element either,sometimes coming for the most unexpected quarters.
I suspect thats what troubles most people who cycle,i think we (Great Britain) have a social problem with cycling born out of some kind of out dated class system which sees people who cycle as as targets of ridicule.
We have become a crappy society to cycle in for various reasons not least being the feeling by some that we simply should not be on the road,why, is anyone guess.
But hey ho, they're the losers, they just don't know what they're missing! despite the predudice

I'm a fairly recent returnee to semi serious cycling( 3 years ago) and discovered this forum very recently. Certainly never considered myself as a second class citizen for cycling nor have I ever got the impression that others do. I'm surprised at the inferiority complex some posters here seem to have , typified by the above posting, and also the paranoia shown by some who seem to think all motorists are out to "get them".

Far from being second class citiziens cyclists are the opposite if anything as this article in the times shows http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 500754.ece

TA do cranks up to 180 - Spa have them

PW wrote:48X11 = 117.8"
I changed from 6 speed, 52/40/30 X 13-32 to a 9 speed set up 48/38/26 X 11-32 and found it excellent for most purposes - and you can certainly use that warp 9 top gear if you live in Derbyshire. The 11-34 cassette may be more useful if you intend camping in the lakes or Scotland, maybe drop the chainset size a couple of teeth too? 46 X 11 = 112.9 which is still plenty & 24X34=19" - as low as you need to go I think.
6 speed rear ends usually measure 126mm across the rear axle locknuts, 9 speed mtb hubs are 135mm, so assuming you have a steel frame it needs a visit to the bike surgeon to get it cold set. Cost around £20.

So it is - typed the wrong wheel size into the spreadsheet. I've got a 46 tooth wheel hanging about so could try that. Smallest front I can have on my stronglight lx100 is 28.
My frame is 126 mm but experimenting the other day managed to fit an 8 speed mtb hubbed wheel in without any probs( well not after I let the tyre down!) - put one end of the axle in the dropout and pushed on the hub while pulling the other chainstay until the wheel went in. Will this cause any frame stresses that cold setting would avoid?

Thanks for the opinions guys.

Went for bar end shifters - found an as new pair of Dura Ace 9 speed on ebay for around 20 quid inc postage, cables, stops etc.
Had them for a week now and happy with them so far though still not entirely used to them - occasionally reaching for the non existent down tube levers.

Thought I'd have to use friction but was pleased to find that, after a bit of cable adjustment, the indexing works with my 6 speed freewheel and Suntour accushift rear mech.... It's not meant to though is it?

freakhatz wrote:I replied to one of the threads (as wotnogears - now expired).

On ebay last week there was a 1986 magazine supplement for sale about this marque, which I bought. Haven't received it yet but if it throws any further light on the subject I'll report back.

The turn of speed my Touristique has compared to my other tourer still surprises me!

Thanks.

I'd be very interested to hear what they have to say...

Of course if there's a small, friendly local garage near you take it in there and ask them to use one of their air wrenches with a 24 mm socket on the freewheel remover. That should shift anything!

Mick F wrote:Sorry Pete, what you say may well be true and right, but I think that your message is going a little off topic.

I was merely suggesting that Dutch cyclists have a different way of being cyclists than we Brits have. I agree that winds in flat areas can be a problem, I don't like cycling over the Somerset levels for that reason.

It's hills that make cycling really difficult.

But last Sunday the wind around here was so strong I found it easier to peddle up one that sheltered me from the wind than I did to peddle down it's predecessor into that wind! Unusually it was coming from the South but it wasn't warm. The thing about wind is it's so bloody unrelenting - you get to the top of a hill but the wind just keeps going.

glueman wrote:The link is a 404 and the theme a bit dark for the Celebs thread though I'm happy to look and learn elsewhere. I was out there shortly before the horrors kicked off and it seemed obvious what was going to happen, even to me.
In many ways the UNs tardiness in the Balkans gave Bush all the excuses he needed not to pursue sanctions in the Middle East. A dark, dark day for europe.

AGREE!

That incident though entirely changed my opinion of the Dutch.

The link should be http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp458.htm

Saw an htm at the end and assumed it should have been html so bunged an l on.

UnoHoncho wrote:New to this forum so 'Hello' to all....

Are we talking 'car reprayers' here ? Or specialist bike resprays ?

I have a 1992 Raleigh Scorpio that needs a respray to it's normal white/fluorescant yellow/purple and was going to do it myself but I'm now thinking it would be easier to send it off elsewhere....

Anyone know of anywhere in Yorkshire ? Or can tell me what type of repsrayers I should look for ?

Thanks

I used these people to refinish the frame of an old BSA A10 motorbike I've restored. They did a bloody good job for £45 , perfect finish and seemingly as tough as the original stove enamel.
http://www.powder-coatings.ltd.uk/motor.php
I believe they also do cycle frames and deal with items sent by courier.

For a fancy paint job there are loads of custom sprayers all over the country who deal with motorbike stuff. They should be able to a paint cycle frame easily enough. There's a list of them here

http://www.motorcycle.co.uk/lists/Paint.html

I use a a 24 mil socket on the remover and the shifter bar from the socket set and brace the wheel against a wall or similar. If it's stubborn I tap the end of the bar with a mallet. I use a Thor copper/hide mallet , purely because I've got one, but one of the pound shop rubbber mallets should deliver enough impact to jar the threads free.

glueman wrote:

pete75 wrote:The local character is very different though. It's highly unlikely a force of soldiers recruited in the Lincolnshire fens would have stood idly by and let the Sebrenica massacre take place like a Dutch army battalion did.

AFAIK the Dutch soldiers had to have psychological counselling after Sebrenica because, though they were armed, their mandate expressely forbid engagement, as it did elsewhere with British troops.

"Though it was already known that Bosnian hostages had been executed, and rumors of genocide were rife,3 the commander of the Dutch land forces at the time, General Couzy, decided that the Dutch soldiers in Zagreb were entitled to a party. The Dutch historian Henri Beunders wrote a year later: "While the Bosnians were standing up to their knees in blood, the Dutch soldiers in Zagreb were standing up to their ankles in beer, being applauded by Crown Prince Willem Alexander, [prime minister] Kok and [minister of defense] Voorhoeve."4 Among the Dutch soldiers were racist radicals who were known to make the Nazi salute.5"

There's more here http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp458.html

British troops certainly did engage in combat in the "former Yugoslavia" whatever there mandate said. Sebrenenica was supposed to be a safe haven guaranteed by UN troops . If that was the case then I suspect it highly unlikely that those troops were not allowed to use force to guarantee that safe haven.

Tom Richardson wrote:is that because a cyclist in america might be carrying a gun Herwin? I've often thought that cycling might be safer if cyclists were allowed to carry guns.

Yep but motorists would just get bigger guns...

Thinking of converting my machine from 6 on the back to 9. I’ve an old fashioned Suntour 6 speed on the back which goes from 15 – 32 in quite big steps coupled with triple 48 36 30 . I could do with smaller steps and a bit higher at the top and bit lower at the bottom for cycling camping with hills. 9 speed blocks seem to go from 11 to 34 – 34 being fine for the bottom but 11 x 48 gives a 131 inch which is totally unusable unless riding down a black run.
One thought I’ve had it is to ditch the triple and go for double say 42 28 on the front.

Another alternative might be to go for 7 speed “mega” block say 14 – 34 which would give a bit higher on the top, a bit lower on the bottom and, apart from the big jump to the 34, closer ratios in the most used range.

Has anyone tried something like this , and if so how did it work for you?

Mick F wrote:Their easy going cycling must have something to do with their small but highly populated country, and the fact that it's flat. You couldn't get anywhere more different to Holland than Middle England.

Cycling in Holland from place to place is a gentle and sedate thing. Anyone can do it. Wide, straight roads. A2B never very far. Idyllic.

England, on the other hand, has narrow winding roads, A2B can be across horrid cities, along thundering dual carriageways, or hilly hills. It rains more and the weather is not predictable. Middle England produces a completely different sort of cyclist.

Actually here in the Fens the landscape is very similar to Holland Mick, totally flat with long straight roads. Not always easy riding , anyone who thinks it is hasn't ridden a 10 mile straight against a fen blow. The local character is very different though. It's highly unlikely a force of soldiers recruited in the Lincolnshire fens would have stood idly by and let the Sebrenica massacre take place like a Dutch army battalion did.