Cycling UK Forum

The nearest council tip (sorry, I mean "Household Waste Recycling Centre"). Seriously. It's bound to have a few cast-off kids' bikes, some of which will have perfectly sound brake levers.

OK, no need to shout...

To be fair, there ARE places where bike hire seems to work as a primary business - the New Forest springs to mind. It needs an area with direct access to traffic-free, not-too-hilly paths and a steady supply of tourists who aren't keen cyclists but who fancy a gentle afternoon's ride. The OP was talking about a seafront promenade, which might just work - but he'd need to make sure the local council were going to support him first. If the local residents keep moaning about dangerous cyclists on the seafront and the council brings in restrictions on promenade cycling (as some already do during the summer) it could wipe out his business.

In the meantime, just wrap the two top straps over the pannier rail before you clip them closed - a trick another Lidl pannier owner showed me. Pull the straps tight and the pannier will stay firmly attached to the rack, no matter how heavily loaded.

The standard Claud Butler manual is available for download at http://www.falconcycles.co.uk/Corporate/BikeInfo.shtml. However its advice on adjusting the height of an Aheadset is, basically, "Don't!" Strangely it supports this with an exploded diagram showing all the separate parts you're not supposed to mess with. Maybe the picture is supposed to be a warning of what will happen if you dare to loosen the Compression Bolt.

So you're better off following Thirdcrank's suggestion.

Big T wrote:

pigman wrote:
I beg to differ and if I'm wrong, then glad to know it but.... The original campag 9 speed mech (known in cycling circles as 20th century) worked with 8 speed. this is what I had. At around 2000/2001 campag revised their 9 speed stuff and their new mechs (21st cent mechs) have a different cable pull ratio so wont work. I'm sure CJ's shimergo paper covered this, but again, maybe I'm wrong??

My wife's set up is running on a 2005 9 speed Xenon rear mech, so 8 speed will work with a 21st Century mech.

You're both right. See this 2005 spares catalogue: the last page has a compatibility table which claims that an 8-speed Ergo lever will work with both the pre- and post-2001 9-speed mechs without modification, provided you use a 9-speed chain. (Warning: downloads from the Campagnolo website seem to take ages.)

pigman wrote:8 speed campag is a bit of a dead duck. Replacement bits are very hard to source. And take care of that gear mech. A replacement is very scarce/expensive.

I don't see the need to throw it all away while the levers are still working - they're the expensive bit. As for the mech, it happens I was checking that today. Campag themselves say the current 9-speed mechs will work "OK" in an 8-speed setup, provided you also use a 9-speed chain. So that's the next step in my gradual upgrade path.

Rob S wrote:Your best bet would be to buy a Veloce 9 speed cassette and then buy Campag spacer Kit 03 (I've seen them in Condor), drop the largest sprocket and you can continue using your 8 speed levers and mechs with new wheels.

For the record, I've just done this. Condor don't normally carry Kit03 spacer kits in stock, but they were happy to order one for me from Italy and it turned up in a couple of weeks. It cost a shade over £18, and comes in a fetching 1990s-style anodised bright blue.

Anyone else thinking of trying it should take special note of Rob's phrase "drop the largest sprocket". Because of the positioning of the ramps and grooves, you can't (in theory) take a middle sprocket out of the set. Campag say you MUST remove the largest sprocket. So if you want an 8-speed 13-23 cassette, you should buy a 9-speed 13-26 and throw the 26-tooth sprocket away.

Me, I couldn't bear to lose the 26t sprocket (I live near the South Downs and I'm quite attached to my knee joints) so I ignored the manual and took the 16t out instead. It seems to work OK - I haven't noticed any problems with shifting over the "missing" cog.

gilesjuk wrote:Would be interesting to see a similar chart for car accidents, I would imagine there's little sense in the data there.

The rumour is they're starting by publishing cycle accidents as an experiment - the quantities of data are so much smaller. If the repsonse is positive, other modes may also appear.

What bugs me is that I looked in the 2005 stats for my friend's crash at Yarbridge on the Isle of Wight (serious injury requiring hospitalisation, two ambulances and one police car in attendance). It's not marked. Now I can accept that minor incidents are under-reported, but one like that? It doesn't fill me with confidence about the validity of the data.

It's a little button you press in sideways on the lever. It's pretty obvious (e.g. see this photo from Wikipedia - the QR button is just visible protruding from the far side of the lever). They aren't present on my mid-90's Mirage but I think you'll find them across the range on current models.

I bought a pair on eBay for my wife's bike because she complained about not being able to exert enough stopping power. They are very effective BUT there's a split second delay before the braking cuts in, which can be very disconcerting. We took them off again after a while. Best where you really need serious braking power on the back (tandems, very heavily loaded tourers). Otherwise just go for a decent conventional canti.

robgul wrote:.... yes, but "not for profit" (presumably local authorities are diverting some subsidies - there are number of other similar initiatives around the country) - I think the OP was looking earn a living!
Rob

"Not for profit" doesn't necessarily mean that no-one's making a living from it...

skrx wrote:Just FYI:
http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWTrai ... scheme.htm
http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/3738
South West Trains folding bicycle hire trail scheme at Waterloo.

Yeeeesss... okay, I know Bromptons are viewed as "decent" bikes among the cognoscenti, and I know some people will happily ride 40 miles plus on a Brompton for pleasure ('cos I've seen them do it) and I'm prepared to accept that not all of those people are completely insane, but I don't think it's something many experienced cycletourists would choose to do. I was thinking more of road-bike-equivalent folders like the Airnimals.

cols3064 wrote:how much do you want for it

Open to offers (from anyone), bearing in mind the wheels are knackered, but perhaps I should continue this over on the "For Sale" board...

cols3064 wrote:as any one owned a overburys touring bike and whats there veiws

I have one here! Vintage 1990, 531ST Overbury's Classic Tourer. Would you like to buy it? It's soon to be replaced by a shiny new Condor.

I have mixed feelings about it. I only ordered from them out of nostalgia because Overbury's had been my favourite bike shop back in the early '80s when I lived in Bristol. (The '80s were Overbury's real heyday - they were among the first to start building mountain bikes in the UK and had a successful MTB team, and they also latched on to the mini-boom in commuter cycling much faster than the other bike shops in Bristol.) The bike was months late - and then suddenly they wanted full payment BEFORE I got to see the bike - and in the end I only got it out of them by threatening legal action. To be fair they were very apologetic and delivered it to me in person (a 100-mile round trip to Swindon on a Saturday morning) with £100-worth of free upgrades.

NOTE: This took place 19 years ago, so should not be taken as a comment on the current management of the shop.

It's always been a nice enough bike to ride, but not great as a heavy-duty tourer: a bit too much shimmy from the back end when heavily laden, and less-predictable handling than the Claud Butler that preceded it. But it's lasted pretty well.

I don't think the frame was built at Overbury's shop itself, but it was built somewhere not far from there.

Shortly after I bought it, they gained permission to put the City of Bristol crest on their bikes as a head badge. I would have liked that, but by then I didn't feel much like talking to them again.

I have never seen another Overbury's tourer since I got mine. Mind you, mine was resprayed by Argos years ago so no-one would recognise it as an Overbury's either.

kwackers wrote:My commute is 13 miles each way, for a while now I've been alternating between using clips and not and noting the time it took.
Result? No noticable difference. Not the most scientific study I agree, but if a huge difference was discernable then for any given amount of 'knackeredness' there would be some time difference and there isn't.

I used to find it made 1-2 mph difference back when I compared the two methods. But that was a loooong time ago, I expect the laws of biomechanics have changed since then...

Oh, and if you're only using clips without straps then no, you're not going to see the whole benefit anyway.