Cycling UK Forum

pq wrote: ↑2 Oct 2024, 3:00pm BTW how can you fit a 30T chainring to a pair of road cranks? I assume they have a 110mm BCD which means 34 is the smallest you can go.

It's a damn close-run thing, and you have to use it with Absolute Black's own 46t outer and special bolts: https://absoluteblack.cc/oval-road-chai ... -110-4bcd/

rareposter wrote: ↑1 Oct 2024, 11:32pm

AndyK wrote: ↑1 Oct 2024, 10:27pm On the full-carbon front, the Orro Terra C is currently available with SRAM Apex 1x12 groupset for £1499 - and it's a lovely looking bike, though the sales people are hard to get a reply from, and the comments to their Facebook posts suggest that some current owners don't find the company very responsive to queries about spare parts either.

Orro / the distributors have just gone bust. On the one hand, there'll probably be some very cheap bikes around; on the other hand, there'll be near zero warranty and spares support!

https://road.cc/content/news/major-uk-c ... ion-310581

Ohh er. Thanks for the heads-up. I hadn't seen that. Not that surprised about the distributors - I've had a trade account with them for ages and struggled to find anything to buy from them because they never had the bits I wanted in stock. Their stock control seemed erratic to say the least.
The bikes are available from, and in stock at, various retailers so it should be safe to order one that way (assuming you pick a retailer that isn't about to go bust!) but from bike owners' comments online I did get the impression that there are a number of custom parts that are only available from Orro.

rareposter wrote: ↑1 Oct 2024, 8:15pm

Hudson1984 wrote: ↑1 Oct 2024, 6:34pm I'm thinking Gravel is the way to go - maybe a Specialised Crux?

£1500 maximum, what should I look at?

I'm thinking more of an endurance road bike than a full gravel set-up.
You could get a brand new Sonder Colibri for £1500:

https://alpkit.com/products/sonder-colibri-al-105

Aluminium frame but a 12sp 105 groupset and well worthy of upgrades. Very capable bike, 32mm tyres with mudguards, 36mm without.

Ribble do a carbon framed endurance road bike for £1600, the R872. Lower groupset (Tiagra against the 105 of the Sonder) but again, decent enough for future upgrades.

I've been looking at both the Sonder Colibri and their Camino (gravel) model.as a potential replacement for my winter road bike. Between those two the Camino ticks the boxes for me: a high stack-to-reach ratio means being less stretched out, while the long wheelbase means less toe overlap, which matters a lot when you're not very tall and have big feet. I'm going to spend many hours on the bike in poor weather: I want it to be comfortable. The Camino is also available with the 2x12 Shimano 105 groupset, by the way, currently for £1549 but they periodically have sales that knock several hundred quid off the prices.

On the full-carbon front, the Orro Terra C is currently available with SRAM Apex 1x12 groupset for £1499 - and it's a lovely looking bike, though the sales people are hard to get a reply from, and the comments to their Facebook posts suggest that some current owners don't find the company very responsive to queries about spare parts either.

The Ribble CGR is also on my shortlist - again, looks better for endurance rides than the R872. But we're back to aluminium frames, which the OP wasn't keen on .

Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑1 Oct 2024, 9:25pm

AndyK wrote: ↑1 Oct 2024, 5:35pm

Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑1 Oct 2024, 8:56am Here's a similar layout but with a formal zebra:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/MonVrb6miXZFqZ6E6

There's a difference, though: in your example there is enough space between the crossing and the Give Way line for a vehicle to stop at the Give Way line without obstructing the crossing, as handily demonstrated by a Transit van in this view: https://maps.app.goo.gl/YkEEUt8RYG8LcHdTA

In the Westminster picture it doesn't look as if there is, so a van stopping at the Give Way line would block the crossing while it was waiting.

The flip side to this is that the pedestrian always to deviate. It's only a few metres, but repeated at every side road it adds up – and it's most significant for those who most need it (those with impaired mobility, whether that be from a permanent disability or simply a heavy load). Swings and roundabouts – or zigs and zags!

Yeah, unfortunately that's been standard practice for many years. A study in Edinburgh a few years back resulted in the city council changing its guidance and directing that controlled crossings should be right up at the junction, not set back from it. The trouble with the Westminster version is that it's neither one thing nor the other: the crossing is still set back, just not so much, so you have [crossing] - [awkward space] - [give way].It just feels like an invitation for drivers to stop half on the crossing.

Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑30 Sep 2024, 8:16pm Does it? Why? It's merely emphasizing, as Pete says, the convention/soft rule that you should give way to people crossing the side road at the point where it meets a major road. In some countries, and even occasionally the UK, they commonly do this by using continuous footway. (And yes, I have noticed the zig-zags leading to, presumably, a formal zebra off to the right on the major road.)

What is new is the use shown in the photos from the Isle of Man by Cowsham, which were also at a T-junction but across the main road.

Yes, it's just emphasising the rule that already exists. The thing is, why stop there? Why not do the same at the next junction? And the next? Until you end up like Brussels with an informal zebra crossing painted across almost every side street and filter lane. Which I'm not necessarily against, but... here, hold my beer for a minute while I go and buy shares in a paint company.

Surely the risk is that motorists eventually start to assume that pedestrians only have right of way when there's a zebra marked on the road.

Edited to replace "slip road" with "filter lane" for clarity.

Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑1 Oct 2024, 8:56am Here's a similar layout but with a formal zebra:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/MonVrb6miXZFqZ6E6

There's a difference, though: in your example there is enough space between the crossing and the Give Way line for a vehicle to stop at the Give Way line without obstructing the crossing, as handily demonstrated by a Transit van in this view: https://maps.app.goo.gl/YkEEUt8RYG8LcHdTA

In the Westminster picture it doesn't look as if there is, so a van stopping at the Give Way line would block the crossing while it was waiting.

Oh, I see. Apologies, I didn't read the AGM papers this year - had other things to deal with at the time. Yes, in that case, you're quite right. To be honest I'm surprised it took them so long to make that change: we were discussing it back when I was a trustee in 2018-20.

gaz wrote: ↑28 Sep 2024, 10:51am One of the amendments to our AoA approved by members at the AGM, set out in the tracked changes version of the documents circulated with the voting papers.
CTC - Articles of Association, Article 13.jpg

But that isn't the section that required membership rate changes to be approved by the members. That is Article 11, which remains in place:

11. MEMBERSHIP FEES
The Charity may require Members to pay reasonable
Membership fees to the Charity. The Membership fee
for each class of Member may not be changed without
the approval of the Members in general meeting.

Also the removal of Article 13 also doesn't prevent members from requiring a general meeting and putting a resolution to it: as the explanatory notes say (and as Philip has noted) there is a mechanism under the Companies Act for doing this.

In short (and I can't believe I'm typing this) Philip is correct on both counts.

However he's wrong to say that "None of the current trustees were either CTC/CUK trustee members or CTC members when the above changes [charity conversion and rebrand] took place." Those events were in 2012 and 2016 and I'm pretty sure that some of the current trustees were members before that. I don't see its relevance to anything though.

Incidentally, although the AOA were amended a while back to remove the requirement to hold an AGM every year, the implication of Article 11 is that if you want to change the membership rate, you have to hold an AGM (or at least, a GM).

OllyB wrote: ↑27 Sep 2024, 9:55am Hello,

I’m looking to plan a cycle ride in northern France and wondered if anyone can recommend a good mapping navigation site that will feature cycle friendly routes? Is there a French equivalent of the OS mapping?

Thanks

There is a French equivalent of the OS: it's called IGN. Obviously the maps aren't as good as our British ones but they're quite detailed. Many online mapping services/apps include them either as part of the standard paid-for package or as an extra. For example my OutdoorActive subscription, bought for the OS mapping, also includes the IGN maps of France.

If you want to identify cycle-friendly routes in northern France, I'm tempted to say it's easy. They're marked on the map as minor roads.
But if you want officially-designated cycle routes then the IGN maps aren't very good at that. However much of that information is in the OpenStreetMap database. Many mapping apps and websites use that data, but perhaps the best (in terms of having clear, understandable cyclist-friendly mapping) is Cycle.Travel.

I've used my premium RideWithGPS subscription with some success to plan routes in France. The mapping isn't as clear as Cycle.Travel, though it's quite good if you use the "OSM Cycle" mapping layer, and it does show the designated cycle routes clearly (too clearly sometimes). Italso has useful features like the ability to drop the Google Streetview pegman onto a point on your route to check what the road is really like, and the heatmaps to highlight which roads the local cyclists use.

Round here we have a lot of "switchback" hills - short descents followed by short sharpish climbs. If I've got momentum and the top of the hill is in sight, I'd sooner stand up and push on in the same(ish) gear and cadence, making the most of that momentum, rather than changing down and twiddling.

On longer climbs I'll mostly be sitting down and in low gear, but intermittently standing up and pedalling in a slightly higher gear because it means using slightly different muscles and gives my knees a rest, which I think is important. In the old days before I had to give up running, if I stood up straight enough on cycling climbs I could feel my running-strengthened glutes kicking in.

I'm all in favour of variety. Moving about and changing position on the bike is vastly underrated as a way of avoiding strain injuries, spreading the workload across different muscle groups and avoiding saddle soreness.

Generally, if I'm cycling for leisure I like attacking the hills sometimes just because it's fun. On utility and touring rides I'm more likely to sit and twiddle because I want to keep the effort level low.

Incidentally back in my triathlon training days I discovered that the most effective way for me to ride was to keep the effort down on the climbs but then pedal like mad on the descents - essentially keeping my heart rate nearer to a constant level. That got me better overall times on average than attacking the hills and resting on the descent. But where's the fun in that?

Islabikes is open for business again, but only to sell spare parts for their past ranges. There will be no new bikes. But that's still potentially useful for existing owners. https://www.islabikes.co.uk/

craigbarton86 wrote: ↑6 Sep 2024, 9:06am

AndyK wrote: ↑5 Sep 2024, 11:38pm Just one point to add to the good advice already given:

The list of Bike2Work retailers you linked to in your initial post (https://www.bike2workscheme.co.uk/online-shops) actually lists a number of real-world shops, some of them fairly close to your location in Bordon. For example, Hoops Velo are in the scheme and have a branch in Farnham (also branches in Winchester and Petersfield, but it looks like Farnham is where they handle the Bike2Work stuff). Why not go along to one of the listed retailers, look at some bikes and talk to the staff about what you need?

Thanks Andy spotted that last night and headed to Petersfield this morning for daughter to look at and sit on a Frog bike. I will ask about myself whilst I'm there.

Good plan. RightBike (formerly Owens Cycles) in Steep, just north of Petersfield, may also be worth a visit while you're there.

Just one point to add to the good advice already given:

The list of Bike2Work retailers you linked to in your initial post (https://www.bike2workscheme.co.uk/online-shops) actually lists a number of real-world shops, some of them fairly close to your location in Bordon. For example, Hoops Velo are in the scheme and have a branch in Farnham (also branches in Winchester and Petersfield, but it looks like Farnham is where they handle the Bike2Work stuff). Why not go along to one of the listed retailers, look at some bikes and talk to the staff about what you need?

The legendary DC Rainmaker usually covers this in his in-depth product reviews, though you may have to search a bit for it. (Doing a text search for the word "rain" doesn't help much, for obvious reasons!)

For example on his recent Garmin Edge 840 vs Hammerhead Karoo 3 vs Wahoo ROAM V2 comparison, he says, " Lastly, what about touchscreens? Well, Wahoo has no touchscreen, so that removes that piece ... In terms of rain usage, I’ve published videos of both the Hammerhead Karoo 3 and Garmin Edge 840 in direct/hard thunderstorm rain conditions, without any issues." The article includes links to those videos, so you can watch a man operating a GPS in the rain in Amsterdam. Gripping.

Tinkerbell wrote: ↑24 Aug 2024, 4:39pm I must admit I don’t understand why CUK HQ don’t use / advertise local clubs (or District Associations and Branches - where they still exist as they do in West Sussex).

I joined The Ramblers last year and within a few days received a welcome letter from my local branch (this seems general practice, not specific to my branch). I don’t understand why CUK can’t do the same…

Cycling UK member groups can similarly send an intro email to new members in their area. Ours does. They have to use the central mailshot facility provided by Cycling UK to do it as they don't get to see the new members' contact details. It's a faff but it does work.

What bugs me is (as I pointed out when I was a CUK trustee) that saying "we can't because data protection" is an excuse, not a reason.

If you gather specific, informed consent from the new member when they sign up, then you can share their contact details with member groups without breaking any data protection regulations.

What that means in practice is that the membership form needs a tick-box question along the lines of:

"Many areas of the UK have local Cycling UK Member Groups who organise rides and other activities. If you would like to receive information via email from your local member group, please tick this box."

It would have to be unticked by default, so you wouldn't get everyone, but them's the breaks. It would remove any argument and consenting members' contact info could be shared with the member group.