Cycling UK Forum

Brucey wrote:the kind of steel that is used for dropouts has some fine qualities; it can be bent a little when cold, it can be bent further/easily when hot, and it can be repaired by welding if it breaks.

Frame replacement would be a distant fourth on my list of options.

If you can't find anyone locally to do the work, let me know and I may be able to help you at a fraction of the cost of a new frame, provided you are able to post it to me or deliver it.

(oh, and stuffing a mech into the spokes? ....well, we've all done it.... hence the resultant 'learning experience', ahem...)

cheers

I've just realised that my frame is bent at the rear hanger, not the dérailleur itself.

I've read through this very useful thread and am now spoilt for choice, I think.

The frame is a mid '90s steel hard tail (hard nose as well) MTB.

So, if I could ask some more detailed questions:

(1) a good LBS should be able to straighten the frame and align it correctly - but how do you find a reliable LBS?

The last LBS I used (not near here) replaced a broken integrated shifter with one for V brakes.
Which I don't have.
Took me a while to realise why the brake wasn't working properly.
By that time it was too late to take it back (time and distance).
So I am a bit wary of generic LBSs.

Recommendations for coastal Suffolk?
Pedal Power at Martlesham used to be O.K. but it has changed hands and changed premises so I don't know current rep.

(2) I can understand most of the brute force methods described for cold straightening - I assume that this carries a degree of risk.

(3) I can also appreciate the possible benefits of heating the frame with a blow torch to make the metal more malleable but I am not sure how you avoid damaging the paint.
I realise that the metal will draw a lot of the heat away so it isn't like putting a blow torch on painted wood, but how do you gauge how hot the frame is?
How hot does the frame have to be before this makes a difference?
No doubt you need stout gloves for the bending tool as well, as that is likely to get hot.

(4) I assume that you bend with the wheel in to lock the rest of the frame in place so you are only working on the hanger?

(5) Finally, if I try to straighten it and damage it, for instance by cracking the metal, I think you are saying that it is straightforward to repair by welding. Is this correct?

Cheers

LGC

Fair enough - but can lightening hit a moving target?

Is thin wet rubber adequate insulation?

Staying firmly inside today - wet plus flash/bangs is outside my pay grade.

Cheers

LGC

I'm about to fit a new dérailleur on my road going MTB.
I have removed/refitted a dérailleur before with the chain in situ, however it did make me think about removing the chain.

AFAIK it has a Shimano chain - ISTR using the Shimano link tool to fit it.

Again AFAIK if you want to split and join a Shimano chain you split a normal link then rejoin using a special link.

So I have an SRAM chain lined up for another bike, and a few spare quick links.

Is it O.K. to split a Shimano chain (on 7 speed bike) then use an SRAM quicklink to rejoin the chain?

Benefits of a quicklink to me would be ease of removal/replacement, which in turn makes cleaning and re-lubrication off the bike a lot easier than setting up the chain cleaner device on the bike.

Cheers

LGC

Quick update - I've adjusted the saddle yet again, in fact I wish there was a quick release for the saddle to make it easier to re-align.

I've moved it even further back, tilted the nose down a bit more, and had to raise it a bit to get back to a sensible feeling position.

I can now cycle for 35k without the dreaded pain in the bum, but my quads are complaining.

I think I have managed to position myself so more weight is on my legs and less on my bum.

It will probably take a few rides to decide if this is a bonus or if I have to tilt the saddle back a bit to allow me to take some weight off my legs on longer rides.

Anyway, looks as though saddle position is crucial although I am sure the padding is helping a lot.

Cheers

LGC

Up vote for a hair net.
It has always worked for me.
In fact, thanks for reminding me - I am starting to get that buzzing in my ears again on sunny days.

Cheers

LGC

Just a thought which has occurred to me whilst putting in the miles.

Cyclist (especially spinners) tend to draw a clear line between spinners and mashers.

Now my normal cruising gait is nearer a spin than a mash, but I find myself ramping up the gears after a steep hill whilst I regain my breath.
I also tend to go into mash mode on downhill slopes, especially steepish ones.
However I have to spin to get up hills.

So - does this make me a spasher?

Cheers

LGC

Poor blighters!

Wet and windy weather for the rest of the tour as far as I can see.
Certainly the Suffolk leg does not look hopeful!

Late to the party as usual, and I haven't read all the posts (if I start at the beginning I may never catch up).

For context, I am a Type 2 diabetic and currently losing weight to see if this can perk up my pancreas.
I am eating in general lowish carb, but not enough fat to qualify for LCHF.
However low carb plus plenty of protein does seem to work for me, and the cream, butter and cheese I eat are very nice.
I am currently losing a pound every two days which is not bad going.
It is probably helped by the cycling, as I try to do a couple of hours aerobic cycling every two or three days.

I very recently came across an explanation of our current problems with being overweight, which seems to fit in with the ketosis theme of this thread.

Theory (simplified):

We are evolved to cope with seasons - plenty of food in the summer and little or no food in the winter.
Insulin is a key factor in all this.
When food is plentiful, and we eat a lot, then insulin is released to move the spare energy into the fat stores (planning for hard times).
The insulin takes the glucose out of the blood stream, stores it as fat, and makes us hungry.
So we go out and get more of this plentiful food and store it as fat.

Eventually the food supply dwindles.
We then start to utilise the stored body fat, move into ketosis, and insulin is suppressed.
We hunker down, and one nice side effect is that the ketosis and insulin suppression means we don't feel hungry.

You can see where this goes if the food supply is always plentiful - over consumption, over production of insulin, overweight.

So there may well be a lot of sense in going low carb; it certainly works for me and my BG control seems to be improving at the moment although some of that should be due to reduced insulin resistance in my new muscles.

For me, going low carb was initially very hard because I find carbs addictive - however the theory above may explain this.
I think most of the carbs we eat are the result of modern(ish) agriculture which has saved us all from starvation very effectively.
Carbs such as wheat, rice, and potatoes can be produced in bulk and easily stored to last us until the next crop matures.
So I don't think our bodies evolved to cope with a constant surplus of carbs.
Some can cope.
I can't.

I don't think I could hack a ketogenic diet with virtually no carbs, some protein and loads of fat but I must be in ketosis some of the time on my current low carb and low calorie diet.

Does make you think though; perhaps the old religions did have something there when they required fasting.
If the theory above holds water then perhaps a fast every winter to induce ketosis might improve the general health of the population.
Ketosis for Lent, anyone?

Oh, and one more thing - people tend to regard ketogenic diets as a way of losing weight but as far as I can see you can also put weight on if you eat enough calories.
It is just harder work because the diet helps suppress appetite.

Cheers

LGC

Just an update to say I still haven't really worked out what is going on.

I can now cycle further before the pain sets in, about 2 hours, but by the end I am still suffering.

Some things I have noted:

towards the end of the ride I seem to be shifting further back in the saddle although the saddle seems in the right place for most of the ride

the pain may at least in part be muscle tiredness because other muscles are also aching - just not nearly as much

I have noted that bumps hurt a lot more at the end of the ride, and I think this is because my legs are tired and are not cushioning me by taking some of my body weight as I pedal, as they do near the start of the ride

I think the padded saddle is helping, though - I wouldn't like to be using a rock hard saddle when my legs and bum are starting to complain.

So far I think a 'comfort' saddle is probably an aid to comfortable riding but this is just one of many factors interworking to give a comfortable long distance set up.

Cheers

LGC

P.S. forgot to mention that I am about a stone lighter than when I was last cycling regularly and at least some of the weight has gone from my rear end padding. This could mean that I really need a 'comfort bum', not a comfort saddle.

Just realised I am at least semi-pro because I am training on part of the route for the Women's Tour.

That will probably explain the mobs of 'racers' I encountered last Sunday

I do really hope they get the road sweepers out on the course to clean the sand and gravel off the steep blind bends or life might be 'interesting'.

I also hope they stay well out of the 'cycle lanes' because the road surface is generally very poor.
As well as usually blocked by parked vehicles.

[Edit] I will say that it looks a cracking route

[Edit 2] I've just looked at the route map again and noticed the key includes QOM 1 & 2. I assume that this is Queen of the Mountain. Mountain? In Suffolk/Essex? 'Avin a larf!!

Cheers

LGC

coast 2 coast wrote:If you don't use the full spread of gears available on each (typical regular) ride, the bike is not set up correctly for your style of riding. Gears are there to help you, not to be superfluous, redundant bits of metal that you cart around for the hell of it.

That may be true if you are prepared to change the front and rear gear clusters on your bike whenever you are not involved in a typical regular ride, but this seems a bit impractical to me.

More specifically I see the bottom two cogs as an 'emergency only' essential fitting for serious hill climbing under adverse conditions - one of my motivators on short steep hills is to try not to go down to the 'granny' because I should be able to climb any road hill round here on 2-4 on smallest front cog.

When riding on the middle ring I would be a little wary of using the lowest or highest rear cog (1 and 8 in my case) because the same gearing could be achieved with a better chain line in a higher or lower cog. However this may not be a valid concern assuming the middle ring is positioned in the same place as the single ring on bikes without a front mech.

I see no major harm in carrying a couple of extra 'extreme' ratios for hard times or an increase in fitness.

Cheers

LGC

I think a great deal depends on where and when you cycle.

Busy urban cycling, or rural cycling on crowded roads, or commuting in the rush hour can all get you involved with drivers who are stressed and in a rush.
For true comparisons of cycling style you need to compare two or more cyclists who travel the same route at the same time on the same day to ensure traffic conditions are comparable.

I have had a generally good interaction with drivers, but I live in Suffolk and the pace of life is generally more relaxed.

Most of my riding is on country lanes which can either just fit two cars or sometimes is 'single track with passing places'.

It could well be that people drive slowly and carefully because of the ever present risk of meeting an oncoming car, but in general they are very considerate and don't hassle me.
In return, I try to be considerate to them and hold them up as little as possible.
For instance today when climbing a single track hill I pulled over to a farm entrance (off side) to allow following vehicles to pass.
I assist cars to pass whenever I can because that is what I appreciate when I am driving my car.
Cars approaching from ahead on a single track lane also tend to slow down or stop, which is considerate.

So, where there is space for just two cars I try and position well over to the left (but not in the gutter) to give cars plenty of room to pass, because there is no way that they can pass if a car is coming the other way.
This seems to work well.

However in town one minor fly in the ointment is pedestrian refuges in the middle of the road.
Where the Council have provided white dotted line cycle lanes they very conspicuously stop before a refuge and start again soon after.
Which demonstrates very clearly that there isn't room for a cycle and a car in the gap by the refuge.
So when approaching a refuge, and the end of the 'cycle lane' I always try and move out into the centre of the gap to clearly demonstrate that there isn't enough room for me and a car.
This generally works very well and is one of the situations where cycling close to the left kerb is not a good idea.

I did have one incident a couple of years ago when approaching a refuge, when a stream of cars started racing past to try and get to the refuge before I did.
I moved steadily out and the stream of cars took some very strange lines before it became obvious that very shortly there wasn't going to be a gap.
Some dozy <female person> tried to go anyway then had to slam on the brakes at the last minute.
Stalled.
Managed to restart after a while.
Drove past with lots of revving and horn hooting.
Thankfully such incidents are very rare.

So, in summary, I try to ride well over to the left as long as there is plenty of room for following and oncoming cars to pass each other and only move out towards the centre of the lane when approaching a hazard.
I always try to move out early to establish my position, and move in as swiftly as possible after the hazard.
I try and wave thanks when someone waits behind me for a safe passing place.

Cheers

LGC

Just idle curiosity, really.

At the moment riding a 24 speed (Alivio) mountain bike on the road I find that I very rarely user gears 6,7,8 on the top ring (apart from down the steep bits of hills or today with a mega following wind) which means that I should be fine most of the time on the middle ring.

For a long time I always rode on the top ring unless seriously struggling (I think because I equated the top ring to the 'normal' gears) and passed briefly through the middle ring to get to the bottom ring for going up steep hills. Being in the middle ring seemed somehow wrong.

I am now thinking that the most important point is not to get your standard pace right in the middle of the big gap between 4 and 5 so you aren't always just a tiny bit over or under the ideal gear.

So I am moving to top ring with a following wind and middle ring against the wind.

However apart from avoiding that 4/5 jump I'm not sure how much real difference it makes.

Cheers

LGC

Edwards wrote:<snip>
Trigger I recall that this type of diet can have problems with exercise, motivation and takes time to get used to. Could this be the reason for your low mileage at the moment?
<snip>

Do you have a reference for this?

I have been LCHF for a while and find it a very easy eating plan to follow.

People generally report a lift in energy after a short while.

I am cycling about 20 miles / 30 kilometres at the moment at the start of a training schedule and I think the initial training at this level is far harder than extending the distance a bit later on.
Getting your basic fitness up and your backside adjusted to 2 hours in the saddle is IMHO the hardest part.

From memory, once the initial fitness level comes up then the cycling is much more enjoyable.
Then again I have never done a longer distance than about 50 miles, on the London to Brighton.

Cheers

LGC

I would really like to see the guidelines about handling strangely (partially) dressed fans who insist on running alongside the leading riders on a climb just to get TV coverage.

Of course, if the fan is dressed as a Yorkshire Tea Bag then this is perfectly acceptable.

Never a cattle prod around when you need one.

Cheers

LGC