Cycling UK Forum

So now the summer is past, how did the year go?

Were the events a success?

Cheers

LGC

NUKe wrote:Firstly Are you in Felixstowe ? If so there isn't a cycling club active, but the Sports and liesure council are looking for someone willing to start one and have funds for seed corn funding. p.m. me if you are interested and i will put you in touch with the relevent people. We used to have a club when Roger Millar had the cycle shop on the high road in Walton but this folded in the 1990's.

If you are looking for CTC organised events the nearest is Ipswich and their website is here.
http://www.greenlivingcentre.org.uk/ctc/

Already in touch with Ipswich, thanks.

I was flagging up that there was no visibility of the CTC as a cycling organisation in Suffolk, if you used a Google search.

Someone who was not aware of the CTC and the DA and the rides in Ipswich wouldn't be captured by the results of a Google search.

IMHO they should be.

Remember Roger - that was a true LBS.

I am not in a position to organise a Felixstowe chapter at the moment - if I graduate to riding with the Ipswich CTC and like it I may consider something in a year or so.

Cheers

LGC

I found the Suffolk DA through the CTC, not the other way around.
I knew that there would be club rides somewhere, and hoped they would be near me.

After reading some forum threads I wondered if there were any other non-CTC cycling clubs in the area.

I live in Felixstowe. The nearest location for club rides is Ipswich about 11 miles away.

So I Googled for 'cycling club Felixstowe' just to see what came up.
Nothing relating to the CTC.
A link http://www.clubs4uk.co.uk/cycling/suffolk-felixstowe-cycling-club.html which was initially exciting (but without contact details) until I checked other entries and discovered that there was the same boiler plate for all the major Suffolk towns but no links to a real cycle club.

I then tried 'cycling club Ipswich' and found http://ipswichbicycleclub.co.uk/ and http://www.wolseyroadclub.co.uk/ (which mentions the CTC) but still no hits for the CTC itself.

So the CTC seems to be invisible to Google at the local level in Suffolk. If anyone is looking they can find two Ipswich clubs, and a bogus Felixstowe club, but no CTC.

If the CTC truly wants to recruit at the local level to boost club rides (and perhaps even start new locations for club rides) surely it isn't that hard to structure the meta data associated with the CTC site so that major towns in each county will get a hit from a search and flag up the CTC.

If 'clubs4uk' can do it, why can't we?

Cheers

LGC

However I did say it was an MTB not a roadie - do people ride MTBs with fixed or single speed?

It was in response to a previous post which said that drop outs were now usually vertical.

I did go out and look - the Galaxy has horizontal drop outs with adjusting screw(s); the Scott MTB (most recent) has replaceable vertical drop outs; the steel no suspension Univega MTB has drop outs which are somewhere between horizontal and vertical.

Cheers

LGC

Thanks for all the helpful information.

Just to note that my '90s Univega Rover 3.5 MTB has (almost) horizontal drop outs and no screws.

Must have been made before vertical drop outs were fashionable.

Presumably it took designers a while to realise that you don't need fore and aft movement any more.

Cheers

LGC

Prompted by a picture in another thread of an old Viscount frame that has been restored.

My Dawes Galaxy (of indeterminate age) has screw adjusters in the rear drop outs - I seem to remember these from old bikes in the 1960s where IIRC they were used to true the wheel up in the frame and tension the chain (Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub gears) before you tightened the retaining nuts on the axle.

Well, I say it has two - it only has one now.

However modern bikes don't seem to have these at all, presumably relying on the quick release to allow fine adjustment of alignment and the dérailleur to take up any slack in the chain.

So does it make any sense to look for another screw to fit?

Should I leave as is?

Or should I remove the other screw and just rely on the quick release?

Cheers

LGC

Grandma wrote:Hi viz jackets and fluorescent strips only help you to stand out if a driver is looking in your direction.
A loud air horn or siren might be quicker to attract drivers attention back to road space you're occupying? I see so many distracted drivers failing to pay due care and attention whilst driving. Perhaps we should strap pressurised air-horn canisters to handlebars for emergency use as modern bike bells simply cannot generate sufficient dB to penetrate motor vehicle cabins and in-car entertainment systems!

Looks almost like an advert for a Airzound horn
http://www.airzound.co.uk/
Air horn powered by bottle which sits in a bottle cage.

I have two - one being the venerable MK 1 version with the aluminium air bottle.
Very useful when commuting if you see a driver at a junction not paying attention and about to pull out.

Cheers

LGC

drossall wrote:<snip>
I really can't see much difference between the prejudice in this thread against the minority of cyclists who wear lycra (or fit some other minority description), and the prejudice in others against the minority of people who ride bikes...

Thankfully I haven't noticed a great deal of prejudice against Lycra in this thread.

Perhaps I should qualify my original question by saying that I always ride wearing Lycra and bright yellow tops - so any reaction to my cheery wave may be modified by the inbuilt prejudices of some against Lycra louts in day glow yellow.

I've never really considered that clothing is an issue - runners also wear performance clothing (sometimes) and I don't think there is any discrimination.

I suppose I an verging on a MAMIL (but gradually receding) but I don't see why it matters - there are good reasons why performance clothing for cycling includes Lycra but apart from the fact that it emphasises the beer gut and spindly arms I don't see the downside.

So perhaps I should ask if the wave is modified ( + or - ) if the other cyclist is wearing Lycra.

Cheers

LGC

"ukdodger"<snip>
But a smile isn't the same as a salutation. If you said 'hello' to someone would you say nothing if they failed to reply?

Hello

Oi!!
You, you miserable git!!!
I just said hello to you.
Come back here I'm talking to you!!!!!

<Crunch>

Bet he'll smile and say hello next time.

My work here is done.

LGC

andy14 wrote:Not sure how you would spot the number 8s. Do you use radar?

Was walking along a pavement late at night and one flew by me (on the pavement) at a rate of knots.

At least, I think that was what it was

Never seen anything more stealthed (well you wouldn't, would you?).

Cheers

LGC

Thanks

Now is there anything cheaper than £80 plus a wheel rebuild?

Although I am probably in for a rebuild anyway as there is a crimp in the front rim.

My Lady Wife also has a similar bike with the same issue, so a budget solution could be useful.

Cheers

LGC

I have a Giant Dutch bike with hub gears and hub brakes.
Works well for pottering.

Now the lights are dynamo, but use a bottle dynamo which is a bit low tech compared to the rest of the bike.
However as far as I can see the hub brake and hub dynamo are mutually exclusive.

So is the something a bit more effective and sophisticated than a bottle dynamo on the market which would fit the kind of bike I describe?

Cheers

LGC

Mick F wrote:Those are my leather cycling shoes!
http://www.dromarti.com/

Brucey wrote:I think you have introduced too many variables in there, because you have reversed the axle in the hub, right?

The axle has been in both directions through this trial and with no difference.
"Correct" position for the axle is when the adjuster is on the left of course.

The axle is now in the "correct" direction though the wheel is reversed.
The only combination remaining of the possible four, is for the axle to be in the "wrong" position with the wheel reversed.

The original possible idea was that internal machining marks would pump the grease. By reversing the axle with no difference, the machining on the axle couldn't be to blame. By reversing the wheel - and then finding a difference - it must be the hub shell machining that is to blame.

The fourth combination - Wrong+Reversed - is a little pointless I fear. Or isn't it?

I think that if you have a hypothesis it is just as important to run an experiment where you think you already know the outcome.

Either it works as expected and supports your view, or it doesn't and makes you rethink.

My earlier comment was because I thought that there were some things you weren't changing because "they couldn't make a difference".

I would go for all combinations just to get enough evidence.

I think you still haven't done the original thing I suggested - set the wheel up as normal, ride until the grease comes out of the RHS then flip the wheel over and continue the ride and see if the grease comes out of the old LHS (now the RHS).
This would suggest that it was the way of fixing to the bike (skewer, direction of rotation, perhaps both).

If the grease continued to come out of the same bearing side (was RHS now LHS) then it is to do with the build of the wheel and not the fixing to the bike or direction of rotation.

You could then consider flipping just the skewer and seeing if this had any impact.
No logical reason why it should - but fascinating if it did.

Cheers

LGC

eileithyia wrote:I'm in the i'll say hello to most of the other groups, probably would not say hello to 8.. as may not see them or may too intimidated and if after dark prefer not to advertise too much that I am female, you missed off MTB-ers?????

I did leave space at the end for other categories

I must admit I was thinking in terms of riders on the road, in which case choice of steed is not always obvious (at least between MTBs and Hybrids).

Cheers

LGC

Personally I'm not offended if they don't wave back.

Perhaps they will another day to another person.

I don't feel entitled to a response and react aggressively if I don't get one.

If you smile at someone (off the bike), do you always berate them if they don't smile back?



LGC