Cycling UK Forum

Here's a different question: how do you know when an Arai is losing effectiveness? I'm sure mine doesn't slow the tandem down as well as it used to ... or is that just rose-tinted spectacles? If I open it up (which I've never done before) will it be obvious whether pads are worn? And how long do you expect them to last anyway? (That tandem is 12 years old, low milleage, but I've developed the habit of using the drum brake for almost every junction and hill.)

I had my SRAM 15 years or so. The cable broke once and I had to relace the whole cable-plus-click-box assembly (they changed the design and my original was the old one, where instead of a return spring in the click box, the cable pushed as well as pulled, but I replaced it with the new design where the cable pulls only and is a standard twisted wire and a return spring does the pulling).

Other than that, nothing actually went wrong. But towards the end, everything got a bit less precise than it had been. It got reluctant to do some of the changes - I opened the hub up and cleaned it, but the problem was slight wear on the arms of a spider, meaning things didn't slide along them as easily as they should have done, and regreasing both the hub and the click box helped but didn't eliminate the problem. You had to ease completely off and jiggle a bit to change, not every time but somethimes. That meant, for instance, you couldn't necessarilly guarantee at which point in the pedal revolution the change would actually occur.

But still, as I say, nothing actually broke, and it was still perfectly rideable. I was even sill using the original red plastic moulding, despite having been convinced it would get lost or broken at the frst roadside wheel removal.

It's a few years ago now and memory is fading, but I had a similar problem. I did manage to dismantle it but found nothing obvious wrong - the insides is all plastic-on-plastic bearings with, I vaguely remember, remains of some sort of white gunk lubricating (or not) it all. I cleaned it all and reassembled and it seemed to be a bit freer but I never managed to get it working really freely, and eventually (but largely for other reasons, to wit a disintegrated bottom bracket) I bought a Rohloff/Thorn.

I can't now judge exactly how free and easy the Sram was when it was new (15 years ago), but the Rohloff is definitely much crisper and easier to change than the 15-year-old SRAM.

Sorry that I can't now remember exactly how I dismantled it.

Nicholas Crane once worked for CTC in the touring department.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Bicycles Up Kilimanjaro (and the three peaks and the Welsh 3000-footers) were with his cousin Richard, but Richard had previously run the length of the Himalaya with another cousin. Nick then did some solo walking activities - Two Degrees West and Clear Waters Rising. These were criticised by people used to the lighter, joke-a-line style of Bill Bryson travel writing, and they are more thoughtful, reflective, denser books, but I think they are brilliant.

They got both bicycles to the top of Kili without dismantling and actually cycled them once there. Clearly it was partly a gimmick as they pushed and carried more than they cycled, and Nick now says he feels quite uncomfortable about it, but it was in aid of Intermediate Technology.

They did the 14 Welsh 3000-foot mountains (which includes the north ridge of Tryfan and Crib Goch) with bikes in 12 hours or so. That's not a record - the straight running record was about that before the second war (see the classic "I bought a mountain") and is now much less - but the point was they halved their own walking-only time of 24 hours. They missed setting a record for the three peaks by foot-and-bicycle but only because they completed Snowdon in a blizzard.

The obsession with weight was partly a fun USP but partly psychology - they argued that it is only when you have no excuses left (you have shed all possible unnecessary weight) that you are able to focus 100% on your own fitness and performance.

Nick is clearly in a league of fitness and adventurousness (at one point he smuggled medicines over the mountains into Afghanistan for a medical charity) that normal mortals like me can only dream of. But the reason I think "The Great Bicycle Adventure" is the best cycling book ever written is that it mixes the epics with things I can relate to - fixing a broken freewheel by wiring the teeth of the largest sprocket to the spokes, trying to use a map which only shows "motorways and the larger oceans". It inspired me to do the three peaks by bicycle (in 8 days rather than his two!), to plan a tour to include the Quirang on Skye based on his description of it, and to do the Welsh 3000s and Kili, though both, I stress, by foot only.

I generally agree with following the law - not slavishly in every single circumstance, but generally speaking. And that was why I asked the original question about exactly what I am doing if I cycle on a footpath. As I understand it from the helpful answers on this thread, the answer is that I am not breaking any law. The law gives us a right to cycle on bridleways; it makes it an offence to cycle on footways (alongside road); but for footpaths, whilst we don't have the right to cycle on them, neither are we prohibited from doing so (unless there's a local bylaw). The landowner appears to have a right to stop me, and to sue me if I do damage, but if the landowner doesn't stop me, I'm not breaking any law, or that's my understanding at any rate.

Personally, I wouldn't cycle anywhere there was a no cycling sign. I give way to pedestrians anyway whether it's a footpath, bridleway or neither (I'm a pedestrian too!) and on a footpath I'd be extra careful at slowing down well ahead, getting off if necessary to pass pedestrians. But my conclusion is that it's reasonable to use my 400 yards of footpath on my commute, and it's not actually breaking the law.

But I supose the argument is that even by doing that, I am flouting the spirit of the rules about rights of way and potentially giving cyclists a bad name as well as contributing to the breakdown of civilised society.

When we cycle our daughter to school on our childback tandem, the first 100 yards involves turning right out of our drive, through parked cars, onto an A road, then turning right off it again 100 yards later. I take my (and our daughter's) life in my hands and do that - my wife cycles that 100 yards on the pavement, which is clearly a criminal offence. But which of us is actually the more responsible?

Cheers

John

Today, I spotted something I hadn't noticed before on this footpath - a small sign saying "Surrey County Council - Footpath - No Horses". No mention of cycles.... Thanks for the inputs, I'm going to carry on using it and hope for the best!

John

We all know that cyclists are not allowed to use public footpaths (as opposed to bridleways). But what happens if I do? Is it a criminal or a civil offence? Presumably the landowner is entitled to stop me, but what if it's a local-authority owned path? Is anyone else entitled to stop me?

I'm normally quite law-abiding and wouldn't want to cycle where I wasn't allowed, but I've worked out a beautiful new 12-mile commuting route which depends on 400 yards of "footpath". In fact it's 3 m wide for most of its length, partly tarmaced, and judging by the tyre tracks lots of cyclists use it, and I haven't met a single pedestrian yet. So I don't think I'm being anti-social or creating a safety hazard. But I would be interested if anyone knows a bit more about the legal position.

Thanks

John