Cycling UK Forum

I have a set of three plastic levers that I bought about 30 years ago, iirc. They're still going strong but whether they're the "strongest", I wouldn't know.

From what I can tell, they're Weldtite Cyclo levers (not the V.2 type) as per this Amazon link.

Typically, I only use levers to start getting the tyre off the rim, and put the tyre onto the rim as per Colin's video, without using levers. The only time in recent years that I've had to resort to levers getting a tyre on was for a friend with that Decathlon bike (Triban RC520?) that's got a reputation for wheels that are too big for the tyres - that was difficult!

As per other posters, lumens are irrelevant because the measurement doesn't account for how the light is effective in lighting up the road and claimed lumen output is not always reliable. I'd go further and say that lights that make a big selling point of high lumen output are often best avoided because their design tends to be driven by that and not on their efficacy in illuminating the road ahead without dazzling other road users.

For road use, I would only recommend StVZO (front) lights. Some have wider or narrower beam spreads and longer or shorter throw than others but all are effective by design. My B&M 80 lux lights are good for unlit winding country lanes at "reasonable" speeds and I am impressed with my much cheaper Büchel Tour LED Headlight (45 Lux) that I have on my utility/pub bike (though it can get very warm). A battery 30 lux light from Lidl that I've used was more than adequate for urban riding and good for unlit country riding at a "relaxed" pace.

For off-road riding where there are twist and turns, or rough surface that needs attention, I like to use a decent head torch (I use a Fenix HM50R that can output 700 lumens) so that I can see where I'm looking. I have used a powerful hand torch mounted on the handlebar as a high-beam floodlight but find that it doesn't offer any real benefit over the B&M 80 lux light coupled with the head torch.

Here's a link that reviews v.2 of the Crazy bar and describes the changes from v.1:

https://bikepacking.com/gear/velo-orang ... rs-review/

Before deciding on the Crazy bar (v.2), I did look at Alee's web page but that gives the dimensions of the Crazy bar v.1. I understand that the horns on v.1 were longer and straighter but I don't know if other things have changed, particularly thinking about distance between horns and sweep.

I reckon that deciding between the two (Koga & VO), the differences are small but those small differences could be a big difference to some people - I either got lucky or am not that sensitive to the differences. On the other hand, I struggled with the Surly Moloko.

richardfm wrote: ↑4 Sep 2024, 8:51pm Has anyone considered the Koga Denham bars?
https://www.cyclesense.co.uk/m61b0s745p ... bar-31-8mm

I did consider them but decided on the Velo Orange Crazy bar instead, mostly down to availability and price.

If you want to be "legal" and this is your primary rear light, then a battery powered B&M rack-mounted StVZO light (with built in reflector) as linked up-thread or similar would be my recommendation. I haven't personal experience of them but I have B&M rear dynamo lights on two of my bikes and a cheaper AXA one on another - all good lights.

Otherwise, I would have to recommend the Cateye Omni 5 (no built-in reflector) together with the appropriate Cateye rack-mount bracket. Up until this spring, when I got dynamo lighting on all my bikes (excepting the folder), I was using a predecessor of the Omni 5 (the TL-LD600) that has been in regular use since bought in the mid '90s, mounted on a rack - hence the recommendation - decent light, good on the rack bracket and still going strong after about 30 years.

Issues of quality of freewheels/cassettes aside, I personally found the jump from 2nd to 1st on a (Shimano) Mega Range (6 speed 14-16-18-21-24-34) freewheel far too big, and shifting either way, it killed my rhythm and took the wind out of my sails - so much so that I adjusted the limit screw to stop me using it. There's a triple on the front (28/38/48) and I spent more time on the little ring after limiting the RD.

I replaced it with a Sunrace 7 speed freewheel (13-15-17-19-21-24-28) and I'm much happier with it. As I had limited myself to 5 speed 14-24 with the Mega Range freewheel, I now had two extra gears and a lower 1st than I was using.

Granted, I don't have the "bail-out" gear that the 34T would give - but bail-out gears don't work for me. The big jump destroys my effort and is worse than not using it - especially as it was most often deployed not as a bail-out but as a shift (to or from) as a progression - that is how I use the rear changer; if I need to "bail out", I go down on the chainring - but usually I change chainrings with a complementary rear change to make the progression less harsh.

With the 34, my bottom gear was (rounded up/down) 23" on the 28 chainring and 31" on the 38T chainring. Now it is (with 28T rear) 28" on the 28T chainring and 37" on the 38T (again, rounded up or down to the nearest inch).

The thing is, when using the full range on the Mega Range, I needed the lower gear to recover from the sudden big change of the jump in going to it; with the better progression of the Sunrace, I can maintain my effort better and don't need the extra low gear.

This bike is a 25 year old hybrid that I bought 2nd hand for utility/commuting: local short rides of usually up to about 4 miles but sometimes 7 (each way), where I'm not heavily loaded (rarely above 10kg) and the climbing isn't too bad. I could probably count on one hand the number of trips I've gone onto the 48T chainring in the last year (including the test ride after changing the freewheel).

If you can't get the existing shifter working, or you can't source a replacement (at the right price), then a work-around could be to keep the brifter for braking and use a bar-end LH friction shifter - SJS have one for £35.

It seems to me that, when starting "from scratch", the OP is looking at a bunch of not insignificant work-arounds and mods to get bits to work together in a way that they weren't designed to when there is stuff out there that would work without work-arounds and mods. I struggle to understand this when starting from scratch, when there is nothing already possessed that dictates the need for a work-around or mod.

The brief, on the face of it, seems quite straight-forward and easy to achieve. If the OP were to get, for example, the Lithium 3, I'm sure it would meet the brief and also that it would be the start of a journey of discovery into what the OP wants, likes and doesn't like - and would also give the opportunity to learn about the mechanics and components, the feel of actual gear inches on actual hills, the different compatibilities - and also be the base for possibly endless tweaking and modding - as so many of are prone to do. It would get that journey started a lot sooner with the added benefit of riding.

I believe that Shimano 7,8 & 9 MTB & road (except for a variety of Tiagra 9spd, iirc) all have the same cable pull but you'll still need a (indexed) shifter capable of all the sprockets.

There are other issues that need to be addressed - such as mech capacities.

Personally I would recommend the OP to go for Cugil's bike or one of the earlier recommendations such as the Pinnacle Lithium 3. As was said a bit ago, it would be easier (and possibly cheaper). The OP might have gathered a bit of knowledge but even his knowledge of "period" technology seems scant, and if you don't know what you're doing before you buy, a "build" could be a very expensive and difficult lesson not necessarily with a good result.

I think that the OP could save himself a lot of bother and get to his goal relatively easily (and probably cheaply) by taking up Cugel on his offer in this post.

In all probability, this will be as near to his goal as dammit and it'll give him the opportunity to learn what he wants/needs for any future plans and learn about bikes at his leisure.

You can't change the rings - either if you want a different tooth count or you need to replace a worn or damaged ring - you will need to replace the whole chainset instead. You would be a lot better off, imho, getting the Spa touring triple XD-2 currently at £41. If you really want a 2x, you could still only use the middle and inner ring - and, if you want, remove/replace the outer ring with a chainguard ring.

Believe me, you don't need a 20T or 22T chainring. You don't need a 14" or 15" bottom gear. 18"-20" should be plenty low enough.

If you're starting from scratch, you can get the Spa sub-compact with 24T chainring (I have one with 24/38 on my Spa Rove with 50-622 tyres - more common is 24/40). Remember that smaller wheels and tyres = smaller rolling circumference = lower gear for a given tooth combo.

A 24T chainring with a cassette with 34T or 36T will give you a proper low gear. My touring bike has a 26/36/48 triple with 11-34T 9 speed cassette - I'm not a strong cyclist and I find that low enough for fully loaded touring. The touring bike has 32-622 tyres and is more of a tarmac machine. The Rove is more suited to off-road stuff.

A gear calculator gives the following for those two bikes:
https://www.gear-calculator.com/?GR=DER ... 4&UF2=2170

That 20/22T chainring is 58mm BCD - I reckon a sub-compact chainset that would fit, if you can find one, would eat up the best part of your budget.

Besides, 14" bottom gear is far too low, honestly. Spinning the cranks at 90rpm (aka "pedal cadence") would give you a speed of about 3 ½ mph. A bottom gear of 18" - 20" will be plenty low enough.

atoz wrote: ↑11 Aug 2024, 12:42pm Will definitely investigate. Am sick of using my brother's BSO when I visit him in deepest Suffolk.

An improvement on how it was a few years back...

Sorry - this brought a smile to my face as I came to this thread straight after the handlebar thread - it's those twist shifters that are the final straw!