Cycling UK Forum

fastpedaller

jimster99 wrote: ↑13 Jul 2024, 2:54pm
Eyebrox wrote: ↑11 Jul 2024, 3:46pm I bought the trekking style saddle for £6 this morning. I think it's a great buy - showing on Amazon at between £20 and £25. I haven't done a long cycle yet but was happy with all aspects of my purchase on a short hop around the town centre. Firm but pliable. 28 cms long x 16.5 cms wide at the widest part. Bracket included to fit old style seat posts. Only time and distance will determine the real value of this German-sourced saddle but for the price of a single portion of cake and coffee, I'll give the Wittkop seat 5 stars (out of 5). There is a wider (city) version and a narrower (race) version.

IMG_20240711_153339066.jpg
Yeah, I also had a look at the saddles and they actually looked fairly OK, and very cheap. Slightly too spongy for my preference perhaps but otherwise looked like a real bargain. They also had a mini bike tool kit for about £5, which I already have from a previous year and is very handy, plus a saddle bag & micro tool kit, which looked OK.

Conversely the bike gloves, phone mount & mini pump looked like the kind of unreliable rubbish you'd get with unbranded ebay or Ali Express stuff. There was also a handlebar bag that looked a bit odd, like a roll out pannier and I couldn't quite see how it fitted. They also had discounted track pumps for £5 a few weeks ago that were really good (if I didn't already have a couple I'd have loaded up)!

I note the mini pump has a gauge, so it wouldn't appeal to me, but I'd like to say if it's the same standard as the mini pump they were selling previously (no gauge) then it IS a good item. When searching for a mini pump to fit inside my Brompton seatpin I looked at a £30 branded pump in a LBS, and ended up with the £5 Lidl one which was almost identical. The Lidl one is comparable quality and a steal at £5.- I suspect they come out of the same factory!

fastpedaller

ymfb wrote: ↑13 Jul 2024, 1:31pm
Cowsham wrote: ↑13 Jul 2024, 9:35am
ymfb wrote: ↑13 Jul 2024, 4:09am

I have no problem with people choosing not to wear a helmet, it’s their head not mine. What I object to is them trying to inflict their opinions or influence others

I’m old enough to remember us not wearing seatbelts, I’m not old enough to remember adverts asserting smoking is good for you. I’m sure wearing safety equipment when cycling will become the norm, if it isn’t already.

Whether you choose to or not wear a helmet is up to you, at present.
Aren't you trying to influence others and inflict your opinion on them? But I'm not here to argue with anyone, so please just take that as a statement I'm making rather than a criticism.

Re "I'm not old enough to remember adverts asserting smoking is good for you....... the message we have had for a while is "vaping is less harmful than smoking" It would seem this assertion is based on no scientific data whatsoever but merely on the assumption that smoking is SO BAD that vaping must surely be better. We may find that vaping is even more harmful. My apologies if wildly off-topic.

fastpedaller

rareposter wrote: ↑13 Jul 2024, 12:08pm
Pinhead wrote: ↑13 Jul 2024, 11:53am I have "asked" chatGPT a few questions and it is just garbage one could do better oneself with research
There's a difference between asking it a question and getting it to generate some content.

Those articles (and I'm being generous in calling them that) are literally the result of typing "write something positive / negative about [topic]..." into some kind of AI content generator - ChatGPT, Grammerly, whatever it might be.

Besides - rather than just copy/pasting the content into here without any further context, what's your thoughts on it Pinhead? You obviously posted it for a reason so rather than just the text with no context, what was it about that article you found interesting / controversial / worthy of discussion?

Artificial Intelligence content generators can have some rather disturbing outcomes......
My Daughter works in the NHS, and her superior was interviewing a candidate for a position via phone video (I guess teams of facetime) - He noticed the candidate kept looking to the left when answering any questions. It appeared she was using another phone to give her written replies which she then used to respond! Worrying that such 'cheating' can be used.
When I was interviewed for a job in the Car Industry I had a 'curveball question'........ "what do you think of BBC Top Gear Programme?" My response was "It has little relevance to anyone serious about cars - just an entertainment programme" . I got the job
Years before that a colleague of mine used to ask interviewees "how do you set the ignition timing on a Ford Cortina?" ....... Good forms of questioning, and much better than "where do you see yourself in 5 year' time?". A former colleague answered that with "retired as I'm already 62 years old

)

fastpedaller

A little anecdote
About 30 years ago our cycling club President said "we're gathering names to see who wants to ride the London to Brighton" My reply (which I think he didn't expect) was that I'd pass because I was confident to ride in our club group, as I trusted the riders, but being amongst riders who may not have ridden a bike in years wasn't something I'd want to do. The next week after the L to B he said to me "you were correct, it was carnage 100 yards in front of us even after only a mile - people riding all over the place and with almost flat tyres - I wouldn't do it again"
I've ridden at over 60MPH down the snake pass (but only 4 MPH up it

) without a helmet, but I consider other risks to be more dangerous.
It's a case of knowing your own abilities and levels of risk as others have said - As I said above Mr Ramsay is safe in his kitchen! I may not be.

fastpedaller

Stevek76 wrote: ↑18 Jun 2024, 8:53am He was sportsing and quite possibly pushing his luck (unclear what the exact circumstances of the crash were?) and as such we have the usual conflating of celeb indulging in high risk activity trying to apply their risk mitigation to any sort of activity involving the broadly the same device (a bicycle).

As usual, those who think wearing a helmet for utility/touring cycling is essential risk mitigation should also be wearing one walking and for a whole host of other daily activities.

It's possible that statistics show the kitchen as being more dangerous....... however, Mr Ramsay has the skills required to work in his kitchen! Maybe he should stick to the activities that match his skill set, and not dabble in others if he lacks the skills.

fastpedaller

I'm not convinced, but I'd also like to try it. As 100 RPM of the pedals the moving parts would be taking a bit of a hammering?

fastpedaller

We were in Wales a couple of weeks ago - Their roads are the best I've encountered in a couple of years. here in Norfolk they have some bad bit (and very slow repairs - I've reported ones and still not fixed a year later!) but the worst I've found are in Cambridgeshire - some real terrible ones there and the Council are very dismissive and close reports 10 minutes after they have been made saying "it's in a plan to be fixed"

fastpedaller

I'd be inclined to do as slowster suggested and copy in the PCC.

fastpedaller

Cyclothesist wrote: ↑26 May 2024, 2:09pm
Stradageek wrote: ↑26 May 2024, 1:50pm IMHE chain checkers are just a ploy to get people to buy new chains before they need to, thus consuming the planets precious resources.

If a transmission system is so fickle that a bit of chain wear stops it working adequately then the transmission system need redesigning.

Been said before I'm sure but as proof I have just changed the chain on my 1984 3-speed folder, for the first time

Stradageek; feeling provocatively green
Maybe it's not the checker that's the problem, rather it's the chains? If they didn't wear so quickly they wouldn't need replacing so often.
Cue for a thread on the most durable chains....

Indeed - when I was doing about 15k miles a year I don't remember when riding Shimano 6 speed compact , replacing a sedisport chain more regularly than once in two years. I used a budget 8 speed Shimano chain a few years ago and it was only good for 300 miles before being at 1% (rule measured). I've since used KMC 99 range 8 speed and they have lasted more time (much lower miles), so still not as good as previously. I put a lot of it down to the narrower sprockets on freehubs.

fastpedaller

A friend in our Village asked the 'mobile bike mechanic' to service his bike. Job done well (he thought) until he couldn't remove his front wheel when the tyre punctured a few days later. Why wouldn't the wheel come out? the quick-release skewer had been done up really tightly and right beside the fork and it was impossible to get a finger behind it to undo it. He asked for my help, and with a thin strip of wood to protect the fork, I could use a 2mm steel strip to lever it apart. When he next had the guy work on the bike (I'd have not let him near it!) he asked why it had been left like it. "Oh you need to do that for aerodynamics" and he did it again! My pal told him it wasn't acceptable (he'd already told him the agro it resulted in), but the guy was adamant he was correct. Idiot in the extreme! needless to say he didn't get any more work from my pal.

fastpedaller

joost wrote: ↑15 May 2024, 4:30pm Thank you everyone for your advice.

Just have to learn how to ride with toe clips and straps again

I wouldn't want to go back to them now I use SPD (2 bolt)

fastpedaller

I was about to give away my 2-man tent until I saw the OP has now bought one - Though it wouldn't have been worth a journey to Norfolk to collect it. If anyone wants it (subject to me checking it's ok after twelve years loft storage) and they are nearby they are welcome.
I gave up camping when I built the caravan

fastpedaller

I greased shimano jockey wheel plain bearings with RG2 waterproof grease (thick and like rasberry jam) ....... not a good move as it was too viscous and the teeth on the jockey wheels wore out! I'd never had that happen previously. There was no sign of water in the grease though

fastpedaller

Maybe a specific offence will give clarity? Although as noted by many (and I agree with the sentiment) the deaths and injuries caused by motor vehicles is MUCH more significant. I still don't understand 'Wanton and Furious' and suspect it is used by those of 'anti-cyclist brain' for any cycle that happens to be involved in a collision. A bike doing less than 25MPH in most streets could be described as "Wanton and Furious" by many bystanders, even though most (all) cars will be doing more than 30MPH and their greater mass is more lethal. Is pedalling fast, but only moving at 15MPH (ie a low gear) liable to fit the 'Wanton & Furious' description? I sometimes cycle along the coast road at Wells-Next-The-Sea and ride with extreme caution because pedestrians seem to treat the road as a 'pedestrian only seafront road' and just step out with no warning or observation. My top speed along there is probably 11MPH, and I've had some near-misses. If a collision happens I envisage bystanders (who didn't even see the event) would come forward as witnesses saying 'look he was racing, it's got drop bars" and he's wearing lycra" "He didn't ring his bell!" I have one, but applying the brakes is the way to stop, ringing the bell doesn't reduce speed! The 'average non-cyclist' really has no idea what we encounter as cyclists.

fastpedaller

I don't like roller bearing headsets ....... ableit based on my experience with a sample of one.

It was a Tange and has one roller nearing and one ball bearing - IIRC the roller bearing is the topmost one, but I can check. It was supplied when I bought my Spa Tourer and as such is 1 1/8 inch unthreaded. I tried all manner of adjustments (I am competent with setting up threadless headsets) and just couldn't get on with it. After a couple of rides (and changing it to a cheap ball-bearing headset which continues to work perfectly) I put the Tange one in a drawer in my garage.
It will likely stay in my garage drawer ad infinitum, unless.......
If someone wants it and is prepared to pay me the Royal Mail second -class postage they are welcome to have it FOC so it is useful as its' manufacturer intended.

ETA ..... Now with its new owner!

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