Cycling UK Forum

cyclingthelakes wrote:
France has or had their 'Cyclotouriste' culture but yes, that seems more popular in the past.

In France there were camping bikes and Rando bikes, Rando bike are good for inn to inn travel.
The French touring bike with the high mounted bar bag would make M. Herse turn over in his grave,
to have forgotten so much about bike design is sad.
Here is what a French tourer is supposed to look like, notice the front mounted panniers.
Note the bike is French style, built in Japan.

Send a letter to the US Embassy, "No Taxation without Representation".

Standard Cyclo (1924)and Osgear (1928) predate Tulio.

Here is the estimable Aldo Ross showing how to shift your new P/R.

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/ald ... 9.AVI.html

You could always split the difference, 650B.......(insert French smiley)
Some very nice tires available.
The Japanese build the best French bikes, google Gran Bois.

A club member did a supported ride from Cairo to Capetown recently,
he used one of these. The "roads" often were little more than mud
tracks with road signs. Is the Galaxy considered a "roughstuff" bike ?

http://salsacycles.com/bikes/fargo/

paul dormer wrote:Yes, I'd been training on my TriCross and after a while and some reading I changed the tyres from the standard ones to 25mm road tyres at 100psi now my average speed has increased or my old speed is now easier, though the ride is alot harder.

Paul

Get some fat road tires and you can lower the air pressure.
Gran Bois makes some 30mm tires that are excellent.
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/Tires.html

New powerlinks are very difficult to remove, after a few hundred miles they become
easy to remove. Park makes a plier like tool to remove new links.
Sometimes chain wear is your friend.

If I were taking a new bike on tour, I'd take the bike to bits myself
and rebuild it correctly, both to check the bike and to make sure
I understood how to work on the bike.

“Adventure is just bad planning." Roald Amundsen

Kool Stop is making new MAFAC pads, no word if they have the same
pedestrian warning feature as the originals.

http://www.velo-orange.com/kostmapa1.html

Mon Apperatus Fait un Atroce Cacophone

Using this gadet, which replace the nut on the skewer, allows you to mount a handlebar light.

http://www.velo-orange.com/lowdolimoty1.html

I combined the above with the B&M handlebar extension mount, upside is I can easily
remove the light for daytime rides.

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/sg8 ... 2.JPG.html

I used to have a Stan Pike with a lamp boss on the fork, that was great, too bad they went
out of fashion.

Narrow range cassettes are good for touring bikes when they aren't touring.

I had a 46/34/22 chainset, 12-32 when touring, 12-23 when unloaded, good for windy days and group rides.

Old pull chain derailers could handle 20t difference in chainrings, but only a 26 tooth cog in back.
Benelux Tourist for example.

Berthoud stainless with the Berthoud mudflap on the front.

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/sg8 ... ewsIndex=1

I carry two tubes with the Park glueless as a backup.

I use a regular patch kit at home, just wait till you have 3 tubes to patch, so you can use a whole tube of glue.
Wastrel ridding companions are a good source of tubes, they think tube patching is a waste of time,
so I take them home.

This is the Frank Berto suggestion.

Measure the width of the tire inflated to its printed maximum pressure tire with no weight on it.
The tire should be 15% wider when you are sitting on the bike with your panniers loaded.
Have a friend measure the width of the tire and let air out of the tire till the tire gets
15% wider, measure your tire pressure.

Bicycle Quarterly, was called Vintage Bicycle Quarterly but now covers new bikes and bits.
The Veteran Cycle Club magazines, 'News & Views' and 'The Boneshaker'
Rivendell Reader
Embrocation

I have collected some vintage Brit magazines, from the 1930-1950s, much more fun than most modern stuff.