Cycling UK Forum

Try here for a review

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/tents/p/1591

I have a lovely triple butted steel frame with no cantilever brake mounts. The frame has 1" forward angled dropouts. I was wondering if the sturmey 8 speed with drum brakes would solve the problem, but most correspondents seem to say the 8 speed is only good for small wheel bikes.
Does anyone know how good they are with MTB 26 " wheels?

How efficient are they?

I dont need a gear over 85"

Building wheels is no problem to me.
I collect the f&f from the powder coater tomorrow.

Thanks.

Someone gave me an old Raleigh with an AG 3 speed SA dynohub. In these slack work times, for something to do, I did the bike up and it I found I quite like riding it.
I also have a SON nabendynamo and a B&M Cyo on my "too good to park anywhere" bike. I got to wondering if the CYO/ SA dynohub combination would work. I took off the SA light and transplanted the Cyo on the Raleigh crown mudguard fitting.
Well blow me it - I found it worked perfectly. You have to be going a couple of mph faster to get maximum output, but the result astounded me.
Now I feel safe when I leave my bike outside in public and have a brilliant light to guide me home in the darker evenings. You can pick up a front dynohub for 5 - 20 quid. This will give a new lease of life to all those Sturmey hubs.
What do I do with the v expensive monster heavily chained in the shed?.

Look on the hub gear. Stamped on the hub is the month and year of manufacture of the hub and therefore the bike itself - - unless the hub gears were added afterwards!

Anyone think this might be ok?

http://www.bioethanolfires.co.uk/ethanol

Merino, merino, merino! Take a long sleeve, a lighter short sleeve and a £15 craghopper fleece from Cotswold. Combined with your waterproof you should have enough layers for a cold snap or a heatwave. Its not always possible to wash clothes.
You can even leave the shirts on at night and still not smell. A pair of socks will last you five days if you keep yourself clean.
I have come to the conclusion nasty nylon and polyester are unnatural and are materials spun and woven in Hades.
In my early days of touring I wore those materials and thought a small animal had crawled into my tent , died and had partially decomposed. In those days I cycled alone.

Don't take those heavy over long MTB shorts. After a couple of days you wont believe where you legs will chafe. I thought I had thrush. Never attractive.

Waterproof boots - Shimano MT90'S - quite stylish- and waterproof trousers to keep the rain out of your boots. You then are kitted to cook outside in the rain except in the most extreme weather. Who the hell wants grease on their nice tent fly and 400 litres of water running inside their tent? Oh...... and their tent going up in flames. Not a good experience. Not good at all. - though it might attract the ladies!

Event material is good and when it stops raining you dry out very quickly. I recently have discoverd the light Paramo smock. I have tried it on commutes but not on extended tours.

Walney to Wear route 2004 -- SPD'S used and the result was - spare shoes to carry- hurting balls [ of feet! ] all day, sore ankle, limping for days afterwards.
Walney to Wear route 2005 --- Shimano large platform pedals - room to shift position of feet, plenty of area to spread pushing load ,no need for spare shoes and no discomfort. No noticable loss of speed - same average speed both years. I won't go back to spd's after @ 8 years' use. Picture
http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Shimano-MX30-DX-ATB-Platform-Pedals_15548.htm

In my opinion the W2W is harder to complete than the C2C!

- mw3230

I totally agree with you that both routes on the W2W have more challenges, but I took more rests on the W2W.

A better route is the Walney to Whitby route. You can get a map from Sustrans, or you could do what I do and make routes up as well. I am toying with the idea of going from near St Davids in Wales [ farthest point west in Wales] to Lowestoft [farthest point east in England ]via Oxford and Cambridge as my next trip. Its 450 miles though!

Adapt are having a genuine jacket sale with some amazing discounts. The jackets arn't cycling specific but are gen brands - hagloffs sprayaway etc. If you live near Liverpool I'd get down asap.
No, I dont work there, I just like to see independent shops like this one thrive.

Try Madgetts in Diss, Norfolk. My wife managed to get vg stronglight copies - Sugino.

phone

01379 650419

I guess you didnt like the less than smooth bits then!

I shop here a lot - they have genuine bargains and a great service. They have SOME cheap buffalo tops . They also have many other things cheap as well - see force ten tents. I dont work there honest! Well worth a visit.

Thanks for the advice. Just found out a friend has a 9 speed rear gear changer in exchange for a favour.[ I will build him a wheel.] I will put an 11 - 34 9 speed and keep the 26 inner. I have a long cage mtb xt rear changer so it should work. I can only get the bottom 4 gears when on the inner anyway so this might help.

Going on the Lon Las Cymru and will be camping. I understand there are a number of steep hills.
I thought I might put an 11 - 34 casette on the rear wheel instead of an 11 - 30.
The chainset I have at the moment is a modefied Deore 44-36-26, but I would like to put a 22 on the inner. Will this combination work on my 700c tourer ?