Cycling UK Forum

Mike Sales wrote:After some weeks in France I realised that my 'de l'eau s'il vous plait' sounded more like 'de l'or'.

I once asked for a good hotel and my auditor thought I was asking for a good lawyer. My 'bon hotel' sounded like 'bon notaire'

andy_scot_uk wrote:Thanks. I never considered the view of the sea thing.

This can be non-trivial. A friend who has ridden the Pacific Coast both from S to N and N to S tells me you miss out on a lot being on the side of the road away from the sea. This is a route that has hundreds of miles along cliffs.
Mind you I've no idea how much of your route is inland or what the winds are likely to be. I once tried riding from Bergen to the Hook and the wind was utter misery.

Have you thought of a Trek 520? I did 54K miles, most of it loaded touring, on mine until the frame broke. (Trek gave me a new frame under warranty. Moved all components to the new frame and it's sweet as a nut) Unfortunately they don't make a rim brake version any more but you may find a dealer that has a rim brake version in stock. I think they are lighter than the LHT but can't guarantee it. Round here it's quite hilly and 520s are popular as commuters.

mercalia wrote:I wasnt sure whether this thread was a send up? i dont know any one who talks that way

I suspect the OP is not a native English speaker.

Well ladies, have you come across the expression "mansplaining"? i.e. Men explaining things, esp. technical things, to women as if they were not too bright. It must be bloody infuriating. You have my sympathy. I've had it happen to me and last time I looked I'm a man. But I'm short and have a funny accent, for some reason this seems to give some guys the license to snatch a wheel or whatever I'm working on out of my hands and show me how to fix it. Perhaps I'm not aggressive enough and find it easier to let them get on with it. A club colleague who is even shorter than me doesn't have this problem, mind you he's a retired Marine major.

reohn2 wrote:I was more pointing toward the tyre pressure guide than their tyres:-

Fair enough and I do use their pressure guide, it seems to work fine with RiBMos for me. A rule of thumb seems to be: ride with the lowest pressure you can live with, if it's bouncing repeatedly over bumps like an undamped spring or feeling wobbly cornering then it's too low. I've heard people argue that lower pressures are bad for tyres i.e. they come apart (delaminate) internally but I can't say it's ever bothered me and I believe I get more loaded miles in than most.

reohn2 wrote:Here's a good guide:- https://janheine.wordpress.com/2016/03/ ... take-home/

This article enthuses about Compass Tires, after all they do sell them. I would not recommend them for loaded touring on roads. I set off with Bon Jon Pass 35s on my Trek 520; I followed their pressure recommendations and yes they do ride beautifully and roll superbly but after 6 flats in 600 miles I gave up on them and bought a pair of Panasonic RiBiMos. Not as comfortable and a smidgin more effort but flat free until the end of my tour, about another 400 miles.

Mick F wrote:As far as the mechanics are concerned, the big/big ability is paramount. If you can't achieve that, all hell will break lose if you inadvertently select it.

+1 The experience of having your cranks apparently seize up when you are climbing (in heavy traffic of course) and select big-big is one you'll never forget.

willem jongman wrote: the new 52 mm wide Rat Trap Pass (26 inch) tyres by Compass. There is no doubt in my mind that these are the fastest touring tyres I have ever used, and that they make quite a difference. They are also exquisitely comfortable.
Of course, when climbing it is mostly about weight, hence my obsession with reducing the weight of my camping gear.

In my experience Compass tires (sic) do roll very well. I was on Compass Bon Ton Pass tires and was touring with a bloke using Schwalbe M+ and every time we rolled down hills I had to brake to avoid overtaking him. (Mind you he was from Australia so it could have been the Coriolis effect or some such) But 6 flats in 600 miles certainly slows you down.

Whatever you do don't shorten the chain and go into big-big without trying it on a stand e.g. before riding. I did this and the chain jammed so tight it wouldn't budge. The only way I could get any slack to get it onto a smaller cog and get going again was by removing a derailer pulley.

Brucey wrote:related?

Probably not; the point of fracture of the frame is one of the most highly stressed parts; it sees very high loads in normal use, and it is difficult to see how a rear impact could have created any unusual stresses in that area.

In addition the failure looks like a fatigue crack; these can be a very long time in the making.

cheers

Thanks Brucey. So it was just our old friend coincidence. Well, it did have 54 thousand miles on it so fatigue seems reasonable. I was wondering if I should have tried to get a whole new bike after the crash. Interestingly the tube size seems to have shrunk at least on the seat tube. I had to get a new clamp for the front mech because the old one was 31.8 mm and the new 29.0 (or so) The seat post from the old frame fitted on the new surprisingly. Did they use an insert on the old seat tube I wonder? By the time I found this out the broken frame was on its way to Trek so I couldn't check it out.

The above was when I got rear ended on tour. This was about 1000 miles later. Despite the apparent mess after I got hit my LBS assured me the frame was perfectly straight so I had them put a new wheel on and it seemed perfectly OK. I discovered the broken frame after a day ride at home when the steering seemed to drift a bit. Trek replaced the frame under warranty even though i couldn't come up with the original receipt and the shop that sold me it was out of business.

I was wondering could the rear ender have caused the broken frame?

I think I've got it. I found this in an Amazon review.

When you are through inflating the tire, do not just spin off the cartridge, if it is still pressurized unless you fully expel all of the gas you can get a nasty surprise (like a pop and losing the internal gasket and hollow puncture tip - into who knows what). (explaining why it only works once for some people) As the instructions say, slide the cartridge body down to release all of the CO2 (even into the air) before removing the cartridge from the inflator head. (be careful where you point it I would think)

That's just what I did. The "hollow puncture tip" must be what's missing. Hey ho live and learn.

I checked the manual it does say to make sure the cartridge is empty before removing it. Doesn't mention what the consequences could be.

It was light and just the thing for my road bike until I got a flat. When I came to use said inflator and screwed in the CO2 cartridge it wouldn't pierce the membrane on top of the cartridge. I thought it may have been my wimpy grip so I went into a nearby machine shop and tried putting the head in a vise and using pliers to turn the cylinder - still membrane intacta. I ended up having the missis rescue me.

Am I doing something wrong with this infernal device? or have I just got a bad 'un? Should I switch to some other brand?

After Kübler-Ross.
1. Denial. No, that is not my rim banging on the asphalt.
2. Bargaining. If I put some air in it'll get me another 15 miles.
3. Acceptance. I have to fix the bloody thing.

Kübler-Ross had 5 stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Suggestions for anger and depression?