Cycling UK Forum

Stradageek wrote:In the 'Never Bettered' category, the SA AW3 IGH

My AW 'Patent' (no date code on hub; Hadland indicates this was manufactured during the war) has some renewed parts, but still does the same task as new. The RS-RF3, SRF3, SG-3R40, SG-3D55 and iMotion3 are no better.

thelawnet wrote:I wouldn't want to tour very far with a £170 cassette...

SRAM Eagle, $100 USD. Has the exchange rate become that bad?

I'd be a bit concerned about the availability of spare parts for some exotic freehub as well.

Shimano XT.

I imagine the next step will be a 9t cassette for 1x

Alex Moulton, 1983.

Jdsk wrote:Didn't gears that you can change without dismounting come after those?

While the Crypto-Dynamic (and other) two-speeds date to the early 1880s, the pneumatic tyre was patented in 1845.

irc wrote:Obviously for some uses like touring 1x is not up to the job...

Hmph. My 1x12, 40x10-50T seems at least adequate.

Hmph. That Specialized appears relatively inexpensive and not all that comfortable. Further, I imagine you can actually buy one, rather than ordering and queueing ~21 months. This doesn't look the least 'generic', either:

http://www.moultonbicycles.co.uk/models ... PYLON.html

An obscure bit of trivia perhaps, but AFAIK should one be visiting the UK from out of country or perhaps visiting the continent from residence in the UK and riding a cycle they have brought with them, the lighting need only comply with the International Convention on Road Traffic (Vienna, Austria November 8, 1968), Chapter V Conditions for the Admission of Cycles and Mopeds to International Traffic, Article 44. It requires only:

Cycles without an engine in international traffic shall:
(a) Have an efficient brake;
(b) Be equipped with a bell capable of being heard at a sufficient distance, and carry no other audible warning device;
(c) Be equipped with a red reflecting device at the rear and with devices such that the cycle can show a white or selective-yellow light to the front and a red light to the rear.

Notes:
1. Your average law enforcement officer is almost certain to be entirely ignorant of the International Convention on Road Traffic.
b. Always strive to be a polite guest!

Perhaps a bespoke ensemble from Dashing Tweeds?

Somewhere in central Africa Mr. Tilman would have crossed tire tracks with Kazimierz Nowak, who cycled the continent contemporaneously. Mr. Nowak's travels are documented in 'Rowerem i pieszo przez Czarny Ląd', published in English in 2017 as 'Across the Dark Continent'.

Carlton green wrote:Picking overall gearing on a 3-speed hub is, IMHO, a bit of an art. I don’t know about the gear spread on the Sram but the AW is a ‘workable’ compromise.

The Sturmey-Archer K and AW, Shimano Nexus 3 and Fichtel&Sachs/SRAM T3 & iMotion 3 all have ~basically~ the same gear spread. It's a good design choice between overall gear range and the step size between gears.

My Sram 5-speed hub with back peddling hub brake was a joy to use, sadly it’s now out of production but spare parts are still available in Germany.

I'm still bumfuzzled that SRAM ended - just flat out bell up and quit - IGH production, rather than sell the intellectual property and tooling to some other company.

Carlton green wrote:Thanks, that’s interesting and I might well think about it.

Well, you can participate in the 'challenge' fun without officially registering&etc.

The Three Speed Society is once again running its annual Three Speed October challenge. This year's tasks:

https://societyofthreespeeds.wordpress.com/3spdoct/

"Best"! It's Wales; you go down one little road to see something beautiful or interesting and that means you missed another little road where there was something beautiful or interesting.

I suggested this to my wife for Summer Tour 2020. Yeah, that didn't happen. Phthphth. Anyway, I made sure I turned off the profile graphic before I showed it to her. FWIW, looks like the climbs are bigger north to south.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34293906

This could be combined with either half of the Cicerone for a loop.

There are windows in time when one can travel certain regions.

Ian Hibbel passed thru Central America in the early 1970s. That became impossible in the 1980s.
Dervla Murphy (1960s) and Collin Martin (1970s) rode through Afghanistan. Beginning in the 1980s, well, let's just say don't do it today.

Maybe Heinz Stücke had the right idea: just go tour somewhere else in the world for 10 or 20 or 30 years until the regional turmoil wears itself out.
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Africa is special, isn't it? There are other locales which provide culture discontinuity (Japan!) but sub-Saharan Africa is the world's last large region of really grinding poverty and puff adders. Still and all, 'Tom' (in The Boy Who Biked the World by Alastair Humphreys) had a lovely time.

The American winemaker Ernest Gallo ran an experiment from the 1930s through the 1970s, where he offered two samples of red wine, one marked at twice the price of the other. Consistently over the decades some 9 of 10 tasters announced they could tell the difference and preferred the sample marked with a higher price.

They were, of course, exactly the same wine.

tatanab wrote:The day when a manufacturer could make all the parts is long gone - I believe it was Raleigh who many decades ago had the facility to make just about every part.

You could spec' a machine in Japan and have every item and component sourced in-country. I ~think~ you could in Germany, but I'm not sure.

But to have every item and component manufactured in-house by the same firm in 2020, I believe you're off to China if anywhere.