Cycling UK Forum

2_i wrote: ↑6 Feb 2025, 9:58pm

Carlton green wrote: ↑6 Feb 2025, 8:17pm My experience of bottom entry brakes is that there are significant friction and spring losses in the cables. To reduce the friction I (after removing the cable) inject grease into the outer cable and use (smoother) die drawn cables, I think that the changes have helped. Spring might be reduced by using compression-less outers but I haven’t tried that yet.

I actually measured the force transmitted by brake cables, and I got numbers in the vicinity of 40 Newtons. By contrast, shift cables transmit forces in the vicinity of 5 Newtons, and that depends on the gear you are in—it can be smaller. 40 Newtons is a force lifting 4 kg of weight. I am sorry, but by 40 Newtons, whether the cable is die-drawn is entirely irrelevant, except maybe for the longevity of the lining.

As ever YMMV applies and if those are the findings that you’re happy with then be happy. For myself my experience is that die drawn makes a difference, maybe not a large difference but sometimes marginal gains are helpful and I’m happy to pay the small additional cost.

Apparently hand grip strength is in the 40 kg (so 400 Newton) range. See: https://www.topendsports.com/testing/norms/handgrip.htm
Brake levers give a mechanical advantage, let’s say that it’s circa 2:1. Using those figures tension in the cable could be circa 800 Newtons (similar to the force it would see if an adult were suspended by it).

ElaineB wrote: ↑5 Feb 2025, 3:03pm I have lots of women friends that ride bikes, …

There are of course ‘horrid’ people out there, everywhere, schools, work, driving cars, etc. we have to either try to get along or find a hole to hide in! I don’t speak for others as everyone has their own way of dealing with these bullies, but I for one am not giving up riding my bike, I shall carry on being happy to be 25% of the women who do ride and wish the 75% of men ‘happy, safe cycling’.

Thank you for your excellent response.

Here at the ‘Green residence’ I’m reading CUK’s magazine; page 8 of the Feb / March issue of Cycle has an article about improving women’s safety. It seems a sensible enough article to me and doesn’t claim that safety is the only (perceived) issue discouraging women from cycling. The article ends with the reminder: “ … if we make cycling safer for women, it will feel safer for everyone”. imho it would be a darned good idea to simply make cycling safer for everyone: regardless of gender the young, old and relatively weak are all vulnerable too.

I don’t have a Brompton but do have a small wheeled bike so wondered whether the thread might have any ideas I could ‘borrow’ for improved braking.

The Brompton having bottom entry brakes is, from a brake performance perspective, quite bad news. My experience of bottom entry brakes is that there are significant friction and spring losses in the cables. To reduce the friction I (after removing the cable) inject grease into the outer cable and use (smoother) die drawn cables, I think that the changes have helped. Spring might be reduced by using compression-less outers but I haven’t tried that yet.

Stradageek wrote: ↑5 Feb 2025, 4:57pm

Carlton green wrote: ↑5 Feb 2025, 9:15am From a brief search the Stratton ( https://www.foldingbikes4u.co.uk/produc ... g-bikes-4u ) looks very similar to my Raleigh Compact (an Italian import sold under many different names, see: http://lovelybike.blogspot.com/2016/06/ ... -more.html ).

Really appreciate the research Carlton.

I live in fear of the BB wearing out, I suspect that looking for a cottered axle with Italian threaded cups might be challenging and I guess the same applies to the pedals, headset etc.

You’re welcome to what little I’ve already found out and you seem well down the conversion and customisation path - much further than I plan to go. Because you have alloy rims my assumption - please correct me if I’m mistaken - is that you’ve already changed from 28 to 36 spoke hubs.

Like Hercules your Stratton might be yet another Raleigh brand. If it ever comes to it then spare parts will more than likely appear and particularly so if you / we know of other users who can help out. If all else fails then, certainly at the moment, a similar bike bought for parts wouldn’t be dreadfully expensive. Additionally Italian eBay throws up a lot of parts and interesting pictures.

The Graziella (Bianchi / Carnielli manufactured?) 20” folding bikes seem to have been made in a few designs and were widely sold across Europe. The ones sold via Nottingham seem to have SA hubs in them, continental ones seemed to be single speed but sometimes a back peddling 3 speed Sach hub was fitted. It’d be nice to start a separate thread about these 20” wheel folders, but my suspicion is that few here will know much about them and be able to support such a conversation. I might try later and see what happens, there’s little to lose and everything to gain .

Edit.

La Graziella was a folding bicycle designed by Rinaldo Donzelli and produced starting in 1964 from the Teodoro Carnielli factory in Vittorio Veneto named Bottecchia

In 1971 it underwent a restyling in which the diameter of the wheels was increased and details such as the matching roof rack were added.

Graziella was produced until the late eighties. The original models are collectors and modernists.

https://www.bikeforums.net/folding-bike ... -bike.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graziella_(bicycle)

As a very general observation - of a personal trait / social conditioning that I now try to manage - the search for perfection can: take excessive time, be expensive, and sometimes fruitless. At some point it’s best to accept what’s not excessively difficult to get and work with it. I’ve found that I don’t need the best possible item, something lesser that’s at least good enough will suffice and give me sufficiently good service - and particularly so with thoughtful use … it’s what you do with what you’ve got that matters. Well that’s my personal experience, and the change of perspective has been liberating.

Stradageek wrote: ↑4 Feb 2025, 10:13pm Having aquired some nice 40 hole SA hub gears but only having 36 hole rims to hand the thought occurs to me that I could build a wheel by ignoring 4 hub holes. Maybe at 12 and 6 o'clock on one side and 3 and 9 o'clock on the other.

Anyone tried this, or I could just buy a 40 hole rim

If you can get hold of a 40 hole rim - preferably for sensible money - then I’d have thought that that was the better way to go. I’m a tightwad but there are times when it’s just more sensible to spend a bit more money. If a 40 hole rim doesn’t suit then from Bruce’s thread I read (on the second page) that Robc02 uses 32 hole rims with his 40 hole hubs, and that that route was ‘OK’d’ (“ yes indeed that is a good way to go”).
viewtopic.php?t=118718&start=15
Robc02 is still active here, so if asked he might further share his experience.

Stradageek wrote: ↑5 Feb 2025, 8:06am I have a favourite daily (shopping) rider (a 1984 Stratton folder) with poor long-reach caliper brakes so fitting this hub is tempting, though getting the spoke lengths correct for a 36 spoke ETRTO 405 wheel with the large hub brake flange may be a step too far.

Getting anything other than 36 holes in erto 405 rim might be an expensive challenge. If steel is acceptable then 28 hole is available for reasonable money, but whether it’s useful number or not to spoke I do not know.

Alloy in 32 hole hurts my price sensitivity, £32 plus delivery, https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/rims-tape/r ... k-32-hole/

From a brief search the Stratton ( https://www.foldingbikes4u.co.uk/produc ... g-bikes-4u ) looks very similar to my Raleigh Compact (an Italian import sold under many different names, see: http://lovelybike.blogspot.com/2016/06/ ... -more.html ).

My Raleigh has 28 hole steel rims and I’ve recently been advised (here: viewtopic.php?t=125681) of better brake blocks to use with it. If what you really want for your Stratton is a better rear brake - mine was effectively ornamental and now is actually helpful - then another route (than a 40 hole drum brake) might be easier and serve you well enough.

mdskids wrote: ↑4 Feb 2025, 11:05pm I feel like a lot more small independent campsites are caravan/motorhome only in recent years (I guess this means they can get away with fewer facilities), so having some more options is excellent news.

That might be the case, or it might be down to social factors such as behaviours. The entry costs to tent camping are low; those with the funds to support caravan and motor home camping tend not to bother other campers? Just a guess.

deeferdonk wrote: ↑4 Feb 2025, 7:39am It's a bit mind bending to think that some of us may be alive today purely because of the Covid epidemic. The commuter driver that was "destined" to knock us off never made the journey because he was told to work from home.

Quite. Added to that some of us might live longer because we cycled (gaining improved health and healthy habits) during the lockdown periods. Maybe not living in such a dangerous place as Wales is a plus too?

I’m delighted to see a couple of responses from women and I very much hope that more will also respond.

What’s really interesting to me is that the responses aren’t uniform and that’s, I think, really helpful to debate: life is complex and one answer doesn’t cover all.

I’m lucky in appearing fit and bulky so rarely get grief on the road, however abuse and intimidation, regardless of gender, is real and depressingly common. In general I notice that some men behave badly towards women (in an abusive or predatory way) and that people, and some men in particular, pray on those physically or mentally weaker than themselves. A complex and layered mix of abusive tendencies from a small but significant segment of society. Those abusive attitudes are learnt well away from cycling and blight the lives of those unfortunate enough to somehow overlap with them; in simple terms a weak and / or female cyclist is just an or another easy target for some horrid person to gain pleasure and / or advantage from abusing.

As a separate issue, and it still might be true at times, male drivers have been known to harass female ones. This world has many idiots in it.

Mr.Benton wrote: ↑3 Feb 2025, 9:25am Thanks everyone for their informative replies. I take away from this that I should stop hoarding bike parts (apart from maybe tyres, rims, and a spare cassette or two) and I definitely shouldn't be buying old bikes just in case I need them. Unfortunatly for me I come from a long line of hoarders so this could be difficult.

Any views on my off cuts of wood collection which is also cluttering up the shed ?

The balance point for everyone isn’t necessarily in the same place and I’m sure that hoarding performs a useful social function. If it wasn’t for folk eventually releasing long obsolete but cared treasures then how would I - and others of a similar mind too - keep my bikes on the road. Anyway, buying new isn’t ‘green’ and repairing stuff from a stick of supplies is (sort of green); life is complex.

Off cuts of wood? Some law applies that whatever is discarded because it’s not been used in fifteen years will be needed in the following week.

The Covid Lockdowns remind me that the supply chains that we take for granted can collapse overnight, and that items we consider to be not too expensive can quickly become costly. Life is complex.

craigr12 wrote: ↑2 Feb 2025, 1:51pm Thanks for all that, folks. I think I'll try and extra snood over my face and try to watch my hygiene. I'm a teacher, so I'm surrounded by germ-machines five days a week.

I managed to loose my snood but after a bit of searching on eBay bought another for less than £3 inc delivery - that’s a good price for a useful ‘tool’, but still expensive for what they are. (Beechfield 3 in 1 Face Cover Morf * Snood Scarf * Breathable Mask)

As a teacher you’re surrounded by bugs and those that I know in that profession usually fall ill at the end of term and maybe half term too. It might be stating the obvious but I think that moderate exercise, keeping warn enough, eating sensibly, and thoughtful self care are heavy influencers towards good health - women seem to be better than men at all of those … and typically they live longer than men too. Stress, as might well be found in teaching (depends on the school and the children, etc), is probably not so good for health.

Talking amongst my friends Long Covid still catches some folk out, those that seem to suffer the most are the ones whose health was already not so good. My Mrs and I seem to have avoided a lot of the bugs that are going around and when we didn’t (avoid all of) then we bounced back fairly quickly, we both take quite a bit of exercise. Of course exercise comes in various different forms; I love to and prefer to cycle but (because my dog needs exercise too) the greater part of of my exercise time is used walking - it’s a good and I think under appreciated form of exercise.

danfoto wrote: ↑1 Feb 2025, 11:01am I've just had a good go on The Lady Wife's Gazelle e-bike, which is identical to mine apart from the switchgear and the display. What was immediately apparent is that hers seems "nippier" by comparison to mine. Certainly the gearchange is lighter than mine is i.e. a change up needs less torque applied to the twistgrip selector. There is then the fact that when I removed the internals from my hub, I was surprised to see very little if any lubricant, be that grease or oil.

Having now investigated the likely cost and amount of faffing involved with changing the hub, it's looking more like seeing if I can find a new complete set of internals for this hub and carrying on with 5 speeds until the dread day when it's me for a mobility scooter. Until then I'll just go up the steepest hills slower and vex impatient following drivers even more ...

H’mm, we’ll have to see; if you’re able to rebuild and lubricate the hub then that would be a good start point. Better still if you were also able to overhaul the motor and its gearbox too. I wonder whether the batteries have degraded and are giving you less ‘juice’ than they once did? It’s handy that your wife’s bike is identical to yours, good for comparisons, etc.

Duplicate.

danfoto wrote: ↑31 Jan 2025, 7:27pm I'm almost certain the way forward for me is to get the Nexus 5 swapped for an Alfine 8, so I'm now investigating costs of doing just that

I’d have thought that that (investigation) was a good way forward, and much more sensible than buying a new bike. Electric bikes isn’t a subject that I follow but the Shimano hubs seem to be commonly used on them. The five speed hub might be electric bikes specific, to handle higher input torque; maybe it’s possible to fit a bigger sprocket to the rear wheel to help what you have got get up hills better? Or maybe there’s an issue in either the hub, or elsewhere in the drive train, that’s causing them to not perform as well as they should?

The OP’s bikes make mine look positively ancient. So far I’ve never had any difficulties getting bits that’ll keep me going, but - usually when the price is right - I do buy second hand and have a stash of parts ready to fit. Some of my stash will never get used by me (‘cause I’ll be six foot under before I wear out some of the stuff that I’m using), but I’m happy for that to be the case and old bike parts don’t tie up loads of money - we’ll, not the types that I buy anyway .

As a broad rule of thumb if it’s either worn out or about to be then buy a replacement plus a spare, that way you always have a consumable part ready to fit when needed.