Cycling UK Forum

Do you need one for a trailer? If your little one is strapped in they won't fall onto the road.

The cycle article is here: http://cyclehelmets.org/papers/c2023.pdf an interesting read, as it's written by the person that tests helmets to see how effective they are.

For a baby you'll probably want to look for a softer foam as their skull is softer. But then unless it's several inches thick it won't make much difference if they do bash their head against something.

Not sure how you'll get one to fit snugly with their rapidly-growing head, either. If it doesn't fit well any effectiveness it might have will be significantly reduced.

We had a nice time in the New Forest last year with 1-year-old twins in our trailer. We stayed mostly on-road, but cars in the New Forest understand bikes (mostly) and you can choose quieter roads usually. Some of the off-road tracks are OK too. It's nice to stop somewhere with trees and just wander around or have a picnic. They also enjoyed spotting ponies! Try to go out-of-season and during term-time if you can, otherwise it gets too busy.

Speaking as a one-time Audax Super Randonneur (200, 300, 400 and 600km rides in the same year) I can confirm that Audax riding is addictive, and hence probably a medical condition. Luckily finding a wife and having children seems to have cured me, at least for the moment

The most memorable bits of my Audaxing times were riding up Cheddar Gorge, on my own, at two in the morning (about 400km done out of 600), and those wonderful refreshment stops provided by Dave "El Supremo" Hudson.

For long-distance light-weight touring Audax is an excellent thing: well-organised, other riders to talk to, refreshments at regular intervals, and some real challenges!

DavidT wrote:http://www.bikeregister.com

Anyone got any experience of this? Seems to be partnered, to an extent, with Datatag?

Their Silver option ("Selectamark") looks like the system used on my bikes several years ago. Etching ink, allegedly marks through the paint to the metal of the frame, and ownership details on a national database. I got mine done for free by the local police, and I think Halfords were doing it for a charge too. It was only about a fiver then...

I haven't ever had a bike stolen, so don't know how well it works. Since the police are involved with the marking and with the database it might be a good way to recover any bike that the police find.

Must dig out the registration cards and update my address!

The distance from saddle to bars is also a factor. The closer they are the more upright you'll be and the less pressure on your arms and hands.

I've found that even quite small adjustments to handlebar position (up/down and fore/aft) can make a big difference to the pressure on my hands.

The only way to really find out is to try it and see, although some bike shops might be able to offer advice having measured you accurately.

We have 2.5 year old twins with Early Rider bikes (wooden "hobby-horse" style, two wheels, saddle, steering, but nothing else).

Molly took to hers like a duck to water, and now can scoot some distance without touching the ground, especially if slightly downhill. She also quickly mastered stopping with her feet, and can confidently descend medium gradients. It takes something between a brisk walk and a jog to keep up with her at full speed.

Tom, on the other hand, is more nervous (perhaps because his shorter legs mean he started with more weight on the bike) and hasn't learnt to scoot yet. He can make progress, but doesn't enjoy it as much.

So, from our limited experience, keeping things simple to start with (no brakes, gears, or pedals) seems to work very well - at least for little people.

Yes, the FAQ is wrong. It's the standard FAQ for phpBB (the forum software) and I haven't updated it to take into account the photo upload add-on. Will add to the To-Do list. Top marks for finding, and reading, the FAQ page!

I think Graham's explanation, that the original poster deleted the message before you'd had a chance to read it, is the most likely. Personal messages, unlike e-mails, never leave the Forum server - they're just stored in the database like forum posts are.

A newer version of the forum software, phpBB, has recently been released. This is a major re-write of a lot of the forum software, so may well have better PM handling. I will be testing out the new version in the new year, with the aim of installing it as soon as it seems to be working reliably.

If you would like to investigate the missing message further, I may be able to dig further. If you'd like me to, please could you forward the notification e-mail you received to ajcartmell@fonant.com? Forwarding it should leave important e-mail message headers intact, so I can see more information about the message.

There don't seem to have been problems at the server (which was running all the time over Christmas) but some others have reported getting "server not found" errors, which suggests that there were some problems with the ctc.org.uk domain.

Snakes wrote:If it used Explorer maps that'd be fantastic.

Sadly the OS and Crown Copyright prevent that. If it was possible to get a quote from OS for a license to display their maps on the CTC website, you can bet that it would cost tens of thousands per annum, if not more.

andymiller wrote:The cleverest mapping site is mapmyride.com which somehow manages to use google maps to produce a ride elevation profile as well.

The CTC maps site does too (Google don't supply the data, but it's available from NASA) and I'm planning to add an indication of "hilliness" soon too. Chris Juden from CTC has a simple definition that he uses, and there's also the Audax UK system of Altitude Award Points that we should be able to calculate. Does anyone know of any "official" measures of hilliness or climb for off-road routes? The main thing is defining how much change in height you need before you count it as a climb: a too-small number can result in lots of climb for an undulating road that's basically level...

We'd love to get hold of the locations of bridelways and similar non-road routes. Sadly no-one knows where they all are, not even the OS. Perhaps one day each council will publish the information in a standard format (and not just on paper maps), but unless the law is changed the data will still be almost impossible to use due to Crown Copyright. At the moment, the best hope is that off-road riders with GPS recorders can combine to submit all the cycleable off-road routes.

Are you an AOL user?

For security reasons, phpBB checks that the cookie is coming from the same, or similar, IP address compared to when it was created. For most people this works fine and helps to prevent other people logging in with your ID. However in some circumstances you will appear to visit the website from a wide range of IP addresses, the most common culprit being AOL, which uses a very large number of IP addresses, which change constantly.

Do you know if the other forums which work OK are running phpBB? They may be running different forum software, which might not do this additional security checking?

Can you tell me what browser, operating system, etc. you're using? Are you using any "internet security" type software?

I get pins and needles in feet and hands if I get dehydrated when riding. A quick drink from my water bottle and it goes away. Don't know if that would help in your case though.

Yes, my wife has an imported Gazelle and it's fantastic.

I'm always borrowing it to nip into town as you can just get on it an ride. No need to find lock, trouser clips, lights, etc. as it has no exposed dirty parts at all, and built-in lights and lock. I will take a cable lock if leaving it for longer than a pop into a shop, but otherwise it's get on and go.

The riding style is very regal and upright, can be a pain into a strong wind, making you relax and enjoy the view. Its handling is very stable, but it isn't slow: top gear of the seven comes in useful with a tailwind when you're doing 20mph+. It is quite heavy.

jawaka wrote:i wonder why it looks like bike radar site, when it clearly isn't.

That's because both they and us use the popular phpBB forum software, and neither of us have bothered to change it much from its default installation.

I'm very glad to hear that you like the new forum. The tone is carefully looked after by our small team of moderators (thanks Si!).

I note that we have some way to go before we can match the 38,480,430 articles posted to BikeRadar or their 121,000 users, but perhaps quality is better than quantity

A quick check in fact suggests that these numbers might be a little suspect, at least 73,000 users (60%) haven't posted anything and a lot of posts from other users seem to be "not found". In comparison we have 824 no-post users out of 3,246 (25%).