Cycling UK Forum

geocycle wrote: ↑17 Aug 2024, 1:45pm Well said Cugel. Money has no inherent value,only that we choose to give it.

Quite handy for getting out of the stone age though...

rareposter wrote: ↑16 Aug 2024, 1:58pm You can see that the RANGE (the difference between high and low) is basically the same - in this case a low gear of 18.7 so almost identical to my 1x and the high gear is a bit higher at 95

The word "bit" here is doing almost as much work here as my legs would be doing on a flat road....
Personally I find that 95-100gi gives comfortable cycling at a cruising speed on tarmac, I prefer at least 110 for slight briskness. 85 is just slightly annoying.
And that's why I find myself preferring 2x to 1x. As ever ymmv, but I'm no boy racer, so I wonder if the OP would find the same.

I agree that 19gi gets up most non-gnarly stuff, for reference for the OP, 34/34 on a road wheel is 25gi. And, having cycled in mid wales on a steel road bike, I agree that it's hard work!

PH wrote: ↑15 Aug 2024, 2:38pm Am I exceptionally lucky?

I don't think so, I often take my bike on trains and it mostly works out just fine.
The nature of this type of thread (indeed, any online reviews) is that bad experiences are heavily over represented.
That said, I think it's useful to have the chance to learn from the misfortunes of others to minimise the chances of the same thing happening in the future.
Also, there are plenty of useful bits of info about successfully negotiating the system that can be added to the repertoire.

re_cycler wrote: ↑15 Aug 2024, 1:51pm

Pendodave wrote: ↑15 Aug 2024, 1:44pm It is complicated.
But all of us enjoy the fruits of a functioning economy.
A "simple life" relies on lots of other people enjoying a rather less simple life to supply the goods and services which are necessary to provide even this.
I'm not sure that the status quo is sustainable with such a large proportion of the population not actively contributing.

Mandatory employment until you reach 70 ?

Why is this so outrageous?
How does anyone imagine that when the median income in the UK is around 33k, and that 45 years of employment is probably about average, its possible to fund 15 years of free health care, housing benefit and 12k of pension?
It's madness.
Employment doesn't have to be 40 hours a week, I just think that we need more of us to contribute to the society that we all depend on.

re_cycler wrote: ↑15 Aug 2024, 1:51pm

Pendodave wrote: ↑15 Aug 2024, 1:44pm It is complicated.
But all of us enjoy the fruits of a functioning economy.
A "simple life" relies on lots of other people enjoying a rather less simple life to supply the goods and services which are necessary to provide even this.
I'm not sure that the status quo is sustainable with such a large proportion of the population not actively contributing.

Mandatory employment until you reach 70 ?

Why is this so outrageous?
How does anyone imagine that when the median income in the UK is around 33k, and that 45 years of employment is probably about average, its possible to fund 15 years of free health care, housing benefit and 12k of pension?
It's madness.

It is complicated.
But all of us enjoy the fruits of a functioning economy.
A "simple life" relies on lots of other people enjoying a rather less simple life to supply the goods and services which are necessary to provide even this.
I'm not sure that the status quo is sustainable with such a large proportion of the population not actively contributing.

For gear inch calculators, my preferred site is :
https://ritzelrechner.de
Really easy to play with.

As for the OP... I guess it really depends on how slowly they want to cycle along the road.
My own experience is that 1x spins out more quickly on the road than I would like, but that was with an 11t smallest cog. A 10t might just about be acceptable.
What might not be acceptable is the price of 10t-44t cassettes. They are a lot more expensive than (say) 11-34.

Whilst your here...
... consider the insulating properties of your sleeping mat. You can lose a lot of heat to the ground, as the filling of your bag is compressed to the point at which it offers very little.

bohrsatom wrote: ↑8 May 2023, 6:21pm The Trainline app (at least on iOS) is the most user-friendly way to find out. Search for a direct journey (*) and it’ll show a bike symbol on services where spaces are available to reserve

(*) There are some limitations: don’t rely on the presence/absence of the bike symbol on services where no reservations are required, or if one leg of the journey involves a train where no reservations are required. Search a leg at a time and you’ll be good!

It's easy to miss stuff on the forum, and I missed this at the time.
I looked at this on my PC last night (I guess it might work differently on a phone) and it was very impressive. Not only did it show whether a bike space was available, but it showed the number of spaces. Where a trip involved a change, it showed the number available on each leg.
I realise it's possible (see multiple threads) to find this out using social media, but having it all so easily to hand is great.

Pendodave wrote: ↑7 Aug 2024, 7:54pm

richardfm wrote: ↑7 Aug 2024, 5:45pm

mattheus wrote: ↑7 Aug 2024, 2:22pm
When I first heard about this happening I thought it was insane!!!!

But it seems to work

I've done it on WhatsApp with Great Western

Thanks.
Next time I book a bike, I'll try it on Avanti.
Though I'm wondering if I'll be able to show my face in polite company again...

Regarding this earlier post, I booked my bike using WhatsApp last night. It worked exactly the same as twitter.
Just off for a nice day in the western pennines from Lancaster to Oxenholme

Sometimes it's how far forward or back your saddle is that determines the amount of weight on your hands.
I don't have any particular examples to hand, but there are lots of YouTube videos by bike fitters about this site of thing. Probably best to stipulate flat bars in your search, as there are lots for drop bars which might work differently.

** edit: didn't notice that this was hinted at above. Sorry!

Nearholmer wrote: ↑12 Aug 2024, 4:49pm My personal take on it, which I have no desire to foist on anyone else, so layout only for debate, is that a gravel bike in practical terms in the UK is a bike that works well for riding on surfaces where a modern sporty road bike becomes impractical (usually by reason of thinness of tyres, steepness of head, and highness of gears), but where a modern MTB is not essential

This seems about right to me. Definitely not worth any teeth gnashing.
My own very personal quibble with them is that there seems a trend to go 1x almost exclusively, which takes out some of the functionality (brisk unloaded road/flat trail riding) that could usefully be left in.
I test drove a 1x Elan a while back and, even a slightly dated cyclist that I am, found that I was spinning uncomfortably when I would rather like to have still been pedaling properly.
All in all though, I think they are a rather nifty thing and certainly cover pretty much anything I would like to do on a bike.

Jdsk wrote: ↑12 Aug 2024, 10:38am
Same problem as before: the party members' favourites aren't the country's.

But I'm very surprised that Badenoch's rating by UK adults isn't lower.

Jonathan

I think that the "problem" with the Tory leadership candidates goes a bit deeper than that!

As for Badenoch, along with all of them apart from Patel, I doubt that the average British adult could remember anything that she did in the last government or pick her out of a lineup at your local police station.

pq wrote: ↑11 Aug 2024, 1:51pm I've managed fair weather camping on a very light Ti CX bike with 2 modestly sized rear panniers. I never weighed it, but it would have been under 20kg. To do that I have to minimise what I take, and what I do take is very light/compact, but I've always managed fine and not turned into a disgusting stinking vagrant due to lack of clean clothes. I used to know a guy from eastern europe somewhere who took lightweight camping to a whole new level, but he made more compromises than I would: https://ultralightcycling.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the link.
I've only just started reading it, but it looks more sensible than your introduction suggested!

Another easy and cheap weight reduction which I'd forgotten about is inner tubes.
I've swapped from butyl to tpu and saved about 100g each (they're for 35-45mm tyres). Given that I normally pack a couple of spares, that's 400g knocked off for less than £20. Allegedly lower rolling resistance as well, but I think that spotting that might be a stretch.
It all adds up!