Cycling UK Forum

Definatly get hold of a street map of Carlise (or run off something from Google) - it's crap for signs! However there is avery nice coffee and cake shop just of the high street with all sorts of coffees and teas and a ittle tea museum on the way to the loo in the cellar - can't remember the name -something and son.

COuld this be the reason for the growing interest in fixed gears as a reaction to all this increased complexity?

My route is now up on Bikely - http://www.bikely.com/listpaths/by/zenzinnia

...but how do you clean the chain cleaner? I've used mine for a while now and it make the chain more dirty than when I started!

I more or less follow Mick F's method after using the chain cleaner but use a hot air/ paint stripper gun to dry the chain (my workshop is in a cellar so hanging wet metal up to dry leads to rust) WD40/ GT85 is supposed to get rid of bits of water so I pop some of that on and then wipe the excess off then apply a proper cycle lube.

Hint for getting powerlink appart if it's all gunged up - spray liberally with wd40. It gets rid of the crud quickly and then the link will come apart in your fingers easliy.

I'm just back from a bit of touing through the Lakes and over to Ayreshire via Carlise and Gretna. I followed the A7 which has big cycle diversion/ warning signs on it at the moment. It's OK for cycling but nothing special. Just after Longtown follow the A6071 and don't be tempted to take the rigth turn about halfway that points to Gretna and Springfield. It gives you a nice Scotland sign for pics but then leads to a very confusing set of roundabouts which are poorly signed. Going straight on you just cross over the motorway and you are in Gretna.

The caravan & camping site in Gretna looked open to me (Braids I think it is) but I stayed just south of Longtown in a little C&C site. The Annan road (B721) is nice and quiet with good views of the Solway Firth and there are all sorts of little touristy things, tourist drives and NCN7 etc to look out for.

If you like big empty scenery then head for the Forest of Galloway. There are some fantastic empty roads up past forests and locks to open fells at 1000ft +. I was recomended to go to Lock Trool (Glen Trool) by a local but didn't have time - although the visitor centre is very good for lunch/ tea stop. He also warned me to stay away from A75 (lorries to the ferries) and A714 (fast cars - but the bit I saw seemed OK).

The Queen's Way from New Galloway to Newton Stewart is a lovely road (with a wild goat farm on it), too. If you get anywhere near Maybole then pop into Culzean National Trust. It is a beautiful castle with extensive gardens going right down to the sea with views over to Arran and the Holy Isle. A little hidden gem.

I've been using a blackburn MTN for the last 5 years and it seems to do the job fine. It looks a bit worn now but nothing more than cosmetic. Obviously I would like a better rack such as a Tubus but the Blackburn does the job. However a custom build Mercian probably deserves a Tubus - but then which one?

Mick F wrote:A bucket of hot soapy water and an old washing up brush. (or the one from the kitchen, if you think you can get away with it!)

I find an old loo brush is very useful as the longer bristles can get places a smaller brush can't reach. I do most of the frame with a big sponge - and remember not to use washing up liquid as it has salts in it that can cause damage - use cheap hair shampoo.

Thanks for the help guys. In the end I just ran out of time to sort anything out so I decided that there would be a decent engeneering tolerance on such a strong rim. I removed a little lump of metal that must have come from the indicator and off I went. I'm pleased to say that the rims survived the whole tour over some pretty rough roads at times and with full camping touring kit as well. They took me up the Kirkstone Pass and down again (trying not to use the back brake too much!) and over the Forest of Galloway twice (or three times sort of) and many mile in between. But hopefully now my LBS will be able to rebuild them with Regida Sputiks that he'll have in 'soon'!

I just topped my longest ride on Tuesday. Full camping touring kit from Newton Stewart to Keswick - 113 miles in just a minute under 8 hours in the mist and rain and wind over big hills, small lanes, puddels everywhere, fast decents on fast roads and long ascents on small ones, open fells and forest roads, one stop at Dumfries and another at Carlise. Fantastic fun.

For a while I used a piece of tube that was bashed flat at one end and conected using an old light bracket to the bottom of my drops. This gave a little bar poking out a bit below the bottom of the bars parellel to the tops and pointing toward the bike where I could mount a light. It was very good and I used it for years until I put a heavier light on and it all fell apart on a bit of crap tarmac near Longtown (A7). I hadn't attached it tight enough and lost it.

The basic design worked well and I think someone like Cateye should seriously think of a solution for this problem. The heavier light I bought from Cateye preferes to be the right way up so putting it upside down on the bars under bags would not be recomended. Any sort of bracket that could fit either to the end of bars or to the top of forks (either like the old lamp brackets or at the brake drilling) would surley have some sales potential.

Interesting - I've been looking for a way to replace the draw string in my panniers with a small cable lock that can be locked at any point. All though this wouldn't prevent anyone with a knife getting it in could prevent someone just rumaging through. I'll have to go and have a look to see if it's suitable.

Just looking at it on Google Maps rather than my old road atlas the M6 now goes where the A74 was. So I'll be taking the A7 to Longtown then!

Along with the usual pump, tube, patches, minimal tools I always carry a couple of cable ties. I've used them several times to hold things back together (racks, lights etc) and am assured that they can do much more such as holding on deraillures and even holding chains together.

I was cycling back from one of those cheap cycle sales things in Stoke when my mind wandered on to the fact that I should have bought a pump as I had forgotton to bring mine. I new I shouldn't have thought about and inevitably as soon as the thought had finished crossing my mind (not a long distance!) there was a loud his from my rear wheel and it was flat in a second. I was still 15 or more miles from home and as I got off to push (new rims - I wasn't going to ride on them) the clouds gathered and down came a fierce april rain. Some distance down the road I found some long grass and tried to pack the tyre but, as mentioned above, it just turned to mush and there was no dry stuff or anyway of clearing it out either. It was a long, wet walk home - and I didn't meet any "fine danish" girls, I didn't see any other cyclists to lend me a pump, I don't remember seeing anyone.

I am just about to go on a 450 mile camping tour starting first thing on Thurday morning but today my rear wheel has developed a problem. How quickly would an on-line wheel builder get a new wheel to me? Which is the fastest? How quick should and LBS do it?

My wheels are Aleasa Endeavours on 105 hubs, 36 Spoke. The problem seems to be a short (maybe 1 cm) thin hole in the rim. I'm guessing that it's something to do with the wear indicator but the metal from the hole has rucked up and also there is now a small kink in the edge of the rim as though the rim itself has colapsed a little although the hole and the kink don't exactly line up.

If I can't get a new wheel has anyone any advice on riding on this rim - I'm going over the Kirkston Pass and Forrest of Galloway and will be fully loaded.

Alternatively I could use my road bike wheels (CXP33s on Ultegras but only 32 spokesd) - would these be OK?

I had planned to do this trip and then retire the rims as I've been a bit too busy up till now - that'll teach me to put things off!!!!