Cycling UK Forum

I have a bike with TRP Spyre disc brakes and frankly I'm not impressed. I don't know if it is down to worn out pads, (there is still some friction material left on them) but braking from the hoods is not good. I've had a couple of steep descents with sharp turns at the bottom and only just made the ...

Last year I had a fabric bag for my bike but only put the bike into it once in the airport. Makes it much easier to wheel across the car park with panniers on. I practiced at home first so I knew which bits to remove or adjust and the whole took about 5 minutes at each end. This year I'm using a bik...

Thanks Brucey, not heard of those rims before.

I thought it was going to be a simple choice of 32 spoke, but they are available in 20, 24, 28 and 32 spoke? When does saving weight result in a greater risk of wheel failure?

I've been using a set of wheels with Mavic Open Pro rims and 28mm Gatorskins, for a number of years, but feel that they are probably getting near their end of life as they've been used for many commuting high speed descents in the damp with rim brakes. So I'm looking for another set of rims, but I w...

From Ryanairs T's and C's: "Sporting or musical equipment including but not limited to large fishing rods, golf clubs, bikes* (bikes have a weight limit of 30 kilos), scooters, fencing equipment, pole vaults, javelin, surfboards, bodyboards, snowboards and skis and large musical instruments inc...

I flew with Ryanair last year and after a bit of reading the small print and talking to the help desk, if you declare your sports equipment as a bike, and pay the bike supplement the max weight is 32kg with no limit on the size. They also were not bothered about anything other than the bike being in...

Borisface is the expert on Portugal, but I had a great tour from the Douro valley down the border to Sabugal, then Viseu and Porto, last year. Very quiet roads (inland), long, but nice gradients, good food and accommodation and especially the people. Very few spoke English, so I had a chance to prac...

Quite right Pete, but the request was to make a tent freestanding, not functional to live in. :) To make it truly useable would be quite a major job and would need extra poles, which means complexity and weight. I customise and modify tents, but I wouldn't try it, unless the complexity and weight we...

This is a long thread and since it diverts into condensation I can't be bothered reading through it all, but assuming it's not already been said, to make your tent freestanding, you really need a couple of poles going from left front to right back and right front to left back. This will push out the...

I'm not sure that story is correct. Both the Force 10 website and Wikipedia say that the F10 tent was introduced in the '60's, which is in line with my memory. Plus Conquest and F10 were on sale at the same time and competing.

IIRC, Vango was producing Force 10's before Conquest began production. They were made in Gosport in Hampshire and were made by the same company which had Safari Outdoors shop in Portsmouth. I looked at getting one in around '77, but saved up an extra £10 to get an Ultimate Super Packer (£75!) Did Va...

I've heard a lot about Recife and it's beaches and those videos make me want to go, but I'm not sure about riding through salt water. For the time being I'll stick to Portugal. A quick question if I may pick your brains. I've been struggling to find the correct word/verb for "cycling" in E...

Now 'A' is a tarp tent with a second complete inner 'nest', where as 'B' is a tarp tent with a bathtub and mesh skirt / doorway. What are the advantages of each type ( 1 skin / 2 skin ) Surely condensation will occuor any way some times, and the inner tent then serves what purpose. I've read about ...

Last winter I cycled quite a bit in a Ventile smock and it was very good. Completely windproof, very breathable and although not a waterproof fabric, it is certainly weatherproof. When it did get soaked, I found the heat generated climbing hills kept the inner surface dry, much more so than when wal...

From Deganwy, you are on roads until Rhos on Sea and then it is off road all the way to the end of Prestatyn Golf Course. If you go ahead through the holiday camp to Talacre, then you will be on the A548 for about 8miles till Bagillt, when you can parallel the A548. It's not too bad for traffic, dep...