Cycling UK Forum

pwa wrote: ↑21 Jan 2023, 2:34pm ... titanium "3D printed" ... what is the strength ...

Can't answer directly, but Sturdy Cycles have 3D printed titanium frame lugs, dropouts, handlebars & stem, crankset ... So I guess the answer is, strong enough.

Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 7:14pm Or Paramo:

Thanks for the info. Interesting how, if you think enough about the problem you end up in a similar place. Practically all cycle clothing companies seem to have the very superficial approach of "Sweat? Just make it more breathable" which takes you to a very different end point.

Thanks for the replies so far.

rotavator wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 4:11pm What are you wearing beneath the jacket? I would suggest a merino wool base layer...

The best combination I've found is a Nordic Life technical "string vest" plus a merino layer. I find that even merino gets chilly if it gets sufficiently damp. I also can't be bothered with stopping to take layers on & off -- "own worst enemy" springs to mind.

bluespeeder wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 4:28pm They work for me. I have a thin pertex jacket ...

My understanding is that pertex works in the way I think should work best -- i.e., it wicks liquid water to the outside, rather than transmitting vapour.

roubaixtuesday wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 4:37pm Specifically, vents make far more difference than material.

Nearholmer wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 4:40pm The key is that the top layer has good zipped vents on sleeves and body.

Neither of the jackets I have is vented. You'd think designers might understand about this, but maybe I'm over optimistic.

SimonCelsa wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 4:42pm Hopefully you'll not be disappointed.

It's OK, I'm used to it . Both of the jackets I've got are good makes, one expensive, the other even more so even thought it was half price in a sale. They may appear elsewhere on this forum in due course.

Windproof and highly breathable, they say. Keep warm and dry while working hard in cold weather, they say. B*ll*cks, I say.

I have two winter jackets based on Goretex Infinium. I set off into the cold, and I am warm, with no noticeable wind chill. After a while, the sweat starts to build up, but I am still warm. Then I stop at the cafe and soon realise I am damp and getting cold. I warm up, but slowly, when I start riding again, but get increasingly damp.

My understanding is that Infinium (and similar membranes) transmit water mostly, if not entirely, as vapour. So to begin with, sweat is produced, evaporates, and exits via the membrane. If the rate of production is too high, the space inside the jacket rapidly becomes saturated with water vapour, further evaporation is inhibited, the cooling effect is reduced and the body increases sweat production to compensate. You end up with a soggy cyclist. All evaporation takes place within or inside the insulating fabrics, so the cyclist gets cold too.

It seems to me that you need a windproof fabric that wicks liquid water to the outside, so it can dry off in good air flow and low water vapour content, having some cooling effect without chilling off the cyclist too much and keeping the space inside relatively dry. This sounds very much like a Buffalo shirt, which I think will be the next thing for me to try.

Years ago I had a road atlas (remember those?) that had the Alpine passes labelled with their expected opening times. I think it was a Michelin, but I can't be sure of that.

I don't think Strava uses wind conditions in its power "guesses". If you want a better assessment you can import your numbers into Golden Cheetah and use their power estimating tool. It allows you to put in wind conditions, as well as rolling resistance and weight.

I have two stainless steel vacuum flasks, one made by Thermos and the other by Onegreenbottle, volume about 350ml. Both fit in a standard bottle cage and can be used to keep coffee hot or G&T cold. They have drinking mechanisms that can be used on the go. The tops may not be completely airtight, so might not keep your G&T fizzy for ever.

Acoustic bikes are the ones at which you have to shout "Get up the hill, you b*st*rd" when the gradient gets into double figures.

Self stick patches have worked OK for me, but I've now gone tubeless on the bike I use most.

As others have said, the surface should be well roughened, also be sure to wipe away the rubber dust before applying the patch. Press firmly on the patch for about a minute to get it to stick, don't inflate it outside the tyre. I find it difficult to remove a patch that has been there for any length of time, they seem to stick very well.

The original photo looks like managed conifer woodland, grown for timber. It will likely be replanted, if it hasn't already. There has been a lot of felling of these woods where I live in Northumberland over the last few years. The cynic in me suggests it may be the commercial lifetime of a timber tree since tax breaks were introduced for planting forests.

If you want to plant trees in a garden or other urban area, it's easy to choose ones of appropriate size. Apple, hawthorn, rowan, hazel are all OK for medium sized gardens. Better not to put in oak or ash, foreign invaders like sycamore or eucalyptus, or, perish the thought, bloody Leylandii.

For those who need it, I know an excellent pruning method for Leylandii. With a chainsaw, at ground level, use the bits for compost and/or firewood, and plant something decent instead.

DevonDamo wrote: ↑15 Nov 2022, 9:52am ... there's an industrial product available extremely cheaply on eBay which provides a bond which is flexible but stronger than the tyre rubber itself ...

Ignoring any bickering going on around here, I'd be interested to know what this product is.

A few thoughts:

The description of your Ditchling Beacon ride suggests to me you had been trying just a bit too hard up until that point, or that you hadn't been keeping up with eating, or both.

I'm 67 and 75 kg. My FTP is 200, and according to intervals.icu that puts me somewhere around the 20th or 30th centile for age 60+. I ride with a group once a week, mostly around the same age, and I'm one of the slowest going up the hills. When I think back to my 30s, I was once of the slowest up the hills then as well.

The various formulas for max heart rate give you a vague idea of averages for your age, but as an estimate for your personal max HR, they are virtually useless. If you want to monitor your rides using HR, you need to do a maximum or threshold heart rate test.

I've recently returned to regular cycling after a fair break, and have read a lot about how best to get fit again. I'm not a coach or physiologist. The advice (including from Pogacar's coach) seems to be to spend most of your time at low intensity, doing long rides in zone 2, building up aerobic endurance. This is a slow process, it can take months or years. Once or twice a week, some short, high intensity rides help build up your higher zone power.

Cugel wrote: ↑10 Oct 2022, 12:00pm In practice, one doesn't want to go slower

Some of us don't have the choice

I run a Royal Enfield Bullet with old technology -- carb, points, etc. I ran some tests 7 or 8 years ago and "Premium" -- Esso, IIRC -- fuel gave me a consistent 10% improvement in petrol consumption over the standard fuel, making it more economical to put in the expensive stuff. With a modern Triumph Tiger it made no difference. Probably about time to re-run the tests.

As Greg Lemond might have said about riding in windy weather -- it doesn't get harder, you just go slower.