Cycling UK Forum

The children and teenagers(ok- and adults) I encounter on my commute to work leave me feeling they largely aren't suited to the roads! This is 75% on park paths too- wobbling all over the place, stunt riding- worst offenders are "family outings" including the mandatory one or two off the lead dogs which they have no control over, all coming at you like a Halfords panzer division. Instead of replicating on road behaviour and keeping left they all tend to panic and form a pincer movement, some going left, some right, which you have to pierce through the middle hoping a wayward dog running loose won't come in from the side and scuttle you whilst you're also doing the dog excrement slalom. Suppose it comes down to thick parenting as usual..
Oh- and most dog walkers wear walkmans too- they can't hear you approach, bell or not. They keep to one side of the path, and the dog ALWAYS walks on the other- leaving the pierce option only, hoping the dog won't go apes*it if you come between them and scare either.
Off to buy a marine air horn now on ebay... it's the last chance for them! Who says cycle commuting is stress free?

Save youself the trouble of deciding and join the Youth Hostelling Association. My wife and I are very keen campers but have discovered the joys of hostelling only in the last couple of years. Our holidays now are usually a mix of nights camping usually in the misddle of nowhere and others Hostelling. We tend to use Hostels in cities or large towns when campsites either don't exist or are a long way from the centre. Our Tent is a Vango Equinox 350 and is huge. Too big for an old night out but gives us the space to spread out after a full days touring. Prior to this we had a Pheonix Phorum Extreme which was slightly smaller but was equipped with a valance which helped when pitching on a beach or (only once) on snow!

Memory map has the best marketing (so its available in more shops), Tracklogs has the nicest printout (highlighting either side of route so you can still see if it's a road or a path at that point - rather than a line that obliterates it) and Anquet has the best route construction method (builds it up from a collection of paths, so it's easy to change a route or re-use bits of it in another route).

But all products are changing all the time, so for all I know it may now be possible to split a route in Memory-Map, or Anquet may now have Tracklogs-like highlighting …

And nobody wins from legal proceedings except
lawyers and child murderers. Women do have rights.

I have great faith in the national sickness service
NSS for short, so don't you say anything against
physicians either Peddling . They will get you back to sickness if they can, if you go near.

g

Megan, I got the maps a few days ago and they seem pretty good. They break the route into 30-40 mile sections with written directions for travel in either direction. Tricky or built up areas are covered by extra 'zoom in' sections. The notes on amentities are pretty minimal but focused on camping/hostels so probably enough if this is how where you plan to stay. The real test will be trying to use them on the road but I have read elsewhere that they are pretty foolproof. YES, I plan to ship my bike with me. Packing a bike for flying is covered extensively elsewhere in this site; I have done it before using bubblewrap and a clear polythene bag and the bike survived.

I can't help much with the choice of bike/trailer. All I can say is that personally I would travel as light as possible and make do panniers. Apart from anything else I'm not sure what the airlines will say about shipping a trailer (don't forget they count the bikeas part of the baggage allowance).

I would love to do the Transamerica but it will have to wait until I can afford to retire.

Lee,

The last time I looked into cycle parking I found this company on the web:

http://www.autopa.co.uk

I cannot make any recommendations, but there are illustrations of various kinds of bike stands and shelters, and a price list.

As regards what we have where I work (a HE college just outside London), the parking is mostly Sheffield style racks, some with shelters and others just in the open. The ones with shelters are obviously better. There is supposed to be some indoor cycle storage in the main college building, but I must admit to never having been able to find it! I’m told that it is also prone to being locked at odd times. There are also some older ‘butterfly clip’ type stands, but hardly anyone uses these. In my opinion Sheffield stands with shelters are the ones to go for.

The college has been improving its cycle parking recently, mainly because the local council has made a transport plan a requirement for planning permission for expansion. Apparently 10% of the local population either live or work here, which generates a lot of vehicle movements. I think the college also got some partial funding for some of the improvements from the council. I some respects the larger the employer the better off you are trying to get support for cycle parking.

I cycle and listen to my MP3 player, it's not heavy and it's either in a pocket on the strap of my backpack or under my t-shirt or coat. I don't have it so loud that i can't hear anything as i can hear everything that is around me, but listening to music helps me concentrate.

But i do agree with what you aresaying about those that have it extremely loud, they are at risk and in a fight between cycle and motor vehicle....well you can guess who usually wins.

Thanks for your replies - sorry you've had the same problem Jim! And I'm sure you're not feeble either!

We did have to use tyre levers and lots of elbow grease, which is how I damaged the beading and the inner.

I had the tyres mixed up in terms of which came with the bike. The Ultra 3000 came with the bike, the Grand Prix set I bought as spares. They both say 23-571 on the rims. The writing on the wheel rim itself sugguest the wheels are 571 x 13.5.

The tyres both also say 'mount only on hooked rims'. Could this be the problem? How do I know if my rims are hooked?

Novice,

Addressing your questions in turn:

Drop bars: Riders like these because they give alternative hand positions to relieve fatigue when riding, and allow a more crouched and aerodynamic position to go faster over longer distances. Bikes have to be set up for the individual rider, so if you borrowed someone else’s then your discomfort may be because it was set for them and not you. Personally I don’t like drop bars either, but then I don’t do the kind of riding they are really useful for: long distance touring. For my kind of riding – commuting and shorter day rides – I prefer straight bars with bar-ends. It is possible to get touring bikes with straight bars. St John street cycles for instance will supply them as an option. Coincidentally they list their Thorn Club Tour bike with straight bars at just within you £700 price bracket. But that’s not a recommendation – shop around and try before you buy.

Braking: Not sure why your thumbs should ache from braking, thumbs aren’t really involved in braking other than as a hook to keep your hand on the bars. Are you making the mistake some novices make of using the fingers and thumb in a ‘crab claw’ pinching type of action to work the brakes? If so try keeping your palms on the handlebars and pull the brake lever with just your fingers, just hooking your thumb under the bars to keep your hand in place. Otherwise it may be that you just need to develop some more strength in your hands, which will come with time; or there may be too much reach on the brake levers, which would be something to check when you buy that new bike.

My contention that the distinction between pedestrian and cyclist is a far more occluded than it was 30 years ago, is surely proper looking at cycle lanes. If the cycle lane were part of the sidewalk rather than part of the road then it would be perfectly obvious where the motorists could park without damaging his vehicle.

I don't think anybody can agree with me about the relevant parts of the law, road traffic and highways.

It is local governemnt policy confusion about
cycling/pedestrians/roads/pavements which are responsible, and the application of the law
surrounding them, but if CTC members can't agree either about pavment permissiveness, hope is lost.
g

The type of cyclists you refer to is either emulating the West end messengers or IS a West End messenger. London Cycling Campaign LCC is quite left wing politically and makes CTC seem very genteel by comparison, doesn't it?

I always took different roads from such hooligans, telling myself that they had work to do which required such manners.

I would have to think very hard indeed before doing such a journey from T to C, round the side of the city, to avoid getting involved in heavy
traffic with such cyclists.I can visualise the roads now. Avoiding the rush hour might be ok.

g

It depends where you are and how desirable your bike (to not-very-bright theives). If you leave your bike outside Leeds City Market then you definitely want it u-locked to the railings or other substantial street furniture. Look for "Soldsecure" approval (it is run by the Master Locksmiths Assoc.) Armoured cables are also dificult to cut but make sure the locking mechanism is robust quality. Plastic-coated steel cable allows you to lock bike and 2 wheels to large lampposts but they are fairly easy to cut with just a hammer so if you get one then get the sort with a loop at either end and a separate good quality padlock so that you can lock the two loops to something vital like a spoke thus even if the cable is cut the bike is unrideable.
Why pay more for a good brand? Well, one reason might be that not all locks can still be opened after an attack with levers. I can't think of anything more frustrating/comical than being unable to unlock your bike.
It is worth thinking about immobilisers too for the times when you are travelling light or just leaning your bike in the doorway while you buy a mars bar. Abus sell a retractable wire combination lock that is light and handy. Typical in Europe is the rear wheel lock (available here as a retro-fit). Some police bikes have a very neat lock that swings into the frount wheel from a mount on the cantilever post.

Hi Folks,
I have come back to the cycling fold after a couple of years out of the saddle and am getting some enthusiasm for touring again. Now then, I fancy a change from the 27inch Raleigh Royal that I have presently, so am looking at either an expedition bike or building my own using a good MTB frame for a bit of "outward bounds" cycling.
I have checked out the St John's, Orbit and Hewitt bikes but may also like to look at a steel MTB frame to build myself. Have you guys got any thoughts about either option, ie type & make of MTB frame or best expedition bike. Any interesting experiances or help greatly appreciated.

Cheers, David

For long distance cycle-camping trips, does anyone out there have any specific 'fors' or 'againsts' for either?

the cycle path which i use for my long sunday rides has a section on it where the road is one way only for cars but bikes can go both ways on the cycle path. It is outside a pub, which is always handy, and a small recording studio type place. my problem is this, every weekend the cycle path on this stretch is used by morons to park their cars, forcing cyclists either onto the pavement or into the face of oncoming traffic on a very narrow road with a relatively blind corner! cars hammer down this section and it is really quite unnerving. what can be done to stop this? it is only a single yellow line where the path is, but surely cycle paths are no parking? its daft otherwise, daft.