May I make a suggestion. Subscribe to the OS map app or something similar and download the 1:50,000 maps of the area you're planning to pass through, plus some either side. I think OS subscription is £24.00 for the whole of the country and right down to 1:25,000 level. That’s really only the cost of three or four paper maps though you can find free verions is you can put up with the adverts. My reasoning for using an app on a bike tour is is three-fold.
One. Where you're going has some of the most magnificent scenery, quiet costal villages/ports and some of the most spectacular view this country has to offer. Finding some of these means taking a detour, improvising and figuring how you get back on route yourself. Paper OS maps are brilliant for this but are unwieldy beast to control in a brisk wind. The phone app gives you all of that and less the chance of the map being blown out to sea with the next strong gust. Secondly, the number of paper maps you need will be costly, not mention you’ve got find somewhere to carry them (and keep them dry). Lastly, you’ve said you’ll be taking your phone with you, well not your taking a Garmin and that's one less item the charge at night!
Really lastly. Never ever exclusively rely on an app when your mountaineering. I always take paper ones with me along with a compass and know how to use it; but touring on the road is different and if you’re taking in the sights then an OS based map on the phone ticks an awful lot of user friendly boxes.
Search found 196 matches
- 23 Nov 2020, 7:29pm
- Forum: Touring & Expedition
- Topic: Navigation in Scotland
- Replies: 38
- Views: 2451
- 16 Nov 2020, 8:44pm
- Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
- Topic: What can i do as an individual?
- Replies: 25
- Views: 2014
Re: What can i do as an individual?
I once heard Chris Boardman say he'd been in the Netherlands and he hardly saw any cyclists. What he saw was lots of people on bikes.
We need to transfer that attitude to the UK so cycling isn't some you 'do' but becomes part of what you do. If that means for short trips I wear ordinary clothes, ride an upright bike and be seen as a person rather than cyclist, then I'll be happy to play my part in that. BUT, once I want to go a bit further or faster (I can do one or the other but rarely both nowadays), I've spent a bloody fortune on Castelli kit and I'm dammed well going to use it!
We need to transfer that attitude to the UK so cycling isn't some you 'do' but becomes part of what you do. If that means for short trips I wear ordinary clothes, ride an upright bike and be seen as a person rather than cyclist, then I'll be happy to play my part in that. BUT, once I want to go a bit further or faster (I can do one or the other but rarely both nowadays), I've spent a bloody fortune on Castelli kit and I'm dammed well going to use it!
- 14 Nov 2020, 10:00pm
- Forum: Touring & Expedition
- Topic: Keeping warm when stopped
- Replies: 63
- Views: 4134
Re: Keeping warm when stopped
This comes down to the old I'm a roadie and therefore wouldn't even consider carrying something even loosely resembling a saddle bag as it'd add an extra xyz grams/ruin my aerodynamics/look crap, crap whatever. Vs I'm a boring old fart who doesn't care about weight nowadays (mostly) but feels safe in the knowledge that I carry enough 'kit' with me to replenish a battalion.
I used to be the former, I'm now the latter, and much warmer at pit stops than I ever used to be!
I used to be the former, I'm now the latter, and much warmer at pit stops than I ever used to be!
- 5 Nov 2020, 9:36am
- Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
- Topic: First LEJOG
- Replies: 19
- Views: 3447
Re: First LEJOG
Taking a scenic route, even if it only has an afternoon off route detour AND a 10 day route, (possibly just nine if you take the rest day you mentioned) do not really go well together in the same sentence when you’re talking LEJOG. If you’re not careful you’re going to end up head down staring at that patch of road ahead of you and miss what’s going on around you, particularly as the best Scottish scenery is going to be when you’re feeling tired, travel weary and feel like you just simply have to keep peddling to make it to tonight’s B&B in a reasonable time. Been there, seen it, rode into a ditch & fell off because I was over tired.
Please don’t take this like I'm trying to put you off, far from it and whatever route you take you will enjoy it, but if you are going to ride Glencoe, stay in a local B&B, set you’re alarm, get up early and do it a 5.00am before the trucks, tourist and worse of the lot, hired motorhomes are on the road; then yes, you will truly enjoy it.
Please don’t take this like I'm trying to put you off, far from it and whatever route you take you will enjoy it, but if you are going to ride Glencoe, stay in a local B&B, set you’re alarm, get up early and do it a 5.00am before the trucks, tourist and worse of the lot, hired motorhomes are on the road; then yes, you will truly enjoy it.
- 15 Oct 2020, 10:03pm
- Forum: Does anyone know … ?
- Topic: Rohan sale
- Replies: 48
- Views: 3868
Re: Rohan sale
I've used their stuff on and off for the best part of thirty years. Quality was good, still is good, but the brand has move more adventure leisure than the full on outdoor kit it used to be. That's not a bad thing and whilst it may not suit some, you get what you pay for.
- 15 Oct 2020, 6:25pm
- Forum: Touring & Expedition
- Topic: Dover to Durness
- Replies: 2
- Views: 543
Re: Dover to Durness
The route the London - Edinburgh - London Audax takes should help with a big chunck of it.
- 14 Oct 2020, 1:42pm
- Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
- Topic: Helmet outer casing has degraded in only 3 years
- Replies: 35
- Views: 1753
Re: Great Helmet Design
Mike Sales wrote:All plastics suffer UV degradation, don't they? If the protection for the foam has gone it cannot be good.
Plastic moulders can, and indeed do put UV inhibitors into products proir to moulding to prevent UV degridation. I don't know if helmet manufacturers do, but it really ought be standard practice on anything that's regulalrly exposed to the sun. The plastic buckles that we used to supply for the chin straps certainly had a UV inhibitor in them.
- 13 Oct 2020, 10:01pm
- Forum: Does anyone know … ?
- Topic: Wall mounted work stand - any good?
- Replies: 7
- Views: 803
Re: Wall mounted work stand - any good?
I bought the cheapest Park Tools stand earlier in the year (their PCS-9.2). Not cheap whatever way you look at it but it's the best workstand I've ever used. If their Bench/Wall units use even the basic head that I have, I say go for it. Expensive, but you get what you pay for.
https://www.parktool.com/category/bench-wall-mount
https://www.parktool.com/category/bench-wall-mount
- 2 Oct 2020, 4:40pm
- Forum: On the road
- Topic: 'Operation Close Pass' initiative
- Replies: 0
- Views: 255
'Operation Close Pass' initiative
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/cri ... e-drivers/
Good in the short term, but long term will it actually have any affect?
Good in the short term, but long term will it actually have any affect?
- 26 Sep 2020, 10:21pm
- Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
- Topic: Ebikes and fitness
- Replies: 63
- Views: 3659
Re: Ebikes and fitness
Surely it depends on the type of ebike you ride and the amount of power assistance you normally use. I have an Orbea Gain that weighs in at 13.5kg and with that type of ebike the whole package is designed to assist rather than power you along. You still have to use your gears, huff & puff to get up hills (well I do anyway), but the point is it's still mostly you putting in the effort.
As far as fitness goes I’d actually go the other way, I’m riding further, faster and more often than I ever did on my leg powered machine, and enjoying it more to boot. Am I fitter as a result? My gut feeling is yes, but not by thayt much. When I ride my leg only powered machines I do notice the lack of assistance, particularly on the hills and think bloody hell, this is hard work, but otherwise I do think my ebike riding had help my general cycling . For me an ebike is not about fitness, it’s more about the enhancing the balance of more mile, more smiles, less effort into position that equals more enjoyment.
As far as fitness goes I’d actually go the other way, I’m riding further, faster and more often than I ever did on my leg powered machine, and enjoying it more to boot. Am I fitter as a result? My gut feeling is yes, but not by thayt much. When I ride my leg only powered machines I do notice the lack of assistance, particularly on the hills and think bloody hell, this is hard work, but otherwise I do think my ebike riding had help my general cycling . For me an ebike is not about fitness, it’s more about the enhancing the balance of more mile, more smiles, less effort into position that equals more enjoyment.
- 24 Sep 2020, 11:10pm
- Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
- Topic: Dynamo Headlight - Does it Still Work?
- Replies: 29
- Views: 1125
Re: Dynamo Headlight - Does it Still Work?
Hi All,
Thanks for all your replies, the good news is it still works. I tried the battery quick touch method and the light flickered, then talking to a colleague at work he had a bottle dynamo rattling around in his 'spares' box, he brought it into work today, I cobbled up someting in the shed and after spinning the wheel for about thirty seconds, then hey presto, light!
Thanks all.
Lastly, just a thought. Is it just us cyclist who keep things as 'essentials spares' even though it's old technology and you'll probably never use it again, but you want to keep it 'just in case', or is it just me.
Thanks for all your replies, the good news is it still works. I tried the battery quick touch method and the light flickered, then talking to a colleague at work he had a bottle dynamo rattling around in his 'spares' box, he brought it into work today, I cobbled up someting in the shed and after spinning the wheel for about thirty seconds, then hey presto, light!
Thanks all.
Lastly, just a thought. Is it just us cyclist who keep things as 'essentials spares' even though it's old technology and you'll probably never use it again, but you want to keep it 'just in case', or is it just me.
- 21 Sep 2020, 8:48pm
- Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
- Topic: Anybody bought an Orbea Gain ?
- Replies: 11
- Views: 1443
Re: Anybody bought an Orbea Gain ?
As of early Sept '20, 63 pages worth of light reading!
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/orbea-gain.229793/
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/orbea-gain.229793/
- 20 Sep 2020, 10:02pm
- Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
- Topic: Dynamo Headlight - Does it Still Work?
- Replies: 29
- Views: 1125
Dynamo Headlight - Does it Still Work?
Apologies if I'm asking a stupid question that's got a very simple answer, but how do you test a dynamo headlight to see if it's still working if you haven't got a dynamo wheel to attach it to?
I have a Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ2 Luxos U that’s been rattling around the shed after I took it off my old touring bike. As we’re moving house soon and will no doubt be told by she who must be obeyed that ‘all that junk isn’t coming with us’, I dare say I’ll soon be having a shed clearance sale and want to know if the thing still works or not. Dynamos produces 6v AC, a 6v battery gives out DC, but as it's an LED light (which I understand run on DC anyway) is it so simple as to just wire the two together?
I know I could just try it, but I don't want to wreck a hundred quids worth of light if I'm wrong. Do I need a ‘thingy’ to go in between them or am I missing something very obvious?
Polite answers in simple English please as I’m the type of bloke that needs to watch a YouTube instructional video to wire a three pin plug!
I have a Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ2 Luxos U that’s been rattling around the shed after I took it off my old touring bike. As we’re moving house soon and will no doubt be told by she who must be obeyed that ‘all that junk isn’t coming with us’, I dare say I’ll soon be having a shed clearance sale and want to know if the thing still works or not. Dynamos produces 6v AC, a 6v battery gives out DC, but as it's an LED light (which I understand run on DC anyway) is it so simple as to just wire the two together?
I know I could just try it, but I don't want to wreck a hundred quids worth of light if I'm wrong. Do I need a ‘thingy’ to go in between them or am I missing something very obvious?
Polite answers in simple English please as I’m the type of bloke that needs to watch a YouTube instructional video to wire a three pin plug!
- 17 Sep 2020, 8:14pm
- Forum: Touring & Expedition
- Topic: Ancient lanes and old main roads
- Replies: 79
- Views: 6966
Re: Ancient lanes and old main roads
The B5061 between Telford and Shrewsbury is what the A5 was before the built the new dual carriageway A5 and although still in use, it's a very quiet B road.
- 16 Sep 2020, 5:00pm
- Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
- Topic: Derestricting motor to 500w - will I notice much difference?
- Replies: 74
- Views: 5861
Re: Derestricting motor to 500w - will I notice much difference?
Gangzoom wrote:A very simplicity way to think about is if you double the power output and the battery remains the same size you will halve your range, presuming you use the extra power.
Isn't there also something about doubling the speed means squaring the power due to the extra drag of the air?