Search found 311 matches

by Cyclenut
18 Oct 2011, 10:23pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Lightweight Touring Bikes?
Replies: 27
Views: 9337

Re: Lightweight Touring Bikes?

Forget the hubgear and disc ideas if you really want it light and look for road bikes with 58mm reach brakes. These are the vital clue to genuine mudguard clearance. You'll also see mudguard eyes on bikes with 49mm brakes, but they're only put there to fool you!

Trek have a couple of women-specific models, Lexa and Lexa S, with those brakes. As you go upmarket, to Lexa SL, the clearance sadly disappears, but the frames of the cheaper models are probably just as light anyway and being 9-speed they're much easier to tweak in the gearing department.

I made my wife a tourer weighing under 10kg, complete with guards and Tubus Airy carrier, from a Trek Pilot WSD - which is the Lexa S of two years ago. I upgraded quite a few parts, including TA Carmina cranks with Ti bottom bracket and some Campag Zonda wheels, but at last she's got a tourer that's under 20% of her bodyweight - just like I've always had.
by Cyclenut
18 Oct 2011, 10:05pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: How do you unclip (SPD's) on a steep hill????
Replies: 45
Views: 6862

Re: How do you unclip (SPD's) on a steep hill????

Slacken the SPD adjustment screws to minimum (I assume when you write SPD you do mean normal, i.e. MTB-style "Shimano Pedalling Dynamics") after fitting the alternative Multi-Release cleats (SM-SH56) to your shoes. Then you will have no worries at all about getting a foot to the floor, since even the slightest twisting force, in either direction - or even a hard upward pull - will release your shoe from the pedal.

Use these cleats until the correct twisting action (heels outward) becomes automatic, so that it happens every time, no worries, then fit the original cleats and perhaps crank up the release tension a bit - whatever gives you the level of security you require whilst still releasing really easily, so it happens no matter how tired you may be.

During the learning phase, with the multi-release cleats, you will not be able to pull up without risk of pulling your shoe clean off the pedal. But that's not a serious penalty. People don't normally pull up very much. Human legs are not optimised for pulling so it's a bit of a waste of energy. Better to fit lower gears so you can produce more power by pedalling normally but faster. That's way of climbing hills might be a bit slower and not look as macho, but will leave you less tired at the end of the day.
by Cyclenut
12 Oct 2011, 9:26pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Cycling along Breweries in Belgium
Replies: 14
Views: 4703

Re: Cycling along Breweries in Belgium

Having just led a very pleasant tour of Bavaria, in which beer featured somewhat (there being as many breweries in Bavaria as the rest of Europe put together) I can feel a plan for a CTC Cycling Holiday hatching!
by Cyclenut
12 Oct 2011, 9:19pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: ELECTRIC BIKES
Replies: 22
Views: 2655

Re: ELECTRIC BIKES

horizon wrote:So we 've established that electric bikes are OK and do work. My question then is, why use a non-electrically assisted bike?

Good question. The answer is that simply pedalled bike is lighter to handle, less expensive to buy and maintain, less hassle (no charging), and just a bit quicker and more convenient for any able-bodied person. To that end, it is absolutely vital to restrict their power and motorised speed to the 250W and 25kmph levels generally accepted as correct in most of Europe. Increase either one, and you will have a situation like China, where there has been a wholesale departure from pedalling to electrified whizzing, on virtual electric motorbikes that can be used just like a pedal cycle.

Quite apart from safety, this is a public health issue. The able bodied need to find some reward in pure pedalling, else they will not gladly volunteer for the level of exercise that keeps them that way.

There is also a place for electric motorbikes, but their use needs to somewhat burdened by bureaucracy and helmets, in order that lazy people may still be tricked into taking healthy exercise in order to not to have to deal with any of that.
by Cyclenut
10 Oct 2011, 9:59pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Worst town for cycling in Britain?
Replies: 61
Views: 7764

Re: Worst town for cycling in Britain?

John Holiday wrote:Dismal!
Whenever I see a 'Cyclists Dismount' sign,I am tempted to get out my permanent marker & write
'WHY?' beneath!
Not a sign you ever see in Contienental Europe,where if a motorist wants to cross a cycle lane,he gives way!

Just back from Germany and actually I did see the "Radfahrer Absteigen" sign. Twice. In 450 miles.

You're right though, cycle paths do always have right of way over side roads. And Germans do not suppose cyclists to be so stupid as to need a sign like that to remind them to give way where they don't. Both these signs were on bridges shared with pedestrians, but there weren't many pedestrians about and at one bridge we stopped by for a while 3 out of 4 local cyclists rode over anyway.
by Cyclenut
27 Sep 2011, 11:09pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Eureka!!
Replies: 19
Views: 1468

Re: Eureka!!

Malaconotus wrote:Put them on, Alice. And always use fill-in flash when photgraphing your bikes.

They look good in a photo, admittedly, and good in the headlights, to the driver of any car in a side road as you ride by. But in that case, you will be gone and out of the way before the car reaches the place you were when the driver saw your reflectors.

To avoid being hit by a moving vehicle that is on a converging path, such that it would eventually hit more or less from the side, an also moving cyclist must be seen BEFORE he is squarely in front of the driver, since by then the collision will be almost immediate.

Side reflectors are therefore of use only to cyclists who make a habit of stopping, sideways-on, directly in the path of other vehicles. I don't know about you, but I've never been obliged to put myself in such an obviously hazardous position, and wouldn't, not for all the reflectors in China!
by Cyclenut
27 Sep 2011, 10:38pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Cycle by train
Replies: 41
Views: 3214

Re: Cycle by train

Malaconotus wrote:
LollyKat wrote:Does the East Coast site really work for booking bikes, though?


It certainly generates a reservation ticket you can show the guard, which I would assume made you strong odds-on to get a bike on the train. Whether it is integrated with each company's systems to the extent that it prevents bike spaces being double-booked I wouldn't know, but with a reservation ticket in hand you very much have the moral high ground in the event of any dispute.

And seeing as the answer to the riddle: When is a reservation not a reservation? ... is: When it's a bike reservation of course! ... a piece of paper to wave at the guard is anyway as good as it gets!

I kid you not. Read the small print and you'll see that the posession of a bike "reservation" does not guarantee you a place for your bike on the specified train. This is ALWAYS at the guard's discretion and if he reckons the train is already full enough of unreserved bikes (or possibly double-booked so-called reserved bikes) then he is always able to turn you away. If most staff are friendly that is very nice to hear, but I would like to have a little more certainty.
by Cyclenut
4 Sep 2011, 5:08pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Why no tourers? Am I odd?
Replies: 83
Views: 12258

Re: Why no tourers? Am I odd?

Ribblehead wrote:Also, I think the touring sector is largely immune to the kind of fads/developments that have seen mountain bikers and road racers continually buying new equipment. Many tourers still swear by steel, and a well looked after steel frame can last a lifetime. In short, there's less money in it.

Good point. With tourists, it's less about the bike, less about the cycling even. Touring is (mostly) about exploring. The bike and the cycling just happen to provide a wonderfully excellent means to that end. Touring is the one cycling enthusiasm where the perfect bike is one you can completely forget about. So once a tourist has got a bike he can forget about, that's exactly what he or she does!

There's obvoiusly less profit for the shops in that, compared to a cyclist who is continually making what he imagines must be improvements to his machinery in the hope of becoming a better rider. In the context of touring, "better" is a virtually meaningless concept and bears hardly any relationship to the bike. Better memories, better photographs perhaps? A faulty bike has the potential to ruin a tour, but a more perfect one is unlikely to make it better.

So present company excepted, cycletourists don't think about bikes that much, don't get jobs in bike shops, and so the general public don't usually get offered touring bikes. Which is a shame, because the overwhelming majority of people riding bikes, to work and occasional leisure trips, want exactly the same from a bike as a cycle tourist.
by Cyclenut
4 Sep 2011, 4:30pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Suddenly realised what was wrong!
Replies: 48
Views: 5631

Re: Suddenly realised what was wrong!

The Mechanic wrote:I hate political correctness. It smacks of the inquisition.

Usually I agree with you, when the politically incorrect terms are shorter and more commonly understood. But quite apart from being loaded with elitist machismo: "granny ring" is a bit of exclusive jargon, understood only by those deeply steeped in cycling.

Outer, middle and inner chainring are more commonly used and don't need explaining to anyone. What's not to like?
by Cyclenut
9 Aug 2011, 9:06pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Nightmare with Shimano intermediate ratios.
Replies: 44
Views: 7522

Re: Nightmare with Shimano intermediate ratios.

cycleruk wrote:So from the above can I pressume that 8 & 9 speed sprockets are the same thickness?
And it's the spacers that make the difference!??

There might be a 0.05mm difference, but my verynear calliper is getting hard to see at that level of precision so don't worry about it!

That looks like a nice cluster - go for it. :P
by Cyclenut
31 Jul 2011, 11:23pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Airing your bits
Replies: 26
Views: 1940

Re: Airing your bits

Mick F wrote:Yes, but my Mercian frame is 25 years old and has been in constant regular use.

My Mercian frame is 37 years old and has had the same TA cup-and-cone bottom-bracket in it, untouched, for the last 20 years or more. The only maintenance it's had in all that time is the occasional squirt of grease through the nipple that's part of the Stein injection lubrication and sealing kit I fitted back then. 8)

All this taking things to pieces to maintain them is just so primitive. Reminds me of that passage about the bike repairing fiend in Three Men on the Bummel. :lol:

"Let sleeping bottom-brackets lie" is my motto. :wink:
by Cyclenut
31 Jul 2011, 11:11pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Calories calculation formula needed for a very cool free bik
Replies: 37
Views: 3679

Re: Calories calculation formula needed for a very cool free

Ayesha wrote:Motive energy is generally regarded as 25% of total energy used, but this % falls when the weather is brassic and you're not wearing thick enough clothes.

Of course that must cause quite a lot of variation, probably more than this supposed gender difference. Regarding that, I think it's a bit fishy that nobody has so far ventured a number, or even so much as an opinion as to whether it's men or women who convert food into work most efficiently. Maybe it's a myth. Or if not a complete myth, I daresay any gender difference may be no more significant than the difference in food conversion efficiency between, say, fat people and thin people, tall and short people, those with high versus low blood pressure, etc, etc.

What we need is more numbers and fewer opinions.
by Cyclenut
31 Jul 2011, 10:56pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Calories calculation formula needed for a very cool free bik
Replies: 37
Views: 3679

Re: Calories calculation formula needed for a very cool free

snibgo wrote:Yes, and slope of course. And air resistance varies with rider position, and rolling resistance varies with tyres and road surface, and bike transmisson efficiency is another factor.

Some other power calculators:
http://bikecalculator.com/wattsMetric.html
http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm

My spreadsheet does all of that. You really should take a look at it.

Of course I would love it if someone who does javascript would help me to put that calculation directly into a webpage, but unfortunately nobody has yet, and CTC doesn't seem to want to pay for such enhancements.
by Cyclenut
31 Jul 2011, 10:43pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Sorry Folks, I Just Have To Ask....Shimergo..Why?
Replies: 88
Views: 5841

Re: Sorry Folks, I Just Have To Ask....Shimergo..Why?

Mick F wrote:
pete75 wrote:Oh yeah - the Campag Rally can handle 36T plus it looks nice :-)
CJ wrote:But did you ever use one? Sure they looked beautiful, but the shifting - even on usual-sized sprockets - was like eating peas with metre-long chopsticks made out of rubber!
I used one for many years, and it was great. Not a bit like how you describe. It changed gear well and accurately with a 36/52 Stronglight front and a 13-28 Suntour rear freewheel.

Well I never made the mistake of buying one, I only had to try to help my poor suffering riding companions! I knew two people who had them and they did not shift well, no matter how much I and they fiddled with them. When push came to shove and bottom gear was needed on a steep hill, the cage would back away from the sprocket and let the chain just rattle against it. Or else we loosened the L stop so it would shift bottom, but then it would sometimes throw the chain over into the spokes. Fortunately there was an easy and disarmingly cheap solution: fit a SunTour rear mech, any SunTour rear mech, even their basic VGT shifted several orders of magnitude better at one quarter the price. That was the only problem with SunTour: they were so cheap that some people couldn't believe they could be that good!

This is not just me. Frank Berto, writing for Bicycling magazine in the 70s and 80s, devised a systematic method for measuring shifting performance which accorded exactly with my experience and that of the people I was riding with. He also rated the Rally as one of the worst shifting wide-range deraileurs he'd ever tested. You can still read all about it in his comprehensive history of the derailleur: The Dancing Chain. Likewise Mike Sweatman on his website Disraeli gears describes Campag's early attempts at wide-range derailleurs as "Touring with Terror". Everyone who really knows about derailleurs is in complete agreement on this: Campag didn't make good shifting rear mechs until comparatively recently, when they swallowed their pride and copied Shimano's copy of SunTour's slant parallelogram.
by Cyclenut
31 Jul 2011, 10:03pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Low Rider racks
Replies: 7
Views: 607

Re: Low Rider racks

Any standard low-load rack that has U-bolt clamps for the forks and a stabilising hoop over the wheel linking the two side panels together, will do the job.

It's best to avoid high-level front carriers like the one mentioned above - unless you have arms like tree trunks already and need to find something for them to do when you're cycling! Those pre-low-load designs put the weight out in front of the steering axis, which takes over the steering and causes massive wheel flop whenever you lean the bike into a corner. I know, I used a carrier like that in dark ages before Jim Blackburn. And as I am NOT personally endowed with arms like tree trunks, I did not like them, not at all.