Search found 207 matches

by londoncommuter0000
18 Feb 2019, 9:43am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Rookie Cycle Tour from London to Trieste
Replies: 244
Views: 26018

Re: Rookie Cycle Tour from London to Trieste

foxyrider wrote:1000 miles is a long way! Whilst you may be able to pick it up a bit further into the ride I wouldn't plan on more than @ 75 per day.


Is this not a tad unrealistic? Sure, I'm 51 and all that, but in decades of touring, I hardly ever manage over 40-50 miles a day. Am I incredibly unfit, or just a bone idle so and so?
by londoncommuter0000
17 Feb 2019, 12:54pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Sealant leaking from tubeless
Replies: 13
Views: 1491

Re: Sealant leaking from tubeless

Brucey wrote:please tell us which rims and tyres you have used; it might avoid someone else making a similar mistake.

Where does your combination fall on this chart?

Image


I can't answer that, mate. I'm not techie enough. I'll ask the bloke from the shop.
by londoncommuter0000
17 Feb 2019, 12:53pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Sealant leaking from tubeless
Replies: 13
Views: 1491

Re: Sealant leaking from tubeless

SimonCelsa wrote:£320!!!!! Jesus wept.......

That would annoy me but I'm a bit frugal and like the status quo if it ain't too much hassle!! What's a few punctures every now & then. I can't grasp this tubeless malarky.

Hope it resolves itself cheaply, all the best, Simon the dinosaur!!


We're what I'd call 'reasonably comfortable', so we're not going to be going hungry because of this, but it's still bleedin' annoying. I think what I'm going to do is follow the suggestion of just buying myself a new set or wheels from Spa Cycles, and call it quits. Ebay here I come.
by londoncommuter0000
17 Feb 2019, 11:53am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Sealant leaking from tubeless
Replies: 13
Views: 1491

Re: Sealant leaking from tubeless

The bike is still in my local bike shop. The techie has now tried three different sealants. It has (so far) cost me £320 in parts and labour.

And I'm pretty sure that it's not over, since tubeless should hold pressure even without sealant, yes?

Right now, I'm of a mind to ask him just to rebuild my old wheels, and I'll punt the rims and tyres on ebay. But to get the spokes from my old rims onto the tubeless, he had to cut the spokes. So asking him to rebuild would mean buying new spokes.

Switching to tubeless on my bike is without a doubt the most expensive mistake I've ever made for any of my bikes.
by londoncommuter0000
17 Feb 2019, 11:48am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Kent Traffic Free Routes?
Replies: 14
Views: 2783

Re: Kent Traffic Free Routes?

Cugel wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:
londoncommuter0000 wrote:Does anyone know if there are places in Kent where one can do a couple of hours cycling, without any cars?

I abhor the motor car. I consider it a blight on our planet. And I have very little patience with the bleating that 'Oh, it has done so much!' Maybe it has. But at the hands of the idiots who are supposed to be 'in control' of it, the motor car has slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
..

Plus One for thread drift before crossing the start line :wink:
Correction: killed millions :(

Don't forget the tens or perhaps hundreds of millions the car has seriously maimed, in it's relatively short history upon Planet Erf. Then there's those who have been made miserable by the death or maiming of their loved ones. And the victims of it's pollutants who are awarded an early death. Also, cars are possibly some of the worst kind of litter, choking everywhere with their parking.


It has also effectively stopped me from walking anything but short distances. Our big Tesco is a 30 minute walk from here. I could take my big rucksack and walk there. But the route takes me across .. I don't know how many side streets. And of course, once I am crossing any of these side streets, car drivers and motorcyclists are supposed to stop and let me cross. But the drivers and the motorcyclists didn't get the memo. Almost every single time I walk anywhere here, I have the choice: I can accept that I'm a piece of dirt and cede passage to my motorised overlords... or I can stand my ground. When I have tried the latter, I am systematically threatened, and have had vehicles deliberately aimed at me.

Cycling is the same, of course. I could take my tourer with four panniers and go shopping at the Tesco. But since the council here has created loads of places on the actual carriageway where drivers can park their cars legally, there is probably about 70% of the route which is effectively single carriageway. And I have not yet met a driver or motorcyclist here in SE London who will actually stop and let a cyclist past if the latter has priority. They will drive or ride straight at you, in the full knowledge that your instinct not to be killed, means you will back down.

South East London is as close to utter hell on earth, as I can imagine. I absolutely hate it here.

As a result, I almost never walk or cycle. To my utter shame, I have taken the car to drive to the Co-Op, which is seven minutes on foot, just so I can avoid confrontation with drivers.
by londoncommuter0000
17 Feb 2019, 11:40am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Kent Traffic Free Routes?
Replies: 14
Views: 2783

Re: Kent Traffic Free Routes?

Jon Lucas wrote:Catch a train to Gravesend and cycle east along the NCN route following the Thames estuary. This is traffic free for a while, but then takes you onto some wonderfully quiet lanes, where you will meet very few cars, and into the surprisingly lovely countryside of the Hoo peninsula.


This one?

http://www.the-river-thames.org.uk/thames-path-walk-cycle.nsf/cyclingroutes/Greenwich%20to%20Gravesend
by londoncommuter0000
16 Feb 2019, 5:22pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Kent Traffic Free Routes?
Replies: 14
Views: 2783

Re: Kent Traffic Free Routes?

gaz wrote:Zero cars, very limited options. Largely traffic free, a few to choose from. Of course it depends how you're travelling to Kent. If your aversion to cars is so great that you won't travel to Kent in one and need to start and finish at a station both lists get shorter.

How far do you expect to cycle in a couple of hours, what sort of surface conditions are you prepared to contemplate?

General info here, select "cycling" from the activities drop-down menu.


I told my wife about this thread. She said, 'Can you reply to that kind gentleman: "I'm sorry, but I'm a whiny git",'.

Pff. She doesn't know me.

Anyway, thank you!
by londoncommuter0000
16 Feb 2019, 4:32pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Kent Traffic Free Routes?
Replies: 14
Views: 2783

Kent Traffic Free Routes?

Does anyone know if there are places in Kent where one can do a couple of hours cycling, without any cars?

I abhor the motor car. I consider it a blight on our planet. And I have very little patience with the bleating that 'Oh, it has done so much!' Maybe it has. But at the hands of the idiots who are supposed to be 'in control' of it, the motor car has slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

But my wife and I fancy a cycle ride tomorrow. If there are routes with no cars, that would be just dandy.

Cheers.
by londoncommuter0000
16 Feb 2019, 4:13pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Train reservations
Replies: 83
Views: 9293

Re: Train reservations

st599_uk wrote:
pete75 wrote:
The utility cyclist wrote:Cycle reservation tickets are not available to book online, I thought that was made clear already, the travel tickets one can do online but the hassle is always the reservations for the bikes.


Bike reservations for the east coast can be booked online. I've done it many times.
You used to be able to, but then when Virgin got the gig, they removed that function from the website.

May have been put back again, haven't checked.


Last time I took the Virgin line to Glasgow, I had to call them and book the bicycle - after I'd bought the ticket online.
by londoncommuter0000
15 Feb 2019, 3:05pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Train reservations
Replies: 83
Views: 9293

Re: Train reservations

mjr wrote:
londoncommuter0000 wrote:As we're doing so, the train doors close and the train pulls out. Guard smirking at us from one of the doors.

I hope you complained about that formally! If it was recent, Scotrail is operated by Dutch Railways at the moment, so I hope they take a dim view of it. Later this year, it should be pretty obvious where to put the bikes, with the introduction of what's effectively a new Motor Luggage Van...
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=126623


No, I didn't complain. My experience of 'complaints' to train companies over the years is that they're going to ignore it, or seek some justification for it.
by londoncommuter0000
13 Feb 2019, 4:56pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: London - on the spot fine
Replies: 95
Views: 15998

Re: London - on the spot fine

thirdcrank wrote:All this misses the big issue: BMW drivers.


Wot 'e said.
by londoncommuter0000
13 Feb 2019, 8:28am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: BMW driver walks free from court after deliberately running over cyclist
Replies: 96
Views: 16323

Re: BMW driver walks free from court after deliberately running over cyclist

Cyril Haearn wrote:What is your dream car? (question to anyone who cares to answer :wink:)


If I had a dream car (which I don't), it would be of course something that does not pollute and - equally important, IMHO - makes no noise. The internal combustion engine has destroyed the countryside not only with its pollution, but with the noise it makes as it rips the peace and quiet apart.
by londoncommuter0000
13 Feb 2019, 8:26am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: BMW driver walks free from court after deliberately running over cyclist
Replies: 96
Views: 16323

Re: BMW driver walks free from court after deliberately running over cyclist

Cyril Haearn wrote:
londoncommuter0000 wrote:
Oldjohnw wrote:The problem with this thread was, in my view, the original newspaper report. Describing the case as "BMW driver" was unnecessary, unhelpful and prejudicial.


The (excessive, puerile and wholly unnecessary) censorship on this forum makes it impossible for me to tell you what I think BMW drivers are.

Suffice to say that I don't believe that the headline was in error.

The censorship is a chance to use creative language, try that please


Swearing does not indicate a 'lack of creative language' or an 'inability' to use create language. Try to remember that, please.
by londoncommuter0000
12 Feb 2019, 2:21pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Train reservations
Replies: 83
Views: 9293

Re: Train reservations

Oldjohnw wrote:
As we're doing so, the train doors close and the train pulls out. Guard smirking at us from one of the doors.


I know the feeling. Last summer I was struggling on to a train in Edinburgh - narrow door, no proper bike place. The young guard watched this 69 year old with ebike and camping gear. He said, without any offer to help, "you have two minutes."


I'm willing to bet a sum of money .. OK .... a fiver .. that if you'd gone up to the guard's compartment and checked in his bag, there would have been a copy of The Daily Mail.
by londoncommuter0000
12 Feb 2019, 2:09pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Train reservations
Replies: 83
Views: 9293

Re: Train reservations

geomannie wrote:https://www.scotrail.co.uk/ also allows bike booking and can be used for tickets anywhere in the uk


Ah, yeah. Scotrail.

One day, a friend and I are getting on at a Scotrail station with our bikes.

'You're in the wrong carriage,' said the guard.

'No worries,' we reply. 'Where can we put the bikes?'

'Up the end,' said the guard.

We get off the train, and start to push the bikes to the end of the carriage.

As we're doing so, the train doors close and the train pulls out. Guard smirking at us from one of the doors.