The whole CO2 inflator thing

[pwa]

Sorry Cugel but I hate wool, even merino, next to the skin. Any other natural fibres I ought to consider?

[Cugel]

Sorry Cugel but I hate wool, even merino, next to the skin. Any other natural fibres I ought to consider?

The ladywife swears by cashmere, as she too cannae tolerate the sheep wool, since it brings her out in a mild but itchy rash here and there where it rubs a bit.

One must consider the source of the material. Merino seems to come largely from the traditional sheep farms of Oz and NZ, via various knitters from China to Scotland. I'm not sure where the cashmere comes from. The ladywife says that various parts of wilder Asia are a major source, where the goat-beasts are kept in the traditional free-roaming fashion also. But there's no certified chain of source-to-product.

The ladywife never ever buys a new cashmere thing. She finds dozens of them on ebay, or even in the posher charity shop, for a tenth or twentieth of the new prices. Spoilt ladies seem to buy them, wear them once (if that) then get rid so they can buy another one!

Cugel

[cycle tramp]

Sorry Cugel but I hate wool, even merino, next to the skin. Any other natural fibres I ought to consider?

If you can find it, try bamboo fibre. Its really smooth.... sadly the fibres will be mixed with the usual man made fibres to give it some stretch and endurance, but its still really nice..
...i got mine from dickies.

[stevegreen]

Bamboo yarn is man- made fron a viscose fibre that uses bamboo as the feedstock instead of wood.

It is very comfortable to wear, I think more so than polyester or polypropylene.

[Mick F]

Brucey, get some perspective... We're not going to save the planet by banning CO2 cylinders, that are used for a lot more uses than bicycles. Bicycle use of these things is miniscule.

Absolutely!

If I could buy re-fillable cylinders, I would ................. so I could have yet another reason to visit the pub!

[Brucey]

every time you use one of those cartridges, just think of burning a pint of diesel instead.

The fact that so many folk think 'it doesn't matter' is symptomatic of the problem. About 1/4 of the World's population lives as if the planet actually has about five or six times the resources it actually has, and as if we can keep burning fossil fuel as we feel fit.

cheers

[Mick F]

What about all the other stuff that's imported?
At least the spent cartridges are easily recycled.

[thirdcrank]

This is another example of remembering my dear old dad saying "What would happen if everybody did it?"

AFAIK, CO2 cylinders in their various forms were first used when racing cyclists couldn't rely on wheel changes from support vehicles so if they punctured and had to change a tub, speed was of the essence. I remember when I was a teenager I nearly bought one to ape pro riders.

[Brucey]

What about all the other stuff that's imported?...

just as bad, obviously. But you might actually have a better need for that.

The point is that folk just buy stuff and throw it away without even considering the wider implications. If they do think outside that, it rarely gets any further than 'oh we can recycle it' as if that will make the planet safe for blue whales and fluffy bunnies automatically.

It won't; recycling steel is a good thing to do but it is only bit less energy intensive than mining it out of the ground. And if you have to ship it all the way back to china before it is recycled, it is just another exercise in planet-killing.

cheers

[roubaixtuesday]

Metal recycling can bring big benefits in energy and resource usage compared to primary production.

This paper claims 73% reduction in carbon emissions.

for every 1 kg of steel scrap that is recycled at the end of the products life, a saving of 1.5 kg CO2-e emissions, 13.4 MJ primary energy and 1.4 kg iron ore can be achieved. This equates to 73, 64 and 90 %, respectively, when compared to 100 % primary production.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.10 ... 016-1081-1

Of course, using a pump rather than a CO2 cartridge will be immeasurably better still.

[MikeDee]

Hey, there a shortage of CO2 https://www.verdict.co.uk/how-is-co2-pr ... -shortage/

As far as saving the planet goes, these CO2 cartridges aren't bad. As was said, the cartridge metal is easily recycled and the gas is produced as a waste gas from another process so it would go out to the atmosphere anyway. Aren't some of these made domestically, like Crossman in the US?

I'll throw Brucey a bone here in that if you use a full frame pump, you don't need a CO2 inflator, but since most bikes these days can't take full frame pumps and you have to use a mini pump, CO2 inflaters make sense.

[thirdcrank]

Are there people who rely entirely on a CO2 inflator ie without some sort of pump as a back-up?

[Bmblbzzz]

every time you use one of those cartridges, just think of burning a pint of diesel instead.

The fact that so many folk think 'it doesn't matter' is symptomatic of the problem. About 1/4 of the World's population lives as if the planet actually has about five or six times the resources it actually has, and as if we can keep burning fossil fuel as we feel fit.

cheers

And the other 3/4 would if they could afford it.

[robc02]

Are there people who rely entirely on a CO2 inflator ie without some sort of pump as a back-up?

I have done, as per my earlier post, when used on a road race circuit where I would normally be no more than 10 or 15 miles away from the finish or HQ, and there were normally plenty of vehicles associated with the event on the circuit. When I used that bike for other purposes I usually either carried extra CO2 containers or swapped to a frame pump. I think I only once used the CO2 for real and I don't recall it being any great advantage over a frame pump, plus I was then fretting over the fact I had used my CO2 so couldn't afford another puncture! (It was a short ride and I had only one cylinder). Fortunately I was not that far from home and it had been a pinch puncture so no risk of a foreign object still being in the tyre.

I quickly realised that if I felt it necessary to carry several cylinders plus a mini pump I may as well use a frame pump. I do accept that not all frames will allow this, but many will.

This is another example of remembering my dear old dad saying "What would happen if everybody did it?"

He was right, of course! (Err..... In my opinion )

[Cugel]

Hey, there a shortage of CO2 https://www.verdict.co.uk/how-is-co2-pr ... -shortage/

As far as saving the planet goes, these CO2 cartridges aren't bad. As was said, the cartridge metal is easily recycled and the gas is produced as a waste gas from another process so it would go out to the atmosphere anyway. Aren't some of these made domestically, like Crossman in the US?

I'll throw Brucey a bone here in that if you use a full frame pump, you don't need a CO2 inflator, but since most bikes these days can't take full frame pumps and you have to use a mini pump, CO2 inflaters make sense.

Get one of these or something of similar build/quality. It'll pump up to 160psi in theory but 110psi easily in practice. Personally I require only 70 psi and that takes no significant time or effort. The thing even has a handy valve core tightener, not usually a feature of a CO2 cartridge.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lezyne-road-drive-pump/

Also, they tend not to fail easily. Only today a club member had a puncture and hissed-off his gas with a fumble. Luckily for him, someone else had a spare CO2 bleb-bottle. I offered the pump but he was ideologically-inclined against admitting to it's abilities.

Why buy a new fangle of the disposal razor scam type when you could be using a tried&true?

I know, I know. It's new! It's a fangle! (In fact, now an old fangle. They'll be bringing out a portable compressor soon, though. Only £99.97 in the sale).

Cugel