Cycling UK Forum

I'm wondering if it might be possible to improve the ability to search these boards for previously asked questions.

I have several questions I'd like to ask, but I don't want to start new topics because I'm sure they must have already been covered in some detail already and it's annoying if people keep repeating stuff without looking at what's already here.

But I just don't know how to search effectively to find what I want.

For example, I need a new front light, under £50, small to fit in my pocket, bright enough to light the road not just to be seen by others. Where do I search for advice? If I search for "light" I get all mentions of lights in every context in every thread, including where it means something that's not heavy. Mostly it's "How many forum members does it take to change a light bulb?" which is hilarious but not all that useful.

I have spotted the "Advanced Search" function, which lets me refine my search to a specific forum, but I'm still not having much joy and there are several other questions I'm having the same problem with. Any thoughts?

Sorry, the phpbb search facility is a bit unpredictable ( but that is what we have ).

I have to admit resorting to google sometimes to find stuff . . ......

In google add the following suffix to your search term in order to constrain it to the CTC forum.

site:forum.ctc.org.uk

You could also try a slightly wider contraint which shoul include the main ctc website

site:ctc.org.uk

The advantage of this is that Chris Juden has already published a lot of wisdom on the main website.

. . . and another thing . . .

For your specific question you may find something if you search ( on this forum ) on +LED +torches as they are a very good way of getting the maximum value for money on a budget.

Cycle lighting is one of those issues where events are moving so fast that asking the question same question six months later may result in interesting new information ( and the old answers may already be out-of-date ).

..... and yet another thing:

Many of us are on here quite a bit, and have memories that could work for you. Please don't hold back from asking a question when it's probably been asked before. Quite often you may only get a link to the previous posts, but it's better than fretting over the search system.

More often than not, you'll get a whole new thread started, as there's always folk that want the subject revisiting.