Cycling chat

[Butler Henderson]

One negative I discovered is that the panniers have such a rigid rear for the mounting system my D lock could not be in its mount and had to go in one of the panniers instead. 

[Butler Henderson]

23 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Very neat.

 

Are those elastic thingies an Ortlieb item too?

SJS list a set which clip onto a pannier - assume they work with pannier of other makes  https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/carriers-racks/tubus-carrier-stretch-belt/

For a more permanent fixture - mine are clipped into a metal vertical fastened to the mudguard fixing bolt Holland Bike Shop list a variety https://hollandbikeshop.com/en-gb/bicycle-parts-city-bike/carrier-straps/

including a "universal"plate https://hollandbikeshop.com/en-gb/bicycle-parts-city-bike/carrier-straps/cycling-bungee-cord-parts/widek-carrier-straps-plate-universal/

and an axle fitting one https://hollandbikeshop.com/en-gb/bicycle-parts-city-bike/carrier-straps/cycling-bungee-cord-parts/bibia-carrier-straps-hook-axle-assembly/

[BR traction instructor]

Heading for the normally busy areas of the Lake District means either a very early or teatime start for us. Leaving Silloth around 5pm tonight and parking adj Wast Water we cycled to the Inn at Wasdale head for a pint and back…Scafell massif to the right…

 

BeRTIe

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by BR traction instructor

[BR traction instructor]

Dawn even managed to capture yours truly in action…

 

BeRTIe

[Ian Smeeton]

My e-bike has no e

 

2 weeks of non use, followed by charging the battery when I got back from my Hols on Saturday to make sure that everything was Go for an 05.30 am start, after a few hundred yards, I discovered there was no e in my e-bike.

 

I could have turned round and still made it to work on time, but, I thought, no, I'll manage.

 

Sweating lump turned up at work at 05.20, and once I had recovered a bit, I checked the bike over.

 

Normally on  the 7.4 miles to work, the bike is down to 80% or so battery.

 

This morning.....99%

 

Not much assist in my electrically assisted bike!

 

Took the battery off, charged it (5 min to full charge), put it back on the bike, fired it up and went for a 100 yard spin down the lane & back up.

 

Seemed OK.

 

No idea what I had done, but it worked.

 

Set off after work on a 7 mile detour to deal with some business at Rocks by Rail.

 

No e

 

Sweating lump pulled up at the gates just in time to meet  a serious contact who  could do the Museum some great service. Not the best impression to give.

 

Finally got away 3 hrs later, with a 7 mile run home, starting with a big hill.

 

Nothing to you really fit types, it only rises about 120 feet in  half a mile or so.

 

No e

 

Sweating lump finally got home at about 17.30, now showered, and changed etc, but it made today a hard day

 

phoned Halfords.

 

Got some English as a second language speaker in a call centre wherever he was.

 

I was polite

 

I was calm

 

I came close to loosing it trying to put across that en e-bike needed e, electrically assisted meant having some electricity,  and giving some assistance.

 

Can't get it booked in til Weds,  which is a shame as the next few days look quite pleasant.

 

Rant over.

 

Regards

 

Ian

 

 

 

 

[big jim]

The only time I really had an issue with my carerra e bike was after I changed the cassette and it knackered up the ECU for some reason, I too got a few miles before then it began to pulse then lost power but I had an error code on the screen, did you have anything? 
 

i also found taking the battery off to charge seemed to get it up to 100% whereas leaving it on sometimes only charged it to 85-90% even from new

 

might be worth checking with Halfords that the bike has been taken out of ‘delivery mode’ as I believe the first batch of their ‘impel’ E-bikes had issues with the bike just stopping working as they were unbeknownst to the stores coming from the factory in that condition then failing, I believe it was a simple fix via the display but they had no info on how to do it!

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by big jim

[Ian Smeeton]

8 hours ago, big jim said:

The only time I really had an issue with my carerra e bike was after I changed the cassette and it knackered up the ECU for some reason, I too got a few miles before then it began to pulse then lost power but I had an error code on the screen, did you have anything? 
 

i also found taking the battery off to charge seemed to get it up to 100% whereas leaving it on sometimes only charged it to 85-90% even from new

 

might be worth checking with Halfords that the bike has been taken out of ‘delivery mode’ as I believe the first batch of their ‘impel’ E-bikes had issues with the bike just stopping working as they were unbeknownst to the stores coming from the factory in that condition then failing, I believe it was a simple fix via the display but they had no info on how to do it!

 

 

No error code on the screen.

 

I have charged the battery on and off the bike. It seems to go to 100% either way.

 

I have managed to get it booked in for tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully it is a quick fix.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[Mark Forrest]

Managed to get a decent ride done yesterday.  50 miles of lanes and bridleways on the gravel bike.  5 weeks after Covid and I finally feel like I'm back to something like my pre-Covid fitness.

 

 

 

 

 

Sadly though, despite now feeling like i have the fitness for it, we've withdrawn our entries to the Long Mynd Batch Burner on Saturday due to an ongoing poorly dog situation.  Still, there will be other rides and some things are more important than riding bikes.

[Nearholmer]

Good news about feeling fitter!

 

I just checked my notebook, and my first 50 miler after covid was also five weeks after testing negative, and I’ve heard from others that it takes a month for that initial “really old” feeling to clear away.

 

I’m not getting any really interesting bike rides in at the moment because I’m simply too busy to spare more than two of three hours at a time. My strategy is to attempt as many bridleways that are impassable on my bike in winter as possible, while the ground is dry, which means that speeds and mileages are modest, but routes are interesting.

 

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Nearholmer

[big jim]

Got a few miles in today, home to the station, then a ride into castle donington and back from East Midlands gateway for dinner. I struggled on that ride from some reason, I think I may have been a bit dehydrated despite drinking loads of water while on the loco, got some food and more drink and the ride back felt better 

 

 

As there were very few trains running I rode from castle donington to Leicester via Loughborough, Mountsorrel and birstall, I was pleasantly surprised by the ride, Cycle paths for a good 90% of the ride, between birstall and Leicester I followed the river which was lovely and once into Leicester it was all dedicated cycle lanes which I was impressed with 

 

 

 

might do Mountsorrel to Leicester tomorrow or possibly just to Loughborough depending on what trains are running 

[big jim]

Another ride today in work gear, few and far between trains from Leicester to coleshill would have meant me getting there an hour and a half earlier than I needed to so I got off at nuneaton and rode over the top to hams hall, plenty of fluid this time as it was midday and bloody warm, it’s a constant 4 mile climb out of nuneaton and one hill caught me out near Arley, I had to stop and catch my breath for 30 seconds before carrying on, I’m wondering whether to see about getting a twin ring on the front of the hybrid and a different rear cassette to give me a better range of gears as I don’t want to get rid of the orange bike as I love how it looks! 

 

i always enjoy rides that follow railway lines as I get to see buildings I normally only see the backs of from the front and get ideas where various roads go, it’s also nice when you think your not as far along the road as you are and you spot a landmark that you thought would be further away than it is, namely the Aldi on the climb out of nuneaton, got to that quicker than I thought! 
 

[Nearholmer]

Your power output continues to impress.

 

What ratios do you have currently?

 

My thinking is that for steep hills while carrying a load of gear, even as a fit bod you might want 1:1 or lower.

[big jim]

I’ll have to have a look what’s fitted later, the bike is currently tucked away at the other end of the loco but I think it’s an 11/36 cassette and a 42T front crank 

 

 

[Mark Forrest]

Unless you are particularly bothered about the gaps between gear ratios,  I'd stick with the simplicity of a 1x drivetrain and go for a cassette with a wider range.

 

FWIW, I run a 38T chainring with 11-42 cassette on the gravel bike (32T with 11-50 on the MTBs).  As you can tell, I'm more of a sit and spin type of climber!

[big jim]

To be honest I feel like I need a smaller faster road gear as well as a climbing gear 

 

I don’t normally do climbs on this bike as it tends to keep to the same flatish commute routes, this week has been an exception to the rule really but I do still want to use it on old trackbed rides that I wouldn’t take the cube on, some of which are likely to be hilly 

 

just done another nice little ride, Mountsorrel sidings to Loughborough via barrow upon soar 

 

 

still one more ride to do later from crewe station to home!

 

due to the strikes I’m going to have to drive to work tomorrow, I’m going to drive to bescot and then ride to small heath and at the end ride back to a hotel in Birmingham, on Friday I will then ride to hams hall to work a train to Mountsorrel, it’s then light loco to bescot where I can collect my car again! 

[Nearholmer]

I had 1x with 10-42 with 44T on my previous path bike, but latterly reduced that to 40T for off-road climbing, cos I is slowly getting old, but it then span out a bit too early downhill on the road, which I never experienced with the 44T.
 

The bottom gear on my current bike is a very similar ratio, and I can imagine reducing that still further as time goes by, but the setup is 2x, so the bike is also adequately fast for my tastes on easy road bits (rare as they are!).

Edited June 22, 2022 by Nearholmer

[Mark Forrest]

1 hour ago, big jim said:

To be honest I feel like I need a smaller faster road gear as well as a climbing gear 

 

I don’t normally do climbs on this bike as it tends to keep to the same flatish commute routes, this week has been an exception to the rule really but I do still want to use it on old trackbed rides that I wouldn’t take the cube on, some of which are likely to be hilly 

If I've done the maths correctly (no guarantees, it's been a long day!), a 44 on the front and a 11-42 (10-42 if your freehub will take it) would give you both a faster top gear and a climbing bail out gear without the faff of a front mech.

[big jim]

Got a nifty little gadget for the bikes yesterday, tried it out for the first time this afternoon 

 

a Garmin Varia rear light and radar

 

it connects to the cycle computer and alerts me when a car approaches from behind from up to 140 meters away, while there are no cars behind you just get the radar symbol in the top right 

 

as a car (or multiple cars) approach you get an audible warning and the edge of the screen will go red, a dot will then move up the side of the screen as the car gets closer, the light itself is a very bright steady red light which pulses and flashes more as the car gets nearer depending on their speed. It says in the spec it can be seen a mile away! 

 

once the car has passed (or in this case turned off left) the screen edge goes green to tell you it’s clear behind

 

I started recording as the car was quite close, the dot normally starts at the bottom of the display 

 

 

a nifty bit if kit and something is been thinking about getting since I started doing more road cycling

 

Edited June 23, 2022 by big jim

[Butler Henderson]

I have a Varia, it also works with Wahoo devices but on the Elemnt Bolt v1 the approach of a vehicle is identified by a row of red leds, which is the same as the going off route warning when using it to navigate which can be confusing. Theres a current problem with error messages from Varias which Garmin seem to be very slow in seeking to resolve. On the Bolt it has a Dismiss message pop up which is easilly done by pressing the relevant button but on a Gamin Edge 530 the only resolution seems to be  stop the ride on the 530 and restart it again. The error on the Edge is given as Error 0:9 which is radar saturated. It now always occurs shortly after I have turned right at a crossroads off an A road and presume its picking up traffic on the A road passing across its radar zone.

 

Have noticed at times that if a vehicle slows to your pace or less the vehcile is no longer detected so always check behind when turning right even if the display is saying its clear behind.

[big jim]

I’ve not had issues with it today, it’s certainly not going to stop me being extra vigilant but it’s a great little addition

[BR traction instructor]

A short ride towards Calvo earlier to check out yesterday’s chain/cassette replacement. This view towards Annan between the showers…

 

BeRTIe

[njee20]

Been out in the Alps for a few days, having an awesome time. Weather wasn’t too bad on day 1; went up to Alpe d’Huez. Annoyingly the ‘proper’ road was shut, so we were sent on the secondary road. There were loads of lorries passing within inches, and also being a hindrance on the descent. It’s also a dump! Otherwise, lovely climb. 
 

mandatory photo secured though!

 

 

Yesterday we took in a much smaller Col, the Col de Collet. Lovely view from the top. It’s a dead end road, so no traffic, but it also had a patchy gravel surface, which made for somewhat nervy descending. We also got caught in a massive thunderstorm, so an incredibly soggy ride home!

 

 

Today we did the Col de Croix de Fer and Col du Glandon (which are basically the same, the Glandon is a viewpoint 100m off the main climb 2.5km before the summit), which was absolutely stunning. It’s a long, 30km climb, but really interesting. There’s a substantial descent in the middle, which is a bit depressing, but the climb constantly undulates, and the top 8km or so are only ~5%, which feels like an awesome reprieve. Amazing views at the top, and a cafe too! The whole ride was 51 miles, with just over 6,000’ of climbing. Certainly keeps the average speed down (just 13mph today), but it’s absolutely stunning!

 

 

with the eponymous Croix de Fer!

 

 

Flying home tomorrow, but hopefully get one short ride in tomorrow morning.

[Nearholmer]

Impressive indeed.

[Nearholmer]

I was abroad this morning too.

 

 

 

[Nickey Line]

11 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

I was abroad this morning too.

 

Very much my territory, about 3 miles from home!