Cycling chat

[Nearholmer]

I passed that Southill Village Tea Rooms you mentioned too - definitely looks like a place to make a destination.

[BR traction instructor]

Another 40 mileish circuit of the history of the Solway plain this afternoon. Again mostly NCN route 72 Silloth towards Bowness on Solway and on via Glasson to Port Carlisle. Having already photographed the rusty remnants of the Solway railway viaduct (closed 1920ish) it took some imagining to then step back to its initial building (mid 1800s) causing the closure of the Carlisle ship canal from Port Carlisle into Carlisle. The remnants of the dock in the Solway where vessels berthed awaiting entrance to the canal are still there and although heavily silted the canal towards Glasson can still be recognised…

[BR traction instructor]

The road between Bowness on Solway and Port Carlisle has signs indicating how deep flood water can be if it reaches the sign…

 

BeRTIe

 

Edited June 25, 2022 by BR traction instructor

[big jim]

It’s a lively ride apart from the soul destroying bit in the rain where silloth church spire is 2 miles in front of you at anthorn as the crow flies but it’s 19 miles to get back to it by road! 
 

Back up there soon hopefully, got a block of rest days the end of July and the first week in august off annual leave so I’m decamping to the caravan 

[BR traction instructor]

…short sharp shower between Skinburness & Calvo Jim but otherwise completely dry and often sunny. 40 miles is about my limit just now, muscles aching & backside a bit uncomfortable. Let me know when you’re here and we’ll cycle together.

 

BeRTIe

[Butler Henderson]

British men's road race champion (again), will the Jersey be in Copenhagen. According to Cav nothing has been said to him by Quickstep

Edited June 26, 2022 by Butler Henderson

[Killybegs]

A great race. Well done Cav.

[leavesontheline]

On 24/06/2022 at 00:40, big jim said:

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

 

I've used one of these (either the RTL-510 with the light like yours or the RTL-315 with just the radar) for a good few years now. Initially I only used it on my commuting bike but I now feel 'naked' without this information on my Garmin screen, plus the warning beeps, whilst cycling any bike! It is so reliable and more often than not detects vehicles well before I hear them, unless there is a strong tailwind. I like how it displays up to 8 'targets' too - amazing how it works in such a small package. If there was one 'must have' piece of kit I was asked to recommend to road cyclists it would be one of these.

 

On my Garmin head units you can also download a third party IQ app called 'My Bike Radar Traffic' which uses the radar data to give you loads of geeky data either displayed on the head unit or viewable on Garmin Connect, such as the number of vehicles that passed you and crucially (sometimes shocking) what speed they were doing when they passed! Via the app website I think you can also overlay your ride over a map to see where all the radar 'passes' were.

 

For years I wondered why Garmin didn't combine this radar technology with their camera technology... Well now they have in the RCT-715. With all the knowledge they have built up on the Varia rear radar/light units and Virb camera and Varia front light units you'd think they would nail this combined new camera/light/radar device straight from the off, but it seems there are some teething troubles with them and some odd implementations. I will probably wait until the second version comes out!

 

I think you'll quickly wonder how you coped without this device and find yourself fitting it to all your bikes!

[big jim]

Just had a look at that app but unfortunately it’s not compatible with my 520, would have been interesting if it was

 

 

[BR traction instructor]

Our new VW ID3 will apparently have the retractable cycle rack built into the back of the car. The dealership haven’t even seen one fitted yet so are waiting to see whether it arrives from VW complete and ready to use…

 

BeRTIe

Edited July 1, 2022 by BR traction instructor

[Nearholmer]

Cracking good idea. Trouble is, the car is so blooming expensive!

[big jim]

Very swish, Mini did something similar a few years back on the countryman, slid into a hidden bracket behind the bumper, never seen one in use though (not that I’ve been looking!)

[Nearholmer]

Interesting. When I got my current car, I considered the countryman, and decided not because it seemed to need an expensive tow at fit to take a bike, whereas the one I ended up with easily fits bikes inside, and due to price wars was significantly cheaper.

[Butler Henderson]

By all accounts the rear Varia with camera has a pretty poor camera not really worth the extra cost

 I've tried the My Bike Radar Traffic app on my 530 and never really found it that useful; the one thing I hoped it would do, but does not, is give a count of following vehicles as opposed to watching the moving dots.

 

 

 

[BR traction instructor]

3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Cracking good idea. Trouble is, the car is so blooming expensive!

 

…as ever, you get what you pay for. The main feature for us is a max range of around 260 miles…yes the conditions will have to be right but its a good number to aim at. This is a cancelled order that just happened to have the cycle rack extra fitted.

 

BeRTIe

[big jim]

30 minutes ago, Butler Henderson said:

By all accounts the rear Varia with camera has a pretty poor camera not really worth the extra cost

 I've tried the My Bike Radar Traffic app on my 530 and never really found it that useful; the one thing I hoped it would do, but does not, is give a count of following vehicles as opposed to watching the moving dots.

 

 

 

for the extra cost of the camera you may as well by a generic go-pro type camera off Amazon and mount that along with the Varia, would probably save a good £150 compared to the cost of the video Varia 

Edited June 28, 2022 by big jim

[njee20]

DCRainmaker is the oracle on cycling tech. He was certainly very critical of the Varia with the camera. They do look neat, I considered one, but down here there’s basically always a car behind you!

[tractionman]

A little outing this afternoon around the forest tracks on the edge of the Mourne Mountains, seen here "In the place where the dark Mourne sweeps down to the sea" (https://g.co/kgs/9scyMD), just by Newcastle (County Down!):

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very gusty after lots of heavy rain.

 

cheers,

 

Keith

[Nearholmer]

9 hours ago, BR traction instructor said:

…as ever, you get what you pay for.

I really would have preferred, and would still prefer, an electric car, but no way could I make the numbers stack, the first cost of the petrol one being so much less (about 60% of a the price of a slightly smaller EV), and my annual mileage being so low that the fuel cost saving would have taken far too long to achieve break-even overall. I’m hoping to see secondhand ones with new batteries emerge onto the market soon.

 

End of Diversion.

[BR traction instructor]

…we were counting down to the launch of the ID1 Polo equivalent in 2025 but the current price of diesel, talk of reduced range on the smaller model, risk of a trade war putting up car prices and the combined sale of Dawn’s house/my boat all stacked in the direction of getting Dawn to test drive a car that she immediately dismissed as too big when she first saw one. I got the garage to raise the seat as high as poss for the test drive to give her better all round vision and fortunately all the ducks lined up for us & we got a new car with just two weeks waiting.

 

BeRTIe

Edited June 28, 2022 by BR traction instructor

[Nearholmer]

I’m down in Sussex visiting family this week, and using the opportunity to cycle where I haven’t for forty years.

 

Some truly fascinating (and very up-hilly) paths to cycle in this part of the world, being old horse trackways from when the area was the centre of iron-making before the industrial revolution.

 

This is a byway open to all traffic!

 

Edited June 30, 2022 by Nearholmer

[big jim]

Went back to get the new carbon bike fitted up today, I’d already swapped the pedals and had set up various bits as best as i could when I got it home when I bought it and amazingly when he put it come to set it up I’d got everything set up prefectly bar the seat which was 2mm out!

 

so while I was there I asked about a different saddle, so as nothing needed doing to the bike and he didn’t charge me for his time he set up the saddle pressure sensor gadget instead 

 

After a short test ride With the existing saddle it was apparent I was sitting over to the left of it right at the rear with most of my weight concentrated in that area but my centre of gravity was pretty decent, he then Swapped the saddle for one the same length but wider to the rear and more flared, felt so much better almost instantly, the sensors then mapped me on that saddle and the weight distribution had shifted to me more central, again it’s going to take a fair few rides to get used to it and my muscle memory to adjust

 

 

[big jim]

Just went for a ride on the usual circuit on the carbon bike, not out to break records again but get used to the new saddle, I also wore my snazzy new road shoes for the first time which the guy set up for me yesterday with the cleats in the correct position etc, they are a lot stiffer than the MTB shoes I’ve been wearing so less flex and they have dials to tighten them rather than laces 

 

The new saddle felt pretty good, will take a bit of getting used to as I’m sitting in a slightly different (better) position now, got a little ache above my knees I’m home and relaxing but the ride itself was comfortable, I normally find myself having to stand up and then adjust my sitting position (and my undercrackers) after 10-12 miles as one of my bum cheeks normally starts to get a dull ache but today felt fine in my ‘special area’ 

 

I’ve just ordered the same saddle to fit to the hybrid too

 

my heels are aching a bit but again that’s probably down to the shoes being new and not flexing at all (by design) again that probably translates up to the knees too, the bike fit guy did say my posture compared to the first time I went with the black bike has improved, head further forward, back straighter etc, he said just keep doing what I’m doing and it will improve further but with the new bike and shoes etc muscle memory will need to adapt again over time 

 

As I say I wasn’t out to break records, and I didn’t, but in one place I managed with very little effort to get the bike up to 30+ mph where is normally be doing 25mph max, also found the Varia very handy today on the country roads, very useful 

now the carbon bike is set up correctly I’ve put the aluminium cube attain on eBay, got a bid already with 5 days to go, so as long as it’s paid for, selling that along with the whyte mountain bike which went last week and the trek which sold yesterday the carbon bike is fully paid for so owes me nothing! (And I’m not buying any more bikes for a while as I’m happy with the 2 I have!)  

Edited July 2, 2022 by big jim

[Ian Smeeton]

 Collected my recalcitrant e-bike from Halfords this afternoon.

 

Gave it a quick run round the car park and everything seemed fine (like last time)

 

Waited for the rain to stop, and thought a quick 7.5 miles round the block to check everything OK.

 

No go.

 

Back to the same problem.

 

1 or 2 seconds motor kicks in, then stops.

 

First  time this happened, instead of using 18-22% battery on the way to work, I got there with 99% battery remaining. 

 

Despite a new  motor, factory reset, firmware update and new ECU, everything is the same.

 

Looking now for recommendations for an e-bike around £1200 to replace.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Regards

 

Ian

[Butler Henderson]

17 hours ago, big jim said:

Just went for a ride on the usual circuit on the carbon bike, not out to break records again but get used to the new saddle, I also wore my snazzy new road shoes for the first time which the guy set up for me yesterday with the cleats in the correct position etc,

 

Once you have a set of cleats right on a pair of shoes its usually with any further pairs of shoes simply a case of eyeballing the same postion on each hand of shoe and they typically are right without any further adjustment. Remember to regularly check the bolts are tight as a loose bolt aside from the potential  for falling off is a typcially overlooked source of an annoying creak.