Cycling chat

[jcredfer]

34 minutes ago, njee20 said:

Perhaps unsurprisingly from my profile picture, cycling was very much my main hobby for 15 years before life got in the way, I got bored of it taking up so much time and just stopped enjoying it as much! Still try and do a bit here and there to keep a semblance of fitness!

 

As we’ve delved into a brake discussion I’ll carry that thread on…! I find on a flat, dry road then rim brakes are more than adequate, almost indistinguishable in fact. However add in any variable - steep hill, wet road, long descent and the discs are night and day better. On a mountain bike discs all day long!
 

I took a road bike to the Alps a few years ago, and opted to take my heavier disc-equipped bike over my ‘nice’ bike with rim brakes, and it was incredible! Things I’d not even thought about like hand fatigue - my two friends were really struggling at the bottom of long descents, whilst I could just casually brake with one finger the whole time. They did get sufficiently hot on a particular descent that a piston failed, but still worth it!

 

I have little experience of bikes from my Raleigh blue, three speed blue job over 60 years ago, until last year and  the realisation that exercise would be a good idea.  I bought an Urban bike, which had roller brakes, quite unknown to me at the time {still somewhat of a comparative mystery, too}.  I did look up the system and it seemed quite logical, but was lacking in comparative performance.  They have done some 2 1/2 thousand miles of local hills and traffic, without any known problem.  It would be interesting to know how they compare with other types.  

 

 

[bgman]

Thank you for starting this new topic Keith, I had contemplated doing something similar a while back but never followed it through.

 

For anyone who follows my ramblings on my thread they will know I too am a keep cyclist.

Following retirement approx. 9+ years ago I sold my car the next day and took to my bicycle / s ( well who ever has just one !  ).

 

I didn't really need a car anymore having the local station close by which could take me into Central Exeter and beyond and also with a bike if so needed.

 

Upshot of all this is I have cycled ever since I was 4 years old in one form or another and loved it.

 

I have just recently decided to be rid of my mountain bikes as it takes longer for the body to mend should I take a fall ( which I have on many occasions and suffered for it but still want to get back to it as soon as ) .

Always done the extreme rides etc but I am now calming down ( yeah right !!!! ).

 

Here are a few shots taken over the years to the present day which may be of interest ?

 

My most favourite place to ride - Dartmoor on my Giant Reign

 

 

Then off to Austria -

To proper mountain biking territory

 

 

It was a chilly start

 

 

Halfway down

 

 

 

Moving on a few years to my Haibike Allmtn 5.0 electric which was a really planted machine and Specialized Levo

 

At Woodbury Common close to Exeter

 

 

And by the Gibraltar Stone which commemorates  commando training in Devon.

 

 

That's probably enough from me for now, I hope they are of some interest on this thread and look forward to more photographs of your steeds ! 

 

G

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by bgman
Miss Spelling

[jcredfer]

Lovely memories of Devon and delightful pictures.  When / where was the Gibraltar Stone placed?

 

It's many years since going to Woodbury Common to take the 5th Year lads, from an Exeter school, camping for a couple of days.  One evening a group of silent Ghosts drifted out of the evening mists, through the tents and away - otherwise known as the RM on exercise, an etherial experience and never forgotten...  total respect!    Not to mention going there for a day's exercise with the school Cadets and someone set fire to it, with a Thunderflash...  oops!

 

 

[njee20]

27 minutes ago, jcredfer said:

I bought an Urban bike, which had roller brakes, quite unknown to me at the time {still somewhat of a comparative mystery, too}.  I did look up the system and it seemed quite logical, but was lacking in comparative performance.  They have done some 2 1/2 thousand miles of local hills and traffic, without any known problem.  It would be interesting to know how they compare with other types.  

 

 

I confess they’re outside my area of expertise, but they’re used mainly on ‘urban’ type bikes as you say, because they’re extremely low maintenance and weatherproof, but the performance is below that of a well set up rim brake; particularly with regards to heat dissipation I think, so they’re not good for steep hills. the difference being that after a year a roller brake will still be working well! 
 

That you’ve not done anything to them in that time and they keep working is the exact reason they’re great in that application!

[TheSignalEngineer]

1 hour ago, njee20 said:

I’ve been using tubeless on my mountain bikes for 20 years. The lower pressures and improved grip makes it a very easy decision. On the road I’m just not convinced.

We've started converting to tubless for MTB tyres as they get renewed. I found them an improvement oved tubes, especially at low pressures. For other uses we have one gravel type bike running tubeless but I don't think they are so much of an improvement as tyre pressures increase. and width decreases. My old tourer uses Schwalbe Marathon

[njee20]

The problem I found was the tendency for tyres to lose air. On my last foray I found one tyre leaked air to the extent it needed pumping up before riding home if I commuted on it. When I did get a puncture the bike just got covered in latex sealant; which was obviously ejected at a far higher velocity than on a mountain bike owing to the pressures! A friend, however, absolutely swears by it. Maybe on the next set of wheels!

[spikey]

Another fan of Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour and disc brakes here.  Always had a bike but never been a "Cyclist" in the contemporary sense i.e. I've never ridden a cycle path, never taken a bike anywhere on the back of a car, never worn Lycra, never worn a bicycle helmet, and I always give proper clear hand signals.  Instead, I just ride a bike every day unless the roads are icy, averaging 1400 miles a year mainly round town since we gave up the motor car 9 years ago.

 

Arthritis, ageing and the terrain round here has meant that my 15-year-old Thorn Sherpa (with "straight" bars) is nowadays relegated to #2 bike , with my Batavus pedelec being the main form of transport on account of it offering me the choice of how hard I pedal on the hills.  My Lady Wife has one of each too, her Batavus having replaced her previous Kalkhoff pedelec which had Magura hydraulic rim brakes.  They worked well enough in the dry, but were a major PITA to change blocks on.  By comparison, the Tektro discs on our Batavus bikes work just fine in both wet and dry, and it's so much easier now being able to change the pads without taking a wheel off.

[Nearholmer]

I’ve never considered tubeless tyres, because I listen quietly to other people in the cycling club chatting about them.

They spend hours moaning how they have serious trouble seating the tyres on the rims, how they constantly loose air, and need pumping-up at tea stops, and then go on to say what wonderful things they are.

[37114]

I have got more into cycling this year after we did a virtual "around the world (twice) in 80 days" challenge for Charity at work.  I only have an old Hybrid bike which was a £25 ebay buy and was in pretty poor condition. I have done nearly 4,000 miles on the bike this year as until recently I was out on it 3-4 days a week, while in March I was out everyday and peaked at 350miles in a week. The picture below  was taken at Chew Valley Lake near Bristol when I decided to ride to my parents from home near Chippenham. 

[37114]

Here are a few of my favourite pics while out on the bike;

 

January morning near Melksham 

 

 

Badminton Airport in March

[bgman]

9 hours ago, jcredfer said:

Lovely memories of Devon and delightful pictures.  When / where was the Gibraltar Stone placed?

 

It's many years since going to Woodbury Common to take the 5th Year lads, from an Exeter school, camping for a couple of days.  One evening a group of silent Ghosts drifted out of the evening mists, through the tents and away - otherwise known as the RM on exercise, an etherial experience and never forgotten...  total respect!    Not to mention going there for a day's exercise with the school Cadets and someone set fire to it, with a Thunderflash...  oops!

 

 

 

Hi J,

 

Thank you,

In answer to the Gibratar Stone it is an actual piece of the Rock of Gibraltar, donated to the Royal Marines by the people of Gibraltar in 2014 and placed on Woodbury Common where the Lympstone based Royal Marines train.

I was once having an "off road" session up there and as I rounded a piece of scrubland there laying on the ground infront of me were 6 Marines on a training exercise ! I managed to clear two of them whilst the others rolled out of the way to avoid me. We all had a good laugh and apologised to one another.

 

G

[bgman]

Having sold my mountain bike except for one I decided to calm down and get a comfortable cruiser and take a more leisurely pace around the area.

With the large amount of traffic on todays roads I am very fortunate to have a good variety of cycle path networks which make for more enjoyable rides.

 

Having mentioned Lympstone it is one of my destinations, especially to a nice coffee shop, here is the cruiser at the harbour - 

 

Next onto the other side of the estuary and a ride to Mr.Brunels territory - Starcross

 

 

Then it's a short ride on to Cockwood and the track next to the harbour -

 

 

 

An early evening ride back along the path next to the Exeter Canal as the sun goes down -

 

 

 

A most relaxing time and helps to gather my thoughts whilst doing so.

 

My modelling took a back step last year, no apparent reason, just didn't fancy it and the riding took over which was well worth taking time to do.  

In a little over 3 months I had done 1000 miles without realising it......glorious ! 

 

 

 

There may be more to post.

 

 

G

[newbryford]

Oh good - a positive biking thread!

 

Nothing better than seeing the world at "bike speed".

Although Gisburn Forest at night doesn't give you a lot of time to look around!

 

My main off-road steed is a 9 year old Trek EX8  - I love this bike.

This is at Cannock chase a couple of months back, just before I managed a stupid off and badly bruised my shoulder.

 

 

My wife would say I'm too old for doing stuff like this (at Gisburn Forest)

 

 

[Bernard Lamb]

13 hours ago, PMP said:

If fitting disc brakes was one of the things you had in mind, the forks and rear frame will need the mounting points. If they’re not there they can be fitted, but it’d be a welding job by a frame builder and repaint of the worked area. 

I would be very wary about doing that.

It might be possible to adapt the rear triangle but it would  probably be cheaper and far better to have new front forks fitted that have the mounts attached. The strength of the original forks would probably be inadequate for the stresses of disk brakes. Not worth the risk.

A good many years ago I did hardness and strengths tests for a very well know frame builder and we found that the actual fork end pieces were in several cases not suitable for use with disk brakes due to the force placed on the axle area. That was for high level racing machines mind you. But I would always stress the point of never adapting any part of a bike or any other machine where failure could kill you.

Bernard

[bgman]

6 minutes ago, newbryford said:

I'm too old for doing stuff like this

 

Never ! ( with reservations  ).

 

Two years ago on my 65th birthday I had planned to see my daughter and grandson. As it was such a warm day ( beginning of October ) she suggested I took a ride on my Specialized Levo and have some fun........nuff said don't need to be told twice !

 

I rode up to Haldon Forest on the outskirts of Exeter which certainly gets you warmed up and ready.

 

There are several excellent tracks there, some of which the locals only know about ( naughty  ).

I had several exciting runs and then went onto the main forest tracks - Blue then Red and heard that the Black run had been opened up that day after extensive reworking.

I'd done 4 runs around and went back to the cafe for refreshments. I decided to have just one more run before heading back home.

 

Three quarters of the way round I took a massive fall on a section I'd ridden early, result.......3 broken ribs and one cracked !

 

I was luck that another rider had followed me and helped me to recover myself.

 

Why did I come off ?

 

It turns out that the specific part where I came off had been sabotaged, a hole had been dug and covered over with undergrowth together with some barbed wire placed over that, something I had luckily missed on the previous runs.

I'll leave the reader to put their own words here.

 

I spent my birthday night in the local A & E, and yes it did shake me up, I've had similar or worse over the years on a mountain bike but this time I thought enough is enough if idiots are prepared to do this to designated trails. It has been report to those who manage the trails but due to the expanse it is always going to be difficult to police.

 

Do I miss the mountain bike stuff.....YES

 

Am I glad I did all of it.....YES

 

G

[PMP]

13 minutes ago, Bernard Lamb said:

I would be very wary about doing that.

 

I wouldn’t do it  that’s why I suggested a frame builder. They’dsuggest the new fork route and it’s better coming from a pro than a random forum person 

[Bernard Lamb]

I have been cycling for as long as I can remember. Mainly conventional road riding but I did race on the track long ago and like to potter off road.

I raced for over 60 years but the pandemic halted that for a while and I find it hard to get motivated again.

At one time I had a phase where I would seek out old military or trading routes in the alps.

Back at a time before disk brakes were common descents were fun.

Bernard

[airnimal]

Cycling has been part of my life more or less from birth. Dad never drove or owned a car.

That's me in the chair on the back of the tandem when I was about 18 months old.

You are never to old to ride a bike. When I retired at 65 my brother and myself went with a friend to Romania for a fortnight and we climbed the Transfargarasan road which reaches 7.700' in height. We have been to Cuba, Cambodia, Sri Lanka as well as many other places 

My friend and brother were both 68 at the time and we all still ride today. 

My bikes are a Bromton that I used when I was still working,  a Spa steel frame tourer to used in this country and a Airnimal folder for taking overseas. When overseas travel resumes we hope to continue as long as we can and at the age of 70 I hope I have many more years left even though I can't climb the very steepest hills or go quite as far as I use to.

 

[bgman]

Not quite Surfin' USA .....Exmouth actually ! 

 

[Butler Henderson]

I've had mixed experience with sealent fitted inner tubes with all eventually going flat except for Joes No Flats ones - did have one JNF inner tube that had self sealed itself to the tyre through the pounctures it had! One non JNF inner tube that let me down nearly became a bit of disaster when I as c 20 miles from home with a spare inner tube and two CO2 canisters ; the spare inner had a faulty valve not that I realised that until I had until I had wasted both canisters. Fortunally a passing cyclist give his spare and use of his pump; concerned that I had wasted enough of his time I only put in what I though was enough air without checking - flip, it was rough so use of a pump begged of another cyclist. Lesson learnt; two spare inner tubes and a pump now taken.

[bgman]

Prior to getting the black cruiser I had ordered a retro style one which is produced in Barcelona but due to the current Pandemic it's arrival was delayed somewhat.

 

My first one with a grey frame had issues unfortunately and it was promptly and courteously replaced for me with my second choice frame colour.

 

After a couple of weeks enjoyable riding my favourite coastal paths this sadly developed problems. I worked with both the local distributor and the manufacturer but after various attempts to rectify it I begrudgingly returned it and had a full no quibble refund.

 

Hee they are during happier rides....

 

 

 

 

She gave me smooth and comfortable rides albeit I did change the saddle for the Dutch equivalent of a Brookes saddle.

 

One point of interest is that when selling both of my e-mountain bikes there was considerable interest and I actually got more than I originally paid for them due to the lack of available bikes in the country with the on-going pandemic. Both buyers wanted to pay more than the asking price !!! Strange times.

 

G

 

 

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by bgman

[Nearholmer]

Are those super-cool cruisers e-assisted?

[bgman]

Just now, Nearholmer said:

Are those super-cool cruisers e-assisted?

 

They certainly are, most ennoble too. 

 

I don't intend breaking into too much of a sweat at my age !!! 

 

G

[spikey]

Ref sealants, the only time I've used them is with the Christiania cargo trike when we had that.  We have though tried several different seal-puncture-and-inflate-tyre things, with a complete lack of success irrespective of whether used with Presta, Woods or Schrader valves.   Has anybody ever successfully used one?

 

Whatever, I said in an earlier post that I've never ridden a cycle path.  My Lady Wife has just pointed out that despite all of our mileage being on the roads,  neither of us has ever used a cycle lane ...

[bgman]

15 minutes ago, spikey said:

Has anybody ever successfully used one?

 

Until a few years ago I had never used any sealant in my mountain bike tyres.

 

I then changed using Presta valves as standard on each bike as purchased and have used Stans sealant and low pressures without any problems whatsoever. It saved me on one occasion whilst on Dartmoor and glad i had used it. 

 

As a matter of course I always check / pump my tyres prior to setting out on any rides.

 

15 minutes ago, spikey said:

 despite all of our mileage being on the roads,  neither of us has ever used a cycle lane ...

 

Head above the parapet now....

 

I've ridden for more years than I care to remember and it's only in recent years I have felt vulnerable whilst on the road.

Despite my "offs" on the mountain bike I have always felt safer riding wild trails where I feel to have more control of my surroundings.

 

I do use cycle lanes wherever possible if I need to cut across during a ride to get to an off road track.

 

G