How was your cycle commute?

[pissflaps]

I have sent this to http://www.expresssolicitors.com/ . i encourage you to do the same if you have the time. fuck em.

WRT your 'cycling vs motorists' feature - ignoring for a moment the unhelpful, divisive and downright patronising tone of the piece, the notion that cyclists get hit because they don't wear helmets and hi-viz is patently absurd. Cyclists are more often than not the victim of road traffic incidents as a result of POOR DRIVING, not the lack of safety equipment, the value of which is debatable at best. Where are the sources for your assertions? This is unsubstantiated victim blaming and should be removed from public view forthwith.
Awaiting your reply
Mr P.Flaps

 

[gentlegreen]

fucking hell.

I foresee a need for some organised protests a la Addison Lee.

 

[Dogsauce]

Back in the saddle for my commute yesterday after a bit of ill health, though did part of the inbound journey on the train. Supposed to be taking it easy, but then did a sub-30 minute time on the way home. Going fast is addictive, it's been a frustrating couple of weeks on the bus!

 

[gentlegreen]

I've been making a bit of a nuisance of myself this week.
Lots of people have a chilled stroll home on the path whereas I have need of neurotransmitters and have strength in my legs .. I'm perfectly fine stopping and starting - it's what my legs are for, but I feel guilty about overtaking at 20MPH..

I really ought to do some 20-milers on the way home now it's sunny to get it out of my system.. my hesitation is partly because my rear wheel bearing is loose and I'm waiting for my cone spanners to arrive - and the front derailleur too ... though I only need the middle front sprocket.

 

[gentlegreen]

Well I never expected that.

I ate some PNB sandwiches at 9 am, but only salad for lunch and a couple of bananas, but I knocked several minutes off my usual time going home - hitting nearly 20MPH where I would usually be doing 15, pushing fearlessly into the pain barrier ...

Pretty well the hottest day of the year too.

 

[gentlegreen]

I came across this video today :-



That's one stable bike she's riding ....

 

[PursuedByBears]

Ouch! A big bill for a bike service and a telling-off from the bike mechanic for letting my drivetrain disintegrate and not doing enough maintenance at home. Must do better.

 

[Geri]

Ouch! A big bill for a bike service and a telling-off from the bike mechanic for letting my drivetrain disintegrate and not doing enough maintenance at home. Must do better.

Well, if everyone did more maintenance at home they would soon be moaning about being out of a job.

 

[Geri]

still... probably a good idea not to ride on the pavements.

Tell it to the hand.

 

[Crispy]

Man I talked to at lights was very glad to be warned that the metal-on-metal sound his brakes were making was due to grooves being worn into wheel rims by utterly worn brake pads, which could lead to ruptured wheels.

 

[Ponyutd]

Rode from Harrow to Winsdor and Eton yesterday(two Public schools for the price of one) Enjoyed it immensely. Attacked the uphills like a lunatic as usual. Not too sure why I don't mind hills, in fact I search them out
Potted about Windsor town center and cycled through Eton school....lovely buildings and grounds.
Ended up at Eton Dorney cycling track. Got the camera out and filmed my efforts flying around the track. That is a beast of a track, 2,200m long, but very enjoyable.
Ended up with 48 miles under my ample belt.
I ******* love cycling.

 

[gentlegreen]

Much as I'm better at sprinting, hills are definitely where it's at - though even when I manage to lose the 50-odd extra pounds I'm carrying, my vertigo makes some of them too much for me.
I know he's a very naughty boy, but I'm glad Contador is in the TDF this year - his "bobbing" style has come to mind more than once...
I'm trying to psyche myself up to perfect a regular 50 mile hilly circuit I enjoyed one Sunday a couple of years ago.

 

[gentlegreen]

By the skin of my teeth (ordered far too late in the week, post room at work temporarily displaced), I now have in my hands my new front dérailleur - just as well because I would otherwise have had to settle for just the middle cog - or fitted a slightly less knackered old one.
This time I'm going to go to town with a great deal of grease and a rubber boot made from inner tubes.

I also now have spanners so I can maintain my wheel bearings properly - so I'll be able to tighten up my back brake again.

 

[gentlegreen]

Knocked another minute off my journey time ... and fully-laden ...so physically there must be something in my legs. so it's emotions holding me back at the moment....
Perhaps making my bike work a bit better will inspire me to put in 50 miles at some point...

 

[ferrelhadley]

Did my last big training ride before packing the bike for Glastonbury today. 144 miles. Nice day for it, if muggy as fuck.

 

[DownwardDog]

This time I'm going to go to town with a great deal of grease and a rubber boot made from inner tubes.

This will kill it more quickly - it's just not designed to operate like that. Settle for regular cleaning and modest lubrication. Or just abandon front mechs and go for a 1x9 or 1x8 setup. I run a 1x9 XTR setup on my DT.

 

[gentlegreen]

I need those bottom (and top) gears.

Someone on the CTC forum reckons it's "fretting" at the pivot caused by the last bit of the mechanism rattling about - and it seems the SRAM 3.0 already has the spring he fits to his - but there's still play when at rest.
Not surprising it wears really when it's just a steel pin soft enough to be peened over going through forged steel side plates...

But at the end of the day it's £14.99 over 2 years / 4,000 miles - 15p per week, 2p per day ...

By all accounts Shimano used to make gaiters for their mechs - so I'll at least try that.
Perish the thought I fit a full front mudguard.

 

[DownwardDog]

I need those bottom (and top) gears.

Someone on the CTC forum reckons it's "fretting" at the pivot caused by the last bit of the mechanism rattling about - and it seems the SRAM 3.0 already has the spring he fits to his - but there's still play when at rest.
Not surprising it wears really when it's just a steel pin soft enough to be peened over going through forged steel side plates...

But at the end of the day it's £14.99 over 2 years / 4,000 miles - 15p per week, 2p per day ...

By all accounts Shimano used to make gaiters for their mechs - so I'll at least try that.
Perish the thought I fit a full front mudguard.

I had no idea that the average CTC members' Commodore 64s, PDP-8s and Difference Engines were capable of connecting to the Internet!

Shimano never made a front mech. gaiter but there have been third party ones (I think Lizard Skins made one) that were briefly in vogue for about 10 minutes in the mid 90s. They are a bad idea because a) the shifting requires extra effort to deform the gaiter, this puts extra tension on the cable and load on the pivots and b) they trap water and other crap in the mech. Just fit proper mudguards (SKS) and keep your rig clean.

 

[fredfelt]

Man I talked to at lights was very glad to be warned that the metal-on-metal sound his brakes were making was due to grooves being worn into wheel rims by utterly worn brake pads, which could lead to ruptured wheels.

That has to be the worst sound know to man! Something you only let happen once.

 

[fredfelt]

Did my last big training ride before packing the bike for Glastonbury today. 144 miles. Nice day for it, if muggy as fuck.

Cycling really has to be the best way to get to a festival. There's been a couple of small, local, festivals I have been to where you get a free pint when you arrive on your bike!

Came back to add enjoy your ride! Cycle route 3 might just be useful for you getting to Glastonbury.

 

[fredfelt]

I've been training for a summer job where my commute is my job - next week I start being a bicycle tour guide!

 

[a_chap]

I've been training for a summer job where my commute is my job - next week I start being a bicycle tour guide!

Very nice. Guiding where?

 

[gentlegreen]

Bloody hell.
5 hours !

Pisspotical mechanical things.

I wasn't going to fit a new front mech without replacing the cable, so I push it out of the access hole of the SRAM X4 trigger shifter, but could I get the new one to pass through ?
So I take it apart and then spend an hour consulting (mirror image) videos and losing bits - so I now know more about the things than I wanted to quite frankly. But in the process, I think I found the state of the cable outer played at least a small part in the gradual loss of gears. (need ferrules to fit properly)
(I'm pretty sure weepiper - if not others too told me to check the cable. )

Getting all the gears running smoothly on my bike always seems more of an ordeal than it should, quite frankly.

Then I find that the pair of cone spanners I bought that cover 4 different sizes, don't actually include the 17 mm I needed

 

[DownwardDog]

(I'm pretty sure weepiper - if not others too told me to check the cable. )

We're all fully aware of your longstanding policy of asking for advice then completely ignoring it. We offer the information in the hope that it is of incidental utility to other readers.

 

[gentlegreen]

I've deliberately got very strong wheels because I'm hard on my bike parts and lack the aptitude for wheel-building and hate going to cycle repair shops. Usually the rim wears through before anything else goes wrong and I've bought a whole new wheel.
But my rear wheel now has a disc brake, so apart from the afore-mentioned bearing slack and possible wear, I've started to notice the odd loose spoke, so have finally bought a key.
Is it OK to just nip them up individually with the tyre still on, or does the wheel need re-building completely ?

 

[DownwardDog]

I've deliberately got very strong wheels because I'm hard on my bike parts and lack the aptitude for wheel-building and hate going to cycle repair shops. Usually the rim wears through before anything else goes wrong and I've bought a whole new wheel.
But my rear wheel now has a disc brake, so apart from the afore-mentioned bearing slack and possible wear, I've started to notice the odd loose spoke, so have finally bought a key.
Is it OK to just nip them up individually with the tyre still on, or does the wheel need re-building completely ?

As long as you don't have broken spokes or nipples then just take the tyre off and true the wheel. Lateral then radial then dish then tension.

 

[gentlegreen]

Of course it may be more trouble than it's worth and not easy to deal with the muck from the rear tyre ...

 

[gentlegreen]

As long as you don't have broken spokes or nipples then just take the tyre off and true the wheel. Lateral then radial then dish then tension.

But this is me we're talking about.
As a way to delay the trip to get the wheel properly sorted, am I better off taking the slack out of the odd spoke, or just leaving them loose ?

 

[gentlegreen]

OOps - just checked out Sheldon Brown and he points out that spokes don't get loose, rims distort, so loose spokes are best left where they are or you're just consolidating the distortion.

Oh well, I'll have to see what the bearings are like and decide whether to get a whole new wheel built - seeing as I don't currently have a spare rear wheel with a disc hub.

 

[DownwardDog]

View attachment 34144

Of course it may be more trouble than it's worth and not easy to deal with the muck from the rear tyre ...

Why don't you have mudguards?