How was your cycle commute?

[weltweit]

Perhaps you should find another barber, or walk.. or even better buy some clippers and do it yourself.

There are loads of hairdressers in my local town now, almost as many as there are charity shops, but I like the one I go to and they know me. As to clippers I have been thinking about getting a short short cut but so far have not felt brave enough.

 

[Frances Lengel]

I don't like carrying things either, I see it as an unpleasant but necessary ballache though. Certainly better than coming back to your parking spot to be confronted with an absence of bicycle.

 

[gentlegreen]

I have a D lock mounted on the frame. Its heavy cable is in my rear basket - along with a second cable and padlock that goes through my Brooks saddle as well as the rear wheel and whatever I'm locking it to.

Fitting a basket was the first thing I did when I started cycling over 25 years ago. It only took one shirt to slip out of my bag and into the wheel.

 

[weltweit]

I don't like carrying things either, I see it as an unpleasant but necessary ballache though. Certainly better than coming back to your parking spot to be confronted with an absence of bicycle.

Yes but do you carry your locks in a rucksack or around your shoulders (I want to avoid that as it might injure me in a fall) .... ?

eta: I see your post now....

No basket on mine atm ... mudguards though

 

[Frances Lengel]

In me bag. It's extra weight but I don't really mind.

 

[ddraig]

more exercise init

 

[DownwardDog]

The bottom bracket is technically too long, but I can't see how the few mm I have spare would make any difference...

If the lower limit screw can't prevent the front mech dropping the chain off the smallest "cog" then the BB is too big - it's that simple. The plate thickness of the chain is only 1.22mm (I've just measured one) so mm do count.

Why don't you just get the correct BB?

 

[gentlegreen]

If the lower limit screw can't prevent the front mech dropping the chain off the smallest "cog" then the BB is too big - it's that simple. The plate thickness of the chain is only 1.22mm (I've just measured one) so mm do count.

Why don't you just get the correct BB?

Actually I found the old one the other day so no problem ordering the right one... it's been mostly fine though - I only changed it for one chainset I had a couple of years ago and wouldn't refit an old one.

I won't really know if yesterday's tweaks improved matters until I can actually ride the bike.
My gear-changing technique is bad - partly born of having had grip shifters for years.. plus I'm a fairly agricultural sort of cyclist.

I'm going to be measuring other people's chainlines now.

I did consider "tweaking" the front dérailleur so it wasn't quite so snappy.

 

[DownwardDog]

I'm going to be measuring other people's chainlines now.

Most bicycle drivetrains are designed to work effectively with a 'centre-to-centre' alignment give or take a few mm. You can use a Park CLG-2 to check it.

 

[gentlegreen]

flipping heck a tool for everything !
Mine is pretty well spot-on in that regard - I have an 8 speed cassette and it looks slightly nearer to being in-line on the fourth from top as opposed to fourth from bottom.

 

[pissflaps]

common practise is to turn your bike upside down and rest it on the handlebars / saddle outside barber shops.

this does not make it any less easy to nick.

 

[gentlegreen]

Or just drop it in the shop doorway.

 

[Dogsauce]

I don't like carrying things either, I see it as an unpleasant but necessary ballache though. Certainly better than coming back to your parking spot to be confronted with an absence of bicycle.

My lodger has a nice Trek District which weighs about half as much as my old steel-framed tourer, but the weight advantage is lost by him having to carry two massive D-locks everywhere in a rucksack. I'll only cart my D-lock about if I'm locking it in town or at night somewhere, and I have another cheap Halfords D-lock in the shelter at work so I don't need to carry one on my commute.

(The only disadvantage with the latter approach is when I decide I want to pop into a shop on the way home and then remember I have no lock, usually only after I've taken a diversion to get to the shop)

I'm actually in London with my Pashley for the weekend, but I'm pretty much too paranoid to leave it locked anywhere after reading too many London cycling forums & seeing too many TV shows. It's nothing like as bad in the north, most bikes seem to get pinched from homes or garages up my way, there isn't the critical mass of thieves and sellers.

 

[pissflaps]

that's not what CM is about man...

or is it?

 

[a_chap]

I'm actually in London with my Pashley for the weekend, but I'm pretty much too paranoid to leave it locked anywhere after reading too many London cycling forums & seeing too many TV shows.

I'm also paranoid when it comes to leaving my Pashley anywhere! However if I have to park it some where then I bought one of these...

 

[gentlegreen]

I imagine those worried about carrying stuff on their bike are skinny feckers.

Though I have to confess the insanely heavy lock I bought from work at a discount has only seen one outing so far - I suspect their main concern was protecting bikes locked up at work - with people leaving them there.

 

[a_chap]

Lovely and sunny this morning but my legs were knackered after the weekend's ride so I rode very slowly and soaked up the sun

 

[suki456]

Im debating with myself over this cycling jersey for summer, its got large back pockets (my new bike doesn't do bags well ) and its very LOUD, which safety wise is what Im looking for, but... Can't decide.

 

[ferrelhadley]

Getting back from Glastonbury yesterday was a bit of a hard days shift. The weather seemed pretty damned warm.

 

[Crispy]

Well I've been cycling 10 years in London and just had my first white van man get out of his van ask me if I wanted some. My crime? Riding out from the edge of a narrow road and daring to turn left from the middle. I was signalling left (arm outstretched) so he gunned it and passed me on the left, blocking my way. I thought I would be calm. I wasn't calm, and swore at him every way I knew. He actually said he paid road tax



(Behind this view, cars are parked on both sides of the road)

No blows were traded. He was delayed by 30 seconds on whatever mission of vital importance he had.

 

[pissflaps]

^ hung like a cashew, innit.

 

[pissflaps]

had a 'conversation' with the no-neck trucky that habitually parks his 18 wheel beer dray artic outside the dogstar on the double yellows and in the ASL this morning, long after the signposted loading hours. Lambeth Council is getting an 'appalled, tunbridge wells' later today.

fuck that guy!

 

[Crispy]

Oh and the Dogstar delivery truck was parked right over the ASL and part of the ped crossing on Railton Road again.

EDIT: I should really read the most recent post before posting

 

[gentlegreen]

He actually said he paid road tax

It's a bit like a surreal version of QI.

Like being a total arsehole in an Audi - the road tax "meme" has been covered everywhere in the media.

 

[gentlegreen]

Back on the bike after an extended weekend resting my nether regions.
The sharp pain has gone, but the chick pea-sized body of the cyst is still making its presence felt.
I'm going to have to try a cotton wool pad in my pants and see if they'll remove it at my local surgery - though I wonder how long I would be off the bike after actual surgery....

 

[suki456]

^ good grief, unbelievable. (though I dont know why I think its unbelievable I should know better cycling round London, maybe the driver shouting at a kid, ffs)

 

[suki456]

(Also, 4 'likes' for the cycle jersey, great Im going for it, it IS cool isn't it!)

 

[suki456]

Back on the bike after an extended weekend resting my nether regions.
The sharp pain has gone, but the chick pea-sized body of the cyst is still making its presence felt.
I'm going to have to try a cotton wool pad in my pants and see if they'll remove it at my local surgery - though I wonder how long I would be off the bike after actual surgery....

Hope it all works out. I have only recently bought padded shorts, they do make a difference.

 

[gentlegreen]

I normally have no need of extra padding - two cotton slips and a Brooks B17.
This will be a bit like a corn plaster.

 

[gentlegreen]

^ good grief, unbelievable. (though I dont know why I think its unbelievable I should know better cycling round London, maybe the driver shouting at a kid, ffs)

What worries me is she actually believed she'd been there 20 minutes - surely she must be on medication of some sort ?
Perhaps she was desperate for the loo.