The Cycling Chat Thread

[magneze]

Chelmsford is the safest city. Birmingham the most dangerous city. Apparently. London only 5th most dangerous.

Where is Britain's safest and most dangerous city for cycling? This new research (might) have some answers

Bristol, London and Manchester are all in the top-ten most dangerous cities to cycle in the UK according to research by Claims.co.uk, although crucial factors such as the number of cycling journeys appear to be omitted from the analysis

road.cc

 

[braindancer]

Chelmsford is the safest city. Birmingham the most dangerous city. Apparently. London only 5th most dangerous.

Where is Britain's safest and most dangerous city for cycling? This new research (might) have some answers

Bristol, London and Manchester are all in the top-ten most dangerous cities to cycle in the UK according to research by Claims.co.uk, although crucial factors such as the number of cycling journeys appear to be omitted from the analysis

road.cc

I've cycled through Chelmsford a good number of times when out on long rides out round Essex from East London - it's not somewhere you see many people on bikes!

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I have to cross B’ham city centre when I cycle to work. It’s a miracle I’m still alive tbh. It’s horrendous.

 

[braindancer]

I have to cross B’ham city centre when I cycle to work. It’s a miracle I’m still alive tbh. It’s horrendous.

I've only cycled into Birmingham a couple of times - once in from the north when cycling down from Sheffield and once from the south when cycling up from London. The final bit into the town centre in both directions was not at all fun!

 

[spitfire]

Allll the bikes.

 

[braindancer]

Cycled from London to Brighton off road yesterday which I've never done before. I reccomend it! Thames Path then pick up the River Wey towpath to Guildford and then the Downs Link old railway line to Shoreham.... very nice indeed

 

[nick]

ooh interesting - what's the surface like?
Do you think these would make it - diverge gravel bike e(I assume yes)
White Cambridge hybrid with road types?

 

[klang]

I'd be well up for that!

 

[braindancer]

ooh interesting - what's the surface like?
Do you think these would make it - diverge gravel bike e(I assume yes)
White Cambridge hybrid with road types?

I rode my mountain bike but my mates were on road bikes with gravel tyres. The Downs link is a pretty firm surface... the towpath on the Wey is a bit more gnarly.

Here's the route.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Curiously the Downslink officially starts on top of St Martha's Hill near Guildford, even though it's a track on an old rail line and of course the rail line didn't go up that hill.

 

[likesfish]

Going to be a paid cyclist. Failed my cbt so being made a cyclist traffic warden Stanmer Park - Wikipedia unfortunately can’t work from home as no secure storage for bicycle but can take breaks and lunch there.
Bonus get to enforce the cycle lane on Lewes road to and from the park. A certain butcher won’t be happy. “ It officially can’t be called a reign of terror but finding the loading ban is going to be enforced daily is going to annoy him .

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Spotted beesonthewhatnow's new bike earlier...

 

[Winot]

Stunts near St. Paul’s, Ride London

 

[weepiper]

If you like Danny MacAskill, check out this film an ex-colleague of mine has just posted that he made of some Scottish riders five years before Danny's first one came out. Featuring a lot of early 2000s trouser/chain wallet combos and plenty of inadvisable behaviour on barely adequate bicycles.

 

[MBV]

A lot of skillful riders in that.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Got up at 05:30 today and did a couple of hours before it gets too hot. Was amazing, felt like I had the world to myself

 

[Part 2]

Mechanics/Owners of SRAM equipped bikes. My bike mechanic mate says avoid it, however he's notoriously angry and impatient and to my mind not the greatest mechanic.

On the other hand I've seen others says similar but it could be about particular groupsets, or parts of them.

What's you experiences?

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Mechanics/Owners of SRAM equipped bikes. My bike mechanic mate says avoid it, however he's notoriously angry and impatient and to my mind not the greatest mechanic.

On the other hand I've seen others says similar but it could be about particular groupsets, or parts of them.

What's you experiences?

I think any modern group set is fine if suitably looked after/maintained etc. There’s an awful lot of fanboy nonsense written about them all.

I prefer Shimano to SRAM, but that’s purely because I don’t like double tap that much, and can’t be arsed to unlearn the muscle memory for Shimano.

 

[David Clapson]

I love my SRAM Red Etap 11. No gear cables at all. Doesn't need adjusting. It just works. Lots of other owners like it.

 

[Cid]

Mechanics/Owners of SRAM equipped bikes. My bike mechanic mate says avoid it, however he's notoriously angry and impatient and to my mind not the greatest mechanic.

On the other hand I've seen others says similar but it could be about particular groupsets, or parts of them.

What's you experiences?

Fine. My Rival 1 can be a bit finicky, but it does have a slightly crap internal routing setup and has sustained minor crash damage at the shifter end. Never head any major problems climbing (bearing in mind I've got a system weight of 110kg+ and regularly out the saddle on 8-10% grades). Brakes also do the job... I mean I overheat them all the time, which isn't ideal, but again - combination of weight and descents where it's too dangerous to embrace speed. It is miles better than a 2013 105 groupset I had on a different bike. Groupsets in general have improved vastly I think.

That said parts are expensive... So if you're looking at, say, a £100 difference between the SRAM and Shimano equivalents, look at that too... I'd probably be inclined to stump up the extra depending on the setup, but I don't think there was a Shimano based bike within £300 of mine when I bought (Planet X sale early 2020, just as shit was hitting the fan).

 

[Cid]

Got up at 05:30 today and did a couple of hours before it gets too hot. Was amazing, felt like I had the world to myself

Yeah I did that a few weeks ago to avoid wind... Nice time to be out, different light, way fewer cars (and those with a lower percentage of complete wankers), bit of extra solidarity with the couple of other cyclists I met. Probably try and be up for it on Monday, but tuesday it's apparently 24 already at 4am. Mind you, 24 at 7am too... so maybe.

 

[weepiper]

I know one single mechanic who likes SRAM and approximately thirty that I have worked with over the years who hate it. I'm not a fan. Etap might be better but the cable op groupsets have really horrible tortuous cable routing that goes through way too many tight twists and turns through the shifter and rear mech. It's cheaper than Shimano so it gets specced on bikes to get them to a price point.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Yeah I did that a few weeks ago to avoid wind... Nice time to be out, different light, way fewer cars (and those with a lower percentage of complete wankers), bit of extra solidarity with the couple of other cyclists I met. Probably try and be up for it on Monday, but tuesday it's apparently 24 already at 4am. Mind you, 24 at 7am too... so maybe.

Did a lot in the autumn and early spring, peace and quiet and a very different light…

 

[DownwardDog]

Mechanics/Owners of SRAM equipped bikes. My bike mechanic mate says avoid it, however he's notoriously angry and impatient and to my mind not the greatest mechanic.

On the other hand I've seen others says similar but it could be about particular groupsets, or parts of them.

What's you experiences?

On MTBs I prefer SRAM as the rear mechs are stiffer and a rear wheel change is quicker. You've also got a twist grip option with SRAM which I prefer to RF+. No preference on road bikes between SRAM/Shimano and I'd rate them both (slightly) behind Campagnolo. If he doesn't like fiddly shit that needs patience and concentration he is in the wrong job as a bike mechanic.

 

[Orang Utan]

Anyone planning on cycling tomorrow or Tuesday or is advice against generally? I’m sure it will be ok on the morning commute but getting back in the early evening may pose more of a challenge. I’m supposed to cycle six miles out of town to a posh little village to work tomorrow between the hour of 1pm and 2pm, but am considering begging a lift in an air conditioned car instead.

 

[David Clapson]

I did some cycling in the US in 100 - 110F, and rather enjoyed it. I think the breeze from moving along at 15 mph makes it much more pleasant than walking or standing still. I drank a half litre bottle of water every 15 mins and wore a cotton cap which I splashed water on now and then. Plenty of sun block on face and legs and neck.

 

[DownwardDog]

My club rides at 40+ in the summer here. I've only ever seen two blokes pass out and neither died.

 

[BigTom]

Personally i wouldn't and you need to be careful comparing temperatures without humidity because a dry heat is much easier to deal with than a humid one.

You will need a lot of water as David said if you do decide to cycle but I'd beg that lift to stay out of the lunchtime sun at least, and make sure you have an alternative way home if you cycle in the morning.

I've got to deliver some cycle training this morning and tomorrow morning, today i should be done by 11 so I'm fine with that but tomorrow goes until 1pm and I'm already wondering if we'll be able to do all of it.

 

[weepiper]

I'll be commuting to work as usual but planning to just sit in an easy gear and grind my way slowly in in the morning. It's all downhill on the way home so it shouldn't be too bad. Not sure I would fancy cycling anywhere right in the middle of the day tbh.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I’ll be doing 8 miles each way tomorrow. Will just take it nice and easy, have lots of water etc.