The Cycling Chat Thread

[Dogsauce]

The fucking puncture fairy came in the night, which I only discovered 20 mins before I had to catch my train back up to Leeds from King's Cross. Had to do a quick swap over for the Pashley, leaving my speedy bike stranded in the capital. I'd spent the last few days planning a few strava assaults to take advantage of the strong winds this week once I was back in the north, and now I can't do shit. Bollocks. Two KOMs snatched off me so far this week and I can't fight back. *shakes fist at God*

 

[a_chap]

Have to say I made a poor decsion today. Got honked by a car and thought "fair enough, I could have ridden that roundabout better".

I guess in some way it balances the dozen or so c*nts that passed me too close this week.

 

[Sister Midnight]

Brompton is heavy and awkward to carry. Also get the rear rack as helps it push along apparently. I only got 'easy wheels' - still won't push along when semi folded- the tyres rub. How much weight do you save with titanium frame?

 

[The Boy]

Get thee to kickstarter:

It weighs what? Meet the Hummingbird: world’s lightest folding bike + video

No idea howmuch it costs though. Probably two bromptons.

 

[Winot]

Brompton is heavy and awkward to carry. Also get the rear rack as helps it push along apparently. I only got 'easy wheels' - still won't push along when semi folded- the tyres rub. How much weight do you save with titanium frame?

600 grams! Pound a gram!

Ridiculous really but I compared them in the shop and it is noticeable. I'm justifying it on the basis of amortising the cost over at least 10 years (relying on colacubes testimony).

Get thee to kickstarter:

It weighs what? Meet the Hummingbird: world’s lightest folding bike + video

No idea howmuch it costs though. Probably two bromptons.

"To be in line for a Hummingbird you need to pledge at least £990 on the Kickstarter page. That’s the super-early backer deal for a singlespeed 16in Hummingbird that’s likely to retail at about £1,550."

Maybe I'll hold off on the Brompton...

 

[steeeve]

600 grams! Pound a gram!

Ridiculous really but I compared them in the shop and it is noticeable. I'm justifying it on the basis of amortising the cost over at least 10 years (relying on colacubes testimony).



"To be in line for a Hummingbird you need to pledge at least £990 on the Kickstarter page. That’s the super-early backer deal for a singlespeed 16in Hummingbird that’s likely to retail at about £1,550."

Maybe I'll hold off on the Brompton...

Helix™ - The World's Best Folding Bike by Helix Labs Inc. — Kickstarter

This one looks less shit

 

[Winot]

Helix™ - The World's Best Folding Bike by Helix Labs Inc. — Kickstarter

This one looks less shit

That looks great actually. 9kg/£1250 for 10 speed hub vs. 12kg/£1670 for the Brompton 3 speed hub.

 

[steeeve]

That looks great actually. 9kg/£1250 for 10 speed hub vs. 12kg/£1670 for the Brompton 3 speed hub.

I very nearly went for the 11 speed alfine it was just over a grand if you got in early enough

 

[Dogsauce]

I'm looking at my new wheels leaning in the corner of my room, 190 miles away from the rest of my bike, hearing the wind whistle past outside at quite a pace, sobbing. I want to go out and play.

 

[The Boy]

I gave up on the endless punctures and bought a new wheel. Had the rear wheel off the bike and heard something rattling inside the rim so figured a replacement was possibly needed, and any time spent getting it looked at by someone who knows what they're doing was more money spent on tram fares.

Long story short, even with the discount Wiggle were offering I couldn't justify a new pair of Campag Khamsin wheels (the old ones were bought from friend-of-a-friend for waaay less than retail), so now I no longer have incredibly satisfyingly clacky, sound-like-a-pro rear hub. Which means I need to buy a bell cos folk one the paths can't hear me coming from a million miles away anymore.

 

[DownwardDog]

I very nearly went for the 11 speed alfine it was just over a grand if you got in early enough

The 11 speed Alfines aren't well sealed against water IME. The seals on the 8 speed Alfine is as tight as as drum though, I reckon you could use one underwater. Rohloff is the (expensive) way to go for 11 speed IGH.

 

[Crispy]

incredibly satisfyingly clacky, sound-like-a-pro rear hub

I hear these sometimes. What's the big deal?

 

[DownwardDog]

I hear these sometimes. What's the big deal?

More expensive freehubs use stiffer pawl springs for faster engagement which can be louder. Not always though, Dura-Ace C50s aren't that loud but still have super rapid engagement thanks to offset pawls. Chris King hubs sound like firecrackers.

 

[Crispy]

intuition says to me that must bleed more energy while freewheeling, but I imagine the difference is very small.

 

[Boycey]

chris king, DT and goldtec use a completely different mechanism to everyone else's, campag and hope have 3 pawls rather than the 2 most others use... in actual use it probably makes very little difference though i've noticed i gain speed on downhills on my DTs faster than most other set ups of people i ride with who aren't using low end machines at all...

 

[Dogsauce]

Managed to lose my good back light this week on Wednesday, pretty sure I took it off the bike when I locked it in the rack outside work, but may have dropped it between the rack and the building, or somewhere inside. Whatever, it's gone and not been handed in. Then on Thursday night I managed to lose the rubber strap for attaching my front light - took the lights off to pop in the supermarket for one minute, came out and couldn't find it when I wanted to put the lights back on, searched every nook of my rucksack which was full of lots of other crap. Not doing well!

 

[Dogsauce]

on Thursday night I managed to lose the rubber strap for attaching my front light - took the lights off to pop in the supermarket for one minute, came out and couldn't find it when I wanted to put the lights back on, searched every nook of my rucksack which was full of lots of other crap. Not doing well!

Walking down Central St last night the girlfriend sees a penny in the street, picks it up because she says it's good luck, and 5 metres later I find one of the rubber light straps on the pavement more or less exactly the same as the one I lost. Nice Karma. Unfortunately I have yet to find a Lezyne Zecto rear light on my travels so I'm probably going to have to fork out twenty odd quid for a new one.

 

[IC3D]

I've got a cree front light now but I can't be arsed to ride in the cold to try it out

 

[Orang Utan]

Yesterday, i saw a nutter going up a steep hill on a FreeCross!

 

[a_chap]

Jeez that looks like a heavy yet cheap version of an Elliptigo!

 

[rubbershoes]

New wheels

 

[Dogsauce]

Finally got round to putting on my new wheels and tyres a couple of weeks ago. I've dropped the weight of my bike by just over half a kilo, at a cost of several hundred quid. Unfortunately since being down in London on paternity/parental leave with no daily 17-mile hilly commute, plus Christmas gob-stuffing I seem to have increased my own weight by about 3kg.

I'll lose it in the spring.

The bike does seem to accelerate faster, and feels nicer cornering, I do notice the difference.

 

[Ponyutd]

Germany opens first stretch of bicycle ‘autobahn’

 

[a_chap]

Autobahn? Unlimited speed? Hurrah! Somewhere I can finally ride my bike at 100 mph

Erm, hang on a sec....

 

[Sister Midnight]

Link doesn't work for me. Was it an April Fool joke or something?

 

[a_chap]

I don't think it's an April Fool's joke and the link still works for me.

Anway the article basically says "...that Germany has just opened the first 5km stretch of a traffic-free bicycle highway that is set to span over 100km. Running largely along disused railroad tracks, the network will connect 10 western cities in the Ruhr region."

 

[DownwardDog]

I took a risk on tubulars for a 140km sportif this morning... puncture 60km from home. My distinctly not amused wife had to come and pick me up.

 

[Sister Midnight]

Good to hear Germany is taking cycle infrastructure seriously...
Oh dear... I've always thought to leave tubulars to the pros with their support vehicles - I'm bad enough with clincher punctures! - are they much nicer to ride?

 

[DownwardDog]

Oh dear... I've always thought to leave tubulars to the pros with their support vehicles - I'm bad enough with clincher punctures! - are they much nicer to ride?

I wouldn't say they are much nicer but you can definitely feel the difference. Particularly when accelerating or attacking up a climb. This is particularly valuable given the relaxed and chilled out nature of club rides in Australia. FUCKING ROLL OVER THE CUNT! GET ON THE FUCKING FRONT! YOU FUCKING RIDING OR HIDING?

 

[weepiper]

Came off my bike on some black ice on a corner on Friday morning, hit the deck with some force I took most of it on my shoulder but whacked my head hard off the road too. Very disorientating. Luckily I was with someone (we were going mountain biking) and not far from home because it was quite fucking sore! That's the first proper crash I've had for years and it's bollocksed me right up ruptured AC joint in my shoulder, the A and E doctor said no riding bikes for 4 weeks and I'm going to be fucked at work too. In a sling for at least a week.





I have given some thought to what my skull might be looking like if I'd not had a helmet on. Brrr.