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More pedal power chat.
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Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 24 Jan 15 at 18:07
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>> Amazing!
Absolutely. I was very impressed when I saw a one-legged cyclist on that trail which begins in Okehampton. In the UK, we don't stare at people with physical handicaps, so, if he hadn't ridden past twice, I would possibly have dismissed him as a daydream.
There's an interesting part in that article which indicates how amateur cyclists can live their professional dreams in the way that football fans can't. It's obvious, but I'd never thought of it in that way before. I think it's why parts of Surrey now have so many cyclists on the roads.
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A cheaper option for Runfers new bike, only three grand, and its a Ferrari !
As stated earlier pedals are obviously an option. :)
colnago.com/cf12-2-2/?lang=am
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 4 Dec 14 at 14:30
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It's not actually all that wonderfully specced for the price. Lot of money for the badge I suspect.
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Just like premium German cars, eh. :)
I see there is what looks like a pipe going to the top of the front forks, are they adjustible?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 4 Dec 14 at 16:09
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Probably a remote lock out control. You want your forks solid when you're climbing but with spring when descending on the rough.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Thu 4 Dec 14 at 16:14
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Thanks, my bike has solid iron forks. Mountains are for skis not bikes.:)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 4 Dec 14 at 16:20
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Looks bloomin' nice though, especially in red. But why a mountain bike and not a road bike - or does this count as Ferrari's first SUV?
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My neighbour has just arrived home in his new car. A brand new one of those Porsche Cayenne SUVs, again seems a bit of a misnomer, a Porsche SUV. Not jealous though, who would be?
Anyway, he's fat, bald and Welsh and his wife is ugly.
;-)
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Well beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say. Some must fine the Cayenne a nice car to look at. He probably likes his wife too. But I'm guessing on both counts.
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I *really* like the Cayenne, and its lovely to drive.
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You're Welsh too right?
;-)
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>>
>> Anyway, he's Welsh.
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>> ;-)
>>
No need to be spiteful!
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I saw loads of Wales when I was in the fjords recently.
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It can't be Bromp, the wheels are too big, but Runfer? :)
tinyurl.com/ormq3bl
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Don't do road bikes and don't do Lycra. Only do helmets when it's going to be scary. Apart from that it's uncannilly similar. Oh and my wife is a brunette.
;-)
Edit - and she wouldn't be seen dead in those shoes. Actually, I wouldn't let her be seen alive in them.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Thu 11 Dec 14 at 17:53
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>> Edit - and she wouldn't be seen dead in those shoes. Actually, I wouldn't let her be seen alive in them.
I know you have strong and unnecessarily well-informed views on footwear Humph, and I enjoy teasing you about it.
But all joking apart, what is so awful about the poor blonde girl's shoes? They look a bit new and shiny, but could easily be made of proper materials. High heels like that can look good on decent legs.
Most of my nearest women don't wear show-off high heels like that, but the middle daughter does, in fact worse and more expensive ones than that, and she sort of carries it off OK. 'Mummy's big clompy shoes', her youngest daughter calls them.
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>>what is so awful...
Styling mundane and dated, quality, even from this distance is not even mundane. Quite a good looking girl, spoiled, as with many British women, by their lack of attention to their accessories.
No wonder he goes out on his bike.
;-)
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I will confess to having some lycra, but the one thing I won't do is pretend sponsors logos. If you want me to wear your branded stuff, at the very least you give it to me or pay for the privilege. Barclays Bank so far gave me a T shirt but nobody else has given me anything.
Same attitude to stickers on cars and I'll only take the three wheeler to charity events or where the cost to me is zero. Want me to pay, no chance. Might sound a harsh attitude but even with that constraint one ends up with a pretty full diary.
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>> Same attitude to stickers on cars and I'll only take the three wheeler to charity
>> events or where the cost to me is zero. Want me to pay, no chance.
>> Might sound a harsh attitude but even with that constraint one ends up with a
>> pretty full diary.
>>
With you on that one. I daresay that you much prefer driving the Mog to standing around all day answering the same questions from folk "whose grandad had one of those" and I certainly never pay for the privilege either. If your car, like my old Harley, is showing the scars of a well-used life rather than the shiny paint and spotlessly clean mudguards of a show pony, then it gets even more irksome when some idiot comes up and asks you when you're going to restore it!
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>> If your car, like my old Harley, is showing the scars of a well-used life rather than the shiny paint and spotlessly clean mudguards of a show pony, then it gets even more irksome when some idiot comes up and asks you when you're going to restore it!
Tee hee! There are enthusiasts, potential enthusiasts on a learning curve and a lot of moronic nerd rubberneckers.
Mind you I imagine the enthusiasts can be a bit tiresome sometimes... 'Wasn't that the model with the four inclined Amal carbs with no balance pipes and the very long trumpets? Hard luck old boy... how long did it take you to get here? Oh no, sorry, I see you have a non-VSCC-approved modification on yours... 'Straordinary fellow...' (walks away shaking head sadly).
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At least you and Slidey have your engines on display....the number of people who come up to me and tell me that my car was designed by Fords to a VW design with it's side valve engine in the back and front wheel drive.
Most won't be told any different !
I won't pay for shows either. Nor will I pay to camp there with the caravan.
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>>
>> At least you and Slidey have your engines on display....
That can be a mixed blessing. The 45 also being a side-valve and the plugs therefore being in the top of the heads, those with limited knowledge (proof of the old adage) often insist that it's a two-stroke, and won't be persuaded even if I start the damn thing up.
Despite the fact that it has quite large badges on the tank announcing the manufacturer's name for all to see, I also regularly get asked if it's an Indian. The worst offenders in this respect, believe it or not, are people who own modern Harleys; proof of another old adage, "all the gear, no idea".
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Some advice and thoughts please...
No. 2 is 10 and a competent cyclist. She cycles almost exclusively on roads, cycle paths and calm smooth dust roads.
If she sits on her bike, then she can put both feet down on tip toes.
As she is cycling, then when the pedal is at the top of its revolution her upper leg is more or less horizontal.
When the pedal is at the bottom of the travel her leg is nowhere near extended.
1) What is a rough guide for saddle height? (For a child of 10)
2) Does it sound as if the frame is too small for her?
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sat 13 Dec 14 at 16:19
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1/ sounds like the saddle is set exactly right
2/ sounds like the frame is getting small for her
3/ it's Christmas...
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1) Thought so
2) Dammit, suspected that might be the case.
3) What are you? Her agent?
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Now that *is* useful thank you.
Where should the frame size be measured?
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It'll be marked on it ( or it should ) but it's the length of the tube which runs from the bottom of the seatpost to the pedals.
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While I have your attention;
What's the relationship between frame size and wheel rim size?
Shouldn't frame size be related to inside leg, rather than height?
And on another subject, you may recall I was stressing about what type of tyres to use a while ago. Eventually a combination tyre was the way to go, there just isn't enough rain here to matter about a loss of traction on a road or enough out-and-out mud to worry about serious off road stuff.
Where I do go off road, its mostly rock and sufficiently dangerous that it'll be 10 years before I let the girls anywhere near it.
You'd love it. And you'd scare the crap out of the boy.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sat 13 Dec 14 at 16:48
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Well, it's a bit of both really. You need a frame which suits your overall height but the fine tuning is done with the seat post. Two ways of getting it there or thereabouts, one is to do exactly what you've done by setting it so she's on tip toes, the other is to get her to push a pedal to the bottom of its travel with her heel, leg straight, and it'll be about right.
Lots of debate about wheel sizes at the moment. On MTBs there is a relatively new fashion for bigger wheels either 29" or 650b ( 27.5" ) where for years a "standard" MTB wheel has for years been 26".
The bigger wheels are undoubtedly more stable at speed and "roll through" obstacles more easily but they don't change direction as quickly on the rough stuff. For what it's worth I still prefer 26" but I'm old. For an analogy, if you're a skier you'll know that a long ski runs faster but a short one turns quicker. Kind of similar choice.
At ten I'm guessing your daughter will be a bit big for a 24" wheel and maybe a bit small for a 26" but better to get her the larger wheel if she can ride it comfortably. Otherwise you might be buying her another bike next Christmas !
I know with my son, at about that age, I made that mistake and he grew through it in just over a year.
One more thing, a lot of girls and women get put off cycling because they get given or buy small mens bikes. Some are fine with that but just bear in mind that girls tend to have proportionately longer legs in relation to their spine length than boys.
The effect of putting a girl on a boys bike is that she will lean forward too much as the top tube will be too long for her and that causes particular saddle discomfort for girls.
A girls frame might still be a 16" say, but it'll have a shorter top tube ( "crossbar" ) which suits their physical shape better.
Look at a mans bike ( when it's the correct size ) and most probably the saddle will be physically higher than the handlebars, look at a women's specific bike and the saddle will be at either the same height or even ever so slightly lower than the bars which affords girls a much more comfortable seating position.
Still awake at the back there ?!
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>>At ten I'm guessing your daughter will be a bit big for a 24" wheel and maybe a bit small for a 26"
Correct.
Right now she has both. (I haven't been down and measured the frames yet). But the bicycle with the 26" wheels, even with the saddle at its lowest setting, is too big.
The bike with the 24" wheels can achieve the saddle height, but the frame seems small - or at least the distance from top pedal height to bottom pedal height.
I guess we just weather the changeover for a couple of months.
Both girls have girl's bikes. All considerably more expensive than my own 11 year old example.
Amazing really. I bought mine in about 2003 or thereabouts and it was £600. I bought my wife a new bike about a year ago for around £300. Yet hers is superior to mine by every feature that matters, as far as I can see.
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>>it's the length of the tube
Sorry;
Specifically the length of the tube? So from the edge of the bit where the saddle goes in until the join where it meets the pedal bearing barrel?
And marked where?
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sat 13 Dec 14 at 16:50
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Usually just a sticker and yes you're measuring it correctly.
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>> >>it's the length of the tube
>>
>> Sorry;
>>
>> Specifically the length of the tube? So from the edge of the bit where the
>> saddle goes in until the join where it meets the pedal bearing barrel?
>>
>> And marked where?
>>
With most frames now which have a sloping top tube (Compact frames) the length of the seat tube is irrelevant. Frame size is governed by "Virtual" top tube length, which is the distance from centre of head tube to centre of seat post measured as if it were horizontal. Provided the length is correct and she's not cramped or over stretching height can be adjusted by raising and lowering the saddle. Even the pro riders now get off the peg frames rather than made to measure, with a choice of only three different sizes. Compact frames have much more adjustment available than the old standard ones that used to be the norm.
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>>Provided the length is correct
How would I know?
Because surely this is down to arm/body length not leg length?
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How tall is your daughter?
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4' 5" or 1.34m.
Not lanky like her Father or sister, short like her Mother.
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Stick with the small bike for now then. When she reaches 4'10" or so you could look at a bigger one.
Approx 14" frame at that stage would work.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sat 13 Dec 14 at 19:12
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>>When she sits on the bike does she look natural and comfortable?
Off to measure.
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Two bikes;
1) 24" wheels
Saddle to handlebars 50cm
Saddle to pedal hub 28cm
(marked as 12" frame)
2) 26" wheels
Saddle to Handlebars 50cm
Saddle to pedal hub 40cm
(frame not marked)
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sat 13 Dec 14 at 19:23
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>>
>> How would I know?
>>
>> Because surely this is down to arm/body length not leg length?
>>
When she sits on the bike does she look natural and comfortable? That's really all there is to it, I can't give specific advice because my own riding position is what I got used to when I was racing so would be too aggressive and uncomfortable for most.
There is no hard and fast rule despite what you may be told, safety and comfort are what should dictate outside of specialist disciplines.
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>>When she sits on the bike does she look natural and comfortable?
No.
Saddle to handlebars looks about right to my uneducated eye. So does saddle to floor.
But saddle to pedals looks all wrong.
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>> Where should the frame size be measured?
>>
If it's raining, best in the garage or shed. Otherwise, anywhere in the garden or drive will do :-)
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Frame size is essentially the length of the seat tube, usually from the crank centre to the top of the tube, right where the seat post goes in.
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>> Frame size is essentially the length of the seat tube, usually from the crank centre
>> to the top of the tube, right where the seat post goes in.
>>
That's the method used on a conventional "Garden gate" frame. On a modern frame with a rear sloping top tube it's frame length that matters, seat posts are now long enough to give loads of up and down adjustment.
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Is the newly 'cool' sport of cycling really the new golf?
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/30422698
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The current cycling boom echos the motorcycling boom of 15 years ago. Middle aged men buying high end kit on the back of the surge of interest in World Superbikes fueled by our very own Carl Fogerty's dominance, a charismatic personality who had become one of the country's best known sportsmen.
I've been cycling all my life and booms have come and gone though not at the present level. However, as with the powered two wheelers it will end sooner rather than later and the cycle shops that have sprung up on the back of it will go the same way of the motorcycle dealers who were making money hand over fist, ie straight to Carey Street.
The quicker the rise, the more spectacular the fall.
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I'm an accidental hobby cyclist in many ways. I rode regularly from an early age mainly for convenience but also to keep myself in shape for my real passion of skiing.
A childhood in Scotland allowed me to pursue that and by sheer coincidence my first job being for a company based in Switzerland was a real result.
However, as life moved on and I moved about I couldn't always regularly or economically access my hobby so it gradually morphed into mountain biking. I'd always enjoyed off road biking but never really thought of it as a hobby or passion, just a fun pastime really.
I can't easily or cheaply grab a days skiing now but I can just chuck some bikes on the car roof and head for the hills at the drop of a hat and the price of some diesel.
Hammering down a mountain or forest track on a bike is almost, not quite, but almost as much of a buzz as chucking yourself down one on a couple of planks and you're never very far from somewhere you can do it.
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When I was a boy of about 14, I was riding with a pal down Leith Walk in Edinburgh which for those who don't know it, starts from the city end with a steepish downward hill. In those days there was a pretty big roundabout a the bottom of that first section.
My mate's front brake cable snapped just as he was approaching the roundabout at speed and he panicked a bit and grabbed the rear brake too hard which as he was leaning left to negotiate the roundabout, put him into a broadside skid ( it was raining ) and he shot right under the trailer of a moving artic which was navigating the roundabout. In some ways his speed helped him as he and his bike slithered straight through and out the other side.
Aperture from some missing skin from his left knee he was uninjured.
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Chinese tradition sets much store by 'luck' and its variants.
Alas, the Chinese cyclist and Humph's friend were exceptions to the rule. Perhaps not that exceptional or we'd all be dead, but feelgood stuff. Terrible cruel things happen on the road every day in large numbers. It's a minefield out there.
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Keep watching....and be prepared to jump -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8uCeyUl_9U
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Broke m'best bike today. Bit of a heavy landing. Totally knackered the back section of the frame and resultantly sent the rear derailleur into the wheel. Not pretty.
Ok, so I've got a couple ( well maybe more than a couple ) of older ones which will sort of do...
But it is Christmas eh?
;-)
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You've been planning this for week :-)
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Whoops...You knacked one....I made up for it by making one.
Got the caravan warmed up and set to making the 4 yr old's present up in it.. A 14 inch mountain bike.
Pig of a job...everything needed doing I couldn't do anything with the pressed out spanner provided and resorted to my Snap On metric long reach sockets. The seat needed positioning on the top of the pillar and I had to use a strong arm with a socket to initially undo it to get it level.
The tyres came flat and the crap handbook didn't give the pressures. Good job they were marked on the tyre...36 psi. I did one ok then the electric pump seemed to change note and stop working. I resorted to No,2 pump...a Fiesta one...and completed the job, powering it off No1 pump which was in the Booster Battery pack. With it's balance wheels on it was a right struggle to hold it in position to do the tyres.
Like trying to tie-wrap the legs of a live octopus together with one hand...........I imagine !
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>> Broke m'best bike today. Bit of a heavy landing. Totally knackered the back section of
>> the frame and resultantly sent the rear derailleur into the wheel. Not pretty.
Had to happen i guess, getting older, putting on a few pounds, poor reactions.
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Ok, forgot the ;-)
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sun 21 Dec 14 at 19:53
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>> Ok, forgot the ;-)
memory going as well?
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He still planned on breaking the bike with or without the smiley. There's evidence of his thinking on here. He might be found out by the 'boss' :-)
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Got my best bike back from the workshop yesterday, all fixed. It's going up a hill later.
There are still some original parts on on it, I think...
Whistles and shuffles off...
;-)
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Missed last weekend on the MTBs for various reasons. Son wants to go today. But it's sooooooo ccccccold !
According to the sub thread below it'll stop me getting old though.
I'll just put the kettle on again and think about it for a bit...
;-)
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The results of research by Kings College:
tinyurl.com/nra3gg7
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I managed to break the chain on my mountain bike over Christmas. I'm still not sure how or why. The chain was 9 months old, well lubed. OK, I had just cycled through a couple of long puddles, but I'm sure that can't have cleaned all the lube off. My only thought is whether a stone got caught and forced the chain apart, looking at the damage.
And so for the first time in my life, I have repaired a bike chain!
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From the information given, that is not a scientific study - more like an advertisement for bicycles.
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And it does say "and heavy exercise in general", although I guess it's better than running because it's relatively low impact (but more dangerous?).
Last edited by: Focusless on Tue 6 Jan 15 at 14:11
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BTW like the video report of the cyclo-cross - who needs mountain bikes :)
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In brief - new scheme being developed nationally, apparently, and we (Cambridgeshire) as well as Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire are keen for it to happen.
If a cyclist gets caught jumping a red light or any of the other things that get complained about a lot (here) then instead of a fine they can go on a course, as a motorist might for speeding.
Thoughts? Cambridge isn't unique, but we do have a lot of transgressions of various sorts, all tied up with itinerant populations, tiny area, high proportion of cyclists and so on, none of which are sufficient to justify it. Examples are ten a penny - I was slightly taken aback to meet an unlit black clothed cyclist head on the middle of the road last night, as he went about his business the wrong way up a one way street with a "no cycling" sign at the far end. If one expresses one's opinion in whatever manner, though, it tends not to be well received.
When I cycle in Cambridge I'm a good little sausage and stop at all the red lights, and get severely huffed, tutted and barged past by lots of other cyclists.
www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Rogue-cyclists-Cambridge-set-face-fate-drivers/story-25848302-detail/story.html
PS - if you look at the Cambridge News site without some sort of ad-blocker in place, heaven help you. It's almost unusable to my mind unless everything is killed at source.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Wed 14 Jan 15 at 08:20
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Until there is heavy enforcement with fines it will make stuff all difference. As in driving standards.
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They already do that here - lots of police stopping cyclists and fining them at regular intervals. The Police Commissioner is all for it.
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>> They already do that here - lots of police stopping cyclists and fining them at
>> regular intervals. The Police Commissioner is all for it.
>>
Instead of going for the continental approach where cyclists get dedicated and segregated lanes, and a 10 second head start at lights?
I used to deliberately run a red light in Leeds - although only by about 2 seconds - because of a stupid lane merge directly after the lights... and you can guess how many drivers would slow to allow a bike to merge in front of them. After two occasions of being forced to bunny hop onto the pavement, I just ensured I got there first.
Never understood the thinking behind bike lanes painted at the side of the road. Narrows the road for everyone, encourages cars to park there, provides an illegal shortcut for scooters, and allows cyclists to pass unhindered down the left hand side of HGVs at junctions.
Put them on the right to make a "mini-road" in the middle of the road, so that the worse that happens is two bikes collide head-on. Cars have to negotiate the edge of the road which probably serves as a discouragement to park in stupid places, and the bike lane can feed safely into an advanced junction ahead of cars.
Edit: Need to figure out how to make a right hand turn work though.
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Wed 14 Jan 15 at 08:57
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>>and allows cyclists to pass unhindered down the left hand side of HGVs at junctions.
<<
That is the one thing I can never understand.
On the one hand the authorities give cyclist clear right of way, via the cycle lane, to ride up the inside of a lorry waiting at lights, then on the other hand they try and educate them not to go there.
Mixed messages, or what?
Pat
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>> Mixed messages, or what?
>>
>> Pat
Spot on Pat. It's beyond a mixed message, being an open invitation to the unwary. Not just with stationary lorries either, just as risky in moving traffic if both parties are not on the qv. Perhaps more so.
Entering Russell Sq northbound from Southampton Row was a case in point. Better now two way running has been re-introduced on east side of the square.
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>> Until there is heavy enforcement with fines it will make stuff all difference. As in
>> driving standards.
As RLJing is an irritation rather than a major contribution to the KSI stats it's not a priority.
I don't think it even declined much during the 'blitz' policing in London that followed several high profile HGV accidents.
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>> As RLJing is an irritation rather than a major contribution to the KSI stats it's
>> not a priority.
>>
>> I don't think it even declined much during the 'blitz' policing in London that followed
>> several high profile HGV accidents.
That makes it ok then. Tell you what lets put a Motorway sign up 100 miles away. "CLISTS JUMP RED LIGHTS"
That should satisfy you.
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>> That should satisfy you.
It was an observation about policing priorities. Nothing else.
And isn't it you who admits jumping reds at light controlled roundabouts?
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>> >> That should satisfy you.
>>
>> It was an observation about policing priorities. Nothing else.
>>
>> And isn't it you who admits jumping reds at light controlled roundabouts?
Yes, but unlike cyclists no-one sees me because I only do it when no-one else is around. Its a subtle but rather important distinction.
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Dedication? Absolutely. Like most sporting cyclists they make professional footballers look like mummy's boys.
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It was a bit like that yesterday in Delamere forest. I expect there have been occasions in my life when I have been less cold and wet but not in recent years!
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Bunch of wimps, I recently saw people going about their daily routine on snow covered cycle tracks with studded tyres. The locals thought it quite mild at -10C but hoped it would stay below freezing until the spring as a brief thaw would cause dangerous ice.
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It was a fabulous cycle to work this morning. Sub-zero temperatures all the way with brilliant blue sky (rare in London) - I almost felt like I was skiing. Wonderful!
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I shall most probably be getting my leg over a Boris in London tomorrow.
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>> I shall most probably be getting my leg over a Boris in London tomorrow.
You and who else? :-)
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Lots of people do it every day.
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Cycling over the Pyrenees with one leg - John Boy
