Forum Replies Created
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If you’re on a shared use path then you have to accept that you can’t ride fast. Walkers have as much right as you do and you’d be foolish to speed past any kind of dog. I’m always slower and covering the brakes.
Just a bit of understanding from everyone makes for a much more pleasant day I find.
On a shared use path, walkers can be considered to have more rights than cyclists in that they have priority. That even applies to split-use paths where there’s a pedestrian and cyclist lane – even when the pedestrian is on the wrong side.
With dogs, there is a clear legal responsibility for the owner to keep it under control in shared spaces, but you’re right about being cautious around them as they can be so unpredictable (also, I love dogs so wouldn’t want to hurt them – people, less so).
Bells do have the advantage that people know what they are. Well decent ones anyway, not the single ring pingers.A skid indicates that something is stopping too fast. A clicking freewheel means nothing to a non cyclist (or someone with a properly maintained or designed bike.
) A voice can work but is so often misued and isn’t cycle specific. A bell says that a bike is coming as a horn says that a motorised vehicle is there.
I refuse to accept that a bell cannot be mounted. They fit bars or the seat post, which is where mine is. . As you should be slowing when approaching a pedestrian or slower cyclist or what ever control isn’t an issue. If it is then the riding speed should be slower still.
Of course bells don’t work with the dimwits who are deliberatley deaf but remember the idea isn’t to get them to move out of your way, its to tell them you are there. What they do then depedns on their nature as a human.
Nothing of course will work for those with no genuine hearing or they complete antisocial morons who use headphones in public. Its not the wearing thats wrong, its the oblivion to the world around you.
To those who say “bells don’t work”. Of course they don’t always but why should that be an objection to them? NOTHING works in every situation does it but that never ever is the reason to stop using something.
Bells also have the disadvantage that they often involve you moving your hand away from the controls.
You can’t change the volume of most of them.
You can’t change/modulate what information they are conveying.
Using your voice doesn’t really have those disadvantages, so why should bells be preferred to human voices?
don simon wrote:
That’s what’s used by those 4×4 hooligans out in the desert/dunes.Sometimes it can be tricky to spot pedestrians if they’re just over the brow of a hill, so maybe it’d be more thoughtful if they were to carry 6 foot poles with a flag on top to make them easier to spot.
I don’t care what 16 hooligans do, this is a new safety initiative.
Sometimes it can be tricky to
Sometimes it can be tricky to spot pedestrians if they’re just over the brow of a hill, so maybe it’d be more thoughtful if they were to carry 6 foot poles with a flag on top to make them easier to spot.
Some pedestians react by randomly jumping either left or right upon hearing a bell, apparently believing that you are cycling right at them, whereas you are only notifying them of your presence. And beacause they are walking down the middle of the shared path they have a 50% chance of jumping in front of the cyclist.If they jump in front of the cyclist on hearing the bell, the cyclist either hasn’t sounded his bell early enough or is travelling too fast for a shared path.
…or they didn’t hear you the first five times you rang the bell.
Well if they haven’t heard you and you are still ringing your bell when you are right on top of them, then you are being too aggressive. A couple of pings from a distance, followed by a polite “excuse me” if you get very close to them.
If they refuse to move, tut loudly, lick your finger and put it in their ear and they soon jump out of the way.
The missus and I were trying out riding a tandem and got stuck behind an elderly couple on a shared use path. A polite bell ring, followed by another, followed by another… after about 20 seconds or so, we managed to get their attention and they apologised for being hard of hearing.
I don’t mind bells, but they don’t always work how you want them to.
I’ve bought from Merlin and
I’ve bought from Merlin and never had any issue with them, so I can’t comment on their after sales service.
I’ve had good service from Wiggle/CRC over the years – returns are simple and easy.
The absolute worst experience that I’ve had was with Raleigh UK – they claimed to have lost my return and then didn’t answer my emails until I kicked up a fuss and I eventually got a refund. Took about 2 months or so.
Some pedestians react by randomly jumping either left or right upon hearing a bell, apparently believing that you are cycling right at them, whereas you are only notifying them of your presence. And beacause they are walking down the middle of the shared path they have a 50% chance of jumping in front of the cyclist.If they jump in front of the cyclist on hearing the bell, the cyclist either hasn’t sounded his bell early enough or is travelling too fast for a shared path.
…or they didn’t hear you the first five times you rang the bell.
I only realised after 4 months that my ultegra Di2 levers had buttons on top of the hoods!Ordered the same wireless transmitter as above last week for showing info on Garmin and scrolling through the pages with the buttons.
Okay, I’m now going to search my Ultegra Di2 levers for this button.
I’ve heard about this before, but though that I’ve got an earlier Ultegra Di2 without a secret button.
Edit: after a bit of googling, I think my brifters are ST-R785 which doesn’t have the button.
Maybe not so good for disc rotors and rims after all:‘…while measuring wear on their platinum-gold, an unexpected black film started forming on top. They recognized it: diamond-like carbon, one of the world’s best man-made coatings, slick as graphite and hard as diamond. Their creation was making its own lubricant, and a good one at that.’
Bearings, on the other hand?
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-08-wear-resistant-metal-alloy-world.html#jCp
But, just think how long they’d last!
Ahh, but which are better; graphite coated disc brakes, or graphite coated rim brakes? We need an online discussion to thrash this one out!
… and graphs and helmets!
Maybe not so good for disc rotors and rims after all:‘…while measuring wear on their platinum-gold, an unexpected black film started forming on top. They recognized it: diamond-like carbon, one of the world’s best man-made coatings, slick as graphite and hard as diamond. Their creation was making its own lubricant, and a good one at that.’
Bearings, on the other hand?
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-08-wear-resistant-metal-alloy-world.html#jCp
But, just think how long they’d last!
I guess another question to ask would be – how important are through-axles for road bikes with disc brakes? I had a mountain bike with skewers and hated them – every time I took the wheels off I had to re-align the brake calipers all over again with a tool to prevent the annoying rotor rub.The main reason for thru-axles is to prevent the wheel being ejected from brake forces or twisting the fork legs which can be prevented by forward facing fork dropouts, sturdier legs and not using stupid lightweight skewers.
Personally, I’d rather have a through-axle fork given the weediness of road bike forks and the speeds involved.
To be honest I thought the main benefit of thru axles are that the disc rotors are less likely to rub?
It’s all of the above.
Thru-axles make the whole fork/wheel interface stronger, so you should get less fork twisting and they have more accurate positioning than QRs. Also, they have a much better failure mode as if you let them get really loose, you’re more likely to notice that your wheel has gone wobbly before the TA unscrews itself from the fork (and even then you’d still have one side attached, though I wouldn’t fancy riding it).
I managed to not tighten up my rear TA once and wondered why my Di2 gears were rubbing/not shifting properly. I adjusted the trim a couple of times before realising what the problem was.
Can’t you let us dream?
Can’t you let us dream?
ChrisB200SX – chain and cassettes sounds like a good use-case if the coating is slippery. I wasn’t sure from the article whether the coating was generating its own lubricant or whether they were talking about a different coating.
Thank you for the help guys!My operating switch is in my bar end, do you know if this can be taken out and the wireless unit put behind it? Just to keep the installation as clean as possible.
That should work fine, though the smallest Di2 wire is AFAIK 15cm, so you’ll have a bit of spare cable inside your handlebar. When I used the inline connector, I put it into the seat tube below the battery.
Inner tubes kept out of the sunlight don’t, in reality, degrade.I’ve taken an unused inner tube out of a saddle bag previously and found that it had a big split at the seam.
Crikey – how long had it been in there? I keep mine in a plastic bag to stop the tools rubbing against it.
At least a couple of years. I don’t know if it was due to being subject to British temperature variations or whether it was just a manufacturing fault. It was on the inside of the tube (as it was folded) so it wasn’t damaged by other tools etc.
It’s a good way of practising your more colourful vocabulary, though.
Inner tubes kept out of the sunlight don’t, in reality, degrade.I’ve taken an unused inner tube out of a saddle bag previously and found that it had a big split at the seam.
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