Forum Replies Created
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Replies
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It depends on the size of the
It depends on the size of the pothole. If you only moved out less than a metre or so, then the overtaking cyclist should have left more room and he would be at fault for overtaking when not safe to do so (i.e. He was performing a maneuvre and thus should have anticipated the bad road surface). If you swing out more than about a metre, then I reckon you should have checked first, but with a pothole, you might not have had any choice about it and had to go around for your own safety even if you had checked and seen an overtaking cyclist (the checking would most likely have tipped off the overtaking cyclist that you were about to move, though).
Overtaking other cyclists should always be performed with a decent safety margin. As an overtaker, you have the better view of the situation and should be able to react quickly enough to avoid getting within “brushing” distance.
I did get told off the other morning about overtaking a cyclist without using a bell which surprised me as I hardly ever use a bell to warn that I’m overtaking. I left him a good 2 metres of room (I used the other side of the road as he was close to the middle line – only a small back road), so I think I just startled him with a quick silent pass.
Sounds like you might be more
Sounds like you might be more stretched out and haven’t quite got the flexibility for it (yet). Either persist for a couple of weeks to see if you adapt comfortably or shorten your reach (saddle position or stem length). Your saddle might be at a strange angle, but I’d have thought a bike fit would end up with your saddle within 5 degrees of horizontal.
Numbness in your hands can be a sign of too much weight on them, so shifting your saddle forwards on the rails might be a quick fix if there’s room to move it.
Make sure you record the basic measurements if you weren’t given them by the bike fitter, so you can compare your position before and afterwards and reset back to the bike fit settings if you get pains etc.
Go back to whoever did the bike fit. I would expect them to identify and fix free of charge.It can often take a couple of weeks for your body to adapt to a new bike position, so it might be futile to go straight back to the fitter.
Pass on the left and overtake
Pass on the left and overtake on the right (except when a newbie goes the wrong way).
Highly contentious and slightly tangential to the article, but I think I’d pay a road cycling tax in exchange for segregated infrastructure. Okay, I could easily make an argument the other way, but with taxation comes representation. As part of the major city transportation overhauls we need, this could make sense: widespread congestion and emission zones; ‘green’ public transport, etc.To my mind, I already pay tax for providing suitable infrastructure. However, that tax is then used mostly to provide roads that aren’t always that suitable for cycling on, despite the fact that cyclists pay the same proportion of tax and cause far less damage to roads and the environment and lessen the burden on the NHS. (I wouldn’t mind paying for decent cycling infrastructure as long as I can opt out of the proportion of income tax that gets spent on making dangerous road junctions.)
The other day, I thought it’d be nice if vehicles were taxed in proportion to how much damage they cause to the road infrastructure. What would be nice would be sections of main roads that have sensors to weigh the vehicles. Combine that with license plate readers and you can figure out the approximate weight of each individual vehicle (including cargo) and then charge the owner/driver a tax based on the fourth power of their weight (which is proportional to the damage caused to roads). I reckon that would mean that cars would pay almost nothing and the economics of using large lorries would change as it might prove more cost effective to divide the load into several lighter vehicles. It’d depend on how high the tax rate would be set.
Northwave are worth trying
Northwave are worth trying though mine are only just about wide enough. I get some rubbing on my little toe from time to time with them.
Also, if you enjoy riding the
Also, if you enjoy riding the newer bike, then you haven’t wasted your money at all.
My money is on it being your
My money is on it being your position on the bikes. Get a tape measure and take some basic bike fit measurements (e.g. saddle height and reach) and compare the two. Maybe then try tweaking what you can on the road bike to see if you can get it closer to your position on the hybrid and see if that improves your speed?
Alternately, your tyres can make a big difference, especially with different pressures. Too much tyre pressure can slow you down, although I’d be surprised if it makes that much difference going uphill.
Mmmm Marmite!
Mmmm Marmite!
It’s all to do with risk
It’s all to do with risk management.
Any kind of sun tanning is causing damage to the skin and is thus “unhealthy”. Whether it’s worth worrying about it depends on a number of factors including your skin-type and the type of exposure. It might be that your chance of getting skin cancer would be significantly less than being struck by lightning in which case there’s little point in worrying about it. If on the other hand, you might be fair-skinned and have a 10% chance of melanoma in the next 5 years, then it’s worth taking precautions.
The modern rates of skin cancer are increasing which may be down to a number of factors. e.g. people taking more foreign holidays; thinner ozone layer; better detection rates; fancy skin care products etc.
So, I’d recommend to take the “easy” precautions – make your kids wear hats and protective clothing, and apply SPF lotions when feasible. Keeping them inside could possibly increase their risk of getting obese, type II diabetes, heart disease etc, so I’d guess that would be more harmful than exposure to the sun.
Can’t you get Bluetooth connectivity on Di2?Yes, but you need an extra box for that. I’d imagine that flashing the firmware with bluetooth would be the same as flashing via USB i.e. if the rear derailleur reports an error, then you’d need the SM-PCE1 to reset the error.
Recieved the Shimano SM-PCE1 today – plugged it in and reflashed the firmware to the rear mech and now all working correctly 🙂 An expensive solution to something that Shimano created !!! Fortunately managed to get the unit for £135 all in , £50 off the original price so now added to my Di2 connectors.You can probably recoup some costs by selling it on EBay. I did see someone hiring out an SM-PCE1 on EBay – something like £12 for a weeks use. You could always try doing that to get some cash back.
I’m a lube man. I don’t like the gunky build up you get with wax.You shouldn’t get a gunky build up with wax – the best thing about using wax is how clean it all stays. It sounds to me like you’ve tried wax and lube at the same time which is a mistake. If you use wax, you need to start with a brand new chain, degrease it completely and then wax it. Dirt won’t stick to the wax, but will stick to any grease/lube.
The main detriment to using wax is that you need to re-treat your chain more often. I use a graphite/paraffin wax mix, so I remove the chain when it becomes noisier and heat it up to reflow the wax. (Well, actually I pre-treat a spare chain so that I can swap the noisy chain with the spare)
Do you use chainlube or are you a waxer? I converted to wax a few hundred miles ago and one thing I’ve noticed is that you can hear the chain riding onto the front ring as you ride.Sounds like you need to re-wax or re-flow the wax if you’ve done a few hundred miles. I’ve found the chain needs a bit or treatment every 100 miles or so to keep it silent.
Your point being?I’ve already stated I’m not bothered about lightening whilst cycling because it’s such a minor issue, cycling with rubber on your wheels is pretty essential to modern day cycling but is no help in terms of dissapating lightning away from you whilst cycling and I was agreeing with a poster above regarding such.
So what bit of what i said don’t you agree with or are you trying to be a clever dick without actually saying anything useful?
I thought this thread needed some lightening up. (I don’t want to rain on your parade or steal your thunder.)
I’ve threaded a chain like
I’ve threaded a chain like that, but not ridden on it. As soon as I’d joined the chain and spun it round, I thought “that doesn’t sound right”. I’d bet 50p that’s the problem.
About three people a year are killed by being struck by lightening in the UK, frankly I’ve far more dangerous things to worry about and I live in the East of England which is stated as being the area with most lightening strikes in the UK.And as above, the tyres on your bike won’t do anything, the atmosphere itself is a bigger resistor to lightening than the rubber in your tyres car or bike.
The facts are undeniable:
- I always cycle with a a healthy bit of rubber between the road and me/me bike
- I’ve never been struck by lightning whilst cycling
In fact, my tyres are almost as effective as my anti-leopard rock that I keep in my garden.