Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
The thing about attaching a
The thing about attaching a bike to something with a zip lock and a pedal is that it’s a pain to get to to cut off and doesn’t easily twist itself up to break and moves if subjected to a fierce tug. If someone’s determined, it’s not going to work, but the aim is to stop an opportunist snatch from outside a cafe. You can also open the front brake and undo the QR to turn an attempted snatch into a complete fiasco
The thing about attaching a
The thing about attaching a bike to something with a zip lock and a pedal is that it’s a pain to get to to cut off and doesn’t easily twist itself up to break and moves if subjected to a fierce tug. If someone’s determined, it’s not going to work, but the aim is to stop an opportunist snatch from outside a cafe. You can also open the front brake and undo the QR to turn an attempted snatch into a complete fiasco
I use one of these: – it’s
I use one of these: – it’s just a zip tie with a steel core
It’s not substantial, but it’s just supposed to make my bike more difficult to steal than the one next to it. If the one next to it is a friend’s, we tend to nose to tail the bikes and zip tie the two inside pedals together, which makes it awkward to cut the tie and awkard to pick both bikes up and impossible to wheel them both away.
Do it.
Do it.
The preliminary hearing for the hit and run in which I was comprehensively taken out is due on 28th December – Hah! Merry Xmas!
He’s charged with driving without due care and attention, failing to stop, failing to notify the police of an accident and failing to nominate the driver. I don’t have to attend the preliminary hearing, but I’ve got the day off anyway. It is possible that a contingent from the club will fill out the public gallery before adjourning to a convenient hostelry 🙂
My calm-down-tune is “Singing
My calm-down-tune is “Singing in the rain” – if I find it very therapeutic if the traffic is oppressive. Similarly, when the sun’s out and you’re bowling along – nothing better.
Lots of “Hello, horse”. Cows for some reason get “Ey up, beasts”.
I will resist the $ thing. I know I’d doomed the next time I conscously see one though.
I was after some of Stolen
I was after some of Stolen Goat’s Orkaan tights but they’ve sold out of the core sizes. I’ve got one of their Orkaan jerseys and Sportful Fiandre armwarmers – the former are still really water resistant (I wouldn’t say fully waterproof) after several years, but the Sportful things were a pale imitation from the start. If it’s tipping down, I’ll wear a waterproof. Otherwise, just the Stolen Goat stuff. It’s not fully windproof either, which suits me as I overheat in windproof Castelli Gabba/Perfetto. To hedge my bets, I sometimes take a pertex jacket which does keep the wind out and helps keep the rain out some more, so I end up with a mostly dry torso and wettish arms. Stolen Goat tights for me when they get some more in stock.
Pretty much what everyone
Pretty much what everyone else has said. A pocket-sized gilet is the most useful piece of clothing, plus LS baselayer (I can pull the sleeves up if need be), ordinary jersey, arm warmers, and either bib shorts and knee warmers, or calf length bibs from Decathlon (the former if it’s going to be warm on the way home). Arm warmers and gilet usually get removed at about the 20 minute mark (after a big descent, which is always a delight last thing on the way home)
I’ve got a bike with
I’ve got a bike with mudguards that fits happily on an estate car roof. Best thing to do is to run a straight edge from the front QR to the bottom of the back tyre and see if it clears the mudguard. Then take into account the two inches of extra height in the seasucker. THe biggest problem is a pedal/crank touching. I tie one crank to a chain stay with a length of old inner tube to make sure it can’t rotate.
That bike won’t fit on a BMW Z4, because the front suckers are on the roof and the rear one is on the boot. Bikes without mudguards fit no problem (same caveat for cranks, but more so)
Give these guys a call; see
Give these guys a call; see what they have to say an dtake it from there.
It’s difficlut to say without
It’s difficlut to say without being able to see your feet, but to my eye your saddle looks a touch high. YOu should be able to pedal powerfully in a circle instead of just driving down – with a leg. as stragight as yours looks, it’s harder to pull your foot back at the bottom of the stroke
As a really rough rule of thumb, if you have your hands on the top of the bars, the front axle should be hidden from your sight by the bars.
The best way, though, is to go out with an allen key and change one variable at a time and see how it feels – saddle up, down, backwards and forwards until it feels good. 0.5cm at a time.
They work, but there are
They work, but there are limits – if your chain is inside the line of the small ring and you’re standing on the pedals, then it’s a big ask for it to force the chain back in place – it’s only a bit of aluminium held at one end by a bolt. Put it down to experience – most of the time it will work, but not always
There’s always a different
There’s always a different view –
I think disc brakes are the way to go for commuting (notwithstanding the noise in the wet) unless your commute is on open roads. If you’re in amongst traffic then the predictability of the braking is welcome as are the lack of grey filth all over your bike and no rim wear.
I have a gravel bike for commuting, although I’m frankly not really sure what makes it a gravel bike rather than a solid winter bike. It is more upright that my regualr road bike, and has fittings for a rack (don’t leave home without one) and mudguards. It’s an Orro Terra and all 105.
It’s taken a battering so far and done well – average 150 miles/week
Just an observation, but when
Just an observation, but when I changed from standard blackish sunglasses on my commute into London to a pair with gold mirror lenses people didn’t pull out on me as much – ‘eye’ contact seemed better B-)
PS – and another thing – they
PS – and another thing – they’re still doing marginal gains – on the cobbles their spare wheels people were fluo-green so that riders could spot them and their musettes are now fluo-green too, so that they’re easy to pick out (they used to be Brand Black) and their roadside bottles have a gel attached to the side.
I’m not sure that Sky isbad
I’m not sure that Sky isbad for the sport – quite the reverse. They operate a strategy to win the GC, which sometimes brings them the mountains jersey too. Other teams, particularly Quickstep and Bora win more stages and one day races. They don’t chase stage wins unless the whole thing falls apart or the GC battle leads that way. What they do do, is use their resources very efficiently to put someone right up at the front on a regular basis. They don’t fire people off up the road, they don’t panic – they dig in and make sure that one of their number covers the ground in the least time possible. For a lot of the race, it’s anonymous, just sitting near the front of the peloton, but having played a sensible game they can then light the blue touchpaper, like that day in the Giro and the past two days. Lotto look like trying the same thing, but they blew it yesterday by going way too early and their man (on his own) ran out of gas.
I enjoy seeing how the Sky plan unfolds and how the others react – usually not that effectively because they’ve had people all over the countryside all day whereas Sky have been sitting in a nice tidy bunch.
As far as the Green jersey goes, Sky (and everyone except for Sagan) are nowhere; for the KOM, Thomas and Froome are 4th and 12th. If Sagan had to retire, that would spice it up even more. To put that competition into context, Sagan has 339 points, Thomas (having won two stages) has 63. There are 3 riders with 129-100 points.
