atomicules

Most recent activity

• Aberdeen riders?

  in General • 8 years, 9 months

  

  Still cycling fixed in Aberdeen(shire). Just very, very slowly in winter: I dropped down to a 2:1 ratio to cope with the mud.

• 2013-07-18 - Rider Down/Fatality, A975 (Aberdeenshire, Scotland)

  in Rider Down • 11 years, 5 months

  

  A little bit more info in this local forum. Very sad news indeed.

• Aberdeen riders?

  in General • 12 years, 2 months

  

  Not really, but I am aware of the YthanCC forum which is more local to Pitmedden (than say Aberdeen City).

• Aberdeen riders?

  in General • 12 years, 2 months

  

  I go through Pitmedden almost every day (I change my route now and again). However, I haven't been riding fixed much this year after getting a new bike in spring. The fixed gear barely made it through last winter and so has been in bits in the garage awaiting re-building (of sorts) for this winter.

  So most of the time I'm on a white GT road bike. But soon I'll be back on the fixed gear and snowtyres and trundling much slower through Pitmedden.

• Tyre / tire size

  in Mechanics & Fixin' • 13 years, 1 month

  

  I run 35mm tyres (Schwalbe Winter Marathons) on 13mm rims. I've done a LOT of miles and only had one issue: my rear tyre blew out once, I don't know for sure what caused it, but I think it was the inner tube getting caught under the bead of the tyre during assembly, rather than the rim width being way less than recommended. Since then, I've always taken care to ensure the inner tube is pushed up into the tyre as much as possible during assembly and I also pull the beading back and inspect all the way around to make sure there's no inner tube poking out.

• Lights

  in Bikes & Bits • 13 years, 1 month

  

  My lunar 35 lux is fine in the rain and it's survived being exploded apart in at least 3 separate crashes.

  That sounds great as "exploded" apart would be a good way to describe what happened to my Ixon IQ on multiple occasions. I'm hoping for less "exploding" instances with these lights though and am planning on leaving them on the bike and not dropping/throwing them around onto concrete.

• Lights

  in Bikes & Bits • 13 years, 1 month

  

  I just got two Smart Lunar 35 Lux to replace a broken B&M Ixon IQ. I'd read one bad review about them leaking water, but otherwise reviews were positive. They've not had a proper drenching yet, but have been out in the rain and so far so good. I'll just keep a close eye on them.

  I'm a bit gutted the Ixon IQ only lasted a year, but it was completely abused. I would have got another, it's just that I could get the two Smart lights cheaper and quicker.

• Winter bike / Snow bike thread

  in Bikes & Bits • 13 years, 1 month

  

  I've just switched my bike over to winter mode (even through the weather is like spring at the moment - odd). I've dropped my gearing down to 60 gear inches (42/19, 35c tyres) from my summer ~70 gear inches (42/16, 23c tyres). I was worried It'd be a bit too spinny, but it's actually ok and I can still maintain a decent speed. I can't believe I actually cycled with winter tyres on last year at the 42/16 ratio.

  Any way, should the snow eventually turn up, I'll hopefully be able to cycle through it a bit better than last year and reduce the walking/carrying.

• Winter and Cyclocross tyres / tires

  in Bikes & Bits • 13 years, 1 month

  

  Well, was forced into an earlier than needed (given the very mild weather at the mo') move onto the winter tyres because my summer tyres wore out and so I thought I'd just stick the winter tyres on rather than buy a new tyre for a couple of weeks use (skint anyway).

  My rear Winter Marathon was looking worn, but not too bad: some of the central studs had been pushed over sideways and the tread had started wearing down. However, from the outside they still looked good for another season. It didn't occur to me to check the inside. First day with them on I get a puncture, because the casing has worn inside allowing the studs to push through. The inner tube was pock marked at quite a few of the stud locations. I can't afford a new tyre yet (hopefully next month) so I've just used the worn summer tyre I'd just taken off to line the Winter Marathons.

  In fairness I did do over 2500 miles on them, but I still thought I'd get more than one years use out of them.

• Winter bike / Snow bike thread

  in Bikes & Bits • 13 years, 2 months

  

  Has anyone ever used these? I'm planning on doing some commuting through the winter up here in Aberdeen

  Hi Bernhard, I'm up in Aberdeen(shire) and used these tyres all last winter. And will be using the same set this winter. For me they are a great compromise: I commute from out in the sticks into the Bridge of Don. So near home they aren't quite good enough, but in the suburbs they are overkill. I got mine from Bike24 last year as it was cheaper than getting them from the UK (might not be the case now).