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My dynamic hip screw is still in there. I don't notice it and I don't think I can feel it - my hip feels different to the touch, but I've always assumed that it's just a by-product of the incision rather than the DHS, as there's a definite indentation along the line of the scar.

Hope it all goes well next week, @Miss_Mouse...

My physio was based at the Homerton Hospital in East London; the consultant who operated on my hip at the hospital then referred me to their physiotherapy unit. Everybody at the Homerton was terrific.

Circumstances vary, it's true, but the misery should pass. I broke my hip at the end of 2012, three weeks before I was scheduled to start an 18-month cycle tour. The pain was colossal, and the aftermath was painful, tedious and frustrating. The exercises were a repetitive, uncomfortable grind with little tangible benefit, and you may feel that they're taking you nowhere with your recovery. But eventually, you'll notice improvements. Do whatever your doctors and physios tell you to do, however counterproductive their advice might seem.

I got back on my bike about six months after my break, very gingerly, and then set out rather nervously on the postponed bike tour six weeks after that. All of this was roughly in accord with the timeline that the doctors and physios had set out for me immediately after my operation. The tour is still ongoing, and my dynamic hip screw now has about 15,000 cycling miles on the clock. Modern medicine is amazing. Hang in there.

Dynamo hubs can be expensive, agreed, but there's essentially no drag with the good ones these days. (This CTC article (pdf) offers a useful guide.) I'm currently touring with a Schmidt Son 28, and it's been terrific. Paired with a PedalPower+ Super-i-Cable, it charges everything we're carrying (iPod, mobile, e-reader, GPS, camera) except our tablet, which needs more power than the dynamo can provide. Portable battery packs should be able to charge a tablet, but they wouldn't be able to charge much (if anything) else once they've done so.

You can't use a standard track sprocket with a Rohloff hub. Rohloff's own sprockets are reversible and last for aeons; I didn't reverse mine until it had clocked up 14,000km, and it's still got plenty of life on it 6,000km later.

Currently touring the Americas and writing about it at Contours of a Country.

The good: BA, whose allowances remain fair and who didn't charge me excess when my bike case was a couple of kilos overweight on a recent flight.

Also good: Nice Airport. I've already mentioned this on the Who knows France? thread, but any airport that provides a designated bike assembly area with free-to-use workstand and a few tools in the baggage reclaim area deserves praise in plenty of places.

The bad: Ryanair, who increased their bike charges to £40 per one-way flight earlier this year.

Speaking of bike-friendly places in France, I was amazed and delighted a few weeks ago to find a dedicated bike assembly area, complete with a workstand and a few tools (all free to use), in the baggage reclaim hall at Nice Airport. Massive thumbs-up. Has anyone seen anything similar at other airports, in France or elsewhere?

Does anyone have any good tips?

It's been said elsewhere on this thread/forum but it bears repeating: whatever type of case you're using, coat every inch of your bike in pipe insulation and, for awkward bits such as the rear mech, loads of bubble wrap. Pipe insulation costs and weighs next to nothing, and is reusable from trip to trip. If you wrap pretty much all your bike in it, tape or zip-tie it all in place, and then tape or zip-tie everything together so -- as scherrit says -- the bike is one item without any semi-detached bits (eg handlebars) hanging off it, your bike stands as good a chance as any of surviving even the most violent checks if airport security staff decide to take it out of its case.

Also, try to avoid keeping any hard loose parts in the bike bag (eg pedals, which Sod's law dictates will fall out of the bike bag's internal pocket and scratch something in the process); use wheel bags, even within the bike case; and don't forget spacers for the front forks and rear dropouts.

I'd definitely recommend staying in the centre of town. The public transport network is good but it closes down fairly early for a city that doesn't really get going until 11pm or later, and finding a cab isn't as easy as it might be (for one thing, a fair chunk of central Valencia is pedestrianised). Also, the middle of town is really atmospheric after dark, which is more than can be said for the waterfront. We stayed here, which was both decent and central.

The City of Arts & Sciences is very impressive; it has a wow factor that photographs don't really capture. Otherwise, it's really just a good city for wandering (again, the historic centre is lovely) or lounging around (the beaches are pretty nice).

One word of warning: more or less every street has two names (one in Spanish, one in Valencian), but there's real inconsistency in how they're labelled, both on streets and on local maps (which are further complicated by the array of tiny alleys everywhere). I remember this being a real faff...

When are you going? We were there during Valencia Restaurant Week last autumn, and it's coming up again in a couple of weeks. We ate stupendously well for far less money than would otherwise have been the case. [U][/U]

I've had the Abus WA-50 (RRP £35, I think) for a while. Fixing it to a brick wall is straightforward, and it seems pretty secure.

Out of Powergrips, Aurora and Dualism and ReStrap which'd come out the best? They're basically the UK-based ones. I think I'm between Aurora and Dualism...

I can't speak for Aurora or Dualism, but I've been riding with the Restraps for about a week and they're great. I've found them easier to get into than Powergrips, and the velcro makes them a breeze to adjust. They're £15 at the moment from the Restrap website or from 14 Bike Co (which is where I got mine); terrific value, I'd say.

Pifko: I'd be wary. Following on from my post above, my girlfriend has now taken her case (sold by the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-Op, but we're fairly sure it's identical to the DHB-branded one) on four flights, and something on the case has broken in transit on each journey: three of the six catches and one of the case's wheels.

And as ewanamacdonald says, it is very, very snug indeed. Fitting in her bike (56cm, I think) is a real squeeze, to the point where she has to take parts of the bike (saddle, rack) in her regular luggage.

Done.

Anyone have any experience of bikes on ryanair?

Their website seems to be saying if you pay the fee it can weight 20 kilo on top of your normal baggage. Is that true? I don't put it past ryanair to change their conditions at a moments notice.

I took my bike from Stansted to Carcassonne and back with Ryanair last year, having pre-booked and paid for it when I bought the tickets. (Flights: £2. Booking fee: £10. Bike: £60.) No problems whatsoever.

I've adjusted the original post to allow for Hippy's comments...feel free to add other notes re airlines and I'll add

Virgin Atlantic's per-bike weight limit has now dropped to 23kg (the first post suggests that it's still 32kg).

One additional note that might be worth mentioning is that you don't need to pre-book your bike with either BA or Virgin Atlantic: you can simply turn up at the airport with it.

And finally, if you're looking for a case, I'm fairly sure you can do better than this hard case from the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative. The clamps and catches have proven hopelessly fragile: there were six of them when Mrs 30miles bought her case, but three of them have broken in the space of just four flights, and she's now reliant on duct tape and luck to hold the thing together.

(I've got a Pika Packworks EEP, which is an absolutely fantastic piece of kit, but the shipping charges to the UK are prohibitively enormous. I picked mine up in the US after flying out there with my bike in a cardboard box.)

Another thumbs-up for Montpellier. It's a lovely little city, and there's a big student population so you should find some places to eat and drink that don't make too big a dent in the finances.

Has anyone here been cycling in Cuba? Me and my girlfriend are taking our bikes out there early next year, and plan to spend about two weeks touring (starting and ending in Havana). We’ve picked up Bicycling Cuba and the Time Out Havana guide, and have found a couple of other cycling-specific bits and pieces online. But still, any advice would be very welcome, especially on worthwhile routes and good places to stay. Thanks...

Rosie - 4th Batch

BLACK WITH CERISE LINER...
BLACK WITH CERISE LINER...

BLACK WITH GREEN LINER...
BLACK WITH GREEN LINER...

BLACK WITH RED LINER...30miles
BLACK WITH RED LINER...

BLACK WITH ORANGE LINER...
BLACK WITH ORANGE LINER...

BLACK WITH YELLOW LINER...
BLACK WITH YELLOW LINER...

Deleted my post to avoid confusion as others beat me to the trigger on the red ones...

I've had a pair of prescription glasses from Optilabs for a few months and have so far been pretty impressed. I went for photochromic lenses, which stay clear at night but darken sufficiently during the day to cope with all but the fiercest sun.

My main concern when I ordered was that the lenses would be Coke-bottle bulky (my eyesight's pretty weak, about -6 in both eyes, and Optilabs don't offer the option of slimmed-down lenses). However, they're actually OK. Optilabs themselves admit that some riders simply don't get on with the curved lenses, but I've found them fine and haven't experienced any visual distortion either on the bike or off it. And the improved eyeline has helped rectify some of the cycling-induced neck pain that caused me to get the glasses in the first place.

None of the frames are wildly attractive in the flesh; and, despite the different names, they all look pretty similar. (I'm checking their website at the moment and I still can't remember which frame I have.) But even so, I'd say they're definitely worth considering.

A few weeks ago I found an old thread on another cycling forum about restoring Brooks saddles... Can't find the sodding thread now, despite frenzied UTFSing.

I think the post to which you're referring might be this one.

I'm fairly sure that the DHB case is identical to this case, sold by the Edinburgh Bicycle Company and owned by my girlfriend. In which case, a word of warning: although the catches on the side seem sturdy, she found the catches on the top to be pretty unreliable. One of hers broke irreparably after the first flight she took with the case, and now has to be reinforced before each journey with several metres of duct tape.

I think the main change in BA's bicycle policy, which appears to be in place for all flights from October 7 onwards, is that bikes will now be part of a traveller's baggage allowance rather than an additional free piece of luggage (as has previously been the case on BA, and as is still the case on Virgin).

BA is also capping the per-item weight at 23kg, whereas it was previously 32kg. However, that applies to all items of luggage, not just bikes. (BA will still accept an item weighing up to 32kg, but you'll now be charged a fee if it's more than 23kg.)

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/new-baggage-policy/public/en_gb

(FWIW, I've flown with my bike a few times on BA and Virgin, and it's always been pleasingly straightforward.)

I can't PM, but I'd like the saddle if it's still available; thanks...