Search results for:

The DHB Bag has been reduced to £20. Need to get rid of this to free up some storage space!

Hi there, A few things for sale Pickup in Dulwich SE London SE23
-DHB Elsted bag, soft padded bag with wheel pockets. only used once Dimensions 150cm x 95cm x 25cm

£20

-Cycle Surgery bike bag, includes padded wheel bags well used but still in good working order. Dimensions 120cm x 80cm x 25cm

£15

-Old Carlton Frame 56cm TT circa 60's, the Specialities T.A. Crankset is stuck and I couldnt be bothered removing it. Has a dent or two but could make a good beater if you are inclined to put some time into it. - Free to a good home

Great work!
Can you post some pics of the chainstay/tire clearance? Curious how you fit them in there, also what length chainstays did you end up with?

I was thinking of going with the Bon Jon pass tubeless, but this is the second time I've seen that they aren't quite so airtight... Are there any skinwalls that are actually airtight?

Nothing wrong with larger timing chainrings, in fact they last longer, are slightly less draggy and are more stiff feeling as you have less leverage. However the downside is less ground clearance.

Anyway I have just paid my fine and will be writing a complaint.
FYI The person to write to is :

Susan Hunter
3rd Floor 132 Queens Rd
SE15 2HP

To this day I'm still going through this junction twice a day and almost everyone still cuts across that bit. So pointless

I saw that the other morning. A cyclist was chatting to one of the officers saying how retarded it was. Every day still people just cut across that bit

If it was me I'd probably stay with the 26" wheels (I'm assuming because it's free you don't necessarily want to spend lots of money) Nothing wrong with them, still easy to get tyres/tubes/rims (despite the popularity of 650B) and you can make strong wheels quite easily.

Looks like it's a cantilever brake on the back, so not straightforward, you can't really use a different wheel size unless you can find a way of sorting out the rear brake. Do you have the fork as well?

The thing is that bitumen stops where the lamp post is and the rest of the cyclepath which is southbound turns into the same paved surface as the footway for the next 100 or so metres when it stops and it turns into the road.

I guess my point is that generally even if there is a surface change or not, london wide there is little to no standardisation so I'm not sure what to think. Across the road on the north side of the road they use the same paving and it is seems fine to cycle there, but there are no signs to make it clear.

Well apparently the council officers have the right to ask for ID when something like this happened. I complained to the guy that it's so inconsistent and not clear what is what, poor design. The bike lane going right at the end of rye lane is only 15m long or so. Here's the street view with the "illegal" path dotted. I think most cyclists tend to just ignore these urban design afterthoughts as often they make little sense. I'm up for a £50 fine for this... ridiculous and have 28 days to pay or can argue it in court. Anyone ever gone through something similar?

Yeah, most people (including me) heading north in the mornings usually go along that path to get around buses and cut across the paved bit at the end. Supposedly we are meant to stay in the road with the buses only turning right at the end where the northern direction "bike lane" starts going north... The dotted line is the "illegal" bit.

It's really inconsistent generally as it is where the pedestrian and cyclist realms tend to intermingle a lot. There are no obvious signs on the Peckham library forecourt area on the north of this that say it is ok to cycle there or not either... but it seems to be OK! If they don't want cyclists there they should just put a big spraypainted bike with a cross through it rather than fining people!

Just a shout out that Southwark council had a whole bunch of council officers fining cyclists for riding on the pavement at the end of Rye Lane here https://goo.gl/maps/SShHU6mtK1z

Most people cut through the last few metres to go straight to the lights where it continues onto the Surrey canal path. A bit frustrating as most of the area is not very clear where you can and can't cycle.

Update,
The original rear hub on our Jack Taylor 650b tandem had seen better days, also the gearing and strength limitation of a 7 speed hub were looming... After some eBay trawling for a while we are running Shimano 10Sp on NOS HF08 hubset with a NOS Arai drum... The original drum was near useless and overheated to the point that it fried the bearings a dark brown! We've tested this already on some smallish descents and the Arai can take a lot of heat...
http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/jackyl-tandem-part-10-rear-wheel.html

That may have been my one as we were there around that time! Pics here http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/jackyll

I've just joined the Tandem club with a '74 Jack Taylor Super Tourist tandem about a month ago. Fillet brazed 531 frame, 650B wheels, Jack Taylor custom racks, seatpost/stem. T.A. Pro Vis Cranks, Suntour/Campag gears. So far we've taken it down to Sussex and around London after giving it a mini-overhaul. It's our first tandem and what shocked us was how well it rode for such an old bike (compared to a crappy modern tandem we hired once), the low trail steering really makes it steer quite briskly for a tandem.

More here http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/jackyll

Looks like it's one of the old Royal Mail delivery bikes. The head tube lugs are meant to accept a front rack. They were made by several British manufacturers, mine was made by Elswick.

I recently built one up, pics here http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/postmaster

A skinny 23mm front tyre is very difficult to skid on smooth dry asphalt on a typical road bike, the bike will overturn first. Like others have said, discs actually have better modulation so you're really less likely to skid.

Having said that I think the current crop of road discs are a little undersized, a lot of them have 140mm rotors even. The amount of heat generated down a hair-pinned 20km alpine descent is not something a typical disc braked MTB rider would encounter, yet they normally sport 200mm rotors on downhill MTB's.

But yes, I'm running TRP Spyres on my Genesis Croix, and absolutely love them. Reliable, controlled braking in all weather. Ideally I'd run hydraulics however circumstances didn't allow it.

I have had the Spyres since the beginning of the year and have found them to be pretty good. I'm running them with a Shimano IceTech rotor and a stock TRP one on the back.

The stock pads aren't bad, however they wear super quick when there is mud or grit. Recently I swapped the default organic pads for EBC Golds which are a metallic compound which should last a lot longer. For those who have a little problem with judder, I found applying a very thin spot of copper grease on the backside of the pad backing plate shuts it up. Be careful not to get any on the pad surface though.
More info here
http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/trp-spyre-disc-brake-review-first.html

Check your PM

It was my first DD, left London fields at 8, crawled through the traffic until we got to Epping forest. I heard a loud cracking noise at that point, and saw that someone had hit the deck. Kept on going and stopped at Castle Hedingham for a meal break/stretch. Caught onto several different groups and saw a lot of guys on the side of the road with flats, possibly pinch flats from potholes that they couldn't see at night?

I was quite worried about thunder and rain, however I think I was super lucky as I stayed dry the whole time and kept on riding onto wet roads which suggested I was just behind the rain.

Stopped just after Needham market for a quick coffee, just after I had a caffeine gel which upset my tummy a little bit. Downed a Tesco pasta tub and kept on going. I ended up riding with a group where I was the only one with a map, so ended up leading a group of about 20 through the back lanes which was fun but quite tiring being at the front. Eventually got to Dunwich at 4:20 which was nice as there weren't too many people. A cuppa tea and a quick dip in the water and I felt like a nice kip, until it started raining.

After an hour or two, lots of people arrived and I decided to make a run for Ipswich, this was tough as I was exhausted but I eventually made it.

Anyway, lots of fun. Gave my dynamo lights a good workout and rode the furthest I've ever ridden in one day, 230km total.

Fuel:
4 Energy bars
1 Flapjack
2 Caffeine gels
1 Coffee
1 Tesco Pasta
1 Cuppa tea
and a Scone with jam and cream at Dunwich

Full writeup and more pics here
http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/dunwich-dynamo-2014.html

Oh, and I forgot: As I rode out, unfortunately the Epping New Road and Epping Road were closed because of two crashes involving cyclists, the first on the stretch of the A104 between Ranger's Road and the Robion Hood Roundabout, and the second just southwest of Bell Common on the B1393 Epping Road, which the police said was the more serious incident (but that's often a bit Chinese whisper-y). Hope the riders were OK. I'll try to find some

I was just ahead of that first one, I heard this almighty cracking sound like breaking glass and turned around to see someone hitting the deck right in the middle of the bunch. Not sure but guessing from the sound it might Have been someone's frame or stem snapping in half??? Anyone know what happened?

I bought mine new. They come up on eBay quite often. The 70mm version is reasonably strong, and the 90mm is great. Although I would recommend getting largeish levers to get the most power out of them.

I have had the occasional sticking problem, although after several unsuccessful tries I managed to fix this by giving the cam a bit of a chamfer. Mind you this is after riding on them every day for 2 1/2 years, probably have about 8000km on them now, plenty of life left in the shoes still

This is the sticking problem
http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/sturmey-archer-xl-fdd-service-part-ii.html

I've had the Sturmey Archer XL-FDD 90mm drum/dynamo for a few years now. Generally I really like them, for a commuting bike. Very little maintenance and good stopping power, I have had the occasional problem with them sticking but I've documented it on my blog. Also I managed to bend my forks not designed for drum brakes when I fitted compressionless cable outers
http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/braking-bad.html