Any cyclists? Get the miles in!

[MikeG.]

I know someone who rode John O'Groats to Land's End on a chopper. He did some modifications, by adding a derailleur for an extra few gears, and he towed a trailer, but nonetheless.........that saddle..........950+ miles! :shock:

 

[That would work]

Ha, I used to ride fixed wheel back in the day

If memory served 13 tooth sprocket but don't hold me to it

The joys of slipping out of a rat trap and trying to get your toe back in again

These days I gather you have to have front and rear brakes on fixed wheel cycles?

I remember reading of a chap in London prosecuted as he hit a pedestrian on a fixed wheel and brakes were mentioned then

I believe you can legally have just a front brake with a fixed wheel... although I've always had both (why ever not??) It's a damn sight easier to control when you're thundering down hill at 150 rpm!

 

[whatknot]

Well I certainly would these days but we used to have either no brakes at all or just a front

 

[AJB Temple]

For fixes out there, you must be masochists to do it anywhere there are hills! I had a fixed wheel bike when I lived in the Netherlands, but that had a flip/flop hub. You could run them freewheel and/or have a different gear ratio on the other side.

There used to be a switchable fixed/free hub but I have never seen one in practice. Article here: https://www.wired.com/2010/04/affix-hub ... h-a-twist/

 

[whatknot]

I have cycled in Holland, a different world for cyclists over there where everyone has a bike and various special cycle roads and lanes with their own lights makes life a lot easier, the lack of hills helps too

 

[Droogs]

I know someone who rode John O'Groats to Land's End on a chopper. He did some modifications, by adding a derailleur for an extra few gears, and he towed a trailer, but nonetheless.........that saddle..........950+ miles! :shock:

I'd have been more worried about me flares getting caught in the chain :-"

 

[MikeG.]

I know someone who rode John O'Groats to Land's End on a chopper. He did some modifications, by adding a derailleur for an extra few gears, and he towed a trailer, but nonetheless.........that saddle..........950+ miles! :shock:

I'd have been more worried about me flares getting caught in the chain :-"

It was only 4 or 5 years ago.

 

[Droogs]

my comment still stands

you can't use that bike and not wear them

 

[flying haggis]

Please cyclists - stay on the road! There are far too many of you riding on the pavements and forcing pedestrians to step onto the road, or approaching unheard from behind and passing far closer than 2metres.

carry an umbrella to defend yourself. really officer i dont know how it ended up in the spokes......

 

[whatknot]

There are a great many shared paths these days, we have quite a few, pedestrians are just as bad on these, they walk four across the path taking up the whole thing

So it works both ways, personally I have a bell on my bike and boy do you have to ring it sometimes, people oblivious of the world, some just in a daze, others on smart phones, I have never forced a pedestrian to go in the road, they though have often forced me to, or I have had to stop dead until I can safely get by

Where its a mixed use path both parties need to be aware of each other, roads are often not an option due to drivers who for some reason think they must pass you before a traffic island in the centre of the road or their world will end

A little common sense on all sides wouldn't hurt

I am not talking towns or cities by the way, but here in rural Cornwall

I am a walker, cyclist and driver by the way

Please cyclists - stay on the road! There are far too many of you riding on the pavements and forcing pedestrians to step onto the road, or approaching unheard from behind and passing far closer than 2metres.

 

[whiskywill]

[/quote] carry an umbrella to defend yourself. really officer i dont know how it ended up in the spokes......[/quote]
That reminds me of around 60 years ago when my three brothers and one sister all shared a donated Raleigh bike. I was riding it one day and decided to kick a can I saw lying on the road . My foot went through the front wheel resulting in eight broken spokes and very bruised foot. I don't remember riding that bike again.

 

[MikeG.]

Please cyclists - stay on the road! There are far too many of you riding on the pavements and forcing pedestrians to step onto the road, or approaching unheard from behind and passing far closer than 2metres.

carry an umbrella to defend yourself. really officer i dont know how it ended up in the spokes......

Given that could actually kill the rider I'm assuming this is just a poor attempt at humour. A friend of mine was knocked off his bike yesterday and into a ditch by a walker hitting him with a long stick as he rode carefully by in a wide pass, having called out well in advance.

 

[That would work]

Translate that 'joke' into a different situation and what could you end up with.... ?
I know it's (poor) school boy humour but pretty unacceptable.

 

[Droogs]

That's awful MikeG, I do hope he was OK

 

[Doug71]

Some cyclists seem to be ignoring the social distancing thing going by the little groups that went through my village yesterday, they didn't look like families #-o

 

[whatknot]

As a slightly side issue

My nephew (nearly 50) came a cropper yesterday on his bike

The council in their infinite wisdom decided to "upgrade" an existing cycle path in the centre of town (Newquay) the existing path was well used and well known and there had been no known issues as far as I know

They added a dividing kerb and then slanted blocks spaced every few metres , this is a shared road between cyclists on one side and buses/taxis/delivery vehicles on the main part of the road

Not realising the kerb was there he hit it and it threw him off causing scrapes and abrasions, it smashed his watch and damaged his bike, it could have been a whole lot worse

This is on a busy junction of three roads feeding into one, so you have to keep your eyes open for traffic

Why do councils do this? a complete waste of money, it must have cost thousands

 

[That would work]

As a slightly side issue

My nephew (nearly 50) came a cropper yesterday on his bike

The council in their infinite wisdom decided to "upgrade" an existing cycle path in the centre of town (Newquay) the existing path was well used and well known and there had been no known issues as far as I know

They added a dividing kerb and then slanted blocks spaced every few metres , this is a shared road between cyclists on one side and buses/taxis/delivery vehicles on the main part of the road

Not realising the kerb was there he hit it and it threw him off causing scrapes and abrasions, it smashed his watch and damaged his bike, it could have been a whole lot worse

This is on a busy junction of three roads feeding into one, so you have to keep your eyes open for traffic

Why do councils do this? a complete waste of money, it must have cost thousands

I suspect it's more about local councils fulfilling quotas.

 

[whatknot]

Quite so but that does not make it right or sensible

Its often said that the councils use up their spare cash in budgets before the new financial year or they will get lower funding the next year, how true that is I can't say but filling a few pot holes in the road would be better use of the money (but doesn't tick the right boxes)

 

[John Brown]

I had a fixed wheel bike, about 50 years ago, before Hipsters had been invented. I alway found it super efficient, by comparison with hub gears, but bl@@dy hard work up hills. Still, I was fairly strong back then.

 

[MikeG.]

That's awful MikeG, I do hope he was OK

Yeah, he's OK, and, more importantly, so is his bike*. Like all cyclists, he's just a little more cynical about the behaviour of people every time an incident like this occurs. The culprit was a grey haired lady probably in her 60s or even 70s.

*Cyclist joke....