Cycling Thread 4.0 (Part 1)

Maybe it’s just because I had a bad day, but I’m really starting to worry about road safety around centralish London these days. It just strikes me from looking on today that jumping red lights is now pretty much the norm for everyone except car drivers, who of course still gamble with the amber. But scooters, cyclists and particularly motorcyclists just blast through reds now without a second thought. And ironically the calming of the traffic to some extent now means you get random pedestrians wandering around in the middle of busy roads all the time too. Feels like efforts at traffic calming and making shared road spaces seem to be having the general effect of making all traffic management appear optional.

By and large I take a relaxed approach to my riding so most of this doesn’t bother me much, but can’t help feeling I’m constantly rolling the dice at every junction if I’m not keeping my eye on literally everyone, all the time. I was sitting at a set of pedestrian lights in a quiet side road on my way home, and there was a pedestrian waiting at the crossing too, about a metre away from me. At the very instant the lights went green for me she suddenly decided to step out right in front of me, less than half a pedal revolution in. God only knows how I managed to avoid her and stay on the bike.

And when I was riding in through recently traffic calmed Dulwich there was a dad taking his little boy, maybe four or fiveish out on the quiet roads on his tiny bike. How it warmed my heart to watch him urge the kid to ignore the red traffic lights and ride straight through zebra crossings with people waiting to cross. A future London traffic champ in the making right there.

So I’m well on my way now to having four bikes (not including my Brompton).

They’re currently clogging up my hall and spare room, and it’s time I got some sort of stylish storage solution for them. Any suggestions please? xxxx

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Same. Need to resolve it. A little The hoods of the brakes where twisted to the side, too, but I just twisted them back. Little bit hesitant about retightening without one of these torque wrenches that everyone seems to recommend, but which I don’t have. Plus I fancy some bright new, maybe orange, bar tape, so it’ll probably end up as an LBS job.

As the previous discussion revealed I have simple handlebars so it’s quite easy to readjust them with just an Allen key, although I’m a little nervy about getting the tightening right without doing some damage or leaving my handlebars randomly wobbling about.

I think three sideways topples and 800 odd miles riding this year have left my bike in need of a bit of TLC though. There’s some little noises I need to investigate, and possibly the LBS option would be the best one, maybe on a day with lots of rain.

A simple pre-set 5nm torque wrench is only 15 quid and will do for stems and seat posts, which is 75% of all adjustments probably.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/ie/en/lifeline-essential-mini-torque-wrench/rp-prod155413?gs=1&sku=sku793849&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=base&gclid=CjwKCAjwo_KXBhAaEiwA2RZ8hDbLKnRlllqsG_EvnX64xn5V0JMPHHADDGES42MsPtEVlFbMW_8ajBoCGC8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Possibly a false economy though, as a fully adjustable and full sized wrench can be had for about 40 quid nowadays…

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we had four hung vertically like this in our spare room next to each other using hooks from decathlon which cost about £2.50 each

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That’s great - but as I’m in rented accommodation I can’t really start drilling holes in the walls - not that many anyway. Sorry, should have clarified…a free standing option if at all possible.

Would one of the gravity stands at least half the problem…?
Like this

That’s perfect! Thank you!

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Cycling in no traffic / without traffic lights / on perfectly tarmacked roads / doing very short rides really helps your average speed, huh

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I’ve got one of these going free if you’re ever up in Manchester (now a bike box wanker)

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Do you have country lanes right on your doorstep now? I met a guy from just outside Hillsborough in ni recently, he turned out to be a bikewanker too and was saying that it was glorious having lanes and quiet roads on his doorstep. Weather probably isn’t great though.

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Iow is just one big country lane

[safety wink]

It’s certainly not the same as catford

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Yep, in about five minutes!

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what else you gettin hun?

n+1 has kicked in here too - assuming the test ride goes well, i’ve agreed to buy a mate’s road bike off him, which i’ll then use as my winter bike. it’s a tarmac sl4 - carbon frame, rim brakes and mechanical shifting, mostly 105 components with an ultegra chainset. satin black (plenty minor scuffs on the frame but i don’t care), carbon prime aero bars, new chain and new cables throughout. 52x36 chainset, 11x32 cassette. will be great to have a winter bike that’s practically identical to my summer bike :slight_smile:

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I impulse bought a single speed that my lbs wants to get rid of. Genesis Flyer.

And they’re still making my custom road bike :grin:

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please, tell me more

The other day I stupidly leant my lovely carbon road bike up against a short brick wall. You can guess what happened next. It obviously fell over, and there’s now loads of scratches and chips down the fork / seatstay and some of the carbon has been exposed :unamused:

Luckily, painting over with clear nail polish seems to have concealed the marks but I hope I’ve not actually damaged it :expressionless:

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It’s shit, but it happens, mine is covered in black marker touch ups now!

Afaik with carbon fibre - if you can see carbon, that’s fine, if you can see fibres, that’s not good.

(There is one nasty scrape on the down tube that I’m mildly concerned about, but I think it’s fine). Certainly can’t afford a replacement seeing as the equivalent model has quadrupled in price since I bought mine…

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Inspired by this thread I’ve ordered this…will let you know how sturdy it is

(Current household bike count - 4 in house, 1 in shed, 1 in someone else’s shed that will soon be relocated here…)