A friendly and positive thread for people who enjoy riding a bicycle
Show pictures of your bikes; pedal bikes, E-bikes, all bicycle types welcome But no motorbikes please! : )
Show pictures of the roads and places where you ride - sunny exotic, or humble-home local.
Show pictures of the fab cycling product you’ve just purchased - and perhaps a review!
Talk about rides, health, places, racing, touring, commuting, events, having fun on a [pedal] bike
Talk about getting muddy, sweaty, cleaning the bike, servicing, tinkering, tools, and cycling stuff.
George is very welcome to come back and tell us how he’s getting on, i wonder if he’s still riding (?)
i remember his liking for oversize frame sizes, and being a bit accident prone : /
Living in the Welsh borders i’m blessed with some fabulous cycling roads, including a National Cycling Route. Very quiet for traffic, need to look out for the occasional tractor and local driver but it’s very pleasant to be away from the busy main roads.
My general purpose bike is a Trek Domane, just the job for scouting around country back lanes, some of the tarmac roads can be a bit rough and bumpy in places, and sometimes brown and messy around dairy farms, especially in winter. Mostly though it’s fine going.
Occasional flooding in the low lands means i need to change course and ride higher ground areas. Plenty of hills around here but nothing too steep unless you feel like a challenge.
I would send him a copy if i knew who he was ^
Stop to take a photo when there’s not a soul around the yellow jersey rider comes steaming past - with a cheery smile and a wave : )
SWMBO has a Domane which suits her well. My preference is for something a little more sprightly - I’d love a new bike but can’t justify the expense so I will continue to make do with my Super-six Evo…
I hope to update this thread next week (and beyond) when a) Everywhere is not flooded b) I have finished work and can get out pretty much any day I want.
Due to the dogs I don’t get out on any of the bikes as much as I would like. However, I take my Mother’s car in for servicing and MOTing to a garage down near Rye Harbour and while they are doing the work I take the opportunity to unpack my Brompton from the boot and go off a cycle ride down the coast.
This is one of my regular stops - Mary Stanford Lifeboat House. A tragic history to this one; the entire 17 man crew was drowned while out in stormy seas in November 1928. Most tragic of all was that the crew of the distressed ship that they were going to help had already been rescued by another boat just before the Mary Stanford set out. The boat was recalled with flares but the crew didn’t see them. The the old lifeboat house remains as a memorial to the lost crew.
Richard, I’ll look out for an orange Brompton as that’s one my favorite rides, parking up on the other side of Camber heading through Rye and up the hill then down to Winchelsea on Sea passing the Mary Stanford Lifeboat House and back through the harbour.
It was a bit windy on Wednesday and the River Rother at high tide was quite spectacular.
Andy, it’s rare treat that I get to ride the Brompton down along the coast. More usually you’ll see me on a Friday or Saturday walking down to the sea from Rye Harbour along with two Lurchers and a very feisty and barky Jack Russell. We were down there last saturday around midway between high and low tide, but the tide was still way above the beach so Luna and Twig didn’t get to play their usual game of chase on the sand.
It’s a 2018 Domane SL8 disc, which came with a Dura-Ace group set and Bontrager Aeolus 3 wheels fitted standard.
IMHO seems unnecessary to put Dura-Ace on an SL frame [105 or Ultegra would suffice ] and not to mention fancy carbon fibre aero wheels, but heck i got it for a very good price - which is odd with it being at the time a current model which i actually took delivery of in Dec 2017, just about every other bike i’ve ever bought new was a last years model or year before that and well below the list price too.
The transmission parts: chainset, front & rear mech, chain & cassette, were swopped over with the Ultegra on my 2017 Trek Silque SLR; and which remains my summer lightweight weapon of choice.
We couldn’t swop the brake parts over cos the Silque is rim brake.
I do like the Aeolus 3 wheels, after 4k miles they remain reliable albeit a front sealed roller bearing failure which was changed under warranty, but TBH the aero advantage must be fairly slight with my ‘averaging’ around at 16 - 18 mph in summer, and 15 mph in winter, and the winter months fitting of mudguards must surely diminish any aero dynamic advantage completely. However, a new pair of wheels are on the way [ custom built for my needs ] i’m due to pick them up next Thursday.
Other trick parts include front and rear IsoSpeed [non-adjustable] which removes some bumpy road shock, a Garmin with all telemetry except power, daylight running lights, and the swop to cycle-cross chainset gearing 46/36 which i find far more agreeable than the so called ‘compact’ 50/34.
Although i may swop that 36 ring for the 34 inner ring over soon : )
SWMBO has the SL6 so Ultegra discs and the Paradigm boat anchors. I have built her some carbon rimmed wheels on DT240 hubs with DA rotors for summer use which makes things a bit lighter but it is still rather heavy even with these. She loves the comfort and stability though.
I imagine the Silque is much more rewarding to ride?
Richard, that’s an excellent Brompton, so practical and handy, and a very Naim Audio choice of bike brand! : )
My car has just enough room for my bike to go in the back when the back seats are folded down.
Over-wise i’d be off to the bike shop to buy a Brompton too : )
I get on okay with the Paradigm ‘comp’ on my Silque, although they came shod with Bontrager R3 tyres which roll really well, and show no signs of being worn out after 4k miles!
All credit to you for building wheels, i wouldn’t have a clue, my new Domane wheels are currently being built by a wheel builder expert called Ryan in Bristol.
The main problem with Bontrager wheels is the push fit sealed roller bearings are not especially sealed against the British wet and damp. I’ve chosen Hope RS4 for my new wheels.
My Silque is a joy to ride, 7.5 kilo, it feels spritely and fun.
I’ve just giving it a thorough clean up before it goes into winter hibernation.
Hope hubs are excellent - have made two sets of wheels with them - one set for each of our winter bikes - and they are still as smooth as silk after several Yorkshire winters and 000s of miles (and Paris-Roubaix sportif).
Thanks Debs. Yes, the story behind the Brompton and JV’s involvement is a great one and the connection with Naim is a bonus on top of what is a remarkable and ingenious bike. It’s great for when I’m up in London, although dicing with London traffic is not so much fun. But I do enjoy any excuse to take it out. My Mother has a Mini which comes with a remarkably small boot, but when the Brompton is folded it fits perfectly without any need to lower the rear seats. In my own car - a BMW estate - I can get the bike, luggage and all the dogs in with no problem at all.
Time for a post from the dark side. Mountain biking. I’m very lucky that my wife is into this madcap sport as much as I am. We mostly ride trail centres and natural mountain and forest trails. We have bikes that were built to take a beating, and which will always outclass our abilities. We may have tested the upper limits of the bikes once or twice, but that was by accident.
The sheer thrill of racing down a mountainside forest is the nutz! However, very rarely, we have suffered some fairly damaging injuries from some spectacular crashes. It’s a price we are willing to pay. We still consider it to be less risky than riding on the road in the UK.
