On the commute today

[Gandalf]

Finally got around to fitting my helmet cam today.  It was really strange but the motons were very well behaved, I can't believe that they could spot the camera though.

I'm sure normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

[alexb]

I enjoyed riding in on tyres that are pumped up nice and hard today. I was riding in at least a whole gear higher than over the last few weeks.

[Pippa]

First commute in of the year - and let there be many more (after a rather paltry 5 or so cycle commutes last year!!! ).

I did it on my fixed as well

[SteveC]

Another one back on the bike for the first time this year.   

And three of us did just over 9 miles at lunchtime
(mountain bikes on a road ride - that's why we're slow - that's our excuse and we're sticking to it)

Steve

[Andrij]

First commute since mid-November today.  On the ride in I was as quick as a sloth on Valium.  Moved much better on the ride home until around Mile End where traffic got in the way.  I even had to filter coming down Col du Bow. 

Looking forward to commuting again tomorrow — and the rest of the week. 
 

[spindrift]

My first seven miles of the year. The gutters are filled with grit and crud from the melted snow.

[mrcharly-YHT]

A lovely ride, followed someone for a few miles, which was nicer than riding by myself even if we didn't speak.

Then got a puncture 2 miles from home <grrr>. So walked the rest of the way.

[tonycollinet]

First commute on new chain-free rubber-band-drive bike.  Nothing to report; it's quiet (like a nicely-running chain) and doesn't appear to be losing me huge amounts of energy.  Here's a pic from Trek's website: Clicky

But these Shimano Roller brakes appear to need some substantial 'bedding-in'.  They're very 'progressive' - pull the levers harder, and it stops harder - but a couple of scary moments occurred when I wanted the bike to stop even sharper.

The previous commuter bike was 26" wheels, and this has 700c.  So it feels a lot bigger.  The gears are quite high - and getting different sizes of chainbelt-ring and sprocket is going to be a nightmare - so I'm stuck with these ratios.

It was roller brakes that put me off that bike when I got my Giant. Annoyingly the previous years version had disks, but also chain drive. I'm sure one day soon they'll do a disk brake belt drive version.

[alexb]

First commute on new chain-free rubber-band-drive bike.  Nothing to report; it's quiet (like a nicely-running chain) and doesn't appear to be losing me huge amounts of energy.  Here's a pic from Trek's website: Clicky

But these Shimano Roller brakes appear to need some substantial 'bedding-in'.  They're very 'progressive' - pull the levers harder, and it stops harder - but a couple of scary moments occurred when I wanted the bike to stop even sharper.

The previous commuter bike was 26" wheels, and this has 700c.  So it feels a lot bigger.  The gears are quite high - and getting different sizes of chainbelt-ring and sprocket is going to be a nightmare - so I'm stuck with these ratios.

It was roller brakes that put me off that bike when I got my Giant. Annoyingly the previous years version had disks, but also chain drive. I'm sure one day soon they'll do a disk brake belt drive version.

I was talking to a friend at work about my Ridgeback Nemesis recently. I was really surprised to see that Ridgeback have dropped it from their current line-up. You have pretty much no choice if you want an off the peg hub-geared/disc braked bike. I think there's only the Cannondale (expensive) and Charge left.
I did look all the rollerbraked bikes, but all of the poor reviews of the brakes put me off.

[CrinklyLion]

Gordy found a very pretty Merida (Spresso?  Maybe - I remember it was sort-of coffee coloured...) with an alfine hub and disk brakes when I was bike-hunting - out of price range, and not available thorugh our C2W scheme, unfortunatey.  I saw another one somewhere too, but I can't remember off the top of my head what it was...

[CrinklyLion]

...but I think it might have been this Civia Bryant - Commuting and Transportation Bicycles

the power of google and a half-remembered halfaclue

[tonycollinet]

I was talking to a friend at work about my Ridgeback Nemesis recently. I was really surprised to see that Ridgeback have dropped it from their current line-up. You have pretty much no choice if you want an off the peg hub-geared/disc braked bike. I think there's only the Cannondale (expensive) and Charge left.
I did look all the rollerbraked bikes, but all of the poor reviews of the brakes put me off.

There is the giant escape R sub 0 also - I think a couple of others.

[rower40]

At the risk of diverting this thread...
(Sorry everyone)
I liked the roller brakes on the Nemesis; I am GOING to like the ones on this Trek Soho, just they haven't bedded in yet.  They're already (after only 20 miles) getting firmer and more reassuring.  [Fnarr?] That might be why they've had bad reviews - the reviewers get bikes straight out of the box.

[Chris N]

Got potholed today.  Managed to lift the front wheel over, but the rear clobbered a sharp edge and dented and buckled the rim.  Tube didn't puncture, so I carried on for a bit, but the dent was big enough to let the tube squeeze out, and eventually it popped (very loudly, outside an old folk's home ).  Booted the tyre to stop it happening again, and rode the rest of the way in (5 miles or so) on a very under-inflated rear.

Need to get the hammers out later and try to whack the dent out so I can get home tonight.  Good job I've got a spare rim in the shed already.

[vorsprung]

Got potholed today.  Managed to lift the front wheel over, but the rear clobbered a sharp edge and ..

ooh ow ouch.
Check that pothole is reported at fill that hole

[vorsprung]

First day on new bike.  I just finished building it late last night, this was the test run
Stopped to straighten stem/handlebar/wheel alignment and to rotate the drops to correct angle
Took it easy down big hill
Cheeky young scamp on MTB thought he could overtake me as I was taking it easy.  It seems that the new bike will do 40kph uphill quite happily 
Of course the gear cable stretched during the ride and will now need to be adjusted at lunchtime.  At the moment it won't do gear number 8 ( the fastest, biggest gear )

[pdm]

Snow almost all gone... Just a few patches of melting snow/ice on the north facing slopes of Ivy Cottage Lane in the Mayfield Valley. Heavy fog this morning so, of course,  muggins goes and almost falls off when hitting one such patch  
Back on the slicks this week so commute is a few minutes faster again. 
Except, I go and break my chain (new one installed on Saturday last) on the way up Hady Hill (12%) 1/2 mile from work....  
Almost got wiped by a National Express Bus as well - complaint lodged.  

[clarion]

Crikey, you've had a journey!  Glad to see you've begun racking up those miles again though

[pdm]

Crikey, you've had a journey!  Glad to see you've begun racking up those miles again though

Indeed - Glad to see your troubles with weather and traffic have also not dampened you enthusiasm for the cycle! I'll try to wave as I struggle to catch up sometime in the next few weeks... ? 

[FyPuNK]

Boring, boring  and more boring, in fact I was bored stiff this morning. Without doubt the most boring trip in so far this year. 

[αdαmsκι]

On the commute today .... there were other cyclists! And other people using the changing rooms, too. It seems like people are coming out of hibernation.

[Basil]

On the commute today .... there were other cyclists! And other people using the changing rooms, too. It seems like people are coming out of hibernation.

Bugger. 

[clarion]

There were back to normal type numbers of cyclists on my commute today!

[GruB]

There is still snow on the ground from last week !!
It was a lovely ride in and then home again.

[Butterfly]

lots more cyclists today.