A random thread for cycling things that don't really warrant their own thread

[Pingu]

Left the bike in the sun at lunchtime and it got quite warm.


IMG_3751_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[Kim]

Left the bike in the sun at lunchtime and it got quite warm.


IMG_3751_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Well done, I don't think I've seen higher than mid-40s on mine (that was the time the screen protector unpeeled from the eTrex in the heat).

[ElyDave]

I saw 35.x whilst riding yesterday

[Ham]

Replacing my beater has opened my eyes to the oddities of the secondhand market. Do the majority of people really not know that bikes come in different sizes? I'd estimate that upwards of 80% of adverts (at least at the bottom end of the market) don't put frame size in their advert.

[bludger]

We take it for granted how much we know about bikes relative to 99% of society. Most people can name the components 'wheels, tyres, pedals and handlebars' and that is about it. A great many bike sales photos are taken from the wrong side so you have to email to ask what the componentry is, invariably the reply is 'shimano'.

[Basil]

Most people would have no idea what size their bike was. Except maybe 'small ' or 'medium ' etc.  They would also have no idea what to measure.

The reply I once got was "26 inch tyres "

[Kim]

The reply I once got was "26 inch tyres "

I've just fixed^[1] a p*nct*r* for a bloke (found looking sorry for himself at the roadside, while a passing motorcyclist apologised for not being equipped with anything remotely useful) who claimed his bike was shod with such.  I peered at the wheel in my hand.  I peered at the 26" wheel on the back of my bike.  I peered at the "38-622" written on the tyre I'd just removed.  Yeah.

(The moment of doubt was caused entirely by the tyre's apathy towards staying on the rim.  Serious loosey-goosey, but not that bad a size mismatch!)

I suppose identifying bikes by their wheel size makes sense if 90% of your experience of bicycles is toys for children.


_{[1] No score draw:  Hole identified and patched, foreign object picked out of tyre.  There was also a leak from the valve stem, which was knackered, but slow enough that his chances of getting to the nearest pub using stop-and-pump-it-back-up tactics seemed reasonable.}

[Cudzoziemiec]

Riding along by the river on Monday, I saw a flotilla of swans swimming along. There were five of them and their different progresses reminded me of a group of cyclists. First came one on his/her own (I'm sure I used to know how to tell male from female swans, something to do with their beaks), swimming strongly, creating a great V-shaped wake and increasing his lead over the group. Then some way behind was a group of two, side by side chatting. Just behind them another, keeping up. And at the back a last solo bird, swimming at a reasonable pace but looking around, veering off to the side to investigate things on the river bank, stopping to eat, and as a consequence dawdling ever further behind.

[perpetual dan]

I've just measured my two best fitting bikes, with a view to a new one that is somewhere between the two in use. They're more different than i realised, despite having fairly similar distances between contact points.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Hi-viz thoughts from yesterday's rides (I think we had a hi-viz thread but I can't find it now). About half a mile ahead of me on a straight road I saw a white horse. It was in the shadow of trees on an otherwise sunny day and I couldn't see the rider. There was no other traffic. When I got to about half the distance, I saw there was also a brown horse alongside the white one. It was only at this point I saw the riders. The white horse;s rider was wearing black (one of those body armour suits that horse riders wear), the brown horse's rider was wearing hi-viz: flo-yo vest with reflective stripes. So the white horse showed up long before the rider in hi-viz, who only showed up at the same time as the brown horse and rider in black. I put this down partly to positioning (the white horse was on the right) but mostly size.

[Kim]

This one?  https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=111184.0

I remember seeing a horse in the distance recently that turned into a woman with incredibly long legs and Big Hair as I approached.  To be fair, I was on the lookout for horses, having just passed some fresh horsepoo on the left of the road.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Might have been that one, but even if I'd found that one it wouldn't have been entirely appropriate as this was in bright sunshine but in deep shade. No fog.

Some people do have incredibly long legs and pony tails but...

On other horse thoughts, I saw two little girls (estimated ages 10 and 7) out riding large ponies (or small horses – I'm sure there's a technical difference but I don't know what) in the middle of nowhere with no adults around and wondered if their nice middle-class parents* would let them do the same on bikes. (Both horses were brown, neither girl had hi-viz, though one of them had a white top.)

*Assumed on grounds of horse-riding.

[Kim]

large ponies (or small horses – I'm sure there's a technical difference but I don't know what)

AUIU you measure the virtual seat tube length in silly horsist units.

Some time ago I coined the term "Islahorses" for this sort of thing.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Making the Isla Bikes "Icons" range the equivalent of old nags?

[Kim]

 

[Kim]

Alpkit appear to have launched a special male-specific range of bikepacking luggage.

Naturally I'll be sticking to my Ortliebs until the PINK version comes out^[1]...


_{[1] This statement may contain lies or traces of lies.}

[Cudzoziemiec]

There are various things that could be said about camo prints but... they do have women in the army now.

Perhaps they should combine the stereotypes by producing pink camo pattern luggage? (Rapha might already have done this.)

[Mr Larrington]

I was in the local horriblemarket a couple of hours ago, queuing behind a couple both wearing camouflage gear, and no, they weren't both blokes.  This is Utah.

[Kim]

Couples always end up looking a bit like each other, thobut.

[bludger]

I do find this very odd. My favourite bike shop (planet x...) have subcontracted bike assembly from their Yorkshire warehouse to... Italy.

ostensibly this is to "keep up with demand". Wonder if the currency carryings on has anything to do with it. I don't understand the cycling industry at all. Anyone got any knowledge to weigh in with?

https://www.planetx.co.uk/c/q/bikes/limited-production-models?deal=HOFF15&fbclid=IwAR1G-afVveBPPOYw79UDLY0tXKBqZiep1brEW2H3hKDXNt0fTAiScBuMq-o

[mike]

Significant Other got a new aero road bike. On her old bike keeping up with her was almost do-able, mainly cos I'd catch up (and recover a bit) on the downhills.  Did 50 miles with her on the new bike on Sunday and it nearly killed me.  I need to do some sneaky training without her realising

(it's a Trek Madone with fancy wheels.  Don't encourage your SO get get one if you want to keep riding together)

[Cudzoziemiec]

I do find this very odd. My favourite bike shop (planet x...) have subcontracted bike assembly from their Yorkshire warehouse to... Italy.

ostensibly this is to "keep up with demand". Wonder if the currency carryings on has anything to do with it. I don't understand the cycling industry at all. Anyone got any knowledge to weigh in with?

https://www.planetx.co.uk/c/q/bikes/limited-production-models?deal=HOFF15&fbclid=IwAR1G-afVveBPPOYw79UDLY0tXKBqZiep1brEW2H3hKDXNt0fTAiScBuMq-o

No industry knowledge, just ill-informed speculation ( ). But if PX are earning mostly GBP and their Italian subcontractor presumably bills them in EUR, then as the GBP falls surely this will cost PX more for the same bills?

[rower40]

Last week was unusual, in that there was another bike (i.e. not mine) parked in the sheffield stands at my local (*) station.  This was rare enough that I decided the bike warranted closer inspection.  This revealed it to be not only a BSO, but one with front forks back-to-front.  I left a note in the brake lever to suggest that getting a cycle mechanic to check it over wouldn't be the worst decision the rider ever took, with a bit of an explanation as to why, which may have included the words "You might crash".

Imagine my surprise when, a few days later, (the bike having vanished from the sheffield stands and then re-appeared), I saw my note in the brake lever again, with the words "Thank you, I'm getting it checked this weekend" and a smiley face written/drawn thereon.

(*) "A Local Station For Local People".  Train service (in the loosest possible meaning) of 7 trains per day in each direction; roughly 2-hour intervals between trains, doubling to hourly for the morning and evening peak.  And it's still a 15 min cycle ride from the village I live in.  Don't get me started on the safety (or otherwise) of the B5008 between the two.

[Kim]

 

Last reversed-fork I came across was in a pile of donated bikes that were going to be recycled for charity.  Been a while since I encountered one in the wild.

[rower40]

Reversed-fork bike spotted again, now all fixed!