i’ve ‘bikepacked’ and slept in fields, bus-stops, behind a Lidl and in B&Bs and hotels, sometimes all on the same trip, the last two are preferable

Member
…even for recreational riders being lower in the saddle while freewheeling down a twisty alpine road lowers centre of gravity, makes the bike more stable, increases grip and ultimately safety

recreational riders actually getting in the drops would have exactly the same effect :-)

as above the Prizm Low Light is basically clear but with a pinkish tinge, i use them for MTB/road all Winter where they help by boosting contrast a bit, depending what lights you have they’d be fine for night as well, although they do give things the tiniest hint of shade

wobbliscott

Member
Innovation is a dirty word in road biking. If roadies stuck to their guns they’d still be on race bikes from the 1930’s

oh dear

the average price of a bicycle sold in the UK in 2014 was £253.42, the average

work back from there

As above, ride to Newhaven, ferry to Dieppe, ride from there, far nicer than having to navigate through the mess that is south east England

if you’re planning on following the M4 you’re staying too far north, skirt Bristol -> Bath -> Winchester -> shadow the South Downs to Steyning, cut down into Brighton, along the coast to Newhaven

Assos Active Wear Cleanser is very good at removing oil stains without destroying the fabric

apply neat and rub against itself

have bell, use bell – “ooooh, that really scared me”

don’t have bell, say hello, hiya, good morning, excuse me – “where’s your bell?”

on a shared path yesterday i had an old couple deliberately walk towards me and then brush past, i was right on the edge of the path going 1mph, there was plenty of room to pass

i have got used to the fact that i’ll encounter at least one person on a ride that wants to be miserable and confrontational just so they can chunter about something for the rest of the day to a chorus of “oooh, i know”s and tutting over tea and custard creams

can only echo what everyone else has said

Portslade is definitely feeling the gentrification bow-wave out from Brighton, so there are some quite nice bits now, alongside some well iffy bits (Boundary Road can often have the feel of the Star Wars cantina), but the change to being nicer seems to happening randomly street by street as people can’t afford to live in Brighton any more

i live in Southwick and am perfectly happy here (20 odd years now), you get to aim for the nicer bits and scurry past the less pleasant areas, although the upside of it still being a bit low rent is that you don’t have to pay £10 for a coffee and a sandwich like you might in Brighton

i very seldom choose to go into the city now, and 5 minutes ago i was on top of the Downs, which is mainly why i’m still here

i have a version of that (it has a quick release button on the clamp) from when they were Wrench Force, daily use for the last two decades i guess, couldn’t recommend it enough, buy that

Rapha

flapjack type food

Still researching some way of mounting a bar end shifter on the tops, or better yet, adapting a time trial shifter to stick straight out from the bars just where the tape ends…

both Shimano and SRAM will do you a bar-end shifter (depending on gears in the back), the SRAM ones are particularly lovely in that they return to the same position after a shift rather than rotating round

in answer to the OP, as mentioned the easiest way to do this is just take the gear cable out the LH shifter, some people zip-tie the brake lever and gear shifter together to lessen flappiness, it works fine

bucatini would work better

i wouldn’t buy anything by a ‘designer’ brand, you’re paying for the name, anything by a reputable cycle clothing company will do. i have such a jacket that’s just under £200, it’s very good, it also doesn’t have any pockets

“The Brave Athlete – Calm The F*ck Down And Rise To The Occasion” is a great read if you struggle with the mental side or training and racing, not *too* techy and written in a chatty accessible way

although there’s not much need to get beyond the title :-)

if you *had* to stop the Grand Place square would be nicest place to do it, the cafe at the velodrome is pretty basic from what i remember

it’s open most of the time, there’s a cafe there as well, or you can hang with the kids in the empty grandstands and drink cheap beer and have a fag, maybe something a bit harder

if there’s no one playing sports on the infield you can do a couple of cheeky laps, they’re not really bothered though

just FYI Roubaix is a real shithole and best not stopped in

another vote for SPD shoes and pedals if you’re bothered about carrying too much stuff/weight

or some Salomon RX Mocs

brack

Member

Do HOPE do a non-clicky/noisy road up??

yes, the RS4 range of hubs, the freewheel is still clicky but less so, it’s more buzzy

Subscriber
Halo and other gentle detergents are for materials that are ruined by stronger detergents ie sofshells and shells with a dwr. Most cycling kit is pretty robust nylon, no matter how much they try to sell you special cleaning products, what you really need is a normal biological detergent and some lenor.

biological detergent has enzymes that are very good at eating lyrcra and fabric softeners will compromise any wicking effects and waterproofing of clothes

Halo Sports Wash is jolly good

antifungal, antibacterial and halal

scruff

Member
What would a Shimano front lever be like if used 1x, would the lack of cable tension create a nasty floppy rattle?

it’s fine, just zip-tie/tape/elastic band (doesn’t need much, just to stop it moving) the shift lever to the brake lever, had this on my CX bike for ‘a while’, never an issue

as above, it’s not dazzle camouflage it’s a repeated pattern

and because we see photographs of dazzle ships in black and white we assume it was monochrome but it was incredibly colourful (the clue’s in the name Dazzle)

scu98rkr

With MTB bars become side wide a pair of cross top lever would make sense for road sections.

you sure?

the Fugio is a long wheelbase slacker angled fat tyred gravel bike, the Allez is a shorter wheelbase tighter angled narrow tyred faster handling road bike

Depending on the brand the whole “women’s specific” geometry thing is either complete guff or a valid theory or the same bike as a “men’s” but painted a prettier colour, ignore all of that and just get her the one that fits her the best (change saddle and maybe to thinner grips as necessary), this will require her dedicated input though rather than you deciding what she wants

check to see that the road calipers in your shed are deep enough for the pads to reach the rim and wide enough to go round the tyre

they’re Timberlands

i used to be a staunch road shoes and pedals for road bikes person until i started doing a lot of riding that required enough walking about (mainly into petrol stations and cafes) to worry about cleat wear so i changed to SPDs

as mentioned above the shoe makes the biggest difference, i have the top of the range carbon soled Specialized MTB shoe which is essentially their road shoe with grip glued to the sole and i’ve never had any issues with them
i also use the Shimano PD-A600 SPD Touring Pedals, they’re single sided which isn’t a problem for me but the platform around the cleat offers a significant amount of support to the shoe and gets rid of the ‘yaw’ you can sometimes feel on a standard MTB pedal

i’ve done A LOT of miles on this system and am totally sold, i swapped back to ‘proper’ road shoes and cleats recently for winter (overshoes needed) and it feels weird :-)

simply put, step out your front door, turn left or right as necessary and pedal until you’ve reached your front door again, there really doesn’t need to be any more to it than that ;-)

if you’re going for a record there are a few rules and countries that you have to go through to make it count, but apart from that anything goes
there are a few countries that you might want to avoid, and some might require visas so a certain amount of home work is required to make the journey smoother

Mark Beaumont has a book out about his round the world record, and Juliana Buhring’s book is a good read.
there’s *tons* of stuff out there once you start digging

conversely, i wear one a lot

there usefulness would very much depend on whether you run hot or cold as to wether you might find one “too warm” or not, like a lot of clothes really

are the radiators in your house turned up so high that your blood boils and skin starts to blister when you stand near them?

if not, your bicycle will be fine

What you describe sounds like touring to me, in which case i’d either use a more substantial lock or more secure accommodation.

this

bikepacking and/or touring is also taking what is required for your specific needs, so if you’re planing on riding all day and always within sight of your bike then you don’t need a lock (or something minimal to stop an opportunist), if you’re stopping often to look at the local sights then pack a decent lock and maybe casual clothes so you’re not wandering around in cycling kit, or invest in some Gravel Specific (TM) loose cycling kit

it’s mainly common sense

it needed someone making coffee at the beginning and a trail dog to be any good really

and skids

i could (and fequently do) ride for an hour without touching any water i had on the bike

geometry, tyre clearance, weight, bottle mounts and about £300

yeah cause batteries don’t exist

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Batteries-Operated-Paper-Shredder/dp/B0042A10CQ

do they hold their charge for 12 years, or are remote controlled?

That looks extremely vulnerable to me. I’d snap those CO2 carts off on the first descent, or the first carry! I think I’d just stick ’em in the jersey pocket with a dedicated head (they’re only tiny) and have the pump as a separate entity if I wanted one.

your road riding is far more radcore than mine

there’s really no such thing as a light, small, pocketable pump that actually works at getting decent road pressure into a tyre, there’s always a compromise somewhere

i have a large collection of mini-pumps in the cupboard under the sink, i use a Zefal HPX frame-fit pump which i often lend to those with mini-pumps when i want to get home before dark