In a rain, with slick tyres, in busy town centre attacking 5 mm high curb (not perpendicular to my direction) without lifting front wheel. #tarmacdiver

Merino Buff for Autumn/Winter time when it’s dry.

Sealskinz Belgian cap when it’s cold, windy and wet.

binners :lol:

I love my rides to and from work.
And I love when everything is done at home an I can sit down on the sofa with the wife and start watching Breaking Bad (which we’ve recently “discovered”)…

Endura BaaBaa covers my ultra-long arms no problem.

Jacket + shorts + t-shirt = more than I paid for my bike… :?

I was almost taken down by a left-hooking car last night, but luckily I was anticipating this: I was riding up a short but very steep bit of a road and the car was following me, revving the engine like mad (1-gear I suppose). By the top the car decided to overtake me – but the weird thing was it left me the whole lane space! Which meant it was going straight onto oncoming bus… The bus stopped, the car indicated left, cutting in front of me and trying to turn left… I squeezed quickly between the car and the front of the bus shouting something like “Yeah! F**n great!” and I was going to release my anger by kicking off the drivers wing mirror… 8) And then I saw the driver… About 150 years old granny… 8O

I’ve had some mini pumps, but I ended up as a fan of bigger pumps. Topeak Peakini MasterBlaster has been with me for years now (the first one was stolen with my bike, then I found an identical in the woods few weeks later!).

On a road bike lives large RoadBlaster – massive pump which takes about 2 minutes to inflate the tyres to 100PSI almost effortless!

Thanks for that! The green ones are the only available from the 2014 range… But I ride mainly at night :lol:

I don’t remember I’ve ever had that problem. But I tend to take them off “finger-by-finger”, instead pulling them out at one go ;)

For me they are very warm – cycling in temperatures about -5° was comfortable.

Regarding dexterity: I’m able to do everything required during a winter bike ride with them (except maybe repairing a puncture LOL ). They feel good on the bike, reaching gears/brakes levers without any problems. They felt quite tight and a bit bulky at first, but the feeling disappeared after few first rides.

They are bastards to put them on when new! :lol:

The Endura Deluge worked very well for me last winter – it’s going to be their second season of heavy and abusive use soon!

Hey Goldigger! Nice to know another Polish guy on the forum! 8)

I’ve eaten all the cats in my neighborhood and since you’re a vegetarian – are there any left where you leave? I’d pay for P&P! :lol:

Is it the one that sounds like 6 different people playing 6 different songs at the same time, while Bowie sings another one? :lol:

Kindness bomb – Slow down & allow for slowness of thought and righteous indignation, good morning/afternoon, smile, please & thank you, excuse me… BOOM! – it diffuses the situation nicely, makes you feel all warm ‘n’ fuzzy and leaves them thinking they’d have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for those pesky manners

What??? What about Strava times?? 8O

Joking aside… When I see someone else on the trail I always slow down to almost stop, it does not cost me anything and the last thing I want during my ride is some pointless arguments.

Last week I was riding my local tracks, there is one steep descent, full of rocks and wet leafs. Just when I started rolling down I spotted two horse riders going up the same track, about 50m away from me. I know how horses can freak out when they see some mud-covered something on two wheels, so I tried to stop, sliding and skidding all around… But I managed to stop, I got off the bike and shouted to them to carry on, as I climbed to the top and walked off the track onto a nearby field. I could hear them shouting back “thanks!” (female voices), so I waited. And when they got to the top I realized they were my two new neighbors (I don’t know if they are sisters or partners…)! :mrgreen:

Good stuff!

It just shows that some of the “cycling laws” are a bit outdated – like the one that the lights should be in “constant mode”. The last bit of my commute it riding a mile long straight road, which has one roundabout and few traffic lights. There is a school on it too – in the morning it is extremely busy: long and slow ques of cars both ways.

The road is quite wide. I always get to the middle of it and overtake everything (the cars move approx 2 mph, both ways), while being very cautious about the traffic and the kids. Two strong lights (handlebar and helmet) in “flash” mode work – most of the drivers give me extra room (I give them thumb up), some try to block me (I anticipate such a behavior, so I stop behind and overtake them when safe), usual thing… And there is always at least one police car in the queue and they always pull over slightly to the left, allowing me to overtake them, even if there is a double line in the middle. The same when the police are coming towards me and I’m on their lane – I’ve never been stopped, they always wave back when I thank them for giving me extra room…

I only have one bike, which is my commuter, MTB, sportive machine, etc… That means I change the tyres quite regularly. So tubes for me.

Also I’m quite lucky with punctures, but when they happen – I’ve mastered the repair procedure, it’s a muscle memory thing now! LOL

I’ve never had a pinch flat, and I run quite low pressures: 22-25 PSI front, 25-30 back (depending of the conditions and terrain).

Funny thing is when I went for a ride on rocky tracks near Princetown in Dartmoor with two friends, who were both running tubeless, we had 3 punctures in between all of us. I didn’t have any. :mrgreen: Luckily I had 2 spare innertubes in my backpack… :roll:

Northwind I used to hate the rear Crudcatcher’s – they were always coming off after every bigger bump. Until I realised there is a small lip on the other side of the guard, that needs to be pushed in (with a screwdriver) under a recess in a mounting bracket… 8) Rock solid since then!

ndthornton In my case it’s about comfort. Being constantly splashed with fresh litres of sticky mud on my back does not feel good. Not for me.

I also commute on my mtb, the route takes me through the woods. Not having any decent “cycling facilities” at work (not to mention the showers…) is another reason for mudguards.

And I prefer to get the stuff straight into the washing machine after the ride, than soaking it first in the bucket to get rid of the extra 10kg of mud… ;)

I tried to be “cool” one day and rode in wet/mud without mudguards. I thought “hey, the guys ride without them, it can’t be so much different!”.

Never again!

I prefer to enjoy the ride more than trying to convince myself that getting absolutely covered in cr*p and staying like that for few hours (not to mention getting undressed in the back garden after…).
Mudhugger + Crud Racepack 29er is my combo.

Funny thing – there is one gravel track around, down hill, with one nasty 90° corner: every time when I ride there in “KOM Mode” I unclip my inside foot, ready for the Mother Of Drifts, but she never comes! It’s a loose gravel over very hard harpack (?), it just looks like it was designed for drifting competitions :D

But then I always say loud to myself “weight on the front!” and “hands of the brakes!”… Should I try to dab the front brake a bit? :mrgreen:

Thanks for all the advice, guys!

The other part of the question (or maybe the question itself should be constructed a bit differently…) is: “is that mini-slip something I should expect, or does it mean I was cornering badly?”

I try to apply all the basic techniques when riding corners – this allows me to go faster and faster. But most of the guys I sometimes ride with literally hammer down the turns, where I take them with caution. I think if I could lean my bike more I would be going as fast as them. But I can’t, because I’m worried my front’s gonna wash off… :lol: So really how much should I trust my tyre?

I’m going to tonight! Will I die?

Purgatory on the back +1!

I run it with Butcher on front. Ultimate combo for my riding.

rattie79 I had been starting the days with ibuprofen… :lol:

Mind, that I have no proper shoes – hundreds years old vans trainers made me think about every step I was taking…

Another run tonight! But I’ll cut it to 3km for time being… 8)

This is exactly what happened to me in the recent days! I run about 8km on Friday night. The pain has gone this morning! :mrgreen:

Mind you, day 3 was the worst…… :lol:

Or Crud Raceguard set with extra Mudhugger on front. Positioning the Crud Catcher quote low (more less just above bottle cage height) helps keeping the “rider’s front end” clean :lol: This is my Autumn-Winter set-up not just for commuting.

I remember when my £800 Kona was stolen I felt devastated – this here is just shocking!!! :evil:

Sorry to hear that, man…

Poor binman. He’s just trying to get it open so he can empty it.

This made me chuckle… :lol:

On Shimano hubs it’s about 15 minutes job, including cleaning and regreasing the rest of the hub, plus cleaning the mess on the kitchen floor, before the wife comes back… 8)

BigJohn if I had to drink just water here I would be sleeping at my desk… :wink:

I never use anything except warm water to clean mine…

But yours looks proper hipster-retro now! :mrgreen:

Sorry to hear that Neilsonwheels, that must be a real horror!!! 8O

I’ll give the suggested options a try, thanks!

And the Aeropress seems like a good idea for a letter to Santa… :roll:

DeFeet Woolie Boolies!!!

I’ve had my pair for 2 years, used them A LOT, also as the office socks. And only recently one of them developed a hole on the heel – “normal” socks would die after few weeks of such a usage, for sure.

Also worth noticing is my “secret experiment” – last year I’ve tested them for their claimed “no odour” properties, wearing them for commuting and work (not changing them at work, as I normally do) for a month, without washing them at all… :roll: I was still working after that month, still had friends – so I must say that the socks passed the test! LOL

I’ve been heavily used my Merino LS base layer for almost a year. Recommended, for sure! It still looks good, no tears or shrinkage or stretching, despite loads of washings (most of the time normal washing detergents, sometimes Nikwax stuff, but never any fabric conditioners).

It’s very warm. It works fantastically on its own in temps between 10-18­° (anything over and it feels too hot for me…), putting my LS autumn jersey allows me to ride comfortably in anything down to 0° (if not rainy and windy). Pairing it with my wind/waterproof softshell jacket and I rode in the most horrendous weather last winter no problem!

During harder workouts the top goes wet quite quickly (especially under the windproof stuff), but it does keep me warm and comfortable. It is water repellent to some degree (you can see the droplets sitting on it during a foggy rides). But it’s still wool – it sucks a lot of water in and becomes heavy ;)

+1 for overshoes!

I’ve been using the MT500 by Endura http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/endura-mt500-mtb-overshoe/rp-prod17096

Yesterday it was really strong rain over here. Riding about 8 km on very roads, with constant front wheel spray directly on the feet (wide tyre, crud catcher…) and my shoes were bone dry after that!

Here is the photo of my shoe/sock after I took the overshoe off:

psling Sometimes I think people don’t realize that bikes can move faster than 5mph:
1. Oh, a bike in front of me!
2. I’ll leave a lot of room for him when overtaking.
3. I’ve overtaken him, so he must be waaaay behind me now! No need to check my mirrors at all!

Loads of great riding around here, man! Many challenging bridleways, it’s about connecting them together – which isn’t difficult with OS map ;)

One from Aish to Totnes (and back) is fantastic – steep up and down on big, loose rocks! :D

rOcKeTdOg
I only wave to other riders with equally niche machines who are sporting beards & are women

I always wave to bearded women too!

A bit similar issue: is it just me, or is it a scientifically proven fact, that when riding a mountain bike the drivers seem to give you more room and are more patient, while being on a road bike is like a red flag to a bull?

Heh, when I was on holiday in Germany (I think I said it here before… LOL) I stopped saying “hello” to other cyclists, as they were giving me “what a weirdo!?” look everytime… :D