For that sort of mud you either need to cut right through to the base, so a narrow cyclocross type tyre, or you need decent lugs on a wider tyre, ie an mtb mud tyre. Neither of which is much fun on the road.

Depends what sort of cycling you need to do too I guess?

I often go from point A to B along a part of the TPT which is dead straight but ultra muddy in the winter.

I don’t need cornering ability so as you say a cyclocross tyre works fine. Traction isn’t an issue and I don’t need to take any hard corners.

In fact in some ways a bigger tyre is worse because it throws up more mud and rain.

Why? For the same reason I don’t want compulsory bike registration, insurance, mots etc – they are all obstacles in the way of people cycling and, ultimately, are a negative thing.

Yeah it’s the same ****ts who want to regulate cycling into the ground also tend to want mandatory helmets, and it’s certainly not ‘cos they care for the health of cyclists, more like they are just spiteful b@stards.

Personally I always wear a helmet now and have done since 2000. There is virtually no downside to wearing them so the protection (even if slim) is worth it. Plus I can put a light on a helmet during winter.

Bus driver in Swindon got just 16months for effectively deliberately running over a pedestrian, seems very lenient

As they say if you want to murder someone do it in a motor vehicle.

The judge calls it a ‘road rage’ attack which somehow to trivialise it.

I feel that a good prosecution could have convicted these drivers of attempted murder since any reasonable person would know that running someone over in a bus, or pushing them into a busy road could result in death.

It’s not enough to say you didn’t intend to kill them. Like if you go into a busy mall blindfolded and spray a machine gun around and kill someone. The consequences could be reasonably foreseen.

But I guess the CPS want to guarantee the conviction so they go for the dead certain GBH charge. You can be sure if he’d run over or Prince William he wouldn’t be doing 2 years of course.

It really pisses me off because people get more than 2 years for racist tweets.

The Quacks will promise all sorts. One of my friends is a surgeon and says that back surgery is really something to avoid if reasonably possible. It’s risky and can make things worse, maybe even much worse. I’d avoid any elective back surgery myself.

I use a very low gear (61 inches) 39 x 17

I don’t have access to my bike right now but I think I ran a 38 x 18 which was you say it pretty low. This was on a 35c tyres commuting/all round bike which would get used on the TPT and bridgewater canal tow path quite a bit.

It was very good for that sort of riding and I’d only really start to spin out when there was a strong tailwind, and it’s a small enough gear to manage even some of the worst westerly headwinds we can get.

On any road riding though you spinning out at anything more than a cruise.

I used to train on a bigger geared single speed years ago and hurt my back badly pushing a big gear. Prob some natural weakness or some other older injury that caught up with me. I like to keep my cadence >80 now.

My On-One il Pompino is a single speed, run with a Shimano MTB free hub and uses spaces on the shell.

However I’m getting rig of it. I think things have moved on and I need disk brakes.

I do like running a single speed, but invariably it’s a compromise and sometimes I find myself pushing too big a gear into some of the strong headwinds you can get out here in Cheshire, partially if I ride to Liverpool.

I don’t run a macho big gear. I hurt my back years ago and prefer to spin.

That’s one reason I’m going to a 1 x 11 and disk brakes.

I see some people running massive gears on hipster fixes and feel sorry for them lol. It’s not smart and I firmly believe that fixed gear has no business outside of velodromes. It’s just not safe.

Cool repair but I wouldn’t ride that.

Carbon isn’t like steel. If it goes it will just go. U might end up face planting the dirt at 30 mph.

And so also does rydster, I really hate trying to balance correct chain tension with a propely aligned wheel on horizontal drops, time to readjust brakes again and order some chain tugs…

I’m sick of it too. It’s very fiddly and the chain stretches so it needs adjusting over time.

If I run a SS again it will just be on vertical drop outs and I’ll use a chain guide and tensioner.

Get a chain tensioner.

as there is no sealing on where the cables enter the frame

Water is a very good penetrator and this is one reason I feel that frames which route cables through the frame are a bad engineering choice despite looking good.

Have you tried ebay? :D

@tthew

Thx. I’m away for a month or so right now but might join a ride maybe next year. Very unfit also need to get some miles in lol over Xmas.

Where in Cheshire?

I live near Lymm which is between Altrincham and Warrington.

Compared to places I have lived in the past it would appear to not be great for MTB.

Get a helmet cam and film it. You can have the crown prosecute seriously close passes for dangerous driving.

Personally I hate cycling on roads these days, especially busy ones or windy narrow ones which temp held up drivers to make a risky pass.

I’m fortunate enough to live near the TPT which runs east west and allows me to avoid a lot of roads.

Why not a gravel bike? Hedge ur bets?

It’s not a water fountain you know.

I should probably stop washing my bike in it then.

It’s the new “Bidon”

Or Bidet?

Thx, but I’m not planning on wearing a skirt any time soon :D

Whereas I did it once, the guards filled with claggy clay and promptly jammed the wheel and ripped themselves off.

Mudguards work off road, I don’t dispute that, just not the full length ones that mount to eyelets.

Well it might depend how knobbly and big your tyres are and the risk of encountering very sticky clay.

There is offroad and there is offroad of course.

It makes me laugh when people say that if they don’t know how to do something on their bike there is a you tube video to show them how . I recently watched a you tube video of a man juggling seven skittles but guess what it didn’t mean that I was able to do it myself .

Oh come on. I can’t think of anything bike maintenance which requires the same sort of practice as a professional juggler or acrobat lol.

Chasing a thread, yeah maybe not something you should just try right off the bat on your 5 grand frame. Other than that? What? Bike mechs don’t weld or braze, let a pro do that.

Well a CX bike is a racing bike so wouldn’t need mudguards.

I run fixed mudguards and ride very muddy tracks indeed and it’s no issue. It all scrapes off.

My mudguards have plastic tabs to break if I pick up a stick, but it’s never happened.

I admit that mudguards aren’t cool but for a bike that isn’t intended to be raced the ‘cost’ of the fittings is negligible in terms of weight.

Yeah it’s the PX Tempest which comes with mudguard mounts on the frame but none on the fork. Seems **** silly to me.

<b>Please note</b> the following frame is supplied with fixed rear mudguard fitment (Mudguards not included) but the forks are not compatible for fixed mud guards. Clip on options are compatible with both the frame and fork.

My experience is the complete opposite: an unlit cycle path became borderline unusable last year because of dazzling lights coming the other way.

Sounds like the Bridewater canal path near me.

Some people simpily either don’t care or are too ignorant.

It pisses me off.

Yeah I’ve gotta say selling ‘gravel’ or ‘adventure’ frames/bikes without fixed mudguard mounts is stupid IMHO. Might be one of the Planet X bike which has mounts on the frame but none on the fork…I mean please!

Brant, I had a 135mm Pompino around 2008/9

Yeah that’s what I have now. Although I think I bought it in late 2007.

I’m getting rid of it now though because I find it impossible to run fixed mudguards, have the rear brake working, and have good chain tension.

It has horizontal dropouts and I run it single speed.

If I run a single speed in future it would be a ‘normal’ frame and I’d run a tensioner.

Do you understand why other people don’t want to spend their time fixing a bike or changing a drivetrain in their kitchen etc. especially as we head into winter?

Yeah I can’t I won’t lie, some people are super busy or have kids and things.

But some people are super lazy too, and I’d wager that inability to take a wheel off or put a dropped chain back on when out on a ride, correlates strongly with never meching on a bike at home :D

Get a single speed or convert the bike to single speed.

From not wanting to, being able to pay somebody, happy to pay somebody or making the time/cost balance thing that says your bike is good to go on a Saturday morning rather than still waiting on the bit to arrive from CRC etc.

I’d probably waste 2 or 3 hrs taking my bike to the LBS, going back home, driving back, paying in the shop, then coming home again.

I could probably strip and bike down to the frame and rebuild it in that time.

I’d be very surprised if there was any money in being a mobile mechanic.

What tyres you running on your road bike? 23’s can feel fragile and weedy. Maybe go 25′ or a bit bigger.

You can get away with lights that are not superbright if it is a perfectly clear night and perfect visibility

You need to be able to light your own way though or else you might go over a deep pothole and suffer an injury.

It might be the case that the route is well lit with street lights but there are country lanes and bridleways near which are pitch black at night.

Be very wary of the MaxxD – even on the lowest settings, they are like sodding floodlights to oncoming drivers and cyclists, even if you point them as low down as you reasonably can. I’ve learnt not to dazzle/annoy other road users.

Yeah I cycle a lot along the Bridgewater canal to Manchester and you get many oncoming riders in the winter who are totally oblivious to their lights dazzling oncoming pedestrians and cyclists. It’s like they are complete morons.

And you do get a handful with very bring 2000, 3000 or more lumens like a floodlight and making no effort to turn them down or dip them. It’s complete ignorance.

(I also have mine fixed to a shortish length of plastic pipe that I strap to the back of my rear rack – one on each end of that hopefully makes me look wider and encourages a wider overtake*)

*zero evidence offered

A bit like this?

https://www.amazon.com/CRSWING-Safety-Wing-Cycling-Reflector/dp/B003E6L2SQ

I hate riding on roads best of times and especially along dark lane. Depends how busy it would be I guess regarding how happy I’d be to ride it every day.

But for my commute in winter I was running a lezyne 1100 lumen front light, a Cree 1000 lumen spotlight on my helmet, then a rear LED light on my seatpost (forget the name) with a back up on my back pack, and a rear reflector, plus hi vis backpack and vest.

When the front lights are used at full power it’s more than adequate for pitch black paths or roads.

I’m not too bothered riding on a clean wet road without guards, but my ‘road’ bike also sees a lot of bridleway where it gets muddy as **** and maybe only 3 months of the years where it doesn’t have standing water.

Even with fully mudguards on my feets and shins get covered in mud. It’s seriously nasty.

I’d probably run full mudguards all year around even on a road bike now. I couldn’t care less about being cool and having matching Team Sky kit and stuff.

I’d use a bit a thread lock also. I had some mud guard bolt back out once.

Thank you .. hes like the Karl Pilkington of the Troy Lee world

He just needs some downhill body armour :D

Bridgewater? The commuter superhighway full of people who really don’t want to get close to the canal!!

Yeah I ride on the TPT to the bridgewater and take that to Manchester quite a lot.

I notice they put some new and very tight chicanes up around Stretford. I’ve half a mind to go down with an Oxy-kit late one night… :D

Yeah I’d say that more than 90% of fellow cyclists know the formal and tactic rules of riding on the path. Keep left FFS. But some don’t and as you say cling to the right (when riding South) like their life depends on it

If you feel you need more airflow simply buy an Ebike and de-restrict it.

I think the day I get an ebike will be when I give up on life and put on weight and no longer care.

I’d like to get my hands on an EM burst device which can disable them as they pass me.

I fell off recently when my front wheel slipped sideways on some wet stone flags. I landed on my shoulder really hard, was luckily not to break my collar bone and my back was hurting for weeks after.

Worst spill I’ve had in over a decade when I got hit by a car when going through a junction during a storm.

So it just got me thinking about dangers especially now I am a bit older and don’t have a teens resilience.

And on the canal side cycle path I often commute down I’ve had some close calls recently. It’s amazing how some people won’t stay left and weave all over the place in a panic.