Your rants here.

greenamex2

TimothyW wrote:

Ah. Not good then.

Unfortunately my experience with LBSs is that they use what they have rather than what is correct.

When I was starting out I got them to fit some wheels for me, and they used skinny rim tape - too skinny for my rims.

Took me about three punctures to work out what was happening - I think it was gorrila tape that came to the rescue on that occasion, while I waited for the correct tapes to arrive.

The gorilla tape lasted a month. Fine for a get you buy measure but doesn't seem to work long term, at least on a DT Swiss rim and valve.

Hey ho. Make a welcome change from machining a starter motor for the engine I am building (no it isn't going on one of the bikes) and upgrading the road bike to 11 speed I suppose.

drhaggis

TimothyW wrote:

Unfortunately my experience with LBSs is that they use what they have rather than what is correct.

Imagine the scene. You go to the hospital with a chest infection and the doctor tells you "Yeah, it's pneumonia, should respond well to ciprofloxacin, but we don't have any left. Instead, why don't you try amoxicilin? It's pretty much the same". [Names can all be wrong, as I'm not that kind of doctor]. What would you think? Exactly.

murvis1er

Had the standard confrontation with some brain dead idiot on Priory Lane this morning.

awavey

when you get given the unload grief from a motorist because another cyclist who in their view got in there way wasnt using any lights just after sunset, and you are the nearest next cyclist to moan at...its like wtf has it got to do with me I had my lights on

evil_breakfast

So today Yeovil Cycle Club held thier annual Hill climb event.

Ham Hill

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.08543,- ... 0IB_Zg!2e0

Having never entered a HC event before, the optimist in me decided to give it a whirl.
I'd ridden it 5 times previously, with a PB of 5-41, which considering it's a mother of a climb, and my current fitness levels, I was happy with.
I knew I would have to climb it twice, to get to the Pub at the crest serving as the staging/registration area, and my timed run.
So I pootled along, saving my legs, and duly came 13th out of 13 with 5-48.7.
Realistic in my expectations, I was expecting the wooden spoon and placed more emphasis on the participation rather than the result.
Departing, and only after 2 or so miles later, I decided to stop to rearrange the contents of my jersey pockets, only to realise that I'd left my mobile at the staging area.
Which necessitated a THIRD ascent, as there was no other alternative way back.
The legs finally gave out halfway up, so I started the cleated 'walk of shame' to the boozer, passed by a plethora of Bentleys (some organised outing one presumes) and retrieved my phone.
Won't be making that mistake again anytime soon.

bendertherobot

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-m ... e-45778129

Fair play, 2nd position on the news (I doubt most shootings get that placing) and specifically a cyclist rather than pedestrian, motorist, club goer which are, as far as I recall, almost never mentioned.

thistle_

evil_breakfast wrote:

So I pootled along, saving my legs, and duly came 13th out of 13 with 5-48.7.
Realistic in my expectations, I was expecting the wooden spoon and placed more emphasis on the participation rather than the result.

That's not far off your PB, and it was your second ride up so it's respectable. And if you hadn't gone up the third time you might've missed the Bentley's.

What did you win for coming last?
I won some fancy shaving stuff few weeks ago for coming last on a hill climb, and the lanterne rouge prize at the last (flat) TT I did was a decent Cateye lanterne rouge.

cougie

bendertherobot wrote:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-45778129

Fair play, 2nd position on the news (I doubt most shootings get that placing) and specifically a cyclist rather than pedestrian, motorist, club goer which are, as far as I recall, almost never mentioned.

Let's hope some motorists see that and are a bit more wary of overtaking closely - just in case ..

DrLex

evil_breakfast wrote:

So today Yeovil Cycle Club held thier annual Hill climb event.

Ham Hill

[…]
Won't be making that mistake again anytime soon.

Ha; don’t blame you. I cycle past the Hill each way on my commute and only once did I bother trying to go up it. May see slower YCC riders tomorrow, then.

elbowloh

FFS, this is the headline of a story on the BBC news site:

"Man shot dead by cyclist in Liverpool street".

Now, he may have been on a bike but saying it was a cyclist just fuels the anti-cyclist haters. If it was someone driving a car they wouldn't put "man shot dead by car driver in Liverpool Street" would they?

wolfsbane2k

elbowloh wrote:

FFS, this is the headline of a story on the BBC news site:

"Man shot dead by cyclist in Liverpool street".

Now, he may have been on a bike but saying it was a cyclist just fuels the anti-cyclist haters. If it was someone driving a car they wouldn't put "man shot dead by car driver in Liverpool Street" would they?

Is it too soon to hope that the next edjit that is considering a close pass thinks " ah cr@p, maybe their packing, I think I'll give a bit more space...".

Oh, apparently not.

cougie wrote:

Let's hope some motorists see that and are a bit more wary of overtaking closely - just in case ..

seajays

elbowloh wrote:

FFS, this is the headline of a story on the BBC news site:

"Man shot dead by cyclist in Liverpool street".

Now, he may have been on a bike but saying it was a cyclist just fuels the anti-cyclist haters. If it was someone driving a car they wouldn't put "man shot dead by car driver in Liverpool Street" would they?

To be honest, they probably would have put "drive by shooting" or something similar. It's the unusual nature of it I suppose. If it had been a horse rider, or a surfer, the headline would probably be along the same lines.

kingstongraham

elbowloh wrote:

FFS, this is the headline of a story on the BBC news site:

"Man shot dead by cyclist in Liverpool street".

Now, he may have been on a bike but saying it was a cyclist just fuels the anti-cyclist haters. If it was someone driving a car they wouldn't put "man shot dead by car driver in Liverpool Street" would they?

He was in hi-viz apparently, so I don't see what the problem is.

tgotb

Perfect excuse for Liverpool Council to ban cycling - "This must never happen again"...

murvis1er

KingstonGraham wrote:

elbowloh wrote:

FFS, this is the headline of a story on the BBC news site:

"Man shot dead by cyclist in Liverpool street".

Now, he may have been on a bike but saying it was a cyclist just fuels the anti-cyclist haters. If it was someone driving a car they wouldn't put "man shot dead by car driver in Liverpool Street" would they?

He was in hi-viz apparently, so I don't see what the problem is.

Ah, but was he wearing a helmet?

gbsahne001

set MTB up for a slow ride in this morning only to find a flat this morning; changed to the CX and discovered that riding in one handed is a lot harder than i thought it was going to be.

slowbike

It's not much of a rant ...

Another close close pass today - van didn't even bother putting the offside wheels over the double white line ...

Anti-rant - got it on (rear view) camera, along with the registration number - ties up with data available online - reported for anti-social driving.

Everyone else managed to give a reasonable clearance today - one or two were "close" but not that close ...

poweredbyidris

Cycle-path gestapo are just so tiresome

"You should be on the cyclepath"

"That's not a cyclepath, it's a shared use path"

"But you should be using it"

"DoT and police advice is not to use a shared use path when travelling at speed, but use the road instead. Are you asking me to put your convenience ahead of people's safety"

"It's for your safety"

"I'm perfectly safe. I'm not going to crash"

"Until you have an accident"

"As I said, I'm not going to crash. Are you such a bad driver that you might crash into me?"

"Fuck off"

*revvy engine escape which lasts 200yds until the next lights*

asprilla

Arrived in the office today to find the facilities ninjas have put up signs during the evening stating; This floor will be closing on Friday 19th October for refurbishment. The floor will remain closed for the foreseeable future.

So, there are 40 folks sitting here who will not have desks in two weeks and no-one has even mentioned it to us, never mind discussed options for relocating us. I don't generally mind commuting to a different office (probably Broadgate), it's more the fact that sorting out a locker and bike parking is just painful.

wolfsbane2k

Fly tipping b#stards. Had to take the long, busy traffic route home as someone appears to have uplifted an entire tipper truck on my normal route.

elbowloh

Anyone have a Cycliq 12 CE and out front mount?

I'be bought the out front mount that can take a Garmin and the 12 CE.

The mount comes with a few different rubber shim things to fix to different size bars. I have standard 31.8mm dia bars. Without any shims and tightened up to the max it is just too loose. all of the shims included are too big, i have no idea what size bars they are supposed to fit, other than dowelling rods.

I've tried using a cut up inner tube, but even that is too thick. I might have to just resort to putting one layer of insulating tape round as that is probably just right.

awavey

PoweredByIdris wrote:

Cycle-path gestapo are just so tiresome

*revvy engine escape which lasts 200yds until the next lights*

the interesting thing is though Im sure alot of the close passes I get on my commute are passive aggressive in their attempts to chide me for daring not to use cycle paths and stay on the road, on the whole I dont get many people shouting it at me...till last week when a car with a bunch of hairy arsed builders close passed me, situation normal, but followed by the passenger leaning out the window and shouting/pointing at the cycle path "oi you should be over their luv", though theyd gone before I could happily offer up my reply.

sadly I didnt catch them in the next 200 yds, not because there wasnt one, but because it went red at least 4 secs before they reached it, and they just merrily sailed on through :roll:

roger_merriman

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

Fly tipping b#stards. Had to take the long, busy traffic route home as someone appears to have uplifted an entire tipper truck on my normal route.

My commute goes under the M4 nr Heathrow, on a shared path under a roundabout. Regularly get tipper loads of rubbish. It is so annoying equally is that TFL and Hounslow argue the toss as to who is to clean it up.

asprilla

Flippin' tubeless tyres are such a ball ache to get on.

roger_merriman

Asprilla wrote:

Flippin' tubeless tyres are such a ball ache to get on.

Even with tubes and standard rims they do seem to put up bit more of a fight, have to say they do seem even in tubed form to generally have bit more survivability for gravel riding.

tootsie323

Pedalled into work for the first time in ages this week. Needless to say I was in the granny gear for the not-too-insignificant climb over the hill en-route. Followed this up the next day, equally pathetic. That's not the rant - neither is the fact that one van decided to pass me without bothering to move over one iota.
Nope - I get a call from my lad at college to tell me that he has misplaced his bus pass and spent all his cash. Abort work, quickly change, mash it like a b@st@rd over the hill (being passed by a much more competent cyclist who rubs it in by making it look soooooo easy), swap bike for car and fight the traffic over to his college to be queried over what took me so long?
Swimming lesson that evening involved fitness drills / pyramid session (btw I'm not much of a swimmer either!), when I'm already spent after that ride. Absolutely shot when I get home that night, only to wake up after a mere 4 hours sleep.
I drove in the next day...

condorman

The police car that went past at such a high speed that I was buffeted by the turbelence. Very helpful to have your lights on but no siren. I did check all the takeaways along Lordship Lane for the police car to have a word but no joy.

roger_merriman

Some oik has has damaged my car mirror which is frankly just so frustrating! had planned to go watch folks but seemed unwise with the mirror dangling.

wolfsbane2k

Where do i start, where do i start?

05:45, Saturday, is probably the best place. First alarm, for a Saturday - No, No, No. But still, it's the StopKillingCyclist /NFUC/PedalOnParliment protest, so best get on it, and i've got some fettling to do first. 0600 out of bed, had to be bike ready for 08:00. I'd spend friday night trying to sort out the commuter after the deluge on Thursday meant it was absolutely filthy, and needed a lot of TLC and a new set of brake pads which was sunday night's fettle job.

Out of bed, cuppa tea and scrambled eggs on toast downed in ten minutes while packing the pannier, second brew in hand to walk out the door, straight into fox's cr£p on the door mat. Garrrr.

Re Fitted the MTB wheels that i'd had in for after buying in a sale earlier this year, had finally put the travelcontacts on the 3 weeks prior, and had completed a quick 10km blast on, but with a cassette with a broken tooth, so had swapped the cassette to a new one on Tuesday.

Test rode at 06:40, a really nasty set of rattles, brake squeals and disc rubs; spend 20 minutes getting the brake calipers running true, test rode again, no noise; perfect; checked the clock, 07:10, third cuppa time; "Ah, that's ok", loads of time, chill.

Back out, swapped all the gizmos; fitted the out front garmin/gopro mount, lights, etc etc, synced the new garmin, checked the gopro angles, and a set of flat pedals ( i ain't walking 5km in spds) and test rode again; 07:25, only for the rattle to re-appear in earnest.

hmm; what's causing this. 5 minutes later, id'd that the two smallest rings on the cassette were rattling; some idiot mechanic had failed to put any grease on the freewheel, and/or tighten it up properly; struggled for 10 minutes to get cassette off; re greased; fitted, and torqued it up; 07:45; fitted wheel, silence during the next 5 minute of test ride across all gear choices. Happy days.

07:55, back home, changed to warm weather cycling gear, filled the water bottle, picked up the pannier, and headed out bang on 08:00, just as the rest of the family woke up; 5 minutes of "bye, miss you, bye bye..." and the morning squabble for the loo took place...

Arrived at pick up spot just in time, only to be told they were running a few minutes late; perfect, i can, and do grab a coffee for the drive from the local cafe.

5 minutes turned to 10, to 20, at which point the phone rang - "Er, we've broken down; AA now on route; 2 hours wait approx, and then it'll probably need towing to a garage for a repair. Go without us". There goes that well laid, cheap, plan.

Cycle home to dig into travel options; pick up a puncture, and swear profusely. Walk it home, might as well do it with a drink in hand, spend the walk looking at travel options & decide to spend what felt like a small fortune on a train to get in before midday, and out of possible stations to go from, that fastest end to end time, including cycle is more important, that's the furthest station away. Puncture repaired (glass, blasted pubs). Head out, now at pace, on the "wrong" bike for that pace, but thought it was quicker than finding the new brake pads.

Get to the station a sweaty mess, and see the train i was aiming for pulling out; next one's a half hour away, and takes 20 minutes longer. Fark.

Decide to sit and try and cool down rather than head to the other station for a train that would get me there 10 minutes earlier; afterall, a sweaty cyclist on a train ain't nice for anyone. Grab a dirty bacon sarnie - small wins.

Train arrives - space for cycles, Yay. Space for People - er, not so much.
Train on route is delayed by 25 minutes, I really should have changed stations. plus, the few extra quid i spent to get into london 5 minutes before midday was now unjustified. Annoyed- that was my ride home pint cash.

Get to london waterloo - ride to lincoln inn fields short & simple, with a few minutes to spare before the protest started, phew. Had't had lunch though, and needed to refill the bidon; no time for that, off we go.

Decided to stop my garmin beeping by turning off the tones as we laid down in the street in front of parliament, my phone and garmin kept loosing /regaining sync and beeping every few seconds - obviously loads of interference around. Yes, I can be seen on TV... and they get my bad side...

Parched & looking for a water fountain/shop to refill the bidon, ride back to Waterloo, i get lost thinking i know the way, couple of extra km, Westminister bridge rather than waterloo bridge, enjoyed the ride though. Manage to catch the express train by a few minutes, not as busy as i thought it would be, some bikes, but space for mine. Pay the robber on the train, sorry, refreshment man, a fortune for a bottle of water, and it's not even fridge cold. Ah well.

Ride back from station 2, rather than station 1; after all i'm on the MTB, so might as well take the much more enjoyable off road, but slightly longer route, although the OH needs me home at a certain hour, I had half an hour spare, and might as well hit a few segments i've not been on for a long while; set the garmin's tones on again so i got the countdowns to the starts. Get going, hit the first gravel section. Something's not right; feels like a bag is swinging around every time i take a turn; ah yes, i've got both D-locks in the pannier, that must be it; move them to top of the rack, strap them down get back on the bike.

Something is definitely not right.

Spin the front wheel, check the skewers; nope, all seated and tight. Rear wheel; what? What the ? How out of true? Put the bike upside down, and attempt to plink a spoke. It felt like a piece of string.
Each, and i do mean each, and every, spoke was loose. It hadn't just let go, but done so massively - like a bag of spagetti had been thrown into the wheel instead. I'm in the middle of nowhere, getting dark; re-building a wheel, with a headache as i 'd been trying to cane it thinking i'm only minutes from home, hadn't drunk enough, or got any water on me. End up taking about 20 minutes to get something with about 2 cm wobble on it, don't care, thank hell for disc brakes, and will get home in time for the OH's deadline, just.

Go to find the start on the garmin, only to not find it at all. Yep, that brand new 520 plus. That one. I'd forgotten to tie the lanyard on, and it was nowhere to be seen.

Last time i had it was.... 2 miles ago? Ah, i know, it was set to be live updating; check phone - no coverage.
Turn around, head back gently, aware of the rear wheel; fark, where is it, where is it.... WHERE IS IT!

BEEP
As i passed it after 3/4 of a mile; it had reconnected to my phone, and beeped.

Turned the phone BT off - On - off - on - off -on , as I homed back in on the tone - found under a pile of leaves near a tree i'd remembered ducking for going hell for leather.

Pedal home 15 minutes after the deadline; angry OH, who was now at risk of missing their show, and kids fighting as to who is going to use the loo first, resulting in one getting a bloodied lip on the loo seat as the OH disappears out the door.

Remember i was meant to pick dinner for myself on the way home; can't now, call the takeaways for delivery - 20:30 on a saturday - are you kidding? 1.5 to 2 hours before any deliveries locally from all the local takeways.

Fume into my instant noodles with added peas. And no, they aren't a good pack, they're tesco value, and prawn flavoured, from over 6 years ago, those ones you've never wanted to throw out just in case you get stuck, but can't stand enough to actually bring yourself to eat.

Check the fridge; nope, no beer.

elbowloh

tootsie323 wrote:

Pedalled into work for the first time in ages this week. Needless to say I was in the granny gear for the not-too-insignificant climb over the hill en-route. Followed this up the next day, equally pathetic. That's not the rant - neither is the fact that one van decided to pass me without bothering to move over one iota.
Nope - I get a call from my lad at college to tell me that he has misplaced his bus pass and spent all his cash. Abort work, quickly change, mash it like a b@st@rd over the hill (being passed by a much more competent cyclist who rubs it in by making it look soooooo easy), swap bike for car and fight the traffic over to his college to be queried over what took me so long?
Swimming lesson that evening involved fitness drills / pyramid session (btw I'm not much of a swimmer either!), when I'm already spent after that ride. Absolutely shot when I get home that night, only to wake up after a mere 4 hours sleep.
I drove in the next day...

Sorry, but how is that your problem? :twisted:

Could he have not borrowed some money or got a lift from a mate? Kids these days....