Beginners guide to commuting?

the_hundredth_idiot

Roastiecp wrote:

If the (minor) weight penalty of the old fashioned irons puts you off, then the steel frame/carbon fork combo of something like a Condor Fratello would be spot on the money. I like this bike piles - and if you have no intention of running >23c then it would be #1 in my book. {Edit: Ride quality and feel wise, I reckon the Fratello would be the silkiest over bad roads on 23c of all this side of a Van Nic Amazon}

FWIW, you can run bigger tyres on a Fratello. I've got 25c on mine and I think you can use up to 28c. I went for 25c for an extra little around town comfort.

PS. And I also still have my own hair! Lots of! A little grey around the temples, but it's still there.

Roastie

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

Roastiecp wrote:

If the (minor) weight penalty of the old fashioned irons puts you off, then the steel frame/carbon fork combo of something like a Condor Fratello would be spot on the money. I like this bike piles - and if you have no intention of running >23c then it would be #1 in my book. {Edit: Ride quality and feel wise, I reckon the Fratello would be the silkiest over bad roads on 23c of all this side of a Van Nic Amazon}

FWIW, you can run bigger tyres on a Fratello. I've got 25c on mine and I think you can use up to 28c. I went for 25c for an extra little around town comfort.

PS. And I also still have my own hair! Lots of! A little grey around the temples, but it's still there.

28c? With guards? Hmm ... methinks I should have a wander back to Condor and have a closer look. The Fratello is one classy frame.

snooks

OldSkoolKona wrote:

However, don't forget that one of the key factors to commuting safely is understanding how to ride you bike in a confident way, no matter what shape of bike you have. A section about Cycle Craftand highlighting the availability of cycle training, for example availability for free in London, and that its not just for beginers or kids (I've signed up for some through work ). In my opinion this is more important than the type of bike.

+1

This might have been overlooked in the discussions about bars and tyres so I thought I'd flag it up again

Buy Cyclecraft, read Cyclecraft, pass it on

http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/

It doesn't matter what bike you ride as long as you ride it safely

Feltup

DON'T DO THIS, IT WILL GET YOU KILLED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-lZPeAWye4



.

Ian.B

JonGinge wrote:

Good article here:
http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/techni ... ight-14608

Way back when I used the Lemond/Hinault method and use that height to this day.

Jon, with this method do you wear your cycling shoes when measuring your inseam?

Ian

jonginge

Ian.B wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

Good article here:
http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/techni ... ight-14608

Way back when I used the Lemond/Hinault method and use that height to this day.

Jon, with this method do you wear your cycling shoes when measuring your inseam?

Ian

Sorry, only just noticed this question. The answer is no. I do alter the magic number by a few millimetres if there is a difference in stack height between shoe/pedal combinations. This, I admit, may be OCD overkill But I'm too old to change. It was really noticeable (felt a large loss of power) when, due to a brain failure, my planet-x was set up 1.5cm too low.

OldSkoolKona

I'd posted this elsewhere in the forum, but I thought I'd move it here as its interesting for beginners.

You hear a lot of things about how 'dangerous' cycling is, and the 'rider down' threads can add to that perception, but cycling remains a safe way to get to work. Get Cyclecraft, take some advanced cycle training and you'll significantly decrease the chances of being involved in an incident.

A good document from the CTC, related to their current campaign for increasing the number of cyclists to increase their safety. It also lists where the least (York) and most (Bradford) serious injuries to cycle commuters occur. Interesting (and great) to hear that cycling in London has increased 91% since 2000.
CTC - Safety in Numbers Report

If you want some numbers to challenge the perceptions, here is a report from the DfT on Cycle casualties in 2007.
Pedal cyclist casualties in road accidents: 2007

An interesting fact from this is that 4 pedestrians were killed in collisions with cyclists compared to 636 killed in collisions with motorised vehicles. (The equivalent report is also available for all road accidents)

Some other good links:
http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/cycling/h ... s-cycling/
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/archive ... ing_en.pdf
http://hasiruusiru.org/joomla/images/st ... nsport.pdf
(http://www.cyclinginstructor.com/cyclin ... $Category1)/E0A4E09F5D74812F80257177004D9A87/$FILE/c2014.pdf)
(sorry URL function won't work with a link like this - copy it into your browser)

OldSkoolKona

In addition to Cyclecraft which I can't recommend enough, Surrey Council produce a guide to safe cycling which captures a lot of the main points and better still is available free online. Link below:

Surrey County Council - Getting Around - An Introduction to Safe Cycling

ChillyGetsTrilly

this is a great starter thread for any newbies....I sure did learn some things 8)

citycommuter

Nobody really seems to have mentioned maintenance yet which is really IMO the key to having a safe and enjoyable commute whatever bike you may choose to ride on.

Service or get your bike serviced on a regular basis, the last thing you want is a brake cable snapping when you need it.
Well maintained good quality brakes will stop you whatever type they are, badly set up and maintained brakes are useless, make sure that you have plenty of wear left in your brake pads and that the brakes start to engage after only a short pull of the levers, you should not be able to pull the levers all the way to the bar.
Unless you are riding with disc brakes an out of true wheel will not allow you to have your brakes set up properly so if this happens you should get it retrued as soon as possible and your brakes readjusted.
Make sure you clean your rims especially if its going to be wet as this will improve your braking performance.
You'll find that a clean and lubricated chain is easier to pedal, quieter and shifts better (and any SCRers will be less likely to hear your approach).

sdfg

Roastie wrote:

Longevity:
Carbon frames have a limited fatigue life

Sorry, but that's plain wrong. As long as the fatigue strength limit of the fiber isn't exceeded - and this won't be the case by riding or racing a bike etc (I'n not talking about crashing) - the fatigue life of carbon fiber is basically infinite. .