It's like riding a bike, you never forget
kelsen
Posts: 2,003
...unless it's a Boris Bike!
After using the TFL bikes exclusively all last week to attend a training course, this morning I jumped on my commuting road bike and wobbled all over the place, especially when pedalling out of the saddle! It was so bad I even stopped at one point to check my rear wheel was aligned in the stays properly!
Thankfully it all came back to me after a few minutes, but it was hard to believe how much it affected my riding!
The TFL bikes themselves are great. Easy to handle despite the weight. Great acceleration because of the low gearing, but tops out really quickly and you end up spinning like a hamster on speed. A lesson in humility as bikes I normally wouldn't give a second glance at easily breezes past. Had a fun drag race down The Mall against a guy on another Boris Bike. Overtook him but to make it stick I was hitting the red zone trying to maintain speed with half the Mall still to go! And I can confirm jeans and hoodies aren't very good at wicking away sweat!
The only hairy moment I had was taking fast bend onto The Strand. The bike was leaned over at an angle it wasn't designed for and I nearly crapped it! Thankfully, the motorcycle-like tyres kept traction and I got away with it.
After using the TFL bikes exclusively all last week to attend a training course, this morning I jumped on my commuting road bike and wobbled all over the place, especially when pedalling out of the saddle! It was so bad I even stopped at one point to check my rear wheel was aligned in the stays properly!
Thankfully it all came back to me after a few minutes, but it was hard to believe how much it affected my riding!
The TFL bikes themselves are great. Easy to handle despite the weight. Great acceleration because of the low gearing, but tops out really quickly and you end up spinning like a hamster on speed. A lesson in humility as bikes I normally wouldn't give a second glance at easily breezes past. Had a fun drag race down The Mall against a guy on another Boris Bike. Overtook him but to make it stick I was hitting the red zone trying to maintain speed with half the Mall still to go! And I can confirm jeans and hoodies aren't very good at wicking away sweat!
The only hairy moment I had was taking fast bend onto The Strand. The bike was leaned over at an angle it wasn't designed for and I nearly crapped it! Thankfully, the motorcycle-like tyres kept traction and I got away with it.
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I have 3 bikes one heavy (as a boris bike) town bike, a modern hardtail and a old racer. They are like chalk and cheese. If I don't ride one for a while takes a few mins to
Get back with it.
The scary bit is brakes you do forget how poor in wet rim brakes are!0 -
i'll be doing my first run on one of these beasties at around 5:30, and heading down to the strand, fleet st, up thru bank, cornhill, aldgate and onto the a11... fingers crossed!B'Twin Sport 1
FCN 7 =4, +2(non cycling clothes) +1(beard)0 -
Going from roadie to fixie the only real issue is forgetting I need to keep pedalling...0
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I know that feeling. First time I rode my FS MTB for a while after 3 months of road bike riding I nearly fell off. :roll: I now make a point of getting the MTB out for at least a few miles every month just to keep the familiarity.kelsen wrote:...unless it's a Boris Bike!
After using the TFL bikes exclusively all last week to attend a training course, this morning I jumped on my commuting road bike and wobbled all over the place, especially when pedalling out of the saddle! It was so bad I even stopped at one point to check my rear wheel was aligned in the stays properly!
Mike0
