How do I.........?

Confusedboy

....... attach photos to my posts? I have been trying for the last day to show off my new bike, Yellow Beryl, but every time I try to attach an image, the browser (Firefox) shuts the BR page down and I lose the text I have written. I'm not wasting any more time on this until I find out what is wrong.

From which you will have gathered that I picked the bike up yesterday from the shop in Penarth and rode it home to Roath on the other side of Cardiff. This was a pleasant enough journey of a couple of hours with frequent stops to fettle the bike and feed/water the handlebar operating mechanism. I now have the seat in something like the right place and all the brackets for lights, seat pouch, lock and so on, and the bottle cage and bell*, fitted.

The biggest issue is the drop bars, or rather the fact that they meant that I initially had trouble reaching the brakes, which were way too far forward and low for me. A new stem, much shorter than the original and with a bit of a rise to it, has helped a lot but the final answer has to be to have the brakes on the tops where my hands mostly live. I will retain the existing levers, which will not be attached to the brake cables, as the hoods provide nice points for the bike to rest on when it is upside down.

I will post photos when I learn how to do it.


*I am not going to accept any discussion about this. A bicycle without a bell is illegal, and my goody two shoes middle class upbringing will not allow me to ride such a thing. Suppose I were to be stopped by the Police and have to try and explain that I had no bell; an unthinkable situation and I refuse to accept the stress and guilt that would be involved. I am having enough difficulty with not having front and rear reflectors......

nicklouse

read the info in the BR FAQs or the info in either of the classifieds or in the post your MTB or your Road bike sections.

so that is 5 places informing people how to attach images,

Is that enough?

clarkey cat

if you right click on the photo, go to 'properties', you'll see a jpg webaddress. copy that and then paste into your post. then click the img button (above) on either side of the address. but i think that only works if the photo is on the web already (facebook, picassa etc)

Confusedboy

Ah, hang on, FAQs are in the road forum and there are instrucitons about how to get an image hosted on the web and access it from there. Ok, now we're applying reverse pressure to the correct mammary gland...... Watch this space for developments over the next few hours!

esspeebee

Confusedboy wrote:

*I am not going to accept any discussion about this. A bicycle without a bell is illegal, and my goody two shoes middle class upbringing will not allow me to ride such a thing. Suppose I were to be stopped by the Police and have to try and explain that I had no bell; an unthinkable situation and I refuse to accept the stress and guilt that would be involved. I am having enough difficulty with not having front and rear reflectors......

My inner pedant won't let me not reply here: while the law says that any new bike to be used on the roads must be sold with a bell, it's not required when riding, on roads or off.

Libraio

esspeebee wrote:

Confusedboy wrote:

*I am not going to accept any discussion about this. A bicycle without a bell is illegal, and my goody two shoes middle class upbringing will not allow me to ride such a thing. Suppose I were to be stopped by the Police and have to try and explain that I had no bell; an unthinkable situation and I refuse to accept the stress and guilt that would be involved. I am having enough difficulty with not having front and rear reflectors......

My inner pedant won't let me not reply here: while the law says that any new bike to be used on the roads must be sold with a bell, it's not required when riding, on roads or off.

My inner cave man and goody two shoes ( clipless of course) will move not an inch when someone shouts at me to move, ring your bell and I'll make sure you can pass.

Confusedboy

esspeebee wrote:

Confusedboy wrote:

*I am not going to accept any discussion about this. A bicycle without a bell is illegal, and my goody two shoes middle class upbringing will not allow me to ride such a thing. Suppose I were to be stopped by the Police and have to try and explain that I had no bell; an unthinkable situation and I refuse to accept the stress and guilt that would be involved. I am having enough difficulty with not having front and rear reflectors......

My inner pedant won't let me not reply here: while the law says that any new bike to be used on the roads must be sold with a bell, it's not required when riding, on roads or off.

I have issues and ancient, deeply ingrained, prejudices here which I cannot overcome. All of my bikes have bells, despite the fact that I know drivers cannot hear them and peds don't listen. Surely, my anal inner child tells me, anyone who rides a bike without a bell is a scofflaw, and most likely a thief, drug addict, pimp, con-man, thug, and probably going to murder me. I tell my anal inner child to shut up and stop being so silly, but it is a child, and can't be reasoned with, only bribed with ice cream.......

I am actually obsessing about how I am going to fit reflectors to the new bike, as my anal inner child has reminded my equally anal inner pedant that these are a legal requirement.. At least a bell is unobtrusive and out of the way, and actually of some use occasionally . I need professional help.

Confusedboy

I am giving up on the photos for now; it all feels too much like a bit of a faff that I can't be bothered with today. Maybe in the week sometime....

I am making progress with Yellow Beryl, though. Went for a spin out over the Gwent Levels Friday evening, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. No real problems, but I am going to have to get my delicate bits used to the unfamiliar saddle; about half an hour at a time is, literally, my a*se for now. This is what will limit my efforts for a while, rather than fatigue, but it will come in time. I see no particular issues with the seat as supplied.

I'm still finding things a bit more interesting than I like in the heavy traffic I rode crosstown yesterday though. The brakes are still just a tad too far away for my stumpy little T.Rex arms, and I have been working on improving things as much as I can. I have raised the stem as high up the steerer tube as I dare, so that the topmost of it's two clamp bolts is level with the top of the tube, for which purpose I have borrowed a spacer from the hybrid. I have also turned the bars in thier clamp so that the brake levers are lower down/further round the curve. This may look counterintuitive, but, because I will not have to reach under and then upwards to grab them, may actually be a lot better; it feels better sitting on the bike. I will go for a ride this evening to see what difference, if any, it has made-I'm not going out until it gets a bit cooler here. I am also still constantly perfecting/playing with the angle and fore-and-aft adjustment of the seat.

SimonAH

So what is Beryl?

Anonymous

You need a horn on car as they're generally inclosed and you can't speak to people quite easily as your going too fast ect.

You do not need a bell on a bike as you can quite easily talk to other road users. I find a cyclist tinging his bell far more pretensions and annoying than a "sorry sir/madam/chap/mate/(ect) can I pass (ect)".

You are one step away from a Airzound.

The only reason you'd need a bell is if you a child and then only because you like the nice noise it makes.

SimonAH

.... ah, don't worry, I found a picture of you on Beryl here;

http://www.google.co.uk/m/search?site=i ... icycle#i=2

On the how-do-I bit what's the clever bit you guys do to change a long link text to a simple blued word?

Specialized Needs

It actually models it in the pale blue line above the text entry box when you are posting, if you hover the mouse over the URL button.

Insert URL: [url]http://url[/url] or [url=http://url]URL text[/url]

Use the second version. Replace the http://url with your URL inside the first square brackets, then the text you want to be a hypertext link between the 2 sets of brackets.

e.g.

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com]test[/url]

Turns out as the word "test" as a hyperlink to the main site here: [url=http:///www.bikeradar.com]test[/url]

Confusedboy

SimonAH wrote:

So what is Beryl?

Yellow Beryl is my new road bike, a secondhand Halfords Carrera TdF. It (she?) is painted bright yellow, JCB stylee.

I do need a bell, for the reasons given. I am, indeed, one step away from an airzound, and the reason I will not have one is that it would be far too much of a temptation to the local hooligans when the bike is parked. I could just carry a vuvuzela around.....

Thank you again, SimonAH, the Tyrannoussaurus Rex on a pennyfarthing has brightened my day! I accept that he probably doesn't need a bell.....

Kieran_Burns

I've only skim read this thread, but I gather you want to take photos of a child hidden up your bottom and post the images on here,

Are you on the correct forum?






MTB perhaps?

rjsterry

Confusedboy wrote:

Thank you again, SimonAH, the Tyrannoussaurus Rex on a pennyfarthing has brightened my day! I accept that he probably doesn't need a bell.....

Now that image is just begging to become your avatar CB.

The Rookie

As that is retention in the anus, we all know anal retentives live on the roadies section!

Simon

EKE_38BPM

Confusedboy wrote:

esspeebee wrote:

Confusedboy wrote:

*I am not going to accept any discussion about this. A bicycle without a bell is illegal, and my goody two shoes middle class upbringing will not allow me to ride such a thing. Suppose I were to be stopped by the Police and have to try and explain that I had no bell; an unthinkable situation and I refuse to accept the stress and guilt that would be involved. I am having enough difficulty with not having front and rear reflectors......

My inner pedant won't let me not reply here: while the law says that any new bike to be used on the roads must be sold with a bell, it's not required when riding, on roads or off.

I have issues and ancient, deeply ingrained, prejudices here which I cannot overcome. All of my bikes have bells, despite the fact that I know drivers cannot hear them and peds don't listen. Surely, my anal inner child tells me, anyone who rides a bike without a bell is a scofflaw, and most likely a thief, drug addict, pimp, con-man, thug, and probably going to murder me. I tell my anal inner child to shut up and stop being so silly, but it is a child, and can't be reasoned with, only bribed with ice cream.......

I am actually obsessing about how I am going to fit reflectors to the new bike, as my anal inner child has reminded my equally anal inner pedant that these are a legal requirement.. At least a bell is unobtrusive and out of the way, and actually of some use occasionally . I need professional help.

A future Jeremy Rundle in the making?
Perhaps th OP should get some MD80 clones and cycle in walking boots.

davis

EKE_38BPM wrote:

A future Jeremy Rundle in the making?
Perhaps th OP should get some MD80 clones and cycle in walking boots.

Nawww. This guy's funny.

wgwarburton

RichardSwt wrote:

You need a horn on car as they're generally inclosed and you can't speak to people quite easily as your going too fast ect.

You do not need a bell on a bike as you can quite easily talk to other road users. I find a cyclist tinging his bell far more pretensions and annoying than a "sorry sir/madam/chap/mate/(ect) can I pass (ect)".

You are one step away from a Airzound.

The only reason you'd need a bell is if you a child and then only because you like the nice noise it makes.

I'd have to disagree- firstly, guidelines for cyclists on towpaths, for example, make reference to "two tings" as the recommended warning of your approach and secondly the big advantage of a bell is that when (if?) people hear it they immediately think "bike", so you avoid the several seconds of processing when they try to work out who's talking to them, where are they and how did they get there all of a sudden....

As you point out in your last paragraph, bells make a "nice" noise, which many people associate with halcyon days of yore.... A big smile and a wave when they hear and turn round to see what's what will reassure them that you are a cheery chappie on a bike, not a lycra-lout, and all will be well in the world (well... maybe I exaggerate a little, but you get the drift! :-) ).
A horn is antisocial and shouting at the volume necessary to warn people of your approach is rude. In my experience, if you slow to walking pace and then talk to them they are put-out at your sudden approach and by their own assumption that they are holding you up.

I like to have a bell for shared used paths. Currently I'm not using any regularly, so I don't have one fitted, but if I was I'd put it back on.

Cheers,
W.

Kieran_Burns

As for bells, I can only say:

http://www.snotr.com/video/383/Bicycle_bell_in_Japan

andrewjoseph

Confusedboy wrote:

... I have raised the stem as high up the steerer tube as I dare, so that the topmost of it's two clamp bolts is level with the top of the tube, for which purpose I have borrowed a spacer from the hybrid.

I'm not sure what you are doing here, but it sounds as if you may have risen the stem clamp higher up the steerer than is safe. stem manufacturers recommend only 2-3 mm from top of steerer to top of stem. There is now the possibility that there is not enough clamp around the steerer. To prevent slipping you may have to do up the bolts too tight, causing stress and possibly deforming the steerer.

Confusedboy wrote:

I have also turned the bars in thier clamp so that the brake levers are lower down/further round the curve...

If you loosen the brake assembly you can move the brakes up and down a little, without having to move the bars.

andrewjoseph

When approaching walkers/other cyclists from behind, I slow down and call out 'coming up behind!' from at least 10 metres. People then tend to look around and usually move aside a little.

A bell wouldn't be heard until much closer, unless it's a school bell, and I'm not putting one of those on the bike.