I Like To Ride My...

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steve_earwig
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I Like To Ride My...

Post by steve_earwig »

As mentioned elsewhere I have a new addition:
Image

Image

Pictures taken here http://goo.gl/maps/o2YuS

I was wanting to do something about my appalling level of fitness, walking is boring, boring, boring, going to the gym is dul, dull, dull, there are no swimming pools near enough to make a regular trip to, so I was thinking maybe break out the pushbike and have a look round all the back roads here. Trouble was, riding my bike hurt my back so last time my brother (a keen cyclist) was here I was hoping he'd help me set it up better but he took one look at it and condemned it as being too small. Eh? I thought a bike was a bike, I didn't realise they come in sizes. So I checked it out, my old bike (which is almost an antique and made out of two bikes, one of which I found in a skip :oops: ) is a large, so it looked like I was going to have to go for an XL. I was trying to get one via Goran (fell off the back of a lorry sir) but in the end I realised whatever he came up with I'd be stuck with, whether I fitted it or not, so I bit the bullet and went to the bike shop in town here. This be the bike http://www.proteajaska.com/index.php?ka ... parent=286# More-or-less anyway, I spent a while with the guy trying bikes of different sizes and he had to put this one together for me. I had mentioned how many people here ride at night with no lights or reflectors and I guess he went a bit loopy with them... Pfft, be safe, be seen and all that.

Anyway, the moment I got it the weather changed for the worst and it snowed. I was tempted to take it out the moment they cleared the roads but I talked to my bro and we figured out that it would be an umpleasant first experience of the bike and if I found a patch of ice I'd wish I'd stayed at home. So the pictures were taken on the first clear day where it was above freezing, didn't look like rain and I hadn't woken up with a headache doe to the changes in the weather.

I went from Cvetković here to the next village, which is Domagović, and back via the unmettled road that joins the two. Cars use it as a rat run so it's a mass of potholes in places. Actually, http://goo.gl/maps/lVufU Google says that's a round trip of 5.6km (what do you want from me?) but I found I actually had some energy left as I got back to the tarmac in Cvetković so I rode as fast as I could for the remainder, and arrived home feeling both like death and really pleased with myself.

I haven't had another chance since, I wanted to go yesterday but, by the time I'd sorted this, that and the other out it was getting dark. I have lights but... :oops: The forecast today is for rain but if it doesn't happen I'll go again this afternoon. I was thinking to see where those other roads go and maybe see if I could get to the next village the other way, Čabdin, although I'm worried I might get lost. Or would that be a good thing? :?
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Welly
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by Welly »

steve_earwig wrote:As mentioned elsewhere I have a new addition:
Image
Oohh get you with your rear disc-brakes 8)

Good on you, Bike riding is excellent exercise and the sore arse thing goes away after a while.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

The sore arse I can live with (not as bad as I was expecting anyway), it's the sore back I worry about. It did get a little achy while I was out but nothing too distressing and certainly nothing compared to the old bike.

Disk brakes front and back 8) I remembered how good brake blocks on the rims were in the wet (worse than useless) so I wanted one with disk brakes. Of course, my brother has rim brakes on his 29"er (mrs! :shock: ) as he didn't like the idea of bleeding hydraulics* and that, he says they're much, much better than they were now anyway.

*the disk brakes on my bike are cable operated :cheesy:
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by Welly »

I picked up a Halfords-own mountain bike about 2 years ago, in Range Rover White :roll: it's one of their better models and was ridiculously cheap (£89.00 down from an 'alleged' £200.00, yeah right) to be fair it's certainly not a 'cheapo' bike it's ok really. I has disc braking up front but V-Brakes on the back, front a rear sussy which just about does something.

One thing that annoys me is when using the front disc I get a ~~wobble~~ the 'pads' aren't squeezing the disc equally from both sides so try to bend the disc ~~wobble~~ there's no real adjustment so looks like a manufacturing 'tolerance' might try a very thin shim to fetch the caliper over a bit.

Trouble where I live it's all Villages and Country lanes so you're either playing amongst the cars or getting wiped out by them at 60mph (a man-cyclist got twatted by a Transit Van just last year, about 2 miles from ours, killed him on the spot). I've got a cycle carrier for the back of the Astra but it's a pain and doesn't feel safe to me, I always worry that the whole lot will fly off or smash the back window (whichever comes first).
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

There does seem to be rather a lot of squished cyclists about at the moment (e.g. today's tragedy http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-26184164 ) and I always worry about my bro when I see the headline. Fortunately he leaves near the Stort and Lea Navigation and goes mostly everywhere by towpath (floods permitting) and the worst thing he's had happen to him was being mugged for his mobile :evil:

That's a nuisance about the carrier, could you flog it and buy a better one? My bike goes in the yoyo easy enough, font wheel off, one seat down and in it goes.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by Welly »

My carrier is one of those OMG 3 x bikes hanging onto a hatchback for dear life types. It's alright but I don't like going any further than about 10 miles, WOULD NOT go on the Motorway wearing it and certainly no more than 50mph. You can see the bikes waving about in the rear view mirror, they're fine I just don't like it. Other thing is it can be nicked in a flash.

Best ones are the roof rack wheels-off type all clamped in nicely.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by gumby6371 »

Welly, in my days before 406 ownership, knee ops and transporting a small child I went pretty much everywhere on my mountain bike.
It was a cracking Diamond back, Suntour forks, chromoly over sized frame deore gears with LX front and rear discs, I loved it.
If memory serves there was a grub screws to adjust the pads to get them to pull evenly. Ideally you're looking for about 0.5mm clearance on both sides.
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Welly
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by Welly »

In my yoof I LOVED my bikes. I can proudly claim running my Raleigh Chopper 'round the clock' - seriously it had a speedo and milometer with only 3-digits....I took it up to 999 miles and watched it roll over to 000 again :) and that was before my 12th Birthday. I must have done at least 3000 miles in my time.

Then came a succession of BMX's and lots of time at the BMX track doing stunts, best BMX was a used Huffy that I modified to the hilt. Then I had a Race Bike for a while and finally started work at 16 and spent my first MONTH'S wages on an Emmelle 'Cortina' mountain bike and rode that to work every day for 18 months until I passed my driving test.....all kinda went downhill from there, I was bloody fit up until then :o

I'll have another squint at the brakes, cheers.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

I had an 'ickle red bicycle when I was about 12, a hand-me-down from my brother. I used to ride that up and down the footpaths near our house for a couple of years and then it kind of disappeared :cry: It turns out my brother and two of his mates decided to ride down Barn Hill on it, they were drunk of course, and it broke. After that I had a moped with no engine (my parents were brassic for most of my yoof) I didn't go far on that because it weighed a tonne. I didn't have another until I got the original of this one (I think the wheels and gears came from it, the rest from the skippy) when I was about 20. Not much of a cyclist I'm afraid. My brother, on the other hand, has always had bikes and used to ride too and from work on a Daws Red Feather racing bike.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by Welly »

Since you miss the bike so much, would you like to borrow this for a weekend soon?

It's the Rag Top version 8) took me ages to find one with low mileage and the rare Pneumatic Horn.

It's also Multi-Plexed and OBDII compliant.

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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by DaiRees »

I like bikes!

I had a Grifter for Christmas when I was 6 which I still had when I was 15, was always out on it! That got replaced with a road bike, did lots of miles on that one too, my mates and I used to ride 20 miles after school every day in the summer. Sold that bike when I was in college for spending money :( .

Next up came a 2nd hand Carrerra mountain bike which got well used and abused, as well as smashing it about off road a colleague and I used to cycle to work every Friday between the solstices. Modified that one quite a bit over the years, 3 different sets of brake calipers, added suspension forks etc, was a brilliant bike and it's still here, about 20 years later. Alongside that one I also bought a new entry level road bike in the late 90s, I never really got over selling the old one in college. It's a lovely bike even if it does look a bit old fashioned these days, but road riding is scary so it's now confined to the garage. Really don't spend enough time on it even in there :oops:
Image

I've also got a new mountain bike now, it's another Carrerra which I had "half price" from halfrauds a few years back. That one's got hydraulic disc brakes and is really nice, but the only time I get to ride it is when I'm out with the kids, so I never really get to give it a good workout :(
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Re: I Like To Ride My...

Post by steve_earwig »

OOh, get you with your fancy bike stand :P
steve_earwig wrote:The forecast today is for rain but if it doesn't happen I'll go again this afternoon. I was thinking to see where those other roads go and maybe see if I could get to the next village the other way, Čabdin
I didn't make it :( I used Google maps (damn useful these little roads being on it) to plan a route http://goo.gl/maps/opMc8 , 11km total, which seemed ok. It was sunny but a bit chilly to start off with, however I soon warmed up. As I got to the bridge across the motorway I encountered a couple with a German Shepherd (come on, try to look as if you do this all the time, not like you're just about to fall off in the mud and make an arse out of yourself!), who I hello'd. Then their dog decided to take an interest and rushed towards me (Ze Britisher iz not fooling anybody! Vatch, vhen I push him with my paw he vill fall off!) but he actually listened when they told him to leave me alone (no golden retard that one). I'd actually cycled across the bridge before I realised I was now on the wrong side of the river and motorway :oops: What I should've done is gone under the bridge and turned left, so back across I went. The path there wasn't as good as the ones I'd been on, gravel strewn with boulders, squishy mud, puddles and the tracks left by tra-a-a-actor tyres. Some of the puddles were quite big and left me no alternative than to go through them. I was actually wondering if I could find another way back, the path was so bad. There were also a lot of corn stalks washed into heaps that I guess I should have taken as a sign because eventually I came across this:
Image
No way around it as there was a wide ditch to the left and I didn't want to trudge across a muddy field in search of a bridge that probably didn't exist. I decided to go back to the bridge to take a picture of the bike there. So I turned round and
Image
Where's it gone? :shock: It's bluddy miles away! Back I went, sloshing through mud, splashing through puddles, bumping over boulders and vibrating over tractor tracks. By the time I got back to the bridge, swung up onto it and cycled across I wasn't fit for anything, I got off the bike and my legs felt like two huge achy water balloons :(

I hung about for about 10 minutes, regretted not buying a water bottle, took a picture:
Image
and set off home. And what a pleasure the pot-holed roads were by comparison :cheesy:

Needless to say, this time I didn't quite feel like a sprint through the village (aha, not so full of beans now are you, pastey boy!) and I arrived home covered in mud and actually feeling a little faint. All I wanted to do was collapse on the settee but... not in those clothes! :(

This was my final route http://goo.gl/maps/6mYcY 8.8km? That'll do.

A few things I need to sort out:
I could do with wearing sunglasses as the sun shining on all the puddles was blinding
I could do with mudguards to stop me and the bike getting covered and bugger looking like a nancy boy.
I need to get a water bottle (thirsty!)
The brake levers are arse-about face :frown:
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Re: I Like To Ride My...

Post by davew »

i ride a road bike, i was a first cat amateur in my younger days and have rode on and off for years, i'm also a bike mechanic so i'm always around bikes.
i've been riding a fair bit lately and you do have to be careful on the roads, there are a lot of idiots around ,i've had people leaning out of cars trying to slap you or grab your bars, i've had all sorts of stuff chucked at me and loads of verbal abuse, i know some people give cyclists a bad name riding like idiots jumping lights ect, but i'm still amazed how many people think that car have right of way on the road over bike.
i only really cycle now on a weekend when the road are not as busy.
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Re: I Like To Ride My...

Post by gumby6371 »

Luckily enough we're pretty well served for cycle paths round my way but you still have to be careful. Does my head in when I see cyclists with headphones on, you need all your senses on the roads in a car let alone a bike.
I once got an earful from a middle aged woman who stopped me and gave me war and peace about riding on paths and how I could knock kiddies over..blah..blah..blah.
I stood patiently as she finished her rant and then calmly pointed out that she was standing on a bloody great picture of a bike which signified this is the cycle path and the one right next to it is for pedestrians, got back on my bike and road off.

Shame you have a dodgy back Steve as I used to love mud plugging on my bike, always ended up on the deck at some point but the elasticity of youth meant you got back up and tried it again, usually faster. The idea was always that I lost it under heavy braking so if I don't brake I will stay on 8)
If I tried today I'd need a direct line to the air ambulance!
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Re: I Like To Ride My...

Post by steve_earwig »

The bad back is one of my symptoms, the bike is part of the cure :cheesy: The old bike was aggravating my back, that's why I've gone for this bigger one. It's what I asked for and the salesman had me cycling around the yard on a couple of smaller bikes first as he needed to assemble this one, but it was soon obvious they were too small. I guess it makes me a bit of an ape with long arms and legs but it's not something anyone's ever remarked on.

I was thinking about my mp3 player on my first trip, I could see it was going to get rather dull if all I was doing was cycling to Domagović and back all the time, it's a bit of a rat run but I didn't see a car on it yet, however if one did come up behind me while I was swerving around the pot holes I'd really want to know about it, so I decided the mp3 player would be a bad idea. On the road it would be insane!

Speaking of insanity and cars, I am wearing my cycle helmet. Before I cycled for the first time I was thinking that maybe I'd forgo wearing it just for these back roads, then a car went past at about 100kmph and I thought maybe I would after all, if only for the bits where I have to ride on tarmac. Also, there's a good chance I will fall off at some point and I wouldn't want to brain myself on a rock or something. Btw anyone worrying about looking like a nonce wearing one, once it's on your head you can't see it any more and you soon forget about it :cheesy:

Anyway, I've just been out and reversed the brake levers. I'm not sure if there's a reason for putting the front brake on the left but, being a biker, it confuses me as I keep grabbing a handfull of the rear brake and locking the back wheel up.
Welly wrote:One thing that annoys me is when using the front disc I get a ~~wobble~~ the 'pads' aren't squeezing the disc equally from both sides so try to bend the disc ~~wobble~~ there's no real adjustment so looks like a manufacturing 'tolerance' might try a very thin shim to fetch the caliper over a bit.
Looking at the cable-operated disks on this one that's how they're meant to work :? The cable turns a cam that just pushes the pad towards the disk, the disk warps and pushes against the inner. It seems mad to me but it works ok. I'm not sure if there's any way of taking up the play once the inner pad wears, looks like there's a hex screw on the inside which is maybe what does that, which is probably what Gumby mentioned there. A brief search on youtube later http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkp2WFjuqYg
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