Chit Chat
There is currently 1 person viewing this thread.
These 144 comments are related to the topic:
Any people on here who cycle aka cyclists ?
Any people on here who cycle aka cyclists ?
sort by:
Show
per page
Replies: 144
|
By:
Spend the £800 - I know it's Halfords but the Boardman bikes are very well reviewed indeed, and Halfords is the only place selling them (well, it was). Get this
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_777741_langId_-1_categoryId_165710 |
|
By:
Boardmans are excellent value but get someone else to give it a once-over after Halfords have "assembled" it
|
|
By:
The Boardman bikes do indeed get good reviews, but Halfords do not, as most of the kids who work there would rather be downstairs selling 1000 watt sub woofers and crazy alloys!
Check out this baby........ . http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuji/newest-30-2012-road-bike-ec031220 |
|
By:
Now I am wanting a new bike.....
 |
|
By:
That does look a top notch bike
|
|
By:
Me too but it looks like Wiggle have stopped selling the Focuses - And once one has been wedded to Carbon, one never downgrades to a lesser material. Looks like the next one will be even more expensive :(
|
|
By:
ken what is so good about carbon ?
|
|
By:
Very light weight, very little flex and very strong. Even though it does sound incredibly exotic and of course it's used in all the expensive race cars, it is basically plastic, so you have to get your head around spending so much on something that's like titanium tupperware.
|
|
By:
I'd go 2nd hand personally. For example that Dave Quinn frame on the ebay page is a really good buy (even if his missus isn't thrown in). There's a nice Colnago there too. You can always sell it for hardly any loss or keep it as a winter bike / commuter
You'll need to budget for some cycling gear (clothing, pump, helmet, tools). If you buy new you'll also need pedals and shoes - probably £100+ right there. |
|
By:
this cycling lark aint cheap is it.... hope its worth it. pedals ?? shoes ?? wtf
|
|
By:
It's hard to keep up with all the advances in technology these days!
If you are not in a rush, it might be worth hanging on for one of the new to be released, state of the art, papier mâché bikes. These are as light as paper and environmentally friendly too. |
|
By:
|
|
By:
The only clothing you'll need is something high-visibility, which you may already have.
A foot pump is needed (dearer than an old-fashioned hand pump, but gets the tyres harder, which saves you from punctures). Only gaylords use helmets. Tools you'll almost certainly already own (spanner, spoons to remove tyres when you get a puncture). Pedals come with the bike. Toe clips are brilliant and make cycling so much easier, but they're not essential. Shoes you already own. If you use toeclips, something with a non-smooth sole is easier for getting your feet in the clips. |
|
By:
I thought a helmet was essential but was going to go out at night incase anybody seen me with it on
|
|
By:
I always wear a helmet as my hair looks good in it!
|
|
By:
Oh, and definitely wear shades as you will regret it otherwise, when you get hit in
the eye by anything bigger than a midge! |
|
By:
Bolles
|
|
By:
It is threads like these that put people off biking IMO. I bought a bike from halfordsbfor 120 quid. They called it a hybrid, they did a free check up after six weeks to get the gears going properly. In five months it has prob saved me three hundred odd quid in bus faires, and of course it is healthy... Ten miles a day round trip. It isn't particularly light or quick but it is still quicker than the bus, in fact I have to leave the house 20 mins earlier if I go by bus. Fk that. I haven't oiled it or washed it or anything, and it still goes fine. If I spent a grand how much quicker will it be? A minute a mile? On the way home, not in a rush, I sometimes go along the seafront with earphones in and no helmet and it is all very pleasant and slightly longer than the route into work, I've no great inclination to shave a few minutes off the journey by buying a racer.
I'd no sooner spend a grand on a bike than walk down the street in a string vest. |
|
By:
Also If it does get nicked, the cheaper it is the less annoying it'll be. One thing I may invest in is a good saddle, does give you a sore a.rse
|
|
By:
http://www.hargrovescycles.co.uk/images/product_images/medium/10SecteurEliteCh.jpg
Specialized Secteur Elite. Cost me £800 (Last years model.. new one was £1000). Spec will fit you for your bike at a cost of £40. IMO it's well worth doing.. you get the dosh back if you buy. I would have bought too small without the fitting. This bike truly is my pride and joy!!  But make sure you can handle a racing bike before you buy. They're not evryone's cup of tea. VERY light.. can feel a bit insubstantial or 'unsafe' if you're not used to them. But if you like cruising along at 15mph all day.. or zooming downhill at 40mph+ then take a deep breath and spend the money.All the best!! |
|
By:
Rob!! Two consecutive posts with totally opposite bits of advice. The poor bbastid wont know which way to turn.  |
|
By:
I'd no sooner spend a grand on a bike than walk down the street in a string vest.
Very true rob_dylan. Let's hear it for the sub £250 BSO ( bicycle shaped object ). It's rather more comfortable riding over grids and holes on a cheap hybrid than on 18mm rims. You usually get a pannier rack or can add one - had 24 cans, and 10 pies on mine tonight coming back from the shops. And no fears chaining it up at the football ground or station about losing more than you'd spend on Christmas. |
|
By:
Not that contradictory, just would rather spend twenty? Quid on a gel saddle and not have a sore bum than spend a grand and have a three minute quicker journey to work.
Two guys at work have got board mans bikes. If they arrive at the bike shed at the same time one says to the other " that's a nice bike" . They're well funny like that. |
|
By:
Sorry Rob.. I meant your and my posts.. me saying spend the money.. you saying get it cheap. I suppose I'm still suffering from 'newbie' syndrome. I never cycled before I bought the bike 20 months ago.
|
|
By:
The Boardman road bike is a thing of beauty - I would like to have one eventually
I have used a Trek or Specialised road style bike ( with flat handlebars, not drop downs) for the last 15 years. Doctor told me that for every day that you cycle, you get an additional half day of healthy life added onto your life expectancy |
|
By:
Oh right, no worries paddy. When I was buying my cheap bike I did have a bit of a perv at the one grand (and five grand) bikes and it would be lovely to have one for sure, but then you really have to look after it and I'd be worried of it getting nicked. And I am not made of money, I'd rather spend a grand on a posh two week holiday that's all, probably with the barmyarmy army.
I did get a picture the other week going into work, bought a puncture repair kit for ninety nine pence and sorted it at lunch time using spoons to get the tyre off and borrowing someone elses pump. Think I've got a pump somewhere at home will have to dig it out. |
|
By:
Im back where i started now
 |
|
By:
as for advice only gaylords wear helmets .
The most important part of the kit. Ive ended up hospitalised twice in biking accidents being knocked out & sufferring concussion on both occassions. Fortunately wearing crash helmets both times & probably prevented a fractured skull or worse. If you are going to take up cycling on a frequent basis its only a matter of time b4 you will hit the deck. With regards to purchase wouldnt bother p!ssing a grand up against the wall for 1 thats a tad quicker. Purchased a Bianchi for £799 around 10 yrs ago ended up in the scrapper after 7 yrs replace with a £199 from Decathlon & in my 7th year with that still going strong. |
|
By:
I cycled to work (8 miles e.w) for 6 or 7 years.
Pros - It's a great workout, environmentally friendly, lovely way to travel in summer, save a fortune, thighs like tree trunks. Cons - Dangerous especially at junctions, crap when it's raining or windy, pain in the arse mending puctures when you can't feel your fingers. Also, i'm the most easy going bloke you could meet, but i chased many cars who cut me up and kicked the wing mirror clean off of one **** i caught up at the traffic lights who nearly knocked me off. Overall i'd say get an exercise bike. Safer innit. |
|
By:
If you are buying a bicycle in order to improve your fitness why do you need an expensive light frame? Surely, the cheaper, heavy-framed model will require more effort and therefore be more suited to the job in hand. Also, if it is damaged or stolen you can easily buy another. If, when you finally get fit enough to actually do justice to a more sporty frame, you have become a keen cyclist...then by all means buy yourself an upmarket model.
|
|
By:
I really should wear a helmet, but it makes me hot and uncomfortable and it makes me look like a total bell end. Gonna start wearing it again, Geoff is right IMO.
|
|
By:
many miles would you guys be doing ?? and how often etc ??
|
|
By:
Ten miles a day. If it is raining, too cold or I just can't be fked, then I spend three fifty on an all day bus pass. It's great.
|
|
By:
I've pedalled past schools in Netherlands and China while wearing a helmet, and wondered why the kids ran to the fence to laugh and making gurning faces and noises. Felt quite strange until I asked aroundas to why the mocking.
Apparently only spastics wear helmets over there, people who can't balance in other words who are likely to come off of their own volition. |
|
By:
UK figures show that it takes at least 8000 years of average cycling to produce one clinically severe head injury and 22,000 years for one death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet#cite_note-60 Wearing an uncomfortable and inconvenient helmet is just a disproportionate and inappropriate response. You'd be far better off spending the money getting your brakes etc. serviced regularly and avoiding accidents in the first place. Statistically there is absolutely no difference in the likelihood of a head injury from walking and from cycling. On that basis pedestrians should wear helmets too. In any case, cycling helmets are arguably dangerous in a collision, as they lack the facial covering of motorbike helmets. The rotational forces which cause most severe head injuries increase with the added distance between the top of a cycling helmet and the top of the skull, yet they lack the benefit of facial protection. It's purely anecdotal, but I'm 50 years old, never learnt to drive or ride a motorbike, and as a consequence been a lifelong cyclist. I've had one injury, when I lost control on ice and suffered a frozen shoulder. On the other hand I've twice been hit by a car as a pedestrian. As a teenager I suffered concussion and a headache for a few days. Then a couple of weeks ago an elderly motorist ignored the red light at a pedestrian crossing and knocked me unconscious. I have a spectacular scab to the side of my head, but strangely not even a headache this time. Anyway, my conclusion is that if I should ever wear a helmet, it's when I'm walking to the betting shop. Cycling is when I'm safe. |
|
By:
An excellent study demonstrating that cycling, walking and driving all carry equal risk (i.e. virtually none):
http://www.cyclehelmets.org/papers/c2014.pdf WHY IS CYCLING CONSIDERED DANGEROUS? The belief that British cyclists face high actual risks is not sustained by the evidence; the actual risks are very low in everyday terms. So why did the ‘danger myth’ arise? Perceived danger is not revealed by casualty data. The greater performance of modern cars has increased perceived danger. Cycle campaigners have often presented their case without precision, instead using reactionary language that implied motor traffic imposed far greater danger on cyclists than on itself. Official studies have focused on comparing risk on a per-kilometre basis, without reference to the higher fatality rates borne by pedestrians. Until very recently, pedestrian fatality rates were not included in the official reference Road Accidents in Great Britain; the Casualty Report. |
|
By:
screaming why do i get the feeling you dont wear a helmet ?
|
|
By:
I actually fell off my bike in an embarrassing moment last year.
Embarrassing as I had no forward motion. I tried to step off, but my right foot was held firmly in the toe clip, and I finished up on the pavement with the bike on top of me. I couldn't understand how I lost it, till I found that the chain was off when I was setting off, and the whole thing went into a wobble. I mention this, because I fell against a low wall, and my helmet definitely saved me from injury. Aside from feeling stupid my only injury was two bleeding fingers. I always wear good leather mitts as, aside from better control, I wouldn't fancy having gravel rash to my entire hands (particularly nasty)! |
|
By:
Yes. Gloves are good. I wear them more often than not, as they just give me a sense of control.
When Michael Crawford did all those incredible stunts in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, he always wore gloves, without fail. I also wear a fluorescent yellow jacket most of the time, unless it's very warm, when I at least make sure I'm wearing something like a red T-shirt. But a helmet as well? That's treating cycling to work as somehow more dangerous than crossing the road to get there on foot, which it definitely is not. And even in these days of health 'n' safety, nobody yet dons a helmet to cross the road. Over2.5: Get yourself down a decent independent cycle shop. Explain you're a beginner, you'd like road bike and ask to have your options explained from budget prices up to your limit. The profit margin isn't significantly greater for a dealer on a £700 bike against one costing half that. What he prefers is a happy cyclist who'll come back for servicing, spares and accessories. I don't know where you're based, but here's a good dealer down here in Zummerset: http://www.bicyclechain.co.uk/ourshops.asp?gclid=COKQ5rK1xa4CFVEjfAodKWF2Wg Don't buy a second-hand machine. You'll get mis-aligned brakes, wobbly wheels, rusting pedal shafts, balding tyres and all sorts of niggling problems that will put you off cycling. |
|
By:
good thread, but could do with some illustrations.
[ This image is no longer available. ] guess which CCer ?  |