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#1 The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 8:18 am
by Dave the bass
I realised all that bike talk was going on in Steve's thread about losing weight, sorry for thread hijack Steve.

So, seeing as there's a few folk here that like cycling as well as building HiFi.... here's a new place to waffle about our other 'specialist' approaches to human propelled 2 wheeled fun.

#2 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 8:37 am
by SimonC
Are we allowed to add embarrassing photo's?

#3 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 9:53 am
by andrew Ivimey
You can dear boy - I find just going out on the bike embarrassing enough.

Shorts - yuk!

Lycra - fergeddit - double yuk!

That app I mentioned a while back is excellent, by the way, and I'm only scraping the surface.

Bike = weight loss. I'm losing pounds daily!

The uber bike shop round the corner sells remarkably delicious cakes and their coffee is excellent too.

#4 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 10:44 am
by Dave the bass
SimonC wrote:Are we allowed to add embarrassing photo's?
Ooooo, good idea! I think I've got one of you semi-dead in the garden after the Infamous Holborn-Dirtfud Cappacino Sprint :)

#5 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 11:01 am
by pre65
Perhaps Dave the bike can give us a few tips on the art of cycling ?

I'm not sure I want a fixie, but I assume a mountain bike is not best for roadwork ?

Lets have a few piccies of ones mount pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze. :lol:

#6 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 11:07 am
by Dave the bass
Yesterday I did this....no... not draw a line on a map in red ink... thats my little Garmin plot of where I rode yesterday. Dirtfud to Briteon.
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It's the hilliest ride I've ever done in my life so far...proper cyclerists may scoff (let them! :) ) at my feeble hill climbing abilities but ... phwoooaaarrrrrr, so many pointy bits!
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Ditchling beacon dang nearly made me go 'pop'. I stopped to do a selfie, look at the pretty red colour of my face!
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I was even cheating and didn't do it on the Pffffixey, I was on my skip-saved single speeder home-built special with new fangled 'freehub' thingum. Celebrated not dying en-route with a couple of pints in my fave pub down there and 2 plates of Veggie Curry at eat-as-much-as-you-can Veggie Indian Buffet. Came home on the train.
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Got 2 'PBs' (Personal Bests) yesterday. 1176M climbed and fastest I've ever been on bike... 43.3MPH, it was downhill, I beleive I fell off the edge of the Surrey Alps.

#7 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 11:42 am
by andrew Ivimey
Total fab respek (in wit da kids). The heat yesterday in the Shire was total tropicana. I'd borrowed an uber mega spensive totally black friction less Bella Machina from the flash local shop - they're very nice peeps there - and cycled 20 miles. Lots of hills,lots of pot holes and nastiness but like the story of the Red Shoes I just couldn't stop. On & ON & ON & ON & ON. I sweatedr so much when I got back to my local breakfast stopping place for scrambolled eggiewegs on toast and coffee that other customers started to move away. The newspaper I tried to read disintegrated but a nice big friendly dog started to lick up the puddles.

I'm 18 miles from home right now enjoying a cappppacino,eastShireland is flatter than northshireland, the weather is cooler and I'm on my own bike (it's not that bad) tho' the Trek Domane SLR 7 is a 'bit better' r -I'll admit that.

All feels well.

Xcept I'm knackered and my bum's sore. I wanna go home.

#8 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 12:02 pm
by pre65
Along with finding the right saddle for you – which may take some trial and error testing - here are some basic tips to avoid saddle sores:

1) Always wear clean shorts.

2) Take your shorts off as soon as you get home and wash yourself. ...

3) Invest in quality shorts with a true cycling chamois.

4) there is no 4

5) take up a less demanding hobby, like DIY hi-fi. :lol:

#9 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 12:44 pm
by SimonC
Saddle sores, along with a whole host of other cycling aliments and etiquette is dealt with in the rules:
http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/

The answer usually comes back to rule 5...

#10 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 1:05 pm
by pre65
DTBike will deffo like the beer rule, but not this one. :lol:

No full beards, no moustaches. Goatees are permitted only if your name starts with “Marco” and ends with “Pantani”, or if your head is intentionally or unintentionally bald.

#11 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 1:19 pm
by andrew Ivimey
Home now -s hower time..

Of course I follow the rules partic. rule no4.

As for bald well that goes with the territory that began with senior C's thread.

#12 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 2:13 pm
by Dave the bass
pre65 wrote:DTBike will deffo like the beer rule, but not this one. :lol:
I refuse to comply! :lol: ...though I did shave it all off for the job interview.

'Steed' pictures.

These are the 2 bikes I ride the mostest, I have another with gears on (don't tell anyone though OK?), a 22 year old Halfords 'Mounting Bike' (sic) that I converted to a sensible mud-guarded road bike complete with rack for lugging stuff about when JTS has the car.

So, Uber-Machine 1 is a 36+ year old Dawes road bike that my neighbour gave to me ~22 years ago, basically it was a ruse so he didn't have to take it up the dump, off-loading it on me was easier and I'm forever grateful that he did. It lived in the loft for about 19 of those years until a few years ago I got the urge to get into DIY (?) Cycling on a budget and learned how to put bikes together and how to try and make the best with what you've got. The gears were all knackered so it lent itself to single-speed conversion which I duly did and I loved it the mostest, until I tried Fixed wheel riding. I'd never done it before and instantly loved it's utter daftness/loveliness (like SE amplifiers and single driver speakers in a way) and its cliqueyness. His name is 'Aldous', he's my Dawes of Imperfection.
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2 Rear cogs, one fixed, one freewheel.

Uber-Machine 2 was literally saved from the skip also. I used to occasionally repair this bike when it belonged to its original owner where I used to work as he wasn't 'gifted' in the art of bike mechanics shall we say. It spent its entire life as a 'station-bike', IE used to commute from Liverpool Street to Holborn and back every day, nothing else, ever! As such it was it received little TLC over the years unless summat major went wrong when I'd be asked/bribed to look at it to "make it go again"! The owner inherited his Sons bike as a replacement and was about to lob it in the skip (really) but asked if I'd like any bits off it for 'that old Dawes thing you ride'.... I asked for the entire bike and after much careful maintanenance and the gifting of 2 Campag wheels from our-SimonC made it into the fine sleek speed-machine you see before you here.... bwahahahahahahaa (etc).
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Note the stupidly high bottom bracket height which dictates the daft saddle height too (otherwise yer knees scrape yer beard). This is because this awethumne machine is a Halford Fixie/SS cash-in and is in reality a 'Mounting-Bike' (sic) with track-ends welded in place of the normal vertical dropouts you'd get on a 'normal' bike to allow you to manual adjust the chain tension/slackness using the chain tugs.

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I go like the clappers on the black one, the red one I enjoy the scenery.

Both have Brooks Saddles, they are by far the bestest thing ever in cycling except maybe a real ale pub at the end of a long ride. A B17 for the more speedy stance and a B67 for the more looky-around Dawes. They are made of Leather (sorry Moo cow), they are both soooooo comfortable.

#13 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 8:26 pm
by IslandPink
Some interesting stuff here Dave, much to be applauded.
Brooks saddles are the biz, been loving my 'Special' with the big rivets since I went back to the leather last year.
Now, just a small point, where are the mudguards ?

#14 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 9:23 pm
by Dave the bass
IslandPink wrote:Some interesting stuff here Dave, much to be applauded.
Brooks saddles are the biz, been loving my 'Special' with the big rivets since I went back to the leather last year.
Now, just a small point, where are the mudguards ?
Ta Mark.

Yeah, my botty loves both Brooks, they're a worthwhile investment (IMO). Having said that....the B67 adjuster bolt sheared today, dang! ...thankfully its available as a spare part.

Mudguards? Oh! You need to speak to our-Thomas about mudguards....heheheheheheheeh... Cue MrT in... 5....4...3...2... :)

#15 Re: The Audio-Talk Cycling thread.

Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 9:48 pm
by andrew Ivimey
Nice nice nice & who needs mudguards anyway! It was with great surprise and delight only a few days ago when I visited the other (semi) uber bike shop in Beds that I saw that Brookes are alive and well and still making wonderful saddles including the fabled B17 Professional. When I was a schoolboy racer I wished for but never got (anything really) a Brookes. I used a Unica Nitor orange plastic saddle on which I cycled thousands of miles. I also had snazzy woollen tight shorts with chamois insert, the ancient precursor to the hateful nasty lycra jobbies-arggh yuk city of today.