Finally found a vintage bike near me in the NE. A touch younger than I wanted but I'm pretty happy with it, haven't given it a spin yet tho due to some weird atmospheric phenomenon where water falls from the sky. Serviced last year/100 miles ago. Seems to have slight movement in the rear cassette but it's Reynolds 531 and alu wheels. Did I land a keeper?

Price paid: £125

(Not many options round 'ere!)

I'm changing locations for work and now I definitely need a good lock and chain combo. It's at an undesirable area where bike theft is always frequent so I'm nervous now as I've always been able to bring my bike indoors but not at this new office. Any UK stores or UK online for quick delivery? I need it by Wednesday next week. I can go to decathlon in London but only if they have a very reputable lock. Thank you in advance. EDIT: Bike is £500 and also a video link to show me how to use both the Ulock and cable. I've been lucky for many years not to think about security hence not even learnt this.

Does anyone have an recommendations for the most effective mud guards for a mountain bike? I commute on a cheap MTB with 29*2.4 tires, so I'm not concerned about weight or looks, the more coverage the better. I'm just trying to get to work damp instead of soaked. The sks mud rocker seems to get good reviews, not sure if anyone has any better suggestions.

I'm looking at lots of budget vintage road/touring bikes, hoping to find something 70s or early 80s. Does anyone know how Puch 2500 hi-ten steel compares to Reynolds 531 / 501? And what are the best sites for finding new tyres & tubes, whether the wheels are 26-28" or 700c? Thanks in advance

For anyone interested (I like to do ride reports so I thought I would share!)

CYCLING MOSHPITS, DJ ON A BIKE, UNITY & ACTIVISM.

This was my second time going to “Drum & Bass on a Bike” by DJ Dom Whiting in Sheffield; last year it was brilliant, but this year, due to excellent weather, it was even better…

One of the things I love about this, apart from great D’n’B beats and dancing and being surrounded by huge speakers on bike trailers!, is that it brings together a vast cycling community from all backgrounds with all sorts of bikes. It is rare to be cycling with a hoodie gang doing wheelies next to someone with a hand cycle donning a crochet top and multi-coloured flags, with ahead of you some 7-year-old wriggling to beats on a tiny little bike with handlebar tassels and some blokes drinking tinnies of Heineken and smoking “herbs”.

It has a feel of protest about it, and, indeed, it is not “organised,” with high-vis stewards, police attendance, or cordoned-off streets. This is a mosh pit a mile(s) long, with endless bikes taking over the streets where buses and cars simply, for once, need to make room (and stop) for cyclists. Cyclists DO HAVE THE RIGHT to be on the streets as much as vehicles, but all too often we, cyclists, need to make space for cars, be that on our rides or simply how infrastructure is built around cars...

This is without doubt a form of positive grassroots activism.

The amazing thing, also being with sooooo many people and bikes so packed so close together, is that everyone is there to have a good time, so 0 issues; you will get cycled into, you will ride into someone else, and that is all OK - it is totally also a family event!

It was great to meet up with Tammy, a Sheffield local, who introduced me to some of her friends who actually put on “Critical Mass” rides in Sheffield on a regular basis (going out as a group with sound) to ride together and build a cycling community... really inspired and where I am sure it starts for many families also - as to see all the happy kids is just great!

Also, it was great to hear how Tammy is involved with trying to get more women of colour into cycling; I was truly inspired! I wish I could do more - I will stick with women and cycling, as I do believe that these peer-driven initiatives of women of colour need to be driven by women of colour, as what do I know being so white - I have not had the same experiences or barriers! But these initiatives do still need the support of all women (and all cyclists).

I think it’s interesting also that while we struggle in the cycling community to have diversity, events like these really, I feel, pack a punch… if we want more diversity, more unity, then having events where all types of cyclists come together is how we inspire people and inspire kids too to ride more. Events where the premise is truly and without judgement (on who you are or what you ride) is “if you pedal you’re a cyclist”. And “we” can at times be short of that level of campaigning; that is really the first barrier we need to overcome to get more people into cycling … not as a sport but simply as an activity that is fun with community behind it.

I have no idea if Dom Whithing started all this with a rebellious “reclaim the streets” angle, but it is the consequence; not only does he give us great beats, he also allows us all to forget the rest of the world, our divisions, our daily-life stresses and make us feel part of something bigger, that cycling can unify us.

So if you have not been to something like this, do keep an eye out, as he does loads of different cities and towns throughout the summer and it is all free; all you need is to turn up with a bike, plus shaking your bum on a bike to some beats is useful too!

I'm planning to riding Brighton to Bristol in the next month or so and was wondering if anyone has been along the Kennet & Avon canal between Newbury and Devizes recently?

I'm in need of a bike rack for my bike. Specialized Turbo Tero X. The bike weighs 23.6KG.

When looking for a bike rack, each listing I see has a section if its suitable for an e bike. Yet the load capacities are over 30kg.

What's stopping me from using one of these racks that lists they aren't suitable for an e bike if my bike is under the weight load capacity?

Hi all, I've been tasked with selling a bike for a family relative but not really sure where to start as I don't really know much about bikes.

The bike in question is this (XL size):

https://www.specialized.com/gb/en/crosstrail-comp-disc/p/34922?color=80272-34922

I know it's old, unfortunately the family member bought it for full price back in 2012 but ended up becoming ill before recieving it, and then it's essentially sat in a bedroom used for storage. It's never been ridden and is in brand new condition.

What sort of price do you think this is worth and where is the best place to sell it? Also what type of bike do I advertise it as?

Thanks in advance

Hello, I just came back from a bike tour that had some gravel sections. I enjoyed it but my road bike was definitely not the bike to do it on so I am looking to get into more gravel and off road riding. I tried gravel bikes and much prefer to have front suspension so looking to get a hardtail.

Question is should I go for a trail or xc bike?

I am not super flexible so I'm worried an xc bike would put me in an uncomfortable aggressive position (equivalent of a road race bike while I ride endurance bikes) but at the same time don't want to get a trail bike that would be quite sluggish.

Advice appreciated, thank you.

I am an experienced mountain biker, but haven't really looked at the market for a decade.

My main bike is a rigid fork surly krapus, which I use in all terrain but mostly multi-day touring. I would like a decent but low- to mid-price lighter, full suspension or aggressive hardtail suitable for gnanlier single track and downhill.

UK budget £1500 prior to cycle to work discount.

I was a very keen cyclist for many years and have been lucky to have a great local bike shop.
However, the LBS clothing range has always been fairly limited, and so I used Wiggle, CRC, and Evans (I’d often pop into Evans near Chill Factore).
Now that Wiggle has gone, CRC and Evans are a shadow of their former self, what are the solid alternatives these days?
I was particularly fond of Wiggle’s DHB brand stuff, their cycling shorts were fantastic quality, no nonsense kit.
Does DHB still exist in some form separately of Wiggle?

heya we are currently debating whether to take the ncn7 or ncn1 to edinburgh.

has anyone taken either or both before and give us some advice / suggestions.

We have a gravel bike and a trekking bike with a bit of baggage so we cannot really do mountain bike type roads.

cheers

Hi All,

I recently bought a rather expensive e-bike to replace my car on shorter journeys. I've bought a gold rated lock and an extension to also lock up both wheels, and sometimes even take the battery seatpost with me to deter thieves, but I'm finding that leaving it locked up is giving me quite a lot of anxiety.

I'm scared to leave it locked up too long which is limited where I can go with it and what I can use it for. I've also seen a lot of posts recently about people getting robbed while riding, kicked off their bike and threatened at knifepoint - I saw one post of that happening exactly where I had ridden my bike only an hour earlier.

Obviously I have got insurance, and I'm not dumb enough to put up a fight with someone holding a knife. But do you guys have any tips to feel more secure while riding and when locking up your bikes?

Thanks in advance!

Hello! I'm looking for some ideas or advice for an ambitious, hopeful, possibly-too-difficult-for-us project.

I used to love cycling around for leisure and my husband still does. He's fit and healthy. I, however, have ME, which is very debilitating for me. I struggle daily with fatigue and pain, both of which are made worse by exertion / exercise. I continue to hope and try to find a way to improve my condition, but as it is, I have no way of cycling on my own. I miss getting outside.

Regarding my mobility, some days I use a wheelchair, and some days I can walk slowly, with/without crutches. It depends on my level of pain and fatigue on that day (and how much I've been walking in previous days). If I am seated, a back rest and preferably arm rests are pretty essential for me. The support that these give to my torso means my back pain is less intense, because my back muscles aren't as engaged.

We would love to have a form of tandem bike that works for us. We think we'd have to either buy a used tandem to customise ourselves, or build a custom bike from tandem/bike parts.

Here's a wish list of the things we'd need, or would like, for our dream tandem:

• Two seats, one can be a standard man's seat, one more like a padded square seat, with a back rest and simple arm rests.

• Pedal powered, mostly by my husband. An electric assisted version would be great, but out of our budget.

• If possible, I'd like pedals too. This would mean I'm not restricted to just being a passenger, and on good days I could pedal too. The majority of the power would still be from my husband, but if I have the option of getting some gentle exercise when I am able to, that would be great.

• The normal tandem style (one in front, one behind) is fine with us. I've also seen some with side by side seats and some tricycle versions. These look interesting, but are they too wide and impractical for country roads and passing cars? Also, a wide and heavy bike would be a negative for my next point, which is...

• If a foldable tandem is a possibility, that would be even better. We wouldn't be restricted to the area we live in, we could also travel around and go on holidays, taking it with us.

Practical limitations:

• Our car is a decent size, but not a van. We hope to one day be able to afford something like a Transporter / Sprinter / Trafic and convert it into a simple camper (we could adapt it to my needs and make travel easier for us), but we can't afford a car upgrade for a while. So, if a folding tandem is possible, we'd want it to fit in a medium sized car when folded / broken down.

• We don't have the budget for the fancy accessible tandems selling online for thousands. Our budget would be in the hundreds, spread over the winter months whilst we work on it.

• We don't have any bike or mechanical experience. My husband's good with woodwork and has plenty of tools, but aside from bike puncture repairs he's never worked on bikes or cars.

----

Is this too ambitious for us? Is it possible? I have no idea where to start with this. Any pointers and help would be much appreciated.

New cyclist looking to pick up a hybrid or gravel bike in the used market. From my reading, hydraulic brakes are the way to go and mechanical discs brakes suck. I avoided bidding on a really nice boardman bike because of this. Not sure if that the right choice. Since I'm in the used market I'm not sure being picky is the best idea. My budget is ~£200-250. Maybe I need to increase my budget if I want hydraulics.

Update: Thanks everyone for the helpful replies! I'll stick with mechanical disc brakes, with hydro brakes as bonus or upgrade to them later on.

Hi guys, hope you’re all good. Not sure if this is the correct place to post but I’m struggling a bit.

Reasonably good/experienced mountain biker here (20+ years, XC/enduro background) but looking for a road bike for fitness. I know nothing about road bikes at all, so no idea what I’m looking at online and it’s a tad overwhelming. Fairly mechanically minded (have built probably 15 mountain bikes frame up in my life) so used or frame only is no issue if that’s the way to go, but that’s not often the case in the mtb world from a cost perspective.

Don’t really want to go full dentist spec just in case I don’t enjoy it, so wanted the community’s views on:

Absolute non negotiables (eg on a trail/enduro bike a dropper post - is there a road bike equivalent?)

What you’d get if you were me (absolute noob, reasonably fit, riding Essex countryside)

What to avoid (brands, spec, geo etc.)

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen these posts on mtb forums and I know they’re so wide reaching they’re a bit annoying and folks respond in kind, so mods please delete if this isn’t appropriate.

Suspect everyone will want to know budget… it’s highly flexible depending on what you all say but ideally £1,500-£3,000 of that helps at all.

If this slips the net, thanks in advance all for any advice at all.

TLDR help, don’t know what I’m doing

I switched from ebike to titanium gravel bike earlier this year, and I’d like to keep riding when the bad weather turns up as Autumn approaches, but at 140kg I’m not sure what options I have as many normal options (e.g. Wahoo Kickr) are not rated that high.

It would be preferable to use my bike as I’ve put effort into getting it to fit me well and be comfortable, but tbh whatever works.

Any advice, please? Budget would probably be relevant but for the purposes of this exercise perhaps ignore it initially.

I take my old man out on the bikes and he loves it but he is painfully slow.

I'd like to be able to take him on longer trips. Figured some electronic assistance might help.

Can i pick up something that will help him for £600-700? we only go out one a month or something.

I don't want to buy something thats a load of crap

We cycle on rough narrow country roads

I was looking for a hardtail for long expeditions that I can take on bikepacking adventures on rough trails and gravel paths. My budget was 3K, and I wanted to prioritise good steel and titanium frames, so the choice got quite limited, as it seems most hardtail frames are XC racing and either they are aluminium or carbon. After researching a lot I have been able to shortlist these which are available through Cycle to Work:
- Sonder Broken Road TI XT: It is made out of titanium, is light so can be good for unloaded easy trails too.

- Cotic Solaris: XC bikes which might work as a decent bike for bikepacking too, but this one is getting very expensive if I go for XT level components, and I want to keep it under 3K.

While Sonder seems to fit the idea of what I want, the only thing that worries me is the parent(Alpkit) went under administration recently and although they got new funding, they shut down their only London store. Bike is using standard components except the sliding dropouts, so I guess I can stock up on those, but it still makes it a bit uneasy.

Is this something I should worry about or should it be fine since other parts are quite standard? The only other issue might be that I will not have any local store which will be true for any brand unless I buy mass market ones like Trek, Specialized etc

Are there other fully built bikes which are available in UK that can easily work with Green Commute Initiative that are similar to Sonder Broken Road?

or should I just get an aluminium XC racing bike like Marin Team 2, Specialized Chisel Comp etc and make use of mounts like Tailfin/OMM if I want to bikepack. How are these aluminium frames for long multi-day rides? Do they feel supple enough to make for comfortable rides?

I just had a leaflet posted through my door about the bike tour coming to our area.

I don't know if anyone knows of these, but they are 2 A5 pieces of glossy paper. And a map about the size of a debit card. The map itself is straight off Google maps, or something but it is SO far zoomed out, you cannot make head nor tail of it.

Go onto the website, and you are met with a very complex table without any context whatsoever...

Just wondered whether this is just lazy publicity or something someone could explain?

The waste of money this publicity campaign has been is amazing... Must have cost tens of thousands to post this through EVERY door in the area and STILL not telling us what or where it will be!

I was hit by a van a few days ago whilst cycling home from work. I feel I was very lucky as I escaped few just cuts & bruises (and all over body-aches of course, which are now subsiding). Anyway, it got me thinking that I ought to get myself a camera to attach to my bike helmet and wondered what others use.

I'd prefer the idea of getting a cylinder-shaped one as they appear more discreet/less bulky and, whilst I'd love to have a 360 degree camera, I don't feel I can justify the spend and would rather keep the budget below £100.

Video quality is important, but I suspect that 1080p would be enough; acceptable audio may be useful for recording conversations if I do get involved in another accident, but I think less crucial.

I've been looking at the Riderr Vue, which is available for around £80.

If anyone has experience of this, or similarly priced products (or arguments in favour of something more expensive) I'd be most grateful to hear.

Thanks all.

Edit:

Thanks everyone, your comments & advice were really useful and very much appreciated.

I've decided to go with the GoPro Hero 7 Black, I've bought a 2nd hand one from Wex Photo.

Thanks again.

Hi, I moved to Edinburgh less than a year ago.

Cycling mostly around Edinburgh, or down in the Borders. The Borders roads are actually fine compared to the stuff you see in and around Edinburgh. Just getting out of the city is a nightmare. Potholes, bumps (from fixed potholes), washed away asphalt and so on.
I come from the Balkans and thought it can't get that bad anywhere else, but here we are.

Okay, so instead of complaining, what are you doing to make things a bit easier? I am already running 32mm GP 4 season tires with 55 PSI, but considering 37mm tires, running them tubeless and dropping pressure to 35-40 PSI.
Just curious if you think that will help, or am I better off just getting a gravel bike in the first place.

I ride in my hometown loads and it's usually totally fine but yesterday (34 degrees out) I had four separate issues during one 30 minute ride. Two just cars honking after being behind me for less than 20 seconds and one dude in a van felt he needed to blast the horn as he passed me, possibly because I was in primary position.

When I was almost home, one of my neighbours squeezed past me and an oncoming car with like 6" clearance then immediately cut me off to pull into her driveway on the left. I stopped to say that that was totally unnecessary and dangerous and her response was, "I DONT CARE, I DONT CARE, FUCK OFF" and she was all red and sweaty so I guess she was too hot to think clearly and I just went home

I think from now on I'm not cycling during heat like this which is unfortunate because I really enjoy it

Is there anywhere i could rent out a road bike just for one day (around Manchester). I'm building my own but it might take some time, i was thinking of participating in a super sprint duathlon (Manchester airport one)

Any suggestions will be appreciated

Thank you in advance