Off Topic The Push-bike Thread

Great

Great place for parking yer bike..

 

I had a mate when I was younger who went into a sheep on his mtb on some small quiet country road, the sheep just moved into position as we flew down this hill and stood there as he ploughed into it and went into a fence/ditch. The sheep just walked it off and disappeared, my mate was alright too which was fortunate as it was a pretty remote location

 

please log in to view this image

 

So Had a puncture, fixed it but then the chain kept coming off. Took it to a bike shop to be informed the chain needs replacing, rear gear set is knackered after the chain came off and buggared it, front wheel is slightly buckled. Wanted £158 to fix what they could see and then they would test it to see if anything else needed. Took it to Halfords and they said the same and repairs would be around £160 and again may need more when they have done the obvious.

The bike is 17 years old and only cost me about £250 when new. Decided I will buy a new bike, but not much around at present unless silly prices are involved due to COVID-19 demand!

 

What kind of bike do you have / want and do you want the same kind ?

Bike shops take the **** with some of this stuff. You can sort the puncture yourself with a patch or new tube easy enough for very little. You can get a chain online and fit that yourself easily. A buckled wheel shouldn't really cost any more than £10-20 to get trued/tensioned or built. When you say the gear set is done, what do you mean ... is it the cassette, the derailleur, the shifting ?? Those are also all things you can do yourself.

Keep in mind Halfords, Evans etc will rinse you on parts and labour. It's best to go to a smaller, independent shop.

 

I fixed the puncture no problem. The gear set at the back has been damaged by the chain getting jammed and slightly bending the gears. It was a hybrid 18 gear bike. I want a new one anyway so at least I have it in writing from Halfords as to the cost of repairs to keep the Mrs happy. I might go for a roadbike next as I do not go off road at all now I am a townie!

 

It's probably worth turning your current/old bike into a project then and still fixing it up yourself. You can get a new cassette or even a single gear ring if it's just the one ring that got bent.

Sounds like your options are the road bike or another more modern hybrid then, or possibly a cx or gravel bike. Have a look for road bikes with more relaxed frame geometries than the very aggressive, race oriented ones. It depends on how much you're looking to drop on one really as to what you can get. I'm presuming you'll want a fully built up bike. The bike industry is mental though and they massively overcharge on everything new, perhaps have a look around online for lightly used or good condition pre-owned bikes. Most of the frames you'll see, especially carbon ones, are coming out of the same few factories in China and the Far East and just being stamped with the different brand logos and then whatever price for you that they think the value of the brand is worth to the consumer

 

rear gears set £12 approx new decent chain £10 they're trying to rip you off thieving tw*ts

 

12km walk this evening, had to improvise about a third of the way into my planned route because the exit from the section of park/forest I'd gone through had flooded out and there was no way through without getting water over the ankles and both feet/shoes totally soaked and covered in mud.

@Zanjinho there's another one of those challenges on strava ... same deal as last time but you've got to do a bit longer. I'm 60% done already and it only started a couple of days ago. Still haven't used that other code from the previous one so I should end up with two now anyway. The weather looks like it's going to improve next week so I'll probably get back on the bike then, hopefully with some new discounted gear for motivation

 

Cheers buddy, doubt I'll use it though

I've not been on the bike much in the last 2-3wks, either been busy or the weather's been poor. I'm back at work (part-time) from Wednesday so I'll start putting a few miles on the clock again.

 

20km walk up to a local lake this evening which completed the strava challenge. Dry for the majority with a sprinkling of rain at one point and a nice temperature all the way. So no flooded areas but I did unknowingly step in dog mess somewhere. Plenty of cyclists out which made me want to be on the bike. Apparently morons in cars also shout at walkers now, normally you get that on the bike, these people must have very sad lives with little of any meaning going on

 

Just in from an hour long ride. Somewhat eventful, and thankfully dry ... three cars pulled three overtakes on me that ended up in them getting furiously honked at by oncoming drivers who nearly went into them. Then in a perfect piece of evidence that it's about the rider not the kit or bike, I shot past and dropped a lad on what was likely a Pinarello worth thousands and wearing the latest and greatest Italian lycra that will have also cost a pretty penny. Now I don't know how long he'd been riding or what sort of ride he was on but he gave me 'the look' a few times when he realised I was on him. I just waited back a bit, then we went down a bit of downhill and he thought he was pulling away, that is until it was safe for me to overtake on a bit of uphill, which I did very safely and even said 'evening' as I pulled alongside and sailed out of sight on what's now an oldish bike, not even wearing a proper jersey and in cycling shorts I've had for probably 15 years I'm not even one to start the racing sort of stuff that can happen on the road, it's just 'the look' ... you can't let that go.Even though I wouldn't call myself that fast a rider, next time I'm out I expect I'll get spat out the back of some passing group ride of super fast lads as karma

 

I love it when I do that, been a few times when I've been out and someone younger than me gives it Billy big bollocks on the flat and goes past me saying ' allright' only for me to pass them on the hills.Pretty good still on the hills and it gives you a great feeling of satisfaction.

 

It's much easier to catch and pass on the flat, you're a target and incentive in front anyway then they can just draft you. Doesn't work the same on hills. I don't know if I'm just not a great climber or whether I'm lacking fitness and uphill miles in the legs right now, probably both, but hills are sapping my power bar more than I think they should be. I'm pretty consistent on rolling terrain with some uphill (not proper climbs) sections and don't feel drained on those rides. Guess I just need to start going up more hills more often

 

I'm terrible on hill climbs, slow right down

 

My hill climbing improved a lot after giving up the tobacco about 6 years ago, I climb hills just for the physical challenge now

 

Tbf I was putting 300w down on the climb I was on about this evening which isn't too bad, definitely good for me, so maybe I felt like ass at the top because of that. I'm looking at the segment on strava and I got a PR on it tonight, the top time is a minute quicker than me though ... it's a very steep close to 1km climb ... which just makes me want to throw my bike in the nearest river It's interesting because prior to that hill and on a couple of segments after it my wattage is around 300, but towards the end of the ride it's dropping down to just under 200, so either I need to train more, get more carbs and sugar in or just put in more effort. Having not ridden for a while I expected my legs to be iffy, but they felt really surprisingly strong when I started riding so I think all the walking has strengthened them, moreso than using a machine in the gym

 

Well it's completely normal to slow down on a hill man

 

No, I mean really slow down.

Never so much that I've got off and walked though, that **** ain't happening!