Cycling - NLC

[BiggestNizzy]

Nizzy, I have no idea of my way around Stewarton never mind find Kilmaurs, but I will try find it on the sat nav, I should start learning the area where I will be living.

Turn right at the mini roundabout at the bottom of the road, then bear left at the next mini roundabout under the viaduct. Then follow the road to Kilmaurs, the bike shop's on the left at the first roundabout!

Yup do not turn right at the 2nd roundabout, that will take you into the David Dale and it's like lord of the flies in there.

[point n squirt]

Looking at a new bike at the moment anybody riding a 29 er as im just about to rent one for the weekend to try out. Thinking Specilized carve at the moment.

[s29ttc]

Okay, so went out last night a little cycle to see how I got on. Done about 3.5 miles and was gubbed, not good. 90% of it being my unfitness but I went on the offroad bike which feels like its made of lead and a buckled front wheel. My dads bike is definately better which holly was riding. I think I definitely need to work up to longer miles and maybe look at getting something cheapest for now to see how I get on before investing in something dearer. Is there anywhere that does decent second hand bikes or such like to get me started cheap, or is there anything I should look at for beginners bike, so both me and holly can go out?

[Lazydonkey]

Gumtree would be a good shout scott - and don't worry too much about fitness it improves really really quickly.

Longer term it might be an idea to look into whether you can get cycle to work scheme through your work - big savings to be had.

[s29ttc]

Many thanks, what if you wouldn't cycle to work? Does it matter?

[scott_e]

Morning,

Cycling is simply awesome, totally changed my life since i started taking the bike to work. Have always craved exercise but never had enough time since the kids came along and started getting a stomach Combing the commute to work with exercise has been a complete revelation , honest , just really hope i dont get bored of it. Was stunned how many miles you can cover once you get use to it , doing 70 - 100 miles over 5 days per week now.

Biggest problems i had were 1) the weather and 2) punctures/tyres and 3) the wind 4) lighter bike.

1) At first i hated the rain / wet weather but after getting some better wind proof kit , keeping a change of clothes in the office its no longer a problem, hey even makes you feel macho

2) MARATHON PLUS !!! , these tyres were a life saver, About £35 each fitted , kevlar reinforced, narrow, can go over anything , glasss, nails and hold a high PSI improving performance ... helps avoid embarrassing overtakes by other bikey types

3) Well cant do much about the wind. Thats the worst of it , our office keeps an eye on it with these links showing our most exposed path along the Tay:
http://foreverchanges.com/weather/
http://www.windfinder.com/report/dundee
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weat ... antWeather (NOTE: USE Internet Explorer , Chrome don't work)

4) My bike is about 13lb , for £2000 (seems to be the sweet spot) you can get down to about 8lb. Have been tempted but not invested yet.

Its very easy to spend cash on kit once you get into it. Wiggle.co.uk has some good stuff.

Hope that helps
Scott

[scottishselise]

Thanks for starting this Scott. I only have 2-5miles to work,depending on office, through mostly traffic so I am thinking of doing the same. Just waiting until we have a shower at work as one of the journeys is all uphill. Also, hats off to the chaps who manage it in winter.

[Lazydonkey]

Many thanks, what if you wouldn't cycle to work? Does it matter?

They don't require you to fill out any forms or keep any journals of your trips. If you chose to use the scheme and then not cycle to work i dare say you'll be the same as a large amount of people that had good intentions and then got bored.

It's not a good as it used to be but it's still a chunky saving - i'd wait until you're more up to speed though as you'll need to (at a minimum) decide between a moutain bike, hybred or road bike......and then all the flavours in-between. Before you buy you should really try out a load of bikes, there are enough people on here in the glasgow area who can let you have a shot of a wide variety of kit.

If the bike you've been using it truly gubbed, then a quick search on gumtree showed loads of bikes at under £100 and that would be where i'd start. Or if you just want a bike to kick about on for a few weeks then you're more than welcome to use my Giant moutain bike as it's just sitting in Dom's garage anyway. Was going to get it serviced soon anyway so it should be perfect after that.

Some cycle to work details here
http://www.cyclesolutions.co.uk/?gclid= ... tAodhTphCg

[Dominic]

Cheap bikes - you'll find some really cheap ones at decathlon, but don't expect them to last; if you do more than a few miles a few times a week, you'll end up spending the same on parts.

Best thing to do, is look for 2011 spec bikes, (or even 2010). Most of these will be at least 30% off, maybe even 50% off (My mountain bike was a previous year model, should have been £580, I paid £240!! - only difference between the years was the colour of the frame). ...although over 5 years and 8000 miles, I have spent another £1600 on upgrades for it

Have a look at Dales, Alpine and Evans. Also worth looking at chain reaction, merlin cycles and another one (which I forget just now).

You need to define what type of cycling you plan to do, and aim for a spec of bike accordingly. Get along to any bike store and find out what size of bike you will need. I would expect you will need to spend at least £300 upwards to get a bike with a basic but decent spec. Also worth looking at "cycle to work" schemes.

You will also likely end up spending the same again on kit; pump, multi tool, puncture repair kit, spare inner tubes, rear light, water bottle, bottle cage, tool+inner tube carrier, sun glasses, helmet, gloves, shorts, base layer, windstopper, waterproof (and then the same again for each season)LOL - you may also find some bikes come without pedals, and if you want clip on shoes, you'll need pedals to go with them! You can of course get the basics, and start building up; that's what we have all done.

First to decide what type of riding!

[woody]

Or if you want to keep it more local, get one of these:

http://www.paper-bicycle.com/index.php

Made in Stewarton

Trying to work out something with them just now, looks like an excellent daily driver bike & good story for local business.


The most expensive thing about cycling isnt the bike; it's the maintainance of the bike (why the above bike is as good an idea) and the cost of cycling clothes/shoes once you realise that they are actually far better that whatever else you may have.

[scott_e]

You will also likely end up spending the same again on kit; pump, multi tool, puncture repair kit, spare inner tubes, rear light, water bottle, bottle cage, tool+inner tube carrier, sun glasses, helmet, gloves, shorts, base layer, windstopper, waterproof (and then the same again for each season)LOL - you may also find some bikes come without pedals, and if you want clip on shoes, you'll need pedals to go with them! You can of course get the basics, and start building up; that's what we have all done. !

spot on.

[Lazydonkey]

Or if you want to keep it more local, get one of these:

http://www.paper-bicycle.com/index.php

Made in Stewarton

Trying to work out something with them just now, looks like an excellent daily driver bike & good story for local business.


The most expensive thing about cycling isnt the bike; it's the maintainance of the bike (why the above bike is as good an idea) and the cost of cycling clothes/shoes once you realise that they are actually far better that whatever else you may have.

You can probably guess this, but I think that's really cool

[Dominic]

Or if you want to keep it more local, get one of these:

http://www.paper-bicycle.com/index.php

Made in Stewarton

Trying to work out something with them just now, looks like an excellent daily driver bike & good story for local business.


The most expensive thing about cycling isnt the bike; it's the maintainance of the bike (why the above bike is as good an idea) and the cost of cycling clothes/shoes once you realise that they are actually far better that whatever else you may have.

You can probably guess this, but I think that's really cool

I think they look sh1t..... sorry to say

[Peter]

Or if you want to keep it more local, get one of these:

http://www.paper-bicycle.com/index.php

Made in Stewarton

.

Well no-one is going to nick it..

Don't think it will go ff road too well, do they do a Carbon version?

[scott_e]

Well no-one is going to nick it..

... introducing BikeTrac.

We just recovered Charley Boorman’s .... ok its a motor bike but hey any excuse to tell the tale
http://blog.motorcycle.com/2012/04/27/p ... recovered/