Just been tinkering with the bike trying to sort out the rear brakes ... took the pads off, washed, cleaned them again, then realigned them, as they were still squeaking on the first test ride after yesterday's messing about. Positioning, tension and everything now seemed good so I went out for a second short test ride to get up to speed and see, only to find the squeak had now developed into an even worse scraping meaning they probably weren't contacting the braking surface correctly, so it was back to the garage. Readjusted and retuned them and went for another test ride and now they're good. The braking isn't quite as taught as I'd like, which it was before, so Im going to have to fine tune that now. I also adjusted my seat and riding position which seems better now but I'll only be able to judge that after a longer ride. Interesting story for the day done
I find pads frustrating, they have to be so precise otherwise you get squeaks or they work properly (as you're experiencing). This is the first time I've had hydraulic disc brakes so no experience of them yet.
As a child, I learned to ride someone else's bike. I begged and borrowed but never had one of my own until I was 25. I'm now on my second ever bike, used lots on family rides and holidays but currently doesn't get much use. I'm really enjoying reading about others exploits on theirs
Ditto. I bought my first bike when I was 16 to ride to and from my girlfriend's house. I lived near Goodison and she near Anfield and so I could speed home through the mean streets of Priory Road and Walton Lane late at night. I bought it from a mate - probably for about 2s 6d. It did have brakes, allegedly, but stopping pedalling in anticipation of where you wanted to land seemed the best bet. This somewhat imprecise method of curtailing locomotion did lead me to a number of alarming situations - most notably when I wheeled off Walton Lane onto Cowley Road and straight into the back of a parked van. Once, riding home after midnight and having had a skinful of whatever dreadful excuse for alcohol we had then, I got to the end of Priory Road and for some reason it didn't seem very important to actually turn the corner - I went straight across both lanes and into the wall opposite.
I bought mine from an advert in the paper. I can't remember how much it was but it served a purpose. Your story reminded me of a joke I heard recently. (Not me but for the purposes of the joke, told in first person) ...... Having run out out of my favourite tipple due to excessive indulgence during lockdown, I thought I'd get my bike out and ride to the shop to replenish supplies. 'Your not going to be able to ride your bike carrying a couple of bottles and get them home intact ' says the wife. Off I go, make my purchase and am about to get back on the bike when I hear her words reverberating in my head. I open the first bottle and drink it down. Look at the second and finish that one off too. Good job I listened to the wife, I fell off my bike seven times on the way home. Those bottles would never have survived the journey.
1966 semi final England v Portugal pre team meeting, as told by Martin Peters on the after dinner circuit Alf Ramsey , "Nobby, I want you to stop Eusebio playing" Nobby Stiles "Just this game or forever boss"
I remember when I was about 17 riding my bike home from a friend's house one evening after a few beers, a few of us had been in the garden having a bbq, I ended up going straight into a wall, a very small one admittedly, seems to be a cycling rite of passage, or maybe we're slightly 'different' on here I've always enjoyed riding a bike, I've owned different road bikes and mountain bikes throughout my life, when I was younger I'd ride whatever it was up the hills on the road. I remember I had a nice Scott road bike for a while when I was a teenager, the first road bike I got as a little kid was probably a Raleigh ... I've always been a road cyclist at heart though, but I had spells where I enjoyed trails and off road more I did a fast 12 miles this evening, out and back, just rolling. Had a long sleeve jersey on with base layer which got too hot. Good job I've decided on a new summer jersey and gilet now. Definitely much more traffic about now, though there were some nice periods were it was open roads. Music was a training playlist I've started but now there are more cars I'm wary of listening to music so much so I only had one earphone in
Seeing as you're doing a lot of cycling have you thought about a noseless saddle to protect your man bits?
Nah, that's just an unnecessary expense ... I just cut a hole in my shorts and made the one on top of the seat bigger so they can just hang through it and swing around beneath
I was a very keen cyclist at one point, while still being a dickhead. Finished work, right over the pub, absolutely battered, tried to ride my bike home. I got pulled by the police, I was everywhere, cant remember the charge but I was arrested for drunk in charge of something. Next day got up got on the bike, massive hangover, fell asleep riding down the road. Woke up when I crashed.
When I was about 9-10yrs old, I rode into a lamppost and knocked myself clean out... Someone I knew shouted me, they were behind me and I looked around. When I went to look forwards again it all went dark; I'd hit the lamppost with my forehead and then rode limp for about 20yrds. Woke up covered in blood and the lad I knew running towards me. To make it worse, it was the first day my mother's had allowed me to cross the main road outside our house on my own too so my mother thought I'd been hit by a car. It got me two days off school. My mother took me back on ther third day and told the teachers that I'd insisted on going back (that was a lie!). I wasn't even allowed out at break for a week, I had to sit on my own in the corrido. Everyone that saw me asked what had happened too because I had a tennis ball sized lump on my head!
