The Velotard Thread.

[machin05]

Much prefer a saddle bag. Smaller and lighter and out of sight.

This is the saddle bag I use on my Boardman. Just enough room for an innertube, tyre levers, a couple of alan keys and a pump hose. I have a mini pump attached to the bottle cage.

Not that you asked, but this is at the top of the Burway. Brutal climb coming out of Church Stretton at Long Mynd.
https://cyclinguphill.com/100-climbs/burway/

 

[Johnny75]

Much prefer a saddle bag. Smaller and lighter and out of sight.

This is the saddle bag I use on my Boardman. Not that you asked, but this is at the top of the Burway at Long Mynd.

My stem bag is only the size of my phone cubed!

Sadly as I do not have a mechanic in a car following me out on rides it means I have to carry stuff.

Edit: bike looks good as does the view. If I could put pictures on here of my bike I would.

 

[machin05]

It's a pretty small saddle bag, but when you're riding in a group, there's collectively enough people with enough spares and tools to cover pretty much all eventualities.

I have a bigger Topeak bag for when I'm out on my own that has enough room for 2 tubes and multi-tool etc.

 

[machin05]

My stem bag is only the size of my phone cubed!

Sadly as I do not have a mechanic in a car following me out on rides it means I have to carry stuff.

Edit: bike looks good as does the view. If I could put pictures on here of my bike I would.

The best views are as you start the climb and you can see Carding Mill Valley below you.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Yeah, a couple of guys in the cycling group use Komoot. I couldn't get my head around the subscription model and there was no way to export the route once I'd created it without paying. If you have a newish Garmin or Wahoo bike computer it can sync automatically I believe, but my Garmin is old school and needs stuff transferring to and from it manually. In that instance I couldn't really get Komoot to work for me.

I wasn't a heavy user of it to be fair so didn't get much chance to expose many faults with it.

Started using it to do the couch to 5k running thing so I could plot out routes of suitable distance that would fit the different times as that progressed but didn't ever use the live tracking as the routes weren't long enough to justify it and could generally remember my way. Then by the end of it I'd settled on one route that was near enough 5k and just did that each time so did away with the route planning all together.

I do like the community side of it though, following other people and seeing their routes that you can then copy and alter to plan your own routes, I've done that a few times for mountain biking and usually try using the surface breakdown to adapt their routes to minimal on road riding, bit trickier to memorise the route with those kind of trips though and have often ended up leading myself down paths which in reality aren't as passable as the maps suggest. Once thought I'd done a great job or eliminating almost all of the on road riding from a trip from my house but there were so many obstacles on my off road route than I ended up spending most my time retreating from dead ends and reverting to the original route I'd copied on roads, particular highlights being the 4-5m sheer drop to go underneath the A38 and skirting through the end of a poor segregated construction site where the dickheads had taken over the bridleway.

 

[SLA]

Kind of annoyed at losing the Strava segments. I found being 976th out of 1011 quite motivating.

 

[machin05]

Kind of annoyed at losing the Strava segments. I found being 976th out of 1011 quite motivating.

It was more the group leaderboards than overall ones that I'll miss.

 

[Wombat del combate]

Machin has either very large hands or a minuscule saddle bag. I carry two inner tubes, levers, CO2 canisters and adapter, a mini-tool and spare chain links to cover just about any situation.

 

[machin05]

Machin has either very large hands or a minuscule saddle bag. I carry two inner tubes, levers, CO2 canisters and adapter, a mini-tool and spare chain links to cover just about any situation.

I couldn't bear to strap my big old Topeak bag to my brand new bike that was knocking on 2kg lighter than my old one!

 

[Wombat del combate]

I do most of my riding solo, so the prospect of being stranded due to picking up two punctures or a mechanical is not an enticing one.

 

[Keef]

My saddlebag is huge in comparison,2 tubes,topeak multi tool,tyre levers,3 pairs plastic gloves,2x quick links,really mini pair pliers,cable ties,can fix pretty much anything with that

 

[Tredman]

If you want to attach your phone, Quadlock seem to be the go-to brand. Using a phone as a bike computer has its downsides tho. I've been on a ride where a bump in the road has caused my mates phone to jump out of the mount and smash of the floor.

Thanks for the recommendation, Quadlock arrived today and it’s perfect for what I needed. Holds the phone very solidly, and the mount fixing to the bike is better than I thought it would be.
Took it out for a test this evening, phone didn’t move a mm, even when I failed to spot a pothole. The poncho works well too.

 

[machin05]

Thanks for the recommendation, Quadlock arrived today and it’s perfect for what I needed. Holds the phone very solidly, and the mount fixing to the bike is better than I thought it would be.
Took it out for a test this evening, phone didn’t move a mm, even when I failed to spot a pothole. The poncho works well too.

Nice one, glad it's doing the job for you [emoji106]

 

[Wombat del combate]

Dropped chain at 40mph yesterday. Fun times.

 

[machin05]

Ouch!

 

[Wombat del combate]

It was OK, I managed to coast to a stop safely enough. More annoying was the spontaneous nosebleed that started while I was putting the chain back on and took ages to stop. Need to replace the chain at the weekend though, one link is visible off the vertical plane now.

 

[machin05]

Did it catch on something?

 

[Wombat del combate]

I've no idea. I was giving it some beans as I usually do while approaching a steeper section then the next thing I knew, the chain was off and flapping about like Paddy's broken wrist.

 

[lemonjelly]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/15/english-councils-backpedal-on-cycling-schemes-after-tory-backlash

A review of 1,740 stakeholder responses to TfL’s public consultations on 83 new cycle routes between 2013 and 2019 found:

Eight in 10 Conservative politicians (37/45) who responded objected to new cycling infrastructure, including councillors, MPs and members of the House of Lords. Labour politicians were more likely to favour new cycling schemes, with just under half of responses supportive and a quarter opposed.
Residents’ associations were very likely to oppose new cycling schemes. The analysis found that of 115 responses, 73 were objections, nearly two-thirds of the total.
Taxi drivers’ organisations were also among the most frequent objectors to new cycling schemes. These groups responded to consultations 42 times, of which 31 were objections.

 

[Tredman]

I’m definitely not suggesting anyone uses Halfords on this, but the government is launching a free £50 voucher repair scheme for bikes today.

There’s a great independent near me who I will definitely be using to see if he can finally help me sort my gear changes. Link to repairers, voucher goes live tonight:

https://fixyourbikevoucherscheme.est.org.uk/Home/Map