http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Best cycling "gadgets" en Mon, 01 Jun 2026 07:40:12 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137741 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 19:52:58 +0000 Charterhall 137741@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>On the subject of Allen keys, those ones with the round heads are excellent. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137707 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 15:57:29 +0000 wingpig 137707@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>My cheap Lidl bicycle toolset turned out to have a fair few handy things in it - a crank extractor appropriate for Sora-level cranks, BB-undoer appropriate for a basic square taper BB, cassette lockring remover, chainwhip, flat-bladed screwdriver of a size perfect for tightening spokes, cone wrenches and a pin spanner, though I don't know where that is at the moment. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137679 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 14:50:17 +0000 Instography 137679@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The allen keys that came with the cheap revolution tool set are the only things that remain in use. They are great, except in tight spaces. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137671 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 14:22:40 +0000 Dave 137671@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Not exactly a gadget, and not expensive but..</p> <p>This year I've really enjoyed this <a href="http://tidd.ly/6b5bad01">allen key</a>. </p> <p>Cheap, generic, but so amazing if you're used to the folding ones that everybody makes do with. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137597 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 09:28:50 +0000 amir 137597@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>A tyre pressure gauge, which I'm hopefully getting as a pressie. My pump's gauge is not very precise (+/- 20 psi?) and precision is important in the world of high-performance commuting ;) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137596 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 08:24:22 +0000 gembo 137596@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I have a window I look out, let's me see the street, whether any snow/ice (very little this year) and to the right I have a wee granny on a chimney pot, she is always spinning, very quickly recently so I know how strong the wind is but not its direction. I do have an alarm clock that somehow tells me the weather, this is true, but it is not hooked up to anything outside. It has some kind of sensor, as often when it says it is raining it is raining.</p> <p>Been some warm windy days and some cold windy days, so hooking my alarm clock up to an outside thermometer could be my task for 2014 :-)</p> <p>advice from early days - put your clothes on a radiator, your gloves, buff everything, socks too. Then they are warm when you put them on to go outside.</p> <p>As we are straying from gadgets. As a young man I favoured long overcoats of the echo and the bunnymen variety. My friends dad used to stoke up the fire to inferno type levels. You had to take your coat off. The instant you did so he would remark, You will feel the benefit of that when you go outside. Which was often true as we went outside and walked down to the Golf Inn Prestwick for juvenile drinking purposes. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137590 Thu, 19 Dec 2013 06:36:49 +0000 Charterhall 137590@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Weather stations - an outdoor temperature sensor transmitting to an indoor display unit. I have one on my bedside table, it also functions as an alarm clock. It's great knowing before you've got up how many layers you are going to need and if there's the risk of ice. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137081 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:05:22 +0000 Cyclingmollie 137081@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Multi-tools and alloy bolts or GPS computers. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137070 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:42:10 +0000 EddieD 137070@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I had the little clicky front wheel odometer, and those lights, the front mount, which was bolted into your fork, could cause the light to magically rotate in one of two planes - if you were lucky they just went forward and dangled, weakly illuminating your feet, if you were unlucky they rotated into your spokes, with highly amusing consequences. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137068 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 08:26:20 +0000 gembo 137068@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>That is one highly specc'd 1980s halfords bike. Not dissimilar to my Raleigh Chico, though I did not have the horn or tartan pannier box thing.</p> <p>I guess the chain on a Pashley with it's golden implants and total chain guard will still last for ever? But the Missing Link is something I need, though I think I have one but it is the wrong size for the various chains I have at the moment. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137067 Mon, 16 Dec 2013 08:17:40 +0000 Charterhall 137067@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I would nominate the various brands of chain joining link such as the Powerlink, Missing Link etc. Gone are the days of fiddling with a chain tool by the side of the road, now if your chain breaks its such a simple job to remove the broken link and replace with a new joining link. Of course it would be better still to return to the days when chains didn't break on a regular basis but that's just me being old fashioned. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137064 Sun, 15 Dec 2013 23:11:42 +0000 chdot 137064@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chdot/11389902764/"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3731/11389902764_bcd694b7b2.jpg"></a><br /> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chdot/11389902764/">1980s gadgets from Halfords</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768&page=2#post-137059 Sun, 15 Dec 2013 21:41:30 +0000 Greenroofer 137059@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Sorry to derail this, but came across <a href="http://www.kmsdirect.co.uk/magento/index.php/cyclingaccessories/bicycle-bike-cycle-trailer-pet-dog-cat-luggage-carrier-new-red-black">this</a> today while looking for something completely different.</p> <p>This fills a gap in my life that I never knew I had.</p> <p>Also, now that I've developed an unhealthy obsession with lighting regs, I should point out that it's missing the required triangular rear reflectors. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-137045 Sun, 15 Dec 2013 16:06:43 +0000 SRD 137045@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I have just today finally sent my clie organiser - which I loved - to the dump :( </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-137041 Sun, 15 Dec 2013 14:21:44 +0000 amir 137041@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Bike stand. Enuff said. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-137040 Sun, 15 Dec 2013 13:56:27 +0000 Uberuce 137040@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I will nominate the humble V-brake, for bringing reasonable stopping power to the bargain bin. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-137039 Sun, 15 Dec 2013 13:32:58 +0000 steveo 137039@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>It'll never catch on. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-137037 Sun, 15 Dec 2013 12:35:32 +0000 Baldcyclist 137037@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Wheel. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-137031 Sun, 15 Dec 2013 11:36:42 +0000 chdot 137031@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Just thought I'd revive this thread - there seem to be even more gadgets two years on!</p> <p>Also -</p> <p>"Hmm, I think once ten good candidates are on here there will have to be a poll for the best, and that'll form the basis of the video." </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-39594 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:51:57 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 39594@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Hmm, there's a Top Ten video in this a la Stephen Fry...</p> <p>I'm going to nominate 'gears' - gadgetry at its best that makes cycling accessible to so many more people.</p> <p>Hmm, I think once ten good candidates are on here there will have to be a poll for the best, and that'll form the basis of the video. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-39583 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:46:09 +0000 Smudge 39583@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@chdot, indeed, witness Alfred Vail and Samuel Morse (amongst others) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-39582 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:33:34 +0000 LaidBack 39582@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Zip-ties?<br /> Not just a cycling invention but some bike shops would be lost without them!.</p> <p>Somone I knew had a Psion organiser way before anyone. He had trouble writing with his hands and it really was a brilliant thing for him as he could store all his data. </p> <p>Think it used Symbian(?) operating system - used by Nokia </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-39578 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:22:22 +0000 chdot 39578@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@kaputnik, @primalgeek - yes the relationship between innovation and implementation is always interesting.</p> <p>Money and marketing are often involved. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-39577 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:16:10 +0000 primalgeek 39577@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@chdot: Thomson's version never caught on (although he had the patent) and it's Dunlop's version that proved the more enduring.</p> <p>Also Thomson's pneumatic tyre was first used in horse drawn carriages and not bicycles. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-39575 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:03:26 +0000 kaputnik 39575@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Robert William Xerox to John Boyd Apple? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-39570 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:47:43 +0000 chdot 39570@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Or -</p> <p>"<br /> The name of Robert William Thomson may not be well-known even in his native land, but his gift for invention and the utterly prolific nature of his patenting rank him as one of the greatest of Scottish inventors. From steam tractors to self-filling fountain pens, his output was breathtaking and eclectic, but he is most celebrated as being the first inventor of pneumatic tyres. Fifty years before John Boyd Dunlop is credited with its invention, Thomson had submitted a patent for the very same article</p> <p>"</p> <p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/whereilive/coast/stages.shtml?walk=northeast&amp;stage=4" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/whereilive/coast/stages.shtml?walk=northeast&amp;stage=4</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-39568 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:41:03 +0000 primalgeek 39568@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The pneumatic tyre. Invented by Dunlop to help his son ride his tricycle on the cobbled streets of Belfast.</p> <p>It's amazing what general knowledge you get from reading your son's P4 research project :-) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-39566 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:17:55 +0000 kaputnik 39566@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Not Zonal - MESL, who are still out at Newbridge and still quietly living the "Silicon Glen" dream on a small scale. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-39564 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:14:23 +0000 chdot 39564@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"The technology did make its way into the first touch-screen terminals for the pub and restaurant business though."</p> <p>Zonal? - an Edinbugh company. </p> <p>Not forgetting that Wolfson had a lot to do with the iPod. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=3768#post-39563 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:10:42 +0000 kaputnik 39563@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>iPad more borderline.</em></p> <p>The company that my old man worked for developed "the" (or "a") touch-screen tablet computer concept in the late nineties but couldn't commercially exploit it at the time (they were a small Scottish microelectronics player, without the research or manufacturing budgets to take such a massive commercial leap/gamble). He used to bring some of the prototypes home and I can remember being told not to touch the thing as it was worth many thousands of pounds. It was similar shape and size to an Ipad, just about 4 inches thick (more of a Biblical tablet, than the stuff granny makes)</p> <p>The technology did make its way into the first touch-screen terminals for the pub and restaurant business though.</p> <p>He has since taken to claiming he invented the iPad. </p>