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Confessions of a Cycle Commuter

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  1. chdot
    Admin

    “Its an old metal flat with a toe clip.”

    Good brand?

    “Are these worth servicing?”

    Generally yes, if decent quality and surfaces not badly/unevenly worn.

    “or will it just be too fiddly/time consuming?”

    That depends...

    Make sure you use the right size of balls. Occasionally pedals have different nunbers on each side (of both pedals not L&R pedals!).

    As with loose bearings generally, right number is ‘as many as fit leaving about 1/2 ball gap’.

    If unsure, put in smear of grease - enough to hold the balls - so that you can see them all - then add rest of grease.

    Biggest pain is ‘losing’ a slightly sticky ball down barrel of pedal.

    Enjoy.

    A well adjusted pedal turning smoothly in your hands is very satisfying.

    (Though it won’t spin so nicely with the toe clip attached.)

    Posted 6 years ago #

  2. Edinburgh Cycle Training
    Member

    Thanks for the advice @Chdot

    If I'm tempted to replace, I might as well have a wee shot at fixing!

    I doubt they are a good brand. The original frame/pedals are a Globe (cheap specialized?) Roll single speed. They do look nice (right) on the bike though so I'd hate to replace them with something that doesn't look quite as vintage!

    If my tool kit is up to it and I can pop into a shop for some bearings today, I'll give it a try tonight.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  3. MediumDave
    Member

    A number of the bigger shops these days look at you like you have landed from space if you ask for loose bearings. Yes Evans, I am looking at you.

    Also, if your pedals take 3/32 bearings be aware these seemingly are not a "common" size - most shops only seem to have 5/32 and 1/8.

    Sadly, when you know exactly what you want ordering online tends to be far easier.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  4. Edinburgh Cycle Training
    Member

    From my description, the very amiable young lass in The Cycle Service thinks they may be unsavable as the race may also be corroded/damaged. I'll take the pedal in later so she can see for herself.

    The rest o the week will mean commuting on the racer or worse,borrowing a pair of plastic pedals off one o the kids bikes :-(

    Posted 6 years ago #

  5. MediumDave
    Member

    Buy yourself a new set of flats to get the bike going again, and the appropriate bearings+grease. Then you can tinker to your heart's content at your own pace and maybe you will manage to resurrect your old faithful pedals.

    I recently did a similar service on a set of M545s which I had been using for years (using a set of 424s in the meantime) While fiddly the pedals still work perfectly, even though the rubber seal has perished meaning there was some grease leakage after reassembly.

    (Cycle service now on my list to check out next time I need a part)

    Posted 6 years ago #

  6. unhurt
    Member

    Arthur's Seat - no swan fanciers at all (perhaps the wrong time of day) and the Surly has the granniest of all granny gears for hauling massive panniers up hills so it was actually fine. Of course I spent three days fretting about it before going and doing it, so that was a good use of my mental energy...

    Posted 6 years ago #

  7. Frenchy
    Member

    Well done! Did you consider going round again when you got to the bottom?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  8. unhurt
    Member

    I did, but a dip in the sea at Porty was more appealing. (Reluctant swimmers take note - water continues lovely and warm. Was in for 30 minutes in a cossie, no goosebumps till the end.)

    Posted 6 years ago #

  9. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Reluctant swimmers take note - water continues lovely and warm

    I won't be fooled again.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  10. dessert rat
    Member

    a new (swapped due to fault) Marathon Plus 32 is no match for half a dozen cable ties, several disposable leavers and a bottle of dry white.

    25 mins later there is only one victor. Not sure what'll happen should I ever need to change a tube at the side of the road.

    THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  11. Frenchy
    Member

    25 mins later there is only one victor.

    The tyre, right?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  12. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @Iain McR

    Did you put Slime in it?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  13. minus six
    Member

    THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE

    that feeling when applying a final satisfying push on the bead rim

    the sensation you are feeling is called the quickening

    Posted 6 years ago #

  14. acsimpson
    Member

    "Not sure what'll happen should I ever need to change a tube at the side of the road"

    You'll just have to hope it's near an off licence.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  15. piosad
    Member

    Uh... so apparently the very loud bang I heard through the window a couple of hours ago was the tube in my own bike's rear wheel deciding to shuffle off its mortal coil.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  16. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Woke up this morning in bed with my sunglasses still perched on top of my head after a slightly tipsy commute home from the pub. Felt a bit Lebowski?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  17. unhurt
    Member

    OK, THAT is information you ought to have shared with the class earlier today.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  18. ARobComp
    Member

    First commute for a couple weeks after travel and subsequent travel related illness.

    Brought everything apart from repair kit which I didn't even clock until I got to work, even more surprising after lots of p****** chat at the canal boat this morning. Maybe I shall be regretting my harsh words about Marathon Plus at some point soon...

    Posted 6 years ago #

  19. Rosie
    Member

    I have now changed my commute from Roseburn to Colinton, which had pretty and pleasant stretches on the canal and through Craiglockhart, to a nasty, brutish and short trip to Exchange Place.

    It is horrible. A8. Traffic banked up because of Haymarket repairs. You can go up Magdala Crescent and then along Palmerston Place, but that is daunting when it's full of buses.

    Otherwise walk through the Haymarket, cycle as far as Torphicen Street/Palmerston Place intersection and get off to walk across the tramlines (too chicken to change lanes when you're running parallel to them). More roadworks in Torphicen Street and Dewar Place. Generally that part of west central Edinburgh is SAS training.

    Bike stands in Exchange Place always full.

    Home is a straight though unpleasant run down Morrison Street along painted tracks.

    On the plus side it takes about 20 minutes to work, 15 minutes home.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  20. ejstubbs
    Member

    Depends where in Roseburn you're starting from I guess, but could you not avoid the A8 by going down Russell Road as far as the zig-zags, up to the end of the Roseburn path and drop down on to Balbirnie Place, then through Haymarket Yards to the tram stop? At least it would be a shorter walk from there than from the Magdala Crescent junction. (Caveat: I've not cycled that way myself for many a year, since I moved away from Dean Village to the 'burbs, so it's quite possible that parts of the suggested route aren't readily passable these days.)

    No good suggestions for avoiding Torphichen Street and Dewar Place, I'm afraid. I agree that they're not pleasant. It does look to me as if a better approach to Exchange Place might be from the direction of the canal, but finding a practical, step free and reasonably quiet route to reach the canal from Roseburn without going unreasonably far out of the way might be difficult. (Opencyclemap.org suggests that there might be a feasible route from near the Lidl on Dalry Road by using the Telfer Subway under the Western Approach Road and accessing the towpath via Gibson Terrace - but I've never been that way myself so can't vouch for its usefulness, or how pleasant or otherwise the subway might be.)

    Posted 6 years ago #

  21. Rosie
    Member

    @ejstubbs - I don't like the slalom and it is not that much gain to get out at Haymarket Yards - about 100m walking.

    Anything else is too circuitous and you have the bottle neck at Muireston getting on to Dalry Road.

    Also the twisty route between Fountainbridge through Port Hamilton is now blocked for a couple of months for repairs.

    There Is No Alternative I am afraid. Traffic is slow - halted mostly - so not dangerous, just unpleasant.

    PS - it's only a temporary job - I may have another commuting whinge in a fortnight. I am missing my climb to Colinton every morning which set me up for the day.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  22. Rosie
    Member

    In an ideal world a cycle route would include cycle lanes both sides of Morrison Street. It's a main route to the financial district and a fairly gentle climb.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  23. HankChief
    Member

    Hooray. Ortlieb have agreed to send me 2 new panniers under my warranty claim :)

    Posted 6 years ago #

  24. gembo
    Member

    @hankchief, good result. They did for me too but were quite clear unlikely to do so again as I was suspected of being a pannier abuser

    Posted 6 years ago #

  25. steveo
    Member

    pannier abuser (n) someone who uses their luggage every day, far more than they were ever designed for.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  26. unhurt
    Member

    Confessions of a cycle tourer: I just opened a bag of shredded cabbage salad in my hotel room without due care & attention. Now there is cabbage in the Kourig machine, broccoli in my plastic cup of wine, and about a square metre of brassica-scented ruin spread across the table and part of the floor.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  27. gembo
    Member

    @unhurt, I thought kourig was a predictive text for coffee but now see it is a typo for Keurig. Which is a pod coffee machine. Use the 6 Oz cup for a bolder brew.

    Now the way my mind works I ask do you know who Lou Gehrig was? He was American too.

    @steveo, too kind I have broken bread makers simply by making bread often when you are supposed to use once then put in the back of the cupboard.

    With panniers I have used them for the shopping and indeed overstuffed the ortlieb single panniers. Roll mat in the base, bubble wrap on top and two small panniers is the way forward. No shopping.

    My latest efforts have not been great, the fastener fell off the new altura ones. EBC being unhelpful. (Same thing when the Boa button fell off. My winter boots EBC unhelpful.) and I have lost one of the waterproof covers.

    Still. These developed world problems -- I won't let them bring me down (inserts ELO word shortly)

    The word is Groos. From the song by ELO called Don't Bring Me Down and the chorus thereof

    Don't bring me down (go up one octave) Groos

    Posted 6 years ago #

  28. the canuck
    Member

    bought a lovely new bicycle bell, and cannot find a place for it on my handle bars--between grip and gears it's too close and digs into my hand, other side of gears is too far.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  29. gembo
    Member

    @the Canuck, put it on the stem, perpendicular style?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  30. Goliath
    Member

    Got some *giant* panniers from ikea the other day. Possibly meant as cool bags, as in insulated for summer picnics, but seem to be water resistant, have convenient straps inside for holding stuff and are fairly bright so hopefully noticeable to even the most absent-minded of Edinburgh’s drivers. The best bit: reduced from £27 to £5! Can’t go wrong for a fiver, surely?

    Posted 6 years ago #

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