CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Or top tips...
My first one is to check your bike position regularly. For some time I have been feeling that my green bike is more uncomfortable, more cramped than my other bikes. This morning it occurred to me that the saddle might be too low. I raised it by a couple of cms and hey presto, more comfortable (and quicker).
My second is ... Pilates - it's great for cyclists
Buy a box of sterilising tablets for babies bottles (a few pounds for a big box) and use them to keep your drinks bottles clean and sterile.
Very effective when the black slime moulds start growing in corners that the scrubbing brush can't reach!
Yes.
I remember in the early days of Camelbaks, illnesses caused by uncleaned bags (not me).
Out of sight...
Kaps - or steradent for false teeth both work well, as they are in essence a mild bleach [that is bound to be wrong], so remember also to rinse [that is right].
these tablets also good for removing the tannin stains from teapots, if you are into that sort of thing, some swear that the tanin stains are what make the tea tasty
If a shop hasn't updated its Twitter stream for a couple of months, always be sure to check that it's open via the electric telephone before popping along to it to find it arbitrarily partially shut early.
@wingpig - ah the electric telephone, I remember them. There wasa thing called a fax machine too.
USed to phone my flat at 3am to send me faxes -oooh that was annoying
I recall in the 1990s we used to print out all the international faxes to be sent, put them in a pile, then before leaving for the day place them all in order, program the machine with the different numbers/page lengths, then set them to send after 6pm when the call charges were cheaper...
Get in the next morning to find the second page had got stuck in the machine and nothing else had been sent. Repeat sequence...
Hard to imagine this rigmarole now in the era of e-mail, SMS, instant messaging, etc.
Change to a lower gear on the approach to traffic lights, far better than struggling to get away after...
Have a first name which starts with A and people's mobiles will call you from their pocket. Once I even got a photo of the inside of a pocket.
I used to schedule protein and DNA analysis to run overnight on VAXs because we got more time on the processor that way. If you didn't get the batch file right you got zip, bupkis, nada. Sometimes I just stayed up and did them manually in the wee smalls.
Get hub gears and change when you're stationary.
Become a perfect all round cyclist by building slow twitch muscles in your left leg and fast twitch in the right.
Feel better about rabid on-line criticism of cyclists by imagining the comments being read in a whiny, nasal voice (apologies to those who have a whiny, nasal voice).
When passing horses, talk. Most recognise and are reassured by voices.
Feel better about your tired old cycling kit by reading equipment reviews in five year old magazines.
Bend aluminium bottle holders back into shape to restore their grip every few months.
Never apologise for turning up on a bike.
"Never apologise for turning up on a bike."
Boris was seen by millions of viewers wheeling his bike down the steps after the COBRA meeting.
Of course this will confirm lots of predjudices...
Avoid seeing walkers do the "two step of surprise" by shouting "bicycle!" instead of pinging a useless bell as you approach slowly from behind.
If you repair a small tyre cut with super-glue, deflate the tyre first so that you can bring the cut edges together.
Count cattle-grids when you cross them. You should always cross an even number if you start and finish in the same place.
Buy CO2 cartridges for a fraction of shop prices here: http://www.tyreinflators.co.uk/index.php
Make your tyres lighter by filling them with air rather than heavy CO2!
Kaputnik: "Make your tyres lighter by filling them with air rather than heavy CO2!"
Ha! But which will deflate fastest, a tyre filled with air or a tyre filled with CO2?
Hmmm well quickbodge were offering fills of Nitrogen (at a premium cost) rather than boring old air while conveniently forgetting to let on what percentage of air is nitrogen (rolls eyes)
I'd say the weight weenies really need helium...
Or Hydrogen. Make your own with Hydrochloric acid and iron filings (I think).
You'd go flat really fast using pure hydrogen or helium, as they can sneak out of tubes through teeny holes. Using tubes which were lightly-aluminiumised like the balloons normally used where positive buoyancy in air is required would probably wipe out any apparent weight saving.
hydrogen! And metallicised liner to the inner tube to slow the leakage.
Actual tip...
On wet roads most front mudguards are just too short to stop spray soaking your shoes (assuming the rain has stopped!). An improvised extension can be knocked up with a pair of scissors and old plastic milk carton and some black duct tape, hey presto dry feet ;-)
Also seen but not tried;
on wet roads SKS front mudguards generally spill water round the sides at speed at the point where the mudguard stays join the mudguard, if you remove the bracket and re-rivet it on the outside it doesn't look as tidy but apparently no longer causesa the dripping.
kaputnik: "hydrogen! And metallicised liner to the inner tube to slow the leakage"
The perfect upgrade for an old Airborne Zeppelin titanium bike.
"old plastic milk carton and some black duct tape"
I used to do that. Now I leave out the more rigid component. Mudflap basically two layers of tape stuck together and onto both sides of mudguard v
"mudguards generally spill water round the sides at speed at the point where the mudguard stays join the mudguard, if you remove the bracket and re-rivet it on the outside it doesn't look as tidy but apparently no longer causesa the dripping."
Yes. A lot of 'continental' mudguards have 'external' stays.
The slim plastic pencil case I used to keep spare bike light bulbs in makes an ideal spare-innertube-protector and doesn't get as bag-battered as a tube in a box. I imagine a click-shut travel soapdish might work equally well.
To avoid accidents, be extra careful when removing the front wheel when the bike is on the workstand.
I was so hoping the last two words were going to be "in motion"
You would need long arms!
You know if you post these tips to EBC community zonepage you stand a chance of winning 30 quid's worth of kit - happens every month. I won for July, err, no one else posted. Nothing in August, they wouldn't let me post again - well they moight actually, they are very nice.
http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/comms/srv.a4d?f_pg=site_news/competitions/committed-comp.htm
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