Ta for the welcome. I promise I'm not a plant. No chlorophyll. :)
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Are YOU new (or returning) to cycling?
(73 posts)- Started 13 years ago by chdot
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Posted 11 years ago #
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Great story!!
Posted 11 years ago # -
That is a lovely story, and good for you. Those things can go at quite a speed - I was overtaken by an e-bike a few weeks ago. I was puffing slowly uphill on Argyle Place and heard an eeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee as someone on an e-bike whizzed right past. Impressive, most impressive, as Mr Vader would say.
Posted 11 years ago # -
If they were wearing a bright pink jacket and white helmet, it was prob'ly me what wizzed passed you. Argyle place is where I often go for my fruit&veg.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"I was overtaken by an e-bike a few weeks ago"
Was going to add (above) that a lot of people say 'must have been an electric bike' when they get passed.
(Not doubting you cc.)
Posted 11 years ago # -
Heh :-) I get passed all the time, I like going slowly.
In this case the bicycle was accelerating briskly up Argyle Place without pedalling, but with an impressive hi tech whining noise, so it was either electric or a really clever trick...
Posted 11 years ago # -
In this case the bicycle was accelerating briskly up Argyle Place without pedalling
Ah. Not me then. My ebike is the type that simply augments the pedal effort - stop pedalling and the bike stops, unless freewheeling downhill.Posted 11 years ago # -
That sounds much nicer actually. I was a bit alarmed by the speed of the no-pedal bike.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"was a bit alarmed by the speed of the no-pedal bike"
Could even be illegal.
Posted 11 years ago # -
My cycling buddy broke the speed limit at Woolfords on Saturday - 32mph. I stuck to 30mph and the sign did not frown at me. I had led him out but did not think the wind was favourable but when we turned for a tailwind we found the wind had turned too (hence the very brief speed limit being busted).
The sign is far enough away from the one street that is Woolfords to allow a bike to deccelerate before risking being in contact with any other traffic, should there ever be any other traffic. The sign at the other end travelling south north does not work so records can only be achieved if wind is not the prevailing south westerly
Posted 11 years ago # -
cb.pola - thanks for sharing your story. If this helps get other people out there then even better.
I borrowed an e-bike from the shop in Granton and despite initial doubts I could see it being useful on the hillier commutes.
They are all part of a trend towards 'other ways of getting around' and that's what we need.
Posted 11 years ago # -
A cycling freind has a Go Bike and tells me when the button to make it go, is pressed for more than a minute it assumes you are in the United States (perhaps he bought an import??) and it goes faster that 15mph.
I saw a coulpe of senior rders at Lochore Meadows last summer on bikes similar to this one above, and have seen them on the climb to Glenshee!! phew!!
I have to admit they are not for me, but I might consider one for 'err in doors' as she complains about cycling to school with the tagalong as we moved to the 'other side of town (we live in Fife) so the boys don't go to the nearest school.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I've seen quite a few e-bikes in Dumfries and Galloway especially in the rural areas - I think they make the distances seem less daunting (as well as helping on the hills). From the conversations I've had, they seem to be appealing to drivers who consider them to be a sort of 'car lite' than cyclists who are looking for a boost. Somehow it's more *normal* to have a powered bike than to get around by pedal power alone. So I'm all for them.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I started back cycling last May, I got a new job in Edinburgh city centre (am from paisley) and after a couple of weeks doing the train and getting frustrated at the the cost & time involved I drove to ingleston P&R and got the bus, then after a month of doing that and getting frustrated at the cost & time involved in that I decided to cycle. Am still not sure why it took so long for me to get the idea to cycle. Cost & not having my own timetable for travelling were big drivers for me but the health benefits of cycling cannot be ignored and whilst i'm not shedding kilos I am a lot fitter plus the commute in gets me ready for the day and the commute home gets rid of the tensions (idiot co-workers)and strains (stiff back etc) of a day sat in front of a PC. Because I can control my own time I now park the car at 7 cycle to my gym at the meadows do some training for about 45min then head to the office, so by 8.50 i've cycled 7.5 miles and done my weights, the only downside is it does make feel a bit smug! Aside from days where I have had to get the train to work I have cycled every day and am determined to never get the bus again.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I started cycling again about 18months ago, after having a bike nicked and the replacement vandalised 18 months before that, it didnt help that i moved to a stair that didnt have any bike space whatsoever and my flat was tiny, the bike lost that yin sadly.But I moved to the west of "Da Burgh",2 years ago and sat through 6 months of LRT morning commute hell, i think the tramworks were the final nail in the coffin for my public transport subscription. I got a bike fi the bike station as a "tester" and within weeks loved the freedom, the substantial cost and time savings, the increased health and fitness benefits. So i suppose its a case of "Thank you LRT" for helping me realise the error of my lazy ways properly. Nowadays i cycle everywhere in all weathers, and now have a nice new Hybrid bike to punt about on. My concerns are only with observing the upsurge in poor cycling and driving behaviours, and of course the blessed pedestrians just not paying any attention to the world around them, totally hypnotised by their wee smartphones and gadgets/facebook/twitter etc etc... R :-)
Posted 11 years ago # -
I am new to cycling, though I suppose technically I am returning since I used to be inseparable from my bike when I was young. I am not sure what stopped that - probably the cheap booze and loud music at Uni. I have wanted to get back into cycling for a while now but I have encountered various obstacles and I thought I would jot down my observations ...
The first obstacle is confidence. The phrase "it's like riding a bike" is used to refer to tasks you pick up easily again but I have not found that. I have felt that my arms and legs are not connected properly to my brain and that, with any kind of forward motion, I get completely out of control. This was a few years ago when I purchased a bike through the Cycle To Work scheme. I think I was poorly advised because I ended up with a hybrid that was too big for me. Technically it might not have been but I felt I had no way to get off it quickly without tipping over - the crossbar was way too high for that. It was all a bit too much and the bike ended up in a cupboard.
Now I am determined to try again and take a different tack, and in doing so I have discovered another aspect of confidence. I am a short, stout, overweight guy now and I have found it difficult to walk into bike stores. I have been hoping that I would find a friendly, welcoming, chilled out bike store but mostly I have found them hostile. Maybe that is more of a perception than a reality but, even so, perceptions are important. Bike shops are there to sell bikes, I know, but if we really want to get more people cycling I think this kind of barrier to entry has to be looked at. Nobody has been outright rude to me, but I have felt pushed around and manipulated and sometimes rather like a gazelle that has wandered into the middle of a pride of lions. I have went as far as to email a complaint to one Edinburgh store, detailing my experience. They offered me an apology and a 10% discount but I doubt that I will go back.
The third barrier I have found is the machine itself. When I was younger, a bike was a bike, a tool that made you go, no matter that it was covered in mud, dented and scraped etc. Now they seem to be gleaming machines awash with technology: alloys, suspension, hydraulics. Not only was the bike I got through Cycle To Work too big for me, I think it was also too complicated. Too alien, almost. I wonder if bikes have to become a part of you in some way before you become comfortable with them? The shiny, bright colours and massive decals do not help either.
I have been to The Bike Station several times so far, and I am going to go down next week when they should have a bigger selection available. I am looking for a mountain bike which I will refit with slicks so that I am a bit closer to the ground than I would be on a 700c hybrid. Maybe this is not the ideal configuration in terms of drag, but I think I need to feel in control or else I simply won't get on the thing, drag or no drag.
My hope is that I will feel less precious with a second hand bike. If I can get to the point where I can get out for a short cycle in the lightening evenings after work I will be very happy. After that, there will be the daily commute to the local train station to tackle and maybe, bike carriages permitting, a short ride to the office from Waverley.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@thewavecry. I suspect your experience will resonate with many! Especially the bike shops.
There are, of course, still some simple/trad bikes out there. But, given your train commute, have you considered trying a folding bike? One benefit is low crossbar, and/or step through frame.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Welcome thewavecry.
That's a very honest tale which I hope will be useful to others - especially when you add the next instalment.
(Some) bike shops used to be notorious for only liking their sort of customers - usually other racers. Then they got a lot better as they were staffed by different sorts of enthusiasts - sometimes (consciously or not) thinking 'any bike as long as it's what the customer wants/needs'
Now more bike shops are (to some extent deliberately) 'retail'.
I expect some people have similar experiences with clothes shopping.
My advise has always been - "Try a few, ask for advice, choose one you feel comfortable with."
But you've done that!
A folder is a good idea for the reasons SRD states.
Though a 'good' one is not particularly cheap and you may not be ready to 'spend again'.
Sounds like you should sell the bike in the cupboard (if you haven't already) which would be a start psychologically and financially.Posted 11 years ago # -
@thewavecry, on the exclusionary front, it isn't just bike shops one has to worry about. The big groups, for instance (thinking CTC, not POP!) have long campaigned against protected bike infrastructure, basically saying "if people want to cycle, they'll just have to man up and enjoy dodging tipper trucks and taxis like we do".
Last summer I tried to chaperone a colleague on a pretty idealistic commute (short section of 20/30mph urban road linking the canal and Roseburn paths) and it was almost insurmountable.
Even this forum came to the conclusion that he should drive instead (being unwilling to put himself in front of buses and trucks and hold them up).
Hats off to anyone who takes up cycling in Edinburgh and can stick with it! It's worth it, but it's not pleasant getting there.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@thewavecry
They say the first bike you buy is always the wrong one, so you're onto something by getting a Bike Station device. There's also Eastside and Soul Cycles in the same market.
The first bike I bought was a 54cm frame, and it turns out I should be on a 58. It turns out not to matter since it's a flat barred fixie that doesn't do long distances any more, but it's two sizes too small for me and would be an annoying waste of money now, if it had been a drop bar with gears. It took me over a year to settle into my ideal riding posture and find out what my ideal bike size is. On my now-retired racer my saddle just kept getting higher and higher until it was obvious I was going to run out of bike. When I tried a bigger size, it felt like that moment on Christmas day when you admit defeat and undo the top button of your breeks.
I wouldn't worry about MTB tyres on an Edinburgh bike. The roads round here suck so much that fat tyres might even be quicker than skinnies. I've got an MTB that runs 2" road tyres and it just ploughs over everything. On the skinny bikes I either waste distance by looping round dodgy surfacing or lose a lot of speed juddering over it. The latter isn't exactly comfy either.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@Thewavecry - your experience definitely rings a bell with me, although I wasn't exactly returning to cycling, just realising that the hybrid I'd been hacking around on on and off for (um) 20 years wasn't going to cut it for me any more. Add in being female, and bike shops were absolutely no help at all. I ended up getting a recycled bike (from Common Wheel in Glasgow, rather than the Bike Station) and it was excellent. Not just the bike but the way the guys there put up with a stream of emails from me as I worked out what I didn't want and tried to find the language to express it in and some how turned that into the right bike for me, and the right fit too.
In fairness to the bike shops, I was probably a bit incoherent in describing what I wanted ('a bike bike' isn't really much help)- you must need to be part shrink, part mind reader to extract some specifications out of a customer who doesn't really know what they want, just what they don't want!
Posted 11 years ago # -
"It turns out not to matter"
Size is a bit important but not too much.
My current favourite (dry roads) bike is '2" too small'.
But the only person who tells me that is shorter than me and really wishes it was his...
It was originally (in its day) a high end racer which would have had a flat stem with not much vertical adjustment possible.
The bike now has a mountain bike stem (with drop bars) that gives me the height and reach I want. It also has a longer seatpost than probably existed when the frame was built.
It's all about the way you want to ride.
Comfort is saddle, grips, riding position, tyre size, frame material, suspension bits (frame, forks, seatpost, stem) etc.
There is no 'right' - except for you.
Basics - keep tyres blown up and get seat height 'right' - usually where leg is almost straight when pedal at bottom and you're sitting on saddle.
Soon you'll be learning about N+1.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Thanks for the welcomes. Technically I will be an East Lothian cyclist until I am doing well enough to ride to the train station in the mornings (which may take a while). By way of an update, I had a better experience at my local store this morning. It seems that, in order to get my feet on the ground either side of the crossbar, I need a 14" frame. I am 5'8" so I am not sure what is going on there, but I may just roll with it.
A folding bike might ultimately be the way forward, particularly given the (low) number of bike spaces on East Coast trains. However, I am going to see how I get on over the summer with my next bike before I think too hard about the next next one.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I'm 5'10" and ride an 18" frame. Generally you would not expect your feet to touch down on an off-road bike of the "correct" size because they are designed with a maximum of ground clearance for negotiating rocky steps, tree trunks and so on. I need to tilt the bike to get one foot down, both feet = no way unless I come off the saddle.
This isn't really a problem on road, so since seatposts and stems are made in long enough sizes that you should easily be able to take up the difference between frame sizes later on, why not go for the smaller size that you are comfortable with now?
Posted 11 years ago # -
I think a lot of people get put off by having their saddle put up to the 'correct' height right away when they're still getting used to cycling. Even Sheldon Brown says put the saddle down too far and progressively raise it as you get comfortable with the bike. Dealing with cars, unfamiliar routes and potholes is bad enough without the feeling that you can't get your feet on the ground if you need to. A bit like learning to swim in the deep end of the pool!
A 'relaxed geometry' (ie. a very laid back seat tube) also allows you the right leg extension, and the ability to put your feet on the floor at the same time.
Posted 11 years ago # -
The saddle height issue is a bit of a Catch-22 in my mind. It gives confidence because you can put your foot down while in the saddle (more on this later) but sitting so low is not an efficient pedalling position and can make riding up hill difficult and potentially sore on the knees, neither of which is ideal if you're not particularly fit. Reduced power also tends to mean less control and more wobbly riding, which isn't going to help your confidence in traffic.
I've never quite understood the need to have contact with the saddle and the road at the same time, but then I've always been happy with the sensation of standing on the pedals, which always feels a joyous, child-like thing. Maybe it's something you acquire and retain if you learn to cycle as a child? Being comfortable standing on the pedals then makes it easier to slip off/onto the saddle when coming to a halt/setting off.
The answer may be to practice off road until you are comfortable doing these things. This takes time and effort which may put people off cycling at all, so it's another argument for safer segregated facilities.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"
my friend Adam started cycling last year and has never looked back"
http://bikeablejo.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/bikeable-confessions-adam-and-his-gumtree-sidekick
Posted 11 years ago # -
"My bright red Altura Nightvision jacket... Since I started wearing it, I see them everywhere; I have unwittingly joined a secret fraternity of smug middle-aged men."
I remember getting one, years ago. I thought: "Red, that's a bit less common than the usual yellow or black versions". And now look at them all! There are about half a dozen blokes at school drop-off that have exactly the same jacket!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Some of you may recall me introducing myself a few months back. Having never cycled as an adult, I was persuaded to convert to cycling for commuting and shopping after test-riding an electric bike. At the time of buying it, I honestly had NO idea whether it would be languishing, unused, in the garage within weeks.
Well, I bought it during summer hols last year and having just started this summer hols, thought now might be a good time to review and report an update.
I ended up using the bike for commuting every day with just six exceptions. They were caused by having to carry (way) more stuff than would fit in the panniers/backpack, or because I had to attend meetings other side of town and was offering car share space to colleagues.
In that time I have clocked up just over 1100km.
In addition I have also done some "mountain biking" though initially it was just on rural roads, but recently getting a bit more adventurous. Have clocked up a total of about 300km or so on the MTB.
Most importantly, I've really enjoyed it all. Even during the winter it wasn't a problem: but then I don't have too far to go each day.
One thing that has really really helped has been reading CCE, learning from the helpful advice and the friendly encouragement from everyone here.
So, I finally feel that a year in, I can maybe actually start calling myself a "cyclist". Thanks to everyone here for helping to make that happen.
CBPosted 11 years ago # -
Well done.
And thanks for telling 'us' m
"I can maybe actually start calling myself a "cyclist"."
Are you sure?
Apparently some people who ride bikes don't want to be called/known as that!
Posted 11 years ago #
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