CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

Ice

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  1. Snowy
    Member

    I've never tried studded/spiked tyres, but I don't want to stop when things get icy.

    I'd like to clarify my statement - I definitely *do* want to stop when things get icy! Stopping is the problem! :-)

    I think you've collectively convinced me. *peeks into the gear-budget wallet, waves moths away*

    Posted 11 years ago #
  2. ruggtomcat
    Member

    Hey folks, thanks for the messages. Im ok now, my ankle and elbow took the brunt and I had a couple days not walking but it seems to be 90% better now.

    Bike broke its mirror and bent the rear mech hanger, I have bent it back and it seems to be ok, tho the hanger is definitely weaker now, will it survive?

    Just bought new boots for the Bent, looks like i should get spikes aswell *sigh*.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  3. ExcitableBoy
    Member

    Ditto: "I've never tried studded/spiked tyres, but I don't want to stop when things get icy."

    I don't stop cycling over the winter. In the past I've found snow to be no real challenge & great fun, use the mountain bike with nobbly tyres and take care on corners.

    However, the winter 2 years ago was a horror and the stretch of prom by the Cat&Dog home was a cm thick with ice along its whole length. Came off doing a gingerly ~6mph, but still too painful to want to repeat.

    Last year I considered getting spiked tyres, but was too stingey, as they were about £45 each. However, when I saw them a couple of weeks ago for £30 each on Spa cycles I decided to get a pair.

    I have now done about 50 miles bedding them in very carefully and have not lost a spike. The spikes at the edges don't appear to have seen much contact with the road however. The noise has reduced a fair bit. For some reason it has been quite exciting - this makes no real sense as all I done is held off hard acceleration(+braking) - little things...

    When I came off on the prom I found that walking was 10 times as hard as the riding had been - so I have bodged together straps (using a pair of straps from some pedals) with small nuts&bolts in them, to go around my shoes if needs be, all a bit 'Heath Robinson', but I think they'll do the job.

    Somewhat OT. The council now plans to grit the Innocent, does anybody know how far out of town they plan to go? Ideally they would go along to old Big W, but I fear they may stop at Duddingston Rd.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  4. wee folding bike
    Member

    Spikes on the trike are entertaining because you can hear what the back wheels are doing. When they lift up on bends the spikes skiff the road. It's nice to know the Longstaff diff is doing its thing.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  5. Nelly
    Member

    Arellcat and Uberuce - Cheers guys - tyres are now ordered.........and for everyone else, my purchase pretty much guarantees as warm winter ;-)

    Posted 11 years ago #
  6. Greenroofer
    Member

    Fitted my Marathon Winters this weekend, after a happy evening squidging in new studs. This will be their third winter, and given my annual mileage I should think I've done about 1,000 miles on them so far. In answer to the earlier question about whether they wear out, I think the answer is that they don't. You do lose studs, and the studs definitely round off a bit, but they still look pretty effective to me.

    Spent today getting used to riding with the continuous snap crackle and pop that goes with them. Am counting down the days to when they will be taken off again...

    For me it's not about snow, it's about the sudden glimmer of moonlight on black ice and knowing that you'll stay upright when you hit it.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  7. LivM
    Member

    For those people that don't have studded tyres, a word of caution not to follow people round bends at their speed. I had my studs on last winter and a couple of people came to grief (Chancelot Path) behind me, going at my speed, presumably not realising that I had hidden(ish) studs keeping me in a straight line. </guilt>

    Posted 11 years ago #
  8. Uberuce
    Member

    @Nelly - are you still on the default 63" gearing on your Day One? I moved up to 74" over the summer, but I suspect it's too high now the Winters are on. I've barely got a spin going since they were fitted.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  9. Claggy Cog
    Member

    @kaputnik, I am not sure that the mini tractors were intended to do paths...but pavements.

    I saw one on the Gilmerton Road on Saturday, and it was not on the pavement but was instead gritting the road! The Innocent was most definitely NOT gritted on Saturday and I know of one person who came off their bike twice.

    Also a couple of years back there were three mini tractors parked up on Blacket Ave, and they were there for a few hours, doing absolutely nothing, presumably waiting for supplies of grit to be delivered so that they could get on with the job, long tea/lunch break, or someone in the depot forgot to pass on the message that they had run out of grit, or even they thought that by magic the roads/pavements would get done without them moving. A mystery!

    Posted 11 years ago #
  10. chdot
    Admin

    Presume there's a fair bit out there.

    KB just dropped below zero even with sun out.

    Any sign of off-road path gritting?

    Posted 11 years ago #
  11. SRD
    Moderator

    MMW gritted.

    yesterday, there was lots of salt/grit outside the sainsburys, obviously freshly laid. I looked around and saw the gizmo that had been dispensing it down near PY, adjacent to a bike. It looked very similar to one of those trailers that window washers use, and for a minute I honestly thought it was attached to the bike, but then realised it was just an optical illusion, and I was just seeing the handle juxtaposed with the rear of a bike. I was a little disappointed.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  12. Uberuce
    Member

    Broomhouse Path was untreated as of ~6.40am.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  13. The Innocent was untreated. But it was also dry, so mercifully safe. Met Kirst (on foot) whose bike has gone into hibernation :(

    When I got home last night, with temperatures really dropping, I saw a big lorry in our street and figured they were gritting. Then as it got closer realised it was a street sweeper...

    Posted 11 years ago #
  14. Darkerside
    Member

    Looked at the Marathon Winters last night, and suspect they're dead. Spikes are ok (albeit missing just under thirty between the pair), but a good number push through the rubber so there's metal on the inner surface. Got a few punctures last year from spiking my own inner tube, so nursed them through till spring with inner layers of gaffa tape, took them off and clearly forgot all about it until this year. Clever boy.

    Lasted well though - about 10 months / 4000km use, so can't really complain.

    Question is - upright size, or recumbent size? Slightly worse chance of recovering a wobble, but considerably less far to fall, warmer, and better lights. Hmm.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  15. Nelly
    Member

    @Uberuce......just to manage your expectations, the Broomhouse Path will remain untreated - its not on the hit list.

    That partially influenced my recent purchase (not arrived yet) of the Marathon Winters.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  16. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Broomhouse Path was untreated

    I got an email back from the cooncil say ing that because this path is "unadopted" (cooncil speak for "we can't be ar**d maintaing it) that they weren't going to do anything about the Clarence reports I made on obstructions / holes. This, they said, only applies to the cycle path side. If I had reported problems on footpath side, they would indeed have sorted them. They held out some vague hope that the trams people might eventually sort it, which made me guffaw.

    I can only assume that our "world class cycling city" doesn't see fit to treat the major off-road cycle route that leads to what's probably its largest locus of employment outwith the city centre.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  17. chdot
    Admin

    "This, they said, only applies to the cycle path side. If I had reported problems on footpath side"

    You do mean the pavement on the other side of the road.

    Don't you...

    It IS the fault of the trams.

    But that's just an excuse.

    'Trams' now wholly responsibility of CEC.

    In this case "unadopted" means 'we are waiting for all tram work to finish before we think about doing something'.

    BUT this can't absolve them from basic H&S responsibilities and prospects of lawsuits.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  18. Uberuce
    Member

    Those pigging rumblestrips are not compatible with studlies. I've been using the ped half exclusively, but had to use the other one this morning due to oncoming walkers and it was horribly skittery. Next time I'll eitehr wait or go onto the verge.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  19. kaputnik
    Moderator

    You do mean the pavement on the other side of the road.


    [i]No, I got the distinct impression from the email response from council that it was because it was on the wrong side of the white line of segregated path. The footway was "adopted", the cycleway was not. There are sections where the path and "pavement" deviate, perhaps it's got a needlessly complex status.

    The other amusing part of the email was their agreement that the bent infrastructure cabinet was indeed defunct and to the best of their guesstimation, had been for a number of years. It had also been marked up previously as a hazard (sprayed with a blue "X") but nothing had been done.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  20. Morningsider
    Member

    kaputnik - I've checked the list of adopted roads and it seems it is only the footway on the Saughton House side that is adopted. Maintenance of the cycle/foot path on the north side is not the responsibility of the Council. It is a cop out, but it is also correct. Might be worth asking the Council when/if they intend to adopt the cycle/foot path.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  21. chdot
    Admin

    "Maintenance of the cycle/foot path on the north side is not the responsibility of the Council"

    Surely "unadopted" is only relevant to non-council owned 'roads'.

    This may have been done under the auspices of tie - but that arms-length entity is now wholly part of CEC.

    The land must have been CEC owned before it was tarmacced and surely is now.

    I'm sure there are technicalities/legalities about "adopting".

    But...

    Posted 11 years ago #
  22. kaputnik
    Moderator

    so If it's not adopted, who's been putting those stupid rumble strips on it? (rhetorical question!) And am I at liberty to undertake my own maintenance on it? (Admittedly I already did give the overgrowing bushes a haircut earlier in the year) Surely the council must be responsible for the "pavement" on north side of the road (separate from the walking path / cyclepath, which is set slightly off from the "pavement")

    Posted 11 years ago #
  23. chdot
    Admin

    "If it's not adopted, who's been putting those stupid rumble strips on it?"

    Indeed

    I can understand CEC not wanting to fix this until tramwork is finished.

    Can't mean it's not responsible!

    Posted 11 years ago #
  24. kaputnik
    Moderator

    We're getting OT here, but how would a Joe Public like me go about finding out how actually owns the land on which the path is built?

    Posted 11 years ago #
  25. thebikechain
    Member

    FYI ETC BTW ETC
    We have made a new category so you can find what we have easier.
    http://www.thebikechain.co.uk/Bike-Parts-and-Components-Winter-Bike-Tyres/

    Boom!
    Usual CCE discount ON TOP of the 10% off applies.
    If you want some buy now because as usual, they run out fast.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  26. duncans
    Member

    The A8 path between Airport r/b and gogarstone road is becoming very icy with runoff from fields.

    Beware of ice/frost on crossing at sheltered NW side of airport roundabout.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  27. Darkerside
    Member

    Finally tracked down 20" schwalbe winters, on Amazon of all places.

    Fear the coming of the Winterbent (any resemblence to the naming conventions of other dinosaur-sounding cycles purely coincidental...)

    Posted 11 years ago #
  28. Morningsider
    Member

    chdot - footways and cycle paths are, in a legal sense, roads and can be adopted by a council for maintenance purposes. Unless they are on the list of public roads then they are not adopted and will not be maintained by the Council roads department (although they could be maintained by parks or countryside rangers etc), e.g. here's the entry for:

    "INNOCENT RAILWAY PATH From DUDDINGSTON ROW generally westwards to HERMIT'S CROFT.Adopted for maintenance. Excludes section within Queen's Park which is maintained by Parks Dept."

    Kaputnik - tricky to find out who owns land. You would have to contact the Registers of Scotland, who maintain all Scottish land ownership records. They do charge for this service.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  29. Smudge
    Member

    Union canal towpath near Falkirk High station is well frozen, it was a leap of faith riding across solidly frozen puddles next to the canal in the dark :-o
    Fortunately the spikes saved me from an Uberuce/attack badger situation :-D

    Posted 11 years ago #
  30. custard
    Member

    anyone know what the Innocent was/is like?
    I may risk cycling to the gym tomorrow, but dont want to risk and ice fall!

    Posted 11 years ago #

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