Cycling Thread - pleasure peddlers to serious cyclists sign in here!

Yes the A6 in Levenshulme in Manchester is where I used to live. It's a really tough place for cyclists, with lots of cars fighting for space amongst themselves, and bikes get treated v poorly.
Surely two experienced and responsible victims in 24 hours has to inform a national consciousness about bikists safety.

And now Shane Sutton is in hospital with head injuries after an accident on his bike

WrathdePan poor old Wiggo. But a wake-up call for drivers, so hopefully some good will come of it.

Wiggo in accident with car..

yes I wished I'd discovered the ease of riding all the way in summer! We have a bit of a community of bikers-into-Manchester on the train, and talked about how to ride it all the way. No-one else does it all now. Apart from me! I am beginning to suspect it's now in the bad weather it's just a macho challenge..

I just don't like winter . I'm a right misery at the mo. I was hoping that given we didn't get a summer we wouldn't really get a winter either.

Oh it's a bit tough at times. I used to get the train to near work (about 15 mins ride on top) but now it's ride all the way. I do get all assertive and dominate lanes where it's okay, and am lit up like a Christmas tree. I hate junctions and in the dark really make sure drivers have seen me. But yes, riding in busy traffic in the dark does raise the pulse a bit.

How are you finding the dark though Wrath? I am not a fan of my dark evening commute now. I know I will get used to it though. Funnily though riding in the dark is fine later in the evening when it is more quiet. It's just the combination of fairly busy traffic and the dark that I don't like.

Fred - yes I wasn't sure about that - we have a good independent bike shop in Glossop so I'll pop in on Saturday and get some proper stuff. ta.

GT85 is more of a lube than WD40, but not really specific to a bike chain.

GT85 is pretty lousy as a chain lube, but will at least stop the chain getting rusty, but it won't help it go smooth and fast.

A clean chain and then a chain specific lube will have it run smoother - but you'll need to clean all the gunk off everywhere first.

Er...don't know re GT85 - I think it's just the normal stuff. Using the reservoir does make a difference.

And yes, I need a maid who will just whizz in and whizz out with the bike maintenance stuff.
I realised I'd watched too much tv cycling when I had a puncture and looked around for the 'Team Pan' car to instantly replace the bike.....didn't happen.

I use one of those chain cleaning things, do you have proper degreaser to put in it? That gets everything sparkly clean pretty well I find, and gets rid of the horrid grindy noise/feeling on the chain.

Is it normal GT85 or one that says it is a bike lube? I know you can get spray on bike lube stuff, but isn't GT85 like WD40 in that it is a water displacer not a proper lube?

Summer - I know! It first happened 3 weeks ago when the train let me down and I was due to collect dd from school and have tea with her. No train that day meant...just get biking! Up hill most of the way. But it wasn't as bad as I thought, so now biking the distance is the 'new normal'.
< when I first biked into work at 6.30am I thought I was an Olympian.. Now it's just what one does.>

Wow! Welcome to lubeworld!
My bike is a Trek 7300 hybrid, and now I am biking from Glossop (just inside Derbyshire) into Manchester central each day. Hence 27 miles return.

My gorgeous bike needs TLC as the roads throughout are tricky, and messy. Thistledew - I have one of those cleaning reservoirs and will use it this weekend. The gunk on the chain and crank wheels ( is that right?) is enormous! I hate the grinding noise it sometimes gives out.
Fred - it now gets a GT85 spray most days, but....what is the 'oil' function? Should the chain get an oiling regularly as well as the spray?
The biking is now such an integral part of my worky stuff I want to ensure I am doing right by it.

Haha ssmile yes you should, I am lazy too though. I rarely give my commuter bike any tlc and it seems pretty bomb proof. Can't remember the last time i oiled the chain even...oops. I tend to do it when it starts making horrid noises.

I am also quite bad at looking after my road bike too, that currently needs some serious tlc as well. The front mech doesn't work at the mo!

I always use wet lube, but that is cos I am mostly a mountain biker and that is usually what I have around. I find I DO need to clean and oil my mountain bikes though or they break! Unfortunately I do not have an other half who is into bike maintenance (he does cycle but not as much as me) - I am always jealous of people who have these bike fixer type other halves. I just have to ask my mates nicely or go to the bike shop, or do it myself, which usually results in emergency texts to mates saying "Oh shit how do I get my cranks back on?"

dita re lights, not an expert on the ones you mention, I have heard of knog ones - are they emergency ones though in case you get caught short? You should probably get some that are "road legal" just in case - am sure it says on the small print of them whether they are? You won't need anything super bright if it's lit but you should have some that meet the requirements just in case (and I know it is unlikely, so not trying to worry you) some idiot hits you or doesn't see you so they can't say that your lights weren't good enough? Does that make sense? sorry for not answering for ages!

thistle I would have thought road bike would be harder to ride with no hands as well. I will have to try it now you have said it is easy!

Did mountain bike race at weekend - torrential rain and disgusting. AND some utter bastard knocked me off - badly, went completely flying. On a wide fireroad too so no excuse as there was plenty of room to get round. I managed to finish but knee and shoulder are still swollen now, couldn't hardly walk on Monday. Ah - remind me why I do such a stupid sport again?

Fortunately should be properly back on the bike next week i reckon (can just about manage to ride to work, but not proper riding)

wrath 27 miles a day is a good old commute!

It does depend a bit what you do with your bike. A rusty un-lubed chain or gunky oily stiff chain might cost you 50watts if really, really bad, but you have at least 150watts as you pedal along and probably more. In reality 15 is more realistic so 10% of your power is being wasted.

If you're just commuting to work and are happy with the speed you go, possibly not worth spending much more time. If you're trying to keep up with a fast group then regular cleaning, lubing and picking fast tyres that you correctly inflate each ride might make the difference.

My commute bike gets a spray of GT85 like stuff once every few months, my road bike gets lube on the chain every single ride.

Ok now I'm very but I don't use lube on my bike...should I be and where? Once a year it gets a clean and bit oil on the chain...it must be 15+ yrs old and still going strong. I've only changed the tyres couple yrs ago to more road ones and DH put new pedals & shaft thing on last year as it was grinding abit :) no goes fine.

WrathdePan There is a slight difference in how quickly the road drys - so if you were to ride for an hour on each day you'd see more wet from the road in the winter but not out of the sky. However you may also ride less in the winter because of the bad weather... I certainly use the same lube, tyres and everything all year around.

I do not use a wet lube on a road bike, attacts too much dirt and it doesn't need the aggressiveness like an MTB lube might. I use Squirt which is a very dry lube for performance, however you have to re-apply that every time, on the commute bike I just use whatever's laying around and don't care a jot.

Yes that's what I'm picking up, yet I recall from Geography lessons that we get as much precipitation in the UK in summer as we do in winter. Wet lube it will be though! I'm biking around the lower Pennine slopes at bit and we get lots of liquid sunshine.
thanks v much.

Ha! Thistledew, aged 14. I've never been able to go no-hands and I am now beyond trying.

Accidentally wandered, via google, onto a Pistonhead discussion about oils and lubes. Didn't think I'd ever be intimidated by this topic. There are as many lubes/oils as you'll find in a slightly more esoteric outlet. . Seriously need to get my gears/chain wheel/anything else that moves properly protected. As winter says 'hello'.

Is the oil question a tricky one?