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

I start work at 8:30, round the corner from an aldi so will be there at 8am to hopefully get some winter cycling wear!

Quick update on Aldi cycling stuff - its on sale next Thursday. Lots of winter clothes, lights, tools and stuff. Plus - tri-suits!!!! Bit random for autumn I thought but there you go, if you need a cheap tri-suit get yourself down to Aldi next week!

Hi Lawrence,

It depemds how much your bike is worth and how much cover is provided on your home insurance - think mine covers a bike up to £500. However I think as my bike is worth £800 it isn't covered at all, so they wouldn't give me £500 and I have to make up the rest...it just isn't covered. I suppose because a more expensive bike is more likely to be stolen so its a higher risk. So check the small print.

Also with insurance policies check what lock they require you to have - normally a gold lock. Though if your bike gets pinched and the lock is gone I don't know how the insurance company expect you to prove you had a gold standard lock decuring the bike??????

Hi,

What a lovely thread! I've recently started cycling to work and keep thinking I should get round to insurance (I know, I know, I really should have done it first off ). Can anyone advise me about bike specific insurace eg. Evans? Are they any good? Are they necessary, or is it enough to be covered under home insurance? Ta.

Are any of you Ladies Breeze Ride Leaders?

Frilly- look out for British Cycling's "Social cycling" groups, "Sky ride local" or ( Ladies only) "Breeze Rides". CTC also promot group rides, in some area they include shorter distance stuff to ease people in as well as the classic CTC long ride with cake stop.

Sorry, not GoRide, that's the youngsters thing. This: www.britishcycling.org.uk/getinvolved instead!

Happy, I tend to ride men's bikes too and change the saddle and position to make it more comfortable. I'm (nearly) 5ft 6, but nearly as long on the inside leg as my 6ft dh so a different shape to you.
I ride with a fairly flat back on a roadie but that's probably always the way I've ridden as I've always had a men's bike! On both a roadie and an MTB I will have a smaller size than dh and a long seat post. This actually brings the top tube low again. Bizarrely on our run abouts we both have the same size (special offer, 2 for the price of 1), in fact I just used his now and it's just about half a cm too high. Ok, off topic!

I always wear padding of some sort, even just to commute in to town (25mins). I have some lovely Scott inners that came with board style shorts and can fit under jeans etc. If winter riding I'll wear Ron Hills over cycling shorts or 3/4 lengths. And winter full finger gloves. And neoprene shoe covers. And a buff!

Frilly Milly, have you checked out the GoRide site?

HappySeven I am 5ft3 with short legs. I got a 26.5 inch frame Carrera. I got it from Halfords because I got it through the cycle to work scheme which I thought you could only do at halfords. We are lucky though as the bloke in our local halfords is very knowledgable about bikes. It's not a female specific bike but I find it fine. They did have board man female bikes but not much difference bar the colours. If pink is your thing then you could look at a female one.

I really need to get a clip less system over winter and some glasses. Some padded legging would be nice for any winter riding I get in. Although living in lancashire if does seem to be raining/windy for 10 months of the year. DH wants us to look for some organised rides for next year. Do I just google or is there a site that lists them?

I can barely get my feet to the floor on my 49cm frame. I can, but I'm squishing my floo.

The Dawes which I think was a 43cm or maybe a 45cm frame I could stand over it better. However the reach to the handlebars was a much worse stretch. I figured that how comfy it was when riding was more important than stand height so ought the bigger Tricross rather than the Dawes.

Thanks again! Time to hit a few shops and try some out for size I think. I'm 5'5 so I think I'll start looking for 51cm and see how I get on.

I ride unisex men's bikes as I'm short legged/long bodied. That said, if I had started on a woman's bike I may have stuck with that. As Viva says, go for one that fits and is comfortable. Maybe acquaint yourself with size charts before you go to the bike shop - I ride a 51cm (am 5'4 and a bit) and had a local store try to flog me a 55cm frame the other day, insisting that it was the right size even though I couldn't get my feet down to the floor when standing over the top tube!

I don't think it matters as long as you find a bike that fits and feels comfy/ not a stretch.

Sorry, me again. Should I be looking at "women's bikes" or does it really not matter? I'm short in the leg and long in the body for a woman and this has always made me wonder if it really matters? I'm too chicken to ask in a bike shop!

Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely look at the tricross and yes, paniers seem like a really good idea - I get so warm under my rucksack and it makes me want to take my high-vis jacket off which I would rather keep on for safety's sake.

I can do the cycle to work scheme which looks great even though I'm not a higher tax payer. Thanks again!

I think it depends, if you live somewhere with a lot of cyclists and only one Aldi then yes. If, like me, there are a few Aldis in the vicinity then it's less likely. I would certainly try to get there on the day it goes on sale if you definitely want to get a particular thing.

Don't get the lights, I did last year and they broke within about a week. Total waste of money.

Thanks piffpaffpoff

Most of their special stuff does sell out fast, Viva - their ski stuff went in less than half a day last time, so I'd get there as soon as you can once it's in.

Does the aldi stuff sell out quickly?

Aldi cycling stuff is in either next Sunday or the following Thurs - here's the link to what they'll have.

Thanks, will pop in to Decathalon next week and also sign up for the Lidl/Aldi offers.

The UV paint stuff sounds a lot better than the old method of hammering stencils into the paint work.

They painted over a stencil in a paint that shows up under UV light on the underside of the frame. It shows up in blue at the moment and will fade though will still show under blacklight. Said number is linked to our bike (make, model, frame number, colour) and our name/address so if they find someone else with it they can get it back to us. You can see more about it here. I was sad enough to ask whether the paint would damage the carbon on the new bike as I was being precious but was told it's good for everything.

I don't tend to wear padded trousers anymore - I just wear running tights, but when I did wear padding I used to wear my shorts under winter running tights when it was cold. Aldi and Lidl do cycling kit at this time of year (though you've just missed Lidl) and their padded trousers are around £12 a throw. If you sign up to their weekly special emails you'll find out about them the week before they hit the stores. Or you could try http://www.decathlon.co.uk/cycling-tights-3-black-sky-blu-id_8181342.html Decathlon ones for £20.

Do people think that thermal cycle trousers of some description are necessary? Or would I be better off having non thermal ones and leg warmers?

I need trousers with a padded bum and the only padded bum thermal ones I can find are ££££. But I could spend £20 on leg warmers and put them over my summer trousers if that would do???

Foxtrot - what do they do to mark your bike? Hammer your postcode into it? Does this not risk your bike going rusty where the paint has gone?

Well yesterday was a write off due to over-exuberance on Friday night in order to numb the pain of some dreadful cabaret so we didn't make it down to Brighton. I got out on the new steed today though, and it is a wonder. I have discovered, as I suspected, that I need to change the saddle, I expect for a Spesh Oura or Toupe as I get on really well with the specialized saddles on my other bikes. As I said to a friend the other day, I must have a Specialized Bum

We didn't quite get out like we'd hoped, as about 10k into our ride we happened upon a lovely police lady doing free bike registration, so after getting our lovely carbon bikes marked up we decided to take the direct (5k or so) route home and bring back the hack and mountain bikes, so I've done the same 5k route on three different bikes this afternoon, and boy have I noticed the difference. The mountain bike felt so slow on our last run I wondered if I'd have been faster to get off and push! I'm pleased we've got them marked up and registered though - I urge you all to do the same! We're in central London, so a high crime area, and things like this - particularly the stickers that say your bike is registered (which I couldn't bring myself to defile the new bike with) - is hopefully enough to discourage the opportunist thief. I do worry about them getting nicked.

I hope you've all had a great weekend, enjoying the last of the good weather!