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Why don't you cycle?
- Thread starter Ghostbus
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Doctor Fegg
Established Member
Just wait until you hear about cars…
(More seriously, Decathlon - the go-to these days for cheap, not terrible bikes - have e-bikes starting just under £1000.)
Tetragon213
Member
At least with a car, the cost is actualy justifiable...
Doctor Fegg
Established Member
Thanks for that deep insight. The thread is truly better for it.
This feels like an unfair double standard
A new car will cost at least 20 times as much as a new bike to buy, never mind other expenses. Does it provide 20 times the benefit? That's debatable, and dependant on personal circumstances.
YouLostAStar
Member
The helmet is a fair enough point.
If you're getting tired and sweaty from a 10 min cycle you're either going up a big hill on your commute or I would seriously recommend seeing a doctor.
What sort of prep are you doing? my prep is grab bike, turn on lights and go
I don't know your area so difficult to comment on the roads but i would recommend looking at alternate routes, my route now is very different from when I started cycling to work, takes me 5 minutes longer but I now avoid some big hills and dangerous junctions.
If there's nowhere at work to safely lock up your bike that would be a major issue, maybe ask your employer if there is anywhere safe on site to store a bike
This feels like an odd argument to me - sure, you're saving ~40 minutes per day but wouldn't you exercise/get out the house anyway? I try to get outdoors every day and cycling during my commute ticks that box.
As much as sometimes I'd like to work from home, I would miss the cycle in the morning - certainly helps to wake me up.
trainmania100
Established Member
Mountain bike, greater friction on the road. It's not tiring it just gets me sweatier / hotter wearing coat etc as well in cold weather.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Change your tyres to road or hybrid tyres (unless you're actually offroading a lot in which case get a hybrid). Riding a knobblies-equipped mountain bike on the road is seriously inefficient and will get you sweaty.
And if your coat gets you sweaty take it off - that's a very strange objection!
trainmania100
Established Member
Change your tyres to road or hybrid tyres (unless you're actually offroading a lot in which case get a hybrid). Riding a knobblies-equipped mountain bike on the road is seriously inefficient and will get you sweaty.
And if your coat gets you sweaty take it off - that's a very strange objection!
May consider changing wheels. But often wondered if there's actually a noticeable difference
Bit of a stretch to consider 42 minutes "almost an hour". Out of interest do you keep your car in a garage or do you have to scrape it on a frosty morning?
I notice a massive difference after pumping my tyres up properly or oiling my chain.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
There's an absolutely huge difference between running slicks at 60-70psi (highest you can probably go on wider slicks) and knobblies at 30-40 as is typical (get a decent track pump rather than handheld). The right tool for the right job. If your commute contains elements of both e.g. you go on the road and canal towpath, you can get hybrid tyres that have a bit of knobbling at the sides so they'll grip slight mud if there is any, but mostly they'll be rolling on the slick part on-road.
The problem with "bike shaped objects" as the cycling forums tend to call them (mountain bikes priced at about £150-200 and below) is that they put people off cycling because they're so utterly horrible to ride.
Do you then go to the gym and spend time on the treadmill? That almost an hour's worth of walking isn't lost time, it's excellent exercise.
Do you spend time reading? You could listen to an audiobook as you walk instead, combining the two.
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trainmania100
Established Member
Guess I could give the cycling another go. Bet if I lock it up outside it'll be gone within the hour though LOL.
I used to ride back from work it wasn't too bad. So much pain in the as traffic now
I used to ride back from work it wasn't too bad. So much pain in the as traffic now
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
And insurance if your bike is half way decent. The problem now isn't locks (there's stuff like the expensive but excellent Litelok that you basically can't put an angle grinder through as it just wears the blade to nothing), they just angle grinder through the Sheffield stand instead.
Also, join Bikeregister and mark your bike with the etching kit then if it is nicked there's more chance of recovery. It's not unknown for Police to run events at railway stations where they give this away for free, though it's cheap anyway, they even gave me a free Sold Secure Silver D-lock.
No they don't. They can, but they start from around £500 these days. They then cost about £5 a year in electricity to charge them, and if it makes you cycle more instead of driving or even using a bus you need to pay for, it's a bargain. Also, you can get fitter as you can adjust the assistance.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I'm not sure I'd buy Chinese tat online due to the well-known battery safety issue. But I bought a very good one for £1300 from Decathlon which I'd definitely recommend (I've had a few bikes from there and all have been great value).
Decathlon are excellent for fully equipped hybrid bikes like the ones that are the norm on the European mainland - if someone is after that sort of bike they are very well advised to look there. As they're French they tend to have more gears too, as France has hills - Dutch bikes are great, but having owned one I'd say they aren't very suitable for the UK (bar East Anglia and West Lancashire, or the flatter parts of the likes of London and Manchester) because the gears tend to be few in number and generally geared quite high, as they don't have hills over there.
I am not talking about importing something on AliExpress, but any bike sold in the UK should be okay (I am not going to name any brands here as there are so many now). I also follow strict rules for both of my bikes; charge the battery in a garage (protected by a fire door into the house) and on a timer, so it only charges when we're awake. Can't obviously be 100% sure of no incident, but the risk is vastly reduced.
There's likely more risk of one of my phones, laptops or tablets catching fire in the house - including phones on charge at a bedside at night. FWIW, my smartphone wirelessly charges but in a night mode that reduces the power output from 100W to 5 or 10W, and it also has a fan (which isn't needed in night mode, but would presumably kick in if it detected heat build up - or hopefully stop charging entirely).
I definitely give a thumbs up for Decathlon, and have heard great things. I spent £1800 and £1300 on my e-bikes (not Decathlon), but know someone who bought a folding bike for £600 and is very happy. UK type approved, but I forget the brand.
I do think e-bikes are fantastic and as more people experience them, many more people may be convinced to cycle. But having somewhere safe to park a bike is always going to be a factor, especially if you have a bike that cost £1000 vs something you picked up second hand for £50.
Sure, the £50 bike is something you can basically not care about, but that might also mean you won't feel any compulsin to ride it. It might not be a great ride, for one, and that will put you off.
Changing to road tyres will make a big difference. I once did the Wild Wales Challenge on a mountain bike with road tyres. (My road bike did not have low enough gears.)
A big +1 for this. I use Specialized Armadillo tyres, and yes always use a track pump (they're not expensive) for a little bit of extra speed but, more importantly, puncture protection.
I've done 000s of miles on those without any issues over the years, and have happily dealt with terrains all over London -- mainly on roads of course but they can more than handle mild off-roading commutes such as the Thames Path and the River Lea towpaths without issue.
There is such a huge difference between big knobbly ones and skinny slick ones!
trainmania100
Established Member
My frames not exactly light either. Does have reasonable suspension etc, I'll consider road tyres instead. And a decent lock !
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
A big +1 for this. I use Specialized Armadillo tyres, and yes always use a track pump (they're not expensive) for a little bit of extra speed but, more importantly, puncture protection.
I've done 000s of miles on those without any issues over the years, and have happily dealt with terrains all over London -- mainly on roads of course but they can more than handle mild off-roading commutes such as the Thames Path and the River Lea towpaths without issue.
There is such a huge difference between big knobbly ones and skinny slick ones!
Totally agree on puncture protected tyres. I'm personally a fan of Schwalbe Marathon Plus (the Plus is necessary - normal Marathons have a habit of letting thorns through) but other brands I'm sure are just as good, including the Decathlon ones that came on my normal bike which haven't punctured once and have barely worn either. They tend to be a pig to fit as the reinforced band doesn't stretch very much, but you only have to take them off/on when they wear out as you won't get punctures assuming you buy a decent premium tyre (and bike tyres aren't expensive so this isn't going to cost a king's ransom).
I assume it isn't one of those cheapo MTBs with full suspension? If so I'd be tempted to get rid (or keep it just for MTBing if you do that) and get a second hand hardtail, you might even get one free from Freecycle/Freegle if money is tight, and put the road tyres on that.
Front suspension is good on an urban hybrid (e.g. for bouncing on and off kerbs), full suspension is just heavy and wastes energy by bouncing as you pedal. If you need "rear suspension" briefly for bumping on and off a kerb, just stand up on the pedals and your knees do it!
trainmania100
Established Member
I believe this is the model I have;
bikeindex.org
It's old but it's served me well for cycling to stations etc
2003 GT Bicycles I-drive 2.0
Blue and Black 2003 GT Bicycles I-drive 2.0, serial: AS2120309.
It's old but it's served me well for cycling to stations etc
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I believe this is the model I have;
2003 GT Bicycles I-drive 2.0
Blue and Black 2003 GT Bicycles I-drive 2.0, serial: AS2120309.
It's old but it's served me well for cycling to stations etc
GT is a decent manufacturer so I doubt you've got a "bike shaped object", though if you feel like the suspension wastes energy you may want to look for a suitable hardtail/hybrid or see if it has the facility to lock the rear suspension.
Even if it isn't, the third party cover (and the rules around it) can save you from crippling legal costs in the event of an accident.
Cyclist faces bankruptcy over £100k costs bill for injured pedestrian
Robert Hazeldean calls for greater legal protection to help cyclists from 'destructive' costs awards.
www.lawgazette.co.uk
In terms of tyres, I had some Kevlar ones and used gunk-filled inner tubes so that anything that did get through would reseal so that I could pump reinflate the tyres by hand and get home. Reliability being more important than speed for a general purpose bike.
Whatever you do, don't get solid tyres like the ones from https://www.greentyre.co.uk/
They fix the problem of getting punctures, but mean that when you hit a pothole, the wheel buckles instead.
When you get a puncture, its worth working why it happened and not just getting it fixed.
A puncture when you hit a pothole, is more likely if your tyres are under-inflated. A good pump helps, and using it frequently also does. Not riding over a pothole also helps.
If it was caused by something sharp, you need to remove it from the tyre, or it will cause another puncture. If you fix a puncture and get another one soon afterwards, then you might have snagged the inner tube under the tyre bead.
Good luck with that one.
Red Routes are now permitted UK wide (not just London).
I wish they'd extend other laws such as the one prohibiting pavement parking (except where signed otherwise)