PeteH

1,512 reputation

bio	website
	location	New Forest, UK
	age
visits	member for	9 months
	seen	49 mins ago
stats	profile views	22

I work in London and commute between the station and my office, on a Charge plug single speed. Home is a rural area in the south of England, where I keep three bikes - a Giant TCR Adv road bike (fun), a Dawes audax bike (winter, touring, commuting), and a Boardman hardtail (off-roading). 90% of my riding is on the road, I just found I prefer tarmac/speed. I've also done some track riding (awesome) and am eager to spend more time in the velodrome.

Got back on my bike in 2008 to put a stop to middle-age spread. But as well as being very successful as regards weight loss/fitness side, I've also rediscovered "fun" aspect and this is my main motivator nowadays.

I do my own bike maintenance, where possible, and am also a motorist.

	1,512 reputation	bio	website		visits	member for	9 months
19 badges		location	New Forest, UK		seen	49 mins ago

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16h	comment	Good locks seem awfully heavy I was in a cafe whilst on a cycling holiday in Malloeca only 6 weeks ago. Small town, big cycling cafe, loads of bikes outside. One guy out of our party gets his Garmin 800 nicked, which he'd left on the handlebars. Must have taken the thief all of a second. Its not just bikes.
21h	comment	Evaluate hill gradient @JamesBradbury does this imply then that (over a short enough timeframe) the computers could get absolute altitude values wrong, but should get relative values right? If this were the case then gradient values should be reliable shouldn't they? And surely the GPS chip will have a view on the altitude? I wonder if the computers use this value at all?
1d	comment	Evaluate hill gradient had to look it up, $20 on amazon. Is that oil inside? You could imagine you'd want something a little (but not too) viscous to negate jitter.
1d	comment	Evaluate hill gradient @tisek - that's funny, I started using RideWithGPS after I plotted a course on another site (not one mentioned here so far), and the site said the route had 1500m climbs. When I rode the route it was actually 2200m according to my Garmin (barometric altimeter, seems to be quite well thought of in the Garmin forums). Anyway I was told about rideWithGPS so I went there and plotted the route I'd ridden - and it said 2200m and I was sold...
1d	comment	Evaluate hill gradient It's possibly also worth saying that some cycle computers will tell you the gradient in almost real time, and display it while you're riding. I know the Garmin 800 does this but that's a very big investment. How accurate it is I don't know, its not something I pay attention to on the road - on climbs I normally just shut my eyes!
1d	comment	Is having your hands “on the hoods” of drop handlebars safe for braking? Don't worry, it's the most natural feeling. You'll probably spend far more time with your hands on the hoods than the drops, its more comfortable and very convenient to use the brakes.
1d	comment	Evaluate hill gradient @Kibbee do you use Strava? do you like it? I was pointed to it by someone but what he said gave me the impression that it was mainly used to race against your mates. That put me off a bit.
May 13	comment	Thinking of quitting due to dangerous driving start off slow and stay slow methinks!
May 12	comment	exploding inner tubes I'm just wondering whether because of the rarity, the innertube has been sitting on the shop's shelf for years
May 12	comment	Looking for a solid MTB/hybrid bike for my girlfriend this type of question comes up quite frequently on here and honestly it is impossible to answer objectively. If I were you I'd head to my lbs, tell him what you told us, then listen to the guy's advice, take a test ride etc. If you're worried about getting ripped off, then listen to his advice then go away and search the web for prices. But be aware that your lbs will set the bike up for you whereas if you buy off the web its a diy jobbie
May 12	comment	exploding inner tubes I generally never repair a tube. If I get a puncture I'll chuck it. I can do this because my wheels are a standard size, I can readily buy replacement tubes and they cost next to nothing. But how true is this for your wheels? Can you just walk into a bike shop and buy replacements? Sheldon seems to indicate that this size is pretty rare.
May 11	comment	Bike recommendation for daily commute when I say fixie, I'm including single speed in that. That's me using the wrong words, sorry. In fact mine's a flip-flop - one side of my wheel runs a freewheel, the other a fixed cog. I flip the wheel and have a choice. I would definitely recommend against riding fixed if you're a newbie - this requires practise. Single speed is a lot easier, but you still have issues with gradients (unless you have very big thighs!)
May 11	comment	Thinking of quitting due to dangerous driving @Kibbee yes a great idea. I was on a cycling holiday in Mallorca over Easter and the organizers said they had something set up for a partially-sighted group where they would ride tandems. Can you imagine though, that's some leap of faith on descents!
May 11	comment	Bike recommendation for daily commute I'd probably go with a simple mtb or a hybrid as suggested by others. I love my fixie (and having no gears they're easier to self-maintain) but they are an acquired taste, so you may get one and hate it. Plus of course they don't climb so could be restrictive for leisure rides. You may have to shop around for secondhand - lots of shops in the uk don't bother any more due to competition from eBay. But by the same token there are shops who specialise in 2nd hand.
May 11	comment	Bike recommendation for daily commute that's not what my wife calls me! Seriously though if you go down the secondhand route make sure you gen up about how to avoid stolen etc.
May 10	comment	Why is cycling on a road so much faster than cycling on a cycle path? in terms of speed, its just the quality of the surface normally. A surface which is optimised for cars also turns out to be pretty good for bikes. But personally I avoid cycle paths because in my experience they are far less well maintained than roads and you're more likely to come across obstacles such as (a) broken glass, (b) people, (c) dog crap etc. The exception to this rule is pretty much the whole of Holland!
May 8	comment	Disabling back-pedal brake +1 good question, I'd be interested to know how these brakes work. I rode one in Holland last year and it took a bit of getting used to.
May 3	comment	Can a 10-speed mountain bike chain be used on a 10-speed road bike? The vendor High on Bikes seems to think so, if you go by the product title. But if you read the description the HG94 certainly seems optimised for a MTB setup.
Apr 30	comment	Why are single-speed bikes with disc brakes hard to find? I think Vitus have something to do with Sean Kelly. I was just on a cycling holiday and rode one for a week. Carbon with a 105 groupset, and not a bad ride at all.
Apr 30	comment	Is there a reason why one's calfs would ache on a Turbo or Spinner, but not when riding on the road? Yes I get this too, I can ride outside all day but only for an hour or so on a trainer. Not so much aches but certainly tiredness. The trainer is so much more intense....I think you could be right about bike movement, but I also find ventilation/overheating becomes a problem, plus I think we can tend to underestimate the amount of "resting" we're able to do on the open road as opposed the the constant effort required on a turbo.