I'm currently riding around on a pre-owned Specialized Allez with 25mm tyres, having previously ridden a hybrid e-bike. I had not realised quite how bumpy the roads in my area are until I experienced the joy of cycling on chip-and-spray tarmac. Thanks to the Allez having rim brakes, the tyre clearance isn't really good enough to put anything much more comfortable on.

Since I started cycling, I've fallen in love with all aspects - I commute, ride longer routes on the weekends, and I've been watching a lot of triathlon and bike touring/bikepacking videos recently which are giving me an itch to try.

I've been looking up replacement road bikes around £1000, but keep seeing gravel bikes advertised too at around the same cost. With road and weather conditions in the UK what they are, and for someone who'd like to do a bit of everything (and doesn't need to be the best at any of it) is a gravel bike the way forward? Or am I expecting too much of any kind of bike to do it all?

Thanks for any thoughts and advice!

TL;DR - Can a gravel bike be cope enough to be average at commutes, group rides, backpacking and triathlon?

Got hit by a car today while I was out cycling and honestly I don’t really know what to do. I think I just need a bit of support and some kind words tbh.

I was turning right at a mini roundabout and I indicated with my arm on approach, but the driver just carried on straight into me, as I was half way over the roundabout. There’s a dent on his wing, and bonnet and the mirror cap came off. He swore at me, and I stopped on the exit road, but the driver just drove off.

I don’t have a bike camera unfortunately. I don’t think I’ve got any major injuries and I’m not really in pain anywhere, although my shin is hurting a little bit.

I’ve just been feeling proper sad and emotional about the whole thing. I haven’t eaten or drank anything all day either, just feeling a bit shaken up really.

A woman did stop to check on me but I told her I was fine. She didn't have a camera but she saw what happened, we don't have the VRN.

Hey all!

Have my beloved Specialized Allez bike and I’m interested in going with it on a cycling trip within an hour train of NW London. Preferably countryside, can anyone give recommendations?

Looking for budget friendly hostels if someone knows a spot near a really scenic area to ride.

And for any motorcyclists here; does a “Bunk A Biker” sort of equivalent exist in the cycling world? I’ve benefitted hugely from the Americans with my motorcycle when I had it over in California, I’m just curious if such a thing exists/perhaps a cycling friendly hotel?

Looking at 9/12-9/15.

Tia!

Hi all. I'm a keen British cyclist, currently based in California but returning to the UK later this month, and want to do a 60 - 100 mile weekend loop with my sister (with a stop over night, preferably somewhere with a good pub meal). She has good fitness, but is very nervous about cycling in heavy/fast traffic. We'll both be on road bikes, and ideally looking for quiet country lanes or cycle paths. Thinking somewhere in the Bristol or Cotswolds area, but open to expanding the radius for the right route.

Much appreciate any recommendations! Thanks all.

Due to health, work and other issues I no longer need my bike.

Looking for a hassle free way to sell it without time wasters, having to deliver or potentially get scammed.

Bike is a a Ribble CGR725 with upgraded wheels and finishing kit. Has always been serviced by me or a local bike shop.

Made an absolute schoolboy error on my new bike and tried to put the pedals in on the wrong side, had them set out on the floor correctly then flipped the bike round to sort something else and forgot about the pedals and it got stuck and ended up stripping the thread on my crank arm, just got the bike and im absolutely mortified.

Can see the same crankset online for £55, I'm taking the bike back tomorrow for a brake bleed anyway and will ask them how much to replace but they don't know if they have any in stock or how much it will cost, if its considerable more im considering changing it myself.

Its for a sram apex 11 speed crankset on a kinesis at plus.

it sounds insane but hear me out. my morning commute is usually just dodging agitated audi drivers and screaming at delivery vans parked in the literal middle of the painted cycle lane

But today it was absolutely tipping it down. torrential. and somehow it was... peaceful? like all the people in their metal boxes were too busy fighting the condensation on their windscreens to try and close pass me for once. I just put my head down, accepted that my so called "waterproof" jacket was actively failing, and just pedaled. its one of those rare moments on a bike where you can just tune out and watch the world go by without feeling like you're participating in a survival game

idk man. My socks are still completely damp sitting here at my desk but my mental health is honestly way better today than when it's sunny and the roads are a warzone

Help me please.
I’ve done quite a bit of research into bikes over the last few days.
I’m a wheelchair user ( very little idea on what I’m doing ) and I’m trying to buy my child a IslaBike CNOC 16 in pink secondhand and I don’t know what’s good value or not.

Would £140 be reasonable?
It’s in fairly good condition, some marks not the frame here and there. Some seat damage.

Help me out please.🙏

Wondering about a Time, but all the dealers seem to be northern or London. Any nearer Bristol? The official website is shocking

Was out on my bike today (new ish to road biking) and came to a T junction, the cycle path went straight across the junction. A car turned into the side road from the other side of the junction as I crossed via the cycle path, the car didnt blow its horn but had to stop abruptly right in front of me and I swerved accordingly. Afterwards i was wobbling and had to stabilise myself. I was in total shock and cycled away. Despite it all feeling very minor I was still shaken.

I have no idea who was responsible, I don’t have a strong knowledge of the HWC and I’m not a driver. It could easily have been entirely my fault, for whatever reason (it was a busy, tight tree lined road and the cars to my right were back to back) I didn’t see them / wasnt aware enough, and happy to accept if told so but there could also have been similar fault from them as they seemed unaware and reacted at the last minute.

I have no idea if there was actual contact, if there was it was extremely slight as I don’t remember touching the car and I wasnt knocked off, I looked at the bike and there’s a scuff/ nick that could’ve potentially been from it (its an old used bike with other nicks so cant be sure). 

I’m a massive worrier and i’m always super paranoid about these things, despite how minor it was. Firstly I’ve definitely been scared into being a more alert cyclist in the city. But I’m now worried of any potential repurcussions if there was some kind of camera or it was found there was slight contact and I cycled off.  

Any help / advice / shared experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

So I've last minute signed up to do the London to Brighton ride in September I can Cycle a decent distance but obviously don't have much time to train - just wondering if anyone has done it and how hilly is it?

Got my first 100 miles on this Decathlon Elops Speed 900. Everything is stock so far besides the tyres which Ive upgraded to a Conti Ride Tour 32c.

Everything is comfortable so far and is a blast to ride. However, Im itching for an upgrade lol. Im looking at shimano mt200 hydro brakes right now. Are they worth it? Any other areas I should look into to further enjoy my commutes? My trips are mostly flat with very few hills. Appreciate the input. Thanks!

Based in Scotland.

I was cycling in Edinburgh. A mini van passed me so closely / at speed that my bike wobbled and I veered into curb. Pedestrians turned round.

Managed to catch up the van at lights to say he almost hit me, and he sped off. Managed to catch him again at next lights, got a picture of him and the registration. He said he wasn’t from Edinburgh and wasn’t “familiar” with the road/rules.

The original incident happened close by traffic lights.

I did an online form to Police, explaining incident and noting registration and that I have a picture of driver.

Was it useless for me to report this without helmet camera? Will anything actually happen? I’m not looking for him to be charged but maybe going on a course about near miss or something.

This has really shaken me and I haven’t cycled since as it’s made me realise how vulnerable we are on the roads. Of course I always knew this, but he was SO close and it happened so quickly…

Sorry if this post is a bit rambling. I’m new to sub.

I caught a bus to Reading today. Reading Buses bus driver was superb, he stayed a fair way back away from a single line of cyclists. Two adults and two children.

What cringes me most, apart from the child at the front of the group who rode outside of the door zone, the remaining riders all rode inside the door zone.

A driver did open a door in front of them, though a small gap initially, so they saw the cyclists, the next car they might not be so lucky.

Though i see what I would think are "experienced cyclists" in their cycling gear doing the same, I've seen too many close shaves with car doors in London to know not to ride near them.

I've taken my boy on the road since he was aged 7, i've taught him to ride outside of the door zone, now he's 15, he just automatically rides away from doors. Taught him how to read the road. When he did his bikeability - all levels, the instructor said he was by the most knowledgable rider.

Yes drivers should be careful of cyclists etc but unfortunately I don't trust most drivers to not try and kill me.

[Edit] I didn't finish this post off.

I'm currently in search of an Ebike that can handle a massive hill I walk down then up after work but have been struggling to nail down a good bike that can handle the trip.

EDIT - Also, do these come with the charger? Or do I need to get that separately?

Bit of a rant, but I was curious as to what peoples opinions are on protected bike lanes, such as those found in city centres like Manchester.

I get that the idea is that they are "safer", but where they are used, are they actually safer or do they just introduce new issues?

I have had nothing but issues with cyclists/food couriers going the wrong way down protected cycle lanes, as well as pedestrians walking into them, and private-hire minicabs parking at entry points.

In my opinion, protected cycles lanes would make far more sense in areas where pedestrians are fewer and the road speed is higher, so say a regular A road. I was cycling from Helsby to Ellesmere Port a few weeks back, and for the majority of the way, the bike lanes were just painted lines, whilst I am experienced enough to exercise caution, and keep good situational awareness, roads like these where plain painted bike lanes are present, but the road speed is also 50mph, a protected bike lane would make good sense, as a cyclist going along at 15-20mph mixed with car traffic zipping past at 50mph is a bit hairy.

On the other side of the coin, we have places like Manchester City where a lot of these protected bike lanes have been put in, in recent years, in areas where the speed limit is basically 20mph. Amongst the issues noted above about pedestrians/other cyclists etc causing issues, they always seem to build over-complicated junctions, with Quay St/Deansgate crossroad in Deansgate being a prime example. Because, for whatever reason, they decided to build sections of Deansgate with single-carriageway(dual direction) bike lanes, after Quay Street the dual bike lane layout switches to the other side of the road, this involves waiting at cycle lights, and then having to cross 2 mini zebra crossings. Now, there are give way bollards instructing cyclists to give way to pedestrians there (duh), but from experience, pedestrians don't seem to know what to do, and obviously a lot of cyclists just sail through.

In conclusion, whilst I am not against protected cycles lanes, I think they would make far more sense to be done in areas where the speed difference between cars and cyclists are higher and hence, there is a much higher safety risk. All putting protected cycle lanes in busy city centres does, is cause more issues between road users other than cars than just keeping to a painted bike lane, and generates unnecessarily overcomplicated junction layouts.

What are your opinions?

Came back from work yesterday to find this… exceptionally good lock, bike low jacked with AirTag… didn’t lock up the front wheel…. They’ve torn all the cables and at this point it may be cheaper to buy a new bike…

Hi all

I'm in the market for a full suspension electric mountain bike, my first ever albeit I've hired quite a few over the years. Some good deals are starting to come up so I'm hoping to grab one around the £3k to £4k mark (down from say £5k)

I'm a 40m and not looking to go crazy or push myself. I happily do blue runs at Morzine and Bikepark Wales and although at some point I'd like to get to reds, this will be the limit.

I'm generally quite fit albeit the years are starting to catch up with me.

I'm trying to work out if a lightweight bike or a full power makes more sense.

I'd likely at most be doing a long morning's ride, say 4 hours. But I'm concerned the lightweight bikes will be able to do that.

Is someone able to give me some advice as a comparison. How big the offset is in terms of feel and how long a typical lightweight bike lasts on a typical day (I. E. Up and down Bike park Wales 4-5 times).

Thanks!

My son got back into cycling after a few years out of it. His old bike was too small as a 24" wheeled kids bike, but he did ride it for fun at one point. He started riding his mum's old mountain bike in road going commuter / touring setup. Then we got a secondhand mountain bike with full suspension because he wanted that. Well he was getting hooked into local trails and jumps etc.

It was an old aluminium alloy giant stance. I think it's now any 11 years old. It was great as a first larger MTB for him but didn't have enough suspension travel and was too lightweight for his riding user.

As he was getting really into more serious stuff and breaking things on his giant we got a year old enduro bike after that. However it wasn't right for him so we got it ready to sell. Then recently he was testing his old giant bike after my last fix by bunny hopping on the tarmac of our driveway and nearby pavements / road. He suddenly came back riding his bike after one of those short out and back test rides saying he'd cracked the frame. He had, right through at the weld too.

So the cracked through weld joint is at the lower tube of the rear suspension triangle right at the main frame end at the bottom tube. Obviously being aluminium alloy and old it's not easy trying to find a specialist welder (aluminium alloy is not a simple welding job). I'm right in saying it's not worth trying to get it fixed?

So my question is really about the longevity of aluminium alloy frames. What's a good lifetime for such a frame material? Obviously a question like 'how long is a piece of string?', but what are the boundaries of frame lifetime is ok?

In his case it was bought about 2 years ago possibly almost 3 years ago. He's been riding other bikes for about 5 or 6 months now, but was planning on riding it to keep the enduro rig in a good condition for selling at a decent price.

He's hard on bikes and this has 120mm travel up front and a lot less at the rear. That's the issue, he was riding too hard for what the bike was designed for so I think 8 to 9 years with another person who seemed to keep it well maintained. Then 2 to 3 years of hard use. To me I think that's the limit for the frame.

What do you think?

What is a reasonable lifetime for hard-ridden aluminium alloy frames? What is a reasonable lifetime for such a frame ridden carefully and within it's designed for use? Curious as to the range that's acceptable for the extremes of hard and easy riding.

What about other frame materials? Carbon fibre, steel, titanium, etc. I know people talk of titanium as a lifetime bike but if used in MTB frames on the rough stuff, is it still that? What about steel? Repairable as it's easier to weld, but really? Can you reweld cracked or broken joints with sufficient safety to carry on riding as normal?

I'm mostly interested in aluminium alloy lifetime but the other materials are a passing curiosity. Purely a secondary query for after my main question is answered.

I want to do a very long ride, and sleep in a hotel somewhere and cycle back. So I just am looking for inspirations/advice etc

So this question is specifically about leaderless peer to peer rides. So not covered by the Ride leaders requirements.

I am a member of a smaller CUK / CTC group. None of the members want to formally lead group rides. We are all ageing. We all wish to continue as we have for over a hundred years - publish a destination, meet up, ride there and back.

We have created the required annual generic risk assessment and we have a rider policy but we are worried as a committee that we may not be protected by the group liability insurance? we have taken the very harsh line of actually removing our clubruns from our websites/ facebook pages.

So have any of you made your Sunday or regular riders leaderless/ peer to peer rides? And have you found any concrete proof that the CUK/Bikmo/Hiscox Group Liability Insurance policy covers these types of rides.

My section had a 4 hour committee meeting last night (longest by far) and we got nowhere. We are all trying to just ride our bikes safely and do the best for our members.

I've always wanted to do Ride The Lights with my family but we don't live in Blackpool so I'd have to find us a way home after.

Anyone know what the trains are like for carrying bikes that night? I would guess that the Northern trains will be crammed, then we'd have to change onto the west coast main line – where a family of four fills an entire Avanti train. This has always put me off going in the past. Is it as bad as I fear?

I'm hunting around for my first road bike and I'm looking to buy something higher and secondhand.

Obvious places would be eBay and Facebook marketplace, unless of course this sub can recommend better places for me to look?

I have seen a bike which is pretty (very?) well priced, but the seller somehow cannot take BACS for no given reason, cash only.

It does make me wonder if the bike isn't kosher? Maybe I'm paranoid, but I'm a noob to FB marketplace. It's a Cervelo S2 in what looks exceptional condition for £450. Does this sound legit pricewise?

Thanks.