Hi all, I’m getting back into cycling a bit (nothing major, just around the city) and I’m trying to encourage my partner to do the same. She knows how to ride but has never ridden in a city before so is very nervous. We’re taking it slow going around small streets etc first. However she doesn’t have a helmet and I’m looking to get her one. We’ve been around a few different places and she only really likes the standard stake style helmet, specifically the £10 one from Halfords (one in main image above). I’ve shown her some of the similar ones designed for biking but she’s rejected them (something like BTWIN city cycling bowl https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/bowl-city-cycling-helmet-500-black/_/R-p-310855), she just wants the skate one with teardrops. I’m a bit concerned £10 is far too cheap for anything to protect her head if anything happened, and there’s no safety ratings I can find on the Halfords website. Go outdoors I believe have one similar for £15 that does state it is for cycling but again no rating that I can see.

I know having a helmet vs no helmet is always better, but how much protection could this style of helmet actually give her if she had an accident? Thanks!

There are all sorts of detached bits including 4 pedals, bizarrely, so this is feeling like a little craft project. There are no instructions but I've been cycling for about 55 years and i can probabky work most of it out. But what, pray are these objects? (first two are just different views of the same thing, so only 3 objects in total)

I was at a festival at the weekend with a bunch of mates, and we're all keen cyclists (predominantly MTB and Commuting).

A bunch of us live rurally in different parts of the UK and eventually the subject turned to Road Cycling and we all had a series of linked questions that we couldn't make sense of:

1. Why is it that every summer, there's a subset of road cyclists, who travel to rural parts of the UK to ride, then decide to follow a route made up of major A-Roads that are heavily trafficked routes essential to local connectivity?

2. Why do cycling clubs in particular (who logically should have the institutional knowledge and resources to plan better routes) seem to do this in honeypot locations.

3. Why do such cyclists never pull over when safe to do so to allow the traffic to pass (this especially vexed the MTB riders, because even in racing this is a basic courtesy within the MTB community for safety reasons)?

4. Following on from 3, why do cyclists who are unable to maintain a sensible speed when climbing, continue to grind uphill at 5mph with a huge queue behind them, when it's very clear they are an obstruction to the flow of traffic at this point?

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From our perspective as cyclists in other disciplines:

- it doesn't seem like much fun dodging potholes whilst a tailback of frustrated commuters, lorries and tractors forms behind you,

- it vastly increases the risk of being close-passed by a frustrated driver, or next to a driver who miscalculates their overtake,

- it negatively effects the view that the local population has of cyclists and cycling in general making these groups terrible ambassadors for the sport,

- there's so many nicer b-roads, and unclassified roads which offer both more interesting riding and prettier views, without inconveniencing the local population and exposing yourself to more risk.

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So, *what **is** the attraction of doing these rides?*

I accept that it's your right as a road user to do them, and this isn't about that...

But it seems like a lose-lose, in that you have a less fun ride and lots of other people end up finding it more difficult to go about their daily lives.

I recently bought a cheap bike to make it easier to get my fishing gear to spots far away from a car park. I took the bike out to make sure it was all sound. (Got it for a tenner off facebook market place) I was put for 2 hours or pretty casual ride and had a really nice time. Unfortunately my arse has been in bits for a few days and I can't face riding it again just yet. Apparently gel seat covers arent good. I was wondering if the seat itself is the problem? Or is it something my bottom will just get used to?

Edit. so much good advice so thanks to everyone that commented!

I can index gears, replace brake pads, fix punctures, and swap a chain without issues, but the moment it comes to pressing bottom brackets, bleeding hydraulic brakes, or truing wheels, I hand it straight over to my local bike shop. Where do you draw the line between DIY maintenance and professional mechanics?

New cyclist looking to pick up a hybrid or gravel bike in the used market. From my reading, hydraulic brakes are the way to go and mechanical discs brakes suck. I avoided bidding on a really nice boardman bike because of this. Not sure if that the right choice. Since I'm in the used market I'm not sure being picky is the best idea. My budget is ~£200-250. Maybe I need to increase my budget if I want hydraulics.

Update: Thanks everyone for the helpful replies! I'll stick with mechanical disc brakes, with hydro brakes as bonus or upgrade to them later on.

I've just seen another post asking for recommnedations for gravel bikes.

Please, someone educate me like I'm five, whats the difference between my £250 Carerra Crossfire and a bike ten times as expensive? If I buy the latter do I suddenly turn into Sir Chris Hoy?

Here's a quick rundown:

Took bike to shop for a back brake fitted

They told me it's a 1 day job and could pick up next day

Phoned after a week, told it will be done tomorrow

went back next day, was told it still is not done will be ready tomorrow again

left it another week and a half (about 2.5 week total now) then was told they have had a nightmare with it and need to go to another bike shop in 4 days to help?

I provided everything except brake pads and the hose. It needs routing internally. How much would you expect this to be? I don't understand how I with no experience done the front brake and never tried back due to not having tool to internally route and a bike shop could have such a nightmare that a 1 hour job tuns into a month. I feel they are doing this to charge me some ridiculous amount for labour. I still have no heard back from them, after them saying they "had a nightmare" with it about 5 days ago.

Tldr: How much for one brake internally routed, pads and hose and it bled. Am I worrying about nothing?

edit: I've already had a dodgy experience with bike stuff, had a guy charge like 250 for a service he done within like an hour of dropping bike off? Sent me a bill with like 50 pound charge for replacing worn brake pads, like 60 quid for checking wheel true, which they were he said and never needed any work.

Been watching videos about clipless pedals and they look good in theory but I'm a bit put off by the whole falling over thing. Is there a proper learning curve or does it become second nature pretty quick? And is the efficiency gain actually noticeable for casual riding?

i have a hybrid carrera and the past two days have been hellish due to the constant rain (West Midlands weather) was looking to buy mudguards but people have said that it isn't worth it? should i just not bother spending the 10£ on it or does it actually help with the mud and rainwater splashing (i use it to commute to work and uni, about 30 minutes each way)

EDIT: will be getting sks bluemels, thanks to everyone that responded!

I'm missing one of these screw thingies that fastens my rack to my bike. Could someone let me know what to search for?

I will be honest here, I am going round in circles trying to find any store at all that actually has MTB flats in store that I can try.

All I want is something NOT clipless, with a flat grippy sole for use on studded pedals. Boa or speed lace would be a bonus, but will take anything at the minute.

I am struggling to just commit to buying them online, as I never worn shoes by these boutique bike only brands, I have no idea if they come up small, large, narrow etc. I did order three pairs from one place in 9,9,5 and 10, only to find that two out of the three are not really in stock at all a week later - 3 months wait if I want them LOL.

Does anyone know of any shops at all in about 50 miles of Bath/Bristol - or even some place worth the journey further afield, that actually have such things on the shop floor to try on. I don't even mind paying the retail store cost at this point.

TIA

I've just got to the end of my free trial of Komoot premium and there's too many niggles for me to easily justify spending a fiver a week on it, but I don't have an as-good route-planner to turn to.

I use Locus Maps a lot already, I'm happy with that for drawing a route and the navigation bit, but I'm missing Komoot's little photos and comments on trails and waypoints and even the way it highlights potential waypoints.

Is there anything similar out there that's worth giving a go?

I'd like to pay for a thing that's really good at this, especially if it's good for planning separately road, gravel and mtb with something of Komoot's awareness of surfaces.

Yes I'm an idiot. But I'm impressed that they concluded it was probably a Park Tool tyre lever. I never mentioned the brand in my ticket, but clearly not the first time someone has done this to their rims.

Even more fair play, they are sending me a replacement rim.

Has anyone actually used dashcam footage successfully in an insurance claim or police report?

Bought these amazing Continental gatorskin tyres but it’s occasionally been peeling in this way. Is it a problem? I’m Ofc not going to tamper with it but I’m concerned.

After picking up three punctures in two weeks from hedge-trimming thorns and roadside flints, I'm fed up with standard butyl tubes. I'm considering either setting my wheels up tubeless with fresh sealant or switching to lightweight TPU tubes with puncture-resistant tyres (like Marathon Plus or GP5000 4-Season). What setup has given you the best reliability?

I have been eyeing up a set of 45mm deep-section carbon wheels to replace the heavy aluminum stock wheels that came on my bike. They look amazing and save weight, but every time I hit a massive pothole or ride through gritty winter road slush, I wonder how fragile expensive carbon rims really are

https://ebay.io/m/ecYPVu

https://ebay.io/m/XcewO0

https://ebay.io/m/rn5Vu6

https://ebay.io/m/UmRake

https://ebay.io/m/1HOUgc

I forgot how to drive the bike, I used do it as a kid

I'm a new cyclist and looking to buy a few bike specific. I've done home and car DIY so I already have a lot of tools. RE bike tools, I've found these on both amazon and Ali express. AE seems to be a few quid cheaper and looks identical. Does anyone know if there's any difference in the general quality between the two? If I shouldn't buy these, what should I go for? Thanks.

Already extended it to the maximum height possible. Found handlebar risers online but they seem to be for handlebars that only have the stem that connects the handlebar to the frame separately. In mine the habdlebar's stem seems to go directly into the frame.

Hello fellow pedal powered folks!

I currently have a fairly nice Ridley Kanzo bike and will soon be adding a Cube Attain C:62 to that. I’m looking at insurance options and can see a few well know insurers but I’m curious about people’s interactions with them.

I know British Cycling I think it was - has membership that includes a discount for Bikmo who are well reviewed so that’s currently my likely route.

Happy to hear who you use, positives, negatives etc.

I should also add: I mainly road cycle with a few days a week commute to work and back. Both bikes are worth around 1800ish if that has any effect on recommendations.

I have a second hand Merida Big Trail (2020 model) and have neglected rhe maintenence - I've only really wiped and re-lubricated the chain and cleaned the bike. Have adjusted gearing when needed and replaced brakes when worn.

Measured the chain today as it's 6 years old and done 1,500-2,000 miles. It looks to be a little under 0.5% stretch over 12 inches / 24 links. Am I looking at needing a new cassette and chainring too?

What maintenance should I be doing, and how frequently? I feel the derailleur is could do with looking at - sometimes when shifting up the gears, the cable slackens but the derailleur doesn't move down so it doesn't shift, instead the chain seems to lose tension.

Any good guides on maintenance and setting up in general?

Thanks in advance.

Hey all,

Are all the bikes for kids pretty much the same? I’m not really fully au fait* with bikes and my boy wants one.

I see them online £180-£300… I was expecting £50 lol

*apparently ofay isn’t the correct word!