How To Fit A Rear Reflector To A Mudguard

• Highly recommended (by me) since this gives drivers a good idea of where your bike actually is. Reflectors on the saddle post are helpful, but can be a little deceptive at night, since they show where the saddle is, not the rear wheel. Most are sold with the advice that you will need to drill a hole through the mudguard. Do not let this put you off, here’s how to do it even if you are a mechanical idiot (like me).

• You will require a couple of Phillips screwdrivers, one smaller than the other, the rear reflector, a black marker pen, latex gloves if you have them, possibly some Blu-Tack, and a rigid but thin board. This latter can be anything: cardboard, plastic, metal, antyhing so long as it will fit in between the mudguard and the tyre. This, of course, assumes that your mudguards are plastic. If they are metal, you may wish to trot down to your friendly cycle mechanic and smile nicely.

• Mark (with the pen) on the mudgard where you want the reflector to go. Put the board inbetween the tyre and the mudguard.

• Put the point of the small Phillips screwdriver against where you want the reflector to go, press it against the mudguard, and twist until you make a small hole. The board is a vital part of this operation since, to paraphrase the great Terry Pratchett, it takes a great deal of effort to push the screwdriver through the mudguard, and almost none whatsoever to put it all the way through into the tyre, which is a bugger.

• If the hole isn’t big enough, use the large Phillips screwdriver to widen it – insert and twist.

• Fit the screw through the mudguard, and fasten with the nut that came with it. Check as you do this that the screw is not rubbing against the tyre at all. it will weaken the tyre if it does. Hold the bike off the ground, spin the wheel, and listen for any sounds / feel for resistance against the tyre.

• You may find that the screw is slightly too long to put the reflector flat against the mudguard without the screw pressing against the tyre. This is why you have Blu-Tack. If this happens, get the reflector as close to the mudguard as you can without putting the screw against the tyre, then press the Blu-Tack in between the reflector and the mudguard. This is a good idea anyway, as it helps to hold the reflector onto the mudguard. Believe me when I say that whenever you turn the bike round, the rear reflector will get bashed against doors / walls / bike stands / whatever, so it needs to be very firmly fixed on.

• If you’re feeling fancy, colour in the Blu-Tack with the marker pen so that it doesn’t show.

• Done!

Toddlers With iPods: Some Further Thoughts on Cycling

1. Assume that all pedestrians you see have the road sense of toddlers with iPods, particularly if they happen to be students. Most of them aren’t, but this will prepare you to deal with the inevitable one or two who are, and who will step right out into the road without bothering to look. You would think that people who have voluntarily deprived themselves of the sense of hearing would be extra-vigilant when crossing roads, but it doesn’t work like that.

2. Ride assertively, but don’t be an arsehole. Give cars room to pass whenever you can, but only when it’s safe to do so. You have an equal right to be on the road, and you must claim it. If you need to pull out around a car and there’s another car behind you, get in position nice and early. If they have to slow down, they have to slow down. Drivers will deal with this far better than if you suddenly swerve out at the last minute.

3. Never, ever, undertake. Do not go up the left-hand side of a lorry or bus. More cyclists get killed doing this than any other manouevre. They can’t see you and they WILL squash you. Filtering up the left-hand side of a row of stopped cars at a traffic light is a different matter – UNLESS one of them is a lorry or bus!

4. Flashing lights are legal as of 2005. I used to think they weren’t, and rode with steady lights, but not any more. As a driver, I realised that when I saw a flashing white or red light, I immediately thought “bike”. This is the reaction you want. No other road vehicle uses flashing lights, so they immediately identify you as a bicycle, and they are more eye-catching than steady lights. My two cents – choose what suits you.

5. Keep the wheel reflectors on your bike. As a driver, often the only time I’ve seen a bike crossing a junction or road in front of me at night is when the headlights reflect off the distinctive rotating reflectors.

Stuff Which Is Not Essential, But Which You May Wish To Consider, Part the Last

With a special focus on maintaining the bike, to round things off.

15. Chain cleaner, solvent and sprocket brush

This is edging towards the “bike maintenance” side of things. A chain cleaner is really two things: a set of brushes that clip over the chain, and a concentrated solvent used to make up the solution in the brush holder that dissolves the grease and muck on the chain. You will need to buy this from a bike shop, or you could look online. No particular mechanical skills are required to do this, but it does take a willingness to spent 15-20 minutes cleaning the bike, then cleaning the chain cleaner brushes. A sprocket brush is used at the same time to get the muck and debris off the sprockets and chainwheels at the back of the bike (this is, of course, assuming you’re riding a bike with derailleur gears!). Most serious cyclists will do this at least once a month as cleaning the muck off helps to stop wear and tear on the chain and sprockets, leading to easier gear shifts and making the parts last longer. If you are going to do this, buy yourself some latex gloves! and you may want to think about getting a bike stand (see below).

16. Latex gloves

Usually available for a couple of quid from Wilkinsons / the pound shop, or anywhere that sells motoring supplies. Few things can stick to your fingers quite like the unique mixture of road muck and cycling oil that the bike chain gets covered in. Latex gloves are great for avoiding this. Pop them on before you do any work on the bike, peel them off and bin them at the end, problem solved. (If you do get cycle grease and muck on your fingers, a nail brush and neat washing up liquid is what’s required!).

17. Bike stand

Again, this is for if you’re getting more into cleaning and maintaining your bike. You will probably need to buy it from a bike shop. A bike stand supports the bike, holding the rear wheel off the ground. This allows you to rotate the pedals freely, which is essential if you’re trying to clean the chain – it is well-nigh impossible to hold the bike off the ground with one hand, hold the chain cleaner on with the other, and rotate the pedals! Also essential for if you get into maintaining your bike and need to adjust the gears. About £15-£20.

18. Multitool

Essentially a cycling Swiss Army knife. They often come in “bike repair kits” from Wilkinsons, etc., or you should be able to get them quite easily online or at the bike shop. They usually consist of a set of Allen keys, and a set of screwdriver heads, the idea being that you keep it with you to help make any adjustments / running repairs to the bike as required (they are best kept in your saddlebag, rack pack or panniers). Well worth getting since, even if you don’t plan on doing any bike repairs, someone else might be able to use it. If you do buy one, bear in mind that they can go rusty if they get soaked in the rain, so it may be wise to keep it in a plastic bag (a sandwich bag is about the right size!). And finally...

19. Trouser clips

You may or may not feel you need these. They do have a rather dorky, businessman-on-a-folding-bike type image, and a lot of people never bother with them. Personally, I tend to avoid the need for them by wearing trousers that fit closely and don’t flap about. Since my usual cycling apparel is a pair of El Cheapo trackie bottoms from Primak, I usually adjust them by using safety pins to pin together any loose fabric at the bottom of the trouser legs. I really don’t like my trousers flapping around when I’d riding; it’s distracting, and the worry that they might get stuck in the chain is one more thing on my mind that I can do without. I’m also not a fan of clips, however, since I’ve yet to find any that don’t feel as through they are about to slip down your leg, no matter how firmly you try to clip them on – another distraction I can do without. However, one thing I have found that works well is trouser bands. These are elasticated fluorescent bands that fasten with Velcro around your calves, and they are a lot more secure. You can buy them from Poundland for a quid each, and if you are lucky you can get the extra-dorky but highly visible ones with flashing lights on. I keep a pair in my panniers just in case!

Stuff Which Is Not Essential, But Which You May Wish To Consider, Part the Third

Some of you may have noticed a bias towards cycling and away from finishing up the Epic Tale of Glastonbury 2010. The reason is simple. I'm knackered and writing up a list of stuff that you need to go cycling with is way easier than dragging back my memory to June 2010, when the sun shone, life was simple, and I wasn't having to interview for my own job.

The Epic Tale of Glastonbury will be finished, probably some time in April.

Also, some of you who have read Nick's post may wonder what a cyclist in an Ozzie hat looks like. Here's a picture: wonder ye no more! (And yes, that is my bike in the background with the panniers on.)

More stuff to consider buying if you take up cycling:


12. Toe clips

Opinions are mixed. Some people feel they trap your feet on the pedals and prefer to ride without. Some people scorn them and prefer cleats; special pedals with special shoes, where the shoes clip onto the pedals. Personally, I find them the perfect compromise. They are much cheaper than cleats, not difficult to fit even if you are a mechanical incompetent, and mean that you don’t have to have two pairs of shoes: one with cleats for the bike, one without cleats for the rest of your day. They greatly improve your pedalling efficiency by holding your feet in the ideal position on the pedal, and meaning that your feet can’t slip off. There is a certain technique to getting your feet in both clips when starting off, but it takes around half an hour to master, and with practice you can do it with no thought. As for the trapping your feet thing, it’s not really an issue – pull your foot firmly backwards and it will come out of the clip!


13. Cycling glasses

Essentially wraparound shades that cover the whole of your eyes, including the sides. These are mainly handy for people who don’t wear glasses, as they keep wind / rain / flies out of your eyes, but people who do wear glasses may also find them handy! I have two pairs; a tinted pair for daytime, a clear pair for nighttime. Again, you can buy them cheaply on Ebay.


14. Water bottle

Available dead cheaply from anywhere that sells cycling supplies, but not often actually sold with the bike. Most bikes have a place on the frame – usually on the bottom tube – with holes where you can screw the water bottle holder onto the bike. Remember to remove it if you lock the bike up outside! Change the water in it frequently.

Stuff Which Is Not Essential, But Which You May Wish To Consider, Part the Second

9. Rack pack

Highly useful if you have a luggage rack. A rack pack is a single bag which straps onto the luggage rack and can be used to carry cycling essentials such as the lock, puncture repair kit, pump, etc. Crucially, unlike a set of panniers, it comes with a shoulder strap and is small enough to sling over your shoulder and carry around, meaning that if you are locking your bike up outside, you can strip anything removable (lights, water bottle) off the bike, stick them and your helmet in the pack, and off you go.


10. Gloves

Essential in cold weather – thermal ones are ideal. Handy in warmer weather as they provide an extra layer of padding between you and the bike to absorb jolts and knocks. You can buy cheap padded cycling gloves from just about any sports shop or Wilkinsons for about £5. You may like to buy some bright yellow / reflective / fluorescent ribbon (haberdashery shops often sell it) and stick it across the knuckle area of the gloves; this means you can give hand signals at night and drivers behind you have a better chance of seeing them.


11. Cycling jacket

Not essential, but purpose-made waterproof cycling jackets are usually better at keeping you warm and keeping the rain out than an ordinary jacket. Be aware that if you buy one that does not have a lining, it will have all the insulation properties and comfort of wear of a crisp packet. This is not a reason not to buy one – my own jacket is unlined and does a fantastic job of keeping the rain and wind out – but it does mean that you’ll need to wear something with sleeves underneath it.


12. Balaclava

Not fashionable but invaluable in cold / rainy / windy weather. You are a bit more exposed on a bike than you would be walking: the extra speed increases the windchill factor (although the exercise will warm you up nicely on longer rides, hence the popularity of wearing layers for ease of temperature control!). You can buy thermal skiing-type balaclavas for less than a tenner on Ebay, which are warm but thin and fit nicely under your helmet. Ski caps are also popular for keeping the cold off. Important safety tip: if you wore a hat or balaclava the last time you wore your helmet, and you’re not wearing one this time, take a few seconds to adjust the helmet so that it fits snugly. A helmet that slips around on your head might as well be made of chocolate for all the good it will do you if you fall off the bike.


13. Waterproofs

See note above re: being more exposed. Depends a bit on the sort of cycling you intend to do, and whether you mind being damp or soaked when you get there. A full head-to-toe set of waterproofs includes the following: rain cover for your helmet, possibly a balaclava, waterproof jacket, waterproof cycling trousers (standard hiking waterproofs can have an unfortunate tendency to leak when cycling, and can catch in the chain or wheels if you don’t clip them around your legs), waterproof Sealskinz gloves, and “booties”. These latter are neoprene covers that fit over the top of your shoes. They are not very fashionable, but keep the rain out like nothing else. I have tried waterproof Sealskinz socks with mixed results: fine for a short ride or mild drizzle, can give you soaking wet feet over a long ride as the water runs down your legs. Unfortunately, proper cycling waterproofs tend to be on the pricey side. If you are limiting your spends, I’d recommend that gloves, a waterproof jacket and raincover for the helmet are the priorities.

Stuff Which Is Not Essential, But Which You May Wish To Consider

6. Foot pump

Not something many people think about buying. This is a shame. It’s important to keep your tyres at the right pressure; soft tyres make for more difficult cycling, and are slightly more prone to punctures. Unless you possess the upper-body strength of Arnold Schwarzeneggar, however, it is difficult to pump tyres up to the right pressure using a handpump, and the gauges on many hand pumps are not very reliable. A foot pump makes it much, much easier to get the tyres up to the right pressure. (Note: it will say what the pressure for your tyres should be on the tyre wall AKA the side of the tyre.)


7. Luggage rack

Up to you if you want to get this fitted. Some people prefer not to have the extra expense and weight on the bike. On the other hand, a bike with a luggage rack has a much higher carrying capacity and thus becomes a much more versatile machine. Riding with heavy backpacks is not ideal as it throws off your centre of gravity and is likely to give you backache. If you decide to go for, ask about getting this fitted if you’re buying a new bike – they may give you a discount and fit it for free.

If you go for a luggage rack, you will probably also want at least two stretchy “bungee” cords (thick elastic cords with hooks at each end) to hold stuff onto it. Panniers are also an option if you plan on carrying a lot of stuff around with them. Both items can be bought cheaply from Argos or Wilkinsons. I’ve hauled my gear (work clothes, gym kit, shopping, six days’ worth of clothes and other supplies for a cycling holiday) around in a pair of £20 panniers from Argos for years. A bike with good gears, a luggage rack and a set of panniers can haul a mighty amount of stuff for surprisingly little effort.


8. Mudguards

Like a luggage rack, something of an optional extra. Some people prefer not to have the extra weight or expense. Also, they do not look “cool”. Some people take the view that cheap plastic mudguards add little in the way of expense or weight, and that there is nothing terribly cool about arriving at your destination covered in muddy spray from the wheels if it rains.

Again, it’s worth asking the shop to fit them if you’re buying a new bike. You may like to ask them to fit a rear reflector to the rear mudguard at the same time. This aids visibility, as it’s at the same height as a car’s headlights (all bikes are sold with a rear reflector, but it’s usually mounted higher up the bike, under the saddle). It also means that if you decide to go for a luggage rack, you can pile stuff on top of the rack and not risk obscuring the rear reflector.

As may be apparent from this article so far, I subscribe to the view of Richard Bernstein, author of the Bicycle Book, that: “Cycling at night can be dangerous. The only really safe way to do it is looking like a Christmas tree gone berserk”.

Stuff You Don’t Realise You Need When You Start Cycling, But That You Do Need

(For Brow of Oscillation.)

Here’s a post which I hope will be handy to anyone thinking of buying a bike. One of the aspects of getting a bike which I hadn’t expected was that the buying of the bike is only the part. You need a whole load of stuff along with it. Well, okay, maybe you don’t need all of it, but you do need some of it, and the rest will make for a more pleasant cycling experience.

Be aware that much of this can be purchased quite cheaply, depending on what it is. The only areas where I have found that paying more money results in a difference I actually noticed is with cycling-related clothing, and even then only with clothing designed for cycling, like my jacket and overshoes. My standard cycling outfit consists of a base layer (available from fitness shops – less sweaty than a t-shirt, but optionl) and jacket on top, with optional layer in between for cold weather, fleecy tracksuit bottoms and knee-high socks from Primark, pair of old trainers, helmet from Argos and an old pair of thermal gloves. (Pants are involved too, I hasten to add.) The only clothes worth more than a tenner are the base layer and jacket.


1. Helmet
Controversial. Some people will argue you should never ride without one. Some will argue that they are ineffective, and some will argue you are actually safer without one. It’s up to you. Personally, I almost never ride without one, unless I’m on a long ride on a quiet country road and at risk of overheating if I wear it.

You do also have the consideration of where to store your helmet, which depends on where you’ll be locking up the bike. If it’s in the shed at work and you can keep the helmet in your desk drawer, this is somewhat less inconvenient than having to carry it with you if you’re doing the shopping on Northumberland Street – albeit a helmet will usually fit easily into a backpack and weighs very little. With some helmets, it’s possible to thread a cable lock (see below) through one of the ventilation holes in the helmet, and thus lock it onto the bike when you leave it. You can pay anything for your helmet, from £8 in Argos to £130 at a specialist bike shop. Whatever you decide, you need to consider the issue.

Something else no-one tells you when you start cycling. On many helmets, the thin plastic band inside the rim of the helmet (that holds it on your head), plus any strips of padding inside, are removable. (Mine stick on with Velcro.) This has the advantage that you can remove them and wash them, which is a good idea if you ever get a sweaty forehead during cycling – it avoids the dreaded “forehead break-out in spots” syndrome. You can machine-wash them, or just rinse them under the tap!


2. Lights

You can pay as much or as little as you like for your lights, but you do need them, even if you don’t plan to ride at night – they are important in bad weather during the daytime as well. Fortunately, these days good lights are easily available for a cheap price. You want LED lights which are not very big and which easily detach from the bike so that you can take them off if you are leaving the bike in a public place. Most LED lights come with a choice of “steady” or “flashing” settings.


3. Puncture repair kit, spare inner tube, pump, and a bag to carry them in.

There is, as far as I know, no cycling equivalent of the RAC. If your tyre goes flat on a lonely road in the rain, it’ll be you needing to fix it, unless you fancy pushing the bike all the way home. Fortunately, all of the above can be purchased for about £10 from Argos or Wilkinsons. If I had to give only one piece of advice to anyone buying a bike for the first time, it would be “Buy all of the above, get someone to show you how to change an inner tube / stick a patch on a puncture, then put the pump, spare tube and repair kit in the bag and attach it to the bike”. Do this and you will always be able to get yourself home.

With regard to the inner tube: you do need a spare, in case you can’t find or repair the puncture in the old one. Bikes come with two types of valve: Schraeda or Presta. It is not particularly important to remember which one is which, but it is important that a) your spare inner tube has the right type of valve for your bike and b) your pump will inflate a tube which uses this type of valve.

3a. Framebag or saddlebag.

Part of “3” above. These are the smallest types of bags that attach to bikes, either at the back of the saddle, or strapped onto the top tube / seatpost. Ideal for carrying around puncture repair supplies and spare batteries for your lights. (You might also like to chuck in some tissues / wet wipes / plasters.)

4. Chain oil

Available cheaply from Wilkinsons. Add a couple of drops to the chain each week.


5. Locks

Ideally you want two locks. One is a D-lock, which is a rigid metal hoop which can be used to lock the bike firmly onto a post / fence / cycle rack. The other is a chain or cable lock, which can be used a) in situations where the D-lock won’t fit round whatever you want to lock the bike onto, b) in conjunction with the D-lock, where you use the D-lock to lock the bike onto a post or whatever, then wrap the cable lock around the frame and through the wheels to immobilise the bike and make it impossible to nick the wheels.

Again, you can spend as much as you like on your locks. Some people recommend assuming that you should spend the equivalent of 10% of the bike’s value on them. Personally I use the El Cheapo locks from Argos, but then my bike is not massively valuable, except to me. If you don’t plan to ride with panniers or a luggage rack, you’ll need to either remember to pick the lock(s) up every time you get on the bike, or find some way of permanently clipping them to it. Many D-locks come with clips that attach to the frame for just this purpose. (Cable locks can be coiled around part of the bike’s frame to keep them out of the way when you’re riding. I’ve seen quite a few people keep their cable lock permanently coiled onto the bike.)

More in this vein soon!

Anarchist Feminist

There's at least one in Newcastle. I hate this advert, so when I spotted this "customisation" of it on the side of a phone box near Monument it made me grin:

In other news, I'm happy. Got in two dives yesterday, going to dive at Stony Cove, the Farnes and Bute in the next two months. Also, I finally finished adding a few things to my bike which I've been meaning to do for a while. It's the perfect bike, in my very biased opinion.

A Strange, Orc-Like Race...

...specially bred to keep the Scots out of England, was the Pub Landlord (Al Murray's) verdict on Geordies.

He may have been right. One night last week I was cycling home clad in my usual winter gear, in which I have a minimum of two layers of clothing all round me. Except for my face, though I do wear a balaclava for the entertainment of passers-by. As I was chugging along past Heaton Park thinking "bugger me it's cold bugger me it's cold bugger me it's cold, hot chocolate here I come", a man cycled past me wearing Lycra shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt.

If civilisation as we know it ends, the North-East will carry on as normal. Clearly the loss of heat and power won't bother Geordies in the least.

I think they've all got extra layers of subcutaneous fat under the skin for insulation, and the rest of us will just never achieve their immunity to cold.

Even so, cycling dude? Lycra is not a good look.

The Blog About Cycling

A natural topic for one of my posts, this:

The Guardian Blog About Cycling

Enjoy!

Fell Off My Bike

Well, actually I didn't. I encountered a patch of black ice whilst turning right at a mini-roundabout and the back wheel skidded gracefully out from under me. The bike and I described a graceful arc down to the ground, where we lay on our sides for a second or two thinking "What the hell just happened?" Luckily there was nothing coming. There never is - it's a mini-roundabout in Shieldfield, near the patch of grass where the local kids like to set fire to stuff on Bonfire Night, and it's blocked off for cars, but not to bikes, which merrily pedal their way to and from the city centre, except when it's icy. (On the left is a nice picture of the sort of morning it was, as seen from the Civic Centre.)

I was fine, if stunned. It's winter and my current cycling rig is:

base layer,

middle-layer / fleecy jumper (on very cold mornings),

cycling jacket,

knee-length cotton socks from Primark (not cool but keep your calves nice and snug),

trainers,

thermal gloves,

helmet,

balaclava (again, if really cold),

padded shorts if it's really cold,

and, most importantly, thick fleecy jogging pants. (Also from Primark. Cheap and who cares if they get muddy?).

I had plenty of padding and walked away with nothing worse than a bruise on my right outer thigh.

More importantly, I had plenty of stuff in the panniers, which provided a nice gap in between the bike/my left and the road, so the bike wasn't harmed. (Lucky - I skidded with the gears-side nearest the road.) I heal for free, but I have to pay to get the bike repaired.

Anyway, I'm currently off the road, simply due to the fact that it's now so cold all the roads are icy, and my bike is a hybrid, not a mountain bike. Excellent for commuting and touring, not so good for anything requiring extra grip in slippy conditions. I'll be back on it soon, though, and when I am? I'll be on the main roads until winter is over.

If for no reason other than, for two nights afterwards, I would fall half asleep, find myself having a cycling dream, then waking up with a start as I dreamt about sliding off.

The second time this happened, I distinctly remember thinking: "Hey! Not fair!"

Amazing Reflective Gloves

I missed a step out of the "How to Make Reflective Gloves" post earlier: you need to seal the ends of the tape to stop them fraying, either by sewing them down or sealing with glue or nail varnish.

Here's a picture of the final result.

Back from a cycling holiday

Got back from my latest escapade on the bike last Sunday, it's taken until now for me to recover enough to post about it! Down from Edinburgh to Almouth over Friday to Sunday last week. 150 miles in three days, including one day (Saturday) with a 60-mile trip.

It was a mighty amount of fun, despite a grand total of seven punctures, and much beer was drunk.

More details as and when. In other news, I finally got round to putting reflective strips on my cycling gloves. There's a reason for this: I wear black gloves, and at night it's difficult for drivers to see my hand signals before I turn. Hopefully the reflective strips will solve this problem. For anyone wanting to do this themselves, it's surprisingly easy. Go to your local haberdashery shop (I used Fenwick's in Newcastle) and buy a strip of reflective / fluorescent ribbon and some double-sided iron-on backing, such as Bondaweb. All you need to do is cut strips of ribbon and Bondaweb, put them across the palm and back of the gloves, and iron them on with a medium-heat iron. Dead simple!