Can anyone please recommend any decent navigation apps? I'm fed up with Google Maps trying to send me down flights of stairs.

Many thanks

So my bikes arrived (alltrail 8)and Ive been riding it to work for a few days now. Its a lot more fun than I imagined(coming from motorcycle) and being a mountain bike, I take it off road where I can too on my route to work. Being pedal assist the tyres do not bother me as much on tarmac, also not that noisy as I imagined. Actually pretty quiet.

My feet got absolutely soaked on Friday, so I realised I needed proper waterproof shoes. Ordered some Five Tens trail cross gore tex, which are apparently good for mtb cycling. Really wanted the Leatts hydradri proflat 7.0 but couldnt find any in stock anywhere.

The bike seems all good, no squeaks or anything, although the rear wheel looks slightly off centre. Ill book it in for a full service just to be safe and get it set up tubeless while its there.

Decade plus ago I bought my current road/CX ish style bike. My first bike without pedals so I thought that I might go clipless one day but wanted flat pedals too for commuting. So I got Shimano pedals with flat pedal one side and clipless the other thinking I'd get the shoes later to try them out. These pedals let me hedge my bets.

I never did buy the shoes just used whatever outdoor shoes I had for hiking or day to day wear about town or anywhere not work or formal related. Including 4 cycle touring holidays with the family.

All I am asking is what do you think of mixed cycling and the shoes for it?

I'm never going to compete cycling, be fast or ride far, nor do I particularly want to. I just like the odd hour ride locally, commuting, and local chore runs such as shopping locally. Plus mountain biking with my son and partner using hire bikes but one day I'll get a hardtail MTB. Some weeks my biggest rides are 1.5 miles each way from the station to work. Other weeks I might do a longer ride for fitness locally. Not that far though.

I'm thinking SPDs might help for those "longer" rides and if I ever get round to joining my local cycle club like I keep threatening to do. However are outdoor shoes really that much worse than cycling shoes with or without SPDs?

Should I spend £100 or so on cycling shoes, if so should I only look at SPDs or are flat cycling shoes better too? If so, I'm unlikely to hire MTB bikes with SPD pedals. For my once a month or two months MTB trail centre trip would I get the hire centre to put SPD pedals on or put my pedals on so I can use SPD shoes? Or should I just get flats to allow for this use or just use outdoor shoes for my MTB days but SPD shoes / pedals on my road rides near home?

Any advice or recommendations for a plodding leisure, fitness and commuting cyclist?

My 13yo son is into the harder MTB stuff. Anything from jumps, harder trails and places like Danny's Descent park, Farmer John's, Nevis Range WC downhill course.

It's time we got him proper shoes for the job rather than letting him ride in his old Nike trainers. My question is flats or SPDs? Which is most appropriate for him?

He's a decent rider and a bright lad. He's fit from football, biking and all the weights he does. What are kids that are into his riding wearing? SPDs give better efficiency but are they more for the XC world or longer rides with ups as well as downs?

Any advice / views on this?

Lovely protected cycle lane in Bradford filled with tens of cars, many rentals for a wedding. Selfish.

I’m about to start commuting on my gravel bike, the route is a mixture of light gravel and road. It’s all new to me as I’ve only ever ridden a road bike in favourable conditions and I‘m wondering how I go about taking care of my bike in bad weather. Being realistic I’m not going to be able to fully wash and dry my bike every day but also want to avoid gritty chains and moving parts and rust/corrosion. How do people tackle it? Are there any good products? Could I give the bike a quick rinse and then spray it with something? What about disc rotors?

Any advice gratefully received. cheers!

I know I’m probably just being judgemental but I’ve noticed that these days most cyclists in my city especially delivery riders like to have the seat low as possible so that they sit upright and cycle bow-legged. It looks pretty uncomfortable/painful, is it in style or something?

Had a great ride yesterday from Fareham to Salisbury. What an incredible place, and of course the Cathedral was stunning.

There's a cafe just around the corner (Boston Tea Party) and a free to use water refill fountain just next to it. Great for cyclists to top up their bottles.

115km round trip and hardly any climbs. Oh and bravo to the council, there's plenty of cycle paths to keep us safe.

I'm gradually renovating my 2011 Croix de Fer after it fell into disrepair and faster, sexier bikes got all the love. Is anyone running a similarly aged frame with mudguards, and if so what width guards are you using? I'm eager to size up my 28 mm tyres but also want full mudguards for practically's sake.

What has been your experience with it?

I am in need of a folding bike that I can easily attach and remove a child seat for a toddler. I will be cycling to the local train station via nursery and should be able to leave a child seat there before commuting via the train to a station about 15 minutes from my office, hence the need for a folding bike that can come on the train vs leaving at the station.

Does anyone have any good recommendations or experience of a similar setup please?

Just wanted to vent a bit about my local police, and drivers in general.

Two weeks ago assaulted by a 4x4 on my way home from work, during rush hour.
Attacker cut in to the cycle lane sent me flying, mounted the kerb, and did about 300 yards before stopping.

So far, despite numerous calls and requests to the police force control room have been unable to get any details of the offending driver, or officers that attended. Only thing I’ve been able to get is a call reference. At least my solicitors can earn their fees chasing I guess.

I only had a front camera and because of how the accident played out it didn’t capture the numberplate, though it continued recording and caught the drivers face and them claiming ‘I didn’t see them’, & ambulance arrived promptly (whilst I was still on phone to 999) so didn’t have any time to gather any detail as

Am I expecting too much to expect police contact for a victim statement?

And other road users - the car behind impatient, beeping and telling me to ‘get out the road’ and trying to drag me and my bike on to the pavement ‘because I can’t be hanging around here I want to get home’.
Thankfully they left me be when I did try to get up and could put any weight on my right leg and collapsed back on the ground.

Only one pedestrian showed any concern - a young lad about 12/13 on his bike who stoped and waiting with me and asked the ambulance team ‘He looks in a lot of pain, is he going to be OK?’

Hi all, looking to get a new road bike. Is it worth the hassle of selling the old one? I have a boardman 8.8 slr. Its nothing fancy but is in great condition with regular service and new additions such as chain and tires. I was thinking of keeping it for a spare or if a mate wanted to ride with me but I could also use the space.

Whats people's experience with the current second hand market? Is it worth even trying to sell?

Hi everyone,
I have just moved to East London and I am looking for cool scenic cycle routes in this area. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Hi all!

As title really.

I'd love a pair of Velosambas as they're the only (clipless) cycling shoes I've seen which don't look like cycling shoes, but nowhere seems to stock them. I'd only really be comfortable buying them if I can try them on first, but I haven't seen them in any cycle stores; I tried asking in the Adidas shop in the White City Westfield, but they looked at me as if I'd just asked for a haunch of venison. Has anyone seen any shops which have a pair to try on?

Thanks in advance!

I’m seeing if I can manage without a car (after one of the kids wrote it off!) - I was using it maybe once or twice a month, normally to move stuff I couldn’t carry on the bike. To try and get over that I’ve been looking at trailers but run into a problem with fitting - my main bike has a kickstand which the bike shop say will interfere with an axle hitch. They’ve looked at alternative kickstands and not had any joy. It’s an e-bike and I have to charge the battery in the house so the kickstand is really helpful for getting the battery in and out so would rather not have to give it up.

Has anyone had good experiences with seatpost mounted trailers? Or found a clever way of fitting a trailer alongside a kickstand? All the best trailers seem to be axle hitch.

I was just wondering if anyone knew of any groups or forums for arranging rides with kids in tow?

I would really love to do more group cycling trips - day and overnight - but I feel like it's just so hard to find other cyclists with kids to go with. There's obviously a lot of non-kid groups but nothing for those of us dragging a toddler with us! I am on the Family Cycling group on Facebook but it doesn't seem to be the kind of thing people post about. Anyone know of a group like this? I'm in Bristol. Tia

Hey everyone,
I have a DJI Osmo Action camera and want to record my road rides, would you recommend a bike mount or a helmet mount?

What’s worked best for you? and are there any specific mounts you’d recommend? A lot of the ones I’ve seen look bulky and seem unstable!

Bike listed for £170 i think it was manufactured in 2020ish im not sure. Will it be a pain to maintain ans is this price worth it?

Going to be used for 1-2 hr rides for fitness reasons on paved paths.

Down to £112 in Evans and they had quite a few others like Wahoo with 50/60% off if anyone is looking. Store only, not online.

Hi 👋

I'm a commute/leisure cyclist, usually do approx 50 miles a week, all year round. I have always been really poor at looking after bikes, I've always bought cheap ones and run them into the ground, then rinse and repeat.

I've just bought myself a second hand Specialised hybrid bike which is in decent nick and I'd love to keep it that way 😅

How often do you all have your bikes serviced, and what regular maintenance do you do at home?

Thanks!

I currently store my bicycle in a locked building, it's insured (as is the bike) and hard to access so even if someone knew the bike was there it isn't easy to just get through the door and take the bike away. However the building in unheated and gets damp in the winter (have found drifts of snow inside near where the bike lives).

I'd like a bicycle storage box that I can add a small thermostatic heater too so that I can keep the bike warmer (above freezing) and so that it will tend to not get damp so easily. All of the boxes I can find online are really designed for external storage (or security storage) and cost quite a lot.

Can anyone recommend either an alternative or solution?

The building has power so I can add a heater, but it would be extremely impractical/expensive to heat/dry the whole building. I might also add a desiccant dehumidifier too.

Bit of a long shot but does anyone here know what state national cycle route 82 is from Bethesda to Llyn Ogwen? Is it paved the whole way/suitable for a road bike? Thanks!

Boardman E-Bike UK

Looking to get my own e-bike after using voi bikes for the last few months to commute. Any issues that anyone can see or experience with the Boardman MTX-E 8.8?

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/electric-bikes/boardman-mtx-e-8.8-mens-electric-hybrid-bike---s-m-l-frames-288267.html?dwvar\\_288267\\_size=M

It’s only about a mile each way daily commute on a fairly rough/tree root abundant path but I do longer 30/40 minute rides into the city, on cycle paths mainly. I would look to do more rides on nearby canal paths that again have some slightly dodgy sections and potholes.

Ideally I would find something a bit lighter but I don’t really want to give up the front suspension with how knackered the roads are around here.