Bradley Wiggins calls for safer cycling laws and compulsory helmets

[dellzeqq]

The lovely Helen reports that since my most recent 'knock on the head' (see threads passim) I have become much more upbeat and she's 'lovin' it'.

Which is nice given that my morose depressed and grumpy state only started when I got my 'proper' brain injury back in the late 80's.

yup - she's asked me to blat you round the bonce every six months. As Club Hon. Sec. I feel it's my duty to do as she asks

 

[GrumpyGregry]

yup - she's asked me to blat you round the bonce every six months. As Club Hon. Sec. I feel it's my duty to do as she asks

You'll have to time it so I'm not wearing a helmet for it to have any effect.

Anyways getting smacked over the head by a very skinny man once in a while is worth it for the pleasure I take from The Fridays/LonJOG. Small price to pay.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

If they are going to crack down on idiocy and irrelevance...

Phew, I'm in the clear then!

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

Only three certain things in life. Death. Taxes. And Nurses.

Reader, I married one.

Or as I once saw on a t-shirt - "Feel safe at night, Sleep with a nurse".

 

[Red Light]

I thought one used something like a thumb shifter to set the brake to drag and then let it do its job, which implied to me that the operating lever has to stay put once you take your hand off it. But it has been 20+years since I rode a tandem with a drag brake (and I still crashed)

It generally is used with a thumbshifter to set it and leave it on. The purpose of a drag brake is not to be a general purpose brake or even a very effective brake but to keep the speed down on long descents where rim heating with conventional brakes from prolonged braking could cause tyre blowouts etc. The standard is the Arai drum brake which has a massive finned body to dissipate all the heat from braking. On tandems loaded for touring rim brakes and even most disc brakes struggle on long downhills. Our tandems have Magura hydraulic rim brakes coupled with Arai drag brakes and on some of the Swiss mountain descents I've been well glad of the drag brake.

 

[dellzeqq]

I've been looking at tandems, and came across this
http://santanatandem.com/Techno/DiscBrakeTech.html
although I'm bound to say that having two brakes on the rear wheel has a certain attraction

 

[srw]

I've been looking at tandems, and came across this
http://santanatandem.com/Techno/DiscBrakeTech.html
although I'm bound to say that having two brakes on the rear wheel has a certain attraction

A little bird did mention that you'd been looking...

The hydraulic version of that disc brake, coupled with a front rim brake, is good enough to keep an all-up weight somewhere around 30 stone at around 20mph on the 17% descents of both Berriedale and Allensford Bank. It does get hot - but the advantage of a hydraulic brake is that when it gets hot it clamps on rather than fading.

 

[dellzeqq]

A little bird did mention that you'd been looking...

The hydraulic version of that disc brake, coupled with a front rim brake, is good enough to keep an all-up weight somewhere around 30 stone at around 20mph on the 17% descents of both Berriedale and Allensford Bank. It does get hot - but the advantage of a hydraulic brake is that when it gets hot it clamps on rather than fading.

you're in so much trouble, and you don't even know it....................

 

[srw]

you're in so much trouble, and you don't even know it....................

I'm sure someone who can add up better than me will be along soon to correct me if I need correcting.

Anyway - back to linford. He's been quiet so far this morning. Do you suppose he knows what a tandem is?

 

[theclaud]

I've been looking at tandems

 

[srw]

That was roughly my reaction when I heard.

Then I looked at dell at the front of the pack, standing up and stomping on an enormous gear, and Agent Hilda beside me, sitting and spinning a sensible gear, and thought "what could go wrong"?

[edit]
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/easton-wheel-problems.107496/#post-1975497
It's not just any tandem he's been looking at - it's a carbon/titanium mix tandem with S&S couplings and fancy-schmancy wheels.

[edit again]
http://santanatandem.com/Techno/Sweet16.html
Where's the drooling smiley?

 

[theclaud]

That was roughly my reaction when I heard.

Then I looked at dell at the front of the pack, standing up and stomping on an enormous gear, and Agent Hilda beside me, sitting and spinning a sensible gear, and thought "what could go wrong"?

[edit]
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/easton-wheel-problems.107496/#post-1975497
It's not just any tandem he's been looking at - it's a carbon/titanium mix tandem with S&S couplings and fancy-schmancy wheels.

[edit again]
http://santanatandem.com/Techno/Sweet16.html
Where's the drooling smiley?

Mmmmm. Pretty spiffy. And impressive wheel-talk! But what - and this is the crux of the matter - does Her Nibs say?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

A little bird did mention that you'd been looking...

The hydraulic version of that disc brake, coupled with a front rim brake, is good enough to keep an all-up weight somewhere around 30 stone at around 20mph on the 17% descents of both Berriedale and Allensford Bank. It does get hot - but the advantage of a hydraulic brake is that when it gets hot it clamps on rather than fading.

Beware. That is not a universal truth. Some grab. Some fade faster than the career of Mr Chesney Hawkes.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

A little bird did mention that you'd been looking...

The hydraulic version of that disc brake, coupled with a front rim brake, is good enough to keep an all-up weight somewhere around 30 stone at around 20mph on the 17% descents of both Berriedale and Allensford Bank. It does get hot - but the advantage of a hydraulic brake is that when it gets hot it clamps on rather than fading.

Oh Lord. Gravity is wasted on some people. If you go downhill fast enough you won't even be able to hear your stoker scream.

What I would give for 30 stone and a 17% long downhill with sweeping bends. I could only muster half that mass and stopped clock watching at 70kph to study the road. Looking at GPS it said I cracked 50mph but I braked too soon because I don't trust rim brakes at high speeds and that bridge looked interesting. That was the only day I wished I had the green 'un and her disks.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

PS have you seen the size of the rotor on the back of Charlotte's tandem. I want one like that on my forthcoming xtracycle.