Senacre Cycles News

So what is there you couldn’t know about bike lights? There are far too many on the market for anyone to know everything about all of them, except me of course (and maybe Chuck Norris, who just knows everything about everything)

Reflectors are wonderful widgets. Far cleverer than we give them credit for. Their proper name is corner reflectors. The difference between these and mirrors is, corner reflectors send light back to its source, rather than just bouncing it off in any old direction. This means a car shining its head lights at a bicycle reflector will see that reflector, not just light up a small spot on the opposite hedge before knocking off a cyclist. Legally push bikes should have reflectors front and rear if used on the road.

As we have covered before there are two main types of front lights. Those to show other people that you are there (or markers) and lights that are bright enough to show you where you are going. Generally if there are no street lights on sections of your route, you will need the latter type of front light to illuminate your way.

Back lights are actually more important the front lights. This is becuase you can see cars infront of you, they will have their lights on (they are also on the other side of the road) but you can’t see cars behind you. If they don’t see you either things will go very badly, and you will come off worse. Rear lights are there to show others you are there, and where you are.  Strictly speaking, by law, a bicycle being ridden on the road in the dark should have a constant (steady, or not flashing) red light on the back.  The reason behind this thinking is, it is very difficuilt to know the exact location of a moving object which only has a flashing light attached to it. Unfortunately, a steady light, whilst it does let everyone know you are there, does not distinguish you from motorbikes or cars with only one working tail light, both of which will be travelling faster than a push bike and therefore take much longer to catch up. You need other road users to know they are following a push bike, and how quickly they are gaining on it. There are several things you can do:-

More is better. Have more than one light, a steady one and a flashing one. Maybe a spare in your bag (No i’m not on commission)

Pulsing lights. There are a few lights on the market now with a pulse function. How is that different to flashing? It doesn’t go off. It gets bright, it goes dim, it gets bright, it gets dim, it gets… OK you get the picture. The main point is, it is always on, and everyone can see you, all the time.

Different lights. There are several wierd and wonderful types of lights you can use to distinguish between you and your motorised brethren. For example, when was the last time you saw a motorcyclist with a light on his head? Helmet lights are fantastic because they definitely say BICYCLE, and as they are higher up they can be seen from two or three cars back in traffic. You can use a forward facing spot light to illuminate your way, or a unit with a white lense on the front and a red lense on the back as a marker. You can fit bar end lights. These not only stand out from other road users, but show exactly how wide you are. Then there re are long thin, bendy, floobily (technical term) lights. Called the fibre flare, this magic tube lights up along its entire lenght. They can be mounted to frames or seat post and again grab attention more than a steady red bulb.

Whilst you can spend several hundred pounds on lights without trying very hard at all, it is possible to make yourself seen, and safe for a little over £30

Hope this helps. If you have more questions now than you did in the first place, call us on 01622 752695 and speak to Nick, Chris or Adam.

The cold has decnded upon us once more it seems.

Not many people ride through the winter because its too dark/cold/wet etc.etc. There are a few, we’ll call them the hard-core, who ride whatever the weather. The silly thing is, you don’t have to be any better a cyclist to ride when the weather isn’t very pleasant. Once you have a few extra bits of kit, you just need the will power to go outside in the cold.

Now firstly, riding on icy roads is difficult. With only 2 wheels, a bike will not accelerate, slow down, stop or change direction in a hurry when confronted with sheet ice. Having said that it isn’t impossible to ride on, but if you’re not confident then its best to stick to gritted roads or venture off road entirely. Frosty grass is just as grippy as dry grass for example.

If you do find yourself on a patch of ice, or what you think might be ice, the best thing to do is follow as straight a line as possible towards something which will offer more grip. Do your best not to pull the brakes too hard and if you have to, corner as slowly and as up-right as possible.

I would also consider removing clipless pedals. Yes they are a brilliant idea, your foot can’t slip off the pedal whilst you’re powering along and throw you off balance and you can get more power to the rear wheel. BUT. They will hinder you in trying to get off in a hurry. What many people like to use during the winter is what we call a hybrid or half and half pedal. These consist of a standard looking cage pedal on one side, and a Shimano SPD on the other. They can be used with dedicated riding shoes or normal every day shoes, will provide you the benfits of being clipped in when its possible, but give you the option of a flat pedal when its not.

So thats a few Do’s and Don’ts, what specific gear will you need? Well lights firstly. Lights do two jobs. They show everyone you are there, and they can show you where you are going. Basically if your route sticks to street lit roads and paths, you don’t need your lights to show you where you are going, and a marker light will suffice. If you go anywhere pitch dark you will need something a bit brighter. A rear light is also very important, as it lets the cars behind you, the ones you can’t see, know you are there.  As always layers is the key to cothing. A wicking base layer will help keep you dry as you sweat, and a wind proof jacket will keep out the worst of the chill. Don’t worry, you will soon warm up as you ride. Most cycling specific top layers will have a reflective strip or be bright yellow too. In heavy rain a water proof jacket will make you more comfortable, but don’t push too hard. A thick jacket will make you sweat so much you will be just as wet when you arrive that you may as well not have worn it.

Finally good gloves and socks will make your journey far more rewarding. Fingers and toes always get cold without proper protection from the elements. Again you will find wind proof will be better than water proof, as it isn’t the rain, but the wind that makes them cold.

Have a safe winter’s riding and a very Happy Christmas

What with Bank Holidays, a trip to Wales and altogether too much work in between, our regular riding trips on Tuesdays haven’t been so regular.

We’re sorting that out though, this coming Tuesday we will be at Bedgebury forest for an evening ride. There should be several riders along this time, some of which have not ridden there before. Chris from Cube bikes is joining us too, hopefully with some of Cube’s finest machines to show off.

So if you can make it, join us in the main car park of Bedgebury forest at around 6PM.

Hope to see you there

Hopefully the dry weather tires will be able to stay on the bike for a while now. The more persistant puddles are relenting and traction is a plenty.

We’re making a regular thing of these Tuesday evening rides at Bedgebury Forest now. With plenty of Singletrack and the jumps drying out, its the perfect way to spend an evening at the beggining of the week.

Im looking forward to riding some new place too, but the thing about new places is, the only reason i haven’t ridden them yet is because i don’t know about them. So if you have a favourite riding haunt get in touch. Call Adam or Chris on 01622 75269 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 01622 75269 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

This week we will (hopefully) be getting photographic evidence that we do actually ride. We tried last week but Chris is worse with a camera than he is on a bike, so if anybody knows which end of a camera to look through you may be able to do us a favour and save us showing ourselves up twice on the same evening.

Hope to see you there

Adam

Tomorrow morning the clocks go forward an hour. The rest of the world seems to have the hump with this for some reason, something about getting an hour less in bed in the morning i gather.

All is not lost however, as the evenings get much lighter. To celebrate this, we will be blowing out the winter cob-webs and heading off round bedgebury forest’s single track on Tuesday evening. At the moment all the waether reports are good, and the track its self is nice and dry.

For an evening trip like this we usually try and leave the shop at about 5:30 and head straight for the woods so most of the ride is done before the sun goes down, but a set of lights would be a good idea incase anyone has a mechanical issue.

If anyone is intending to come along, call Adam or Chris on 01622 752695 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 01622 752695 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or get in touch on our Facebook page so we don’t leave without you.

Hope to see you all there

We’ve had a few breakages here in the last couple of weeks. The Toaster, a stapler, Nicks favourite pen (a well chewed BIC ) and the tyre inflator have all gone to that big resting place in the sky. At least that’s where Biffa tell us they take it.

Now you may think this a little off topic but bare with me. These things were well past their best long before we threw them out.  Our toaster was less efficient at making toast than an asthmatic dragon with a short attention span, the stapler refused to drive a staple through more than one sheet of paper at a time (less than useful), whilst refusing to write a whole line at once Nick’s favourite pen managed to turn his pocket, leg and fingers a scrub resistant blue which lasted for several days, and the gague on tire inflator was broken for ages before the trigger fell off.

Our new toaster is a joy to use compared to the old one, the new stapler, as well as being a rather groovy purple, doesn’t chew up half a rack of staples trying to join a receipt to an invoice, Nick hasn’t cursed his current pen for several days, and the less said about the lack of exploding inner tubes in the workshop the better. With this in mind I serviced my commuting bike. The gears only ever changed when they wanted to, which was never when I wanted them to, both brake rotors were bent, as were the wheels and I had a very annoying creak from the handlebars.

Now I come to the point, these aren’t big problems, none of them difficuilt or expensive to fix, I just couldn’t be bothered. “Its only my work bike, it gets me there” was my train of thought. Now I’ve serviced my bike the ride to work is far more pleasurable. Going up hill isn’t the strugle it used to be, riding back down isn’t as worrying as it once was and all the irritating noises are gone.

All this rain we have at the moment is a little annoying, but it is washing away all the salt the council didn’t have to put on the roads. So beat the rush, in a few weeks the queue for a service will be several days long. Bring your bike to us before April and you’re likely to get it back on the same week it came in to us AND it will be easier and more fun to ride.

…But riding someone elses bike is even better. You don’t even have to clean it when you’re finished. And what if that bike was brand new? Better than that, a new model that your mates haven’t seen or even heard of yet?

If that sounds like your idea of a good day, you need to be at Bedgebury forest trail centre on Staurday 26th February. There you will find, not a teddy bears picnic, but the latest bikes from Giant, Trek and Specialised for you to test ride. I’m hoping to go myself to look over Giant’s new 29ers. With their 29 inch wheels these bikes are supposed to be faster and smoother over small corrugations in the trail surface, whilst the longer wheel base improves stability on climbs and decents. It should be interesting to see what Trek and Specialised have to offer in the way of competition, and to compare the new platform against my own bikes.

If you’re intending to come along, the guys handing out the bikes will be very pleased if  you know what size bike you usually ride,you will NEED to bring a helmet and a credit or debit card to leave as a deposit whilst you ride. It may also be a good idea to take some pedals too, especially if you ride SPD’s.

So if you’re looking at getting a new bike, or just fancy a day riding the latest and greatest, get yourself to Bedgebury and see what is on offer.

Hope to see you there…