Embarrased...

[abo]

Headed into town at lunchtime, I needed a new bike lock for my 7 year old who will be starting to ride to school tomorrow.

So I filter a line of cars at a red light, getting used to filtering with my wide bars so I neglected to sort my gears out as I approached. I stopped and flicked it into the correct gear with the intention of lifting the back end and spinning it into the right sprocket.

Before I could do this a guy on a hybrid cruises past me, looks and then RLJ's (copper over the other side ineffective of course). I look at the car next to me, driver looks over and shakes her head and I do that sort of shrug/eyes to the heaven 'yeah, know what you are saying' thing.

Lights change, I start to wonder if I can hunt down the RLJ for a bit of sport, and we go to pull away. I pedal and get a lovely 'crunch' from the rear mech. WTF??? I had to pull over to sort it out while the long line of traffic cruises past me...

Forgot about the gears

 

[chillyuk]

The moral of the tale?

Concentrate on your own ride and ignore the antics of others that don't directly affect you.

 

[abo]

The moral of the tale?

Concentrate on your own ride and ignore the antics of others that don't directly affect you.

Heh you're right Still, no bent metal at the back at least

 

[fossyant]

Never mind - I had to peal myself off the back of a taxi this morning !

 

[abo]

Never mind - I had to peal myself off the back of a taxi this morning !

So I read!

 

[MacB]

The moral of the tale?

Concentrate on your own ride and ignore the antics of others that don't directly affect you.

or, get a hub gear and change gears when moving or not, fantastic for stop start riding

 

[abo]

or, get a hub gear and change gears when moving or not, fantastic for stop start riding

I've got a good old Sturmy-Archer 3 speed on the Peugeot?

 

[MacB]

Any advice on the best ratios etc?

not a clue, sorry

 

[al78]

Any advice on the best ratios etc?

First, you need to work out what range you need for your daily riding.
Once you know that, isolate those hub gears which have roughly that range, then decide how many speeds you want. For a given gear range, more speeds will equate to lower steps (on average) between gears, but will be more expensive. Also, decide if regular spacing between gears is important to you.

This might help.

 

[exbfb]

I've done the old "box full of neutrals" trick as well.

Came blazing down the hill to retake all the cars which overtook me and was so please with myself, I forgot to change down before stopping.
I was half way through addressing the situation by shifting down and spinning the pedals when the lights went to green again.
Of course, being a cock, I had manouvered myself right to the front of the queue.

All the better to fully enjoy the experience of making a complete tit of myself.

These experiences are, I believe, the universe's way of reminding you where you figure in the grand scheme of things.

I now shift down carefully before stopping.