Tales from today's commute....

[Tomtrumps]

A most odd thing happened on my way to work this morning. I am cycling past Bromley North station and a guy at the side of the road, for no reason and who I had never seen before, steps out and takes a swipe at me, connecting with my back. Fortunately I was wearing my rucksack so no harm done but left me a bit shaken to say the least! When I got to the next set of lights another guy on a bike asked what had happended and said "the other poor guy looked harmless enough" in reference to a previous incident a minute or so earlier- I wasn't sure whether this was another cyclist or not. Got to work and called the police.

 

[Simontm]

Absolutely no problems this morning. Everyone chilled except for one van passenger whom I'm sure was actually mouthing about Kant the philosopher at me as they passed , sun in the sky, just a slight breeze, lovely - though if this rain does come in later...
numpty count: 0

 

[fossyant]

My chromo plastics have been on 7 years. Mind you my guard is bolted on at both the brake bridge and chainstay bridge as I have a mount hole on each.

 

[martint235]

Some numptiness by the A21 brigade this morning. Two cyclists about 5 bike lengths apart travelling at roughly the same speed and a fair way behind a bus. Bus indicates to pull in, cyclist 1 indicates to pull out, cyclist 2 accelerates, undertakes cyclist 1 and pulls out through the rapidly narrowing gap between cyclist 1 and the bus. If I'd been cyclist 1, there would have been words said. Many words. Most of them bad.

My actual commute was completely uneventful though. It's all quiet.

 

[ianrauk]

What a lovely morning commute. Weather great and little traffic. Made for speedy commute. Glorious.

 

[JMT]

Nice ride in this morning cool and light traffic. Good tipper truck driver hung back giving me lots of room on a country road and anticipated my right turn giving me lots of room, so he got a big smile and thumbs up. Hoped to get to work before it rained as the forecast for the ride home is absolutely terrible, nearly managed it but at the 18.5 mile mark out of 20 miles a short heavy (about 2 mins) shower left my clothes very wet, now have to dry them so I can at least start my home word ride dry later :-(.

 

[L Q]

Got home just in time last night before it tipped it down, not nice putting on wet clothes for the journey home as the drying room boiler had gone down so they had only dried out a little bit.

Had a twitchy moment at 20mph as I caught a drain cover and it made the back wheel twitch and my backside went with it, held it together.

This mornings ride the weather was much better but my legs felt really tired with 10 miles to go, had a seriously close pass with an older lady coming towards me passing a parked car, clearly the 20 seconds it would have cost her to wait was far too important.

 

[John_S]

FAO ManiaMuse

As an alternative to chromplastics maybe a set of these?

https://www.ridepdw.com/goods/fenders/full-metal-fenders-road

Admittedly they're expensive which is the big downside. However looking at an overall cost for comparison over time depends on how often the chromoplastics break and cost over say a 2 or 3 year period compared to how long an, albeit more expensive in the first place, alternative lasts. No one has a crystal ball to say which guards would last the longest over everyones different route but you pay your money and take your choice hoping that they'll work and last.

Re: these guards you might rule them out immediately because of the flappy bits but I think that they're useful at keeping the crud off your bike and to avoid giving your fellow commuters Belgium toothpaste.

 

[Origamist]

3rd set of SKS chromoplast rear mudguards cracked. Grr!

Seriously, the plastic these things are made of can't deal with road vibrations at fast speeds at all. They always crack either just in front or just behind where they are mounted at the brake caliper. And the bridge is made of the flimsiest piece of aluminum, I have had more than one of those snap as well and when they do the broken bits are a pain to get off the mudguard as you have to bend them on with pliers in the first place!

They look nice over skinny tyres which is the main reason I have them, but they simply can't cope with hard use on UK roads!

Any recommendations for unobtrusive full mudguards which look good over 23mm tyres without silly flappy bits at the ends?

If you don't have vertical (rear brake) bridge mount holes, I'd wrap the guards with an old inner tube where the 4 prongs of the mount grip the mudguard. This prevents the metal chewing into the plastic.

The rear metal mount is prone to failure - I've had one snap on me after 10000 miles. You can buy replacements (SJS Cyles) for a few quid, but it is annoying.

PDW Full Metal Fenders are more robust, but they are pricey and they rattle a little more. They can also be fitted if you don't have mudguard eyes on your frame.

 

[Simontm]

Soaked. About 9 miles in, I thought "I may beat this"...nah!
Numpty count:0

 

[Tomtrumps]

A better ride home than the ride in this morning. I didn't get attacked!

The lesser spotted rain was quite nice though, the wind less so.

 

[subaqua]

2nd day of riding after getting back from 2 weeks of doing naff all while on Holibobs.

sorted out the nasty wobble i had yesterday.


by putting some air in the fecking tyres. amazing what having the correct pressure does . and shows the thumb squeeeze test is invalid. glad i have a good digital gauge for tyres

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Set off this morning under a dark grey sky, 15 minutes later sun comes up, 15 minutes after that all the clouds gone, brilliant blue sky and a nice relaxed ride into work.

Dinner time, extended ride in the sun to the warehouse

Home time - set off in the rain, and it rained all the way home, but the wind was light and it was warm, so I wasn't complaining. Also broke 14,000 miles for year on the ride home tonight.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

So I can't believe that more people didn't join in Bring Your Compost Bin To Work Day

 

[Deleted member 1258]

A day of contrasting commutes, this morning was lovely, bright sunny and a touch cool with very little wind, tonight was not very pleasant, wet and cool with a stiff headwind.