Questions for any cyclists..

[Ghozer]

with regards to not wanting your ass @ the same height as your face etc.. pop to JE james cycles, and they will measure you up.. after meeting you and knowing your rough size, I think you'll probably need a 14-16, or maybe 18 frame (I use a 21)

 

they can also show you some different womens cycles with the cut frame, and you can try them to see which ones you can get on/off ok, and which ones your comfortable with etc..

 

even if you don't buy from there in the end, it will help give you a better idea of things.

 

as to what to wear, just buy a high vis vest, and wear it when your cycling, and take it off when your at your destination, it should fit in a handbag (they fold/scew up small)

 

and do NOT cycle in heels, flats, trainers, boots are ok, but heels, no.... it might be poissible if you have been cycling for a while, used to the bike and your route, but I wouldn't try it for atleast a year... if at all.

[WalkleyIan]

cycling in heels doesn't seem to stop this lot.

 

http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/

 

For short journeys there is nothing to stop you riding in your normal clothes. Its a British myth that you can only ride a bike dressed like a stormtrooper from Blakes 7. Im sure the rest of Europe look at us and wonder what all the fuss is about.

 

As already mentioned Pedal Ready will help with getting you up and running.

 

That Volorbis is a lovely bike but might not be ideal for a hilly ride. Then again Ive been riding on a single speed all winter, and its not compulsory to cycle up every hill the city deals up. For a similar budget a light hybrid style bike might be a good choice, maybe factor in dynamo lights so less messing about with batteries.

 

Even in relatively hilly Sheffield, a good hub gear might still make sense, less to go wrong, and chain kept away from your clothes. That might start stretching the budget a bit.

 

When you see a bike check the reach to the brakes. Some manufactures will tell you a bike is sized for a woman, then fit it with brake levers only a 6 1/2 foot tall bloke could reach. My wife had this problem with a hybrid bike supposedly sized for a short woman. The reach couldn't be adjusted so we visited a different shop.

 

One last thing, a new cycle-coop shop is opening in Sheffield in about 6 weeks and they might have some good opening deals. Nothing against the shops we already have but I know some 15% off discount deals are being offered by the newcomers. Think capital of Scotland, and that's the name of the new shop.

[Tony]

Darn you WalkeyIan, you got the http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com link in first.

 

Van Nicolas make some beautiful ladies bikes like the Amazon / Amazon Rolhoff. Not cheap, but with belt drive and titanium frames it will see you out if you treat it nicely and boy will you look good on it!

 

The Cycle To Work scheme gets you up to £1000 to spend if you qualify with your employer and in truth you can end up with a £1k bike for a few hundred quid in a year- Halfords cheapy prices! But you need to pick your supplier and bike really carefully to avoid getting a pup just because your employer knows where Halfords is.

 

http://vannicholas.com/WbmBikeHome.aspx?EncIdName=nTdZaGEawDPC5TTMtI1Cixa%2bqM0BjZPv8HKfxNZ%2bQ0bmIYzBs2O9kiv3ScBBpJe1xh4QqY6pHy4lI3MrPe0inyrF2soxOEBX2Yeh%2bFTqrl%2bQ0%2b45B24mLkjfnfGbz60eRO%2fR7hSbmVY%3d

[millhouses24]

Thanks all.

 

I have actually been leering at that Copenhagen blog for some time now Those Danish chicks rock!

 

"....so I put on a dress. Mount my bicycle. Start pedalling. And let the wind decide if my knickers will be introduced to the world...."

 

However, I think the only reservation I have is that Denmark is a lot more liberal and sexually equal than over here so what works there might not in Sheffield?

 

 

(off topic Treatment I loved that. I'm going to write a girls version called quand vous m'invitez jusqu'à votre ce d'appartement est très impoli pour ne pas faire une passe à moi )

[spindrift]

Try a Pashley if you don't want to be too sporty. Buy the best lights you can afford. Wear a helmet if you want, but be aware they are useless at any collision above 12 mph, can increase rotational injuries and may encourage drivers to take more risks around you.

Search online, get reviews of bikes, ask the shop if you can do a test ride, find out if your employer does Bike To Work.

 

Good luck, you will find your fitness levels improve, lung capacity is boosted, you can eat what you like, within reason, and you will look and feel a lot better if you manage a few miles a day!

[Tony]

I think you should keep your views on helmets to yourself on this occasion to be honest spindrift. What you have said is full of half truth and opinion and it would be a shame to put a novice off safety.

 

But yes, Pashley make lovely machines but I'm not so sure that they would be suitable for the OP if she expects any hills or a speed above 4mph. Of course she may be a cool valley dweller, in which case the Path Racer would be luvverly - but for a gent of course

[spindrift]

http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1039.html

 

Cycle helmets and rotational injuries

 

Minor head injuries are usually as a result of linear acceleration of the skull by impact with another object. Cycle helmets may produce benefit by reducing and spreading this force.

 

More serious injuries, on the other hand, are often as a result of angular or rotational acceleration, which leads to diffuse axonal injury (DAI) and subdural haematoma (SDH). These are the most common brain injuries sustained by road crash victims that result in death or chronic intellectual disablement.

 

Cycle helmets are not designed to mitigate rotational injuries, and research has not shown them to be effective in doing so.

 

To the contrary, some doctors have expressed concern that cycle helmets might make some injuries worse by converting direct (linear) forces to rotational ones. These injuries will normally form a very small proportion of the injuries suffered by cyclists, but they are likely to form a large proportion of the injuries with serious long-term consequences. In this way helmets may be harmful in a crash, but this harm may not be detected by small-scale research studies.

 

http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/articles/archive/overtaking110906.html

 

Cycle helmets are only designed and tested to withstand an impact equivalent to an average weight rider travelling at a speed of 12 mph falling onto a stationary kerb shaped object from a height of 1 metre.

 

This is the equivalent of falling from your bike onto the road or the kerb edge.

 

Helmets are not tested nor expected to be able to offer full protection if you come into contact with a vehicle which is moving.

 

http://www.whycycle.co.uk/safety_and_security/cycling_helmets/

 

You are more likely to suffer a head injury in a pub than on a bike, lobby for compulsory helmets for beer drinkers if you like!

 

Minister for Transport David Jamieson acknowledged that the Government knows of no case where cyclist safety has improved with increasing helmet use.

 

Helmets are essentially irrelevant in preventing serious and fatal injuries. Efforts to promote and compel helmet use have failed to deliver measurable benefit wherever they have been tried, and they are a dangerous distraction from the real business of cyclist safety. By scaring people off their bikes they make my daily travel more dangerous.

 

 

 

http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk:8080/Web/public.nsf/Documents/why-helmets?OpenDocument

[plekhanov]

Cheers guys (except Mr Treatment - I'm going to give you a slap if I ever bump into you )

 

I love the aesthetics of this one:

 

http://velorbis.co.uk/velorbis-bicycles-online-store/velorbis-ladies-bicycles-1/studine-classic-ladies-bicycle

 

 

But the blurb on the site sounds like the kind of marketing c**p that I'm quite familiar with I have no idea whether the actual spec is good or not.

 

Does it look like they are selling something which is too expensive for what it is?

That bike is horribly overpriced and with no gears would be next to useless in sheffield. For a bit of light cycling around town (even a town like Sheffield) there's no need to spend more than £300 which will get you a very nice hybird.

[Tony]

Spindrift, as I said, it's half truths and opinion. Let's not spoil the OP's thread and enthusiasm. Feel free to begin another thread if you want to discuss the merits of helmets.

[onewheeldave]

Spindrift, as I said, it's half truths and opinion. Let's not spoil the OP's thread and enthusiasm. Feel free to begin another thread if you want to discuss the merits of helmets.

 

The view that it's 'half truths and opinion' is, of course, simply your opinion.

 

The biggest half truth/opinion is that helmets=safety is an indisputable truth.

 

Certainly, when it comes to the matter of car drivers paying less attention when passing cyclists who choose to wear helmets, there has been at least one recent study which indicates that they do pass closer to cyclists wearing helmets- in which case (if true) wearing a helmet increases the chance of been hit.

 

The big issue though, is that, when it comes to experienced cyclists, who, having done thousands of miles cycling on dangerous roads, are surely entitled to thier opinion- almost universally they agree that helmet wearing should be the choice of the individual cyclist.

 

that includes those who, like me, do themselves choose to wear a helmet.

 

They're also aware of the growing campaign to remove that choice and force all cyclists to wear helmets and, the best fuel those campaigners have got, is to push the unproven knee-jerk assumption that helmets=safety.

 

So, IMO, spendrift and others like him/her, are perfectly entitled to put their opinion on threads where beginners can be enlightened to the fact that the helmet=safety issue is far from settled, so the beginners can do their own research and come to their own decision.