The grumpy thread

[panhard65]

All this bike brake stuff there is only one type of brake you want on a push bike.

Oh and a decent pair of shoes for when the crap brakes don't work.

[The Moog]

So, I've been a naughty boy and trvellz to fast for the mandated limit.

It is a road I've used for years, although not that frequently and in pretty sure it used to be 50MPH.

Anyway, on day of alleged offence, it was me in the car and the car was indeed on that road, but I can't recall clocking the 40MPH signs but in fairness to the prosecution, they are reasonably clear. I don't recall seeing the manned equipment but I do remember following a tractor for a few miles and overtaking said without danger to fellow road users. Me thinks my pre-occupation with the manoeuvre and historic knowledge of the road has resulted in my punishment.

Two Muphs over the speed awareness threshold so double bollocks and a clean license bites the dust.

Anyway I fessed up and paid the fine. You then get told to send off your license, which for me is an original paper fekker.

Many years ago they used to send you a new one with the code printed on.

Still many years ago they used to write the code and offence on the paper license and return to you. In fact my paper license has a very aged offence still written on it.

So now, having filled out forms, declared license number and other details, paid on-line, you still have to send away your paper with a form.

By now surely they know who you are, they've send the NIP to the recorded keeper. The recorded keeper hasfessed up and provided driver details. A form has been sent asking for payment and payment has been made. All details can be checked on-line so it seems a bit of a waste of time having to send off your license. Suppose it is to stop the submition of the chap next doors license details.

License come back with nowt written on it, details are all held on line.

And with heightened awareness of signed limits through outskirts of towns, boy is our roadsigning shite, utter shite. Limits up and down almost at random and half the time so poorly signposted that sometimes you have not a clue if it is 40 or 50 or 50 or 60......wtf was the last sign I passed. Fuck it now just set the cruise and leave the fekker on despite it pissing off folk with more local knowledge. Had a long stretch of 30mph recently, speed camera signs all over the shop, cruise 30 and the chap behind me nearly had a head on overtaking me. Good for you mate, you know where the cameras are, I don't as I'm not local and the revenue earners can FRO if they are having me over down this stretch.

Before any comes up with a stement that I must be a serial speeder and how given that they drive two thousand miles a year, odds are stacked against me at forty thousand a year

[SiC]

I've no problems with V brakes.

I also don't understand the huge amounts of hatred for cable-operated disc brakes on bikes. They stop the bike, isn't that all you need?

My dad has a cable operated disc setup on his winter bike. Forever having to adjust it to take up wear and cable stretch.

 

Maybe what it is, then, is this - the older type I posted an image of i.e. the second type, do not need to be particularly decent to work properly. You can have cheap components all round and they will operate adequately for as long as there's rubber on the brake blocks. However the former type have to be of reasonable construction using reasonable materials or they will fail quickly and without warning. I think for lightness the V brake design is probably the best. But for efficient and practical use I would need a bit of persuading that the other kind aren't superior.

They are easy to make cheaply to just about work. Calipers require much closer tolerances and if cheaply made simply jam up and not work at all.

[dozeydustman]

This is how i used to set up V brakes.

Set spring tension so that each pad the rim at the same time. 

Make sure pads hit rim correctly, sometimes with some toe in to the pad to stop squeal.

Wind barrel adjusted on the brake leaver out half way.

Pull cable tight on the allen key bolt on the V brake.

Brakes will now be on tight.

Wind barrel adjuster all the way back in on the brake lever.

You should be ready to go.

 

 

Done all that in the past only for the brakes to fail within a few days. Last time I did this it was on my stepdaughter's bike, with a lot of new replacement parts after they failed on her way home from school May last year. Lasted about 4 days before failing again. 

 

Wife took the bike to Halfords where she got it, they re-set up the brakes, they failed after a week.

 

Went to an independent bike shop in Bognor Regis, had them all set up, with complete new V-brake system front & rear at much expense - they failed within a fortnight.

 

I changed her bike brakes to double acting calipers all round for around 60 quid including new cables. Brakes never went out of whack or failed again. Bike is currently on loan to my niece with a toddler seat on the back and has only needed new brake blocks.

 

V-brakes are complete and utter shit. For the most important thing on any vehicle to fail that quickly, set up by a regular bloke, a Halfords Idiot, and then a person who works with day in day out with them, there must be a massive flaw with them. It's all about making things to a cost, not a standard. I'd expect a £400 bike to have decent parts on it.

[MarvinsMom]

All this bike brake stuff there is only one type of brake you want on a push bike.

9782843847bb38371c72a68613024b83--england-tags.jpg

Oh and a decent pair of shoes for when the crap brakes don't work.

i never recall the brakes on my old Grifter been a problem.......

[Tadhg Tiogar]

i never recall the brakes on my old Grifter been a problem.......

I rode a schoolmate's Grifter once. It was feckin' heavy.

[DodgeRover]

They certainly take a lot more fettling of pivot points and seem to require spring tension adjusting every time they are used to get them to pull and release evenly.

No experience with more expensive ones and don't get me started on cheap cable operated discs...

[SiC]

Even expensive cable operated brakes are crap compared to the hydro brakes.

[cort16]

All this bike brake stuff there is only one type of brake you want on a push bike.

9782843847bb38371c72a68613024b83--england-tags.jpg

Oh and a decent pair of shoes for when the crap brakes don't work.

 

 

There was a shop in my home town that was run by old boy who was about 98. He used to make his own sliced ham (as in cook it in the back shop) that was really popular and he offered delivery.  By which I mean me on one of these bikes with rod brakes that weighed about 300kg especially when the front basket was crammed full of ham and tins of bakes beans.  He had customers 2 miles from the shop. I lived in a valley and remember simply not being able to stop going down hills fully laden and if I did manage to apply any brakes I'd end up travelling down a hill at 20mph on the front wheel because of all the shopping in the basket.

 

Terrifying. The ham was good though.

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

My drum brake things haven't been a problem for 20 odd years. If fact, they are so good that if you don't use the bike for a bit the initial pull on the front brake could have you over the handlebars.

[Pillock]

I've used loads of bikes with V brakes and never had an issue, even as a yoof where the most important quality is will it lock the back wheel for maximum skids on the road through the park.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I'm wondering what Alsatian tastes like in a curry.

 

Next doors' is a typical yappy one, and I'd gladly shoot the fucking thing.

[dozeydustman]

I'm wondering what Alsatian tastes like in a curry.

 

Next doors' is a typical yappy one, and I'd gladly shoot the fucking thing.

 

 

Bit ruff.

[Cavcraft]

V brakes can be quite good, except the bit where you adjust them yourself, then go down hill really really quickly and they stop working. Thought the difference between them and cable disc was amazing though, the latter were class.

Until the invention of hydraulic discs, which are just magic.

[purplebargeken]

Dog curry....... It'll taste grrrrrrrrreat.

 

Grifters were so heavy, their own mass negated the need for brakes.

[bolognasal spray]

 

 

Grifters were so heavy, their own mass negated the need for brakes.

 

They were light compared to Raleigh's slightly later creation, the Bomber. Instead of steel tubing the company opted for solid uranium bar.  

[bolognasal spray]

[Fumbler]

Was doing some prospecting and sent an email to a seller of a completely restored Lada (typical me). He replied back a couple days later apologising that he was late in replying but gave all the answers to my questions. He even offerd to take som pictures of key areas and I replied saying yes please. That was on the 28th August. Perhaps he's out of the country again or he's given me the cold shoulder. Only time will tell.

[nebuchenezer]

I have done something

 

Clearly it was a wrong thing

 

I have no idea what I have done

 

But it is obviously my fault

 

I am seriously tempted to bin a 20 year relationship.

 

Wimmin.......

[paulplom]

Women. you can't live with them, and you can't live with them.

[iainrcz]

Work.

At some point, probably in the near future I'm going to get so stressed I'm just going to explode. If anyone recalls playing the game Lemmings, picture a bomber Lemming. Only 6' tall and foul mouthed .

 

Either that or find something vaguely sharp and stab all my work colleagues.

 

All I can say after last night is -

fucking Jesus Christ.

 

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk

[bub2006]

Been offered a bungalow. Great. And now the stress and issues of moving. Finding 3 week's rent even though I'm on benefits and it's a council property, the only vehicle I can tow trailer with is fucked. Fuel pump not very well,fuel gauge sender have up the ghost l, alternator iffy and the back box has parted company with the centre pipe. The Mrs avensis has a grumble somewhere and it's not a wheel bearing and has hot start issues,the brand new qashqai has developed a knock on the suspension too. Fucking bollocking cunt fuck bollocks. All compound with the fact I'm at another really low ebb and things are getting to me a lot.

[dome]

Should probably be in the bikeshite thread, this - but fuck it, this is about the rage quotient more than the bike itself. I'm talking about the brake calliper assembly on seemingly all modern affordable push bikes. Terrible. And fucking dangerous too. All my daughters' bikes have these shitty, shitty brake assemblies and they're fragile godawful fucking bollocks. I don't know what this system is called but it looks like this:

 

 

Instead of this kind, which used to be on pretty much every bike sold in the UK between 1970 and 1990:

 

I cannot tell you how absolutely fucking SHIT the former kind of brake is compared to the latter. The latter is almost foolproof compared to the former. Christ they're bad. The cable regularly pings out of the "thing" - that's the technical term for it by the way. Not bracket. Not even retainer. Just thing. Fucking THING. The easier it goes back in, the quicker it comes off again.

Post up some pics in the bikeshite thread if you want. V brakes( the top ones) are a million times better than caliper brakes which are fucking shit at the best of times. However, none of that matters if they're cheap shit pressed steel v brakes fitted to a lot of bikes these days.

[Mr A Lawrence]

Been offered a bungalow. Great. And now the stress and issues of moving. Finding 3 week's rent even though I'm on benefits and it's a council property, the only vehicle I can tow trailer with is fucked. Fuel pump not very well,fuel gauge sender have up the ghost l, alternator iffy and the back box has parted company with the centre pipe. The Mrs avensis has a grumble somewhere and it's not a wheel bearing and has hot start issues,the brand new qashqai has developed a knock on the suspension too. Fucking bollocking cunt fuck bollocks. All compound with the fact I'm at another really low ebb and things are getting to me a lot.

as your on benefits you maybe able to get help with moving costs. 

we did when we moved last, the housing benefits department helped us.

we got 2 quotes and they paid the lowest, we didnt have to do owt

worth a phone call.

 

dont be afraid to ask the benefits bods for help

[bub2006]

I've got a good friend with a van who can help luckily. I'm annoyed that nowadays they expect you to find 4 weeks advance rent even though I'm on housing benefit.

[AMC Rebel]

I prefer V brakes. The side pull efforts on my old bikes always jammed and one block would then drag against the wheel rim. I have had a load of cheap bikes with V brakes and they have been 100% fine. They are also a lot more powerful for a given pulling effort than the old ones. Definitely progress.

[dozeydustman]

I changed her bike brakes to double acting calipers all round for around 60 quid including new cables. Brakes never went out of whack or failed again. Bike is currently on loan to my niece with a toddler seat on the back and has only needed new brake blocks.

 

V-brakes are complete and utter shit. For the most important thing on any vehicle to fail that quickly, set up by a regular bloke, a Halfords Idiot, and then a person who works with day in day out with them, there must be a massive flaw with them. It's all about making things to a cost, not a standard. I'd expect a £400 bike to have decent parts on it.

 

These are similar to the calipers I fitted to madam's pushbike. Not the usual side pull jobs.

 

 

I've never had a bike fitted with this type of caliper crap out on me.

[purplebargeken]

Following my mate in his 1300 FWD from Cov to Hatton for a Triumph Dolomite Club meet. His car contains: mate, his partner, her 11 year old son, mates new baby, 2 weeks old. The Triumph cuts out and coasts to the side of the 3 lane carriageway, I am behind and pull up close with my hazards flashing. We fix the car, I move from the drivers side wing to help them move into my car. Next thing this HGV hurtles past just inches away from the sides of both cars. The trailer locks up and causes a car in the middle lane to swerve into the outer lane. If I'd been 30 seconds later he would have killed me instantly, possibly the others at worst. How can you not see a very white car with the hazards flashing brightly, in perfect visibility in light traffic. Wonder if the cunt was texting or checking facebook.

 

Get home to find my computer chair burned, desk scorched. Mrs PBK lit a candle, chair was moved, towel on the back of the chair caught alight.......

 

If I'd done that there would have been blue bloody murder. She did it so not much said. FFS. 

[richardmorris]

Following my mate in his 1300 FWD from Cov to Hatton for a Triumph Dolomite Club meet. His car contains: mate, his partner, her 11 year old son, mates new baby, 2 weeks old. The Triumph cuts out and coasts to the side of the 3 lane carriageway, I am behind and pull up close with my hazards flashing. We fix the car, I move from the drivers side wing to help them move into my car. Next thing this HGV hurtles past just inches away from the sides of both cars. The trailer locks up and causes a car in the middle lane to swerve into the outer lane. If I'd been 30 seconds later he would have killed me instantly, possibly the others at worst. How can you not see a very white car with the hazards flashing brightly, in perfect visibility in light traffic. Wonder if the cunt was texting or checking facebook.

 

Get home to find my computer chair burned, desk scorched. Mrs PBK lit a candle, chair was moved, towel on the back of the chair caught alight.......

 

If I'd done that there would have been blue bloody murder. She did it so not much said. FFS.

 

Yep, on the phone.

 

I followed some berk in a new clk merc this morning as I was going to Brooklands, 25 -30 in a 50 bouncing from the cats eyes to the kerb and occasionally looking down.

[purplebargeken]

^^ Just grrrrr.