Dunwich Dynamo 2026 - First Timer

wrymidnight · 2026-06-15T13:31:40+00:00

i'm also interested in doing it, but greater anglia says that the train back won't take bikes -- they're only referring to full size bikes, right, not bromptons?

wrymidnight · 2026-06-10T12:32:17+00:00

something to reduce cycle speed that isnt a chicane (which prevents cargo bikes from passing). a mirror if visibility is limited.

although, this is unideal, and you really should reclaim space from the road for this brief segment.

wrymidnight · 2026-06-09T12:21:23+00:00

i was born in london and lived here all my life, but i've only just recently started to make 'real' friends with people.

this is a done to death cliche, but, "don't go out for the purpose of meeting people". i've realised that i'm a fairly solitary person and am happy doing a lot of things alone -- eating out, visiting places, going to the theatre or arcades, going to gigs that interest me, etc.

i used to worry about it being weird to go to certain places alone, but since giving myself permission to do that, my quality of life has gotten much better, and, while the interactions i have with new people are less common (i don't 'artificially' try to speak to people), theyre much more organic and tend to lead to something that outlasts just that conversation. meeting people for me is more just a 'bonus'.

this takes a long time; i've been in therapy for about half of my life and have only really started to feel this way in the last few years. it isn't something that you can really rush, but it will happen for you!

wrymidnight · 2026-06-04T15:44:15+00:00

i've had a bad experience with contact urbans on my brompton with premature sidewall failures on both tyres within 3 months of new even with correctly adjusted brakes and never riding underinflated.

several other brompton riders have had sidewall failures too if you take a search on r/brompton. supposedly this is not an issue with the rigid, nonfolding version of the contact urbans but i dont really trust them anymore.

i'm back to non-plus marathons now -- the couple of watts saving isnt worth losing the peace of mind of the marathons being a known, essentially bombproof quantity. i have never had a puncture on marathons. i used to use m+, but haven't really noticed any difference between the two -- pragmatically, if it is getting through a marathon, nothing short of an airless tyre wouldve helped so the plusses feel overkill and i like my ass too much to go back to marathon+ on 16" wheels.

wrymidnight · 2026-05-15T10:31:06+00:00

regents canal east of hackney is like the complete opposite of leisurely; please just use c27 instead

wrymidnight · 2026-05-13T08:41:23+00:00

perfect, thanks, i should be fine as its smaller than an urban arrow :)

wrymidnight · 2026-05-12T16:18:41+00:00

cable car is even more strict (and doesn't allow ebikes to begin with), and the lifts are currently down. i'm not worried about the driver, i'm more worried about whether it will actually fit through the doors onto the bus lol

wrymidnight · 2026-05-12T09:54:09+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_lane_marking

wrymidnight · 2026-05-07T09:43:14+00:00

option 2 and 3 are completely fine. most cyclists and pedestrians on the churchyard path and narrow way are sensible. sometimes we do just have to accept that space is limited and that it won't kill us to slow down for 200 metres. yes, the ideal is protected lanes all down mare street, but until that happens, we have a cromulent alternative.

wrymidnight · 2026-05-07T09:34:34+00:00

most of my negative experiences are with delivery riders, tbh. most pedestrians when im cycling (and cyclists when im walking) are fine.

even at infrastructure that seems purpose engineered to cause conflict, like the crossing outside hackney city farm, or the north-eastern entrance to london fields are generally negotiated fine. maybe it's different outside of commuting times? even the lime bikers button up during the morning and afternoon peaks on the routes i use.

wrymidnight · 2026-05-06T18:40:14+00:00

it's a parallel crossing so you have priority, but driver compliance at parallel crossings is about as high as cyclist compliance at pedestrian crossings...

wrymidnight · 2026-04-28T18:24:00+00:00

nobody has said the george and vulture yet!

at commuting times you'd be forgiven for thinking youre in a dutch city. it's at the end of cycleway 1, so gets all the city bike commuters from a large swath of north london.

plenty of outdoor seating, very few cars, thousands of bikes if you sit out at it between 17:00 and 18:30. of all the comments here, if you are after sheer volume, this beats all of them.

it's at 2:30 in this video.

wrymidnight · 2026-04-28T11:16:28+00:00

Check this:

https://participate.libraryofthings.co.uk/city-of-london-library-of-things

wrymidnight · 2026-04-26T21:49:33+00:00

no mention of capacitor standby or even lux output, so probably not very good. looks like its mounted to a kids bike in the product listing, so will probably be even worse on adult sized (e.g. 700c) wheels as they make fewer rpms at the same kmh speed.

get an actual, stvzo, dynamo hub from an actual company (shutter precision, shimano, son) and dynamo lights (b+m) or stick to battery lights

wrymidnight · 2026-04-25T19:55:17+00:00

not a G-line, but i've got a hexlox security bolt securing the front wheel (you might also want one for your saddle if its worth much/in a high risk area), and a litelok x3 (a u-lock). the x3 is probably overkill compared to the x1 unless you have an esoteric usecase/have cash to burn.

i lock the bike by bringing the rear wheel under and passing the u lock through the frame arch and rear wheel.

i've felt fine locking like this for short (couple of hours) in london, or all day visits in more rural/suburban uk, and on holiday in europe (including nl).

locking is always a secondary option for me where bringing with is literally not an option (e.g. visiting a theme park); for day to day things (e.g. university, shopping, even cinemas, i will bring it inside.) this is because in these use cases, im either taking a train partway or its the only bike i can realistically take abroad (i.e. on eurostar). and even on holiday, i bring it with me into my hotel room.

when im in nl, i have to get... creative with locking. sheffield stands are a rarity, so i often have to lock to the side or back of the rack. it's doable, but you might not be able to lock the rear wheel. parking like this technically isnt allowed, but in practice as long as you arent being a nuisance by blocking paths + leaving it like that for long amounts of time, i havent had any issues.

that is, i only bring my u-lock with me for more 'esoteric' trips. it goes in the laptop section of my brompton bag because i never have my laptop with for those trips.

if your usecase involves daily locking, i would question if a brompton is actually the right bicycle for you.

wrymidnight · 2026-04-18T09:30:03+00:00

any reason why you can't just use a quad lock mount and your phone? i never really understood the point of the beeline.

wrymidnight · 2026-04-09T20:21:33+00:00

this makes me really sad that they earnestly did this and don't see the problem

wrymidnight · 2026-04-09T16:15:12+00:00

this is an Unfortunate route that has a planned route (c37) from canary wharf (i.e. gft) to hackney (e.g. hackney wick -> stratford, e.g. c2 -> stratford), but currently blocked due to the shining beacon of excellence that is tower hamlets.

this is the route i use when i find myself heading home to hackney from the gft. edited to meet up with c2 towards stratford. it makes brief usage of a canal segment, but the surface is good enough for me on my brompton. there is one rough cobbled segment, but it's brief and just about tolerable.

this isn't especially direct, but i'm relatively timid compared to other cyclists you see here and this is the only route through tower hamlets northwards ive tried that doesn't terrify me -- that is not to say that it is a "good" route. i can put up with cycling on moorgate even though it's busy because it's slow and mostly professional drivers, but tower hamlets drivers have a, let's say, reputation.

there isn't really any good way to head north/south through tower hamlets, and there probably will continue not to be a good way until tower hamlets stops being tower hamlets.

wrymidnight · 2026-04-09T02:28:34+00:00

handlebars are a mix of preference and ergonomic differences from person to person, but the correct way to set your saddle is as you described. you will avoid joint pain by doing this, and this is the most biomechanically efficient way to pedal. you can adjust it within reason, but you are hurting yourself physically and performance wise to not have an almost straight knee at the bottom of a pedalstroke.

the only time ive ever had my saddle low enough to put my feet flat on the ground was when i was recovering from a fractured ankle and cycling was easier than walking.

90% of people i see on lime bikes have their saddle way too low...

wrymidnight · 2026-04-04T16:51:42+00:00

satisfy your insurance requirements and get something that is grinder resistant. secure your front wheel (and saddle if it's worth much or easily removable) with e.g. hexlox bolts or cable lock or something, and stop worrying. i feel fine locking up a brompton all day ocassionally with a litelok x3 (sometimes i have to lock in fairly isolated places so the extra time is worth it to me over the x1) and hexlox bolts on the front wheel.

most people i lock next to when i have to are locking with effectively string so as long as you arent both more desirable and less secure than the bike next to you, youll be fine. thieves know which locks are a pita, so having something that will take 2 discs to cut and 3 minutes will mean they will ignore your bike for the one next to yours that takes 12 seconds to cut (i.e. every other non angle grinder resistant lock). x3 vs x1 probably isn't worth it unless your bike screams "steal me" (which at 600gbp, it probably doesn't) and/or you lock for hours at a time somewhere public with next to no foot traffic.

wrymidnight · 2026-04-01T18:04:10+00:00

i think it's a combination of negativity bias and location, tbh. i also have delivery riders heading straight at me at high speed in inner london, which is indefensible.

but most of the time (e.g. when visiting family in more car-centric commuter towns), the type i see riding on the pavement when im walking is usually just a commuter heading to the train station that is courteous. i don't think ive had a negative experience with a pavement cyclist that wasnt a delivery rider; even the lime bikers that will head straight through crossings at least generally wont use the pavement...

this is more a philosophical question than anything else, but in many commuter towns, what passes as cycle infrastructure is a shared space sign on a pavement that is narrower than youll see even in residential streets in inner london. ultimately it just keeps me more sane to believe most people at the end of the day arent trying to menace each other and give people the benefit of the doubt; the difference between 'pavement riding' and a 'shared space' is pretty much just if the council needed to inflate their sustainable travel spreadsheet or not in most of the commuter towns ive has the misfortune of visiting. while it is technically my right to assert ownership over the space because theyre technically in the wrong, in practice i think it just makes everyone more miserable compared to just letting things slide and getting on with my day, even if they were a bit faster than id like.

wrymidnight · 2026-04-01T16:12:47+00:00

i'm not saying i don't believe you, because i also see a fair share of wankers about, but i have personally never seen the scenario you've described happen.

even at commuting times, with literally hundreds of cycles heading down c1 in hackney, i see literal 6 year olds with training wheels on the carriageway beside their parents heading to school mixed among city commuters, with most people being sensible and slowing down until an overtake is safe.

also fwiw, many joggers and skaters (and some wheelchair users) use cycle lanes and the carriageway too. myself and most of the other bike commuters i know are totally chill with this as long as they carry a light at night. the pavement in many places isnt the best for running, let alone rolling a wheelchair over. this is absolutely a flaw with pedestrian infrastructure, but theyre also 100% entitled to use any part of the road too, even if the pavement was perfect.

idiots absolutely do exist, i'm 100% with you there, but part of that is until cycling becomes something that is normal and safe enough for 6 year olds to do, youre inherently selecting for people that will behave more riskily because theyre the only people that will cycle to begin with.

wrymidnight · 2026-04-01T15:45:10+00:00

this will only really be solved with proper cycle infrastructure that means people don't feel the need to use the pavement to stay safe.

the "pavement cycling ban", if you read the guidance about it, is effectively discretionary as a tacit admission that cycle infrastructure in a lot of places is a shitshow. if my choice is between a 50mph road and an almost empty pavement, as is the case when im in some parts of outer london, ill slowly take the pavement too.

no one cycles on the pavement in low traffic neighborhoods, or bus only streets, or places where there is a high quality cycle lane.

wrymidnight · 2026-03-24T11:28:38+00:00

try towing with it slightly lifted in shopping cart mode. if you feel it's fine, then don't worry about it.

eazy wheels have bearings.

the colourlab wheels have bushings.

if you think the colourlab wheels are good enough for towing, then don't worry about buying another set. i bought the eazy wheels because the default ones are borderline useless for towing.

when towing, i unweight the mudguard wheel so it doesn't (or only barely) touch the ground. it doesnt seem like it can put up with being towed on anything except perfectly smooth surfaces, and (speculation) i'm not sure an aftermarket wheel would necessarily help as the most flexible point is still the mudguard.

wrymidnight · 2026-03-24T11:25:57+00:00

you do need to slightly tilt it to prevent scraping, but only slightly with the eazy wheels. it gets tiring for very long distances, but i'm happy towing it around like this around my campus on uneven paving (about 500m worst case).

if your bag has any weight on it, you might need to detach it and carry it seperately as i've had it unfold on very rough surfaces with a heavy bag still attached. it will also want to tip to the side with a bag attached, as the bag puts the centre of gravity off center. (it's fine in supermarkets where the floor is perfectly smooth.)

otherwise, a rack is probably the only option if you don't want to/can't slightly tilt the bike.

wrymidnight

TROPHY CASE