View Full Version : Cycling Oddments from France
Cycling Oddments from France
I am just back from two weeks in the south of France, sans velo, as they say. Two things to report:
I bought a great tripod workstand from Decathlon for 45 Euros, with chain degreaser and lubricant
thrown in for 1 Euro extra. Very solid, holds the bike on the bottom bracket. Pity I serviced the
bike before I went away or I could have played with it today.
In Meyrueis, on the Jonte (very remote in the Lozere) I saw scooters, huge things with scooter tyres
and scooter drum brakes but MTB-ish frames for making descents of Mont Aiguoal - no pedals so you
could not move under your own steam. A company takes a squad up the mountain (advertising descents)
and presumably organises the ambulance and Friends of the Earth demonstration when you get to the
bottom. Anyone else seen this kind of thing?
My son did a descent when we were staying at Seythenex near Annecy a couple of years ago. It was
very rocky and quite easy to fall off but the French don't seem to be into this compensation culture
lark like us so there are some things you can do with a bit of excitement left! As for the Decathlon
workstand, I wish I'd gone into one of their stores when I was on holiday in July as it's one of the
things I could really do with but don't really want to pay out 100quid. Anyway I'll be going for a
weekend break before the end of the year so I'll take a look then. "Geoff Pearson"
<gspearson1647@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:bk4pki$pjffc$1@ID-120835.news.uni-berlin.de...
> I am just back from two weeks in the south of France, sans velo, as they say. Two things
> to report:
>
> I bought a great tripod workstand from Decathlon for 45 Euros, with chain degreaser and lubricant
> thrown in for 1 Euro extra. Very solid, holds the bike on the bottom bracket. Pity I serviced the
> bike before I went away
or
> I could have played with it today.
>
> In Meyrueis, on the Jonte (very remote in the Lozere) I saw scooters, huge things with scooter
> tyres and scooter drum brakes but MTB-ish frames for making descents of Mont Aiguoal - no pedals
> so you could not move under
your
> own steam. A company takes a squad up the mountain (advertising descents) and presumably organises
> the ambulance and Friends of the Earth demonstration when you get to the bottom. Anyone else seen
> this kind of thing?
"Geoff Pearson" <gspearson1647@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bk4pki$pjffc$1@ID-120835.news.uni-berlin.de...
> I am just back from two weeks in the south of France, sans velo, as they say. Two things
> to report:
>
> I bought a great tripod workstand from Decathlon for 45 Euros, with chain degreaser and lubricant
> thrown in for 1 Euro extra. Very solid, holds the bike on the bottom bracket. Pity I serviced the
> bike before I went away
or
> I could have played with it today.
From experience you may find that you are putting the Decathlon workstand on Ebay .... it's not
very stable when you start to turn the wheels, the strap around the down tube simply doesn't
hold it rigid.
Just my view, BUT it does seem that Decathlon (in France, not the UK stores) is THE place for
reasonably priced "commodity items" for cycling
RG
>
> In Meyrueis, on the Jonte (very remote in the Lozere) I saw scooters, huge things with scooter
> tyres and scooter drum brakes but MTB-ish frames for making descents of Mont Aiguoal - no pedals
> so you could not move under
your
> own steam. A company takes a squad up the mountain (advertising descents) and presumably organises
> the ambulance and Friends of the Earth demonstration when you get to the bottom. Anyone else seen
> this kind of thing?
On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 18:05:04 +0100, "Paul Saunders" <psaunders@bernardavenue.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>My son did a descent when we were staying at Seythenex near Annecy a couple of years ago. It was
>very rocky and quite easy to fall off but the French don't seem to be into this compensation
>culture lark like us so there are some things you can do with a bit of excitement left!
Hi Paul
I seem to recall from my skiing days that the French legal system doesn't allow any compensation for
"hurt feelings". This may well include pain, full stop. I cannot recall.
James
--
"Sorry mate, I didn't see you" is not a satisfactory excuse.
> I seem to recall from my skiing days that the French legal system doesn't allow any compensation
> for "hurt feelings". This may well include pain, full stop. I cannot recall.
>
> James
I was wondering about this ever since watching a camel race in Provence some years back. Prior to
the "pro's" leaping onto the hapless beasts, they invited members of the audience up to take them
for a spin. Camels being camels, what quickly followed was a number of wildly laughing frenchmen
being dragged around a gravel oval on their arses, the only safety kit provided being something that
looked like a builder's hard hat. How their families and friends laughed too. I could just imagine
how this would work in the UK - the claims chasers would have a field day!
Phil Bixby York, UK
"Geoff Pearson" <gspearson1647@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bk4pki$pjffc$1@ID-120835.news.uni-berlin.de...
> In Meyrueis, on the Jonte (very remote in the Lozere) I saw scooters, huge things with scooter
> tyres and scooter drum brakes but MTB-ish frames for making descents of Mont Aiguoal - no pedals
> so you could not move under
your
> own steam. A company takes a squad up the mountain (advertising descents) and presumably organises
> the ambulance and Friends of the Earth demonstration when you get to the bottom. Anyone else seen
> this kind of thing?
I was in Luchon for 3 weeks of blue sky bliss and mountainbiking in August/September and saw many
groups like this ascending the cable car and descending the marked mountainbike trails (generally
landrover tracks) . . . quite funny seeing them all pushing them along in the 35C temperatures when
they got to the valley floor . . .
Fd
Don't forget decathlon now have stores in the UK http://www.decathlon.co.uk/ukstore/index.asp
"Geoff Pearson" <gspearson1647@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:<bk4pki$pjffc$1@ID-120835.news.uni-berlin.de>...
> I am just back from two weeks in the south of France, sans velo, as they say. Two things
> to report:
>
> I bought a great tripod workstand from Decathlon for 45 Euros, with chain degreaser and lubricant
> thrown in for 1 Euro extra. Very solid, holds the bike on the bottom bracket. Pity I serviced the
> bike before I went away or I could have played with it today.
>
> In Meyrueis, on the Jonte (very remote in the Lozere) I saw scooters, huge things with scooter
> tyres and scooter drum brakes but MTB-ish frames for making descents of Mont Aiguoal - no pedals
> so you could not move under your own steam. A company takes a squad up the mountain (advertising
> descents) and presumably organises the ambulance and Friends of the Earth demonstration when you
> get to the bottom. Anyone else seen this kind of thing?
Paul Saunders wrote:
> My son did a descent when we were staying at Seythenex near Annecy a couple of years ago. It was
> very rocky and quite easy to fall off but the French don't seem to be into this compensation
> culture lark like
We spent our hols near Seythenex this year (Doussard). Nice place.
NIGEL wrote:
> Don't forget decathlon now have stores in the UK http://www.decathlon.co.uk/ukstore/index.asp
They have nothing like the range of bikes they have in France, though.
Simonb
"Simonb" <sbennettatwiderworlddotcodotuk> wrote in message
news:3f674a98$0$216$bed64819@pubnews.gradwell.net...
> NIGEL wrote:
> > Don't forget decathlon now have stores in the UK http://www.decathlon.co.uk/ukstore/index.asp
>
> They have nothing like the range of bikes they have in France, though.
............ and the UK store prices seem to be based on an exchange rate with the pound equalling
the euro .... i.e. very much more expensive than France (nearest store in France is in Boulogne! -
and the GO Sport French chain also has loads of good cycling stuff at good prices, there's a branch
in the Cite d'Europe at Calais)
RG
>
> Simonb
On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 21:02:44 +0100, Phil Bixby wrote:
> I was wondering about this ever since watching a camel race in Provence some years back. Prior to
> the "pro's" leaping onto the hapless beasts
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2002/jan02/qatar/AFPjajacamel3.shtml
"Simonb" <sbennettatwiderworlddotcodotuk> writes:
> NIGEL wrote:
> > Don't forget decathlon now have stores in the UK http://www.decathlon.co.uk/ukstore/index.asp
>
> They have nothing like the range of bikes they have in France, though.
What quality are their bikes? Their Rockrider 9.1 looks very like a Santa Cruz, and seems quite well
specified for it price.
--
simon@jasmine.org.uk (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; better than your average performing pineapple
Simon Brooke wrote:
> "Simonb" <sbennettatwiderworlddotcodotuk> writes:
>
>> NIGEL wrote:
>>> Don't forget decathlon now have stores in the UK http://www.decathlon.co.uk/ukstore/index.asp
>>
>> They have nothing like the range of bikes they have in France, though.
>
> What quality are their bikes? Their Rockrider 9.1 looks very like a Santa Cruz, and seems quite
> well specified for it price.
Compare:
www.decathlon.fr
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