Hello @Everyone + some questions

Sagi

Hi

I'm Sebastian, 30 years old cycling enthusiast coming to Ireland soon.

As I'm about to leave Austria and move to Cork I just registered at your forum and hope to find a nice community here for talking about cycling, maybe even find some people for going on tours together.

Well, at the moment I live close to Vienna, so not really in the alpes, but we got some nice hills and forests to go mountainbiking. I've never been to Ireland, or to cork, so I'm wondering what the people do with their bikes around this area?

I have a Surly Troll bike with the shimano Alfine Hub at the moment

bike.JPG


I use it as commuter, mountainbike and for long bike hiking tours.

I'm wondering if it makes sense to bring the bike with me or rather buy a new one in Ireland. It's a great bike, but maybe I'd rather want to get a bike for the city, which won't get stolen to soon ( is that a big problem in cork?)
And then the question is if it makes sense to have a 26" bike that is very convertible, but not ideal for Road Cycling, or if I rather get something new on 28" wheels.

I gues what I want to do are daytours, or mabe weekend bike and hike Tours around the beautiful coastline

Bigger trips in Summer maybe take of a week or two and explore the Island on a the bycicle.

What kind of bike would you recommend for this?


I realised I just mist a cycling festival in cork, that's a pitty, is it an annual event?

I read there are critical mass events in cork, i visited them on a regular basis in Vienna, how many people are usually joining the ride?

What are the best shops in Cork? I do most of the repairs and stuff myself, but I wont bring all my tools at the beginning, so I'll need a good local shop for support.

How do you experience the situation in the city? is it cycle fiendly, do many people commute on bikes?

Well I'm sure I'll have more questions in the course of time, but for the moment I basically want to say hello to everyone and start getting involved in this forum.

Sorry for any mistakes, I'm not a native speaker

Tonyandthewhale

It's up to whether or not it makes sense to bring the bike over here. It's generally not too expensive but you need to be careful to pack it carefully (preferably in a solid bike box) or it'll get trashed by the baggage handlers.

If you're not going to do much off-road riding an audax or light touring bike might be a better option if you want to do some touring in Ireland.

I'm not from Cork myself so I can't give you too much info about cycling in the city or what the best bike shops are.
From what I've seen, cycling isn't huge in the city because of the large complex of not-particularly cycle-friendly ring roads and steep hills. Mountain biking seems to be pretty popular that end of the country however and you've got the excellent ballyhoura trail network in North Co. Cork if you're into that sort of thing.

kavanagh_h

Hi there. Try not to miss the an post rebel tour in cork on 15th sept. see link. That will introduce you to cycling people and the routes around cork. Its a great series of events but thats the last one this year i think.

http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/IrishCycling/An_Post_Cycle_Series/Cork/

H.

Bigus

I think bring your bike with you . Welcome to Ireland

Jawgap

Welcome to Ireland - sorry you have to go to Cork !

However, there is great cycling around there - especially heading west from the City towards Kinsale, Clonakilty and beyond.

Heading east, the cycling is pretty good too - Midleton, Ballycotton and Youghal are some of the towns worth heading towards there.

The cycle way from Carrigaline to Crosshaven is a very good introduction to cycling in the area.

Good luck.

Roger Hassenforder

welcome to Cork fiend, its a bit hillier than Austria.
plenty of shops, some better than others, and loads of clubs to hook up with

is it the city or the county you're coming to?

Sagi

Thanks for your replies, I'd love to bring the bike because it's the best I ever head and I'm not going to be able to spend 2000€ on a new bike too soon.
Plus I built it up last September, so it has 6000 km max. and would definitely be good for a few more years.

The bike getting trashed is something I'm worried about, if I send it I'll take care for reasonable packing.

The Tour is on my schedule now, hope I manage to bring the bike in time or organize another ride for the event.

I'll be living in the city or close to it, to be honest I had no time for organizing something so far, I did not plan to come to ireland but 10 days ago I got a job offer and next week I'll allready be working, so everything goes very fast.

Captain Havoc

Don't forget about the bike to work scheme here which entitles you to a discount on bikes (bit more complicated than that). I don't know if you'd be able to avail of it though until you've worked here long enough, it's set up through your employers.

Bigus

Captain Havoc wrote: »

Don't forget about the bike to work scheme here which entitles you to a discount on bikes (bit more complicated than that). I don't know if you'd be able to avail of it though until you've worked here long enough, it's set up through your employers.

It's not a discount.
It's a tax break offset against tax you would otherwise pay on earnings, to encourage bicycle use.

Sagi

Bigus wrote: »

It's not a discount.
It's a tax break offset against tax you would otherwise pay on earnings, to encourage bicycle use.

Nice, I read about this bike to work scheme, I'll ask my employer about it. Sounds lime a good thing, and I definitely plan to commute by bike, as I don't have a license and don't really enjoy public transport I don't have many options anyhow.

robertxxx

Are you mad!! your leaving Vienna to come to cork? i hope you have a return ticket.

Sagi

Well, as much as I love Vienna, after 10 years in the city and my whole life spent in Austria it's about time to leave.

But yeah, it's a wonderful town and I'm going to miss it

Sagi

So, Just packed the bike as professionally as possible, and will send it tomorrow.

I'm very happy that I dont have to come over without it

Think it's going to b e as perfect for Ireland as it was for Austria

jameverywhere

I recently cycled thru county cork, but didn't go near the city itself.

there's some nice cycling to be done on a little L road south of the river blackwater. Also, cycling up the Vee in the Knockmealdown mountains is a nice day out. there's also a really cool path thru the mountains and forests inbetween Millstreet and Ballingeary--head down on the main Cork road from Millstreet, then take a right after you pass the rock quarry. You'll be on little sheep/tractor roads, paved but hardly any traffic, beautiful quiet scenery and forestry area. Keep heading southwest if you come to forks in the road, then you'll have a huge long descent into an Gaeltacht, and thru another range of mountains before you reach Ballingeary. If you're interested I can draw it up for you properly on a map.

also, you can't forget the Beara peninsula and the ring of Beara.

Sagi

Thanks for you're offer, I Think I'll find the area, and anyhow if I try to cycle a route given on a map I always fail and make huge detours, but I'll check out the villages you mentioned and hope to find some nice routes...

Sagi

So

The bike is here and assembled, of course not quite one small part has gone missing, the white "non turn washer" must have somehow slipped out of the box....
well what can you do, i'll get a new one

And I wonder where this one screw that I had left after assembling everything should have gone, hope it was just a spare part