Road Cycling Essentials

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touch said:
canyons.jpg


For some reason they sent me a shock pump with it as well?
Not sure why, but i was about to buy one for my mtb, so thats a bonus :D
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Very nice indeed, you'll be forever cleaning it though!
 
Very nice bike touch!! Is there anywhere in the UK which has them in stock to have a sit on or are they just available direct?
 
touch said:
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/315/canyons.jpg/img][/QUOTE]

Wheres the like button on Overclockers when you need it!

I've finally been out on my new Boardman for more than 10 minutes and I can honestly say that I'm over the moon with it.

It's my first road bike after coming from a "fast hybrid" so it's going to take a while to get used to the hand positioning and using the combined brake/gear levers, but my god does it shift compared to the hybrid. It's a good 5-6lbs lighter and you can certainly feel it on the hills, and getting it up to speed on the flats and keeping it there is effortless, I look forward to trying it with fresh legs!

One thing that I'm slightly shakey on though is pedalling out the saddle, the handlebars are much harder to keep straight and I seem to wobble a lot, but that's something that'll come with practice undoubtedly.

The only thing I want to change is the tyres, not because of their grip but to add something with puncture resistance.

Are the Durano S a good choice? They're 115g lighter per tyre to boot which is always an added bonus!
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Rusty_Noob said:
Wheres the like button on Overclockers when you need it!

I've finally been out on my new Boardman for more than 10 minutes and I can honestly say that I'm over the moon with it.

It's my first road bike after coming from a "fast hybrid" so it's going to take a while to get used to the hand positioning and using the combined brake/gear levers, but my god does it shift compared to the hybrid. It's a good 5-6lbs lighter and you can certainly feel it on the hills, and getting it up to speed on the flats and keeping it there is effortless, I look forward to trying it with fresh legs!

One thing that I'm slightly shakey on though is pedalling out the saddle, the handlebars are much harder to keep straight and I seem to wobble a lot, but that's something that'll come with practice undoubtedly.

The only thing I want to change is the tyres, not because of their grip but to add something with puncture resistance.

Are the Durano S a good choice? They're 115g lighter per tyre to boot which is always an added bonus!
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Yeah i found that when i first road bike, i was actually scared to ride it as the frontend was so much more twitchy then the mountain bike that rode before, but as you said you get used to it.
 
Had time for a quick blast on the new bike this evening. Strava log here.

First impressions were that it was a bit slow going uphill but very fast on the flat. Fair enough, it's designed as an aero bike for going fast and not a lightweight climber, i was still a little disappointed tho.
Anyway, i got home and uploaded the log to strava and found that today's time up the hill was only 6 seconds slower than my best ever time on my old bike (on a long climb, over 9 mins total), so i guess it just feels slow...which i'm not sure is a good thing or not :p

Very quick on flat roads tho. Seems to hold a good speed with very little effort and doesnt want to slow down - even when i stop pedalling.
Feels a bit more fragile than the old bike tho but not because it flexes, i think it's because it's lighter than anything i'v ridden before and the aero shape of the frame and wheels are a bit twitchy in side winds. It takes less effort to maintain a good speed, but a little more effort/concentration to keep it in a straight line (but i'm sure this is just something that i'll get used to and it will feel normal soon).

Overall, i'm very happy with it and i'm looking forward to a couple of longer rides at the weekend.
 
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That is Canyon is so nice.
The steering will calm down on the boardman, I felt the same when I sstarted on my roadie, now when I pop on the Coiler that one feel slow and bouncy!
 
Rusty_Noob said:
It's a good 5-6lbs lighter and you can certainly feel it on the hills, and getting it up to speed on the flats and keeping it there is effortless, I look forward to trying it with fresh legs!
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Weight is over rated. It makes very little difference.

I've got this book at home: Bicycling Science

It's not to hand just now, but there's a section in it about common bicycling myths. One of them talks about weight. There's a couple of examples of how much impact weight makes when climbing and on the flat. Basically it's very little as you to need to consider the total weight of rider and machine. I'll post the figures tonight. The weight will make some difference, but what you're noticing is likely mostly due to less rolling resistance from tyres, less resistance from the hubs and drive chain and a bit of placebo effect.
 
Has anyone here had a professional bike fit?

If so,

- How much was it?
- What did you get for the price?
- Why did you decide to do a bike fit?
- How long had you been riding before having a bike fit?

I live local to Cadence Sport run by a former pro cyclist (Tour De France etc) and he charges £150 for a bike fit including moulded insoles.

I've just started road biking over the past few months and I want to get the most out of both me and my bike. My bike is a 2nd hand 2004/05 Fondriest 56cm with Ultegra groupset and Mavic Ksyrilium SL wheels and other than adjusting the saddle height I've not changed a thing. All the videos seem to have top end bikes and to all intents and purposes are semi pro / pro whereas I'm more of a casual rider that has SPD pedals with chunky MTB shoes and hide the lycra under baggy shorts!

The previous owner of my bike is a friend who I ride with a minimum twice a week as a group and is about 5ft 11 but rode with the saddle quite low in the seat post and I'm just under 6 ft 2 and have raised the saddle by a few inches.

£150 sounds quite expensive when you compare it to the bike I bought for £750 but from reading around anyone that has had a bike fit wished they had done so when they started, plus I've got some knee pain in my right knee which I think is ITBS, would the bike fit help prevent this?
 
In my opinion correct bike fit is very important. However, it's not rocket science and folks charging £180-150 are just ripping off folk with more money than sense. There are only three contact points, a couple of critical angles, half a dozen degrees of freedom, it's not rocket science. I've had two professional bike fits (both for free, one with a former pro-team mechanic, the other with the guy who used to build custom frames for a pro-tour team). Both downplayed today's fancy fittings. Of course someone who's just just dropped £150 on a fitting is likely to tell you how marvellous it is. :)
 
touch said:
You can put your MTB pedals on a road bike (which is fine, a few people on here have MTB pedals/shoes), but your MTB shoes wont take road cleats.
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darn didnt relise that:eek:
Can i justify buying a pair of road shoes and having a pair of MTB shoes.......

I currently saving hard and il see what my final budget will be at the end but atm just making a list of bikes to try out as i know road bikes are more personal than MTB bikes so want to get the right one.

On canyon i hear through the grapevine that the "ultimate" series is going to have a overhawl, and this kind of makes sense as it hasnt changed in a long time, so will keep a eye out on it.

i guess this means though time to think about new clothes as i dont think baggy panths going to cutt it for road cycling clubs:p
 
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