Road Cycling Essentials

[Damien] · 21 Feb 2013 at 12:59

willems said:
theyd be some massive handlebars mate

That's what all the pros are doing this year. Massively thick solid core handlebars. Everyone knows that having a heavy front end makes you faster

Vonhelmet · 21 Feb 2013 at 13:05

willems said:
theyd be some massive handlebars mate

Haha, like a drainpipe.

Vonhelmet · 21 Feb 2013 at 13:06

[Damien];23803588 said:
You've got one. Granted you're the only one on it but it still counts

Haha, that's true, I set up the lap I do round Leigh as a segment because I ride it fairly often. 10 mile segment, ooooooh yeah.

PermaChanged · 21 Feb 2013 at 13:09

[Damien];23804990 said:
Everyone knows that having a heavy front end makes you faster

So my belly is actually making me faster!? I'll lay off the greens and pile on the pies!

Jonny69 · 21 Feb 2013 at 13:13

An enforced ride in today, which I'm annoyed about because I didn't want to ride. Puncture on the car now :mad:

Remi87: looks like a good choice. I love Miche track hubs and wanted some for ages now. Just not had the justification to build another set of wheels when there's nothing wrong with my current ones

Vonhelmet · 21 Feb 2013 at 13:13

Kimi said:
What about that Boardman Halfords were going to stock? i think they have a £500 one coming out, or out now, not sure on groupset tho

It's rubbish. It's like £600 for 2300 kit and an aluminium fork. Weighs only 10.9Kg!!!!!1111 The best bit is the fact is says Boardman on the side, but you're not fooling anyone. The Boardman Road Race costs just £70 more and has a carbon fork and mixes in some Sora kit. Even then there's really no excuse when you can get the Ribble Audax with full Tiagra for £660, unless you absolutely have to buy from Halfords.

Vonhelmet · 21 Feb 2013 at 13:16

divaboy said:
Might sound like a stupid question but are all road bike pedals the same and can I use any road bike shoes?

I see some roadbike shoes are marked as SPD's aren't they MTB standard?

What do I need to look out for so they are compatible with my new road bike pedals

SPD is mountain bike, but is used by lots of road riders because it's cheaper and the shoes are easier to walk in off the bike. SPD-SL is road only (unless you're mental) and is more expensive and the shoes are harder to walk in as the cleats are not recessed.

Some shoes can do both types of cleats, assuming they have the right holes in the bottom, though they're likely to be more akin to road shoes with exposed cleats regardless of whether you're using SPD or SPD-SL.

Vonhelmet · 21 Feb 2013 at 13:17

grudas said:
the only difference really is the weight + smoothness of shifting and noise.

my triban has 2300 all around and tbh i dont have any problems with it, shifts when i need it to and thats about it really

As someone on another bike forum pointed out... Anything you ride with today is going to better than anything that Eddy Merckx had back in the day.

Quick, someone else post, it looks like I've got nothing better to do.

[Damien] · 21 Feb 2013 at 13:24

Vonhelmet said:
Haha, that's true, I set up the lap I do round Leigh as a segment because I ride it fairly often. 10 mile segment, ooooooh yeah.

Prepare to be second place! Muhahahaha!

(only kidding)

Vonhelmet said:
Quick, someone else post, it looks like I've got nothing better to do.

I'll help you out, I hardly ever post...

Kimi · 21 Feb 2013 at 13:44

Lead_Head said:
The length from the screw that mounts the stem on to the headset above the head tube to the middle of your handlebars (where it clamps on).

Stem length is quite important to get the correct posture on the bike.

Make sure you get the correct clamp diameter, most modern bikes are 31.8mm now.

Ah ha, if i remember, on my Canyon it says 100mm on the stem so i guess i should go for the same size.

willems said:
theyd be some massive handlebars mate

haha

uniQ · 21 Feb 2013 at 13:57

On the bars check where they're measuring from. All the manu's measure from different places! Some are edge to edge, other centre to centre from the drops etc. So a 42cm C2C is more like a 44cm E2E!

[DOD]Asprilla · 21 Feb 2013 at 14:44

Vonhelmet said:
SPD is mountain bike, but is used by lots of road riders because it's cheaper and the shoes are easier to walk in off the bike. SPD-SL is road only (unless you're mental) and is more expensive and the shoes are harder to walk in as the cleats are not recessed.

Some shoes can do both types of cleats, assuming they have the right holes in the bottom, though they're likely to be more akin to road shoes with exposed cleats regardless of whether you're using SPD or SPD-SL.

With regards to shoes there is a myriad of different pedal / cleat types but the important bit is the number of holes needed to screw the cleats to the bottom. They come in two hole (generally mtb, cyclocross, spin and commuter), three (generally road) and occasionally four (only Speedplay afaik).

Vonhelmet · 21 Feb 2013 at 14:57

I thought I'd stop short at just discussing shimano ones, rather than getting off track into all the random types!

rogan · 21 Feb 2013 at 15:15

time atac...

all you need

Lead_Head · 21 Feb 2013 at 15:56

Jonny69 said:
An enforced ride in today, which I'm annoyed about because I didn't want to ride. Puncture on the car now

Remi87: looks like a good choice. I love Miche track hubs and wanted some for ages now. Just not had the justification to build another set of wheels when there's nothing wrong with my current ones

Are Miche track hubs decent then? I've got them on my new Pompino I'm picking up on Saturday *excited*

Jimbeam3678 · 21 Feb 2013 at 16:11

[DOD]Asprilla;23805961 said:
With regards to shoes there is a myriad of different pedal / cleat types but the important bit is the number of holes needed to screw the cleats to the bottom. They come in two hole (generally mtb, cyclocross, spin and commuter), three (generally road) and occasionally four (only Speedplay afaik).

Vonhelmet said:
I thought I'd stop short at just discussing shimano ones, rather than getting off track into all the random types!

Thanks for part explaining, so basically I need to pop into my LBS and find out exactly what pedals it comes with to find out what shoes I need to buy?

Thanks again

Kimi · 21 Feb 2013 at 16:13

Right, ordered today

Zipp Service Course SL Bars
Zipp Service Course SL Stem
Selle Italia SLR Flow Saddle

PermaChanged · 21 Feb 2013 at 16:21

divaboy said:
Thanks for part explaining, so basically I need to pop into my LBS and find out exactly what pedals it comes with to find out what shoes I need to buy?

Thanks again

Chances are it will come with flat pedals with toe clips, if it comes with any pedals at all!

Like this,

One More Solo · 21 Feb 2013 at 16:25

divaboy said:
Thanks for part explaining, so basically I need to pop into my LBS and find out exactly what pedals it comes with to find out what shoes I need to buy?

Thanks again

If it's a new bike it will just come with crappy plastic flats like you got on your bike when you were a kid.

It's up to you to buy the pedals that most suit your riding, to keep it simple I'd suggest:

Commuting: SPD pedals
Recreational (for lack of a better word): SPD-SL pedals

Once you've decided you can then look at shoes.

In very exciting news I have just agreed to buy my new bike frame.

Ok, so it's not a Cervelo but it is a Scott CR1 Comp. Can't wait to pick it up and start my build.

touch · 21 Feb 2013 at 16:27

They might swap the plastic pedals that come with it for some SPD-SL pedals if you ask nice and tell them that you'll buy the shoes from them as well.

Road Cycling Essentials

Man of Honour