Road Cycling Essentials

NotAGolf · 3 Sep 2013 at 08:32

uniQ said:
How buckled is the wheel? The first/last time I tried to true a wheel with a spoke key I made it 10x worse

Took it to LBS who true'd it for £12

Only a few mm, but enough to mean that I have to have the brake pads a fair distance from the rim so I can only apply about 50% pressure.

I took it to my LBS a few weeks back and they trued it for £10 but then I smashed into a massive rock a couple of weeks later :/

It's just something I thought would save time and money in the long term, but if there's a chance I could make it worse then maybe I should reconsider...

platypus · 3 Sep 2013 at 09:04

[DOD]Asprilla;24873507 said:
Ah, compulsory helmets for cycling and the shock that Boris Bike rental doesn't include helmets. Great.

I wonder if they realise people outside of London cycle.

Then again I guess that bikes are so expensive us northeners can't afford 'em..

platypus · 3 Sep 2013 at 09:09

Saundie said:
I'm guessing that the kids are back to school this week, judging by the sharp increase in traffic on the road this morning. Summer is almost over

Which means, in my case, more women on the road in vehicles that they don't seem to realise how big (and dangerous) they are, whilst talking on their mobile phones as they drive into Cambridge to drop their kids off at the private schools. Hurrah.

Saundie · 3 Sep 2013 at 09:12

platypus said:
Which means, in my case, more women on the road in vehicles that they don't seem to realise how big (and dangerous) they are, whilst talking on their mobile phones as they drive into Cambridge to drop their kids off at the private schools. Hurrah.

Perhaps it's time to invest in a horn; apparently The Hornit puts out 140dB of shrill, high-pitched annoyance.

GAC · 3 Sep 2013 at 09:15

platypus said:
I wonder if they realise people outside of London cycle.

Then again I guess that bikes are so expensive us northeners can't afford 'em..

some of the stuff they where talking about was sensible enough, one problem that came out of it all was something we all know, local councils dont like spending cash on bikes (hell most dont like spending cash on the roads).

also the cycle routes that get built and then left alone, im not sure if sustrans actually check them but one route near me is nearly impassable now due to trees and bushes, i have emailed sustrans but no reply. same with the local council and county council.

so much needs changing in how things are done and hopefully this is the start but i fear there time table is to laid back, 10% of journys by 2025 and 15% by 2050 ?!. really if you get kids active now on bikes and invest properly and plan things you could hit 15% by 2025 but politicians being the beasts that they are and this country being a total farce when it comes to planning i guess 10% is about as good as we could hope for.

also no sign of my local mp in the debate but the one from the next ward over was there which surprised me, he normally only shows up when theres a holiday or curry on the go.

i just get the feeling though that the council cycling champions wont be seen anywhere outside of major citys and probably not much further north than manchester.

booyaka · 3 Sep 2013 at 09:44

Just realised that I've been cycling around on road bike for 2 weeks now without a pump or co2 cartridges!

Anyway - need to get a co2 cartidges/inflator. Are they generally all much of a muchness?

[DOD]Asprilla · 3 Sep 2013 at 09:45

I don't want to campaign for money, initially. Or at least not money to be spent on infrastructure. The first thing we need is a period of education for town planners, road engineers and councils on what cyclists actually want and need.

Kingston has recently been granted £250,000 to spend on cycling infrastructure having been identified as somewhere that spends well on cycling infrastructure.

It's infrastructure is ****.

Massive detours, confusing contraflows, having to cross four lanes or traffic to get to a cycle path that you would on know was there if someone told you. Their latest effort includes a sharp left turn in a contraflow cycle lane that take you up onto the pavement, which wouldn't be too bad if they hadn't chosen the exact point you turn left to put down three drain covers.

GAC · 3 Sep 2013 at 09:49

[DOD]Asprilla;24876049 said:
snippy snippy

agreed, my local councils and county council are hopeless when it comes to planning anything, lancashire county council started to fix up a wall near where i live in march, they stopped 2 weeks after they started and its still half built now, so god onlys know what they will do with more cycle routes and the like.

let alone the magical green paint that protects us all from cars and trucks :rolleyes:

platypus · 3 Sep 2013 at 10:08

Still waiting for my RS80s to turn up, but considering the cassette for them...as they're intended for climbing should I get a 12-28 (I'm used to 12-25)? Pretty sure I won't have any issues fitting it, but any idea how much (if) of a longer chain I'd need? I take 5 links out of a 116 link chain.

NotAGolf · 3 Sep 2013 at 11:03

uniQ said:
How buckled is the wheel? The first/last time I tried to true a wheel with a spoke key I made it 10x worse

Hmmm, have just done a bit of research and found a few other people who have struggled to true a wheel correctly as well. I just phoned up my LBS and they're fully booked for the next week and a half, so I really want to do it myself, but the only thing I'm armed with would be a youtube video so am worried about messing it up!

platypus · 3 Sep 2013 at 11:06

Well you're never going to learn if you don't give it a go!

Buy a wheel of ebay (absolute cheapest you can find) to practice first.

touch · 3 Sep 2013 at 11:19

mpledge52 said:
I really want to do it myself, but the only thing I'm armed with would be a youtube video so am worried about messing it up!

Why not give it a go?
If you cant do it take it to the shop, you're no worse off than if you just took it to them in the first place.

Saytan · 3 Sep 2013 at 11:27

Fixing bikes is easy. Truing wheels isn't rocket science.

Shamrock · 3 Sep 2013 at 11:36

Have the police got nothing better to do than sit at the bottom of the hill in Richmond Park booking cyclists for going over 20mph?

Seems like a waste of resource assigning 2-3 squad cars to speed trap duty in RP!

[DOD]Asprilla · 3 Sep 2013 at 11:41

Shamrock said:
Have the police got nothing better to do than sit at the bottom of the hill in Richmond Park booking cyclists for going over 20mph?

Seems like a waste of resource assigning 2-3 squad cars to speed trap duty in RP!

It's to balance out the enforcement of ASLs last month. Would wouldn't want anyone to think they were being picked on unfairly.......

I was doing 25mph coming the other way towards Ham Cross dip this morning and cars were flying past me. There weren't any police cars at Ham Cross at 7.30, but if there had been they would have been looking in the wrong direction.

Saundie · 3 Sep 2013 at 11:47

Shamrock said:
Have the police got nothing better to do than sit at the bottom of the hill in Richmond Park booking cyclists for going over 20mph?

Seems like a waste of resource assigning 2-3 squad cars to speed trap duty in RP!

That sounds a bit weird, do those laser speed guns even work when pointed at a cyclist? The roadside speed detectors seem to be very unreliable at picking me up when I cycle by them. More often than not they don't seem to detect me at all.

platypus · 3 Sep 2013 at 11:48

Saundie said:
That sounds a bit weird, do those laser speed guns even work when pointed at a cyclist? The roadside speed detectors seem to be very unreliable at picking me up when I cycle by them. More often than not they don't seem to detect me at all.

Is that just because their detection threshold is set higher than you cycle

?

Trifid · 3 Sep 2013 at 11:50

Shamrock said:
Have the police got nothing better to do than sit at the bottom of the hill in Richmond Park booking cyclists for going over 20mph?

Seems like a waste of resource assigning 2-3 squad cars to speed trap duty in RP!

I hope they were giving the standard leeway as they do for cars, 10% + 2mph.

Shamrock · 3 Sep 2013 at 11:51

I went for a couple of laps last night and they had one car at the bottom of Sawyer's hill behind a tree and another car doing laps.

The Po Po are ruining one of the fastest segments on the park!

There was also a stupid amount of people without lights doing laps in the dark. The police should be pulling them over!

Altaz · 3 Sep 2013 at 11:55

iguanoid said:
Vonhelmet said:

This is a 2012 model with an unconventional frame, but it's well equipped: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bmc/streetracer-sr01-105-triple-2012-road-bike-ec031072

I have a compact 2012 SR01 with 105 on it and its a great piece of kit. Love it to bits and would highly recommend trying one out to see if it fits you.

Certainly a better bike than the Fuji with tiagra on it.

Click to expand...

The BMC looks great, shame they don't have my size