Road Cycling Essentials

[DOD]Asprilla · 3 Sep 2013 at 12:01

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

The only segments in that park that count are the three laps anti-clockwise from Roehampton Gate, climbing Broomfield from the 20mph sign just off the Robin Hood Gate roundabout and Kingston Gate to Richmond Gate.

Everything else is transition.

Shamrock · 3 Sep 2013 at 12:05

Okay, one of the fastest transitions then

Berger · 3 Sep 2013 at 12:20

Had a good day today.

Went and looked at the 2014 Giants.

The TCR advanced 1 is in my budget at $3200 retail, full 6800 Ultegra. The only things that put me off are the colour, it's a bit of a minger, and googling, the Giant/DT Swiss rims have a bad reputation for breaking spokes... They are the Giant P-SL1's, not sure if the reputations due to fattys or not....

Giving it the calibrated lift it up and see how much it weighs, dear god, it must be 2kg lighter than my current Giant! Wouldn't surprise me if it was, my bikes about 9.1kg, could lose almost 700g from lighter wheels/tyres/tubes alone...

My other problem is, I prefer the other bike shop in town and have my bike serviced there, but I liked the Giants better than Treks offerings. They vary too much in spec and even frame differences between a madone 4, 5 or 6 and the prices go astronomical for the higher end models.

Then did a good 40km with 630m climb. I wore my Altura Pro Gel bibs which I've not done for a while, and surprisingly they felt more comfortable than my Assos ones! They are only cheap £30 bibs too.... The pad is a little thinner, more like the Castelli Kiss 3, perhaps my backside and saddle combination prefers it like that!

Shamrock · 3 Sep 2013 at 12:35

I have to say, I quite like the look of the Giant Propel!

Berger · 3 Sep 2013 at 12:37

Shamrock said:
I have to say, I quite like the look of the Giant Propel!

Yeah it looks great, the Propel Advanced 2 is $4300 which is a bit more than I can afford really.

Shamrock · 3 Sep 2013 at 13:16

I ordered some stuff from Rapha and they have put one of those £40 musette bags in my order for free?!

platypus · 3 Sep 2013 at 13:17

Shamrock said:
I ordered some stuff from Rapha and they have put one of those £40 musette bags in my order for free?!

First order? My first order came in one as well.

[DOD]Asprilla · 3 Sep 2013 at 13:19

Is it the £40 musette or is it a small cotton shopping bag?

The musette they sell is somewhat different to the one they have always given me for free.

Shamrock · 3 Sep 2013 at 13:20

Second order, but the first order was a sale item so maybe that's why.

It just says "Free musette bag, Black"

It probably is just the cheapy cloth one. As if they'd give away free bags worth £40 considering their whole business is based on crazy overpriced stuff!

platypus · 3 Sep 2013 at 13:23

platypus said:
Still waiting for my RS80s to turn up, but considering the cassette for them...as they're intended for climbing should I get a 11-28 (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.

Any ideas? I could have course just get a 11-28 and see, but I'd rather go into it comfortably. If there is danger that the chain will be to short, I'd probably just stick with the same cassette rather than needing two chains.

daveski · 3 Sep 2013 at 13:32

Hopefully be cycling round Richmond Park for the first time on Sat.

Guess I will need to look out for the police.

Shamrock · 3 Sep 2013 at 13:36

daveski said:
Hopefully be cycling round Richmond Park for the first time on Sat.

Guess I will need to look out for the police.

They are quite visible and there are signs about to warn you.

You should be fine unless you enjoy descending Dark Hill or Sawyer's Hill at 30+mph... like everyone does.

grudas · 3 Sep 2013 at 13:45

mpledge52 said:
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!

done it 3x times on my r501's.. no stand just close brake pads and thats it..

Disco Boy · 3 Sep 2013 at 14:08

Shamrock said:
They are quite visible and there are signs about to warn you.

You should be fine unless you enjoy descending Dark Hill or Sawyer's Hill at 30+mph... like everyone does.

It's a hill, why would you go slower?

I love overtaking traffic in 30 zones

[Damien] · 3 Sep 2013 at 14:22

InQ said:
Anymore info from when you went?
Did you have it booked for an hour, what did you do in the hour etc?

I think it was a few hours from what I remember. It started off with the theory of how you're supposed to do it, then organised laps to teach us starting/stopping/keeping the pace etc then a load of free laps. It ended with a timed lap.

It was pretty fun. Really dry in there though.

touch · 3 Sep 2013 at 14:25

Disco Boy said:
It's a hill, why would you go slower?

The speed limit is 20 and there are police with radar guns at the bottom.

platypus · 3 Sep 2013 at 14:34

Hmm would a rear 12-30 be overkill on a Compact (for climbing)?

[Damien] · 3 Sep 2013 at 14:35

touch said:
The speed limit is 20 and there are police with radar guns at the bottom.

Speed limits as they stand don't apply to bicycles. You could argue a case and win on that. You can be done for 'cycling furiously' though (info).

The ultimate get-out clause for bike speed limits is that there is no mandatory requirement for a speed measuring device to be fitted to a bike. Without one you can't be held accountable for not adhering to a speed limit. All you can get done for is acting 'dangerously'.

platypus said:
Hmm would a rear 12-30 be overkill on a Compact (for climbing)?

Personally I'd say yes, but it depends how strong you are. My 11-28 is more than adequate on anything up to 25% (steepest I've done on it so far) but if you're a spinner rather than a masher then the lower gears might help.

touch · 3 Sep 2013 at 14:41

[Damien];24877988 said:
Speed limits as they stand don't apply to bicycles.

Except where specific bylaws apply, which is the case for Richmond park.

platypus · 3 Sep 2013 at 14:47

[QUOTE='[Damien]Personally I'd say yes, but it depends how strong you are. My 11-28 is more than adequate on anything up to 25% (steepest I've done on it so far) but if you're a spinner rather than a masher then the lower gears might help.[/QUOTE]
I can't imagine I'm likely to get anywhere above 25% in the near future, even with increasing my trips "up north". I'll try an 11-28 then.