Road Cycling Essentials

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Question for the Manchester/Cheshire lot (or anyone else with local knowledge).

I live in Whalley Range (near Chorlton) and went for a ride to Tatton Park today travelling through Sale/Altrincham/Hale/Ashley and back again. Only about 26/28 miles but want to do it again but make it a little longer.

Any recommendations on where to go after Tatton Park or from any of the other places.
 
IndigoGorilla said:
Question for the Manchester/Cheshire lot (or anyone else with local knowledge).

I live in Whalley Range (near Chorlton) and went for a ride to Tatton Park today travelling through Sale/Altrincham/Hale/Ashley and back again. Only about 26/28 miles but want to do it again but make it a little longer.

Any recommendations on where to go after Tatton Park or from any of the other places.
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send me a trust if you wanna go for a ride one day, i live not far from whalley, and im awful at routes so if you know vaguely where your going id love to join!
 
Dunks said:
The Planet X one also looks good, and is available as part of the scheme :)

Ahh, decisions decisions!
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Also Merlin, think they are on the scheme;

http://www.merlincycles.com/merlin-malt-r-road-bike-2013-60087.html

Full Tiagra (ie inc brakes), carbon fork, Deda finishing kit and the wheelset is 1700g which for this price range is excellent.

They mention something about an admin fee of 10% up to a max of £65 though.
http://www.merlincycles.com/cycle-to-work-scheme.html
 
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Phil99 said:
Does anyone have any advice as to the best place to sell off some old components?

I have some Shimano 2300 STI (triple) and Sora 9sp double shifters that I don't need, as well as an 8 speed triple chainset and front/rear derailleurs (shimano 2300 8sp). I'm thinking eBay as I don't have any posts on any bike-related forums so not sure if people would take me seriously if I just signed up to sell stuff :o
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I could put a post up over on the triban owners club to see if there is any interest if you wanted? Might come across a bit better than you just signing up to try and flog stuff. Or chuck it on ebay and I could put the links up over there.

With shifters getting broken and people wanting upgrades etc they are always buying all sorts of low end components.
 
Dunks said:
Doesn't seem to many reviews (or any) floating around.
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you should go by the components tbh :)

you frame won't fall apart or anything as long as you're comfy on the bike that's all it matters! :)

bot the PlanetX and the merlin one have a mid end shimano groupset - nice and smooth and a lot of people can't tell the difference between smoothness compared to 105 or ultegra.

both seem to have the same wheelset - I had that set(still do but not on my main bike) and I only killed the front wheel in 2400 miles but I ride without much care and wheelsets don't last for me.

bars, stems tape etc are all fine not much when it comes to performance..

brakes on both are fine too, both shimano except that the merlin one has a full ultegra groupset(cranks, brakes, derailleur, cassette etc..)

spec wise merlin is better, look wise PX IMO is a lot nicer and modern looking(I know I know)

go with which ever you prefer neither of them will be bad.. actually both will be great starter bikes.. jeez I still ride a lower spec bike and I haven't got any problems with it! :)
 
I'm using my Planet X Stealth SRAM TT bike on a Turbo Trainer.

I know I need a better tyre but was told it would be easier to get another wheel so I can just swap it over.

What wheel do I need though? any 700C wheel with an 10 speed SRAM cog set?

Or would it be best to go with Planet X one? I can get a 85/50mm set for £400. Ideally I'd not want to though....

Or I can get an Omega rear turbo wheel for £60? If I got this would I need the cog set?
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/WRPXRTW/omega-rear-turbo-wheel
 
The Merlin does have better finishing kit - stem, bars, etc - though I'm not sure about the wheels. The PX has R500s, which are better than what most bikes that price have, but no clue on the Merlin ones.

The PX has a better chainset, marginally. It's somewhere between Tiagra and 105 - both rings are aluminium, rather than the small one being steel on Tiagra. But hey, that's a tiny difference, really.

Oh, and the PX has better tyres.
 
Are both these bikes better than the Allez grudas initially suggested?

p.s. the Planet X does look a bit nicer, likewise with the Allez! ;)

Also, with being a slightly larger than most (~15 stone, although dropping) rider, would I be maybe better going for the Allez due to the spoke count on the default wheelset? Read that sometimes wheels can fail early on and ~32 spoke wheels last longer?
 
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You'll need to buy a cassette still. Any old wheel will do for turbo I would imagine.

While on that topic something I've wondered is if you have a separate wheel to put on for turbo, are there any issues with swapping cassettes while keeping the same chain? As one cassette may be more worn than the other?
 
Get the turbo wheel. Quality doesnt really matter if you're only using it on the turbo.
any 10speed shimano or sram cassette will fit.

for the tyre, if you really need a new one to keep your good tyres fresh, get a turbo tyre. They are a much harder rubber compound for turbo use - lasts a lot longer and doesnt get so warm. I just use old road tyres that dont have enough tread left to be safe on the road.
 
Phantom Shadow said:
I could put a post up over on the triban owners club to see if there is any interest if you wanted? Might come across a bit better than you just signing up to try and flog stuff. Or chuck it on ebay and I could put the links up over there.

With shifters getting broken and people wanting upgrades etc they are always buying all sorts of low end components.
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That would be great, thanks! I've just got the boxes out and noticed there's some damage to the clear plastic cover on one of the sora shifters. I'll check all the stuff is still in working order tomorrow and email you at your trust email address. :)
 
Dunks said:
Are both these bikes better than the Allez grudas initially suggested?

p.s. the Planet X does look a bit nicer, likewise with the Allez! ;)
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Both are better than the Allez, in all but brand. Both have 20 gears, rather than 16, and that helps a lot. It also sounds like the Allez is close to 10Kg, while the PX is under 9Kg.

The only thing that might sway it is if the geometry of the Allez is better for you than the others.
 
touch said:
Get the turbo wheel. Quality doesnt really matter if you're only using it on the turbo.
any 10speed shimano or sram cassette will fit.

for the tyre, if you really need a new one to keep your good tyres fresh, get a turbo tyre. They are a much harder rubber compound for turbo use - lasts a lot longer and doesnt get so warm. I just use old road tyres that dont have enough tread left to be safe on the road.
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Ok cool. Does the cassette just slide off and then i can put it on turbo wheel? Never played around with anything other than taking wheel off to repair a puncture.
 
You'll need a cassette tool and a chain whip for removing the cassette.
Handy tools to have and only cost a few pounds each.

edit: some examples - chain whip, cassette tool. £5.99 each, you can find them cheaper if you spend more time looking around.
 
helpimcrap said:
Ok cool. Does the cassette just slide off and then i can put it on turbo wheel? Never played around with anything other than taking wheel off to repair a puncture.
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Heh. The cassette does anything but slide off in my experience. You'll need a lockring tool, a chain whip and potentially quite a bit of brute force, depending on how tight the lockring is on and whether whoever put it on last time greased the threads at all.

Gah, beaten.
 
Not been a good 2014 so far for me. My brother sadly passed away on New Year's Day which has obviously devastated me and my parents.

I'm hoping to get out on the bike tomorrow morning to try and clear my head a bit and take my mind off things.

Sorry for putting a downer on the thread!:(
 
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