Road Cycling Essentials

Status
Not open for further replies.
New bike!

Planet X RT 58 alloy in black and white. Full Tiagra groupset. It set me back £600.

KWRIh1Y.jpg


The white saddle is a bit random, but it'll do, and the whitewall tyres were a surprise, but they too will serve until I replace them.

Off series Shimano chainset - somewhere between Tiagra and 105 - though it has the advantage of looking better than either of them imho. M520 SPD pedals - I've not yet joined the cool kids with SPD-SL.

gjxpnXR.jpg


The cockpit view - random silver stem, because presumably they were all out of black ones. I think I'll be replacing that in short order. And a free cycle computer from platypus - thanks again!

h8ffoDB.jpg


I've got as far as getting the pedals on and bolting on the cages, pump, etc. I've adjusted it roughly to fit me, based on my measurements from last year's fit. I've ridden it up and down the road, and it feels OK, though the saddle feels weird. Maybe I need to adjust it or get used to it or maybe just get something different in due course. The hoods feel weird coming from 2300, with the little button, but oh my days the shifting is soooooo much better. The top tube is higher than on my TdF, so standing over it is a bit closer on the delicacies, but at least the bigger triangle means I can get two full size bottles in the cages.

I'll take it out for a proper ride in the next few days and see what I make of it!

Oh yeah, and it's about 2Kg lighter than my TdF, so that certainly won't hurt on the hills!
 
Last edited:
Nice one! Enjoy that :) the colours do look a bit weird lol. :) and I'm sure you'll get used to the saddle but I'd replace it just because it doesn't match the rest of the bike! Together with tyres of course haha.

Side note.. I've replaced all my cables yesterday! And wow.. Feels like a new bike shifting/breaking wise! Just so smooth and instant :o and the bad bit is that my rear caliper is dead after 7.6k miles! So will need a new set of calipers because I temporary ripped the caliper of my single speed to keep me going for the next week while I get something.. Now looking at either shimano tiagra or SRAM apex and I do like apex more to be honest! But what are your views of them guys? Anyone have a set? How's the breaking performance? :)
 
rogan said:
I'd be pretty annoyed with the silver stem them.. I'd deffo get on to them about getting a suitable one sent
Click to expand...

It's weird, because the one I should have had is this one, which calls itself the "Superlight", costs £10 and weighs 139gm, and the one they've sent is this one, which calls itself the "Ultralight", yet weighs 155gm, and costs £40. So they've sent me something way more expensive. Maybe that gives me leverage to swap it for a cheaper black one when they have it in stock, given that even after re-stocking and whatnot, they'll be better off.

The white saddle is less visually offensive, though still a bit random, as they have the black version of that saddle in stock, but you can't choose it for this bike build :confused: I'm less arsed about the saddle, though, as that's more the sort of thing you expect you'll have to replace to find something you like anyway.
 
Last edited:
Just finished servicing and rebuilding a Shimano Nexus 7 internal hub for the missus. Never again, that thing's just running until it dies then we buy another bike to replace it :p
 
Well I sorted the front derailleur this morning on the Triban 5, they had setup the upper and lower end stops wrong and the indexing. With that now sorted decided to go out for a 16km ride to give it a good test, wanted to keep to the local area as my pump etc is still to be delivered.

http://www.strava.com/activities/127101309

Shame I didn't get over 20km/h average but next time I will. Really felt the difference at times to the old hybrid I had tried on the same route.

Only issues I really had was I could tell my saddle was in the wrong place, what method do people recommend for finding the correct position as I have seen a few different ways on the net. The other issue was my backside hurting, think I need to get something with padding to make it easier. :p Overall though I enjoyed it.
 
Got out for another training ride today for my TdF ride in May. Perfect Gabba weather today, light drizzle and some wind, the jersey is absolutely awesome, just dealt with everything and kept me warm and dry throughout. Need to sort out the label on my knee warmer though, gets annoying after a couple of hours.

Went out with a mate of mine who I always considered pretty strong, and was managing to go past him up the hills towards the end. He is about 15 years older than me though so I need to be a lot faster first :D

http://www.strava.com/activities/127090179

Managed to get a puncture about 10 miles from home and then another about 1.5 miles out. Found my sidewall has a massive hole in it, and the tyre bead is not in the best condition, only had it since the beginning of the year (4 Season) so going to send some pictures to PBK and try to get an exchange, not the sort of life I would expect of a £30 tyre.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;26113980 said:
Only the Plug 5 comes with discs doesn't it? The cheaper ones are rim brakes.

Also, look at the Genesis Equilibrium as a steel framed bike. Everyone I know who has one loves it.
Click to expand...

From what I can see the Plug 1 & 2 are fixies with rim brakes.
Plug 3 and up are disc.

I will have a look at Genesis bikes thanks.

(I could live with a Plug I think)
 
Bah! Genesis Equilibrium looks almost perfect!

Guess I didn't do my homework.

Steel frame, 28mm tyres, mudguard and rack braze-ons, short top tube = win.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Vonhelmet said:
New bike!

Planet X RT 58 alloy in black and white. Full Tiagra groupset. It set me back £600.

The white saddle is a bit random, but it'll do, and the whitewall tyres were a surprise, but they too will serve until I replace them.

Off series Shimano chainset - somewhere between Tiagra and 105 - though it has the advantage of looking better than either of them imho. M520 SPD pedals - I've not yet joined the cool kids with SPD-SL.

The cockpit view - random silver stem, because presumably they were all out of black ones. I think I'll be replacing that in short order. And a free cycle computer from platypus - thanks again!

I've got as far as getting the pedals on and bolting on the cages, pump, etc. I've adjusted it roughly to fit me, based on my measurements from last year's fit. I've ridden it up and down the road, and it feels OK, though the saddle feels weird. Maybe I need to adjust it or get used to it or maybe just get something different in due course. The hoods feel weird coming from 2300, with the little button, but oh my days the shifting is soooooo much better. The top tube is higher than on my TdF, so standing over it is a bit closer on the delicacies, but at least the bigger triangle means I can get two full size bottles in the cages.

I'll take it out for a proper ride in the next few days and see what I make of it!

Oh yeah, and it's about 2Kg lighter than my TdF, so that certainly won't hurt on the hills!
Click to expand...

Looks really smart, very nice. :cool:

As you say, saddle can be swapped for something you like as thats pretty personal....love the Fizik Arione myself, few places on ebay seem to sell them cheaper than Wiggle etc If required they also do a saddle bag that just clips in the back of the saddle, no hassle!
Saying that i use an Elite Super Byasi tool bottle, holds tube, multitool, 2 x C02 and dispenser, tyre levers, money, keys and more besides....looks a lot better than having the saddle bag.

Stem, if it is £40 new i'd swap for something cheaper and sell on, quids in! ;)

I'd swap the tyres ASAP if it was me, but i'm a tart. :D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom