Road Cycling Essentials

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Do you know on my route last weekend (200km), the way home ie the final 100km was fuelled by a rather odd concoction after visiting my friend.

It was a juice made with carrot, cucumber, ginger, some random french herbs, and the special ingredient? Nettles! Was quite nice but really did the trick!
 
Brilliant thanks Von, will take note. going to try and get some longer pre-work rides in during the week as well as some 50m+ at the weekends.
 
Interesting commute home today.. Leave work.. Starts raining.. Stop by the home door and it stops? Love you too mother earth.
 
DJMK4 said:
Hi guys,

Just purchased a giant defy 5 2014 road bike, partly to commute the "4mile round trip to work" and partly to stay fit, explore the city and surroundings more and do some milage

Iv got most things but need a cheap but decent helmet, can I just order one of eBay? Any brands to look out for that are good and not going to break the bank, also I'm guessing people travel with their laptops? I have a 16" dell laptop which I would like to carry in a well padded backpack if anyone know of any decent cheap ones :) ta
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hey there, welcome to Cycling, hope you enjoy it, as for helmets, I would never buy a helmet off ebay, you just don't know, it could be damaged or used, I certainly wouldn't trust it, get yourself a decent helmet, helmets are there to save your life, so I would get one for a bit more money

in the end, when I was looking I bought one for £60 and its far better than my mountain bike helmet that I also bought for £60, its a Bontrager "circuit" got great reviews
 
All helmets have to meet the relevant safety standards, so any helmet on sale will do. Once you get past that, you're left playing with things like weight, aerodynamics, ventilation and price. If yours not racing or TTing, aerodynamics are not all that crucial. The difference in weight between 200g and 300g isn't going to break your neck or make much difference to your climbing speed or whatever. Ventilation can be a concern, particularly in the summer or if you're riding somewhere warm. Price is price.

The way the trade off works is that the manufacturers have to comply with the regulations, so to create a helmet that is super light and super well ventilated costs more than a heavier, less well ventilated one. The safety is a fixed point, so you're not in the usual "3 criteria, pick 2" territory. One is already picked for you, so it's up to you whether you want something light or cheap.

Oh yeah, looks. How vain are you? Do you care how cool a plastic helmet looks? Assuming you're already wearing Lycra, sunglasses and funny shoes, there's limited ground to be made up here.

For what it's worth, I have a Giro Transfer helmet which cost £20odd from... a seller on eBay, but like a new boxed one, not just a random one. It looks alright, it's not massively heavy and it's fairly airy, though if there is a weak point at there. It does have nets in the vents which are useful for avoiding the catastrophic bee in helmet scenario that people occasionally recount.
 
The difference I found from going from cheap helmets to a more premium one was that the contact parts with the head are a lot more comfortable. Straps, padding, tightening mechanism etc.
 
Argh, my £300 wheels from the cycle clinic seem to have got lost in the post! I was expecting them by now, so I sent the chap an email asking when they'd be arriving and he said he'd already sent them, and that the tracking number doesn't show anything now. Aaaaaarrrrrggggghhhh.

He's said he's going to build another set over the weekend and send them on Monday, so whoever's nicked them can have another set :mad:
 
Sounds a bit dubious but Malcolm is a good guy from my dealings with him and they'll turn up! :)

Royal Mail managed to lose my most recent PX order somewhere between my house and the sorting office, it turned up after a week and a half. No idea where it was in the middle. :confused::confused:
 
One More Solo said:
I hear the 11t is his bailout gear.



If you've got a groupset that works, then buy the wheels. A groupset is a marginal upgrade. I'm quite finicky about my equipment, but I went from Campagnolo Xenon to SRAM Force and it was like going from a kid's toy to a proper machine. The Xenon was 2008/9 though and bottom of the range groupsets have moved on a huge amount since then. Recent Tiagra, for example, is pretty high quality stuff. It doesn't shift quite as nice as the top range stuff and it looks pretty terrible, but its functionality is now at a point where it works properly and reliably. I couldn't say that about the Xenon.
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Thanks for the clarity. Makes a lot of sense and is in line with my thinking. :)
 
Shamrock said:
I obviously wouldn't use them whilst drafting people. They would be for solo efforts.

However, if it is potentially going to cause me grief I'll just remove them.
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I'd remove them if used in groups of unknown riders. You don't know what they're like and it's a puncture issue if there's a crash. I had to stay off the bars in town just in case so i could reach brakes. In countryside on own i was fine.
 
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Antigua commonwealth cycling dudes in the Glasgow shop tonight...they had a Pinarello with a GXP chainset and an FSA 24mm bottom bracket. Never going to work so it seems they have a Felt to use...
 
Just ordered in a 58, black... £375.99 delivered :D

Now to order the kit to go with it, which I'll find very difficult given the fact I use to ride hardtail xc (a felt as well at one point) and road clothing is skin tight :rolleyes:

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