Road Cycling Essentials

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Was out for a short run this evening (shorter than planned) as its been three weeks since i was last out (work, football, overtime, crap weather) so i thought I'd do the flattish run of edzell and back twice.....well my legs just went. Anytime i wanted to get on with a sprint to improve my time my legs didn't want to do anything. So gave up after my first circuit :mad: I'll need to stick with it and improve my speed with the nights getting shorter!
 
Vonhelmet said:
Cheers for that. Ice cream sounds good for a bit of a break, and I've tweaked the route a bit to avoid the A535 and some of the A537 and stick to country lanes instead, and to give me a better approach into Knutsford without having to make a right at the big roundabout in the centre.
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No worries. Seven Sisters also does tea & cake but I've never got past the ice cream freezer :D
 
PermaBanned said:
I had a look, found three different numbers but none of them included any letters? Cleaned up the frame today while waiting for some parts to arrive, just out of curiosity...
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Ignore the numbers for now. The diameter of the seat post will tell you more about the frame with a lot less effort. 27mm or 27.2mm is Reynolds 531. Around 26mm is Reynolds 501 and 25.4mm is normal grade steel. 18-23 is a marketing thing from Raleigh which refers to their normal grade steel. Most Raleigh's share almost identical geometry, hence they all ride the same and it happens to be quite a stable pleasing geo whether you have a gas pipe bike or a top end model. They really got it right.

Show us a full picture of the frame and it'll tell us more about the era, then you'll be able to narrow it down from there. Easy to do that from what is brazed on, which lugs, fork shape and rear spacing. We can already see that it has cast dropouts, not pressed ones, so it's not an entry level model.

The numbers will tell you the exact model, year, and where it was made, but probably better to ask on Retro Bike than on here, because there are a couple of folk on there who know the numbering scheme.
 
Can also see tubular rear brake bridge and is that a slot in the back underside of the top tube? If so, it's for internal cable routing, another sign it's a higher end model.
 
divaboy said:
Out of interest what other bikes were in on your short list?
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i ordered a spa cycles audax steel, but then got fed up of them messing me around, so i had another look around

Ribble Winter, Dolan Preffisio, Surly Pacer, kinesis T2, Tifosi something or other

I like a longish bike, and I wanted 28s, so the kinesis was something of a gimme really. Caveat being I never rode any of them - I'm pretty good at buying off geo charts tho

Surly seem to love low headtubes, and i hate too many spacers so that killed that one...
 
FrenchTart said:
Hmm.. I guess you're right when you say I should just get a turbo then. Maybe I'll see if my budget can stretch to getting both :p (As you can no doubt tell I really want rollers...)
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Rollers are definitely cool but the novelty might wear off quickly. No reason why you couldn't pick up both for £150ish if you get good deals on eBay though.
 
Jonny69 said:
Ignore the numbers for now. The diameter of the seat post will tell you more about the frame with a lot less effort. 27mm or 27.2mm is Reynolds 531. Around 26mm is Reynolds 501 and 25.4mm is normal grade steel. 18-23 is a marketing thing from Raleigh which refers to their normal grade steel. Most Raleigh's share almost identical geometry, hence they all ride the same and it happens to be quite a stable pleasing geo whether you have a gas pipe bike or a top end model. They really got it right.

Show us a full picture of the frame and it'll tell us more about the era, then you'll be able to narrow it down from there. Easy to do that from what is brazed on, which lugs, fork shape and rear spacing. We can already see that it has cast dropouts, not pressed ones, so it's not an entry level model.

The numbers will tell you the exact model, year, and where it was made, but probably better to ask on Retro Bike than on here, because there are a couple of folk on there who know the numbering scheme.
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Judging by the multiple stickers on the frame i'd say it's probably 501 :D

Jonny69 said:
Can also see tubular rear brake bridge and is that a slot in the back underside of the top tube? If so, it's for internal cable routing, another sign it's a higher end model.
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I have no idea how you would have seen that from those two pictures, but yes, it does have top tube routing for the rear brake cable.
 
Saytan said:
i ordered a spa cycles audax steel, but then got fed up of them messing me around, so i had another look around

Ribble Winter, Dolan Preffisio, Surly Pacer, kinesis T2, Tifosi something or other

I like a longish bike, and I wanted 28s, so the kinesis was something of a gimme really. Caveat being I never rode any of them - I'm pretty good at buying off geo charts tho

Surly seem to love low headtubes, and i hate too many spacers so that killed that one...
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Out of interest, what put you off the Dolan? I'm weighing up a similar list, looking to buy frame/fork and then transfer the Tiagra kit i have on my old Giant Defy.

I'd ruled out the Ribble as it can't take bigger than 23mm tyres. For a winter bike i'd like to be able to go up to 28mm and still have clearance for proper guards.
 
tedmaul said:
Out of interest, what put you off the Dolan? I'm weighing up a similar list, looking to buy frame/fork and then transfer the Tiagra kit i have on my old Giant Defy.

I'd ruled out the Ribble as it can't take bigger than 23mm tyres. For a winter bike i'd like to be able to go up to 28mm and still have clearance for proper guards.
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Dolan is only specced up to 25s

I run 28s year round on the kinesis. The roads i commute on are awful.
 
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Can anybody recommend me some decent arm and leg warmers, now that its getting to that time of the year.

Particularly some with a size suitable for long, but skinny arms! The ones I have keep slipping down my arms and are doing my head in! And before anybody says it, no, I'm not just going to lift some weights to rectify the problem! :)
 
physichull said:
Can anybody recommend me some decent arm and leg warmers, now that its getting to that time of the year.

Particularly some with a size suitable for long, but skinny arms! The ones I have keep slipping down my arms and are doing my head in! And before anybody says it, no, I'm not just going to lift some weights to rectify the problem! :)
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just lift some weights to rectify the problem! :) ;)
 
:p

To be honest if you have naturally long appendages (phrasing) you're always going to struggle to find arm warmers that fit properly. Despite "even lifting, brah" my arms are still long and gangly. Mostly all I have now is that clothes don't fit properly over my thighs and shoulders.
 
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