Road Cycling Essentials

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I brought a winter bike just before Christmas. I didn't mind my nice carbon road bike getting wet or dirty, just need a strict cleaning regime. As long as you get any salt of the components after each ride, it should be fine.
I brought a winter bike though, because the road bike didn't feel very stable on ice/snow. Disc brakes make a huge improvement for braking when it's wet or slippery, the frame feels a lot more stable as well.

I sold my car two years ago, which was expensive to run, and inefficient. So I feel I can justify many bikes :) If I had more room, I'd buy a MTB tomorrow.
 
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Well that's told me!! I still disagree mind.

Couple of examples I'd use is how do you fit proper mudguards on these bikes? The stick on race blades from my experience are crap. Shiney posh rims getting ground down to nothing with the salt.

Each to their own but I'd cry if I had to take out my "dry bike" :)
 
I can understand the logic in the winter/summer bikes. Its purely down to money for me.

Why take your flashy expensive bike out into salty/wet conditions when you can take the cheaper more expendable bike out instead? The components on your summer bike are likely to be far more expensive to replace than the more sacrificial ones on your winter bike, so to me it just makes sense. Obviously the come back argument to that is "well you just need to clean it properly", which is a valid argument that I accept. But for me, personally, merely exposing them to such elements is not something I want to do, even if the effects would be minimal.

I know what people are saying about getting the use out of it throughout the year, but when money comes into it, it makes much more sense.
 
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platypus said:
Agreed.

I take my £1500 carbon bike with ultegra groupset out in winter instead. In fact it's been a while (a good 5 years) since my Ribble was "demoted" my commuter :o. Provided you clean it properly and regularly salt is far better being on a carbon frame than it is steel/aluminium...you just need to make sure to thoroughly clean the components. Which I do at least once a week during winter.

It was useful training wise to have a heavier bike in winter and then reap the benefits in summer, the theory being that you do slow base mileage, but given that a lot of people nowadays just turbo indoors its less useful I suppose.
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The heavier bike thing I can kind of see (though I'm already weighed down with all your completely un-aero winter clothes in my experience :p). As you say, with turbo use this isn't so useful any more.

janp said:
I brought a winter bike just before Christmas. I didn't mind my nice carbon road bike getting wet or dirty, just need a strict cleaning regime. As long as you get any salt of the components after each ride, it should be fine.
I brought a winter bike though, because the road bike didn't feel very stable on ice/snow. Disc brakes make a huge improvement for braking when it's wet or slippery, the frame feels a lot more stable as well.

I sold my car two years ago, which was expensive to run, and inefficient. So I feel I can justify many bikes :) If I had more room, I'd buy a MTB tomorrow.
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Discs are awesome - but I have those on all my bikes so it's not a factor for me :p

Jimbeam3678 said:
Well that's told me!! I still disagree mind.

Couple of examples I'd use is how do you fit proper mudguards on these bikes? The stick on race blades from my experience are crap. Shiney posh rims getting ground down to nothing with the salt.

Each to their own but I'd cry if I had to take out my "dry bike" :)
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The lack of mudguards thing is pretty sucky, agreed. I have always bought bikes with clearance for mudguards, if not eyelets... and the amount of time I've spent faffing to get them fitted with zip-ties and the like is pretty ridiculous. The Raceblade Longs look like a nice compromise though - much better than the regular Raceblades.

physichull said:
I can understand the logic in the winter/summer bikes. Its purely down to money for me.

Why take your flashy expensive bike out into salty/wet conditions when you can take the cheaper more expendable bike out instead? The components on your summer bike are likely to be far more expensive to replace than the more sacrificial ones on your winter bike, so to me it just makes sense. Obviously the come back argument to that is "well you just need to clean it properly", which is a valid argument that I accept. But for me, personally, merely exposing them to such elements is not something I want to do, even if the effects would be minimal.

I know what people are saying about getting the use out of it throughout the year, but when money comes into it, it makes much more sense.
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The difference in price between an Ultegra and a 105 cassette isn't really that much. Same with chains. You're going to want decent brake pads on your winter bike so you're going to have similar priced stuff in that area.

I'm not sure the expense to run argument really holds water personally. Unless there's some component(s) I've missed?

Also, you're a fair-weather cyclist so all your riding is summer riding, isn't it? :p
 
FrenchTart said:
I'm not sure the expense to run argument really holds water personally. Unless there's some component(s) I've missed?
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Dura Ace! Where the difference in price between a dura ace cassette and a 105 cassette is....a lot!

I think its just the general wear and tear and rigours of winter. I'd just rather not force an expensive bike through all that when I can just take a cheaper one out instead.

FrenchTart said:
Also, you're a fair-weather cyclist so all your riding is summer riding, isn't it? :p
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Haha! Not true!
 
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I'm lazy about cleaning my bikes, so I need my winter bike to be utterly ruinable. Hence the TDF will be sticking around. It's got uber cheap parts on it, so if the salt does get to them it's not a huge expense to replace them.
 
Jimbeam3678 said:
I assumed most cyclists did who commute and ride thorough the harsh winter months?

My rationale on this is I don't own a car so I can justify a fairly decent winter bike.:)
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Arrr good. I didn't realise you were commuting too. Makes sense.

I have a relatively well speced old bike which I did use all year round. It has now become my winter bike since I got my Colnago. Tougher wheels, cheaper parts when they need replacing etc. If you can afford it, its an excuse for another bike, and if it does become a little neglected over the winter months, its not going to cost a bomb to replace worn parts.
 
I dunno, my commutes get dull while doing it for months straight, even in london!

so taking a slow, heavy bike out would kill it even more! I just like throwing my carbon bike around as it just feels so fast to react to everything! and it's a lot more enjoyable to ride, I actually do smile quite often because it is literally fun! I do also take my triban 3 to gym, shops etc simply because I don't want some numnut to kick my carbon frame.

price argument is a bit meh, cassette every 4kish miles which is like average distance/year for a regular cyclist, chain the same? cleaning is something you need to do anyway.

dunno, it's up to you what you do with your bike but if I buy something, I'll try to get my moneys worth really!
 
I knew you had the Triban. Which carbon bike do you have? I do seem to miss big chunks of the story which is this thread :p

If I wanted to replace like for like, a cassette on my winter bike its £25 compared to £180 on my Colnago. I plan on keeping my summer bike for many many years, I'll be getting plenty of use out of it and my moneys worth :) Its not even like my winter bike isn't fun, I'm so use to it it feels like home :p
 
topgun06 said:
I knew you had the Triban. Which carbon bike do you have? I do seem to miss big chunks of the story which is this thread :p

If I wanted to replace like for like, a cassette on my winter bike its £25 compared to £180 on my Colnago. I plan on keeping my summer bike for many many years, I'll be getting plenty of use out of it and my moneys worth :) Its not even like my winter bike isn't fun, I'm so use to it it feels like home :p
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this -;



holdsworth stelvio, sram rival etc.. :)

had it for like 6ish months now, covered around 3.6k miles
 
Summer bike - Dura Ace. Fall off in the rain, gravel or whatever means a very expensive day out.

Winter/commuter - old 105. Fall off and replacement parts are cheap.
 
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daveski said:
Summer bike - Dura Ace. Fall off in the rain, gravel or whatever and means a very expensive day out.

Winter/commuter - old 105. Fall off and replacement parts are cheap.
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dont fall, problem solved - comes from a guy who crashed twice in two week period lol.
 
Depends a lot where abouts you ride. If you ride in london all day, the weather is generally mild, you rarely get snow so there's v little salt on the road, the roads are busy but are reasonably well maintained as it's where all the money gets spent.

Where i ride, the roads are abysmal, often covered in mud, stones and muck from all the local farms, huge potholes open up in the winter. If it's mild we get loads of wind and rain so roads are covered in crap, if it's freezing (which happens pretty regularly in winter) then there's lots of salt and sand everywhere if you can get out at all. That all eats the drivetrain and bearings no matter how often you clean the bike. Winter conditions round here also make it much more likely that you'll have an off.

So it makes a lot of sense to have a bad weather bike that fits decent mudguards and has cheaper components, as you will definitely be replacing things pretty regularly.
 
grudas said:
if I buy something, I'll try to get my moneys worth really!
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If I buy something expensive i'll try to look after it as much as possible. That often means getting a cheaper alternative for the dirty jobs.

If I buy a nice expensive pair of jeans, I wont wear them when pottering around the garden or working on my bikes. I have a cheap pair of tracksuit bottoms for that type of stuff.
 
physichull said:
Nails on the head.
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not in my opinion.. you could argue then, that the expensive kit is over-all pointless? just stick with 300triban 3 and buy a new one if something fails? nice stuff costs more, simples.. but buying nice and not using it kinda misses the point of buying it in the first place?

anyway.. lol -;

 
grudas said:
not in my opinion.. you could argue then, that the expensive kit is over-all pointless? just stick with 300triban 3 and buy a new one if something fails?
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Of course. Some of us were looking at the £225 Halfords special cyclocross bikes to use through winter, throw them away after 6 months and still cheaper than replacing the kit on my summer bike.

I think I'd lose the enjoyment out of cycling rapidly if I cleaned my bike after every ride!
 
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