Road Cycling

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physichull said:
(That's fine!)

Gonna head out tomorrow afternoon as I haven't been out in a while due to manflu. Shake the rust off!
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How does this grab you?

I've shown the route starting from the crossroads in Hindley, so we'd both have about 5 miles either side in getting there.

There's a couple of road closures that may be coming to an end about now, so that route may not be exactly what we do, but it'll be close. In any case, we'll definitely climb Rivington, go to Tockholes and then back via Anglezarke if we can face it, and we should have time for a coffee at Rivington Barn.
 
rnickster said:
Looking at doing cat and fiddle this weekend maybe starting down in Macclesfield . . . has anyone done it before. . I've read it can be quite dangerous road? or is that more for Motorbikes because they tend to bomb it up/down?

Nick
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It's not too bad in my experience on the weekend. It's probably busy at rush hour though. The road has generally good visibility.
 
rnickster said:
Looking at doing cat and fiddle this weekend maybe starting down in Macclesfield . . . has anyone done it before. . I've read it can be quite dangerous road? or is that more for Motorbikes because they tend to bomb it up/down?

Nick
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Done it many times. Up and down. I wouldn't say it was particularly dangerous, it has good visibility, it is not narrow.

It is popular with motorbikes but I've never seen them as a problem.

I've only been up and down at the weekends so not exactly the quietest part of the week.

Its the first road to close in the area if there is any hint of snow, and occasionally there is a different climate at the top than the bottom.
 
I need help spending money.

My current GPS/navigation setup is an iPhone mounted to my stem. When I had an iPhone 5 this was fine, but I've now got a 6 Plus and frankly it looks ridiculous.

I was looking at getting an Garmin 510/810 but I've seen that they only work with Ant+ sensors. Predictably I've backed the wrong technological horse and have Bluetooth speed/cadence/HR sensors.

At this point my options are either buy a Garmin and spend money on new sensors or find a GPS unit that has navigation and works with Bluetooth sensors. The latter would be ideal but, are there actually any? There's the Polar 650 but that looks almost as big as my iPhone! Is there anything Garmin sized out there?
 
FishFluff said:
I need help spending money.

My current GPS/navigation setup is an iPhone mounted to my stem. When I had an iPhone 5 this was fine, but I've now got a 6 Plus and frankly it looks ridiculous.

I was looking at getting an Garmin 510/810 but I've seen that they only work with Ant+ sensors. Predictably I've backed the wrong technological horse and have Bluetooth speed/cadence/HR sensors.

At this point my options are either buy a Garmin and spend money on new sensors or find a GPS unit that has navigation and works with Bluetooth sensors. The latter would be ideal but, are there actually any? There's the Polar 650 but that looks almost as big as my iPhone! Is there anything Garmin sized out there?
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not much.. garmin is the leader in this case, not much competition there either! more stuff will be coming out this year tho :)

I'd say invest in 810 with HR/cad/speed sensors(believe there's a bundle) and that'll be it.
 
Yeah, I can't see much on the market at the moment that supports Bluetooth. There's lots in the pipeline but not much just yet.

You can get a Garmin 500 with all the ant+ sensors for £170 on ebay. Navigation isn't marvellous, but for that you need something in the 800 series or above.
 
FishFluff said:
I need help spending money.

My current GPS/navigation setup is an iPhone mounted to my stem. When I had an iPhone 5 this was fine, but I've now got a 6 Plus and frankly it looks ridiculous.

I was looking at getting an Garmin 510/810 but I've seen that they only work with Ant+ sensors. Predictably I've backed the wrong technological horse and have Bluetooth speed/cadence/HR sensors.

At this point my options are either buy a Garmin and spend money on new sensors or find a GPS unit that has navigation and works with Bluetooth sensors. The latter would be ideal but, are there actually any? There's the Polar 650 but that looks almost as big as my iPhone! Is there anything Garmin sized out there?
Click to expand...

If you don't mind using your phone as well there's the Wahoo RFLKT for £50 on Amazon, links via bluetooth to your phone and displays all the data from there. Don't think it does turn by turn navigation yet, but there is a lot of talk of it getting an update sometime soon.
 
Gents,

Following some earlier posts you may know that my bike got stolen on Monday.

I have sorted out my insurance and they have given me a choice of bikes to the value of £1099 (not bad for a bike that cost me £340!)

Problem is I have to use this site: http://www.bikereplacement.co.uk

They based the valuation on this:
http://www.bikereplacement.co.uk/p74289/Felt-Z7-2015-Road-Bike.aspx

i'm willing to put some extra towards it and get this:
http://www.bikereplacement.co.uk/p66127/Cannondale-Synapse-Ultegra-Disc-2014-Road-Bike.aspx

what do you guys think and any bike I should be considering over these?

My previous bike was not ideal for what I potentially wanted to use it for as a single all round bike.

No mudguard mounting, no rack mounting etc, admittedly these things would be used in winter and the rack mounting rarely but nice to have those options.
 
Richand said:
Gents,

Following some earlier posts you may know that my bike got stolen on Monday.

I have sorted out my insurance and they have given me a choice of bikes to the value of £1099 (not bad for a bike that cost me £340!)

Problem is I have to use this site: http://www.bikereplacement.co.uk

They based the valuation on this:
http://www.bikereplacement.co.uk/p74289/Felt-Z7-2015-Road-Bike.aspx

i'm willing to put some extra towards it and get this:
http://www.bikereplacement.co.uk/p66127/Cannondale-Synapse-Ultegra-Disc-2014-Road-Bike.aspx

what do you guys think and any bike I should be considering over these?

My previous bike was not ideal for what I potentially wanted to use it for as a single all round bike.

No mudguard mounting, no rack mounting etc, admittedly these things would be used in winter and the rack mounting rarely but nice to have those options.
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Without looking at every bike on there, the brand that stands out as most likely to offer mudguard/rack mounts is Genesis, though that is going to limit you to steel frames, which may or may not be your thing. Dawes as well, but they suffer the same problems.

Raleigh Revenio 4 Disc looks like it may have rack mounts, which suggests it would have mudguard mounts as well. That's got an alloy frame, carbon fork, SRAM Rival 22 gears and hydraulic disc brakes. I can't find anything to confirm it has the mounts, though, and if it doesn't then for that price there's probably better bikes available.
 
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That Synapse is only available in a tiny frame size. Were you happy with the geometry of the Felt? The Z series is endurance focussed, similarly to the Synapse, so you're put in a bit more of a relaxed position than a dedicated race bike. There are quite a few options on there, maybe worth considering a steel "cyclocross" bike like the Genesis Croix de Fer if you really want an all rounder.
 
In terms of navigation, I'm not bothered about maps, I just need to know roughly where I am on a route that I've pre-plotted. Am I right in thinking that the 510 (or even the 500) can do this?
 
FishFluff said:
In terms of navigation, I'm not bothered about maps, I just need to know roughly where I am on a route that I've pre-plotted. Am I right in thinking that the 510 (or even the 500) can do this?
Click to expand...

Sort of. The 500 will draw a line on the screen and show a little arrow - you - moving along it, and give turn by turn directions. But if you veer off the line it's not super at showing you which direction to go to head back to it.

That being said, I've used that, in conjunction with some Google Streetview ahead of time to recce my turns, landmarks, etc to get me around on rides of over 60 miles, so it does the job.
 
Hmm, as the old thread has been locked, I can't update my goals for the year... So here goes...

So, goals for 2015...

1) Average speed of 15.5mph outdoors, for definite this year. Ideally 16mph. Currently averaging about 15.52... Can I hold it until the end of the year?
2) Try track cycling. Should be easy, as her indoors has bought me some vouchers for taster sessions!
3) At least 6 metric centuries, ideally 10 or even 12, but that would be a real stretch.Five long rides so far and more planned. Should get there.
4) At least 1 imperial century.
5) Build myself a bike - I've already got some bits for a singlespeed on order, so this is well underway. Done! I have built an On One Pompino single speed bike. I've also had my TDF stripped and powder coated and it's nearly rebuilt, pending some new brakes...
6) Take part in a big nationwide ride with work in May - I'm signed up for a hundred mile leg from Liverpool to Sheffield. Done! It was only 84 miles in the end, but it was hard going nonetheless.
7) Go and see the Tour of Britain again in September. This will be tough, as it seems the nearest it will be is the Trough of Bowland, or Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire, so that's about an 80 mile round trip, minimum, wherever I go. Done! I saw stage 2 at three different points along the route, including the finish.
8) Have a go at commuting to work by bike, with a view to not needing to renew my train season ticket in June. Half a dozen times as of now. Getting into it now.
9) Lots of summer rides with the family.
10) Explore more. Ride roads I've not ridden in ages, and try new ones.
 
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Richand said:
Gents,

Following some earlier posts you may know that my bike got stolen on Monday.

I have sorted out my insurance and they have given me a choice of bikes to the value of £1099 (not bad for a bike that cost me £340!)

Problem is I have to use this site: http://www.bikereplacement.co.uk

They based the valuation on this:
http://www.bikereplacement.co.uk/p74289/Felt-Z7-2015-Road-Bike.aspx

i'm willing to put some extra towards it and get this:
http://www.bikereplacement.co.uk/p66127/Cannondale-Synapse-Ultegra-Disc-2014-Road-Bike.aspx

what do you guys think and any bike I should be considering over these?

My previous bike was not ideal for what I potentially wanted to use it for as a single all round bike.

No mudguard mounting, no rack mounting etc, admittedly these things would be used in winter and the rack mounting rarely but nice to have those options.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't let yourself get bogged down on rack mounts if you're not going to use them regularly - you can get seat-clamp bags/mounts and (less strong but fine for the majority of uses) p-clip-style rack setups.
 
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