Cheers for the tip, will check out my local store tomorrow. Could do with some gloves and shorts.
Road Cycling
- Thread starter Zefan
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Cheers for the tip, will check out my local store tomorrow. Could do with some gloves and shorts.
Hill repeats with different scenery and enjoyment are possible around here. Just go up the next hill along the road.
I feel sorry for you guys on the flats. The same hill over and over again, no thanks
Spoke went twang today haha, randomly, going round a bend on the way to work, bout 30mph. Thought it were a stone til I got to work and the rear kept catching and stopping on the brakes.
Crazy, no potholes or anything just went twang, bent backwards Into the centre of the rim.
This make sense?
Crazy, no potholes or anything just went twang, bent backwards Into the centre of the rim.
This make sense?
Hill repeats with different scenery and enjoyment are possible around here. Just go up the next hill along the road.
I feel sorry for you guys on the flats. The same hill over and over again, no thanks
I've put together a route doing 3 ascents of the same hill, which includes coming down 2 other optional ascents. About 1900 feet in 25 miles, which isn't bad. I might try it tomorrow if the wind isn't too silly.
We're spoilt for choice round here, really. Loads of hills up North, loads of flat ground down South. It's a pretty good place to be based.
Get some cycling shorts with padding.
if you don't cycle in lycra then get some padded under shorts that you wear as under wear.
I've got some endura ones and they work well
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/endura/mesh-boxer-ec027240.
If you want a new saddle then I think popular opinion is nearly always the charge spoon as a first option.
I think my old hybrid is probably one of the older versions of the bike you have , mines the boardman mx race.
I did about 1300 miles on mine at about 700 slight noise started coming from the bb like a squeaky noise.
I never bothered getting a new BB just bought a new bike the following summer, had so many problems keeping that hybrid in decent runnin condition.
just constantly adjusting the gears and brakes.
My new bike is the opposite about 700 miles and the gears are still spot on, brakes are still fine although I did adjust them at about 600 miles.
those boardman hyrbids just don't seem like they are made to last
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Aye, indeed! I actually think that if I ever wanted to buy a house away from this region, "close to hills" would be one of the criteria.
Thanks arknor.no problems with mine yet but I realise I've not done many miles on it. I found the brakes a real fiddle to set up but they've been ok since, and I spent a lot of time (inexpertly) adjusting the gears which now seem fine, although it takes a few pedals to shift to the larger front cog if I'm not in the lowest gears already.
I've heard the endure and spoon mentioned before, I might head to the new Evans that has opened near me at the weekend and check it out, thanks.
I've heard the endure and spoon mentioned before, I might head to the new Evans that has opened near me at the weekend and check it out, thanks.
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Hill repeats with different scenery and enjoyment are possible around here. Just go up the next hill along the road.
I feel sorry for you guys on the flats. The same hill over and over again, no thanks
Lies. I bet you just do repeats of the A53 into Buxton
For all my moaning it's not that bad here. It was worse when I was newer to riding and the idea of heading out 15-20 miles just to get to "the good bits" sounded a bit much.
Kicking myself for not getting out for a ride yesterday now, pure laziness on my part as I was up early enough. I'm finding it increasingly difficult getting out for rides now even this time of year 
I dabbled with riding in the dark last year and I didn't get on with it even with a portable sun as a front light.
Horrible winds sending bins flying everywhere tonight, busy next two nights then working late on Friday... Saturday morning better be nice weather!
I dabbled with riding in the dark last year and I didn't get on with it even with a portable sun as a front light.Horrible winds sending bins flying everywhere tonight, busy next two nights then working late on Friday... Saturday morning better be nice weather!
My mate has been cycling for nearly 2y 6m and he's still the same.
Anything along the lines of "Arrrr we will just go up this hill, over to this place and climb the hill hill" is met with a comical facial expression of frustration and dread.
I do have sections of road that I've ridden sooooo many times that I'm bored senseless by them, but until someone moves the "good" bits I'll have to put up with it. I'm trying to keep myself amused by pushing a bit harder on them or just finding new routes away from home.
Value for money wise - Ribble R782 looks to be my best bet.
Basically £1800 including full Di2, Mavic Pr WTS Ksyrium Elite S.
Anything else better value for money? Canyon is too long a wait (august for the Di2 models in my size)
Never rode Sram gears, had a few previous issues with Planet X so potentially want to stay clear of them. Dolan is another option as is Rose but not sure I like the look of the Rose bikes and they seem to have jumped in price a bit recently
Basically £1800 including full Di2, Mavic Pr WTS Ksyrium Elite S.
Anything else better value for money? Canyon is too long a wait (august for the Di2 models in my size)
Never rode Sram gears, had a few previous issues with Planet X so potentially want to stay clear of them. Dolan is another option as is Rose but not sure I like the look of the Rose bikes and they seem to have jumped in price a bit recently
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That's the most fun part about the ride - the look of dread on your friends' faces when you tell them about the route
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I had this Rose delivered last Thursday, it would've been £1991, but paid the extra £400 ish for the wheel upgrade. But they have put the price up £100+ since. I know what you mean though, some of their bikes are a bit bland and uninteresting, the good thing is you can jazz them up a bit!
I had this Rose delivered last Thursday, it would've been £1991, but paid the extra £400 ish for the wheel upgrade. But they have put the price up £100+ since. I know what you mean though, some of their bikes are a bit bland and uninteresting, the good thing is you can jazz them up a bit!
oh my that's stunning!!! Beautiful looking bike!!
Oil or grease the threads because it stops them seizing on. Even stainless with brass nipples eventually seize if they are dry and get salty winter rain on them. They won't come loose unless you have so little spoke tension that the spoke completely unloads when you put weight on it.
In terms of spoke tension, next time you're in Evans or your LBS, give the neighbouring spokes on a couple of wheels a squeeze to see how tight they are. You can just match this. You can also run as much or as little tension as you like for a mega stiff wheel or one that soaks up the bumps - it's really all your own choice
Just use standard plated brass nipples. You can get alloy ones to save a few grammes but don't expect to ever be able to get them to budge once they've been on there a while!
I just build all of mine in an upturned bike tbh. Not needed a stand. You have plenty of datum points to work with and it's really easy to get a brand new rim to run perfectly true
Thanks for all that mate, fantastic advice and exactly why I asked!
From that I assume the brass nipples are fairly universal and I can pickup any to replace my damaged ones with (PX list 4 different ones, no idea what mine are!)?!
As mentioned on Strava mate, wheel building/refitting spokes and their tension (balancing/tru'ing) is quite a minefield, I'm finding it quite a good experience but it's taking me time! If you need your wheel sorted ASAP then a LBS visit will save you lots of time/headaches. Refitting spokes/tensioning/unbuckling wheels is a good skill to learn, just takes time as I'm finding with lots of trial and error!
Padded shorts are the only way to ride!
Saddle is a very personal thing, the Charge Spoon/Scoop and the Madison Flux are well priced and come well recommended to try.
Boardman I just consider 'another' brand from Halfords - good to start from, high maintenance (like my Carreras have been) ok value but nothing too serious. You can get better for your money if not looking at their low range.
Defo worth dropping in if you have one near! Although any LBS will have selections of saddles (along with their own recommendations).
Brakes shouldn't be too hard to setup but can take a knack/luck when you're starting out to get right.
Gears can seem like a 'black art' but read online, or even better watch some of the videos (here's a great RCUK one about changing gear cables which has ton of information relating to adjustment too) and you'll soon realise the 'adjustment' (indexing) of gearing comes from the shifter only (on a new cable) - aligning the one end of the gear cable with the end of the cassette should bring it all into alignment.
Weather has been miserable here the last couple of days, hot and humid yesterday morning (10-12 degrees) followed by gusty winds and heavy rain for the commute home. I took a different route than normal (due to the fair being in town) and a couple of road closures meaning traffic is really backed up. Took me 30 mins (usually 17-20 mins on my normal commute) but should save a few minutes by tweaking the route (exploring other side streets!) which I'll be doing this week. Ride in this morning was wet again, quite windy in places but thankfully not as hot as yesterday morning!
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Solved my shifter issues by managing to pick up a used pair of Tiagra 4500 9 spd's on eBay. Going rate on there seems to be around the £50 mark for a pair. No one really has a left one on its own for sale as it is the usual one to go *pop* when they go wrong. So £55 lighter in the wallet I should be back on the road soon.
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Pretty grim lunchtime riding. Very strong headwinds on the way home and a lot of rain. Tail winds on the way back were nice but I couldn't really take advantage of it due to how wet things are.
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