Road Cycling

Berger · 30 Jul 2015 at 12:18

We have an older guy who turns up on a roadie with old bull bars that he uses to commute on, or a single speed.

And then flogs everyone....

Lowered my bars by 5mm more, see how they go tomorrow. Another 15mm before I am super pro low, but getting there!

SoliD · 30 Jul 2015 at 12:19

Saytan said:
Er, Pro4 SC came second....

one of the comments makes the very valid point that most people will just vote for what they've got, and a lot of people have skaterskins

Of course they will, or people will justify their opinion of why Vittoria Rubinos are good because they're basically all they've tried and they cost £5 each. Same as car tyres. Unless you have some proper tests its all a load of rubbish, but basically you get out what you spend.

janp said:
Everyone in my group uses Gator's in the winter. They're mad about them and are always trying to get me to change ober, personally I've seen so much negative that I steer well clear.

To be honest, I can't fault the tyres that my bike came with. Continental Ultrasports. 3.2k miles, and just had my first puncture :0

Same with most clubs, but only because they haven't tried others. Last winter I ran GP4000S/GP4 seasons that had a whole in the sidewall that I patched up with a bit of old tube and some tape, and it ran fine all winter, I think I got one puncture, and I can certainly tell in the wet how much more belief I have that I'm not going to get popped off sideways as at the bottom of any descent I'm sat around waiting (may or may not be related to the fact I have 2 brain cells)

Roady · 30 Jul 2015 at 12:25

Jonny ///M said:
Not sure on the defy model but we had a marin that took mudguards but **** all fitted between the tyre and brake.

Portland design works do a nice metal guard that stops before the brake and a metal part about 1mm thick goes under the brake then the guard starts again.

Not cheap but seem good quality.

Any info or name for that metal guard mate? Cost isn't a biggie for me as at the moment I seem to be spending £30-40 every 4-6 months on a set of guards... :rolleyes:

Clearance on my Defy1 is less than 10mm from tyre to caliper 'tops'.

The Raceblade Longs I'm using are removeable from a metal L bracket which fits in caliper/bridge bolts, they're around 1.5mm thick and can be bent to shape the clearance. It works well but it means the guards have quite a bit of vertical 'bounce' as some of the L brackets have to be quite long (you're given several different lengths).

tedmaul said:
Defy is a total pain in the arse for guards. I think only the giant own brand and cruds will fit. And I couldn't get either to fit on 25mm tyres so I have to run 23s. It's the clearance under the brakes - it's crap.

Cruds are too close for 25mm's (I found they're physically not wide enough) but they fitted ok on 23mm. Giants own brand fit but are damn tight on 25mm (less than 2mm lateral movement causes rub), they're also noisy as hell and 'clatter' over any bump in the road.

I've heard SKS Chromo 35's fit with some adjustment/trimming.

SKS Raceblade Longs fit fine (see above about brackets) but they do move around, rub a little (less than the Giants and Cruds) and make some noise. Also clearances are so tight that eventually you'll wear through the 'tabs' on the guards which hold them into the brake brackets. Easily fixed with a cable tie but then they're not easily removeable.

I've had better lateral clearance since trimming some of my stays (by around 14mm) and fitting them to my mounting points rather than on the QR's. Less noise too as they bounce less off my tyres on the bigger bumps. I added some washers for some extra width and the bolts I used (from my giant guards) were too long and didn't fancy trying to cut them...

FrenchTart said:
I agree with the point about people voting for what they have. It's just a shame that so many people ride on turd tyres.

janp said:
Everyone in my group uses Gator's in the winter. They're mad about them and are always trying to get me to change ober, personally I've seen so much negative that I steer well clear.

To be honest, I can't fault the tyres that my bike came with. Continental Ultrasports. 3.2k miles, and just had my first puncture :0

I think the main thing is that Halfords and several big bike shops use them and recommend them, I guess they try to use Continental's and the skaters are the only 'all weather' one they do...?

Then you get these guys coming in asking for a tyre 'for all weathers' - yet they only ride it on good roads in normal weather and not the horrific wet winters like we do...!

Saytan · 30 Jul 2015 at 12:27

Roady said:
I think the main thing is that Halfords and several big bike shops use them and recommend them, I guess they try to use Continental's and the skaters are the only 'all weather' one they do...?

There's GP 4 Seasons, but the price is a bit hnnnnng for many people

topgun06 · 30 Jul 2015 at 12:29

FrenchTart said:
http://road.cc/content/news/159050-roadcc-peoples-choice-your-favourite-cycling-tyres-revealed

No Pro4s of any kind. Gatorskins on the list. Road.cc readers are odd.

What a pointless poll. You cant just ask what are your favorite tyres with no context. Winter? Summer? All round? People will only vote for tyres which they have owned. So many ways for the results to be skewed.

I'd vote for GP4000S II for summer and 4 Seasons for winter, as they are the only tyres I've ever used. I may find Pro4s to be better! Seeing Gatorskins so high up is an odd one. Is it a tyre which people use year round?

SoliD · 30 Jul 2015 at 13:10

topgun06 said:
Seeing Gatorskins so high up is an odd one. Is it a tyre which people use year round?

Just people who are scaremongered in to getting them by the bike shops when they say they want to avoid punctures.

randomshenans · 30 Jul 2015 at 13:12

@FrenchTart I did have the Ridley, but sold it for mass profit mainly as I was too scared to ride the thing. Too much for me as it was all carbon with carbon wheels, which was silly for my road riding. Though I bought it for 400CHF and sold it for 1800CHF so it's paid for my Bianchi

tedmaul · 30 Jul 2015 at 13:37

janp said:
Everyone in my group uses Gator's in the winter. They're mad about them and are always trying to get me to change ober, personally I've seen so much negative that I steer well clear.

To be honest, I can't fault the tyres that my bike came with. Continental Ultrasports. 3.2k miles, and just had my first puncture :0

I rode Gatorskins for about a year and had no real problems. Puncture protection was ok, i never really had any issues riding in the wet. I wouldn't race on them but for winter and training rides, they're fine.

They are quite heavy, not particularly fast and don't have much road feel, so i eventually replaced them. Been running 4 seasons on the winter/commuter bike ever since, and tbh they are the best of all worlds really - as an all rounder they are tough to beat.

The good bike has had Pro4 SC, which were really nice but made of cheese - tore through to the inner within about 5 months after just a couple of minor incidents of locking up the rear under braking. And then GP4000s which have been great - fast, grippy and only had one puncture in a year.

Eliot · 30 Jul 2015 at 13:58

Dumb question.

I have about 20 miles tops on my mavic tyres but I haven been reading that gp4000sii are the nuts and i really want to try them so I basically just want to do that now.

Questions,
Do i need new inner tubes?
Are there some recommended inner tubes I should get?
I would be going for tyres in 25mm. My wheels are Krysium Elite S's

Jonny ///M · 30 Jul 2015 at 14:13

Roady said:
Any info or name for that metal guard mate? Cost isn't a biggie for me as at the moment I seem to be spending £30-40 every 4-6 months on a set of guards...

Clearance on my Defy1 is less than 10mm from tyre to caliper 'tops'.

The Raceblade Longs I'm using are removeable from a metal L bracket which fits in caliper/bridge bolts, they're around 1.5mm thick and can be bent to shape the clearance. It works well but it means the guards have quite a bit of vertical 'bounce' as some of the L brackets have to be quite long (you're given several different lengths).

Going by the spec the marin must have had 23c tyres but it was the narrow fork clearance that gave me problems with chromoplastics P35. These have a cut out so were a lot easier to set up.

http://www.paligap.cc/PDW-Full-Metal-Fenders-Set_4946_p#highlink

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Portland-Design-Works-Full-Metal-Fenders-Set_60710.htm

FrenchTart · 30 Jul 2015 at 14:14

tedmaul said:
I rode Gatorskins for about a year and had no real problems. Puncture protection was ok, i never really had any issues riding in the wet. I wouldn't race on them but for winter and training rides, they're fine.

They are quite heavy, not particularly fast and don't have much road feel, so i eventually replaced them. Been running 4 seasons on the winter/commuter bike ever since, and tbh they are the best of all worlds really - as an all rounder they are tough to beat.

The good bike has had Pro4 SC, which were really nice but made of cheese - tore through to the inner within about 5 months after just a couple of minor incidents of locking up the rear under braking. And then GP4000s which have been great - fast, grippy and only had one puncture in a year.

I'm really surprised to hear that you had no issues in the wet with the Gatorskins. I've ridden on them and they're absolutely awful as soon as it's even slightly damp outside. Everyone I know that has ridden on them has had the exact same issue.

Jonny ///M · 30 Jul 2015 at 14:22

I wouldn't call them awful to be fair. I've ridden them here, which is really quite wet

, and with anything you need to ride within yourself.

Only really had them slip when giving it the beans up a hill.

GP4000 just happen to be silly good, due to pricing many people buy the top end tyre when in terms of price one should be £30 and the other £50. Online I make the difference to be between £5-8(£20-28) which means you would be daft to buy the gatorskin.

FrenchTart · 30 Jul 2015 at 14:25

I disagree on the awfulness. Maybe it's just the tarmac/rubble strewn across the roads in Manchester but they seriously are scary to cycle with. I haven't tried GP4000 but Pro4s are certainly infinitely better than Gators for similar money and I'm sure GP4000 are at least as good as P4s.

physichull · 30 Jul 2015 at 14:39

One of my mates whom I am going cycling with to Corsica has just returned from a holiday to find his garage had been broken into and all his bikes have been stolen. He's absolutely devastated. He had a fairly inexpensive fixie but his pride and joy titanium, van Nicholas frame, self build bike has gone. He's absolutely gutted.

What's more is that his contents insurance only covers up to £1k per bike. His self build was worth at least £2.5K.

Raptor · 30 Jul 2015 at 14:40

I've just replaced my Gators with GP4000's so will be able to make a comment on differences once I get some wet riding in, but I've never had any issues with the Gators and rode through 2 winters with them.

randomshenans · 30 Jul 2015 at 14:43

Road bike drifting is all the rage.

tedmaul · 30 Jul 2015 at 14:47

The only time i had grip issues when i ran gators was a ride i went on a couple summers ago near my folks place on the west coast. Going up a v steep hill (over 1 in 5) on a brand new road surface in a heavy rain shower. I was out the saddle trying to get up the worst part of the climb and i had a couple of little wheel spin moments where i lost traction. Had to sit back down to help keep the back of the bike more planted. But i've had the odd similar experience on 4 seasons as well on the 1 in 5 gradient on my commute home if the roads are wet. I tend to stay seated now in those conditions, even though i prefer to climb standing if i can.

And in terms of poor quality road surfaces, i reckon South Lanarkshire would give anywhere a run for it's money. Roads are dreadful.

janp · 30 Jul 2015 at 14:55

Oh forgot to say, I tried the Strava 'Live' segments on my Garmin 1000 last night on the evening commute..........just as annoying as Garmin's segments. I think it automatically sends down your 'starred' segments once you re-pair the Garmin Connect and Strava accounts together.

It automatically displays the segment as you get close, and then as you start your effort, it shows the timings etc. It seemed to show times from my followers list, I assume it's the fastest time out of me and my followers, but I need to test this.

To be honest, I'll be disabling this feature. It's too obtrusive, and spoils my riding. I wish something popped up and said "Click here for segment times", rather than automatically switching to the virtual partner times.

FrenchTart · 30 Jul 2015 at 15:20

physichull said:
One of my mates whom I am going cycling with to Corsica has just returned from a holiday to find his garage had been broken into and all his bikes have been stolen. He's absolutely devastated. He had a fairly inexpensive fixie but his pride and joy titanium, van Nicholas frame, self build bike has gone. He's absolutely gutted.

What's more is that his contents insurance only covers up to £1k per bike. His self build was worth at least £2.5K.

That really really sucks

topgun06 · 30 Jul 2015 at 15:45

physichull said:
One of my mates whom I am going cycling with to Corsica has just returned from a holiday to find his garage had been broken into and all his bikes have been stolen. He's absolutely devastated. He had a fairly inexpensive fixie but his pride and joy titanium, van Nicholas frame, self build bike has gone. He's absolutely gutted.

What's more is that his contents insurance only covers up to £1k per bike. His self build was worth at least £2.5K.

It makes me so angry to hear stories like this. Were they all chained and locked up?