Road Cycling

Not crazy just what we know as 'italian' sizing. More specifically 'cyclist' body sizing, not normal 'general public' (overweight) sizing haha ;)

Lets just say I own a Ben Sherman polo shirt in XS I bought over in the states (American sizing), a UK size would be between S or M. Cycling sizing it would be an XL! :o

Different cycling brands size differently. It's like the high-street but much worse! The more traditional the company the closer to that italian sizing you generally find them. Castelli & Sportful very similar (Sportful slightly more relaxed). Rapha a little more relaxed again (apart from their Pro range). Endura/DHB etc is closer to your 'normal' highstreet sizing, but not quite. :rolleyes:
 
Roady said:
Interestingly, where I work the guys loading lorries (PPE required 24/7) go for orange as they're handing trees/plants in the dusk so say it stands out more against foliage. The rest of the outside nursery wears yellow. Visitors and office staff (including me) have company issued orange.

On the road I'd go for orange or yellow, my go to commuting gilet is a Castelli Perfetto in fluo yellow. My high-viz/night jacket is a Proviz 360 which is more of a light grey which reflects pure white (and goes whiter in rain),
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Thanks both, I suspect I will choose orange ... we have a lot of rape-seed/cornfields(fens), so yes, orange is distinctive amongst vegetation.

Had considered Proviz, have never felt it, but fabric reviews suggested it might be fragile to abrasion.

[ A reference thread, I read was this - https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=89863.0
which ref's ce 1150 , eu standard with larger reflective panels, and side visibility (only accident I nearly had, in a car, with a cyclist, was a T-bone scenario)
]
 
jpaul said:
Thanks both, I suspect I will choose orange ... we have a lot of rape-seed/cornfields(fens), so yes, orange is distinctive amongst vegetation.

Had considered Proviz, have never felt it, but fabric reviews suggested it might be fragile to abrasion.

[ A reference thread, I read was this - https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=89863.0
which ref's ce 1150 , eu standard with larger reflective panels, and side visibility (only accident I nearly had, in a car, with a cyclist, was a T-bone scenario)
]
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Fabric feels fine to me - feels no different in thickness/weave to the fabric on other coats so wouldn't expect any problems with it. Mine hasn't cracked/peeled or anything but only had it around 10 months (maybe only worn it a dozen times).

Not sure why you're referring to that thread? They're talking about riding Paris-Brest-Paris and choosing gilets to conform to French standards to replace the one supplied by race organisers to make sure riders are compliant? The regs they list in 2015 may not be valid any longer and have changed. If conforming to a particular EN standard is your requirement then I'd probably look at a cheap safety vest, not cycling kit and just put it over your kit and put up with the poor fit & flapping. Not ideal but gets you compliant if that is the key! :)
 
Roady said:
Not sure why you're referring to that thread?
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(i was not aware) for anyone night/dusk cycling in france you legally need a standard qualified, reflective garment;
uk garments seem to have no standard, and visually do not obviously meet their standard, so, the thread discusses compliant clothing that has a good cycling 'cut' ...
and i wanted to get one of those.
 
jpaul said:
(i was not aware) for anyone night/dusk cycling in france you legally need a standard qualified, reflective garment;
uk garments seem to have no standard, and visually do not obviously meet their standard, so, the thread discusses compliant clothing that has a good cycling 'cut' ...
and i wanted to get one of those.
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I was aware of EU legislation regarding lighting and reflectives but not the French specifics - that it applied to all cyclists riding at night or that the majority of garments where not compliant! I was certainly aware our UK laws are a lot more relaxed. I've heard before of the ultra distance guys getting caught out by the changing laws across Europe about coverage amounts relating to reflectives.

Just wanted to check if you had a specific requirement you needed for an event - or it was more of an interest! Really do like your thinking of getting a specific garment designed for cycling that is compliant with some of the tightest EU law, as whatever happens with legislation/law change around it in the UK you would still highly likely be compliant with it (while the majority wouldn't). But equally as they find as that thread progresses - there are very very very few options produced outside of the PPE realm! Unsure if that's still the case, equally I wouldn't expect the laws to have changed much, but also have not seen garment design change a huge amount in the years between! :o
 
https://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/hunt-prototype-carbon-spoke-wheel-53262/

Carbon prototype wheelset from Hunt. Includes carbon spokes!

xdcx said:
New blog post today on training in the freezing fog and a good excuse for me to bang on about Belgians as usual -
https://dcun.co.uk/winter-training-proper-cold/

:)
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Never heard of fog being called Haar before. Experience it here occasionally around the river but it doesn't seem to move around like the fog in that video. Don't tend to see it away from the river, but do see it around where I grew up in the much more rural and higher Welsh hillsides (>1000ft above sea level), where it settles into the valleys. You've probably expreienced similar to what I have - different weather in different valleys, one can be freezing fog, one can be rain, one can be clear, one can have snow with the hillsides/passages between them in bright clear sunshine. Where I used to work, a 19 mile drive away over a spine of the cambrian mountains the weather could be totally different - I could leave home in bright sunshine, drive through rain and fog to arrive at work in snow.

The freezing damp fog would be described as 'key-yind' / keind (bad phonetic translations) where I'm from (Radnorshire, Mid-Wales), here ~35 miles away (England) nobody calls it that or even aware of the word, so I think it must be celtic/welsh in origin, but isn't part of current Welsh. And in Wales there are many different words/types of rain.
xdcx said:
I was definitely meant to be born and live my life somewhere warm and sunny but a fatal glitch in the Matrix at some point lead me to this Baltic fate.
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:D:D:D
 
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So my brother's commuter got messed with yesterday! Stolen both shifters, stem, bars, Garmin mount and destroyed all cables. Scum.

571c619ec689c43e04ed3d26e3a46a1b.jpg
 
grudas said:
So my brother's commuter got messed with yesterday! Stolen both shifters, stem, bars, Garmin mount and destroyed all cables. Scum.
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Ugh that's my nightmare. Thieves now know the value of components so just nick those instead of trying to crack a lock to get the whole frame.
 
grudas said:
So my brother's commuter got messed with yesterday! Stolen both shifters, stem, bars, Garmin mount and destroyed all cables. Scum.

571c619ec689c43e04ed3d26e3a46a1b.jpg
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WTF! That is pretty low/brutal but also quite specific. They where obviously after the shifters! Looks like they carefully undid the stem to get it off?! :o

I've not seen much Rival stuff for sale recently, have been scouting Black Friday and not seen many deals on SRAM in general :(

Anyone else got many/any deals? I'll share mine I've spotted so far:
 
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Shamrock said:
Ugh that's my nightmare. Thieves now know the value of components so just nick those instead of trying to crack a lock to get the whole frame.
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Yup! I think the thieves are changing their ways.. :/ and therest no real way of securing the stem/bars.. maybe some special bolts?!

Roady said:
WTF! That is pretty low/brutal but also quite specific. They where obviously after the shifters! Looks like they carefully undid the stem to get it off?! :o

I've not seen much Rival stuff for sale recently, have been scouting Black Friday and not seen many deals on SRAM in general :(

Anyone else got many/any deals? I'll share mine I've spotted so far:
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Yup they did undo the stem properly, easy thing to do... Did cut the hydraulic lines and cables clean off so I can assume that they were equipped with more than just an alen key..
 
Found him a replacement bike.

EDIT: Wow, came across this while browsing around and really caught my eye. Nothing spectacular design/feature wise but that colour scheme with tan walls really does it for me! Strange as think the bergamont logo looks ugly (and I like loud decals normally).

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/bike...ance-expert-carbon-all-road-bike-black_383006

Look at it in full 'city' setup :o - https://www.damianharriscycles.co.uk/prod/rac_0019_bz/bergamont-grandurance-rd-7-2019-road-bike
 
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Roady said:
Anyone else got many/any deals? I'll share mine I've spotted so far:
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I've picked up a Gore C5 Shakedry waterproof. £187 at Blacks and code BF20 gets another 20% off, so £150 (RRP £250). Mrs Chri5 was asking what to get me for Christmas so I said put some money towards this. Couldn't justify it for £250 though.

https://www.blacks.co.uk/mens/050964-men-s-c5-gore-tex-shakedry-1985-viz-jacket-grey.html It's also available in black/fluro yellow and sizing is realistic as L is a good fit over a thicker (but not my thickest) jersey.
 
Good discount but crazy price before that! I'm biased I know- Gore can be quality kit but I don't own much myself as have never got on well with the fit.

Only premium packable shakedry I'd go for is the Castelli Tempesta but I own a couple of the NFTO own branded/pro-developed jackets (originally £240 - I got 1 for £80 and the other for £35 when they sold stock off!) so am not in the market for one for a couple of years :cool:
 
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