Road Cycling

[Berger]

Mmmm freshly glued tubular. One coat on rim and tyre yday, one on the tyre today, gave it 15 and fitted it.

Rolled the tyre with a broom handle and it got better adhesion around the valve this time I think.

I’ll just ride it and see. Got a Continental Giro as a spare this time as no Rally’s. This has a removable valve core so can add sealant once fitted too so maybe bit better, see what the quality is like stretching/fitting it. All Thailand made at this price point anyway so ride quality won’t be amazingly good.

My front Corsa CX is well worn so expecting to have to change that next (3 years old now!).

 

[lordrobs]

I signed up for this one too; used to live in Norwich. Was 50/50 as to whether I'd do it because of the high entry cost, but surprisingly it was my wife who convinced me to enter by pointing out that it's not every year that the national championships come to this part of the country and so I may as well do the sportive

Same! I wanted to do it but started talking myself out of it when my wife said "Why don't you do that event instead of the two sportives you'll end up doing anyway?". Its a good point and this should feel like more of an event. I'll organise a social 100 for another time in the year as we try and get a couple of 100's in during the year.

GB Road Cycling Championships are in Norwich next year and the elite race is being preceded by a closed-road sportive on the same route

Yup, exactly... I'll try not to catch them up

 

[Berger]

Another good weekend for it, few rain showers but mostly dry roads.

Only one ******** tried to spoil it. Coming downhill on a single lane road (I’m going about 30kmh dragging the brakes as it’s damp and poor surface), he drives past the passing place (on his side) and tries to force his way through without slowing down and hits my arm/elbow with his wing mirror. ****. Hope it smashed as my arms bruised and cut through a winter jersey.

Everyone else, waves and smiles, giving way when appropriate (both drivers and cyclists). Gave a guy in a GT3 on the country roads the thumbs up and he returned it and tickled the throttle a bit.

 

[jpaul]

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!

they - l2s brand arrived, seem pretty well constructed, polyester woven material ( have amazon guarantee anyway) , will probably choose orange,
they have similar pattern with horizontal vent on the back.

They will give wind protection, but, i wonder how they saturate, under rain.

 

[Lethal`]

Another good weekend for it, few rain showers but mostly dry roads.

Lucky. Sodding wet roads down here. I came back from both rides looking like I had been cross racing!

 

[Roady]

Absolutely rubbish weekend from me again with only an hours zwift session, but thankfully I think I've got over the worst of the illness which showed earlier in the week. Fingers crossed this week for a couple of sessions to continue progress and I'm away from work next week. Fingers crossed I can book a long ride in with the ride prevention department to really shock some fitness back into my system!

It's a long time between now and then but I've been very blasé about the last few Sportives but as this will be a different experience I think I'll get a bit of training in to see if I can break the 6 hour mark for the first time. 6:08 is my best on a 100 mile ride so I've not got a huge amount of pace to try and find.

Anything around the 6H mark is good for a 100 mile sportive as we all generally know - sportives are not normally very flat courses!

I keep thinking of all the fitness I’m losing and how much harder it’s going to be to get it back.

Drives you mad doesn't it!

To be fair having the convenience of Zwift I really thought I would ride more to stop that feeling, but the 'ease' of being able to ride does mean it's become far more ad-hoc. I can just 'jump on and ride', which generally means I leave my riding to very last minute with very little planning and it's easily derailed/cancelled!

Go for it! 100 miles is a great distance irrespective of time, but sub-6 hours would be quite an achievement for you. Only another 2.2% more speed to gain!

Going to do a 100 miler next year myself about April time. Never been that far before.

Well worth to 'tick' it off, just make sure you build to it and you'll wonder what all the fuss is about. If you do it without much build/prep it can really hurt and knock you for six! Know so many guys who've got put off from long rides by doing a 100 miler, but most of the time their build up didn't involve more than a couple of 40-50 milers!

You can buy 2.2% with deep wheels!

Shamrock the salesman!

Only one ******** tried to spoil it. Coming downhill on a single lane road (I’m going about 30kmh dragging the brakes as it’s damp and poor surface), he drives past the passing place (on his side) and tries to force his way through without slowing down and hits my arm/elbow with his wing mirror. ****. Hope it smashed as my arms bruised and cut through a winter jersey.

WTF! Ouch! Hope it heals ok and he has a bad christmas!

they - l2s brand arrived, seem pretty well constructed, polyester woven material ( have amazon guarantee anyway) , will probably choose orange,
they have similar pattern with horizontal vent on the back.

They will give wind protection, but, i wonder how they saturate, under rain.

They look quite smart. Plain, but smart! Like you say, not sure how that fabric will deal with wet weather, from those shots it doesn't look very wind/waterproof!

 

[SoliD]

Really need my winter bike back just to keep my behind dry, wanted to ride home from somewhere on Saturday that I'd driven to and it was damp and raining a little, but as I've only got the summer bike drove home and went on the turbo. Don't mind getting the Ridley dirty but having a soaked bottom for 2+hours isn't fun! Good little CX ride yesterday on the Cannondale the sun even came out at the end.

 

[xdcx]

Really need my winter bike back just to keep my behind dry, wanted to ride home from somewhere on Saturday that I'd driven to and it was damp and raining a little, but as I've only got the summer bike drove home and went on the turbo. Don't mind getting the Ridley dirty but having a soaked bottom for 2+hours isn't fun! Good little CX ride yesterday on the Cannondale the sun even came out at the end.

You have to get something sorted winter bike wise.
I have declared it actually winter now as even I am now on my winter bike as of Saturday..... got absolutely drenched. Wringed my gloves, socks, overshoes out after 2 hours in it Saturday. Awful.
Mudguards made it about 1% better

 

[SoliD]

I've got one, the only problem is it doesn't have a front brake caliper. (first world problem?) When I spend 2+hours on the turbo you know the weasther is grim! I've taken to using my CX bike for riding to work. TT bike is currently in bits awaiting a new part then will be chucked on the turbo, that will at least get my summer bike back so I can ride it without swapping out the back wheel every 5 minutes.

My fleets down to 50%, its hideous!

 

[Roady]

Buy a new caliper?

I actually have an old tektro front you could have if you're really that hard up! I would offer you my 105 off the turbo bike but I'm half 'saving' them when the other halfs tektro's get more ropey haha

Unless you've broke more than your handlebar recently and I missed it?!

 

[SoliD]

Buy a new caliper?

I actually have an old tektro front you could have if you're really that hard up! I would offer you my 105 off the turbo bike but I'm half 'saving' them when the other halfs tektro's get more ropey haha

Unless you've broke more than your handlebar recently and I missed it?!

Waiting for them to replace the caliper under warranty.

Nope just the handlebar, got to send canyon pics of the bike later as they obviously want to see I didn't crash it. Bit frustrating as I've got regionals this weekend and want the bike back, but looking unlikely by then.

 

[Thomas. PLease.]

Almost finished building this up. Bit fiddly given the near all internal cabling and hydraulic discs but not as bad as what I imagine the Madone to be. Still waiting on some new deeps, can't decide on 64 or 50s just yet though.

 

[Roady]

Waiting for them to replace the caliper under warranty.

Nope just the handlebar, got to send canyon pics of the bike later as they obviously want to see I didn't crash it. Bit frustrating as I've got regionals this weekend and want the bike back, but looking unlikely by then.

Ahhh, caliper on the felt, what a pain! Especially an aero integrated one! Then to be 2 bikes down, ouch.

N+1?

Almost finished building this up. Bit fiddly given the near all internal cabling and hydraulic discs but not as bad as what I imagine the Madone to be. Still waiting on some new deeps, can't decide on 64 or 50s just yet though.

Damn, what a beauty! So fast! Your amount of drop (+dinnerplate) still looks so damn pro!

How have you found the routing with the integrated bar & stem combo? You just bought the bare frameset (+ bars + seatpost)? How's it feel weight wise?

 

[SoliD]

Ahhh, caliper on the felt, what a pain! Especially an aero integrated one! Then to be 2 bikes down, ouch.

N+1?

Felt? Nah.

Pinnacle - Caliper Duff
Felt - Custom piece waiting to be fitted for rear derailleur
Canyon - Broken Handlebars

Cannondale - OK
Ridley - OK
Scott Scale - OK

N+1 - Always.

 

[Shamrock]

Still waiting on some new deeps, can't decide on 64 or 50s just yet though.

Roval CLX64!

 

[Roady]

Roval CLX64!

They'd go well on the S-works. Or some of the dimpled 404's, at 58mm they're about in the middle depth wise & similar prices

 

[Robi]

Hello,

First time posting in here, so please go easy on me. I'm not sure if this warrants a new thread, so I thought it would be more sensible to chuck it in here instead. Long story short, I want to start riding. It won't be for commuting, just for long distance rides on the weekends, occasional trips to Scotland/Wales, Trans Pennine Trail etc, that sort of thing. Also for maintaining/improving my fitness.

The problem I now face is picking a bike. Budget wise I'm reluctant to spend anything over £500 - simply because I'm a beginner and also due to the fact that a lot of the bikes within this budget do seem to review quite highly (a lot of trash too). I'll happily increase that budget by 3-4x in the future, if I end up sticking with it obviously!

I've spent the last couple of weeks checking out reviews, Cycling Weekly, YouTube etc and ended up putting together a list of bikes that seem to either get mentioned on forums a lot or appear in "Best Budget Bikes 2018" articles over and over again:

B'Twin Triban 500 - £350
Boardman Road Sport - £350
Calibre Lost Lad - £319.20
Calibre Rivelin (2016/17 bike?) - £279.20
Vitus Razor Claris - £349

A colleague also offered me her husbands Jamis Nova Sport T6 (no idea what size) which has apparently been used for a grand total of 3 weeks from new, so it's in great condition. Worth considering?

The Triban 500 seems to get mentioned on here a lot, with the general opinion that it's probably the best I can buy for under £500.

Any other bikes I should consider?

Any help would be much appreciated

 

[sHo0sH]

@Thomas. PLease. Enve 4.5 SES with Chris King hubs. You've built a lovely bike - finish it off with the best wheels

 

[#Chri5#]

Hello,

First time posting in here, so please go easy on me. I'm not sure if this warrants a new thread, so I thought it would be more sensible to chuck it in here instead. Long story short, I want to start riding. It won't be for commuting, just for long distance rides on the weekends, occassional trips to Scotland/Wales, Trans Pennine Trail etc, that sort of thing. Also for maintaining/improving my fitness.

The problem I now face is picking a bike. Budget wise I'm reluctant to spend anything over £500 - simply because I'm a beginner and also due to the fact that a lot of the bikes within this budget do seem to review quite highly (a lot of trash too). I'll happily increase that budget by 3-4x in the future, if I end up sticking with it obviously!

I've spent the last couple of weeks checking out reviews, Cycling Weekly, YouTube etc and ending up putting together a list of bikes that seem to either get mentioned on forums a lot or appear in "Best Budget Bikes 2018" articles over and over again:

B'Twin Triban 500 - £350
Boardman Road Sport - £350
Calibre Lost Lad - £319.20
Calibre Rivelin (2016/17 bike?) - £279.20
Vitus Razor Claris - £349

A colleague also offered me her husbands Jamis Nova Sport T6 (no idea what size) which has apparently been used for a grand total of 3 weeks from new, so it's in great condition. Worth considering?

The Triban 500 seems to get mentioned on here a lot, with the general opinion that it's probably the best I can buy for under £500.

Any other bikes I should consider?

Any help would be much appreciated

Does the Jamis fit you and how much does the seller want for it? A quick Google doesn't turn up much but one results it might be a CX bike. That should be fine at home on tarmac, you might need to put some full slick tyres on it if it has some semi-slick or knobbly CX/gravel tyres at present.

I saw a Triban RC500 in Decathlon the other week when I popped in - for ~£500 it looked pretty decent.

Are you anywhere near Merlin (Preston)? This is a 10 speed Tiagra drivetrain, so a good component spec for £525.

https://www.merlincycles.com/sensa-romagna-tiagra-road-bike-2018-106187.html

 

[Thomas. PLease.]

Yeah, thing is a couple of road bike TTs I want to do need 50mm max wheels. They seem to be the best mix of weight/aero as well so may just go with roval 50s. Lighter and wider than enve's and without the annoying maintenance on ck hubs.