Road Cycling

AndyCr15 said:
Unless the chain is slipping, will it change the experience? Are they very different parts your fitting? I would ride a little and see how you get on with it.
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#Chri5# said:
Ultegra cassettes are silly prices IMHO at the moment, so I'd stick with 105 and save the £30/40. The weight saving is only something like 30 grams.

Unless your chain is slipping, I would ensure it's cleaned and lubed so running smoothly / quietly and sit on the money. I'd agree with @AndyCr15 - unless your existing drivetrain sounds like a cement mixer, it's not going to improve a ride.
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Cheers both.

Having not actually ridden it yet, i'm not sure. The bike guy suggested the main issue was that the chain struggled to move out of the smallest cog at the back and so i would ofter need to go up 2 and then down 1 to get that gear. He mentioned this was a sign of the chain being an issue (along with a huge amount of play in the chain). He also gave me some chain link things incase the chain snapped on an outing which can't be a good sign!

I think you're right, i'm sure many bikes will be in worse condition than this one and still being ridden. I think i'll try and run at dinner and then get on the bike tonight. Trying to decide whether to buy a phone mount for the stem for any routing directions or to mount my Garmin Fenix on there as it'd also give other info.
 
Martynt74 said:
Cheers both.

Having not actually ridden it yet, i'm not sure. The bike guy suggested the main issue was that the chain struggled to move out of the smallest cog at the back and so i would ofter need to go up 2 and then down 1 to get that gear. He mentioned this was a sign of the chain being an issue (along with a huge amount of play in the chain). He also gave me some chain link things incase the chain snapped on an outing which can't be a good sign!

I think you're right, i'm sure many bikes will be in worse condition than this one and still being ridden. I think i'll try and run at dinner and then get on the bike tonight. Trying to decide whether to buy a phone mount for the stem for any routing directions or to mount my Garmin Fenix on there as it'd also give other info.
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ride the bike for a few weeks then report back your experience. Its really the best advice.

Dont go too far on your first few rides in case of mechanicals, so you can get home easy if needs be.

Then once you know how it rides, you can best decide how to spend your pennies.
 
AndyCr15 said:
I got back yesterday from a slightly drama filled trip to the Lake District. We got there the night before and the guy that drove me up had an accident and is still in hospital now! I think he's fine, but started things off a little odd. (I drove his camper van home for him)

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Hope he's OK! I ended up in hospital last time I was in the Lakes a few years ago with crippling abdominal/chest pain. I was sat in a car park in Ambleside for 2 hours waiting for an ambulance before a transfer to Southport. You don't realise how isolated it is there until something like that happens. Paramedics/doctors were brilliant but that was the longest wait of my life.
 
Musty Pie said:
ride the bike for a few weeks then report back your experience. Its really the best advice.

Dont go too far on your first few rides in case of mechanicals, so you can get home easy if needs be.

Then once you know how it rides, you can best decide how to spend your pennies.
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Cheers

I finally got out tonight after work. Did around 8.5 miles or so and enjoyed it. Although I was overtaken by another cyclist!

The rear shifter seems fine, but I struggled to get it back onto the bigger front cog when I had dropped it for a hill.

Not sure if that’s the chain or due to the actual shifter.

Hopefully a few more outings will help me understand technique a little more. I’m going to replace the brake pads to see if that helps with the squeaking. They’re fine under little pressure on downhills but get pretty loud when you want to fully stop.

Also need to work on positioning/setup. My neck was fairly sore at the end of it. Might watch a few YouTube videos to get a better idea of position, or is it just something your neck adjusts to? Think being hunched over then lifting my neck up to look forward is the issue.
 
Martynt74 said:
Also need to work on positioning/setup. My neck was fairly sore at the end of it. Might watch a few YouTube videos to get a better idea of position, or is it just something your neck adjusts to? Think being hunched over then lifting my neck up to look forward is the issue.
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I had that when I first started riding - I realised I was tensing or hunching my shoulders when I was riding, so had to concentrate on relaxing my shoulders and arms. I probably had a too tight a grip on the hoods too.
 
Yeah that’s a good point. When I got home I’d say my shoulders/arms were quite achey too.

Enjoyed it though. Just need to be careful and balance my running with cycling (and trying to squeeze in some paddle boarding too!)
 
Martynt74 said:
Yeah that’s a good point. When I got home I’d say my shoulders/arms were quite achey too.

Enjoyed it though. Just need to be careful and balance my running with cycling (and trying to squeeze in some paddle boarding too!)
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Good mix of activities there though - just cycling isn't ideal as it's not weight bearing.
 
One More Solo said:
Hope he's OK!
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Th0nt said:
Jeez hope he's alright @AndyCr15
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Initial report was a fractured clavicle and bleed on the brain! Different theories came along of was the bleed the cause of the crash, or the result. The latest involved dehydration not going well with his blood pressure meds maybe causing a blackout. He seemed in good spirits when I collected the key from him.
 
AndyCr15 said:
Initial report was a fractured clavicle and bleed on the brain! Different theories came along of was the bleed the cause of the crash, or the result. The latest involved dehydration not going well with his blood pressure meds maybe causing a blackout. He seemed in good spirits when I collected the key from him.
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Yikes, hope he's doing well. I had initially just thought you'd meant a break rather than anything more serious.
 
So my road riding dreams have been put on hold! My work have decided to not do the cycle-to-work scheme to the value I wanted and have now decided the most they will allow is £1500.

Which is annoying but no point crying over. I sent Canyon a message to say that I am unable to proceed with the order through CycleScheme but that I'd happily just pay the full balance on my credit card in order to have it sent out... Apparently that isn't possible. They can't change payment method so my only option is to cancel the order and hope I don't end up too far back in a queue.

What a rubbish system! Decided to not cancel my order and hope that when it's time to dispatch the order will throw up a flag and they let me just use credit card to finalise it.

What a palaver.
 
#Chri5# said:
I put a new chain on my turbo bike on Sunday afternoon as the wear gauge showed fitted at 0.75 but not quite 1.0. Ah, a lovely buttery smooth and silent drivetrain for this morning's turbo session! The chain I replaced had done 4,898.5 km according to Strava - all on the turbo.
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My buttery smooth smugness is short lived as the chain started to slip on low cadence / high power efforts (so in 50x12) yesterday and this morning's turbo was even worse. Time to spend an age trying to find a reasonable price but in-stock 50T chainring and 12-28 cassette :rolleyes:

I've just found PBK have a Tiagra 4700 chainset in 172.5mm for £79.99 but it's a 52/36. Would the chain be to short to go from a 50/34 to 52/36? Tempting to buy that as a new outer ring is £40.
 
I remembered i have some Halfords vouchers from a Confused.com insurance policy and figured i would use them to change the chain on my bike. I figure that a newer chain would presumably help to prolong the life of the cassettes?

Would this fit? The guy had mentioned that SRAM would be fine, i'm just not sure how to work out the number of links required without taking the chain off? Would you try and mark one of them and then count around?

https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bi...-powerlock-chain-114-links-silver-422629.html
 
Martynt74 said:
I remembered i have some Halfords vouchers from a Confused.com insurance policy and figured i would use them to change the chain on my bike. I figure that a newer chain would presumably help to prolong the life of the cassettes?

Would this fit? The guy had mentioned that SRAM would be fine, i'm just not sure how to work out the number of links required without taking the chain off? Would you try and mark one of them and then count around?

https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bi...-powerlock-chain-114-links-silver-422629.html
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That chain will be fine provided you're not running 12 speed. 114 links will be plenty - you will more than likely need to remove some links from the chain before fitting it. I always use this calculator: Javascript Bicycle Chain Length Calculator (machinehead-software.co.uk)

nb double the number of links the calculator says you need when comparing to the SRAM numbers and working out how many links to remove. I think the calculator treats a link as an inner and outer link together, whereas SRAM treat that as two links.
 
So I think my road-bike dream is back on. Canyon have said they can cancel my order and re-order the same thing right away again and hopefully it shouldn't case so much of a delay.. Fingers crossed.


But whilst I'm waiting I'm thinking about getting all the gear and having no idea - as is the correct way. A few months back when I did my longest ride (nothing compared to you beasts) one of my friends had an Wahoo Element Roam which really impressed me so I told myself I was going to get one as I don't really want my fat phone on the front of the bike, plus phones battery takes a hammering on rides over 3 hours.

I was 99% sure of getting the Roam due to my friends experience with it but then I noticed the Garmin 830 and I thought as a device it looks nice and smaller but it sounds like the user experience is better on the slightly uglier Roam.

Any strong feelings either way or are both decent that you can't go wrong with one over the other. The Roam looks a bit more useful in all conditions
 
Garmin / Wahoo is whole can of worms... I've had a Garmin Edge 800 for almost 8 years now. The fact I've been using it for that long hopefully speaks for itself in terms of reliability over hundreds of rides. It has thrown the odd wobble but sorted itself out. I've just got a new battery for it and the USB port is getting a bit iffy (seems a known issue - eg here), so my plan this weekend is to open it up to check for corrosion on the USB connector and replace the battery. I have been reading reviews again though as my backup plan is to replace it.

However, there's other OCUK cycling regulars who've had the same or other Edge units (eg 810/820) that have found them very unreliable (stability etc) and moved to Wahoo. Nip onto any cycling forum and you'll find somewhere who made the same jump.

You can also throw Hammerhead with the Karoo 2 into the mix now. Have you read / watched DCRainmaker's in-depth reviews of the units?

Edge 530: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/04/garmin-edge-530-cycling-gps-in-depth-review.html
Edge 830: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/04/garmin-edge-830-cycling-gps-in-depth-review.html
Bolt V2: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2021/05...h-color-screen-maps-a-review-in-progress.html
Karoo 2: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/12/hammerhead-karoo-2-in-depth-review.html and https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2021/06/hammerhead-karoos-new-climber-feature-heres-how-it-works.html

In my reading at the moment, I'm not sure the Edge 830 is worth the extra over the 530, especially given the 530 can be had for around £205 at the moment (with no HR or sensors) - that compares to £349 for the 830. The key differences seem to be:

DCR said:
– Edge 830 has a touchscreen (thankfully different than the older Edge 820 touchscreen)
– Edge 830 can do address-specific routing, whereas on the Edge 530 you can’t enter a street address
– Edge 830 has searchable points of interest database, for finding food/monuments/hotels/etc…
– Edge 830 has four less buttons than the 530, since it’s a touch screen (and also has some slight differences in user interface, since you can touch it – most easily seen in the mapping pages)
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I've never wanted or needed to search for an address on my Edge as I tend to either know the route I'm riding or have pre-planned it, so it comes down to buttons vs touchscreen and a big difference in price. The Karoo2 is £359 direct from Hammerhead but they do offer a 45 day trial. Hammerhead do drop updates once or twice a month though (release notes), so it's a developing platform which bodes well.
 
New vs old Cable guides:
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Not the best quality photo (my phone is awful at macro stuff) but you can see how on the right the cable has sort of cut it's own little groove.

Also replacing Front derailleur at the same time. Turned into quite a job! Chain off, bar tape/cables off, RD cable needs replacing too as it's now too short! Started getting too dark last night so I've had to delay it till weekend.
 
One More Solo said:
114 links will be plenty - you will more than likely need to remove some links from the chain before fitting it
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I unboxed a 120 link chain the other day for a friend and fitted it. I recall I had ordered it as it was the only thing available a few months back. Removed probably 12+ links :D

(I always do the big sprocket, big chainring method for sizing)
 
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