Road Cycling

I've spent the last couple of weeks killing my thumbs and deminishing my stock of tyre levers trying to mount Vittoria Rubino Tubeless 28mm tyres on my Zipp 30 Course rims... :cry:

Ended up this tyre (not used Vittoria before) as Specialized with my usual favourite 'Roubaix Pro 2bliss' winter cheap tubeless are very scarce in the UK. Seems Specialized really reduced inventory & distribution across the whole of Europe too. So I hunted for a well regarded, tough and cheap option to replace them with... Really not convinced this has saved me any money... Yet!

I knew these rims where tight but these where another level of awkward and with the cold weather (& my stubbonness) meant I didn't give up when I probably should've. You know the blue Park Tool levers? The really good almost indestructible TL ones? Destroyed/snapped 5 of them and at least a dozen others (my entire stock of 'crappy' ones). 4 days and probably 9 hours to get a single tyre mounted (good example how stubborn I am)... Including using a tyre mount tool. I figured the cold weather and just getting the tyre on (including heating them up indoors and next to the fire) would stretch them with tubes for a few weeks and they'd be happy mounting again afterwards... How wrong was I!

Gave up, as realised finally after getting the first tyre on, I had buckled the wheel. Pretty badly too! Including bending the rim edge, with it folding inwards from the pressures needed to get it on! Wow. Speaking around some cycling friends (RL group & online) most hadn't heard of that happening before... At least not on a modern rim! Actually used a broken carbon rim I have to see if they would mount well on a different rim... To being able to almost mount it by hand! So really just a Zipp 30 Course issue. Dug out an old pair of unused Fulcrum Racing 7's and although not hand mountable, within 15 mins had both tyres mounted.

Rode them a week with tubes, then mounted as tubeless. Couldn't get one to seal very well... Had my first real 'tubeless explosion' indoors and coated the side of the freezer and a bunch of other stuff in the utility! Ooops! Had the same in my garage and then realised that the tyre had a split/cut just above the bead. Must have been from all the abuse trying to mount it! Argh! Have run it with a tube since but feeling flush (before xmas) bought another tyre to replace it with. As it's on the rear I want it tubeless.

Martynt74 said:
At the risk of sounding like a pusher of Chinese stuff, have you looked at the Elves frames? I was close before i opted for my Ican.
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Elves actually got a bit hammered by Hambini, but nowhere near as bad as others and really if you watch his review there's quite a lot of good in there - more so than other big brand frames he's torn apart for lack of QC. Worth a view.

One More Solo said:
So sorry to hear your news @bastic and @Junglist. I can only echo the above if you need to get things out there - the best part of this thread is someone always responds.
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Second this. RIP & condolences. Riding gives us some good focus and never underestimate the 'wellbeing' you can get just from getting some time away from other things by getting a few rides in. Great for our mental health!
 
What UK winter gloves are people recommending these days?

I have some old Sealskin Highland, which are warm but awful at stopping cold air when riding.

I have di2 shifters and find even with these gloves the buttons can be hard to feel so lobster gloves maybe aren't ideal.

A compromise might be the
GOREWEAR Gore-Tex Infinium Thermo Split Gloves
Or alternatively I've been looking at the Castelli Estremo gloves, which sound light and windproof, I'm just not overly convinced they'll be much better than what I've got currently. Plus I'm unsure on sizing as suspect they'll run small like everything Castelli.
 
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So my Ican black road bike has sold. Was the first person who actually came to view it, although it's been advertised for about 6 months! I took a little less than i'd have liked but it gets it out of the way given we're sharing a single garage with the owners and another renter. I'd say he got a great deal, but it's one thing off my mind and it paid for the MTB i bought last week which was the main thing.
 
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I may or may not have bought a new frameset to replace my old boring one that was a size too large... :p

Early christmas present to myself. Now just to find some good weather to ride it for the first time!
 
fez said:
I may or may not have bought a new frameset to replace my old boring one that was a size too large... :p

Early christmas present to myself. Now just to find some good weather to ride it for the first time!
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Can't tease us like that! We need PICS!
 
Failed totally to get many miles in over the weekend but need a bit of 'recovery' anyway... Last Tuesday when messing around with tyres+tubes during my lunchtime attempted a bunnyhop/rear wheel bang to test it and wasn't in cleats... Cue quite a bruised tail bone! Thought nothing of it for a few days but it got increasingly worse. Not bad when normally sitting and can't feel it when riding, but 'lounging' on the sofa - absolute agony! Must have bruised the bone for it to get worse and still be painful nearly a week later... :o :rolleyes: :cry:

Trifid said:
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/road-cycling.18737977/post-35386640 I expect this method would be applicable to you. Just don't consider taking off the tyre if you get a puncture!
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I was some way past that... Plus I have no friends! So it was all me solo struggling and many hours of some serious finger strengthening. But have you had any issues since @Trifid ? As the tyres there (Conti GP5000 TL) are known to be a bit tight, but not overly so I would imagine other tyres equally as tough. I've got Conti GP5000 S TR and although not on a tight rim would say they're only marginally tighter than the Pirelli PZero they replaced. I can mount both of those by hand on my Zipp 303 S (summer) wheels. Obviously doing that in the warmer weather may mean things are slightly easy too...

Actually used my cracked rim 303 S wheel to stretch these Vittoria tyres. Worked ok, could generally mount them on there with a couple of levers then left it at 100psi next to a roaring fire for the evening. That was the only way I succeeded! Tried all the 'tricks'. They're so tight even mounted with both beads in the centre channel would struggle to get the second 'nose' of a tyre lever under the bead with no pressure on either. Even on these Fulcrum Racing 7 wheels I have to get the tyres to 90-100 PSI to fully snap and be fully seated - then dropping them down to 65 & 75 PSI but do feel like they need a bit more. Recommended minimum is 87 PSI which is really high for me! :o

Nutty_Death said:
What UK winter gloves are people recommending these days?

I have some old Sealskin Highland, which are warm but awful at stopping cold air when riding.

I have di2 shifters and find even with these gloves the buttons can be hard to feel so lobster gloves maybe aren't ideal.

A compromise might be the
GOREWEAR Gore-Tex Infinium Thermo Split Gloves
Or alternatively I've been looking at the Castelli Estremo gloves, which sound light and windproof, I'm just not overly convinced they'll be much better than what I've got currently. Plus I'm unsure on sizing as suspect they'll run small like everything Castelli.
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Define 'winter'.

Gore should be good will be good, their sizing is 'snug' but pretty much the same sizing as any gloves I own (I wear medium in Sportful, Gore, Castelli, Gripgrab, Rapha and DHB - the gore are the tightest, DHB the loosest).

I have a pair of Sportful Sotto Zero and they're fantastic in the cold, although much over 5-6 degrees find them too warm and below -10 windchill they do struggle. I've worn some merino liners with them on those really cold days, but don't find they pushed the bottom 'envelope' that much, but dramatically lowered the upper. So too hot in 2-3 degrees. But the Sotto Zero are bad in the wet, as they get sodden quite easily. Have meant to replace them with the 'Fiandre' as they're more waterproof with only a slight reduction in thermal. Anything around the current I wear a standard windproof glove and not that thermal. I use my liners with them more.

Have also considered changing my Sotto's to the Spatz THRMOZ if I can get a deal on them... They're doing a '12 days of Christmas' sales at the moment so waiting to see if they appear... But I am turning into more and more of a Spatz fanboy... Fell back in love with my Roadman V2 the last couple of weeks! :cool:

AndyCr15 said:
I wear some Sealskin heated gloves with an underlayer glove. Seem to be fine down to about -2° or so.
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Heated and only down to -2?! You sound as bad as @SoliD for cold hands! ;)

fez said:
I need to get it in the right lighting etc because I am a big tart.
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Spoilsport! What did you go for...?

Mine is making clunky noises. Have spent no time diagnoising but am feeling it a bit through the crankarm when going on/off the power. Could be a loose cassette I guess?!
 
Roady said:
Spoilsport! What did you go for...?
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I am boring so I just stuck with what I know so I got another TCR but went for the silly seatmast TCR advanced SL. :p

Mostly because I love the way it looks with the smooth transition from the top tube to the seatpost and I saw a beautiful one on weight weenies so I had to have that paint job. Its not too lairy but it has a bit of personality vs my old one. I haven't been out on it properly but the sizing feels much better than the L I had before.

Goes to show that bike size charts from the manufacturers are complete BS which makes sense really.

Not going to lie, it was a little nerve wracking cutting the seatpost. I measured about 6 times and overcomplicated it massively. People say that its an issue but honestly you get 2 "toppers" in the box of different heights and you have about 3cm of wiggle room with spacers if you have any issues.

Roady said:
Mine is making clunky noises. Have spent no time diagnoising but am feeling it a bit through the crankarm when going on/off the power. Could be a loose cassette I guess?!
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Pretty easy to test usually. Just give the cassette a sideways wobble and you will soon see.
 
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Yeah, it's toes and fingers that can really feel it, but as said, at -2 and not feeling cold I think is pretty good. (For feet, get some heated pads. When it's v cold, one above, one below the toes!)
 
I cheat, I've got a Briard (dog) which has hair not fur.. I brush him then use the hair that comes out to stuff inside my shoe ends. Works a charm :D
 
Roady said:
Define 'winter'.

Gore should be good will be good, their sizing is 'snug' but pretty much the same sizing as any gloves I own (I wear medium in Sportful, Gore, Castelli, Gripgrab, Rapha and DHB - the gore are the tightest, DHB the loosest).
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Weather over the past few weeks and into next year. So around 0c in the morning commute or a bit below. Going back later isn't an issue.
I cycle in all conditions apart from when roads look icy.

It's the wind that penetrates the gloves and makes my fingers throb painfully. I just think my sealskinz have no wind blocking properties, despite being bulky and warm.

I'm a medium in sealskinz with a 21.5cm hand circumference. Just don't trust the sizing guide for Castelli.
 
I know the answer to this is "it depends", but where do you think you could get to distance wise for a single event in 4 months? Obviously it depends on training/current levels.

At the moment i do around 2 rides/week of 15-20 miles each. However i'm looking at events to find motivation to up this, and reclaim fitness. In the past (2022 in particular) i was quite happy running in the mountains for >10hrs, but a foot injury has put an end to that. My fitness since Oct 22 has plummeted as a result. Only mentioning that because it shows my body is capable of silly volumes.

I'm looking to sign up for this to drum up some motivation

IG'360 - Iron Gravel

irongravel.com irongravel.com

The scenery looks amazing and it gives me an excuse to buy stuff (will need some wider tyres). Now the decision comes down to which event to enter

There's the IG360 on April 20th and the Iron Busot on May 25th

The IG360 has 3 distances, of which the easiest is 100km, this doesn't feel long enough to be a challenge (i'm sure it would be as it's off road and hilly), however the next step up is the 226km version with 2500m of ascent. This i wonder if it's a step too far.

The Iron Busot also has 3 distances (55/110/180), the 180km has 5100m of ascent though and climbing is not something i'm good at since i'm fat!
 
100km off road is a decent distance to achieve in 4 months from that base I'd say, you're probably going to be out for at least 5 hours depending on terrain. The 110km with 3000m of ascent looks like the next logical step up.
 
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