No, that includes VAT/Import fees aswell.
Road Cycling
- Thread starter FrenchTart
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No, that includes VAT/Import fees aswell.
Soldato
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Changed tyres over today - realised the Gatorskins have been on since … 2012 (granted they didn’t have a massive amount of use since!)
LBS didn’t have much 25mm in stock so ended up unmatched
LBS didn’t have much 25mm in stock so ended up unmatched
All I can read from this is you have kindly donated your bike the Mrs and therefore the only logical thing to do next is buy a new one. Congrats!
Absolutely no need for it, and unsure if it's similarly reduced in the UK, but what an absolute bargain. €1600 (£1300?) for an e-road bike with SRAM AXS 
There's some limitations, mainly in that it's a rear hub rather than mid drive, but hell the groupset is around €1000 to buy new!
Do not need!
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www.decathlon.es
There's some limitations, mainly in that it's a rear hub rather than mid drive, but hell the groupset is around €1000 to buy new!
Do not need!
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that's kinda the conclusion I'm coming to..
Soldato
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- Southampton, hopefully not too hot, or too cold
Shows as £2300 on UK decathlon app, I was on verge of pulling the trigger on the 105 2*11 version for £2000 until I saw the GT egrade Bolt at Paul's Cycles for £1249.Absolutely no need for it, and unsure if it's similarly reduced in the UK, but what an absolute bargain. €1600 (£1300?) for an e-road bike with SRAM AXS
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www.decathlon.es
There's some limitations, mainly in that it's a rear hub rather than mid drive, but hell the groupset is around €1000 to buy new!
Do not need!
A bargain for you!
At €1600 that is a steal!
Had a problem yesterday - flat tyre on the commuter when getting it out the garage. No issue, grabbed the SL7 from it's hook and rode that in. With a nice evening ahead and a local open 10TT being on a course 15 mins from home figured go and pay my £4 and see what I'm capable of! Logistics of home/family food and being back out the door at 6.05 planned... When I grabbed to ride home at 5:02pm flat rear. Spotted a hole/cut middle of the tread, rotated it to the bottom and pumped back up but damn thing wouldn't seal! Nice puddle of sealant. Got a lift home and sacked off any TT plans - riding Zwift in 26 degrees garage again!
But back to my tyres. Commuter no holes or evidence of sealant just a leak of air. Popped seal and barely any wet sealant left in there, put another 100-150ml of MucOff in and pumped back up. Rode it this morning, fine. Still not a fan of these Vittoria Rubino IV TLR, they're very 'wooden' feeling and running them much below 60-70 psi to reduce that they just don't hold air. Cheap when I got them (<£30 each) and seem to wear well for a winter/everything tyre with 'ok' wet weather grip, but won't be getting more as also a pain to get mounted. Just need to wear these out to not waste money. I've got some Conti GP5000 STR in 30mm to go on my old Zipp 30 Course which the Vittorias wouldn't mount on. Need to get them sorted as 'spares' at least if the Vittoria going to get worse!
The Conti GP5000 STR on my SL7 is on a Zipp 404 FC rim with Vittoria tyre inserts. I'd failed miserably to get them unsealed this spring and only able to get a tiny amount of sealant into them through the valve hole. They'd gone up and stayed up so figured sealant from last September was probably ok for a while... Guess now it isn't! Had read around online about the various ways to try and get tyres off with inserts fitted... What a ballache. I'd actually put one into my other Zipps without sealant as a 'test subject' and so far had failed to get the thing unmounted! Things more crucial now... So no messing around, had to get it off!
I couldn't quite get the grasp of people saying 'put over a dustbin' on how you where then meant to stand on the tyre to get it to unseal. Usual methods of tyre levers don't work - the insert basically 'sticks' when mounted (and I guess as sealant dries out) to the rim and the bead area, so any pressure to get it away and a lever into the 'gap' doesn't work. Lots of tricks and advice online about squeezing the tyre with various things on that 'pressure' area, basically to get the insert to come off the rim and 'pop' into the tyre casing itself so you can then get the bead into the rim centre channel. It's brutal work and absolute paranoia about damaging my carbon rims with many of the techniques here is what worked for me (hope these things help someone in future):
Had a problem yesterday - flat tyre on the commuter when getting it out the garage. No issue, grabbed the SL7 from it's hook and rode that in. With a nice evening ahead and a local open 10TT being on a course 15 mins from home figured go and pay my £4 and see what I'm capable of! Logistics of home/family food and being back out the door at 6.05 planned... When I grabbed to ride home at 5:02pm flat rear. Spotted a hole/cut middle of the tread, rotated it to the bottom and pumped back up but damn thing wouldn't seal! Nice puddle of sealant. Got a lift home and sacked off any TT plans - riding Zwift in 26 degrees garage again!
But back to my tyres. Commuter no holes or evidence of sealant just a leak of air. Popped seal and barely any wet sealant left in there, put another 100-150ml of MucOff in and pumped back up. Rode it this morning, fine. Still not a fan of these Vittoria Rubino IV TLR, they're very 'wooden' feeling and running them much below 60-70 psi to reduce that they just don't hold air. Cheap when I got them (<£30 each) and seem to wear well for a winter/everything tyre with 'ok' wet weather grip, but won't be getting more as also a pain to get mounted. Just need to wear these out to not waste money. I've got some Conti GP5000 STR in 30mm to go on my old Zipp 30 Course which the Vittorias wouldn't mount on. Need to get them sorted as 'spares' at least if the Vittoria going to get worse!
The Conti GP5000 STR on my SL7 is on a Zipp 404 FC rim with Vittoria tyre inserts. I'd failed miserably to get them unsealed this spring and only able to get a tiny amount of sealant into them through the valve hole. They'd gone up and stayed up so figured sealant from last September was probably ok for a while... Guess now it isn't! Had read around online about the various ways to try and get tyres off with inserts fitted... What a ballache. I'd actually put one into my other Zipps without sealant as a 'test subject' and so far had failed to get the thing unmounted! Things more crucial now... So no messing around, had to get it off!
I couldn't quite get the grasp of people saying 'put over a dustbin' on how you where then meant to stand on the tyre to get it to unseal. Usual methods of tyre levers don't work - the insert basically 'sticks' when mounted (and I guess as sealant dries out) to the rim and the bead area, so any pressure to get it away and a lever into the 'gap' doesn't work. Lots of tricks and advice online about squeezing the tyre with various things on that 'pressure' area, basically to get the insert to come off the rim and 'pop' into the tyre casing itself so you can then get the bead into the rim centre channel. It's brutal work and absolute paranoia about damaging my carbon rims with many of the techniques here is what worked for me (hope these things help someone in future):
- First things first, massage tyre, try and figure out any 'blockages'. I had one point of the tyre still holding pressure while other parts 'flat'. Lots of squeezing and prodding to get the pressure out
- Poke a hole through the value through the insert helps massively with above - also gives you an idea where the insert is and how stuck against the rim/valve it is - use an old spoke - good practive to clear dried sealant out of the valve (and the valve core - certainly needed with this Vittoria sealant, the Muc Off doesn't seem as bad for it)
- Aim is NOT to get a tyre lever or anything between the rim and tyre bead. This way leads to madness, thumb damage, frustration and possibly rim damage
- You need to get the tyre beads into the centre of the rim, the slack there all the way around the tyre bead is how you'll get a tyre lever under it, to do that need to get the insert off the rim and into the tyre casing#
- I squirted sealant in the gap around tyre and rim as lubrication, could use other things like soapy water/GT40
- Tried treading on it - hard to get enough pressure (quite how people use a 'dustbin' I don't know, standing on a rim on top of a dustbin?!), considered mole grips but mine have teeth and didn't want to damage my tyre. Used a car clamp for pushing in brake pads to calipers and it kinda worked, clamped it with that, then some woodworking clamps, so holding half the tyre really tight together
- Holding the tyre jammed against my toes, using all 8 fingers in a 'crimp' next to each others was able to get the bead the opposite side of my body to press into the centre channel and stay there feeling the insert move into the tyre. SUCCESS!
- Did this for quarter of the tyre, rotated it and did the other side, took off clamps and was able to get beads all the way around both sides into the rim centre channel. Ouch.
- Usual tricks and skills useful from fighting a tight tyre off a rim come in handy and then work to get it off, put sealant in & remount
Yeah the tools involved to change bearings/BB's unless you intend on doing a lot in future yourself, just get the LBS to do it. Good easy job for them and far quicker & cheaper than learning yourself!
Depends on the BB, I've replaced most mine with steel ones so can change the bearings and not the whole BB, but my Zwift one still uses the plastic crappy Shimano hollowtech one where you have to replace the whole thing.
Bit of a shame, especially with them having a good & long standing name quite shocked not to find lots of them in local shops!
The Ribble should sell well then just grab another Boardman adv?
Usually breaking them in the process!women in general are scary, especially when they nick your toys..
GP5000 STR still come in 25mm but not heard much of Skaterskins recently, have they updated them as much as the GP's?!
Soldato
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
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- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
No idea at all tbh, totally out of the loop. The Gatorskins I had on were from 13 years ago ...
Had a meeting in Venlo today and decided to cycle the 35km or so back, ended up being 12km more because Google maps took me down crappy routes with gravel paths which aren't much fun on 25mm road tyres ... just followed the Maas river instead until I was familiar rather than relying on G maps.
In the meeting it came up that there's some tax incentives for bikes (a bit similar to Cycle Scheme in UK if that still exists) so I could upgrade to something more modern (like this : https://www.mantel.com/en/cube-attain-c62-slx&spec[]=7678&spec[]=7935&spec[]=23513) for essentially half price (not sure why the disparity between UK pricing too - EUR 2499 vs GBP 2499 .. )
Said mate has finished the build of his Elves bike and it is awesome. Looks and rides great. I had a little go on it yesterday and wide rims with 30mm wide tyres is definitely the future. I'm sure it would have been even better if my Look Keo cleats fitted in his Shimano pedals.
Yeah they are great looking bikes. SI'd be nervous as some of the more traditional brands. Especially as some chinese brands like Elves are starting to set up global distribution networks where you don't have to go direct to China
That sounds good and especially for a brand like Cube - assured quality at an almost unbeatable price (considering the disparity?!). Mantel don't ship to the UK any longer but that same bike is the same price on Sigmasports: https://www.sigmasports.com/item/CUBE/Attain-C62-SLX-105-Di2-Road-Bike/13LNJ
Sounds a lot of bike for the money if you can get it half price - £1250 (?) with 12s 105 Di2 full groupset including cranks and rotors. Everything else seems to be their own/sister branded including the wheelset so a bit of an unknown. Standard/cheapy Conti GP in 30mm tyres so expect to change them if riding more paths/trails - but even those will be a lot better than the (likely) 25mm Gatorskins (could even be 23mm!) you're riding.
Sweet! Any pics!? Their own carbon wheels?
Can't recall who else on here had one or which model it was. Looked a very clean and nice looking bike!
so on the back of all the ribble cgr 725 chat, I had transferred some sensors over etc and took it out for a ride yesterday, I wasn't feeling 100% energy wise but I've posted the slowest time on my local 20k loop ever, by 4mins compared to my average time of 48ish mins, I did 52..
now, why is that? I can only think its the tires? the ribble runs on schwalbe all around https://www.schwalbe.com/en/Schwalbe-G-One-Allround-11600764.02 the boardman that my wife took ownership of by force runs hutchinson caracal race - with a "slick" center.. but is it really going to make that much of a difference on a route thats half gravel through forest and the rest average condition road?
tire compare : https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/cx-gravel-reviews/hutchinson-caracal-race
slower : https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/cx-gravel-reviews/schwalbe-g-one-allround
26w vs 13w so 13 watts difference, 50% faster essentially..
would that really result in 4minute difference over 20k? bum dyno tells me that it is slower, I could genuinely feel the bike drag a bit more and I thought I was imagining it until I actually compared the numbers
ride examples :
ribble : https://www.strava.com/activities/15061550384
boardman with faster tire : https://www.strava.com/activities/14997959980
asked copilot for it's view of the above..
Gravel Tire Speed Comparison - Ribble vs Boardman
Tire Models:
Rolling Resistance Comparison:
Performance Impact Over 20 km:
Why the Time Difference Happens:
now, why is that? I can only think its the tires? the ribble runs on schwalbe all around https://www.schwalbe.com/en/Schwalbe-G-One-Allround-11600764.02 the boardman that my wife took ownership of by force runs hutchinson caracal race - with a "slick" center.. but is it really going to make that much of a difference on a route thats half gravel through forest and the rest average condition road?
tire compare : https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/cx-gravel-reviews/hutchinson-caracal-race
slower : https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/cx-gravel-reviews/schwalbe-g-one-allround
26w vs 13w so 13 watts difference, 50% faster essentially..
would that really result in 4minute difference over 20k? bum dyno tells me that it is slower, I could genuinely feel the bike drag a bit more and I thought I was imagining it until I actually compared the numbers
ride examples :
ribble : https://www.strava.com/activities/15061550384
boardman with faster tire : https://www.strava.com/activities/14997959980
asked copilot for it's view of the above..
Gravel Tire Speed Comparison - Ribble vs Boardman
Tire Models:
- Schwalbe G-One Allround on Ribble
- Hutchinson Caracal Race on Boardman
Rolling Resistance Comparison:| Tire | Rolling Resistance (Watts) |
|---|---|
| Schwalbe G-One Allround | 26W |
| Hutchinson Caracal Race | 13W |
Performance Impact Over 20 km:
- Estimated speed gain: +1.5 km/h
- Time saved: ~4 minutes
- Effort constant (200W rider output)
Why the Time Difference Happens:
- Rolling resistance = energy lost to tire friction. Lower resistance means faster speed at the same effort.
- Saving 13W is a 50% improvement — translating into tangible gains over long distances.
- Mixed terrain with hardpack + road leans toward slicker, low-drag tires like the Caracal Race.
- The G-One Allround adds grip and comfort, but at the cost of speed on firm surfaces.
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That seems a bigger difference than i'd have expected over the distance with just tyres.
Funnily i have the same tyre combo. Schwalbe All Round on my hardtail and the Caracal (although non race i think) on my main bike.
Funnily i have the same tyre combo. Schwalbe All Round on my hardtail and the Caracal (although non race i think) on my main bike.
I know right! I'm surprised by it too but I can actually feel it when riding the bike.
caracal and caracal race funny enough are very very different.. the race one is miles ahead from what I've seen in reviews. I'm tempted to get another pair but £100 for a pair hurts.
Soldato
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- 18 Oct 2002
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- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
I’m based in NL now , so Mantel would be my retailer of choice.
If you have a company or employer they can purchase the bike (claim back the VAT) and then lease it on to the employee with the loan being repaid under salary sacrifice, and own it at the end of the term. So with tax savings considered it works out approximately 50% cheaper.
I grew up cycling in London .. cycling in NL is so much better (just a bit flat!)
The number of bikes outside Amsterdam Centraal station was mind boggling for a Brit the first time I saw it
Soldato
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Yeah, a lot of thought has gone into it.
I live relatively remote (in Noord Brabant, just next to the border to Limburg) and even here the infrastructure is fantastic.
Just did a 30km loop and there is only 2-3 traffic lights that change for cyclists automatically if possible (detection strips in the ground) , and every roundabout gives cyclists priority (and they’re fully separated from cars!)
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He had the wheels made in China too. No pics, but here is a little clip of me on it. https://imgur.com/a/PUzMXgV £3k in total for the build weighing in at 7.8kg.
Annoyingly, after recently saying it felt like my front wheel kept deflating and wondering if it was heat in the shed. I got up early this morning to go for a ride, got to the first corner, was going to go straight before last minute changing my mind to turn right and the tyre broke the seal and threw sealant everywhere. Sending me flying and being my first proper off on this bike and scraping my lever/deraileur 
More annoying is that i took my air compressor to storage the other day ahead of another house move, so going to just drop it at a local shop and hope they'll sort it quickly and can pick it back up later tonight.
More annoying is that i took my air compressor to storage the other day ahead of another house move, so going to just drop it at a local shop and hope they'll sort it quickly and can pick it back up later tonight.