Road Cycling

bastic said:
quick question for the collective...
new chain... do you remove links before installing ?
how do you check how many you need to remove or is it a specific number..
.im on 12speed ultegra at the moemnt and have orderd a fancy KMC chain...

thanks
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pull the old one off, put it side by side and trim depending on what the lenght of old is.. one link shorter to add a quicklink and you're good?
 
inspired by @AndyCr15 early morning ride and my failure to get out yesterday because of fat dinner and sofa being too comfortable, I decided to go out this morning. Up at 540 and out at 6am. Quite good gravel route with some very technical bits, one area I had to push the bike up as even my 40c tires did nothing grip wise.

Forests, roads etc completely dead. Loved it.




More pics and a few clips on Strava :

 
grudas said:
inspired by @AndyCr15 early morning ride and my failure to get out yesterday because of fat dinner and sofa being too comfortable, I decided to go out this morning. Up at 540 and out at 6am. Quite good gravel route with some very technical bits, one area I had to push the bike up as even my 40c tires did nothing grip wise.

Forests, roads etc completely dead. Loved it.

Click to expand...

Looks tricky terrain that!

Looks like @grudas bought this after his mrs stole his other bike
5eRDNah.png
 
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While waiting for a mate for the start of our mid week group ride yesterday, a older man cyled past the junction with a whistle in his mouth (presumably seeing the car creeping out across his path). It got me wondering if that is effective? My gut feeling is, unless it is a car horn sound it would be ignored. What do you think?


Martynt74 said:
Looks tricky terrain that!
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Where pedalo's shine!
 
AndyCr15 said:
I've been meaning to do this for some time, but this morning I set my alarm for 5:35am (so, technically before the sun was even up) and got out on my bike by 6am. Now, I often leave for work around 6:20am and I'm always surprised how many other cars are about, but then that's the M25 mainly so I couldn't believe how quiet and peaceful it was this morning.
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Glorious! I've a clubmate swears about being out early for a pre-work ride. Got several Zwift friends who do it too - either out for the sunrise or there's several Zwift group training rides at 6am. I've always thought I would when the dog wakes us up early... But that seems to be 3-4am and I go back to sleep & not the 5-5.30am I'd need to get up! Also starting work at 8 (ish - I'm never there there for it) means I'd need to be done by 6:45 - as my work alarm goes off then and barely have any spare time in the mornings... :cry:

@SoliD - any CX yet? Just started here, spotted some good pics + vids on clubmates activity you'll enjoy :)

bastic said:
new chain... do you remove links before installing ?
how do you check how many you need to remove or is it a specific number..
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Think the others pretty much covered this and Andy advised to do what I do... Don't fall down the 'oh I'll just count the links' nonsense as you'll drive yourself mad. Just hook the old over something (usually over something else hanging up in the garage, even a pedal of the bike on the shelf) then put the new one up alongside. Directly measure link to link. You can even lay it on the floor if it's quite clean (chain so you don't end up with oil on the floor, floor so you don't end up with dust/dirt on your new chain).

If you're changing components (chainrings/cassette) then best to use a tool like Steve said to calculate links, but you can also do it by eye. If you do, always go one longer than you think! Much safer to need to remove 1 more, than ending up with 2 joins on your chain like Andy did... Not that it really should cause much issue - just have to be aware of them as it gets older, QL/ML are not as strong as real chain links, especially if reusing them... ;)

AndyCr15 said:
Before. I compare old chain to new chain... although I then cut at the wrong point and have two sets of quick links holding my chain together now.
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Been there done that. Also twisted a chain and had to take a link out, replaced it with a QL - although did find that chain quite rough afterwards, probably other bits twisted too and should have removed a section of chain rather than just 1 link.

Anyone else have random 3-4 links of chain and just throw them into a pot? Always trimming a 118L chain down the same length. I probably have enough bits for several complete chains! Pointless keeping more than 1-2 of them really - for the scenario above. Having lots of QL's is more valuable - tend to reuse mine 2-3 times so have a nice pile of those too!

grudas said:
n+1 you know the rules ;)
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Plenty on there you can upgrade too! Not to mention all the bits you could 3d print... Can you print carbon?! :D
 
Roady said:
Anyone else have random 3-4 links of chain and just throw them into a pot? Always trimming a 118L chain down the same length. I probably have enough bits for several complete chains! Pointless keeping more than 1-2 of them really - for the scenario above. Having lots of QL's is more valuable - tend to reuse mine 2-3 times so have a nice pile of those too!
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Make some art
fmA31Uf.jpeg


theres a lot of 2d bikes that look like logo made from brake discs+chainlinks on google images too
3cxA4X4.png
 
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Roady said:
Anyone else have random 3-4 links of chain and just throw them into a pot? Always trimming a 118L chain down the same length. I probably have enough bits for several complete chains! Pointless keeping more than 1-2 of them really - for the scenario above. Having lots of QL's is more valuable - tend to reuse mine 2-3 times so have a nice pile of those too!
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I had a clear out not too long ago. Not only a load of short chain links from new chains but old cassettes and entire chains I'd replaced. Why did I keep them?

I also binned a big pile of punctured inner tubes which I intended to fix at some point but hadn't touched having been tubeless for years now.
 
Unsure if it was the heat or an accumulation of fatigue and excess booze from moving house but never felt as ill mid ride as today.

Even a small -3% 10km stretch felt like effort right at the start (yes that says minus 3!)

Had plenty food and even got an ice cream and Aquarius around 40km in but then sacked off the rest and went home. Albeit that was an effort as it was up the same 3% hill at the start which turns into a 1.5km 6% hill to the house.
 
Haha, I had an old Ikea bag (the full size blue ones) full of chains & cassettes. Always thought it being steel would sell it to the local rag+bone man who does the rounds (that'll be my farmer roots showing) but reality is he wasn't interested. Gave me a couple of quid for a pile of car brake disks as there's money in refibishing them but me squirreling away iron and steel seemingly thinking to sell it by weight wasn't worth doing. Would need a lot of it and a licence to sell directly to a scrap yard.

Inner tubes, yeah every couple of years I bin the 'worst looking' and keep 5-6 of those worth repairing. Sometimes even repair them! But the other half is the only one on tubes and probably gets through no more than 1-2 a year!
 
Help help help

Right so my 2016 Madone is starting to show its age (no it's not I just want a new toy) and the 404 rim wheels have done some serious miles..

Now I'm getting the itch I'm torn between a new Madone or Canyon.. Bare in mind I'm the idiot that loves white bar tape and saddle :cry:

The two I'm kind of looking at are -

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Trek/Madone-SLR-7-Ultegra-Di2-Gen-8-Road-Bike/1313J

https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/road-b.../4036.html?dwvar_4036_pv_rahmenfarbe=R107_P05

I'm not that bothered about power meters, Ill be putting Q rings on whatever I get next so I'll just stick one on then.

I'll probably end up getting some 404's and sell the wheels that come with ever I go for if I'm honest. I know Canyon do aeroads with Zipp but I think that's only with Sram group sets, I'd much rather stay Shimano.

I also have Maglia Roso round the corner from me which is a Trek outlet which is great for customer service, I've dealt with Trek customer service before and they were fanstastic.

I'm heavily leaning towards the Madone but the price of the Canyon makes me curious, I'd like to hear from owners regarding bike fit due to how they are made for out of the box type set up, I'd also like to know what their customer service is like please.

And I would love to hear from anyone that has made the move to or from a Madone/Aeroad..

I thought about doing this last year but I spent a week going through pro's and cons to the point I stressed myself out so much and just gave up :cry:
 
Any ideas what stops Apple Watch recording the route on a workout?

It’s got the speed, elevation etc and all that for the ride but the map is just a single spot where I started.

Happened yesterday too, but now that I look back the map for yesterday has magically appeared?

Not really too important but it’s nice to keep track.

210km or so this week, so I’ve not slacked off yet
 
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