Big Bike Thread

[Jadds]

What kind of riding will you be doing? Mavic rims are good, the numbers I *think* correlate to the quality of the rim, so for eg the EX721 is better than the EX325. And the 8 series are tubeless if you're thinking of going down that route.

And the last two numbers define the width of the rim.

 

[Burned_Alive]

You're probably going to need a second cassette and chain as well, so take that into account.

 

[ChrissyT88]

And a set of brake discs as well, and probably a set of QR skewers too, hence the restrained budget!

The majority of my riding will be cross country i guess, mostly around the South Downs, the odd weekend in the Mendips and perhaps some routes at trail centres now and then - certainly nothing too extreme. A fairly strong, reliable set is what i'm after really. I doubt the specialized wheels currently on the bike are particularly light either, so ultra lightweight wheels are a little unnecessary.

 

[Burned_Alive]

I'd go with XT 6-Bolt hubs and Mavic XC717 or XM719 rims (Probably XC717 for your use, unless you're quite heavy), custom builds from merlin or crc. Might be able to get them slightly cheaper at chainreaction as they have a wheel building machine rather than hand made at merlin. Had wheels from both with no problems.

 

[Reality|Bites]

What do you guys think of this jacket?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=36214

or

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=41950

 

[Burned_Alive]

Expensive, very expensive. Particularly the Raceface jacket, where you're paying for the design not the performance. My jacket was £53 and its 4 times more waterproof and 5 times more breathable than that raceface one.

If you've got that much money to burn, I'd probably be looking at the gore bike wear range.

 

[Reality|Bites]

Nope I don't have money to burn

I just want a jacket for cycling in the rain but doesn't make me look/feel like a complete lemon.

 

[Burned_Alive]

I have the Altura Crosslite:
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/clothing/jackets/product/crosslite-jacket-9140

£59.99 at Evans at the minute, plus you can get quidco and there may be some voucher codes (this is how i got it for £53)
http://www.evanscycles.com/products...oogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle

I would also strongly suggest trying before you buy, the sizes vary wildly from manufacturer to manufacturer.

 

[6thElement]

I've a Gore Bike Wear jacket, goretex paclite and it does the job

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

For 95% of the time I find Gore Windstopper to be waterproof enough without resorting to Pac-lite or full Gore-tex. I just got a brand new windstopper jacket for £60 delivered. The advantage being it's much more breathable than full gore-tex or event.

 

[Burned_Alive]

Only problem I would expect with something like a windstopper is that they might not be very durable if you come off the bike or scuff against something, but you might know different as you have one.

 

[weescott]

Possibly because I pointed out it was 'where I came from' before you told me I was wrong and pointed me at a dictionary.

As for tyres, I guess that depends on the commute. In Surrey and London we only get snow and ice covered roads maybe once every few years, the rest of the time it's tarmac.

If you are riding on proper snow and solid sheet ice then yes I'd want studs; but if a slick won't grip on that then neither will a knobly tyre. On compactable snow then a knobly is probably better, but then I could say that you weren't cycling on the road at that point!

hmm, sounds like we have had quite different experiences of winter riding.

Winter riding is best with big tyres, low PSI and wide rims. Not road bike traits.

Pics from a few years ago:

 

[touch]

Winter riding is best with big tyres, low PSI and wide rims. Not road bike traits.

Not always.
Sometimes skinny tyres can cut into the snow more and get into more grippy stuff underneath where fat tyres act more like snow shoes floating on top and losing grip. Depends on how deep the snow is and what is underneath tho.

Think of rally cars in the snow, they always run on really skinny tyres to cut down through the snow.

tbh, just get a snowboard

 

[Reality|Bites]

or just fit stabilisers to the back wheel

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

Only problem I would expect with something like a windstopper is that they might not be very durable if you come off the bike or scuff against something, but you might know different as you have one.

If you come off at any pace your are going to damage any waterproof layer. I've got a running Puma Windstopper jacket, a Windstopper running shirt, Windstopper running tights, Windstopper cycling tights, Windstopper Cycling Jacket, two Windstopper Gillets, a Pac-Lite Jacket and two Gore-Tex jackets. I use the gore-tex and pac-lite for snow sports and fishing in monsoon weather, for a couple of hours in the rain (especially when exercising) windstopper is good and a hell of a lot more breathable.

Weescott, if that's your commute it looks a lot of fun and I'll gladly swap you.

 

[weescott]

Those particular photo's are not of my commute but I have commuted in similar /worse conditions quite a few times.

 

[Lowe]

When we had the snow recently I was stlll commuting and it wasn't that bad with MTB tyres at first. However, once the snow had been packed down a bit, it soon became seriously slippy and downright dangerous. I found myself having to stay in a section of road about a foot out from the kerb where the cars hadn't driven. This was fine until I came across a parked car...

I've got SPDs now as well, don't fancy that much lol!

 

[Reality|Bites]

Anyone watch Watchdog last night, They were testing out those cheap bikes for under £100, yes they do suck


missed it? check it out on iPlayer.

 

[xander_uk2]

Just got my Marin Alpine Trail back from the LBS after a lovely crash last week at Dalby trying some of the new routes that have opened.

Ripped off the gear hanger and buckled the back wheel, it was a long walk back to the van.
Also treated myself to some DMR V8 pedals.

Ho.....leeeeee....****

That is one mean looking machine. VERY nice!

 

[SDK^]

hmm, sounds like we have had quite different experiences of winter riding.

The worst riding conditions i've experience was at Penmachno (Wales) last December. It was very annoying - I was looking forward to the Christmas ride for weeks, it was December 29th and after driving for 3 hours to Betws y Coed we were faced with temperatures of -5c and trail conditions like this:

We rode the trail but it was so sketchy it wasn't very enjoyable so we cancelled the Marin Trail which we had planned after lunch.