Road Cycling Essentials

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Makhaira said:
Couple of pump related questions here...

1) Can someone please recommend a cheap (but not rubbish) floor pump? I'm getting tired of pumping up tyres with my mini Topeak!! I tried a screw on Presta adaptor to use with my 12v car compressor, and it was rubbish, the o-ring kept popping out and then got caught in the threads and snapped.

2) How often would you expect to have to top up tyres? Every couple of rides I have to top mine up on both bikes, often with a 10psi or so drop (similar temperatures, bike has been stood idle so tyres are cold). I can't believe I have slow leaks on 4 tyres on two bikes, so I'm guessing this is normal for bikes? (Yes, I'm that noob!).
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Used joe blow pumps in Halfords for years and they lasted well.

Currently use mostly Blackburn in the shop and I didn't really like the more expensive SKS 'classic' looking one we had or that park tool one we had for a bit. For occasional use any decent branded one will do, apparently the lidl/aldi ones don't last too long.


Pressures do drop over a couple or days and even over a few days my road bike drops at least 10psi so nothing to worry about.
 
Makhaira said:
Couple of pump related questions here...

1) Can someone please recommend a cheap (but not rubbish) floor pump? I'm getting tired of pumping up tyres with my mini Topeak!! I tried a screw on Presta adaptor to use with my 12v car compressor, and it was rubbish, the o-ring kept popping out and then got caught in the threads and snapped.

2) How often would you expect to have to top up tyres? Every couple of rides I have to top mine up on both bikes, often with a 10psi or so drop (similar temperatures, bike has been stood idle so tyres are cold). I can't believe I have slow leaks on 4 tyres on two bikes, so I'm guessing this is normal for bikes? (Yes, I'm that noob!).
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I've been using a Blackburn Airtower 2 for months now and it's great. You can find it for about £25 on ebay on a good day. It's cheaper than the standard recommendation - the Topeak Joe Blow - but so far it doesn't seem any the worse for it.

Here you go, £24.51 from some random site.

In terms of topping up tyres, that doesn't sound unreasonable. I top mine up at least once a week. Some tubes are worse for it, and obviously with age they will leak more.
 
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Thanks guys. Halfords have the Airtower 1,SKS Air X-Press and Airace infinity for the 20quid mark. Oh, and their own brand one too. They all seem to have good reviews, so worth a gamble? Or shall I stick to the suggestions above to be safe?
 
Makhaira said:
Thanks guys. Halfords have the Airtower 1,SKS Air X-Press and Airace infinity for the 20quid mark. Oh, and their own brand one too. They all seem to have good reviews, so worth a gamble? Or shall I stick to the suggestions above to be safe?
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The Airtower 1 for £20 at Halfords is a good buy. The Airtower 2 will cope with higher pressures, but I don't know of anyone running tyres above 120psi anyway, so it's probably not worth worrying about.
 
One More Solo said:
It would be really nice if my bike just worked for a few weeks. Had it on the repair stand far too often recently, although I admit I'm overly sensitive to drivetrain noise!
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There are 8 'bikes' in my garage at the moment.

One has no handle bars or drivertrain
One has no chain and the front mech needs lowering
One has no rear mech
One has no wheels
One has no groupset at all
One has a puncture

The other two are fine. For the moment.

Hopefully I'll fit the chain sort the front mech and fit the rear mech tomorrow. I might even fix the puncture which will mean putting new rim tape on.

I'll probably manage none of those things.
 
Kimi said:
Similar problem on my Ultegra, i slackened all the cables and reset set the gears from scratch in the end. works ok now
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Also had the same problem on my 105.

I yesterday fitted a new cassette, chain and rear derailleur and decided to replace my front derailleur shifter cable at the same time as it had a few strands coming away on the cable.

The front derailleur was absolutely dialled despite the fraying cable. Once I replaced it, it was still the same so didn't need to do any adjustments and I tested all shifting on the workstand.

I went out today and it was all good with shifting. All of a sudden after about 30 miles or so, it dropped the chain in a front derailleur shift. It then wouldn't go into the small chainring. I had to adjust cable tension barrel adjuster and makes some changes on the limit screws.

My only assumption as to why this happened is perhaps to do with a slight bit of cable stretching or bedding in of it. Which I presume is why bike shops always offer the ability for a cable check type service not long after buying a bike.
 
Makhaira said:
Couple of pump related questions here...

1) Can someone please recommend a cheap (but not rubbish) floor pump? I'm getting tired of pumping up tyres with my mini Topeak!! I tried a screw on Presta adaptor to use with my 12v car compressor, and it was rubbish, the o-ring kept popping out and then got caught in the threads and snapped.

2) How often would you expect to have to top up tyres? Every couple of rides I have to top mine up on both bikes, often with a 10psi or so drop (similar temperatures, bike has been stood idle so tyres are cold). I can't believe I have slow leaks on 4 tyres on two bikes, so I'm guessing this is normal for bikes? (Yes, I'm that noob!).
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Joe Blow are great. I reinflate my tyres once a week, and thats on ~200 miles/week. Guess it will depend on your load/tubes/tyres.

As for on the road, I'd recommend getting one with a co2 inflater attachment because you can't get any where near the required PSI - doesn't matter if you puncture close to home I suppose.
 
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I stepped on the scales last night. I thought I'd lost a bit of weight, but I'm actually up a few kilos at 70kg (5'10" / 178cm). Probably explains why my trousers are so tight on the legs and I couldn't squeeze my fat ass in my swimming shorts :p
 
I think you'll use it more if you enjoy it and for £50 it's unlikely to be great. I bought a Tacx Satori and used it a fair bit over winter but even then I'm still thinking about upgrading to a fluid trainer for this winter as apparently they have better road feel. I imagine a cheap trainer is going to be quite flexy as well so potentially not great for out of the saddle stuff or harder efforts.
 
daveski said:
Where was this? I've been looking on ebay and they all seem to be going for 3/4 times that at the moment.
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I sold it on Gumtree and was overwhelmed by the number of emails I received. Probably due to the low price.

Perhaps I did let it go a little cheaply, but I wanted a quick sale. It was 18 months old with some slight cosmetic damage, but in good working order.

My Cinelli has been shipped.:cool:

The Pearson single-speed will now be my day to day workhorse... I'm considering full guards but I might just continue using just an ass-saver.
 
One More Solo said:
I think you'll use it more if you enjoy it and for £50 it's unlikely to be great. I bought a Tacx Satori and used it a fair bit over winter but even then I'm still thinking about upgrading to a fluid trainer for this winter as apparently they have better road feel. I imagine a cheap trainer is going to be quite flexy as well so potentially not great for out of the saddle stuff or harder efforts.
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That's my problem - I am not sure if I'll enjoy it as I've never tried it. I enjoy riding out as the sights, sounds and wind is awesome. Riding statically might not suit me, thus this interest me.

Anyone have tried something similar vs higher budget turbo? What about rollers? Is that a better option as both wheels will be running rather than just wearing out the rear...
 
touch said:
You wont enjoy it.
Nobody enjoys it.
It's a necessary evil.
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Even necessary evils can be made more pleasant if your trainer isn't a POS. :p

Now is still probably a good time to get a second hand trainer. Buy it now while the weather is good and if you don't get on with it sell it in winter when everybody wants one.
 
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