Road Cycling Essentials

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Above pic reminds me. I have a 15% off Rapha code for anything on the store. I think it expires tomorrow if anyone wan'ts it?
 
ShiWarrior said:
Oooo

I wonder what this could be!!

;)

TeamSky_zpsbe3517d8.jpg
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Some overpriced Rapha gear? You better be fast if that a team jersey!
 
Its strange, this seems to be the only country in the world where you get dissed for wearing a local/national teams kit

do you get mocked for wearing football kits in your local town? no one ont continent for sure would ever consider someone wearing a team kit 'a fake'
 
Got a couple KOM's I've been working towards tonight, excellent. :)

http://app.strava.com/activities/69986900

Anyone recommend a cheapish, fitted, lightweight jersey? I've got a load of cycling ones at the moment but they're a bit baggy and don't look quite right/slow me down by precious milliseconds!

Also, my bike is an ali framed, sora component cheapish (£400) bike with a carbon fork. Next year I'm thinking about getting a new bike, ideally a full carbon 105 thing as lightweight as possible. This would obviously be awesome, but I'm unsure of whether or not to go for one, for example on those climbs I've just done, would I see any actual improvement?

I definitely want a new bike, but I just don't know if I actually need one. My commitment to biking isn't the issue, it would get the use, but is it just me being all 'oooh shiney' or would I actually see some good benefits? Ideally I'd get the same omfgwoooooow feeling I got when I went from my crappy free full sus mtb thing to my current one.

(tl;dr - Talk me into getting a new bike).
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. In the end I got a Beto tripod from my LBS (which I have newly discovered!) as that was what I could easily get and it was well thought of at Bikeradar. A snip at £20.

Just got to get slicker at removing the valve head now - whilst I like the fact that it only opens the valve as you press the lever to lock it, I'm still not managing to cleaning detach the head with a half second/second of leakage. Just overfilling by 5psi at the moment until I get better at it.


On another note, are most bike chains created equal? Nipped to the supermarket on my bike the other day and discovered just how awkward the rigid D-clamps are to securely lock up a bike with QR wheels. Thinking that a chain is probably my best bet, just not sure what to go for (without just basing my buying knowledge on this forum and Bikeradar combined, which is my usual approach!).

Absolutely loving cycling though, not sure I'll ever be truly passionate about it, but I can see this becoming a long standing hobby :). Already considering some shoes/pedals as I'm getting annoyed with foot movement.
 
godinman said:
(tl;dr - Talk me into getting a new bike).
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The benefit you'd get caused by reducing the weight is minimal, it's something dumb like 3s/kilo up Alpe d'Huez. That may be an exaggeration but it's not a lot.

You may see a difference in a stiffer frame with less compliance in the right places meaning that more power goes into the wheels.

You will see a difference from a better fitting bike.

If your bike fits well then get new wheels.

Edit; not sure why or how the thumb down appeared.
 
Went out for an hour or so at lunchtime really just to strech the legs. Did a route that took in 10 Strava segments that ive not ridden recently.

Came back with 10 PBs!

I was quite suprised by the amount of improvement which was around 15-20% on all the segments. I know from the regular running I do that I aint any fitter and can only think of two changes I made:

1) Re-raised the saddle having lowered it due to Achillies tendon damage
2) First time I've ridden these segments using clipless pedals rather than flats

Could these changes alone account for the boost in performance?
 
Hurrah, managed to fix my bike computer with superglue without supergluing myself to my bike computer. Went round to my neighbour's shed to put it on the bike and it turned out he was fixing his bike as well so we had a beer while we sorted things out. Good times.
 
Decided that in summer I'd need to buy this essential bit of kit: (lol)

https://www.fasttech.com/products/1285800

SolarStorm X2 Bike Light

Also, after getting another Android phone, decided to start using Strava again for motivation to do better.

saddler said:
Went out for an hour or so at lunchtime really just to strech the legs. Did a route that took in 10 Strava segments that ive not ridden recently.

Came back with 10 PBs!

I was quite suprised by the amount of improvement which was around 15-20% on all the segments. I know from the regular running I do that I aint any fitter and can only think of two changes I made:

1) Re-raised the saddle having lowered it due to Achillies tendon damage
2) First time I've ridden these segments using clipless pedals rather than flats

Could these changes alone account for the boost in performance?
Click to expand...

Maybe you've been taking it easy due to the tendon damage, and just decided to go for it? Clipless pedals will stop you getting so tired... so it would definitely have a positive impact, but 20% is pretty big.
 
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