Road Cycling Essentials

Draeger · 28 Jul 2013 at 23:45

Vonhelmet said:
I see Asprilla fighting the good fight in GD... I'd weigh in if I weren't banned from there for my own good

I haven't even given the thread concerned the courtesy of reading the first post. It's pointless, the mindless and uneducated buffoons (read=OcUK cyclist haters) collectively share only a few brain cells and I refuse to waste time posting in response to them. :cool:

Gribs · 28 Jul 2013 at 23:50

touch said:
The people that you ride with can make it fun as well. A group of people all around the same ability attacking each other up a hill is great fun.

I think it's riding with friends that increases the fun factor. Most of my road stuff is done solo mainly for fitness but riding back from mtb'ing with mates yesterday was probably the most fun I've had on the road. Properly chain ganging taking turns on the front plus bursting past in the last km on a fs and 2.4 tyres was entertaining, even though I'd ridden it much quicker in the past on my road bike.

Gribs · 29 Jul 2013 at 00:07

Vonhelmet said:
Location: Skipton.

Surely there's some decent roads in Yorkshire!

We seem to do OK round our way, round Bolton way, though there's a lot of places now where the road surface leaves a lot to be desired.

There's plenty of ok riding but to me roads all feel fairly similar, unless they're very steep and just an experience (I dragged myself up this last weekend - http://app.strava.com/segments/1108413). I've ridden up Winter Hill a couple of times to enjoy the offroad descents but can't imagine why you'd ride up it just to ride back down that crappy road.

Strava is my main catalyst for local road riding as it lets me try and beat (or get close to) a mate of mates times. I'm tempted to subscribe for the weight based leaderboards but I suspect It'd demotivate me.

Vonhelmet · 29 Jul 2013 at 00:18

Gribs said:
I've ridden up Winter Hill a couple of times to enjoy the offroad descents but can't imagine why you'd ride up it just to ride back down that crappy road.

I actually went up Winter Hill the other day. It's not great, I'll admit. There's loads of good roads and hills around there if you settle for not getting all the way to the top of the hill, though.

Calpol · 29 Jul 2013 at 00:23

Draeger said:
Cool, got a couple of questions if that's ok?.

How do they lock to the roof bars?.

I've got aero roof bars with a 'T-Track' type fastening system on them. How do the Barracudas fit to this?. I've looked on the Mont Blanc website and the downloadable .PDF instruction file shows square shaped/ended bolts which slot into the tracks on the aero bars. Do these come with the Barracudas?. Or do you need to purchase these separately?.

Ta.

The "T" bolts come with the carrier. I have the aero bars too. You just screwthe T bolt into a barrel nut slide into place and tighten up before locking. Its pretty easy and locks down very securely.

grudas · 29 Jul 2013 at 02:04

all those hills to climb.. finally managed to pop out of london for a bit.. went the to enfield and just out of london.. and jeez was it hilly compared to my usual routes

literally up and down all the time.. my motoactv seems to freak out outside london too :| speeds for e.g. go from 15 to 0.1 mph and stay there for a couple of 100 feet and then quickly jump up to 15 again lol.. which put me to the 342/346 on strava lol and i was ahead of my little brother who got to 189/346! boo

next time we're going further.. hopefully 30-40 miles if weather allows

this time we left way to late and got caught in rain on the way back.

oh and check out my lycra boys

Vonhelmet · 29 Jul 2013 at 07:51

Seriously, if you're too embarrassed to buy it yourself, tell us your size and someone can go into Decathlon for you.

Thomas. PLease. · 29 Jul 2013 at 08:01

grudas said:
http://upload.vstanced.com/images/2013/07/29/1077047102017112908476971241029159o.jpg[mg][/QUOTE]

Chafe city. Is it seriously not uncomfortable, and horribly sweaty riding in that get up?

Calpol · 29 Jul 2013 at 08:58

rogan said:
Fm066sl all the way

Calpol said:
I am also thinking of doing this I need an alternative to my Wilier and the FM066 SL looks like my favourite too. Loads of info on http://www.velobuild.com/ and there are a couple of big stickies on http://forums.roadbikereview.com/bikes-frames-forks/

Preferred/trusted vendors seem to be Hongfu, Dengfu and Honor Bike. The FM066 SL looks a pretty light frame and as I can't really affford a Cervelo R3/R5 it might be my best bet.

Thomas. PLease. said:
what does a fm066sl cost? cant seem to find any prices?

Got a reply back from Honor Bike, pretty speedy.

FM066 SL, 56cm, BSA/BB30: $580 for Frame +fork + seat post (group buy)
-Alloy Neco headset: $15
- Extra hanger: $2/pcs
- Seat post clamp: $2
- Delivery by EMS to UK: $85 (Shipping is $140 by Fedex)
- Matte black paint is $40. UD matte finish is free.
- 4% Paypal fee:

Other bike parts we offer:
-Carbon stem: $44
-Carbon handlebar: $60
-Carbon bottle cage: $10/pcs
-Carbon saddle: $48
-Carbon spacer: $5 per set (5,10,15,20mm)

Some crude arithmetic suggests that its about £500 so roughly the same as the excellent value Scott CR1 frames. I expect that this frame is a fair bit lighter than the CR1 and I prefer the geometry. They can supply as mechanical or Di2.

I am going to give it some serious thought. Will post back when the other vendor replies.

Oh and I have the geometry charts if anyone wants to have a look.

Draeger · 29 Jul 2013 at 10:09

Calpol said:
The "T" bolts come with the carrier. I have the aero bars too. You just screwthe T bolt into a barrel nut slide into place and tighten up before locking. Its pretty easy and locks down very securely.

Cool, ta. I had read online that they had a clever system built into them to lock onto the roof bars themselves which was sort of built into the moving lockable arms so that even when no bikes were fitted on the racks they can be locked to the aero bars on the car anyway?.

Too Tall · 29 Jul 2013 at 10:41

My new toy, built it last week

kiteloopy · 29 Jul 2013 at 10:49

Loving the look

Calpol · 29 Jul 2013 at 10:50

Draeger said:
Cool, ta. I had read online that they had a clever system built into them to lock onto the roof bars themselves which was sort of built into the moving lockable arms so that even when no bikes were fitted on the racks they can be locked to the aero bars on the car anyway?.

Mine are on the Mrs car all the time, bikes or no bikes.

The toggle clamp tightens the t bolt in the track. Open.

Closed

Too Tall · 29 Jul 2013 at 10:50

Cheers, i'm debating whether to pull off the planet-x rim stickers! Im not keen on the design of the xxxxxxxxx bit.

Tobeornottobe · 29 Jul 2013 at 10:53

I've just entered the Cycling News Malvern Mad-Hatter sportif 104 mile ride which is on 1st Sept. It will be my first century ride since 1979, when I went from Worcester to Bangor (and back the next day) to watch the London-Holyhead road race cross the Menai.

Any one else doing this ride? I did the 56 mile Dartmoor Demon in May which was possibly tougher due to the extreme hills. Plenty of food to stop bonking will be required for the longer distance I think.

Draeger · 29 Jul 2013 at 10:57

Calpol said:
Mine are on the Mrs car all the time, bikes or no bikes.

The toggle clamp tightens the t bolt in the track.

Thanks for the pics, much appreciated. So does that toggle effectively 'lock' the Barracudas to the aero bars then?. What's to stop someone coming along and flipping the toggle then legging it with the Barracuda?. :cool:

Apologies for the daft questions.

topgun06 · 29 Jul 2013 at 11:28

Too Tall said:
Cheers, i'm debating whether to pull off the planet-x rim stickers! Im not keen on the design of the xxxxxxxxx bit.

Do it! It doesn't look the best.

Too Tall · 29 Jul 2013 at 11:36

topgun06 said:
Do it! It doesn't look the best.

Agreed. In progress.

topgun06 · 29 Jul 2013 at 12:12

New pictures required once it is done!

Calpol · 29 Jul 2013 at 12:20

Draeger said:
Thanks for the pics, much appreciated. So does that toggle effectively 'lock' the Barracudas to the aero bars then?. What's to stop someone coming along and flipping the toggle then legging it with the Barracuda?.

Apologies for the daft questions.

The ones on the front have a lock