Road Cycling Essentials

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Its all a matter of getting used to them. You will have wobbles and may even fall off. But eventually you will get the hang of them.

You will not be able to use cycle shoes in the gym. Well, you could... but they would simply be unsuitable.
 
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Part of the benefit of clipless is that the shoes are designed to be quite stiff to help get the power down, which makes the shoes not much use for anything but cycling.

If you want to be able to walk in them you can get SPD (MTB type) style where the cleat is recessed, the SPD-SL more designed for road use has the cleat protruding so not designed for walking any further than into a cafe.
 
tedmaul said:
Anyone know much about Wiggle's Verenti bike range?

This seems too good to be true:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/verenti-sense-dura-ace-2013/

Been browsing a few different things as i've started thinking about upgrading from the Defy 2. This is around the top end of my budget but seems an amazing spec for the money.
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This looks like much better value if you can stretch:
http://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/bi...cott-addict-r15-compact-road-bike-2011-p81551

That or a Canyon Ultimate CF:
http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/series/ultimate-cf-sl.html

Which are around £20 cheaper than last week and could drop a bit more thanks to Putin backing Syria and strengthening the £ to the € :)
 
I see why you guys have been ordering your wet weather/winter gear lol...


30 mph gusts all day here and constant rain! :eek:

Maybe yesterday was the last day of decent weather
 
In what scenario?

There's two separate considerations there 10sp vs 11sp and compact vs standard.

What kind of rider are you and what sort of terrain do you train on?

My R5 runs 11sp compact 11-28. It can climb up anything and I haven't been able to spin it out on a descent.

My Ti runs 10sp standard 11-28. There aren't any hills I haven't been able to get up on the standard but on a long ride w/ a lot of climbing even slight changes in gradient begin to feel like a mountain.

After riding both I struggle to see many scenarios unless all you do is race, and ride on flats or 'bragging rights at the café' where a standard is ever a better option to a compact?

... waits for touch :p
 
Stoke footballer hit and run on a cyclist! (Allegedly) - see the convo under this:

https://twitter.com/x/status/375982581868548096

On the compact vs standard argument, what % of time time will you ever spin out a 50-11 compact? I never need 53t on the front, I'm no superman :p

If you are a strong rider then that's a bit different but for the average cyclist I definitely think a compact is the way forward as it gives you so much more help on the hills.
 
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Hello rain :) cycled in to work in bibshorts and short top. I was happy to see the rain on at 5pm.

I prefer it when it's dry as I get quite cautious on corners in the wet.

I only recently swapped to a 52/39 and I prefer it to the compact I had before. The 39 is a lot more usable day to day use but obviously is harder on steep climbs.

To do the same speed as I did on the compact means I'm up two or three gears at the back which means if the terrain allows you can put the gutty down and get on with it.
 
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Vonhelmet said:
As I understand it, the number of teeth on your big ring is directly proportional to the size of your wang.

Poor mountain bike riders...
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What happens if you run 52/39/30 up front?

Speaking of mountain bikers, I saw with some disbelief that there are companies selling 42T sprockets;

we92.jpg


I assume it's for climbing walls.
 
uniQ said:
In what scenario?

There's two separate considerations there 10sp vs 11sp and compact vs standard.

What kind of rider are you and what sort of terrain do you train on?

My R5 runs 11sp compact 11-28. It can climb up anything and I haven't been able to spin it out on a descent.

My Ti runs 10sp standard 11-28. There aren't any hills I haven't been able to get up on the standard but on a long ride w/ a lot of climbing even slight changes in gradient begin to feel like a mountain.

After riding both I struggle to see many scenarios unless all you do is race, and ride on flats or 'bragging rights at the café' where a standard is ever a better option to a compact?

... waits for touch :p
Click to expand...

I see what you're saying, I find a sustained >10% gradient makes things tricky even on a 34-25, I guess my point was that an 11-25 10spd comp vs 11-28 11spd double is basically the same top gear but better range and so on?
 
While we are talking about gearing...

What about 52/36 and 11-23 11 speed.... or a 12-25....

Best of both worlds then, with the added bonus of almost no gaps between gears.
 
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Did my first 10 mile time trial on a TT bike (2nd TT I've ever done as i did boxing day last year on my road bike for fun) on Tuesday. Was a bit disappointed - 27:53. Was hoping to be closer to 25mins.

2 issues -
1. thought my elbow injury would be better suited to it. It was perfectly - it put all the strain on my other shoulder! Had to come out of the TT position 3 or 4 times because of the pain!
2.TT seats hurt!! Lol. Ouch! How can people do 4hr TTs on them is beyond me! All in all i have spent about 3hrs total time setting bike up for my arm. Raising TT bars up, widening them and turning the gear shift 45 degrees as they're on S bars.

Just need more time on the bike. :)

Edit - did it all without a working speedo too! So just off 'feel'. :) I push myself harder when I've got something I need to achieve and can see how I'm getting on. :)
 
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