Road Cycling Essentials

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Jonny69 said:
How fast do you guys ride? I do 6K each direction and I'm pretty hot and sweaty at the end of it and get out of breath on the way. I was kind of hoping that after months of doing this I'd not be breaking a sweat any more...

I am cycling the route faster than when I started and I can hammer up the hills easier though. Oh and I can do it every day now which I couldn't do at first.
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I average 16-18mph in town and 19-23mph out of town.

You don't stop sweating because you cycle harder/faster/stronger ;).

My god the rain on the way home last night was torrential. I had an inch of water in my cycling shoes after ~5 minutes, through my usually waterproof overshoes. My €8 top from France however kept my upper half completely dry, and it breathes. Amazing.
 
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Dup said:
I'm also interested in your bike build Jonny. I would love to get some ebay bits and build a nice spare bike so my other half or family can use it. Has it been much effort? Do most components old/new fit? I'd probably use an old frame but with newer second hand components if I could. Plus I'd have loads of fun giving it a funky paint scheme.
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It's really easy if you start with a complete bike. If you buy it out of bits then it gets expensive. Everything on older bikes can be dismantled, adjusted and reconditioned, so there's little to buy other than dress-up parts if your bike is more or less complete.

You can get all the old parts on eBay either new or second hand and a lot of new stuff is close enough that it can be converted to fit old. There are a million different seat post, stem and handlebar diameters, so remember to measure everything before you buy. Avoiding the big names like Campagnolo will keep your budget down. I tend to wait for the right bits to come up on eBay and swap them onto the bike as I go. I'm just waiting for a saddle to turn up to complete my Viscount now.

platypus said:
My god the rain on the way home last night was torrential. I had an inch of water in my cycling shoes after ~5 minutes, through my usually waterproof overshoes. My €8 top from France however kept my upper half completely dry, and it breathes. Amazing.
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Yep, I'm glad I didn't go in yesterday. I'd have got soaked :D
 
my commute is 7km. is take me around 16 mins. my journey looks something like this /```````\ with a climb at the start and a descent at the end the flat bit is about 5k. I average around 30kph and usually hit about 60kph on the downhill.
 
Jonny69 said:
It's really easy if you start with a complete bike. If you buy it out of bits then it gets expensive. Everything on older bikes can be dismantled, adjusted and reconditioned, so there's little to buy other than dress-up parts if your bike is more or less complete.

You can get all the old parts on eBay either new or second hand and a lot of new stuff is close enough that it can be converted to fit old. There are a million different seat post, stem and handlebar diameters, so remember to measure everything before you buy. Avoiding the big names like Campagnolo will keep your budget down. I tend to wait for the right bits to come up on eBay and swap them onto the bike as I go. I'm just waiting for a saddle to turn up to complete my Viscount now.


Yep, I'm glad I didn't go in yesterday. I'd have got soaked :D
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Campag what?:o
dsc00975h.jpg


To be built onto the Gt
dsc00976q.jpg
 
I have the crap plastic ones, only had them a few months but they are showing signs of wear already. Once they have died I will replace them with some nice metal ones.
 
Steel SL cleats? I didn't know they did that. My SPDs are metal which is why I used them for commuting rather than my Keos.

Speaking of commuting, I've just put in an order for this as my winter commuter:

civia-bryant-01-485.jpg


Should be here in about 3 weeks.

My form at the moment is terrible. Some days good and some bad. Today was terrible, I've just got no stamina; first 10km this morning I was just bimbling along at 32-36kph with no real effort but then after my first climb (not a difficult one) my legs were just empty and 30kph felt almost impossible.

Depressing.
 
platypus said:
Well my SL cleats are steel, and have lasted aaaages.
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You can't get metal SPD-SL cleats. SPD cleats are made out of metal and are much smaller than SPD-SL.

[DOD]Asprilla;17385105 said:
Steel SL cleats? I didn't know they did that. My SPDs are metal which is why I used them for commuting rather than my Keos.

Speaking of commuting, I've just put in an order for this as my winter commuter:



Should be here in about 3 weeks.

My form at the moment is terrible. Some days good and some bad. Today was terrible, I've just got no stamina; first 10km this morning I was just bimbling along at 32-36kph with no real effort but then after my first climb (not a difficult one) my legs were just empty and 30kph felt almost impossible.

Depressing.
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You know 20mph is not slow, try riding at a slower pace for longer and keeping it more consistent, no sprints or thrashing it. Sounds like you're pushing too hard, that's how I get if I push too hard.
 
20mph is usually cruising for me though (I top out at about 28mph unless wind or gavity assisted) and all summer I've been able to maintain if consistently.

It's probably that I've not really recovered from hill climbing in the south of France. I don't think I'm eating enough either; although I need to lose body fat it's dropping off a bit too quickly at the moment.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;17385105 said:
Speaking of commuting, I've just put in an order for this as my winter commuter:



Should be here in about 3 weeks.
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I am extremely envious, and I have questions that I need answered. How much did it set you back, and where did you order it from? I have been on the verge of ordering a On-One Pompetamine Versa Pro for the past week, but I would much rather have the Bryant Belt Alfine - assuming it doesn't cost twice as much as the Pompetamine, that is.
 
Saundie said:
I am extremely envious, and I have questions that I need answered. How much did it set you back, and where did you order it from? I have been on the verge of ordering a On-One Pompetamine Versa Pro for the past week, but I would much rather have the Bryant Belt Alfine - assuming it doesn't cost twice as much as the Pompetamine, that is.
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Ok, I've ordered it from Bike.com although on the couple of occasions I've spoken to Civia they have recommended I use speedgoat.com or bikeman.com. The reason I used bike.com is that they would let me pre-order whereas the others won't let you order until they have stock and my concern was that the last batch went on pre-orders and I don't want to miss out.

Once I pay tax and duty I think the whole thing will have cost £1500, so one and a half times the Pompetamine. The guards (Civia Hyland Low Profile 35x700) and rack (Civia Hyland) are extras but are only $100 combined and shipping is $85. The production comes with a chain / belt guard.

Worth noting that the image is of the prototype; the production model has all the stainless steel replaced with black as well as black saddle and grip tape.

Over the course of the year I'll be looking to change back to stainless steel (apart from the brifters) and add Brooks leather grip tape and brooks saddle as well as upgrading to BB7s (subject how the BB5s perfrom). Given how much if costs me to maintain a road bike I don't think that these are massive expenses. The On-one comes with BB7s already which is a big plus if the reviews of the BB5s prove correct..
 
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Just been in Aldi. The cycling stuff they have for sale is pretty good. Got a pair of 3/4 length MTB shorts with a removable padded liner for £12.99 and they look excellent. The winter cycling shirts and jackets are very good quality indeed although I decided against any as I've just ordered a couple more Gorebike Wear shirts and jackets at the start of the week. :cool:
 
oddjob62 said:
Can't stop looking (drooling) at this bike that on sale on the london fixed gear forum...
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s53/kiddcougar/Photo087.jpg
Should be off the market by the weekend so i just have to resist till then.
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That has FCN -1 written all over it. If you rode it you better make sure you were going 100mph everywhere you went!

Also, I've resolved my lack of form problem: After looking at diet, over training and mt health in general I found that my rear caliper was stuck causing the pad to constantly rub.

/shame.

I had the bike serviced last week and that included recabling the brakes, you'd think they would have spotted a stuck caliper!
 
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