Road Cycling Essentials

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PermaBanned said:
Looks like they may be raising the price of the Merlin PR7 to £370 when they get new stock. The only size left is 56cm and that's the only one still listed as £300.
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Incidentally, for £380 you can get this:

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/281903/products/saracen-tenet-2-road-bike.aspx

with the code RUTLAND5. Does make the PR7 seem like much less of a deal when there are often good Sora bikes on offer for around that price. For the more budget end of things, the Triban 300 is still probably the cheapest new bike i'd recommend. Steel fork isn't really that much of a downside, and for none "big brand" gearing the microshift stuff seems surprisingly good.

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-300-road-bike-white-id_8239800.html
 
Shamrock said:
Leith/Whitedown/Box and 65mi sounds reasonable, not done those in a while.
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Something like http://www.strava.com/routes/1094845?

Usually go the L->B route out and back to Surrey (so Mitcham/Carshalton/Chipsted etc etc) but trying other ways out. Take the lead if any of that looks horrible.

Meet at RP cafe at 8 or a bit earlier as we gain an hour? Will be on a white/greeen CAAD8 with bright green bar tape
 
Anyone know if you can buy that grippy rubber stuff that goes on the bottom of your bib shorts etc?
I've an Aldi jersey from this year that doesn't have any at the bottom so is always riding up but fits perfectly apart from that! Guessing it's heat bonded in some way.
 
Womble said:
Something like http://www.strava.com/routes/1094845?

Usually go the L->B route out and back to Surrey (so Mitcham/Carshalton/Chipsted etc etc) but trying other ways out. Take the lead if any of that looks horrible.

Meet at RP cafe at 8 or a bit earlier as we gain an hour? Will be on a white/greeen CAAD8 with bright green bar tape
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8am at RP cafe works for me. Need the extra hour's rest to try and prevent you dropping me on the hills!:p

Do you use WhatsApp? I'll trust you my mobile just in case the clocks going back fubars my alarm.
 
So i took my rear wheel down to the bike coop today, opened up the hub and someone all the bearings on one side were covered in rust coloured goop. They cleaned up fairly well, and there's not much i can do about that anyway other than get a new wheel at which point i may as well save up for a new bike, but that probably means i messed up the bearing preload last time, and it's being annoying as ever this time too. I can get it in the perfect position by hand, but whenever i try to tighen the lockring the cup always moves one way or the other. So it's basically just a case of trial and error.
 
Loose ball bearings usually clean up fine. If you can get all the dirt off them and make them shine again, they're good to go back in the wheel. If they have pitted surfaces, you need new ones. Also very easy to replace loose bearings and only cheap too.

Do you have a proper cone spanner for setting the preload? You should be able to set the cones in the right place then hold the cone with a cone spanner whilst you tighten the nut up with a normal spanner.
 
touch said:
Loose ball bearings usually clean up fine. If you can get all the dirt off them and make them shine again, they're good to go back in the wheel. If they have pitted surfaces, you need new ones. Also very easy to replace loose bearings and only cheap too.

Do you have a proper cone spanner for setting the preload? You should be able to set the cones in the right place then hold the cone with a cone spanner whilst you tighten the nut up with a normal spanner.
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Yes, i'm using a cone spanner and yes, that's what i'm trying to do. But every time i tighten the nut the cone has moved to be either too loose or too tight. So what i'm trying to do is put the cone in roughly the right place and hope that when it moves it moves into the correct position, but it's very much trial and error and it can take hours. Is there no better way of doing this?
 
PermaBanned said:
Yes, i'm using a cone spanner and yes, that's what i'm trying to do. But every time i tighten the nut the cone has moved to be either too loose or too tight. So what i'm trying to do is put the cone in roughly the right place and hope that when it moves it moves into the correct position, but it's very much trial and error and it can take hours. Is there no better way of doing this?
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You must be doing something wrong then, I just can't see how the cone moves if you're holding it with a cone spanner!
 
grudas said:
You must be doing something wrong then, I just can't see how the cone moves if you're holding it with a cone spanner!
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Because the distance between not tight enough and too tight is very small, and my hands can't stay perfectly still when i'm applying a lot of force through them, and the cone spanner doesn't perfectly grip the cone so there is some wiggle room. What position do you hold the wheel in?
 
Would help if i had a bench vice. I'll have another go at it tomorrow, after i've been to the EBC to get some new bearings in the hopes of not destroying the hub any more than i already have. I wonder if there's some way to keep water out of the freehub, since evidently the little silicone ring on the axle isn't doing anything.
 
Dynamo hub is here :D (i changed my mind and went for the 3watt output hub rather than the 2.4watt because it has 32 holes which will work with a spare open pro rim i have lying around).

I think i've just had a brilliant idea too. I'm going to get a cheap pair of battery-powered heated gloves on ebay. I'll cut them open and fit the heating elements under my bar tape :D
Not sure if the hub will be able to power it (certainly not at the same time as the lights). The gloves normally run off 3 AAA batteries, so 4.5volts which shouldnt be an issue - dont know what sort of current they'll draw though.
 
Ok race today, feeling like I can try a few things instead of just hanging on in there. Got beaten by the break today, but picked up 5th, was closing in on 3rd but few hundred meters too short, my climbing is coming on unless it's too steep, can just keep turning the pedals over at my own pace and ignore the people who speed up/slow down a lot.

Heating up, 25c at 9am, went through two 750ml bottles and a coffee in a couple of hours.

Week off the bike now, not ideal but it happens. Come back nice and rested at least.
 
touch said:
I think i've just had a brilliant idea too. I'm going to get a cheap pair of battery-powered heated gloves on ebay. I'll cut them open and fit the heating elements under my bar tape :D
Not sure if the hub will be able to power it (certainly not at the same time as the lights). The gloves normally run off 3 AAA batteries, so 4.5volts which shouldnt be an issue - dont know what sort of current they'll draw though.
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