Road Cycling Essentials

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ShiWarrior said:
Roady, I cant see the Michelin Pro4 in my size (35c)

if the marathons don't grip, then no point in fitting them?
I don't commute mind
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Pro 4s don't go beyond 28c, and even those are hard to find.

Tyres are a trade off. Puncture proof means hard means inflexible means less grip. Grip means flexible means soft means more vulnerable to punctures. Marathon Plus are very puncture resistant, so yes, you sacrifice some grip. Is that going to matter? Well, only you know how much you're going to be throwing it into the corners.
 
touch said:
I have a spare old tyre if you want? No use on the road but would be fine for a sacrificial turbo tyre.
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Don't worry mate, I do have 2 old tyres myself so I'm not totally stuck if this one dies a horrible high speed hot trainer related death! Although I'm probably more likely to be wheelspinning/slipping on the road/getting punctures before it pops? :rolleyes:

As I'm commuting and want to avoid changing my tyre every time I use the trainer (currently on the weekends) I need to decide if buying a S/H wheel (£20-30?), trainer tyre (£30) and cassette (£15-£20?) or a new wheelset (to replace mine with) for £120+ is the better option. Bear in mind my bike is only worth £200 :o

I guess it falls down to this - next year I will be replacing my bike and looking to spend around a grand doing so. I either buy a wheelset and expect to transfer that to my new ride/keep for future (so that means spending £200+ on wheels alone?) or do things the cheapest way possible (and those who know me by now will know this is the route I'll take!) :p;)

As my bike is an 8 speed 12-26 cassette would I get away with a 12-25 or 13-26? I'm guessing I'd either lose my bottom or top gear? Even the 9 speeds listed don't cover 12-26 so I'm slightly confused :confused:

Probably nothing to do with me, just the way Halfords configure this bike, I've got last years model of this.
 
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If you're only using your turbo once per week then I'd definitely swap the tyres - the Pro4s are great but they're quite expensive and for me at least the rear one at least doesn't last more than 1500-2000 miles (on the road). Looking at the amount of rubber that has come off my turbo tyre I'd be quite worried about how quickly it would wear through a Pro4.

You could get a second hand wheel and a matching cassette if you wanted - I wouldn't get anything expensive for now though as a decent wheelset will probably have a freehub that doesn't work with the drive train on your current bike (how many gears is it?).
 
Rather than use a turbo tyre just use up your old ones :)

Even once your Pro4s reach the point that they're not any use on road (constant punctures) they will still be usable as a turbo tyre as long as you fish out all the shards of glass/rock that will no doubt be lodged in them after that much use on the road.

I just changed the rear cassette on my turbo from 11-32 to 12-25 and it is a massive improvement. This is with 50 on the large ring on the front btw. The closer gears make it much easier to hit my power and cadence targets with Trainer Road.

edit: Deal for Grudas? :p

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/vit...d-bike-tire-black-700x23c-9-99-amazon-2040916
 
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I just (wrongly) assumed Trainerroad would allow you to put your cassette details in and tailor the targets to suit! Guess not! ;)

I'm more than happy to swap tyres, but I just know with the hassle of changing the tyre twice every time I want to use the turbo will mean I do less riding... Which is kindof the opposite of why I got the turbo!

But if I can get a wheel/tyre/cassette together for £100 (or even buy a S/H bike for the same with the correct cassette) then it's a small price to pay to keep me riding (and by riding, I mean leisure riding, not just doing my commute!) :p

Even better if I flog my useless hybrid to cover the costs! ;)
 
I keep forgetting about the hybrid thing. I think the lesser of two/all evils is to use your hybrid on the turbo tbh :p It would be the least hassle presumably?

I know you're concerned about the geometry and general set up of the hybrid compared to your road bike but I think you can get away with it for a while at least - until you get round to buying your shiny new bike in the new year and can then relegate your current road bike to a dedicated turbo bike... ;)
 
Roady said:
I just (wrongly) assumed Trainerroad would allow you to put your cassette details in and tailor the targets to suit! Guess not! ;)
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The gearing of the bike doesnt actually matter. It's the speed of the rear wheel that makes the difference.
You can spin an easy gear at high cadence or slowly mash a big gear: if the rear wheel is turning at the same speed, you're putting in the same power.
(This only applies to turbos, not real-world cycling)
 
touch said:
The gearing of the bike doesnt actually matter. It's the speed of the rear wheel that makes the difference.
You can spin an easy gear at high cadence or slowly mash a big gear: if the rear wheel is turning at the same speed, you're putting in the same power.
(This only applies to turbos, not real-world cycling)
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Yup. That's why I've found the closer gearing to be so useful. With the ridiculous rear cassette I had previously I'd have to mess around a lot and also use cadences that were well outside of the recommendations on the Sufferfest videos.
 
Vonhelmet said:
Pro 4s don't go beyond 28c, and even those are hard to find.

Tyres are a trade off. Puncture proof means hard means inflexible means less grip. Grip means flexible means soft means more vulnerable to punctures. Marathon Plus are very puncture resistant, so yes, you sacrifice some grip. Is that going to matter? Well, only you know how much you're going to be throwing it into the corners.
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thanks
but as I cycle with a group, My bike is not designed for the hills, and its hard to keep up, I was just hoping to have a "medium" tyre compound really, that is almost as good as the Marathons, but with better grip and rolling resistance

if not then I'll get the Marathons
 
ShiWarrior said:
thanks
but as I cycle with a group, My bike is not designed for the hills, and its hard to keep up, I was just hoping to have a "medium" tyre compound really, that is almost as good as the Marathons, but with better grip and rolling resistance

if not then I'll get the Marathons
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If you're cycling on the road you really don't need 35c tyres. I'd drop down to 25 personally.

If you're up for spending more money then the GP4000s IIs are meant to be good - supposedly a little heavier duty than Pro4 Endurance tyres and with as good grip. The rolling resistance will be a little more than the P4Es but I imagine compared to the 35mm tyres you're riding on now they'll seem amazingly fast.
 
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