Road Cycling Essentials

lordrobs · 14 Feb 2015 at 12:25

Going back to the 2015 KOM topic from a couple of days ago... I like the idea. Hitting the reset button on KOMs for the mere mortal while keeping the overall best times is quite motivational. I even picked one up myself today

It also brings back some local segments where some window licker has obviously set a time using some form of internal combustion engine (50mph avg over 1.4 miles up hill).

Saving for the new bike is going well and I've just tipped £450. Need to pull my finger out now and sort the garage ready for it. Currently tempted by an ex display 2014 Charge Plug 3 for a decent price. They also have a Plug 4 which is an even better bargain.

On another topic I was thinking today, everyone says that lighter bikes climb easier and it is fairly simple to understand why. Am I over simplifying things though to say that it doesn't matter where the weight saving comes from but it is actually the total weight you are trying to get up the hill that matters? E.G - a 190 lb guy riding a 30 lb bike would see the same benefits from dropping 5lb as he would from riding a 25lb bike?

PermaBanned · 14 Feb 2015 at 13:59

I don't know what these "lb"s you speak of are, but yeah that's the basic principle. Charge Plugs are fine bikes, I think they're set up more for cyclocross type riding so depending on what you're doing there may be better options.

lordrobs · 14 Feb 2015 at 14:44

PermaBanned said:
I don't know what these "lb"s you speak of are, but yeah that's the basic principle. Charge Plugs are fine bikes, I think they're set up more for cyclocross type riding so depending on what you're doing there may be better options.

I'm imperial when it comes to weights

I'm after a do it all sort of bike really. I'm more concerned with increasing my distance than my speed so comfort is a bigger priority than out right performance. I liked the sound of being able to have 28mm tyres and full mud guards. For a year it'll be my 'best' bike but will then become my year round bike. It might see the odd gravel foot path but it will be 99% road use.

FrenchTart · 14 Feb 2015 at 14:58

You may want to check out the Whyte CX bikes as alternatives, or the Grade GTs.

lordrobs · 14 Feb 2015 at 15:17

FrenchTart said:
You may want to check out the Whyte CX bikes as alternatives, or the Grade GTs.

Way beyond what I want to spend Unfortunately. Whyte Sussex might be possible with a decent discount but from what I've seen big discounts aren't that common.

I'm probably over complicating things and a standard aluminium road bike with a sportive type geometry may well be perfect for my needs.

FrenchTart · 14 Feb 2015 at 15:21

lordrobs said:
Way beyond what I want to spend Unfortunately. Whyte Sussex might be possible with a decent discount but from what I've seen big discounts aren't that common.

I'm probably over complicating things and a standard aluminium road bike with a sportive type geometry may well be perfect for my needs.

Personally I love disc brakes and mudguard mounts are not to be sniffed at either. Having ridden steel, alu and carbon I wouldn't worry about the frame material too much.

28mm tyres are overrated however. I switched from 28mm to 25mm and would never go back to 28mm. They often feel very "bouncy" without really providing extra comfort on the road. If you're planning on doing real off-road then having the option to go wider is good I guess, but it's not something I personally am bothered about.

I've been riding CX bikes/disc brakes for about three years. I wouldn't go back to rim brakes personally, though I wouldn't mind something a bit lighter than what I ride right now.

physichull · 14 Feb 2015 at 15:30

Spent the whole morning paying some attention to my much maligned Defy 1 and have brought it back to something near its former glory. Its been cleaned thoroughly all over (albeit some oily smears are never coming out!) and has been treated to a new chain and cassette.

I had to shorten the new chain to match my old one, although my old one has stretched at least half a link so I made the new chain correspondingly smaller to account for this stretching (at least now I have some spare links to take with me on rides).

The drive train now sparkles, which is a far cry from what it was before:

And now:

Jonny ///M · 14 Feb 2015 at 15:46

If that's a Shimano chain then it's technically on backwards!

I never size chains based on the old one as they do stretch, best bet is the two big cogs without the mech, get the nearest link then add one.

Jonny ///M · 14 Feb 2015 at 15:50

Also just planned a ride tomorrow with a customer who has 90% of strava KOMs around here.

Will see how it ends as it would be my second ride of the year, first being 24 miles on the 4th of January, and I'm taking him over the crow road and back in via kilearn/queens view and in via maryhill road taking it to 63 miles for me.

physichull · 14 Feb 2015 at 15:58

Jonny ///M said:
If that's a Shimano chain then it's technically on backwards!

Yer what??!? Its a KMC chain.

Edit: Just looked up, its a non-directional chain. I had no idea there were directional chains!

Shamrock · 14 Feb 2015 at 16:04

Jonny ///M said:
I never size chains based on the old one as they do stretch

Don't you just count the number of links on the old chain rather than compare length?

physichull · 14 Feb 2015 at 16:06

Shamrock said:
Don't you just count the number of links on the old chain rather than compare length?

That's effectively what I've done when I saw that it was half a length longer, so its definitely the right length (moreover, its the same length as it was when it was bought!).

Deus Ex · 14 Feb 2015 at 16:07

Shamrock said:
Don't you just count the number of links on the old chain rather than compare length?

Yeah, i've always just counted links and then made sure they roughly look the same.

Roady · 14 Feb 2015 at 16:25

https://www.strava.com/activities/254754970/overview

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/1680944-8-Minute-Test

Result: FTP 206 and Lactose thingy 149. Both not far off the 'defaults' (is that good or bad lol)

Did my 8 min FTP test after a fairly busy morning and 2 days off from commuting. Had a burger earlier and ate the last of my river cottage energy flapjacks. Felt good although felt like I did the first 8 too hard then could manage more stable slightly higher power in the second 8. Had some left in the tank so really should've done the 20min test... Maybe next time!

Depending how my legs feel and what the weather's doing tomorrow I'm heading out for a ride on my newly serviced Defy!

o

Was expecting to be hanging more after this test, I've felt worse after Sufferfests and the GCN hillclimb/spin classes

FrenchTart · 14 Feb 2015 at 17:40

platypus said:
If you need any help writing it let me know, I'd be quite interested.

touch said:
Ooh, this sounds interesting. Keep me updated too please.
I can help out with js/php/mysql.

I've scraped all the data from the Weight Weenies site (I also dropped them an email to ask if they minded me using the data but I *ahem* wasn't patient enough to wait for a reply. I'm not going to be using it commercially so I don't feel massively morally wrong in just grabbing the data that is available).

At the moment it's just 10494 lines in a giant pipe-separated "csv". I'll be sticking it in a db shortly and then getting some basic displaying of it going on on a test site. I'm happy to give either of you a copy of the data now and/or access to the test site if you're serious about wanting to help with dev. I'll have to warn you that my coding style is far from perfect, though I do tend to at least comment stuff/etc

I'm not sure how much more I'll get done today but feel free to drop me a message if you're interested in seeing the data and/or the really shoddy node code I wrote to get the data.

lordrobs · 14 Feb 2015 at 17:42

FrenchTart said:
Personally I love disc brakes and mudguard mounts are not to be sniffed at either. Having ridden steel, alu and carbon I wouldn't worry about the frame material too much.

28mm tyres are overrated however. I switched from 28mm to 25mm and would never go back to 28mm. They often feel very "bouncy" without really providing extra comfort on the road. If you're planning on doing real off-road then having the option to go wider is good I guess, but it's not something I personally am bothered about.

I've been riding CX bikes/disc brakes for about three years. I wouldn't go back to rim brakes personally, though I wouldn't mind something a bit lighter than what I ride right now.

Interesting, I've not previously seen any negative comments about 28mm tyres with regards to ride. Whatever I buy won't see any off road beyond a compacted gravel cycle path because I've still got my MTB.

FrenchTart · 14 Feb 2015 at 17:47

lordrobs said:
Interesting, I've not previously seen any negative comments about 28mm tyres with regards to ride. Whatever I buy won't see any off road beyond a compacted gravel cycle path because I've still got my MTB.

To be completely fair the 28mm tyres I rode on were Gatorskins, which are basically awful. Better 28mm tyres may actually be okay to ride on.

DIABLO · 14 Feb 2015 at 18:10

Roady said:
Ahh so you're not totally 'new' to cycling, what is your commute like? Mostly good road surfaces? If you've ridden it enough on your hybrid then you really will notice the difference changing to a road bike! I switched from Hybrid to Road back in July, commute used to take me ~24 mins, now I'm averaging 16-17 (got it as low as 15 once!). More than that the road bike has got me hooked on cycling too!

That's a good deal for a good bike, but that'd leave him nothing for gear/pedals/helmet/whatever else! Full Ultegra for a first road bike?!

About to go clean mine before taking it for it's service, will take some pics of the grime lol

VIRB videos for audio comparison:

Lug in place:

tedmaul · 14 Feb 2015 at 18:16

Roady said:
https://www.strava.com/activities/254754970/overview

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/1680944-8-Minute-Test

Result: FTP 206 and Lactose thingy 149. Both not far off the 'defaults' (is that good or bad lol)

Did my 8 min FTP test after a fairly busy morning and 2 days off from commuting. Had a burger earlier and ate the last of my river cottage energy flapjacks. Felt good although felt like I did the first 8 too hard then could manage more stable slightly higher power in the second 8. Had some left in the tank so really should've done the 20min test... Maybe next time!

Depending how my legs feel and what the weather's doing tomorrow I'm heading out for a ride on my newly serviced Defy! o

Was expecting to be hanging more after this test, I've felt worse after Sufferfests and the GCN hillclimb/spin classes

Nice one.

That suggest your pacing was a bit off. Should feel like you have nothing left at the end of each effort really. But its a starting point, and as I mentioned before you'll get better at pacing them.

However there is no way you are at over 5 watts/kg so you might want to set your weight to what it actually is as it appears to say you weigh about 35kg currently

Jonny ///M · 14 Feb 2015 at 18:20

Shamrock said:
Don't you just count the number of links on the old chain rather than compare length?

Takes too much time for me as I'll miss count about 4 times, I just size it big + big and do the suggested way, check it in big at the front small at the rear for the jockey wheels being almost vertical and you're good to go.

I also check it's not sagging in the smallest and smallest cause I'm a sad freak!