Road Cycling Essentials

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bastic said:
when you go out cycling, do you push yourselves all the time or just ride at 'normal' pace ?
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I work late one day, then finish early the next to get 45mins-1hour on my bike in the evening. With such a short time on the bike, i go as hard as i can.
In the summer, with longer evenings, i usually have 1 day of riding hard then 1 day riding gentle.

bastic said:
If you would be looking to sell a bike, where would you sell it ?? ( plan on to selling my old hybrid and getting a ladies bicycle for my GF as my old hybrid is tad to big for her..)
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Local paper. Postage on a bike will cost around £20, so if you're not expecting more than £200ish for it, then the postage will make up a big percentage of the total price.
 
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bastic said:
Few questions :
when you go out cycling, do you push yourselves all the time or just ride at 'normal' pace ?
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On rides of between 60-100 miles my average heart rate is about 155bpm. My max HR is 195 so that is about 80% of max.
I push hard on hills, usually reaching 185bpm but the rest of the ride I'm mostly cruising.
 
I push as hard as I can most of the ride but I'm doing it purely to get fitter and lose weight, not for the enjoyment side of riding although it is fun!

After my ride on Sunday which was only 1hr 40mins I spent the next 3-4hrs in bed recovering and my legs felt like lead yesterday, but I still got on my bike and sprinted to work as fast as possible.
 
Not sure if this is the correct thread to ask in, but I will anyway.

So I had my first "decent" bike serviced yesterday and I had my mind blown when I was told I had been using my gears wrong and as a result had increased the wear and tear on my chain and cassette.

The way I had been doing it, which I find to be great for rapid acceleration from traffic lights, was to only ever use my large chain ring and start at the largest rear sprocket and shift up as I accelerated. They told me this is bad as that initial position puts my chain line at it's greatest offset from zero degrees which is bad for the components.

What would you guys suggest as a more effective gearing method that won't annihilate my chain? Today I tried starting on the small chain ring and the largest sprocket, but I find it to be bad for rapid acceleration. I cycle about 2m before my legs are spinning too fast and after shifting up 5 gears I switch to the large chain ring and find it's gone from too easy to too hard. It's really not a smooth transition and the acceleration is poor.

Any tips guys?
 
Spring kit

Anyone planning a spring clothing shopping spree?

I'm looking into:

- SS jersey
- Short-fingered gloves (currently only have long-fingered winter ones)
- New well-vented helmet (probably an expensive one :()

Stock of summer jerseys and short-fingered gloves seems quite low in my usual places. Hopefully retailers start bringing out their spring / summer ranges soon?
 
I'm looking in to the same stuff Robbie, decided to go for the Giro Ionos helmet so far.
I'm not sure on the jersey yet though, will most likely go for a Foska novelty jersey as opposed to a team jersey, the Hovis one is looking most likely as an OcUK forum member!
 
Shamrock said:
Not sure if this is the correct thread to ask in, but I will anyway.

So I had my first "decent" bike serviced yesterday and I had my mind blown when I was told I had been using my gears wrong and as a result had increased the wear and tear on my chain and cassette.

The way I had been doing it, which I find to be great for rapid acceleration from traffic lights, was to only ever use my large chain ring and start at the largest rear sprocket and shift up as I accelerated. They told me this is bad as that initial position puts my chain line at it's greatest offset from zero degrees which is bad for the components.

What would you guys suggest as a more effective gearing method that won't annihilate my chain? Today I tried starting on the small chain ring and the largest sprocket, but I find it to be bad for rapid acceleration. I cycle about 2m before my legs are spinning too fast and after shifting up 5 gears I switch to the large chain ring and find it's gone from too easy to too hard. It's really not a smooth transition and the acceleration is poor.

Any tips guys?
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Erm?

Start off on the middle front ring on a middleish gear on the back which allows you to pull away reasonably, then shift up on the rear as required, then move into the bigger front ring?

Using the extremes of the rings does cause more wear as the chain is at the worst possible angle then as said by your LBS.
 
Shamrock said:
Sorry, to be clear I have only 2 front rings.
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Well use a ratio on the small front ring/rear that corresponds with the big ring/rear.

More than likely say 1/4 will be the same or similar ratio as 2/1, so the chain will be almost straight, then you can go up through the gears to say 1/7 then shift up to the big ring up front.
 
Perhaps I'm overcomplicating it because I fear another huge bill for replacing my components. I just find the shift from the granny ring to the large ring hits acceleration a lot as it obviously isn't as quick or smooth as shifting through the rear cogs.

Also, I'm struggling to find the overlap range as for your example above shifting up to 1/7 then changing to the big ring will put me on 2/7 which will be much harder and not what I'd consider a smooth transition. Sort of like shifting from 2nd to 5th in a car.
 
Just avoid having the chain at the extremes. if you're in the smaller chainring at the front, stay away from the 2-3 smallest sprockets on the cassette. If you're in the big chainring at the front, stay away from the 2-3 biggest sprockets at the back.

Dont worry about it too much though. Yes, bad habits can stress the drivetrain and make it wear quicker, but chains and cassettes are consumables and will need replaced sooner or later anyway, regardless of how well you look after them.
 
Shamrock said:
Also, I'm struggling to find the overlap range as for your example above shifting up to 1/7 then changing to the big ring will put me on 2/7 which will be much harder and not what I'd consider a smooth transition. Sort of like shifting from 2nd to 5th in a car.
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Change back down a couple then.
When you get to 1/7, flick it back up a couple to 1/5 then put it into the big chainring (2/5) almost at the same time.
 
Thanks, I guess I'll just have to play about with it. Having to replace them every 6 months seems a bit excessive though so I reckon I was definitely abusing them up to now.
 
I never use the granny ring unless I'm doing some serious climbing. Pull away from every junction in 34/25. Should probably stop that. I do want to upgrade my cassette and chain from Ultegra to Dura Ace though. :p
 
Yeah, only using the big ring and working up the rear sprockets feels the most smooth and gives me the best acceleration. But, if it's going to reduce the life of my components and cost me more money I think I have to stop.

I'm not big or heavy and only cycle 12 miles a day. The guys at London Bicycle Workshop were surprised I had worn out the chain and cassette in only 6 months.
 
Fuzz said:
Don't you mean Motors? ;-)
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Haha, yep, definitely them :p

bastic said:
Few questions :

when you go out cycling, do you push yourselves all the time or just ride at 'normal' pace ? I commute to work around 4,1miles(only I know) at takes me around 17minutes and average speed is 14miles per hour. It would be easily 15 or less if there would not be 5 roundabouts and few lights on my way...I always try to push it to the max.
Today I was cycling with my GF so she can get used to cycling on the roads and were cycling at 'normal' pace and at the end of it I wasnt tired at all . Looking on that I could do 30-40miles trip..

so do you push yourselves all the time or just ride relaxed ??


and second question :
If you would be looking to sell a bike, where would you sell it ?? ( plan on to selling my old hybrid and getting a ladies bicycle for my GF as my old hybrid is tad to big for her..)
Click to expand...
I used to push to the max all the time but I'm a lot stronger now and I can ride just as fast without so much effort. I ought to get back into the habit of pressing on a bit more and get these thighs as big as I can :p. Depends also on what else I've got on. If I'm hammering it all week on the bike I'm shattered by Friday and it can affect my running. I try and find a balance.

Gumtree is good for selling bikes. Only sold the one but it was a good experience and I had fewer time wasters than eBay.
 
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