Road Cycling Essentials

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[DOD]Asprilla;17546437 said:
Probably get around 30% in tax and duty if I've got my figures right. Quite a bit, but I think I'm still getting the bike that's perfect for me for a not too high a price.
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Ouch. So that's a little over £1400, all in?

[DOD]Asprilla;17546437 said:
When do we get pictures of yours and how is the alfine / versa combination?
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Well, while I'm not typically a bike tart (my commuter is crudely wrapped in black reflective tape, for example), I am not prepared to show it off in it's current state. It looks stupid with the Specialized saddle on it, and the silver bottle cage cheapens it further. Depending on what On One say about the saddle, it could be a while before it's "complete" and thus fit to be photographed.

The Alfine 8 is awesome with the Versa shifters; On One had it adjusted to perfection during the build. It seems to shift even more smoothly than the Nexus 8, and it also seems much more tolerant to being shifted while under load. I can shift up gears almost as quickly as I can with the Shimano twist shifter, and going down is even faster as there's less distance for your hands to travel. The only advantages to the twist shifter are the fact that you can change two (or three, if you really wrench it) gears at a time, and the indexer that shows which gear you're in. I quickly became accustomed to simply counting the gear changes to remember which gear I was in, so not a big deal really. The build quality of the shifters themselves appears to be top-notch; no loose or ill-fitting parts that I can see. I've only done 10 miles with the bike so far, so it's too early to tell how robust the shifters are and whether they're worth £180. Overall, my first impressions are very positive.

Is the Bryant to be your first internal hub gear bike?
 
Saundie said:
Ouch. So that's a little over £1400, all in?

Is the Bryant to be your first internal hub gear bike?
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Something like that. My original budget was £1500 so if it comes in less than that I'll be happy. It's now in UPS international hub; I need a wall map with a moving red light to track it's movement.

Yeah, this will be my first IGH. it's for Mrs Asprilla to use in the summer so that with a belt drive is perfect (marathon+ tyres as well hopefully meaning she never has to do anything with it). If I was going to ride it in the winter it needed to be drops, I'm not a flat bar user.
 
Jonny69 said:
I went to put my toeclip pedals on the fixie this morning. Jaysus christ the left hand pedal was well seized in there. Got it out but it's brought most of the alloy thread from the crank with it. Luckily the new pedal screwed in ok with a bit of Copperslip and was able to be tightened up nicely without stripping out. The other side was another story though, simply wouldn't budge and has completely mangled my 17mm Halfords Pro spanner :eek:

So it's basically not going to come out unless I cut it off and get a long Stillson on it. I might try and put some heat into it, but I don't have my hopes up very high. I'll probably just try and get the old pedal back on the other side and stick with the cage pedals :(
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I had a similar problem a few nights ago when trying to replace the pedals I have on my bike. I gave up with my spanner and bought a pedal wrench that has a 14" length handle, providing plenty of leverage. It came off with barely any effort at all :)
 
BlackDragon said:
Took a lot of scrubbing and re-spraying of degreaser to clean the chain and cassette. Now they are silver, whereas before they were black!
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I clean my chain weekly and its always black. I've taken to double lubing my chain; clean it, oil it, then put a thicket teflon grease on it. Attracts dirt like mad, but its on the outside and not on the chain. It always looks filthy after a days commute anyway.
 
BlackDragon said:
I had a similar problem a few nights ago when trying to replace the pedals I have on my bike. I gave up with my spanner and bought a pedal wrench that has a 14" length handle, providing plenty of leverage. It came off with barely any effort at all :)
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It wasn't going to move. It chose to round off instead which is very annoying. These pedals have a 17mm hex instead of the usual 15mm square profile, so getting any serious purchase on it is impossible.
 
Well I'm relegated to the bus this week. Having difficulty walking let alone cycling. Every time I'm forced back on to public transport, I'm reminded just how good my commuting is.
 
Annoying thing was it went through a pair of reinforced Wellington boots, which are also now ruined as they'll no longer be water proof :(. At least the old shed is now neatly stacked (and de-nailed) fire wood for the winter, so I'll have the last laugh.
 
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