Road Cycling Essentials

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Saundie said:
I spent some time trying to fit the roadracers to my bike this morning. It took me a little longer than it should have to realise that they're never going to work. I should have looked into how they attach to the bike; it hadn't occurred to me that they'd use a cable tie around the brake. My bike has disc brakes, so there's nothing for me to attach the mudguards to at the top of the fork at the front, or to the seat stay. I'm now not in the mood to go for a ride today; the weather is rubbish anyway :(
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If you're looking to find a home for them, my email is in trust. :)
 
One More Solo said:
If you're looking to find a home for them, my email is in trust. :)
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I was going to see if I can get some brackets from another set of mudguards to mount onto the frame, in order to give the Roadracers something to attach to. You may well receive an email when this inevitably fails :)

On a cycling related note, I decided to get on the bike at sunrise, as that's usually the best time of the day for me in terms of motivation and also traffic levels. My feet had gone almost entirely numb after 10 miles, and my hands went shortly after. I had to get off the bike after 90 minutes as my feet were starting to cause me grief, they were so cold it was painful. Walking around a bit seemed to help, so I got back on the bike and continued riding. Unfortunately my feet hadn't warmed up anywhere near enough, and as a result I couldn't tell whether or not I had unclipped as I approached a roundabout. I had to give way, so I went to put my left foot down, and realised it was still clipped in. I was not able to get it unclipped in time, and came down in the middle of the road. Fortunately there were no cars behind me wanting to pull out, and no damage was done to the bike. I scraped my knee a little, but nothing serious. I am not having much luck with these clipless pedals so far!

The point that this has highlighted for me is that my existing gloves and sock\shoe combination are woefully inadequate. It seems as though I have quite poor circulation to my extremities, which does not help matters. For the guys who cycle through the winter; what do you wear to keep your hands and feet warm? What's most effective in staying warm; wind-proofing or insulation? Should I get some silk liners to go under my Sealskinz waterproof gloves, or will that not help? I really don't want to have to abandon cycling so early into the winter, so I would appreciate whatever help and advice you can offer!
 
I pretty much ride all year round and throughout the winter. The Sealskinz MTB Technical gloves I mentioned earlier should be plenty warm enough no matter what the temperature is. As for keeping feet warm, I find overshoes to be the solution. I use a pair of Shimano RO99 shoes ( hardly what you would term a "winter shoe" ;) ) generic winter cycling socks from Aldi and a pair of Pro Tarmac H20 overshoes. Very warm and waterproof and a pretty good price :-

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?PartnerID=79&ModelID=43175
 
Draeger said:
I pretty much ride all year round and throughout the winter. The Sealskinz MTB Technical gloves I mentioned earlier should be plenty warm enough no matter what the temperature is.
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I have a pair of these, I am not sure how they differ to the ones you have (these, I assume), but I've found that they're nowhere near warm enough. I have just ordered some fleece glove liners, I'll try them under the Sealskinz and see how I get on.

Draeger said:
As for keeping feet warm, I find overshoes to be the solution. I use a pair of Shimano RO99 shoes ( hardly what you would term a "winter shoe" ;) ) generic winter cycling socks from Aldi and a pair of Pro Tarmac H20 overshoes. Very warm and waterproof and a pretty good price :-

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?PartnerID=79&ModelID=43175
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I have a pair of Pro-Vision Aqua-Repel overshoes which won't fit over my commuting shoes, but do just about fit over my SPD shoes. I had forgotten that I even had them - I'll give them a try next weekend. Not sure if I'll be cycling to work tomorrow, my knee has started to seize up now :)
 
Saundie said:
Have you taken the Bryant out for a ride yet, [DOD]Asprilla?
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Nope :(

Was hoping to get out today, but it's still not right. I need to replace the gear cable since the existing one passes though the barrel adjuster that was damaed in transit. The BA is metal and so can't be crushed off and needs to be slipped off the end. Unfortnately the cable has been cut as short as it can and it frayed so if I take it out of the outer I won't be able to get it back in again.

Also, I got annoyed at the weekend and ordered some BB7s from Planet-X so if anyone wants some BB5s......

Oh, I also changed the tyres yesterday and one of the inner tubes completely split down the seam at 100psi. Unimpressed.

Did manage to fit a nice Lezyne silver alu bottle cage though, and a Blackburn Mars 4 to the rack; a nice return on 4 hours work....
 
I'm caught in two minds now. Its this time of year I usually sell a bike, and buy a new one, but I really like my Specialized so I might just upgrade it with SRAM Red components. Hmmm, decisions..
 
Got overtaken by another cyclist this morning and almost killed myself trying to keep up. Dunno why I did it to myself.

Everyone seems to have lovely clean bikes too, mines filthy and that was from one short ride on Saturday! I think I'm just going to clean it every week and keep the drive train clean and lubed. Got plenty of GT85 and chain lube so hopefully I can get away with riding it all winter and keeping it nice.
 
Dup said:
Got overtaken by another cyclist this morning and almost killed myself trying to keep up. Dunno why I did it to myself.

Everyone seems to have lovely clean bikes too, mines filthy and that was from one short ride on Saturday! I think I'm just going to clean it every week and keep the drive train clean and lubed. Got plenty of GT85 and chain lube so hopefully I can get away with riding it all winter and keeping it nice.
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My chain is filthy because I commute loads, and lube it well. Other then that, I clean it weekly.
 
Two days off looking after a chickenpoxed baby girl means the Bryant is ready for a teat ride tonight. Wish me luck....

Needed to be ready too since the last 10k home on Tuesday were done without a working rear mech on the Cervelo. Not even managed to investigate that yet.
 
touch said:
I think that buying a planetx superlight for the groupset and selling the frame/wheels/finishing kit on ebay is the cheapest way by far. Just depends if you can be bothered with all the extra work.
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But you're not getting a single full groupset are you, just a mixture of components.
 
Hey guys, I use my dual-sus MTB to ride to uni and recently got some DMR Moto tyres to make riding on the road easier (they are awesome!). The tyres are recommended at 40-65psi but I want to pump it even higher. Is it safe to do so? and what is the absolute maximum I should stop at?
 
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