Road Cycling Essentials

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I know what you mean. I was riding it in the suburbs last night following a map, where I didn't really know the roads, had to make a lot of turns and stopped at a lot of traffic lights and I was really starting to struggle with the toeclips. In situations like that, fixed really doesn't work :p
 
Another bike entered my fleet tonight. A 531 tubed Raleigh Richmond with a mixte frame. I'm dressing it up for a Christmas present for the girl with some go faster goodies, drop bars etc. Should be nice and vintage looking, light, but still go like stink.

Argh, that means I've got 7 bikes now :(
 
Jonny69, how much does it cost you to maintain this bike hobby? Im always reading about you acquiring more bike parts, bikes, or building something!

I've just spent £200+ on cycling gear to keep me warm during my commutes :( Bought some winter gloves, 5 long sleeve base layers, two more pairs of padded cycling shorts, and then a pair of tights to go over my cycling shorts.

I can't feel my hands when I get into work in the morning so I spend an age struggling to take off my helmet :p
 
Jonny69 said:
Another bike entered my fleet tonight. A 531 tubed Raleigh Richmond with a mixte frame. I'm dressing it up for a Christmas present for the girl with some go faster goodies, drop bars etc. Should be nice and vintage looking, light, but still go like stink.

Argh, that means I've got 7 bikes now :(
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I've got 5 and just bought another frame to build up :D
 
BlackDragon said:
Jonny69, how much does it cost you to maintain this bike hobby? Im always reading about you acquiring more bike parts, bikes, or building something!
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3 of my bikes came from Freecycle and two of them were given to me. The black shortie shopper I built cost me about £35 many years ago and the Mixte just cost me £45 which for a 531 frame is a bargain. I've spent about £100 each on the Raleigh and the Viscount dressing them up. The expensive bit is going to be this wheel set I'm building up but they will be keepers to switch to whatever bike I get in the future.

So not much on the bikes really :p

My cycling gear has come to much more. Once you add up helmet, shorts, tights, tops, gloves... I'll stop there because it's scaring me :D

I need to slim the fleet down now though. I have no space.
 
I need to siphon off some of them to work and keep them in the bike shed :D

Anyone cycle this morning? I was going to but people were driving like idiots and by the time I left it was getting too deep and slushy to ride in safely. I didn't take the risk.
 
Jonny69 said:
Anyone cycle this morning? I was going to but people were driving like idiots and by the time I left it was getting too deep and slushy to ride in safely. I didn't take the risk.
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I could have done, but I figured that it'd be too difficult to cycle back in, and people here were also driving like clowns. I forgot to put my microspikes in my bag this morning, so the walk home should be fairly interesting.
 
Jonny69 said:
I need to siphon off some of them to work and keep them in the bike shed :D

Anyone cycle this morning? I was going to but people were driving like idiots and by the time I left it was getting too deep and slushy to ride in safely. I didn't take the risk.
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I did, this is exactly what I bought the Bryant for and the 35mm studded tyres I put on at the weekend did their job (he says, tempting fate).

It does, however, sound like I'm cycling though a massive bowl of rice crispies all the time.

Am still mudguardless though. They got delivered today and I should be able to fit them at the weekend. I just hope they fit over these tyres.
 
Jonny69 said:
3 of my bikes came from Freecycle and two of them were given to me. The black shortie shopper I built cost me about £35 many years ago and the Mixte just cost me £45 which for a 531 frame is a bargain. I've spent about £100 each on the Raleigh and the Viscount dressing them up. The expensive bit is going to be this wheel set I'm building up but they will be keepers to switch to whatever bike I get in the future.

So not much on the bikes really :p

My cycling gear has come to much more. Once you add up helmet, shorts, tights, tops, gloves... I'll stop there because it's scaring me :D

I need to slim the fleet down now though. I have no space.
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Where did you get a 531 frame for £45? Great work.
 
Eurolight Twin 8 Led Front Lights - Rechargeable 6 Volt System on Amazon for £35, the connectors are obviously the cheapest of the cheap but once everything is cable tied down its rocking.

Here's my review if it helps:
Obviously at this price point, you're not expecting too much. Properly fitting connectors for the lights would be something you would expect. Sadly, the connectors are terrible. However - once cable tied in place they won't move about, so if you can secure them reasonably well you shouldn't have any problems.

The lights themselves are good, nice and bright (though I would suggest a helmet mounted led torch as well for unlit areas) and if placed well have good coverage. The rechargeable battery pack is a nice touch, if somewhat unwieldy - again the fittings to secure it to your frame are poorly made but once on work well enough.

How long the battery/lights will last remains to be seen, and to be honest I wouldn't expect them to last until next winter, but for a budget set of commuting lights they are a good bit of kit at an attractive price.
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