Road Cycling Essentials

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I just did 12km....

My god its hot, now i live in Norfolk as when i say hillls you may laugh but i really enjoyed it but being on a mtg with 2.3 off road tyres does not a nice road bike make! Easing back into it as have been ill since tues and first proper meal was consumed yesterday evening, im not even hungry now really!!

However, runkeeper is annoying me as the gpx files will not upload into either strava or garmin - i hear its a bug to do with a <trkseg> tag but this means nothing to me - anyone know how i fix the file??

Edit; worked it out now!
 
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Had an awesome day at the cycle festival. Weather turned out perfectly. Set of nice and early and 75 miled it up to Oxford from Bristol.

Picked up some silly priced bargains. Shuttvr sportwool jerseys for £25ea and several pairs of Shuttvr bibs for £20ea. High5 were selling their 750ml water bottles with 2 full size electrolyte tubes for £5. Also top tube bags with 3 gels for £4. etc!

And my word the bike porn on display omnomnom.
 
Didn't realise quite what a haul I managed to collect during the day!

blenheim.jpg
 
Vonhelmet said:
ebay and browse by distance. If you've got a particular bike in mind, set up a saved search and just see what rolls in.

Having watched a lot of bikes on ebay over the past few months, I'd suggest that if you see something you like, it's worth cheating the system and messaging the seller direct to ask if he'll accept a price to end the auction early, because if you don't, someone else will, and you'll be left wondering why the auction ended 3 days early. If they'll accept an offer to finish early and you can pay cash, then they'll accept a lower price because they won't get hit for Paypal and ebay value fees, and you can save some money.
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I followed your advice, found a sweet Bianchi with a full Campag groupset local to me for £300, will be picking it up tomorrow. :D Thanks!
 
So I went and did it ... got my CAAD8 (Tiagra - the white/green one) this morning and just been out on a 10 mile test run. Tomorrow is a 20/25 run to a decent pub!

Soooooo much quicker then my mountain bike I was using but a few questions
How can you get round sharp corners at speed? I take it this is something you just get used to but I found myself going pretty wide. I live in the country so had the whole road to myself

Also, got it delivered rather then pick it up from the shop and the highest back gear clicks/rubs occasionally. I doubt this is normal but anything I should do about it? Was thinking about riding out to a bike shop and getting them to take a look next week or so if I can't fix it myself
 
Womble said:
How can you get round sharp corners at speed?
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Lean more. :p

Womble said:
Also, got it delivered rather then pick it up from the shop and the highest back gear clicks/rubs occasionally. I doubt this is normal but anything I should do about it? Was thinking about riding out to a bike shop and getting them to take a look next week or so if I can't fix it myself
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Depending on which chainring you're using at the front the chain may rub on the front derailleur if you're at one end of the cassette, and the same if you're in the other chainring at the opposite end of the cassette. Doubt there's anything wrong.

If it's clicking as if it doesn't want to remain in the gear then you probably need to adjust the rear derailleur. :)
 
Murf said:
Lean more. :p
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Ha, just going to have to get used to the thin tires. Its a big change from the standard mountain bike ones. I'm sure they were at least double the fatness!

Will have a look at the derailer. Theres a big users manual so bound to be something in there.

This does get expensive quickly though. Already eyeing up new jerseys/pedals/shoes/helmet (the last is a necessity mind)
 
You'll be amazed how far you can lean on a dry surface before the grip gives out. I can corner at speed much more sharply on the road bike than the MTB.

There's 2 adjusters on the rear derailleur, one limits how far it shifts up, the other how far down it goes. Basically adjust the one that changes movement at whichever end of the cassette you're having hassle. :)

Edit - Oh, and there's a saying that I'm going to horribly paraphrase but it's along the lines of "Your cornering confidence will continually improve until you have an off, at which point you'll be worse than when you started and you'll have to build up again."

I stacked it on some mud\grease on a roundabout at about 30mph. Been cornering like a girl since. Slowly starting to improve again though.
 
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The clicking is probably from the front derailleur. You may be able to fix it up adjusting the limit screw, or you may just have to learn to live with it.
 
Well it looks the nuts so I hope you do!!!

Did you put new pedals on?

Went out on my new bike today aswell. I'll get a pic. Like your bike...I love it. awesome.
 
Looks awesome! I do really like Canyons, if only they had more stock when I was ordering I'd have an Aeroad CF instead of the Rose.

I have ordered some stainless steel Speedplay Zeros, but to be honest after today I don't really know why I should change the flats. They are comfortable, hassle free and I'd only be saving 60g by going to the Zeros. Are the performance gains really that noticeable with having a pull on the upstroke?
 
Wish I had the cash for a bike like that Canyon!

Personally I havent noticed the benefit going from flats to SPDs but its generally said they do give a benefit.
 
Last time that got asked, someone posted loads of links about how pulling on the upstroke has no real performance benefit. There are much more important benefits to clipless pedals than that, though.
 
I find pulling on the upstroke to be beneficial by far on long climbs,i find myself every 5th or so rotation i pull rather than push, less tiring on the legs in the long run... i think... uses different muscles
 
Vonhelmet said:
Last time that got asked, someone posted loads of links about how pulling on the upstroke has no real performance benefit. There are much more important benefits to clipless pedals than that, though.
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What are these important benefits? I guess it's of no consequence now since I've ordered the pedals already (£150 down to £88 on Ribble btw!) so I might as well use them, but from observing others clipping in it just looks like hassle to me!
 
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