Road Cycling Essentials

One More Solo · 5 Jan 2013 at 09:28

George Hincapie said:
Not if you're wearing them while riding a £10K bike. £170 is nothing.

I seriously can't think of any situation where an amateur rider should be spending £170 on shorts. Imagine if you came off and put a hole in them.

Vonhelmet said:
Cheers. None in at Bolton, but I could head down to Warrington...

They do deliver, it's expensive at £5.99 but if you buy more than one pair it still works out as a good deal.

[DOD]Asprilla · 5 Jan 2013 at 09:34

If anyone has £699 burning a hole in their pocket; Merlin have the Ultegra Di2 upgrade kit on offer.....

One More Solo · 5 Jan 2013 at 09:51

I'm waiting for SRAM to develop electronic shifters.

oli collett · 5 Jan 2013 at 10:14

One More Solo said:
Imagine if you came off and put a hole in them.

I wouldn't dare fart in them! :eek:

King85 · 5 Jan 2013 at 10:48

One More Solo said:
I seriously can't think of any situation where an amateur rider should be spending £170 on shorts. Imagine if you came off and put a hole in them.

They do deliver, it's expensive at £5.99 but if you buy more than one pair it still works out as a good deal.

£16 delivered is still a good deal tbf

uniQ · 5 Jan 2013 at 12:37

[DOD]Asprilla;23495506 said:
If anyone has £699 burning a hole in their pocket; Merlin have the Ultegra Di2 upgrade kit on offer.....

Doesn't seem great when you can get the full group for £999 elsewhere.

They're also doing 20% of all lights.

uniQ · 5 Jan 2013 at 12:47

Quick query. I've been offered a Dura Ace chainset at a bargain price. Would it be a straight swap with a bike running full SRAM both are GXP BB's. Or would I need a new front mech as well?

chanjy · 5 Jan 2013 at 12:52

Chainset fine - need a Hollowtech BB though (assume you meant BSA rather than GXP)

uniQ · 5 Jan 2013 at 12:55

I was under the impression they were both of the outboard type and interchangeable? So I need a new BB as well?

One More Solo · 5 Jan 2013 at 12:58

Yeah, you will need a new BB unfortunately.

chanjy · 5 Jan 2013 at 13:03

GXP has different L+R axle diameters, think Shimano is the same both sides - hence the new BB requirement

Oh but to answer original question - front mech should work fine

uniQ · 5 Jan 2013 at 13:18

Cheers, looks like I can get a Hollowtech BB for around £20 so not too bad. Checked my toolkit and it has the tools for BB's. From the diagrams looks like a 5 min job (famous last words?

)

topgun06 · 5 Jan 2013 at 13:28

The roads are full of cyclists today! I feel like I'm missing out!

One More Solo · 5 Jan 2013 at 13:40

uniQ said:
Cheers, looks like I can get a Hollowtech BB for around £20 so not too bad. Checked my toolkit and it has the tools for BB's. From the diagrams looks like a 5 min job (famous last words? )

It should be very straightforward.

Just remember to grease the threads to make it easier to remove in future.

chanjy · 5 Jan 2013 at 13:49

Yeah it is easy - but to sound a note of caution if it goes wrong you could wreck the frame by messing up the bike's BB thread. So be very careful!

George Hincapie · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:04

Vonhelmet said:
I'm sure it goes without saying that most people aren't riding £10k bikes...

You'd be wrong.

A lot of fairly wealthy people cycle. Visit BR or Weight Weenies and look at the builds there. It's very easy to build a > £5K bike. A Colnago, Cervelo or one of the custom makers could hit £10K fairly easily.

My Cervelo cost around £3.5K to put together. My Sidis were £300. Kask was £200. Rapha/Assos/Castelli around £600 depending on what I wear. Then Oakley Radars, Garmin etc. Just trying to illustrate that £150 is nothing for bib shorts. I accept it might be a lot for some people though; but it's relative. You certainly don't need to spend anything like that, but it's nice if you can!

Vonhelmet · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:10

Our first ride of the season was supposed to be a nice gentle one to let everyone ease into it after taking December off... Instead we did 45 miles and 2600 feet. I'm tired now!

Vonhelmet · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:11

George Hincapie said:
You'd be wrong.

A lot of fairly wealthy people cycle. Visit BR or Weight Weenies and look at the builds there. It's very easy to build a > £5K bike. A Colnago, Cervelo or one of the custom makers could hit £10K fairly easily.

My Cervelo cost around £3.5K to put together. My Sidis were £300. Kask was £200. Rapha/Assos/Castelli around £600 depending on what I wear. Then Oakley Radars, Garmin etc. Just trying to illustrate that £150 is nothing for bib shorts. I accept it might be a lot for some people though; but it's relative. You certainly don't need to spend anything like that, but it's nice if you can!

I'm still not wrong that most people aren't riding £10k bikes. I doubt the average bike on the road costs 1/10th of that.

One More Solo · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:16

He'd be right actually. You're correct to say a lot of fairly wealthy people cycle but people on £3k+ bikes are still not "most people".

Anecdotally, I saw a lot of people on fancy bikes in Richmond Park and the stockbroker belt when I lived in London, but that's very much the exception rather than the rule.

Edit: bah, beaten like a ginger step child.

[DOD]Asprilla · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:16

uniQ said:
Doesn't seem great when you can get the full group for £999 elsewhere.

They're also doing 20% of all lights.

But if you don't need s new crankset or brakes then why spend the extra £300 on them?