Road Cycling Essentials

[George Hincapie]

i have already changed the stem to an adjustable one and made it angled more upright. lower down hurt my back and also my beer belly gets in the way.....

Just get out on your bike whenever you can, for as long as you can and don't dodge the salads. You'll have a physique like Andy Schleck in no time!

next question - how do i find out what diameter steerer/forks i have? halfords don't have any specific info. i suspect they are 1'1/8"

What make is the bike? Boardman?

 

[encephalopathy]

boardman hybrid comp - the blurb just states - 'Fork - Lightweight alloy, full smooth welding'

 

[Jonny ///M]

99.9% Sure it'll be a 1 1/8th" with a 31.8 bar clamp.

 

[Hamster]

boardman hybrid comp - the blurb just states - 'Fork - Lightweight alloy, full smooth welding'

Pretty sure it's the same as the Hybrid Pro which is 1 1/8th and as Jonny's just stated, 31.8 bar.

 

[George Hincapie]

What is the most you'd ever spend on a Raleigh road bike if you were to be in the market for one?

I wouldn't buy one. The brand is worthless to me. But, if I were to buy one then £300 - £400 as a gift for someone who didn't know better.

Is the brand taken seriously in the road bike sector?

Raleigh has significant history in Cycling, but the brand seems to have faded to obscurity. As a child, all my friends had Raleigh bikes, but I think that's the problem. It's really a starter brand for someone who is clueless or doesn't want to/can't spend enough to get a decent first bike. I know they sponsor a UK domestic team, but my perception of the brand (and I desperately don't want to come across as a snobby chopper) is that it's crap. I wouldn't buy one in a billion years.

If a Felt was the same price as the Raleigh for the same spec what would it come down to?

£550 Raleigh = alloy frame/alloy,2300 gearing,tektro brakes
£650 Raleigh = alloy frame/carbon fork,full sora gearing, tektro brakes.
£650 Felt = alloy frame/carbon fork,sora mechs,microshift shifters,tektro brakes

Can I be awkward again? I'd steer someone spending £650 to Ribble. They'd get a much better bike than any of those three. But, if I am forced to choose then I'd have to go for the Felt. On brand alone. It's accepted that the £650 Raleigh has a slightly higher class of fitting overall.

 

[George Hincapie]

99.9% Sure it'll be a 1 1/8th" with a 31.8 bar clamp.

I think so too, for what it's worth. Run it past your LBS to make sure though before spending a penny on new parts.

 

[Jonny ///M]

I wouldn't buy one. The brand is worthless to me. But, if I were to buy one then £300 - £400 as a gift for someone who didn't know better.



Raleigh has significant history in Cycling, but the brand seems to have faded to obscurity. As a child, all my friends had Raleigh bikes, but I think that's the problem. It's really a starter brand for someone who is clueless or doesn't want to/can't spend enough to get a decent first bike. I know they sponsor a UK domestic team, but my perception of the brand (and I desperately don't want to come across as a snobby chopper) is that it's crap. I wouldn't buy one in a billion years.



Can I be awkward again? I'd steer someone spending £650 to Ribble. They'd get a much better bike than any of those three. But, if I am forced to choose then I'd have to go for the Felt. On brand alone. It's accepted that the £650 Raleigh has a slightly higher class of fitting overall.

Pretty much my opinion on the matter although I can't really send customers to ribble

The Raleigh brand seemed to sell on the brand alone even though the bikes were shocking. I had the choice between a Felt and a Cannondale and I picked Cannondale due to the fact it had Shimano shifters and a nicer looking finish, I couldn't bring myself to buy the Raleigh

They do have a team going which helps sell the brand but I think the damage has been done to the brand image for serious cyclist.

I don't have a problem with ribble itself and a lot of the guys who buy bike bikes from us have ribble winter frames and a few have planet X TT bikes.

 

[encephalopathy]

thanks for the advice guys - looking to change front forks to something a little less crashy on my wrists - either CF forks from the model above or something with a little bit of travel, although i know they will be heavier

 

[Jonny ///M]

thanks for the advice guys - looking to change front forks to something a little less crashy on my wrists - either CF forks from the model above or something with a little bit of travel, although i know they will be heavier

Seems pretty drastic! What sort of pain are you getting? You need to make sure the bike fits you properly.

Sounds as if you're putting too much weight over the front end or your brake levers are pointing at the sky putting a lot of force through your palms.

 

[George Hincapie]

Seems pretty drastic! What sort of pain are you getting? You need to make sure the bike fits you properly.

I get the impression, and obviously I could be wrong, that his bike has either got a TT that's too long, a HT that's too short, or both.

I would encourage the OP to visit a decent LBS and get a proper fit and bio-mechanical assessment done. Yes, it may cost a bit, but at least then he'd know. He could then just buy a frame better suited to his body and have his groupset and everything else transferred over - it needn't be too expensive.

I can't highlight the importance of having the right frame enough. It doesn't need to be the latest 200 gram carbon wonder, it just has to work for you. Otherwise you'll never achieve all that you could, or enjoy your riding properly.

 

[Streeteh]

Just been back out on the new toy, nowhere near as scary now, i guess i just had to learn to treat it like a road bike, not a MTB. Really fantastic ride and the fork just soaks up the shocks, i'd go as far as saying it's smoother than my old MTB which had cheap, nasty front suspension. The tyres are stupidly grippy compared to what i'm used to, especially considering they're much narrower, my speed was pretty much a flat line on the graph with only slight dips for hill climbs which i guess comes down to a decent gear set.

One concern is though, after only 4 miles the palms of my hands started to ache. Is that something i should be worried about or is it normal when you're not used to drop handles?

 

[One More Solo]

Do you have padded gloves? It's possible your bars aren't set at the right angle too.

 

[Streeteh]

Do you have padded gloves? It's possible your bars aren't set at the right angle too.

I do but they cost £7 so i doubt they're very good. The bars are set completely horizontal, is there any way of measuring how they should be adjusted? I've got the seat height bang on using the measurement guide posted earlier so i'm happy with that.

Managed to put a tiny scratch in the paintwork when fitting the bracket for my U-lock. Bugger! D:

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

It might be down to your general positioning, if you are rotated too far forward on the bike then you will put a lot of pressure on your hands.

Bike fitting isn't easy and nor is it exact.

 

[George Hincapie]

It might be down to your general positioning, if you are rotated too far forward on the bike then you will put a lot of pressure on your hands.

Bike fitting isn't easy and nor is it exact.

And in addition, it does take your body time to get used to a new position on the bike.

 

[Jonny69]

Streety, you might find that bike feels a bit twitchy and I think it's the nature of cross bikes. Stick you on a slightly muddy steep slop and it'll come into its own though, that 'twitchiness' translates into efficiency for pulling the bike around when you've got to get up something steep and twisty.

Your achy palms - you've got what looks like an epically long stem on there. Unless you've got a very long body I'd say you're probably leaning forwards too far and putting too much pressure on your hands. Get a 70mm stem instead of the 120 (?) and it'll sit you a bit more upright and should aleviate the pressure. You can then compensate by lowering the bars

If it's not that long, scrub what I said

Edit: lovely looking bike btw

 

[Streeteh]

Thanks guys, i'll measure the stem and see what length it is. It does feel like i'm leaning forwards quite a lot which logically would put more weight on my hands. It's not terrible enough to put me in pain for my commute distance, however when i start to branch out and go for long rides i could see it becoming a problem. However, i probably feel more leant forward than i really am due to A: Riding a frame that was way too small for me before this and B: Never having used drop handles

Flat broke atm though, so a new stem will have to wait a month or two if i do indeed need it.

Really glad i invested in this, really getting into just hopping onto it whenever i need to get somewhere as opposed to jumping in the car like i used to.

[EDIT] Boardman website reckons it's 110mm, so perhaps a shorter stem would indeed be a good idea. Fortunately when my hands do start to go i can move my hands back to the cross bars as it's got brake levers there too.

Really helpful subforum this

Expensive though

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

If you go shorter then try 100mm then 90mm, etc. You can get a stem for £10 off eBay and resell them for the same if it's no good.

 

[Skepticx]

Any advice on Keeping energy levels up while cycling?
Did a 20 mile trip to marble arch and back and about 15 miles in i was just dead, my legs were ok just i had no energy left to keep moving. I had eaten 3 Weetabix before hand!!
anything i can do to keep my energy up and not collapse ?

 

[Fuzz]

I usually do a good bowlfull of porridge an hour before the ride, then start on the powdered drinks half hour before.

Go Fuel (electrolyte) before and during
PSP22 (Carbs) during
Rego (Protein Carbs Caffeine) on the home stretch and when collapsed afterwards.

In fact I'm off out on a 50 miler tomorrow at 9am, so any further advise on that would be good, last time after 40 I was gone.