Road Cycling Essentials

Status
Not open for further replies.
It may not hold a candle to your fancy pants Garmin devices, but Tesco had their cycle computers reduced to £7.53 over the weekend so I picked one up - more to keep an eye on my cadence than anything.

It has a mammoth 17 functions! ;)
 
Last edited:
[DOD]Asprilla;22919154 said:
Have you got a budget in mind?
Click to expand...

not really.
but not keen on spending too much ££


and what happened to the weather ??? it ****es down since early am hours here in SE London :/
 
Arsey said:
18 miles a day on 38c tyres will be tough. Try to look at a hybrid with maybe some 28c tyres for road use unless you are planning on commuting on bridleways etc?
Click to expand...

Do thicker tyres really make that much of a difference? Genuine question. I've got 32mm tyres on my bike (potholes everywhere...) but now I'm wondering how much quicker I'd be on something like a 25mm.
 
Beepcake said:
It may not hold a candle to your fancy pants Garmin devices, but Tesco had their cycle computers reduced to £7.53 over the weekend so I picked one up - more to keep an eye on my cadence than anything.

It has a mammoth 17 functions! ;)
Click to expand...

other than speed/distance did you use any of the rest?
 
6thElement said:
Same thing happened to the Toupe on my road bike, crack was further forward near the cutout though.
Click to expand...

Well specialized got back to me first thing this morning to say it's no longer under warranty (no surprise there), but I can have 50% off a new saddle from my local dealer, so hopefully I'll be back on the bike a bit sooner than I thought.

I also need my steerer cutting and a straight seatpost after my bike fitting, so it's once again not a spend free month for cycling!
 
VeNT said:
other than speed/distance did you use any of the rest?
Click to expand...

Most of the "functions" are a bit silly, it's got a wired cadence sensor and a wireless wheel/speed sensor which is uses for various averages/comparisons, then timers/clocks on top of that. I've already got a HRM/watch I can use should I want to, so that covers all the bases that I'm interested in.
 
Arsey said:
18 miles a day on 38c tyres will be tough. Try to look at a hybrid with maybe some 28c tyres for road use unless you are planning on commuting on bridleways etc?

I have a fuji absolute 3.0 and it's great for commuting, so something like that or one of the Boardman hybrids would be good, although that is a little over budget.
Click to expand...

at the moment i do 10-35miles on a bmx - 2.1" tyres all around, used to have 2.3 and tbh im ok with it! :o so 38c will be a lot faster than my bmx, any hybrid will be faster! :) north london to central london.. 9 miles each way, so the road good all around.
 
grudas said:
at the moment i do 10-35miles on a bmx - 2.1" tyres all around, used to have 2.3 and tbh im ok with it! :o so 38c will be a lot faster than my bmx, any hybrid will be faster! :) north london to central london.. 9 miles each way, so the road good all around.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, anything will do the job but if he is not planning on getting off road then he might as well go for thinner tyres for the same price.
 
Arsey said:
Fair enough, anything will do the job but if he is not planning on getting off road then he might as well go for thinner tyres for the same price.
Click to expand...

true, so how does the bike look? i have been into bmxing for years now but road/hybrid/mtbs is not my thing so i don't know which parts/makes are good! :) so any help with it would be great, as i've said budget is 350 - would love to fit in 300 bracket if i could.
 
grudas said:
true, so how does the bike look? i have been into bmxing for years now but road/hybrid/mtbs is not my thing so i don't know which parts/makes are good! :) so any help with it would be great, as i've said budget is 350 - would love to fit in 300 bracket if i could.
Click to expand...

Carrera TdF from Halfords for £329. Bargain and an excellent starter road bike.
 
well, i ordered my new bike this morning and they said wil take upto about the 23rd October to build becuase they are low staffed at present and lots of people are wanting builds and repairs so a mighty back log, i said to him id like to buy pedals and shoes when i come to pick up the bike if they could fit everything, also a bottle and cage, and i asked them if they could help fit my Garmin Edge 800 with all the bells and whisteles on too
 
First day on my new commute from my new house today! It's about 12 miles on mixed roads but seemed ok. 45 minutes door-to-door taking it easy with one stop to check the map. I'm a very happy bunny, because that's one hour less than my old commute took :eek:

[Damien];22921167 said:
Do thicker tyres really make that much of a difference? Genuine question. I've got 32mm tyres on my bike (potholes everywhere...) but now I'm wondering how much quicker I'd be on something like a 25mm.
Click to expand...
I've had a couple of bikes with 27 x 1-1/4" tyres which are around 32mm. To be frank, I didn't notice a huge difference in speed between those and the 23c tyres on my racer other than the 23's are harsher and have a lot more grip because they're a sticky modern road tyre. Just make sure they're up to pressure. I think I ran 80psi in the front and 90psi in the back, compared to 100psi front and 110psi back in my 23's. Some of the road is a bit rough on my new commute so I may well be swapping to a 25 to soak up the bumps a bit more.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;22922143 said:
Carrera TdF from Halfords for £329. Bargain and an excellent starter road bike.
Click to expand...

Triban 3 from Decathlon is a better bet if they have it in stock in your size. The Triban 3 has a carbon fork where the TdF doesn't. I think the Triban 3 also comes with a compact chainset rather than the double that I think they are still putting on the TdF for reasons unknown.
 
Jonny69 said:
I've had a couple of bikes with 27 x 1-1/4" tyres which are around 32mm. To be frank, I didn't notice a huge difference in speed between those and the 23c tyres on my racer other than the 23's are harsher and have a lot more grip because they're a sticky modern road tyre. Just make sure they're up to pressure. I think I ran 80psi in the front and 90psi in the back, compared to 100psi front and 110psi back in my 23's. Some of the road is a bit rough on my new commute so I may well be swapping to a 25 to soak up the bumps a bit more.
Click to expand...

Good to know. Cheers. I went for 32's straight off (replaced the 35mm CX tyres it came with with Marathon Plus's) because with being a big lad and some of the potholes on my commute I feared for my wheels.

They're plenty grippy but next to impossible to fit back on when you're fixing a flat. They're so tight.

How often do you guys have to top up your tyres anyway? I'm finding mine need 5-10psi sticking in every few days. I'm guessing that's because of crap inner tubes though right?
 
Dimple said:
Just fitted my Continental Gatorhardshell 25mm tyres and went for a ride.
They felt a lot smoother and I didn't lose any noticeable speed.

Spec me some decent tyre levers please?
Click to expand...

Park plastic levers (TL-1) in packs if three for less than £3. I also keep a Crank Brother speed lever handy for those moments I need an extra hand.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;22923255 said:
Park plastic levers (TL-1) in packs if three for less than £3. I also keep a Crank Brother speed lever handy for those moments I need an extra hand.
Click to expand...

+1 on the Crank Brothers, i also carry the Park leavers and a Crank Borthers speed lever. :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom