Road Cycling Essentials

[Jonny69]

tempted to do mine, was quoted £50 to get it done properly but as the frames too big for me I CBA with that.
how did you do yours and what paint did you use?

Stripped it down with various tools I've collected that make the job easier. Paint: I rubbed the original paint down with wet-and-dry (probably 180 or 240 grit), degreased it and then whacked it all over with Halfords satin black spray. I think I put about 3 coats on.

I'll be looking to do about 5 coats of black, details and decals if I decide to go that route, then about 3-5 coats of clear on top so it's really well coated. I had considered getting it powder coated, which is probably the cheapest way to do it, but for me it's the hassle of finding somewhere reputable who will do it, going there, pick-up etc... so I generally do things myself

 

[One More Solo]

the main guy i ride with is 73, and hes still stronger than me, hes really fit!!

Love that!

I stopped off in a pub for 20 minutes on last weekend's century ride. Decked out in our cycling kit, I expected to get a few funny looks and for people to be really impressed when I told them how far we'd ridden. Sods law that one bloke's sons was a cat 2 racer and the 80 plus father of the landlord was an ex-Manchester Wheelers member who spent the whole time we were there telling us about his time trialling exploits when he was a lad. It was great.

 

[Vonhelmet]

the main guy i ride with is 73, and hes still stronger than me, hes really fit!!

Most of the guys I ride with have got at least ten years on me and still absolutely destroy me!

One of the serious hills near us has a plaque near the top dedicated to some bloke with the dates he lived, saying that he beat the hill every Thursday, rain or shine, or some such.

 

[Mr Jones]

Have done some more looking, and come to conclusion that this is probably the best buy IMO

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/bikes/road-bikes/sensa-bikes/sensa-fermo-cyclecross-bike.html

Thank you for sharing this site!
The price for weight and components, are amazing! Anyone got a Sensa bike? The general review sounds good. This is within my budget and I get full Tegra set as opposed to Scott S40 or Fuji Sportif 1.3...

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-sh...ikes/sensa-romagna-custom-road-bike-2013.html

 

[grudas]

Its the parts that matter really not the name in my opinion

 

[VeNT]

Stripped it down with various tools I've collected that make the job easier. Paint: I rubbed the original paint down with wet-and-dry (probably 180 or 240 grit), degreased it and then whacked it all over with Halfords satin black spray. I think I put about 3 coats on.

I'll be looking to do about 5 coats of black, details and decals if I decide to go that route, then about 3-5 coats of clear on top so it's really well coated. I had considered getting it powder coated, which is probably the cheapest way to do it, but for me it's the hassle of finding somewhere reputable who will do it, going there, pick-up etc... so I generally do things myself

so you don't take it back to bare metal then?
must take an age with wet and dry!
I'll have to look into getting some tools to take mine apart anyway!

 

[Mr Jones]

Especially for the price £775, a cyclocross that weights less than 9kg!
http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-sh...d-bikes/drossiger-cxa22-cycle-cross-bike.html

 

[InQ]

Balls, bent rear hanger:- http://gdurl.com/XPuX

must have been when i came off at 5mph just after Xmas.

 

[Mr Flibble]

Had only my second ride since christmas today. Went to Margate to repair (broken chain) my fixie and ride back to Canterbury where I'm now mostly working. Left the chain on my desk in Canterbury. Hooray for a halfords cheapy. Only 18miles but so pleased to be on the bike - I should make some effort to get my racing bike out again in London this weekend but I'm embarrassed about my fitness.

Re the fixed wheel debate above, I don't much see the point in single speed if you're not going to do fixed. The lack of gears is an interesting new experience which I enjoy and it's forcing me to learn to use a range of cadences better. It always feels really weird when I switch to or from the fixed from my racing bike though!

Oh, and for the height/weight debate, a shameful 182cm (5ft 11 3/4) and 97kg at the mo No wonder you thrashed me up the hills when we went out riding, Shamrock!

 

[Shamrock]

Re the fixed wheel debate above, I don't much see the point in single speed if you're not going to do fixed. The lack of gears is an interesting new experience which I enjoy and it's forcing me to learn to use a range of cadences better. It always feels really weird when I switch to or from the fixed from my racing bike though!

Oh, and for the height/weight debate, a shameful 182cm (5ft 11 3/4) and 97kg at the mo No wonder you thrashed me up the hills when we went out riding, Shamrock!

I like coasting too much to go pure fixed and give it up!

You still get the benefit of low maintenance with single-speed. If it's not too horrible this weekend I'll ride this Saturday afternoon once I've collected my new s/s bike in the morning.

 

[Mr Flibble]

I find the unnerving continuous relationship between the rear wheels and my legs too much fun. I don't see the point of skid stops though and keep both brakes on the bike so I won't be confused for a hipster.

 

[grudas]

I love skidding around its something i brought over from my bmxing.. i do look out of place im sure.. lifting the back wheel... not getting of the bike at red lights and just rolling forwards and backwards.. eh im such a roadipster lol..

 

[Berger]

It's not too difficult to sort the rear out. Just takes patience.

Make sure your limit screws are set properly.
Screw in the derailleur barrel adjuster all the way.
Loosen the cable release bolt.
Pull through the cable so there's a tiny bit of slack when it's at the highest gear (smallest cog) then tighten up the bolt.
Take up the slack with the barrel adjuster (so you've got wiggle room both ways when indexing).
Then move up and down the gears, tightening/loosening the barrel adjuster as required for smooth shifts (make sure you test up and down each gear as well as all the way up and down).

After that any minor adjustments can be made on the fly while riding using the shifter barrel adjustor.

Chain wear is less than 0.5, all the running gear has 1500-2000km on it so almost as new, as it is 95% dry riding.

Sorted it, a small adjustment to the high limit screw (could have gradually adjusted itself over time) and then adjusted the barrel adjuster until the shifting was clean up/down the gears.

Seemed fine in all gears on the workstand, up and down (not all the way at once as well) and down two gears at once on the shifter.

Looks to be a bit of an angle going on with the jockey wheels compared to the cassette, but this could just be as it is in the highest gear, the chain is straight to the big ring up front so it looks right in that respect.

I've not dropped/crashed the bike and I lean it so that the rear mech won't hit anything in the garage.

*Shrug*

Will test ride it tomorrow all being well, its piddling it down now, and Australians melt in the rain.

 

[[Damien]]

Most of the guys I ride with have got at least ten years on me and still absolutely destroy me!

One of the serious hills near us has a plaque near the top dedicated to some bloke with the dates he lived, saying that he beat the hill every Thursday, rain or shine, or some such.

That's pretty cool. Which hill is it?

 

[VeNT]

Chain wear is less than 0.5, all the running gear has 1500-2000km on it so almost as new, as it is 95% dry riding.

Sorted it, a small adjustment to the high limit screw (could have gradually adjusted itself over time) and then adjusted the barrel adjuster until the shifting was clean up/down the gears.

Seemed fine in all gears on the workstand, up and down (not all the way at once as well) and down two gears at once on the shifter.

Looks to be a bit of an angle going on with the jockey wheels compared to the cassette, but this could just be as it is in the highest gear, the chain is straight to the big ring up front so it looks right in that respect.

I've not dropped/crashed the bike and I lean it so that the rear mech won't hit anything in the garage.

*Shrug*

Will test ride it tomorrow all being well, its piddling it down now, and Australians melt in the rain.

there any lateral movement in the jockey cogs?

 

[rogan]

Wow, that does look really good and Merlin do cyclescheme too, thanks for that. One other thing, is it worth the wheel upgrade to mavic aksiums? From what I can find the supra wheels will be about the same weight, maybe slightly less, is there anything else to suggest going for the mavics instead?

No i dont think so, the supra wheels are pretty good from what I hear...

Id upgrade to ultegra if you can afford tho

 

[Berger]

there any lateral movement in the jockey cogs?

A small amount if you hold one edge you can rock it slightly. But if you hold the top and bottom halves of the wheel then there is no play.

Cleaned the drivetrain off a bit and run it up/down the gears again and I'm happy with the shifting. If the rain stops ill ride tomorrow.

I did notice my rear wheel needs a slight true, I have Alex AT450 rims fitted, but also have some Shimano RS500 which I could fit instead, from memory these are slightly wider than the Alex rims.

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

I love skidding around its something i brought over from my bmxing.. i do look out of place im sure.. lifting the back wheel... not getting of the bike at red lights and just rolling forwards and backwards.. eh im such a roadipster lol..

Rolling forwards and backwards? Trackstand or do not, there is no try.

 

[grudas]

Rolling forwards and backwards? Trackstand or do not, there is no try.

how else am i going to learn it ? it isn't easy with geared bike, with fixie its as easy as it gets

 

[[Damien]]

I've tried trackstanding but I utterly fail at it. I can do the usual 'move forwards at a stupidly slow speed while wiggling the handlebars like a lunatic' thing but a proper trackstand eludes me.