Road Cycling Essentials
- Thread starter Matutu
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Soldato
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It is so easy. The French are very accommodating. Much better than a) English attitudes to cyclists b) space to leave bike/luggage. English trains are all about seats. I had to stand the entire time from London to Leicester last night to move bikes for people to get on etc. Never had to move bikes or luggage in whole of France on Eurostar and could wander around or sit.
Soldato
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Also if you go to different country esp rural France - learn a bit of language. They completely blank you if you don't at least attempt French! They consider it rude and rightly so to a degree but tourists don't.
Paris- easy to speak English.
Avignon - no chance!
Yea, I do this all the time even though most of the time they realise I'm clearl not French/Italian and reply in English ... oh well
Been out for a nice 60 miler this morning - http://www.strava.com/activities/181381540
Finally got out and did some miles. OK, just shy of 20, but living in the Ribble Valley means putting in some easy miles just aint gonna happen. Hill everywhere, but I'm chuffed after a lot of inactivity or short easy rides to work.
(short steep and for me, slow! About the 12 mile mark)
http://www.strava.com/activities/181388506
So happy my bikes working, my breathing is working (I've had 3 hours surgery since a big off last year after tearing my face apart) and the wind today did not put me off. In fact I feel damned good and cant wait to get some more miles under my belt now.
(short steep and for me, slow! About the 12 mile mark)
http://www.strava.com/activities/181388506
So happy my bikes working, my breathing is working (I've had 3 hours surgery since a big off last year after tearing my face apart) and the wind today did not put me off. In fact I feel damned good and cant wait to get some more miles under my belt now.
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What chain lube do you guys use?
I very rarely ride in the rain so was thinking of getting some dry lube, but I've seen a lot of comments saying it doesn't last long, even in dry conditions. I don't fancy cleaning and re-lubing after every ride.
I was thinking of getting some wet lube in the hope that it will last longer, but don't want it to attract all the dust and cack on dry roads.
I very rarely ride in the rain so was thinking of getting some dry lube, but I've seen a lot of comments saying it doesn't last long, even in dry conditions. I don't fancy cleaning and re-lubing after every ride.
I was thinking of getting some wet lube in the hope that it will last longer, but don't want it to attract all the dust and cack on dry roads.
Managed to get a couple of decent rides in this weekend in spite of the awful weather up here.
Only 5 of us braved the fast bunch ride yesterday morning, and it turned out to be fairly pedestrian for once:
http://app.strava.com/activities/180947792
Got pretty wet - not wearing my overshoes was a big mistake i realised about half way round. Felt like winter rather than august tbh.
Then today was a local 50 mile sportive:
http://app.strava.com/activities/181430157
Weather was brutal - so so windy today. The headwinds were unreal at times. It was almost worth it for the amazing cakes at the end though. Strava doesn't seem to like the 'pause' function on my gps, as it's included eating cake in my average speed. Actual average for the whole thing was about 16.5mph.
Best thing about the whole ride though was bumping into a guy who i used to chat to on our winter bunch rides who i'd not seen for ages. He crashed on ice and broke his hip back at the turn of the year so is only just getting back to fitness. Was great to see him back on the bike again.
Only 5 of us braved the fast bunch ride yesterday morning, and it turned out to be fairly pedestrian for once:
http://app.strava.com/activities/180947792
Got pretty wet - not wearing my overshoes was a big mistake i realised about half way round. Felt like winter rather than august tbh.
Then today was a local 50 mile sportive:
http://app.strava.com/activities/181430157
Weather was brutal - so so windy today. The headwinds were unreal at times. It was almost worth it for the amazing cakes at the end though. Strava doesn't seem to like the 'pause' function on my gps, as it's included eating cake in my average speed. Actual average for the whole thing was about 16.5mph.
Best thing about the whole ride though was bumping into a guy who i used to chat to on our winter bunch rides who i'd not seen for ages. He crashed on ice and broke his hip back at the turn of the year so is only just getting back to fitness. Was great to see him back on the bike again.
Finish Line green. It penetrates well and is quite thick. Most importantly is it stays put and doesn't seem to pick up much grit like some cheap bike oil does. It seems to stay on in all conditions, just a really good all-round lube.
Soldato
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A big off sounds like a massive one, road biking or mtb biking? What happened if you don't mind me asking?
30mph into the back of a parked Focus S-Max spoiler. Don't remember much how in all honesty, apart from looking to move out then splat!
Pulled both lips away from my gums and half my top lip & the end of my nose was hanging on by very little. You can barely tell 12 months on with the scarring reducing nicely but I couldn't breathe so well afterwards. So a couple months ago I had a septoplasty to sort that out. I'm good as new now, but the last 12 months has been togh fitness wise as breathing through my nose was uncomfortable and it kept throwing me off despite having a large mouth to do it with
Accident doesn't put me off a thing though, I go hard as I can when I can. I did't feel much pain or suffer enough clearly
I've picked up some new shifters on eBay (8 speed Claris, nothing exciting) so I'm looking to take off my old 2300s and put them on instead. The cables I've currently got on there have barely done 100 miles. I assume I can re-use them if I take them off carefully?
Associate
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I've used finish line wet (green) and dry (red). Personally I found that although green lasted a while my chain would get absolutely filthy and would be black after one ride. At the moment I've been using the dry lube which yes doesn't last as long but it also doesn't pick up as much muck either. Usually once a week (every 1-200 miles) I'll give it a lube and wipe, chain stays relatively clean. Takes less time than the wet which even with wiping the chain would be so horrible the whole chain needed degreasing and re-lubing every 2-3 months. Only takes 30 seconds each time with the dry lube and chain is always clean.
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Shouldn't be a problem
Probably not. You'll need to take the old inner cable out and thread it through the new shifter and back into all the sections of outer as well. A pre-used cable can be very difficult to do if the ends are frayed (you need to cut off the end cap to get it out) or if there are kinks in it where it was bolted to the derailleur.
New inner is so cheap that it's not worth the hassle of trying to refit the old one.
Soldato
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A hilly 110 miles today with 7300ft of climbing. Tired now.
Soldato
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- 8 Dec 2002
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Reason I asked was because 8 weeks ago I basically did the same except I valued my face over my leg so my net result was a broken leg in several places.
Lesson learnt when pulling out for a parked car pull out early
But the outers could stay on, right? In which case all I need is two brake inners and two gear inners.
How about these?
Soldato
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I don't see a problem with reusing outers unless they're damaged or gummed up. Bear in mind that there are different types of brake cable for road bikes and mountain bikes, but a lot of cables will come with both ends so you just cut off the one you don't need. Gear cables i think are universal, but don't quote me on that. It's always a good idea to lube up the cables before you install them too, just put a few drops on a bit of kitchen roll and pull the cable through it.
I may have buckled and bought myself a little something on ebay. More to follow once it's in my hands...
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