Road Cycling

[janp]

Had an interesting discussion yesterday regarding crank length: Basically, one of the guys at the Specialized Concept Store said that he felt that all things considered, crank length was probably one of the last things to change, and possibly wouldn't need changing at all.

I'm going to get a bike fit done at Stows: That should then allow me to see if there are any fit issues which would be fixed by changing crank length: Otherwise I'm sticking to 170mm.

Crank length made a huge difference for me. I went from 172.5mm to 170mm, the LBS thought I was mad as it cost quite a bit, but the difference really was amazing.
I used to get rock around a lot, and my thighs were always aching. Crank length seemed to solve it.

What sort of bike fit are you having done?

 

[FrenchTart]

50% off all Knog at PX.

http://www.planetx.co.uk/c/q/access...e=web&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Ban1Knog

Stock going fast.

Yes! Finally I can get what I've always wanted.

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/BAKNMUSE/knog-musette

 

[janp]

Yes! Finally I can get what I've always wanted.

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/BAKNMUSE/knog-musette

I actually already own something similar.........in black of course.

An email went round the office this morning, asking if the owner of the tub of Sudocrem left in the staff toilets could be collected....... do I collect it, or just buy a new tub

 

[FrenchTart]

I actually already own something similar.........in black of course.

An email went round the office this morning, asking if the owner of the tub of Sudocrem left in the staff toilets could be collected....... do I collect it, or just buy a new tub

Collect it and walk like John Wayne whilst you do so

 

[Lethal`]

Had an interesting discussion yesterday regarding crank length: Basically, one of the guys at the Specialized Concept Store said that he felt that all things considered, crank length was probably one of the last things to change, and possibly wouldn't need changing at all.

I'm going to get a bike fit done at Stows: That should then allow me to see if there are any fit issues which would be fixed by changing crank length: Otherwise I'm sticking to 170mm.

How much do they charge for a standalone bike fit? When I went it was basically a turbo trainer and ipad app job. Seemed good enough but considering some of the retul fits are like £200 if it's near that price might be worth going elsewhere.

I actually already own something similar.........in black of course.

An email went round the office this morning, asking if the owner of the tub of Sudocrem left in the staff toilets could be collected....... do I collect it, or just buy a new tub

Your office sounds exciting - sudocrem police!

 

[madindehead]

How much do they charge for a standalone bike fit? When I went it was basically a turbo trainer and ipad app job. Seemed good enough but considering some of the retul fits are like £200 if it's near that price might be worth going elsewhere.

I think it's around £95. I asked them about it, and they said it was their own system, and based more around getting a good fit to your bike, rather than sizing (which the Retul fit revolves quite heavily around apparently).

Crank length made a huge difference for me. I went from 172.5mm to 170mm, the LBS thought I was mad as it cost quite a bit, but the difference really was amazing.
I used to get rock around a lot, and my thighs were always aching. Crank length seemed to solve it.

What sort of bike fit are you having done?

It's Stows own system, as Lethal said, they use an iPad camera, and slowdown the footage (phoned about it yesterday) and measure the angles on your body.

The guy in the concept store said that Retul was primarily designed to establish bike sizing, and is less about overall fit. Specialized BG is more about fit, as are systems like the bike dynamics guy (can find his website online, and a colleague had a fit there and said it was excellent).

The Stows one sounds decent, and it's not insanely expensive. They seem to have good experience.

 

[janp]

It's Stows own system, as Lethal said, they use an iPad camera, and slowdown the footage (phoned about it yesterday) and measure the angles on your body.

The guy in the concept store said that Retul was primarily designed to establish bike sizing, and is less about overall fit. Specialized BG is more about fit, as are systems like the bike dynamics guy (can find his website online, and a colleague had a fit there and said it was excellent).

The Stows one sounds decent, and it's not insanely expensive. They seem to have good experience.

I've had two bike fits done. The first being Retul based, which in honestly was a waste of money. Rather than being honest, and telling me I needed a bigger frame, they made ridiculous adjustments. Might be the fitter, and perhaps if I had a better fitting bike at the time, it would have been more beneficial.

The 2nd fit I had done was much better. Precision Fit by Trek, at a local LBS. They had an adjustable rig, where you could see the difference in each adjustment they made. The rig looks like this:

Spoiler

They set it up exactly how your current bike is, and analysis performance. In my case, 70% of my power was coming from my left hand side. After all the adjustments, I could see my pedal strokes were 50/50 (which was mainly achieved by crank length and saddle size). I also found that I needed a more relaxed riding position, until my core strength had improved.
Finally, I was told I needed a bigger bike.

 

[BennyC]

It's Stows own system, as Lethal said, they use an iPad camera, and slowdown the footage (phoned about it yesterday) and measure the angles on your body.

My local Trek Store offer something similar, bike on a turbo and then riding footage filmed and analysed with an app to determine knee, back, hip angles etc.

Was sized up for a frame, just awaiting stock now. Free fit included, hopefully I'll get on the adjustable rig too so I can see what would be optimal for my proportions as well as being fitted to my actual bike.

They also have an adjustable rig like the one pictured.

 

[BennyC]

What's the verdict on those Knog?

I picked up the Lezyne Micro Drive 400XL twin pack a few weeks back but haven't used it yet. Ideally I want something small for visability purposes as I don't currently do any night/low light riding so want to 'be seen' rather than 'see'.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Your office sounds exciting - sudocrem police!

Off topic, but we had an email round work saying there had been a "serious incident" with a sharp knife being left blade up in a dishwasher. Now sure, that's stupid, but you might think it's all a bit health and safety gone mad... Nope, there was a picture with the email, and it appeared someone was washing their machete in the dishwasher. It was like 8 inches long. No idea why someone thought that needed bringing to the office.

 

[Shamrock]

What's the verdict on those Knog?

I picked up the Lezyne Micro Drive 400XL twin pack a few weeks back but haven't used it yet. Ideally I want something small for visability purposes as I don't currently do any night/low light riding so want to 'be seen' rather than 'see'.

I think at 50% they are a bargain. I've always been happy enough with their optics, battery life and waterproofing. The negative was their straps which were prone to snapping after a while. They've now made these replaceable I believe so that solves that too.

 

[Lethal`]

Off topic, but we had an email round work saying there had been a "serious incident" with a sharp knife being left blade up in a dishwasher. Now sure, that's stupid, but you might think it's all a bit health and safety gone mad... Nope, there was a picture with the email, and it appeared someone was washing their machete in the dishwasher. It was like 8 inches long. No idea why someone thought that needed bringing to the office.

Cake cutting obviously

Only 'exciting' thing at our office is another business park's employees stealing our car park because so many of us just work from home instead of coming into the office so there's always spaces..

 

[Roady]

no 117 Chalkpit lane concurred, that's one nasty little climb. The gradient keeps on increasing around a hairpin right up to the next one so pretty demoralising on the first attempt.

https://www.strava.com/activities/602822497/segments/14693432622

Good work, tough looking climb, especially if it slowed Edmund down that much! Lol @ Garmin routing, was that plotted by your unit or on a GPX uploaded to it?

So I've got another bike to use until I possibly get a fork from Kieran. Means I don't destroy a customer bike as it would get awkward!

Bosses 'autumn' bike F75 with Sprint 350 wheels, Vibe bars, PLT stem slammed as low as possible. Should feel good tomorrow!

(excuse the litter tray and washing)

Spoiler

Sweet ride! You must be the only guy I've heard of who works in a bike shop and doesn't have a garage full of bikes! Lol

Urgh. Need to swap out that gear cable but I've only got Jagwire inners where I'll have to snip off one end...and it's all internal routing. I predict that I'll faff around for an hour until I've completely frayed the cable down to nothing, give up, then go to a bike shop tomorrow.

A small 'stretched' bit of electrical tape works well to keep cable ends together when threading... I guess also some shrinkwrap or even some of the shinkable small cable sleeving (PSU wire sleeving) stuff would do the same thing. You could even solder them...

There's been stories up about Wiggo turning up at a club TT last night. It's the nearest club 10 to me, and I know a couple of guys who regularly ride it, but they weren't there last night. Gutted!

Saw this pop up on my fb news feed last night! He's sat there in his white giro helmet, white pinarello and full wiggo kit while behind him are various dressed club TT riders in various states of awe. Rider behind him is about 3 times the size lol

NFTO retail shop is closing (pro team and normal clubs will continue), hopefully I can snag some bargains in the closing down sale! It's a shame but can understand why a retail bike shop only aimed at the high end couldn't survive when there were already 2 other big ones (and 3 other smaller ones)

 

[madindehead]

I've had two bike fits done. The first being Retul based, which in honestly was a waste of money. Rather than being honest, and telling me I needed a bigger frame, they made ridiculous adjustments. Might be the fitter, and perhaps if I had a better fitting bike at the time, it would have been more beneficial.

The 2nd fit I had done was much better. Precision Fit by Trek, at a local LBS. They had an adjustable rig, where you could see the difference in each adjustment they made. The rig looks like this:

Spoiler

They set it up exactly how your current bike is, and analysis performance. In my case, 70% of my power was coming from my left hand side. After all the adjustments, I could see my pedal strokes were 50/50 (which was mainly achieved by crank length and saddle size). I also found that I needed a more relaxed riding position, until my core strength had improved.
Finally, I was told I needed a bigger bike.

That rig looks quite similar to what Sigma Sport offer for their fit: http://www.sigmasport.co.uk/bike-fitting The price is insane though

How much is the Trek fit system? Or do they only offer it for Trek bikes? I might also look at the Specialized BG system, not sure what that entails.

 

[Lethal`]

A workmate had this guy do a bike fit for him.. said it seemed good - http://adamwhitebikefit.co.uk/pro-fitting/

 

[BennyC]

I think at 50% they are a bargain. I've always been happy enough with their optics, battery life and waterproofing. The negative was their straps which were prone to snapping after a while. They've now made these replaceable I believe so that solves that too.

Thanks, pleased to see PlanetX use collect+ too. Free returns ftw

Quidco too

 

[BennyC]

That rig looks quite similar to what Sigma Sport offer for their fit: http://www.sigmasport.co.uk/bike-fitting The price is insane though

How much is the Trek fit system? Or do they only offer it for Trek bikes? I might also look at the Specialized BG system, not sure what that entails.

£150, any bike. Saw a chap with a nice looking Focus getting fitted when I was last there. Think TT bikes might be £200.

 

[madindehead]

£150, any bike. Saw a chap with a nice looking Focus getting fitted when I was last there. Think TT bikes might be £200.

Ace thanks. Closest Trek shop appears to be Milton Keynes Whilst it looks good, pain to get to.

I might bite the bullet and get the Sigma Sport one. £100 more, but less far to travel. I don't have a car, so need to rely on my bike/trains.

Edit: Turns out, Milton Keynes isn't that hard to get to for me: 2 hours on the train (most of it is actually getting to London, and waiting time in London)

 

[Lethal`]

Sigma Sport is a great shop. Lots of nice stuff to browse too!

I got an email from British Cycling to say I've just entered a sportive and the training starts now. I've not entered anything.

 

[SoliD]

Sigma Sport is a great shop. Lots of nice stuff to browse too!

I got an email from British Cycling to say I've just entered a sportive and the training starts now. I've not entered anything.

Same.